They walked out of the barracks after finishing their report to Sarah and getting a promise from her to invite him to the invasion. She would have anyways, they truly didn’t have anyone as capable of espionage as Mark.
The young men had a tight schedule today, so Mark picked up his pace walking over to the Association. By this time, there were a lot of people milling about town, shopping for produce, or the craftsmen's products. All in all the streets weren’t that different from what he remembered on Earth. Only the technology was different, and the people seemed much more friendly.
Walking into the Association’s building adventurers were talking and laughing loudly everywhere, standing in queues to take up quests, and finish other formalities with the guilds receptionists.
Mark left Donny waiting in a queue to the receptionist, while he went to look if the mission board had anything new today, anything he could use to check the boy’s proficiency with his weapons.
There wasn’t anything that caught his eye. Apparently, there were a couple of hidden goblin camps that have survived the cleansing operation, so there was a quest for anyone wanting a quick buck, the reward was lowered compared to before, but the goblins lost their numbers, and in the state, they were currently in, they didn’t pose that much danger to anyone but the most stranded farmers out there.
There was still the quest for the Wolf Leader, and looking at the description sheet, it matched perfectly with the wolf that died defending Donny on the farm. He wondered whether to report that, or they would find out themselves. He guessed the guards would send someone to investigate the issue so they would very likely find the wolf’s body anyways.
There were a fair bit more bodyguard requests, and there were some merchants that had urgent business and had to leave Pharia, but with the threat of the Bandits outside very few were willing to go without assurance, so even the always stingy money grubbers were willing to part with some coin for their safety.
There was still the Shatank extermination request, but it took them too long to come back, after being scared away in the first place, he had to make his time count, so he intended on taking Donny to go hunt some Goblins. They were easy enough prey and he could judge the kid’s technique and see where he could start to get the most out of their time.
He returned to Donny in the queue and it was their turn soon enough.
“Welcome back, what can I do for you.”
Behind the counter was the young girl from a couple of days ago, the one who processed his reward for the Goblin Leader’s task. She was always very energetic, her hazel eyes blinking rapidly looking at Mark, her cheeks gaining a slight reddish tint.
“Hello, I came to process the quests for the Strangler bandits hideout and the kill bandits quest.”
The moment those words left his mouth a sudden hush went over the whole guild hall. Every adventurer stopped what they were doing and looked at Mark with disbelief. Everyone here knew the difficulty of the task. No one who took the quest to find the bandits ever came back, and now it seems the young man before them claims to have finished it.
They couldn’t believe their ears, slowly the shock left them and left a curiosity. How could such a young man do something that other, much more experienced adventurers failed at? Everyone was staring intently, knowing that if it was true, the Token would have recorded the presumed coordinates of the place as well as saving the mental image of the place.
All of them closed in on the counter wanting to see the receptionist process the Token. The young woman, now much more flustered, with her heart beating wildly in her chest from all the sudden attention, reached out her hand for Mark’s AT.
Passing it over, Mark saw her as always swipe the token over another one embedded into the counter. Suddenly what to Mark looked like a holographic photo appeared over the token. It was a photo of a ravine with cave openings, bridges, and people roaming about. It was the exact thing he saw when he leaned over the ravine’s edge.
Mark started wondering how advanced the little bronze token truly was, and how much could it interact with his mind. It could know when he was killing the target of a quest, he could live with that. But pulling images from his head for evidence gathering? That was a completely different thing.
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All the surrounding people gasped at the sight. It indeed looked like a bandit hideout, especially as everyone here knew there were no hidden cave villages in the forest.
The receptionist seeing that and other information this time visible only to her finally regained her wits and stood up. Causing the image to disappear at the same time.
“Please, excuse me I will go for the promised reward, just a second.” Saying that she darted out of the reception room, into the doors leading deeper into the building. A couple of minutes later she came back with an older gentleman wearing what looked to Mark like a Victorian suit, with a monocle on his left eye, cleanshaven with long almost white hair.
The man was holding a small pouch in his hands, he walked up to the counter and introduced himself.
“Welcome, my name is Sebastian, and I am the Manager of this branch for the Association, my employee Anna here informed me of the Quest completion of the Bandit Hideout search. We are very grateful for the bravery from your side, sir. I was informed that you have not gone through with the Evaluation for official membership to the Association.
I would like to say that if you are worried about the Initial Placement procedure due to merits, I can inform you that, you shouldn’t fear any longer. Today’s accomplishment is completely enough to place you within the highest rank we can give to a newly joined member, namely high bronze.
Of course, after going through the Combat Evaluation, though that shouldn’t be much of a concern for someone capable of taking down five Strangler bandits by himself.
There are many benefits to being a regular member of our Association, for example, access to our very own network of informants, and a weekly salary to be claimed at any branch, the amount varying based on the level of membership.
There are many more but I am sure that Anna here would gladly present them all to you after this.
For now, here is your reward for completing the quest. If you wish to go through with the evaluation, inform Anna, and she will arrange everything.
As for now, I bid you farewell”
The man handed Mark the pouch, bowed his head very lightly, and walked back to the guild's backrooms nonchalantly. Opening the purse, Mark noticed that the amount was off. He was supposed to receive 1 gold and fifty silver, while the pouch contained two full golden coins.
Looking at the receptionist, Anna for some explanation, she guessed what he was wondering about.
“Ah, yes the manager saw fit to increase the reward for finding the bandits' hideout at the last minute, explaining how the task was way too hard for the meager reward posted, so he increased it from his own pocket. If the gold coins are inconvenient I could exchange them for you, of course.”
“That is very kind of your manager, is it often that he does things like this?”
“No, not really but…” She lowered her voice there are rumors that the bandits' leader is not an unknown nobody, this week a messenger came to the manager and they talked for hours, no one knows much of what they talked about, but some other employees swear they heard words like the Stranglers, Vesthia, and Kingdom’s Enforcers”
The girl seemed almost scared at the last group mentioned. Mark couldn’t leave it like that so he decided to push his luck a little. Lowering his voice he asked.
“Who are the Enforcers? I lived most my life in the forest, I don’t know that much”
The girl darted her eyes around looking if anyone was paying attention, but it seemed that after the Manager left, most of them returned to their business.
“They are the kingdom’s elite knight force, working directly for the Sorceress Queen. They are incredibly powerful, respond only to the Queen, and take no prisoners, and no one ever heard of a case where Enforcers were sent that didn’t end in a bloodbath. Though everyone respects them, because they always hunt the most dangerous and heinous criminals, no one else could take them down. But still, they scare everyone, with their brooding faces, and the thick scent of blood following them wherever they go”
Mark was a little intrigued, he very much wanted to see the Enforcers in action, he hasn’t seen anyone treated as the elite force of this world yet, he wanted to know how he would compare, and how powerful the elites here were compared to Earth.
“Thank you for this, and can you tell me what joining as an official member would entail?”
“Of course, here” She reached down to a drawer behind her counter and took out a small booklet “Here is everything you need to know if you want to join us. Long story short, you will gain a salary, our informants, and in bigger cities a discount on our associated craftsmen’s goods.
You will be required to finish a set amount of jobs each month, and if there is a Danger Call in the branch you reside in at a moment, you will be required to lend your aid. You can find all that in the guide. If you would have any more questions, feel free to find me”
“Thank you, one last thing I need to register this guy, as a temp member, and get us the Goblin hunting quest”
He pushed Donny a little to the front of the counter. Anna looked at him as if she just noticed him, but smiled quickly and processed the young boy.
With all that done, Mark bid the girl farewell and set off with Donny for the forest.
It was time to kill some more Goblins.