S1, Beginning

“Lad, wake up. We will arrive soon.”

I heard the voice of the cart driver and straightened up in my seat, in the distance I could discern the outline of a town.

‘I’m finally here.’

It had been a long journey, first I had gone to the capital accompanied by my parents, then I had taken that damn boat down the Luzupe, the long river was the main commercial route of the country. After arriving downstream in Benslinn, I had been lucky enough to find this merchant that regularly made the route to Algus. He had offered to bring me along for free, he liked the company, he had said. Now I had been in his car for a couple of days and I could barely feel my bottom.

While the wagon slowly approached the town I took the opportunity to examine the surroundings. We were about to pass the woods, the trees here were young, with plenty of space between them, over the sound of the cart I could hear distant shrill chirps and the occasional rustle of leaves when an animal decided we are getting too close.

After the woods, it was mostly green grasslands. It seemed like people in this town didn't have much interest in cultivating the earth. Unlike the other towns and small villages I had passed by, there were only a few tiny bits of farmland here. To the right of the road, I could see an orchard that took up a lot more space than the farmlands. At this distance, I was unable to see the flowers nor the fruits that no doubt were maturing in the early spring.

As we got closer to the town I took my attention away from the landscape and instead focused on what was ahead. The settlement was surrounded by a short wall, high enough for a man to have problems getting over it, but not enough to pose a threat to a big beast or an armed force. Not even the whole wall was made of stone. There were big sections where the stone got substituted by a wooden palisade.

I couldn’t deny I was a little disappointed. Knowing that this was a town of adventurers, and not far from the borders of the kingdom, I had expected to see far more impressive fortifications. Instead, there was little to write home about. Most towns deep in the mountains where I came from had better defenses. The kingdom’s capital I had passed by had six meters tall walls, thick enough for two men to comfortably walk side by side on top of them. I guess I was expecting to see something similar here.

I couldn’t repress a sigh as the cart approaches the town gate. There was no one around apart from a couple of guards giving a bored stare at our wagon, little by little the driver stopped the horses and one of the guards approached.

“Hi Marlow, I see you bring company today.”

“Good afternoon Shaw, yes, the lad asked me to give to him a lift, he is here to join the guild.”

“I guessed as much, he is a little late though. Most of this year’s rookies already arrived, the last one came three days ago... whatever, it’s not a big deal. What about the cargo? Same as always?” The guard said, looking at the wares.

“Yes, mostly grain, also a few bales of leather from Benslinn...”

While the two men greeted each other I took the opportunity to look at the guard, he carried a spear in his right hand and wore a worn green surcoat over his leather armor, from its color I recognized him as a soldier of the kingdom and not a local town guard.

“So boy, you here to join the adventurers guild?” The soldier finally talked to me.

“Yes, mister! I hope I’m not too late.”

“Well, although you don’t need to worry too much about it, you should hurry up to the guild, the later you arrive the harshest the training, you know? You are still in time to register today.”

“I see, thank you Mr… Shaw, I will go there directly.”

“Good, you won’t have trouble finding it, just follow the main street, it’s the one with the black bear sign over the door. Well... it’s better if you hurry or neither of you will end your business before night.”

“Then we will get going, I will buy you an ale once your shift is over,” Mr. Marlow said as he spurred the horse and we entered the town.

I was not really surprised to see soldiers here, there was a big garrison in Benslinn, and on the road, we had come across several patrols.

‘No wonder Mr. Marlow didn’t bother hiring an escort.’

As I thought about the number of soldiers I had seen since my boat arrived in the commercial city the wagon came to a stop before a stable.

“Well boy, we have arrived, don’t forget your stuff in the cart.”

“Yes, Mr. Marlow, thank you for the ride.”

"It was nothing, just take care from now on, adventurer’s work is dangerous, I don't want to hear you got injured after I brought you here."

“You don’t need to worry mister, my father always tells me the same when he takes me to hunt, I will be careful.”

I took up my broadsword and my other belongings and got down from the cart.

“See you, mister, have a good evening!”

