OldBegginings:[Howdy, I'm back. I felt bad deleting the hiatus thread, and making a new one for chapter 10, so I just changed the hiatus thread into chapter 10 instead. Thanks for not hating me. This is a pretty short hiatus, but as explained in the other chapter posted, I may have another hiatus depending on how the meeting goes tomorrow. But for now, please enjoy both chapters 10 and 11.]
*'Doki'*
LOD, Jeehan, Nio and I were now walking into a plaza in the middle of the big building from before. A few shocked guards noticed out presence, but after looking outside, let us walk in awe of the fight outside ending. A quite dashing fellow in a rather rushed suit came over to us.
"W... Was that you?" the fellow spewed the question interlaced with his pants at us.
I met his eyes and proclaimed, "the truce between the two 'oh so fearful clans'? Yes, that was us."
He regained his posture, then continued. "Ha. Sorry. I'm the mayor of Skimmington, Jacques Crossfield. There's alot going on right now with forth island, and this incidence was only the peak of the iceberg of hassle we've suffer from. I was wanting to thank you personally, but if you're wanting to access the guild, it's unfortunately closed due to the ruckus outside."
"Do we need the guild to certify our IDs?" I asked.
"Oh, no. That's done in administration. If that's all you wanted, please follow me." He said relieved, then started walking forwards, ignoring the left and right options, wanting us to follow.
We walked through a brick based, orderly building with glares pointing out our foreign nature.
We eventually got to our destination, a monochromatic bland room that had a, for the lack of a better term, 'business' looking man behind. A fancy, polished suit, a clean shaven face, and plain short black hairstyle with way too much time spent on it. I mean, usually I don't pay attention to people's looks, but with the definition of generic business man in front of me, how could I not?
"Ah, Mr. Crossfield. What would you like?" he said in a very peppy tone, his teeth almost blinding me in the short period they were shown.
"These four would like their IDs authenticated. They just ended the recent fight between the Samurai_Girls and the Back_Hands, therefore I'm here to make it a priority," the mayor responded.
"Oh, really. That's ended now? Well, all the more reason to hurry this up. My family must be worried..." he pause as he saw the mayor walk out.
He soon continued, "okay. So you want me to authenticate your identifications, correct? Please hand your IDs over and answer my questions correctly, since lying is against the law," his peppy tone continued, but with the words of threat, an eerie smile replaced his genuine smile. Although temporary, it was very clear.
"Okay, me first." I snatched the chance before the others could, and handed him my ID.
Q)"Name?" A)"DokiDoki19"
Q)"Gender?" A)"Undisclosed..." I hoped to be anonymous is as many aspects as possible. It was accepted.
Q)"Age?" A)"Undisclosed."
Q)"Class and Sub-class?" A)"Class: undisclosed, sub-classes: undisclosed and undisclosed"
"You can answer everything as 'undisclosed', but it can lead to skepticism," he interrupted the interview to warn me.
"Thanks for the warning, but I don't really care," I replied in my apathetic/ normal tone.
"Okay then, let's continue."
Q)"Full name?" A)"First name: Doki, second name: Doki-nineteen," I answered guessing I couldn't not have a name...
Q)"Area of origin" A)"Not applicable, I'm a 'visitor' so technically came from a different world." I was allowed to use this as an answer.
Q)"Occupation?" A)"Rogue/ Adventurer."
Q)"Clan, guild or group name?" A)"Not applicable. Our group doesn't really have a name..."
As I answered he noted the things I wrote them down on the ID. With the end of the questions, he stamped the piece of paper, which then dissolved into a puff of purple dyed smoke which I absorbed.
"Okay, that's it finished. Congratulations on becoming an official citizen, but I had no idea some visitors had the ability to beat a dungeon yet..."
"'Different people are different' as they say."
"I guess they do. Anyway, other people can now view your ID if you allow them to, using the 'Show_ID' skill which should now appear in your menu. Next?"
LOD, then Nio, then Jeehan all followed the same questions, although they instead answered the questions.
Q)"Name?" LOD) "LOD." Nio) "Titanious." Jeehan) "Jeehan."
Q)"Gender?" All)"Male"
Q)"Age?" LOD) "23" Nio)"Undisclosed" Jeehan) "17"
Q)"Class/ Sub-class?" LOD) "Class: Assassin, sub-classes: undisclosed and Crafter." Nio) "Class: Tank, sub-classes: undisclosed and undisclosed" Jeehan) "Class: Samurai, sub-classes: Smith and Enchanter."
Q)"Full name?" LOD) "John Smith..." Nio) "First name: Ti, second name: Tanious" Jeehan)" Han Jeehan."
Q)"Area of Origin?" LOD) "Not Applicable, I'm a visitor too." Nio)"Not Applicable, I'm another visitor." Jeehan)"Simpson, fourth island. What? I'm not a visitor."
Q)"Clan, Guild or Group name?" All) "Not applicable."
With that done, we all gained the 'Show_ID' skill. And with that done, we decided to stay in the city for the night. We didn't really have a plan or anything, so just searched for a hotel.
-
We found 3... well 4, but we ignored the love-hotel. We ended up in a place called the 'The Green Goblin', and got our rooms. I shared one with LOD, and Jeehan and Nio shared another. The rooms were really cheap, about 100 coins per night, but it was well maintained, had good service, and looked relatively fancy. So it was quite the deal still.
The time now was only five. Jeehan and Nio were both tired at this point, so went to their room. Me and LOD meanwhile went off, armed with a basic map, to explore Skimmington.
Well, our exploration was cut short with 'someones' stomach growling. So we went into a tavern. It was surprisingly expected, we walked through the doors to a room, with a hard wood counter at the back with various stools, and tables with multiple chairs, on which people created havoc clearly drunk.
