His head was full of thoughts as Asherean raced towards his camp. Even though he wouldn't call himself a man with high moral values, there are certain things that would inevitably affect his reasoning—like the fate of that berael mother and her children at his hands.
At least I gave them a fast death.
It didn't take more than twenty minutes to reach his destination. After checking his immediate surroundings, Asherean climbed up the Ironwood tree and removed the rope tied around his rucksack against the tree branch. He then carefully placed the empty vials in it along with the rope previously tied around his waist.
After silently thanking the Ironwood Tree for its protection for the last three days, Asherean started his journey back home towards Limeborough, the capital of the Agensal Kingdom. He would need to spend the night in the waypoint town of Erstonia—en route to the capital, which would take an entire day.
As such, Asherean jogged towards the direction of the town. After leaving the outer regions of the Tyrgar forest, he can clearly see the dirt road that leads to Erstonia. He could also see the outpost manned by a dozen soldiers wearing the newly formed uniform of the border control corps. The outpost is a utilitarian building built of stones, enclosed by wooden palisades and a watchtower rising above, giving a sweeping view of the surroundings. It was built to guard against the monsters dwelling in the forest.
As he reached near the outpost following the dirt road, a man with rugged features with a well-kept beard holding some papyrus could be seen talking with a man with an ornate attire with a brilliant blue cloak over it and a medallion hung over his neck—signifying his identity as a pursuivant or a low-ranking herald on the behalf of a noble.
The bearded man is locally called Ol’ John in Erstonia. He is the captain of the outpost on the border of the Trygar forest.
The other man, who is clearly a noble’s pursuivant, is talking frantically, and Asherean could hear bits and pieces of something that happened in the capital. With his curiosity arisen, Asherean neared the two men, hoping to understand why such a herald was so far out here on the western borders of the Kingdom.
Ol’ John was the first to see him coming towards the outpost. He spoke something to the pursuivant and waved him to come over. Asherean waved back and accelerated his jog towards them.
In a matter of seconds, he was there with them, panting out of breath. “So, it's a good hunt today, I hope?” Ol’ John said as he took out his leather bag containing water and passed it along to me.
As I drank greedily, the pursuivant who saw my face seemed to realize something and turned towards Ol’John. “So, he's that kid called Ash who ranked up to iron pretty fast, isn't he?”
Ol’ John nodded. “In fact, he's the youngest one to reach the high iron rank in the guild. Pretty impressive, isn't it?”
At that, the pursuivant brightened and turned towards me, “Greetings. I'm Maxim Dut Hollenbar, under the service of Viscount Marthal Dut Vistoris. It's very rare to meet such a young and highly capable person.”
Asherean nodded lightly and intoned, “Greetings to you too, Sir Maxim.”
The man nodded and said, "Quite reserved, I see. If you have any desire to join the Vistoris family, do not hesitate. Lord Vistoris intends to hire several adventurers, including you. That's such a luxury that is not easily granted to everyone.” He then turned to Ol' John and said, "Anyway, as I mentioned, make sure to check anyone's identity before leaving for the forest. Farewell.”
As Asherean nodded and Ol' John responded positively, the pursuivant mounted his horse and raced off. Asherean returned the leather waterskin to Ol' John and quietly queried, "So, Captain, what's got that fellow over here?”
Ol’ John grunted and said with a frown, “Some kind of kidnapping had happened in the capital, it seems. This is an order to watch out for the culprit who had escaped. There's nothing much except these parchments containing a hand-drawn picture of the culprit and his features.”
At that, Asherean stared as if he had seen a ghost and replied, “You mean to say a culprit had kidnapped someone…in the capital and escaped?!”
“As absurd as it is, it is what's been written in the missive, and the pursuivant said the same,” said the captain in his usual deep voice. It is absurd because the security on the Capital’s rampart is very tight with guards on every wall, street, and gate. There are also strict entry and exit inspections and identification verification in order to enter/exit the capital.
Ol’ John shrugged his shoulders and turned towards the outpost entrance, saying, “Anything other than the horse, Ash?”
“None, Mr. John.”
