Alaric lost all sense of reasoning. He was pissed. He wanted blood. The stress that had been piling onto him since coming to Melbourne was finally sending him off the edge. He was ready to kick butt and ask questions later.
He’d been undermined, hunted, separated from his friends, and even forced to become an adventurer as a way to get stronger and earn some income. His life was moving a lot faster than he imagined, and yet… he felt further from achieving his goal than he had been before the Appraisal Ceremony.
Instead of researching demons to figure out a way to defeat the Demon King, he was here, in Melbourne, hunting MudHounds and planning to heal some random Alchemist’s meridians.
Now, when all was said and done, this was a part of the process, roundabout as it might have seemed and Alaric wasn’t really as far behind schedule as it currently seemed. But the somewhat roundabout approach he was now forced to endure made this all the more unbearable.
He hadn’t planned for any of this.
With each passing day, he met someone new. Because of his undercover situation, he was forced to think through his words several times before speaking. Keeping his cover was not easy. He had to remind himself that he was from Earl’s Hollow and that the town had been ravaged by demons.
He had to remind himself that he’d been separated from his family, a family of three siblings, one of whom had died during the attack. This personality of his that was Alistair had been driving him insane bit by bit.
The biggest cause of this stress was Scarlett. Being so intuitive, the girl was more work than he’d ever had in conversation most of the time they spoke to each other. She was curious about many things and yet, she didn’t ask her most burning questions, almost as if she was waiting to figure out if he was who claimed to be.
It was infuriating… His anger didn’t come from that one sucker punch. No, it came from a long line of little things that had piled up into the mountain of rage that made his muscles bunch up, his aether rage… and his blood boil.
Not only had the man punched him but he’d also accused him of lying. With all these things—and more— piling up at the same time, Alaric’s mind came crumbling.
He saw red… and shot off with the speed of a comet, heading straight for the burly drunkard. His fist flew and collided with his target a second too early.
A heavy wind blew through the Guild Hall, alerting Alaric of the silence that still held it in suspense. Alaric saw what he’d hit far before anyone else in the room could follow what had happened.
Instead of seeing the burly adventurer on the other side of his fist, he saw a familiar blonde man. Guild Master Schiller had his hand around his fist, mist sizzling off it. He didn’t even look shaken by the attack.
The Guild Master did not look happy… but what did Alaric care?
Schiller stared him in the eyes, “Would you really want to throw all your hard work away because some punk got on your nerves?”
Alaric stared at him for a few seconds more before pulling away. The fact that Schiller was right wasn’t even among his top reasons for pulling away at this point, [ He didn’t even flinch. Just how powerful is this man? ]
Schiller massaged his hand a bit with a curious frown before turning to the burly adventurer, “Get out, Leon. I didn’t let you in here so you can rip my Guild Hall apart.”
Alaric’s blood was still boiling and he wanted to pommel the large blockhead into the ground but he stood his ground, clenching his fists. ‘I need to hit something.’
[ How about you save all that energy for training later today? ] his guardian replied.
Those words were enough to drain the rage out of him. Considering training required far more energy than whatever it was he wanted to hit, he was better off preserving his strength.
Turning to the Guild Master, he bowed his head slightly, “I’m sorry. He got on my nerves.”
“Never mind him. Adventurers throw down every now and then. Just don’t do that in here. Now come… Let’s go validate these rumours you came dragging in… And bring that mutt you put on my floor with you,” the man grumbled before turning to walk past the receptionist.
Helga was still staring with a pale expression as Alaric sent the MudHound back into his Storage Bracelet and walked off. Shaking off the daze, the receptionist followed them to witness this for herself.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Murmurs filled the Guild Hall as Alaric walked off. His sharp ears could pick out a few sentences, “Did you see that?” “He was so fast.” “I bet that was his Inborn Ability.” “What if he’s a part of the Black Generation?” “I doubt it. Rumour has it those abominations have generals in the Elite Guard already. No way one of them would be here in Melbourne.”
‘The Black Generation?’ Alaric wondered… ‘Is that what they’re calling people my age?’
[ Sounds cool, doesn’t it? ] Alia hummed.
[ That’s not where I was going with this, but yeah… It sounds cool. ] Alaric chuckled.
Moments later, four people stood in a large room containing all sorts of items, from hides, herbs, and alchemical ingredients to aether crystals, suits of armour, and weapons.
The door to this room was sealed off with powerful magic, making it impossible for the average person to get into. This was the Adventurer Guild’s storeroom.
The object of these four individuals’ attention though, was a heap of MudHounds piled on top of each other, topped with the gargantuan alpha, all in good condition.