I couldn’t hold back my excitement after finally reaching my destination and soon left in search of the guild building. I was finally in Algus the northernmost and easternmost city of Perendin and the only place with a dungeon entrance in the entire country.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I looked around, I was not far from the town door, and I could see the main street stretching towards the town center. I began walking while looking at the buildings, the ones bordering the street were mainly made of stone and had proper roofs of slate or reddish tiles. Meanwhile, those in the side alleyways were mostly made of wood, some of them had stone foundations, but they were a minority. At first most houses and stores I saw had only one floor, but two-story ones began to appear as I kept going.

After A while I finally spotted a sign showing a black bear, it read “Calpavaros’ Bears,” the national guild of Perendin. I carefully crossed the street, stepping onto the planks placed here and there on the road, trying not to dirty my boots in one of the many muddy puddles that had remained after the last rain.

Before entering I stopped for a moment, looking at the guild and trying to calm my excitement. It was a stone building, with two stories and double the size of any of the nearby establishments. After a few breaths, I made my way inside, wondering if Uncle would recognize me, it had been a couple of years since we last met.

The interior of the guild was quite spacious, some oil lamps hung from the ceiling and, despite the hour of the day, they were lit and illuminated the darker spots of the room. One of them was a bulletin board on the right wall with what I presumed were a few requests for adventurers, close to it was a staircase leading to the second floor. To the left, a group of young adventurers was discussing something at one of the tables. I advanced to the back of the room where the counter was located. A middle-aged woman noticed my presence and beckoned me to come closer.

“Welcome to the Calpavaros’ Bears guild,” the woman said cheerfully.

“Hello, miss…” I wavered.

“I’m Anne, a guild receptionist, are you perhaps a new trainee?”

“Yes, but…”

“If you already registered I will need to see your guild certificate. If you are not registered yet you will need to cover some documents and pay the apprenticeship fee.”

“Uh…”

The receptionist swiftly told me what I needed to do after identifying me as a newbie adventurer and stood behind the counter waiting for an answer, but I didn’t have a certificate nor was I here to register.

“Um… I’m here to see my uncle, Atherol of Sudken.”

“Oh, so you are here to see the guildmaster? Can you tell me your name, please?”

“I’m Simon, Simon of Sudken.”

“I see… so you are the guildmaster’s nephew… You certainly look like him… Your uncle is not here at the moment, but if you want you can go see him now, he is in the training grounds.”

“Yes! Can you tell me the way? Please,” I replied excitedly after finding Uncle's whereabouts.

“You just need to keep following the main street north, after a while it begins turning left, towards the east, and it exits the town. The training grounds are there, just outside the northwest gate.”

“Thank you miss…”

“Anne,” spoke the counter girl with a smile.

“Thank you, Miss Anne! Then I will go see my uncle,” I said as I turned around, ending the conversation with the slightly overwhelming guild receptionist.

I exited the guild and followed the counter girl’s instructions, this time I didn’t expend any time looking around and soon reached the area outside the town gate. There, a few people were training, I briefly took a peek at a couple of dark stone pillars in the distance before searching for my uncle.

As I surveyed the muddied training grounds I soon noticed a man leaning over a wooden barrel, his muscular arms could be seen under his simple brown shirt. He was also wearing dark green trousers and a pair of sturdy leather boots. His curly black hair was long and messy and his face was covered by a thick beard, It couldn’t be seen, but I knew he had a square chin and a wide jaw. His dark green eyes were absentmindedly looking at the newbie adventurers. I promptly approached him with kick steps.

“Hello, Uncle Ather~!” I called him.

“Simon!” Uncle shouted in his deep voice. “I was beginning to get worried. I was thinking about sending someone to Benslinn to look for you.” He said, giving me a hug.

“We were delayed a bit before departing to the capital, Father wanted to secure the house because it was going to be empty for a while.”

Uncle Ather chuckled, “I see, he still can’t stop himself from preparing for any contingency. So, how was your journey here?”

“I didn’t have much trouble, but the boat trip was annoying! The barge moved too much and I was dizzy all the time.”

“Well, that’s normal when you are not used to it. It will get better when you make the trip back.”

“Ugh, I don’t want to navigate the river again. I will rather walk,” I grimaced.

Seeing my expression Uncle laughed loudly, then he reassured me, “Don’t worry, it will be sometime before you go back, you will have forgotten about it by then… Anyway, let me have a look at you, you have grown a lot since I last saw you, it has been… Two years already?”