We walked up to two empty stools, and sat down.
"IDs?" The bartender prompted us to show her our IDs Surprisingly enough I wasn't kicked out, considering my undisclosed age.
"Whilst you wait, please choose what you want to order," the bartender said in a pleasant tone, then turned to another customer.
The choice of food was simple really, from steaks, to fish, to pizza. I decided on fish and chips whilst LOD decided on the pizza. For drinks I ordered water, and LOD ordered a whole keg of beer, at least I wasn't paying for him.
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"Want some?" LOD asked, holding a cup to the keg.
"Nah. I've never liked the taste," I answered. The taste of beer an alcohol was just not nice to me. Why would I drink something I don't like?
"Oh well. But it's not for the taste that I drink," remarked LOD with a sloppy smile appearing on his face.
While waiting for our food, we observed the people in the tavern. At the back, well front, we saw a table that was made up of women wearing a similar garb to the other group from before. Meanwhile on the middle left was a table comprised of men who seemed familiar from the group that we fought. Both groups were looking at us, the girls were giggling and the men seemed anxious. Well, as long as they don't start killing each other over spilled milk, I have no reason to care.
"Enjoy people watching?" A voice next to us had said. Upon a closer look, he looked like the leader of the group, you know, the one we killed.
"Somewhat. I'm also really bad at maintaining a conversation with him," I answered pointing at LOD. "So why aren't you with your clan?" I asked back as politely as possible.
"We disbanded. Yeah, our group lost our morale completely, so some branched off into another clan. It sucks, but what will you do," he explained. "By the way, you oughtn't let yer buddy off his leash," he added, pointing to the table of girls, at which LOD surprisingly joined.
"I thought he was into younger girls. Eh, we only met a week ago anyway," I replied, verbally stabbing LOD in the process.
"I heard you were 'rogues', is this accurate?" Curious to the answer, I felt a massive aura of intrigue coming from his question.
"Yeah. Basically we're here to get an ID. Sorry for killing you, but I had heard of your mischief earlier. Since you and your group were causing the city to be on standstill, I saw you death as the easiest means of demoralizing both sides and proving our immense strength," I explained.
"Hm, interesting. But you're in the wrong place to be playing hero," he stated with dread.
"Who the hell said we're 'heroes'? We just don't like hassle." I replied coldly.
He gave a pause, obviously confused. Then asked "really? You're not interested into 'why' I say this?"
"Not really. It's probably corruption, greed or politics as to why you're warning me. It's not that hard to fathom." I responded with a sigh. All this shit is the same to me...
He sighed deeply, then ended with "just watch your step rogues, you wouldn't want to spark a war." Then he left to join one of the other tables.
I finished my food, placed the payment for my orders and left for the library. Seems like I need to do some research.
The city wasn't really a city, just a large town. It had a couple of different districts, in a sort of bulls-eye shape the districts went as such.
The inside were the more important administration buildings, such as the castle-like building that served as the town hall.
Around this was the commercial district, having most of the restaurants, cafe's and shops.
There were some shops mixed into the residential district, which was next and served as housing for the major population, but they minor general shops for generalized, cheap goods.
Lastly, located on the east and west edges of the 'city', was the industrial district where basic things were made on mass including metal works and wood-crafters, which would go into the commercial district to be sold when made. Farms were located mainly outside the walls, and weren't as numerous as one would assume.
The library, for whatever reason, was located at the end of a seemingly random street off the main road. Therefore that's where I went.
I walked down the main street, which went from the north gate to the city-hall, dissecting through each district in turn. This is where our fight earlier took place, and it was looking way healthier. The gardens were still mostly trampled, but there were now people walking the street and the carriages now traveled along the middle, unlike before.
-
After a while of walking, I entered a street to the left and followed the pavement down to the end where a large building stood. It was seemingly modeled after Gothic architecture and towered over the rest of the street, emitting a dark aura upon it. I swore I saw bats of something hanging off it's roof.
Nevertheless, seeing it was in fact a library which was open, I opened the gate and walked up to the building.
I entered and found a surprisingly bright and welcoming room, giving way to towering bookshelves that engulfed the rest of the buildings. Few desks and chairs were located. I walked up to the counter met the Librarian on the other side.
"Hello, you seem to be new. Would you like to rent out a book?" They asked peacefully. Their eyes having no judging aspects to them.
"I wanted to know which books are where," was my answer with little to no negativity in my own eyes.
"Okay, first. Here's a leaflet that should help. If you want to take a book out, you have to be a member. Do you want to become a member?" They inquired.
"Sure. What do I have to do?"
"Hand me your ID, and I'll add it to the system. Book loans last a week, and the book will go back here automatically if you don't return it before, so don't worry about losing books. If the book gets damaged, money will also be taken out. Is this fine?"
"Yeah." I showed them my ID.
A moment passed, seeming to add my ID to a list on their own interface. It looked like random hand movements to me though...
"Finished. Thank you and welcome to the Skimmington Library. Talk to me if you ever feel like not continuing your membership."
"Okay, will do. Thanks for the lively welcome." I said this as I left to go to one of the tables.
I got out the leaflet the Librarian just gave me, and continued to note down areas I was personally interested in. Unfortunately this made me dart of practically every nook and cranny, since there wasn't really a pattern in this madness.
About an hour later I had 30 books that caught my interest, and proceeded to read them. My reading speed wasn't slow, but I doubted my ability to read them all by closing time, at eight PM. So I read the handful I thought were important, and took out the rest.
I read about 12 of the books in the time-frame, and with the response of 'Oh, an avid reader I see' from the Librarian, I took the rest and left.