Helga was using a peculiar device with arms fitted with glass lenses on little arms everywhere. Switching through the lenses like it was second nature, the woman used the odd device to take a closer look at the MudHound’s fur, teeth, eyes and whatever part of their bodies she deemed worth checking. Alaric could hear the hum of magic as the device worked its… ‘magic.’
Meanwhile, the Guild Master hauled the alpha down from the heap and separated it from the rest for inspection. With a sword in his gloved hands, he got to work cutting the creature up in the chest.
Guild Master Schiller’s blade worked swiftly, making a clean cut down the creature’s middle before then digging into its chest. It wasn’t long before he fished a fist-sized yellow glowing crystal out of its body, “My my… They’re all in good condition.”
Alaric was now confused. He knew they would want the MudHounds alive but he had no idea the process of appraising them was this meticulous. “What exactly will they be used for?”
The man looked at him for a bit before turning back to the amber crystal he’d just fished out of the Alpha MudHound’s chest. A magnifying glass—similar but much smaller and less sophisticated to the monstrosity Helga was rocking— appeared in the man’s hand as he scanned the Aether Crystal in his hand.
“Aether Beasts absorb so much aether from their surroundings that they can no longer be considered normal wild animals. If they get enough of it, they even gain intelligence. Some even go on to become what we like to call demi-humans. At least, that’s what I’ve heard from the stories.
Through a transformation I’ve never witnessed, the beasts become something close in resemblance to a human. I’ve heard there are parts of this continent where demi-humans roam freely.”
“Would you kill a demi-human?” Alaric asked.
“That’s a good question. I’ve never gotten to know one so I wouldn’t know. Aether Beasts are mysterious creatures. My perfect answer would be that I would only attack a demi-human if they attacked me,” the man spoke, “Back to your first question, the aether absorbed by aether beasts becomes refined and takes on specific properties.
You see, these MudHounds have power over the Earth—Earth Magic. Their bodies can be used for that very purpose, especially the bones. In the right hands, some parts of them can even be refined into ingredients to be used by alchemists. Some smiths are even skilled enough to make hammers and maces from those bones. You can already imagine how limitless the powers of that sword become in regards to Earth Magic.”
“We get it, Guild Master. Now how much do we get for this many Mudhounds?” Scarlett broke the man’s explanation. She’d been leaning against the door at the entrance this whole time, watching the Guild Master and the receptionist appraise their prey.
“Well, this much could get you twenty gold easily,” the Guild Master explained.
She furrowed her eyebrows, “So, it’s a negotiation?”
“It doesn’t have to be. Take the twenty gold, which leaves ten for each of you or however it is you wish to split your earnings, then the guild will make the most of the prey you brought in,” the man explained.
“Each one of those hounds was a chance for us to get killed. Thirty-eight gold marks. The alpha is worth three gold marks but I’m giving you a discount,” Scarlett spoke up.
Alaric watched the exchange with a bit of curiosity. He turned his attention back to one of the MudHounds… ‘1 gold mark for each MudHound.’
[ Don’t look at it that way. Each MudHound contains an aether crystal and their bodies are potential weapons and tools. They might cost 1 gold mark now but as they get refined and processed, they will cause a flow of so much more gold before they eventually vanish from this world. ]
With his guardian’s help, Alaric’s perception shifted. It was a gold mark now… but each mudhound corpse would continue to gather more gold as it was sold, processed, refined and sold again.’
With a sigh, Alaric turned his attention back to a conceding Guild Master, “Fine Fine… 38 gold. You’re too damn persistent. Who taught you that nasty way of negotiating?”
The silence that followed only made the man chuckle, “No backstories… Got it!”
Schiller reached into his pocket and started fishing out one gold coin at a time until he’d counted 38 of them. The hum of magic from his pockets did not go unnoticed.
Alaric could already tell the coins weren’t actually in his pocket.
He handed the money to Scarlett and held out his hand, “Your license… I need to record this hunt on it so your experience is accounted for. You too… Alistair.”
Alaric fished his bronze card out of his Storage Bracelet and handed it over to the man. It wasn’t long before he was done tinkering with the licenses and handed them back.
With that, the two made for the door and left.
Outside the Guild Hall, Scarlett pulled Alaric into an alleyway and gave his share of the money, “Don’t forget to talk to your Gold-ranked friend. I won’t wait for that quest for forever.”
Alaric nodded and was left alone shortly after. The evening was coming to an end and he needed to get to Sariah’s place to finish his daily training, lest he risked staying awake deep into the night.