Ol’ John walked unhurriedly towards something that resembled a notice board and pinned one of the parchments on it and commanded one of his subordinates called Franklin to bring up a steed. The guy went over to fetch the horse while I was chatting with the captain about the kidnapping that had happened. Apparently some noble’s daughter has been kidnapped whose fiancé is the son of Viscount Vistoris. Not much information other than that, but it seems the incident blew up like a wildfire in the kingdom in a matter of days.
Shortly after that, Franklin came back with the requested horse. He is a slim guy with a large forehead and a somewhat hooked nose—giving him a shrewd appearance. "Here you go, Young Ash," he said, passing the horse to me while holding it by its reins.
After taking the horse, Asherean thought about something and asked mischievously, “So I heard you are getting married, brother.”
“Auhh..”
That stumped him, and he blushed like a maiden at her first dance. Franklin is known around the town as a shy boy. The guy's just two years older than him, so it's obvious he's very embarrassed. Anyways, would I miss this chance to embarrass him? Of course not.
“Blushing already? Save some for the wedding night!”
“You…”
The soldiers who had heard them conversing laughed out loud, further embarrassing him. The guy turned even redder and was about to say something, but Asherean quickly mounted the horse and rode away. He could still hear him shouting about not having been blushed along with his comrades’ laughter behind.
The guy's an innocent one, completely opposite to what his looks might suggest.
Laughing quietly, Asherean resumed his return journey to the waypoint town of Erstonia. He could feel the cold wind blowing on his face and the smell of the forest. One of the few things that he liked here better than his previous world is the fresh air with almost no pollution.
One would expect that towns and cities in the medieval world would be filthy, but quite surprisingly, in this kingdom, it's mostly clean with no waste thrown haphazardly everywhere. Whether it's only this kingdom or everywhere else, Asherean did not know, as he had not left the kingdom ever since he was born. The farthest he had traveled from his birthplace (*that is, the capital) is Bastion of the Three Crowns, where the three northern kingdoms intersect on the south, facing the inhabitable desert plains of the nomads.
The waypoint Erstonia is one of the larger towns in the region, connecting several smaller towns and villages. It is ruled by Baron Harlan Dut Erstonia, who was elevated by the bloody queen Catherine Dut Agensal from a mere banneret knight. He is also known as the one-eyed baron because he lost his right eye during the war with the nomads seventeen years ago.
Asherean learned about it while visiting the town library, where his statue is depicted clutching his right eye with his right hand and pumping his left hand up in victory. On that note, he had to visit the imperial library in the capital after he had reached there, as he had to continue his investigation of how to get powerful in this weird, fantasy-like world.
He soon arrived at the outskirts of town, where vast farmlands stretched across the landscape. Peasants toiled under the sun, planting grains, legumes, and vegetables in neat rows, their hands caked with soil as they worked tirelessly to cultivate the land.
The familiar sight always filled his mind with a quiet sense of peace.
He guided his horse towards the fortified wall with a large gate open with several guards in uniform verifying the people entering the town. He could clearly see that the inspections were more thorough than normal, probably related to that incident in the capital. The merchants were being inspected on the main road leading into the town with their wares inside the carts.
He walked patiently towards the line formed on the side for citizens and travelers without any carts. At the tail of the line, he could see a man with a slender build, with a straw hat and a body that was clearly not used to heavy exertion, carrying books and some herbs in a basket.
As Asherean reached the end of the line, he tried to start a small chat with the person before him by starting the conversation saying, “Greetings. You seem like a scholar, sir. May I ask which domain you are proficient in?”
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The man turned back, surprise evident on his face. He stared for more time before realizing he's been addressed and hurriedly replied, “Ahn… No need to call me sir. My name is Brandon, and I'm a novice alchemist doing what I can to survive. I'm certainly not a scholar, but my brother is. What about you, mister?”
“Call me Asherean. Just an adventurer. So, you're saying you are an alchemist, so what kind of products do you sell?”
“Nothing grand...ahh... Asherean. My compendium includes some alchemical potions, herbal remedies, ointments, and the like. If you like some, you could find my humble shop, ‘Brandon’s Curios & Concoctions,’ near the town center.” Now that's a fantasy-like name. What the hell is Curios anyway? I hadn't heard of such a shop in the town.