“Yes, it was two years.”

“It’s been a while… I guess you have improved your swordsmanship after all this time.”

“Yes! I have been practicing a lot!”

“Good, good, but I hope you practiced other things too, you are not going to have much use for that sword here.”

”Uh?”

“You see, a spear is much better to fight the monsters in the dungeon, for now, you won’t be seeing anything that needs you to use that broadsword. On the other hand…” Uncle Ather examined my clothes for a moment before continuing, “Hmm, those boots will do, but you will need sturdier pants if you don’t want to end full of bite marks, and some protection up there… Don’t worry, I will prepare some leather armor for you. For now, look there, those three will be your companions from now on.”

A tad overwhelmed by my uncle’s words I focused my attention on a group of three boys training with spears and shields. They looked young, probably none of them was older than me.

There was a blonde guy with his hair tied in a small ponytail at the back of his head. He was slim but it was obvious he trained his body.

The next was a brown-haired boy with a round face. He was notably taller than the blonde and built like a bull, with broad shoulders and a short neck. He might be a bit overweight but I couldn’t really tell with the leather armor he was wearing.

Finally, there was a skinny short kid. His hair was a vivid dark brown, and his toasted skin had a reddish hue.

If I wasn’t wrong he had to be a Vesturke, a human from the west, or rather from the north, since Perendin was also in the westernmost part of the human lands. They were well known for being tall and muscular as well as being skillful and disciplined warriors. To be honest, I had never seen one in person, but this kid didn’t look the part at all.

“Attention trainees!” Shouted my uncle as we approached the group.

“This one is your last companion.”

The three boys stopped training and looked at me.

”Finally! We have been waiting for over a week for you, you know? Blurted the Vesturke kid.

“Simon here is a skilled hunter and tracker, and he has good experience handling the spear and the knife. He will be very helpful to the group inside the dungeon,” my uncle continued, ignoring the comment.

“Take the rest of the afternoon to get to know each other, I will make arrangements for you to enter the dungeon tomorrow. I hope it won’t be a problem for you, Simon”

“It won't be a problem as long as I can get a good sleep tonight!” I answered, eager to enter the dungeon.

“Then I must leave, I will be going to make the preparations,” said my uncle as he left.

After my uncle’s departure, the three boys looked at me for a bit.

“Hello Simon, I’m Terence of Flodbred, Freeman, nice to meet you,” the blonde guy spoke politely, breaking the silence. He had a long face with a slim nose and clear blue eyes.

“I’m Falnid Irrenson, of the Irumar!” Announced the Vesturke kid, his face was skinny, and had high cheeks, while his eyes were a dark shade of gray.

“I’m Bolton of Taluherri, Miller, nice to meet you.” The taller boy told, on his round face laid a small nose accompanied by a pair of brown eyes.

“I’m Simon of Sudken, Hunter,” I presented myself.

“Of Sudken? Are you related to the guildmaster? And where is Sudken?” The Vesturke blasted me with questions.

“Um… The guildmaster is my uncle. And about Sudken, it’s a small town in the south of Suidberg, I was born there but don’t really remember the place.”

“Oh, so that’s why he suddenly decided we could enter the dungeon tomorrow, we have been training here for days! I was bored to death!” The Vesturke, Falnid, accused me.

“I’m sorry, I was delayed by my father,” I tried to shift the blame.

“Don’t worry, we really needed that training, I had also never heard about Sudken.” The blonde guy, Terence, changed the topic with a smile.

“It’s also my first time hearing about Taluherri.” I promptly continued, fearing Falnid would keep blaming my late arrival.

“Um, Taluherri is a small town, you know where Flodbred is, don’t you?” The tall boy, Bolton, asked.

“Yes, it is in the northern plains of Perendin, west from here, isn’t it?” I answered, remembering the boat trip, if I had kept going down the Luzupe I would have reached Flodbred after a few days.

‘Not that I have any desire to sail the river again.’

“Yes, Flodbred is in the southern riverbank and Taluherri is a small farming town a couple of days southeast from there,” Bolton explained.

“I see…”

“Good! Now that we have ended the introductions I think we should train together before the sun sets. Over here, Simon, take this spear. Let’s see how you handle it,” Terence said with a slight smile while rushing to get me a weapon.