Marius’ brow crumpled in frustration as he once again flicked through the report held between his calloused wrinkled fingers. In recent years monster activity had been ramping up in intensity and regularity, which usually would be great for the adventuring business. The problem lay in the fact that the Erlich Kingdom had been enduring peace for too long, and there was a severe lack of talented individuals to deal with the problems that kept cropping up. Many of the nobles had grown lazy and arrogant, ignoring the plight of the common people as long as they could keep up their lavish lifestyles.
In the era of the previous king, the military might of the kingdom was among the greatest in the entirety of Teron, matched only perhaps by the Sorcerer Empress of Jolmud across the Infernal Sea to the west. Honed by decades of fierce and unrelenting war against the frenzied monsters of the Northern Demonic Wastes, the army and other talented individuals of the kingdom reached unprecedented levels of power, with some of the greatest heroes of the age reaching over level 100, or at least that was the rumour, given that many refused to reveal their status lest their rivals use it against them. Marius had just been a child back then, but his grandfather fought alongside those legends, and was one of the earliest founding members of the adventurer’s guild.
Nowadays, the adventurer’s guild was widespread across Teron, encompassing branches across multiple kingdoms and empires with few exceptions. This meant that they were not beholden to the law or authority of any particular government or ruler. This attracted many talented individuals who did not wish to join their respective domain’s military force, which often led to deployment in the most hostile environments to fight endless monster tides from the demonic lands. The most notable of these were the Northern Demonic Wastes which bordered the Erlich Kingdom and the Black Desert to the west of Jolmud, however there were many smaller demonic zones scattered around Teron. Adventurers weren’t bound to this sort of conscription, and had more freedom in their movements, thus the popularity of the career. The main drawback being that it may take longer to reach higher levels, given the relative weakness of monsters inside safe territory compared to those in the demonic zones.
This didn’t mean the job was safe however and Marius had seen plenty of young opportunists meet cruel fates at the hands of not just monsters, but other people too. The death rate among adventurers was high, but compared to the absurdly low survival rate of soldiers facing the monster tides, it seemed cushy in comparison. It was said that for every hundred soldiers who were deployed to the Northern Demonic Wastes, only twenty five would return alive. Marius had been the guildmaster of the Lockmire branch for three years now, and until today had found it to be a wonderful retirement plan. Compared to the stress and political scrambling in Cloudvale, Duke Grant was an honourable man who didn’t tolerate corruption in his territory, meaning Marius was rather free to do his job without constant plots and schemes from various upstart nobles.
Tossing the report aside, he slowly stood up despite complaints from his aching joints and began to pace his office. “Goblins building fortresses and taming wolves! What’s next, ogres learning how to cast spells?” He muttered to himself before shaking his head in frustration and leaving the room, slamming the door behind him. Marius was almost seventy years old, although the only sign of his advanced age was a grey streak in his neatly trimmed beard and a few wrinkles around the eyes. The advantage of the Chain was that having high stats gave one much improved vitality, and those who survived to reach a high enough level could live a much fuller and longer life than the ordinary folk who didn’t have much interest in fighting monsters and risking their lives constantly.
The report earlier had been delivered via the guildmaster’s communication tablet, originating from the Felspire branch. Activating the tablet was tremendously straining and consumed a huge amount of mana, so the various guildmasters would rarely use it unless there was an urgent message to be relayed. A worried looking clerk had rushed into his office that morning carrying a transcribed copy of the message. Marius had been rather furious at having his breakfast interrupted by the sweaty young man, but upon seeing the contents of the report his frustration had turned to excitement mixed with a little worry. Almost sixty years of peace had passed for the common folk, and most didn’t remember the days before the great wall had been built, when every monster tide would roam deep into the grassy plains and claim countless lives.
The terror of monsters was still there in the hearts of the people, but compared to the true horrors that lay in the heart of the demonic lands, the tame things that roamed the kingdom now were barely fit to be called monsters. For those with the heart of the strong, like Marius, these events signalled the beginning of a new era of bloodshed. On one hand, this spelled tragedy for the civilised peoples of Teron, but he couldn’t help but feel his blood start to race. There was nothing quite like the feeling of battle, when your entire being was focused in the moment, you and the enemy, each putting their life on the line and seeking to claim victory. It was in the fires of war that strong men and women were forged, and already the signs of new heroes emerging were appearing here and there. The report in his hands was proof. Walking down the stairs into the lobby of the guild, he spotted a young girl with hair the colour of flames handing over a huge bag to a receptionist who looked rather terrified.