“Quite a name you got there, and you say you’re a novice.” Asherean remarked in an exaggerated manner, earning a wry smile in return from Brandon, who enthusiastically replied, “Actually, I very much like the name, and it feels sophisticated. My younger brother named it, and he’s studying at the Imperial Academy of Lore.”
He did say his brother is a scholar, but I didn't expect him to study at one of the three Imperial Academies of the crown.
Also, the guy before me is an alchemist, isn't he? Then why? ...
Asherean smiled slightly, but on the inside, he was quite surprised, as these alchemists were known to be quite arrogant since the downfall of the Sanctaris in the kingdom, which is prevalent in most of the regions of the twin continent. It preaches the supremacy of the Seven Gods. When the Bloody Queen took the throne, one of the policies introduced by her led to the deprivation of most of the church’s power and influence. What remained provided only humanitarian aid funded by the crown with no outside influence.
Since then, the Grand Cathedral of the Sanctaris stopped the delivery of holy water, which is essentially a healing potion that would cure most injuries that would normally take weeks to heal—in a few minutes without leaving so much as a scar. With no holy water available, the populace turned towards the next best thing which is the alchemical potion–while not as effective as the holy water but quite potent compared to other remedies.
Within a decade, a profession that was not highly respected before became one of the highly sought-after ones. Even though the crown directly funds them, greedy for more, these alchemists formed their own guild two years ago to regulate the prices and stand together against any opposition.
As such, it's quite surprising to see a humble alchemist for once. Maybe he's not that skilled…is that why?
Asherean woke up from his trance seeing that Brandon was waiting for his answer, and replied in a friendly tone, “Quite impressive, I expect. On the other hand How's your shop doing ?”
Brandon slightly shook his head and said, “Not much as you would expect from an alchemist. Since I'm new, I need to build up a reputation and a customer base. It will take its time, I expect.”
“Ohh…good luck with that, I guess,” Asherean encouraged in a supportive manner. Any more conversation stopped as they reached near the guards. After verifying Brandon's identity and leather handbag, the guards waved him inside with respect. They then turned towards me, prepared to do the same to me.
One of them, a young man with blonde hair, beamed and said, "Oi Ash, I still can't believe you're hunting monsters without a party. You could probably join any of them. It's been almost a month since you started going on quests alone.”
Asherean genuinely smiled as he looked at his childhood friend and said, “Surely you jest, Anthony. While I'm quite skilled, I won't be comparable to the veteran party members, and joining a rookie one is just a waste of time for me. I need to rank up to Silver if I should get the chance to attend the entrance examination.”
Since the Adventurer’s Guild is under the crown in this kingdom, most of the high-ranked ones aim to join a noble or a royal household. Since Shardkins are awakened randomly among the populace except the hereditary Shardkins, they are being nurtured by the guild, which acts as a faucet between Shardkins born among the populace and nobles or the crown.
The reason nobles or any organization are not exhaustively recruiting the native shardkins is that a lot of them are quite useless in combat, and the guild nurtures these shardkins under the authority of the crown for future scouting. Also, most of them are mediocre shardkins, as the powerful native shardkins are personally recruited and enrolled in the Imperial Academies of Mages or Knights. After which they serve the crown exclusively along with many perks.
There's also another way to enroll in those academies, which is to exemplify oneself in the Adventurer’s Guild and gain a chance to participate in the Imperial entrance examination, thereby enrolling if one passes. Being the youngest silver rank adventurer is certainly impressive enough to get that chance. At least that's where I've been keeping my hope.
Anthony was one of his best friends during his childhood phase until he moved with his family when he was ten to Erstonia from the capital. Since then, there's been less and less contact between them, only occasionally meeting when Asherean passes through the town, but Anthony knew his ambitions since childhood.
Anthony smiled knowingly. “I knew you were different since you were a child. At that time, you've got that whole mature attitude even when you're the youngest of our childhood group. Speaking of them, have you heard of any of them lately?”
Since childhood, Asherean had been alone, as he couldn't mingle with other children, as he had naturally acted as an adult in a child's body, even though he was confused about his previous life's memories that didn't make sense at that time. It was very hard on him as he thought he was defective in nature, but that all changed when he chanced upon a very unusual group one day. Those were the dearest of his friends, but their relationship couldn't continue as each ended up doing what they aspired to when they had become adults, which led to them not meeting very often.