Behind the girl in question was a colossal wolf with shining silver fur and a crescent moon on its forehead, snarling at anyone who strayed too close to the young woman. It had an elegant collar around its neck that looked too well made to have come from anywhere but the hands of a master craftsman. Marius recognised the beast as a Silvermoon Denmother from the markings. It was rare to see a tame one, especially following such a young girl. There were master tamers who were able to control such beasts, but it usually took years of effort to see results with monsters of that calibre. Judging from her age, she had only had her birthing ceremony recently, so it was impossible for her to have been taming the wolf for so long. He grinned widely as he reached the desk, clapping a firm hand on the shoulder of the receptionist.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Don’t worry about this, Tyll, I’ll count her spoils myself,” he declared.
The receptionist in question, Tyll Gilmore, was utterly dumbfounded. The guildmaster usually shied away from doing any work, let alone mundane jobs like this. What on earth had possessed him this morning to take over counting goblin toes and wolf fangs. Regardless, the gigantic wolf the girl had brought in was terrifying, and Tyll wouldn’t give up this chance to get away from the beast and do something safer. He’d been an adventurer himself in his younger days, but after losing a party member to a level 38 monster, he decided that the job wasn’t for him and took up the receptionist post instead. His wife was certainly grateful for that, and he had never again experienced that terror until today when he was faced with such a fearsome beast. The girl had said it was tame, but could a ten year old child really have control over such a thing?
He thanked the guildmaster profusely and ran off to help some novice adventurers with safer business. Marius slammed a palm onto the desktop, causing the entire thing to tremble and creak, startling many of the other receptionists and adventurers.
“So, you’re the one who took out hundreds of goblins by yourself with a grand explosion that caused chaos all the way to Felspire? You don’t look all that impressive to me, little girl,” he said.
Elaria gave the man an inquisitive stare, wondering who he was to cause such trouble in the adventurer’s guild without any care for those around. She had to hold up her bag of loot to stop it from falling off the desk after his entrance, and was getting rather frustrated at what should’ve been a simple task taking so long. He was probably someone of importance, given the heavy pressure she could feel radiating from him, even the simple act of slapping the desk sent tremors through the floor, but she just wanted to collect her money and leave. Perhaps she should’ve left Luna outside the building, but she didn’t trust the wolf not to eat someone for wandering too close. She had named the Silvermoon Denmother after her species and the beautiful marking on her forehead, and the wolf seemed to like it, so it stuck.
“If you’re not going to complete his job, why did you send that other receptionist away? I just want to collect the rewards for my missions so I can be on my way to Cloudvale,” she retorted.
Marius was silent for a moment before exploding into booming laughter that somehow managed to shake the room more than his earlier slap. He had a rambunctious and brutish presence that seemed out of place in the elegant lobby. He opened the bag of monster drops, running an eye over them and seeming to count them quicker than any human should be able to, before tossing the bag at an unfortunate staff member passing by, who almost collapsed under the force of his throw.
“Looks like everything is in order, Hyuron told me you’ve earned yourself a commendation for your actions in wiping out the goblin fortress all by yourself. Some adventurers go their whole careers without one so it’s a pretty huge achievement to get on your first ever mission. It’s just a copper commendation, but it still entitles you to an extra reward. Due to the special circumstances, he considered also promoting you to copper rank adventurer, but since you have so little experience he decided that you still need to meet the usual requirements first.”
After tapping her adventurer card onto the magical tablet in front of him, Marius handed it back to her along with a little leather pouch that jingled as she took it from him. She didn’t think the guild would shortchange her, but she counted the coins out regardless. Seven silver coins clattered against the wooden surface, and she quickly scooped them back into the pouch before stowing it away on her body. It was best not to attract unwanted attention, who knew what people would do for any small amount of money.
“What about the copper loot chest?” She demanded.
“Easy there tiger, loot chests are always locked away in the vaults and need to be retrieved when needed. They’re too valuable to just leave out in the open. Both of your copper chests are on the way,” Marius assured her.
“Both? The mission reward was just one though?”
“Right you are girl, but you also get one as a reward for your commendation. I’ve never seen someone complain about getting extra rewards, strange one you are,” he quipped.
Huh. That was pretty nifty. She didn’t really know what to expect from the loot chests, and had low expectations. Her personal ability was basically a high tier loot chest all by itself so she doubted the rewards from these would reach the same quality, especially since they were just copper tier. She knew loot chests were rare drops when you killed a monster, but she had yet to receive one herself, only having read about them back in the village. After just a short wait, a receptionist walked out from the basement carrying two wooden chests inlaid with copper. He placed them on the desk, between her and the strange man, before bowing and walking off.
“What are you waiting for girl, open them up,” he said with a wide grin.