Returning from his thoughts, Asherean nodded and replied, “I heard Aaron joined the Imperial Knight Academy, personally recommended by a noble. Bryan apparently went to his native place in the Eastern continent. I don't know about Ashely, but I met her during a quest a year ago at the Bastion of the Three Crowns in the south.”
Asherean could clearly see the unsatisfied look on Anthony's face. His eyes briefly glossed over, and then suddenly he seemed to come over and croaked, “Is that so? Well, I didn't expect much from you either way. I was planning on something like a gathering of us. It seems we're the only two at least in contact somewhat. Anyway, we can talk about that later, Ash.”
Simultaneously Anthony’s fellow guards nudged him with his elbow, mostly because he was taking too much time inspecting, even though there was no one behind Asherean.
As such, Anthony went over Asherean’s rucksack and his pockets. After writing something down in an old note made of parchments, he waved him goodbye. Making his way into the town, Asherean thought about the soft feather bed in the inn he would sleep in today after getting tired of doing it on a tree branch for three consecutive days.
So, in order to reach his oh-so-lovely bed, he had to submit the hunt evidence to the adventurer branch in the town, who would send a post-verification report to the main branch in the capital along with reports of all the other adventurers who may have also completed their quests in the region. The Tyrgar Forest is huge; hundreds of adventurers hunt for quests here.
The reward for his latest quest completion should be 2 gold coins, which is slightly more than an average peasant’s three hard work. Then the question arises, why wouldn't everyone just join the guild, do some quests, and live a long life afterwards? There are many reasons for that—firstly, only shardkins (people blessed with power) can enter the Adventurer's Guild or any other such institutions.
Secondly, once you enter, you're forever tied to the guild unless you're recruited by the Crown or some nobles, whereby you're tied to your new employer. Obviously you're going to have obligations that need to be upheld.
***
After reaching the inner part of the town, he could see a large building held up by several pillars with a large open double door at the entrance. Although it's bigger than the other nearby buildings, it's still smaller compared to its headquarters in the capital.
He entered the building while hearing the loud volume of people talking, quarrelling, and generally being noisy. There are a lot of people spread across the building entrance, forming various groups and talking excitedly, some sitting in the benches while others are standing. Most of the adventurers are from this very town, with only a few from the capital, as the adventurers are generally more needed in the border areas, so there are dedicated branches in each of these towns or cities where the adventurers work. Since most of the quests deal with monster hunting, it's obvious that the adventurers flock to places like here in the western border near the Trygar forest or the eastern borders along the coastline to hunt sea monsters.
After reaching the receptionist Ana, who he was familiar with, Asherean greeted her in a friendly manner, saying, “Beautiful as always, Ana.”
Ana's gaze focused on him from the parchment she was reading; immediately, a smile bloomed on her face. She was in her twenties but looks older due to her refined appearance. Since most of the quests he took are in this region, he had become quite a regular one here, befriending almost everyone he meets. Ana was one of those he had met when he had just started out as a novice adventurer two years ago. He joined his very first party at her recommendation, so he has a lot of history and memories with her and received her help many times.
“Oh my. Quite a flatterer, aren't you, Ash? So, have you completed the quest alone…again?” Ana finished her sentence with a frown.
“Yeah. Here's the quest request, and here are the monster teeth and claws for evidence in the bag as asked in the quest.” Asherean replied while placing a parchment between them while showing the rucksack containing the monster parts.
Ana shouted back behind the corridor, and a few seconds later, a guy with broad shoulders while carrying a dark wooden board came upon them while wearing thick gloves made of leather. Asherean knew the guy; he usually handled all the valuable monster parts picked by the adventurers. Usually adventurers take every usable part of the monster carcass, but since Asherean handled the hunt alone, he couldn't do so. After checking the quest parchment and monster remains I've brought, the guy nodded sharply towards Ana and left without saying anything.
Asherean felt a rare moment of sympathy for the guy since he's a mute. He had tried teaching him sign language he knew somewhat, but it hadn't worked as the guy thought Asherean was mocking him. The guy always carries his wooden slate and a piece of chalk in order to converse with people. His thoughts were interrupted as Ana brought two gold coins towards him. After securing the gold coin in his leather purse hidden in his inner pocket, Asherean said farewell to his friend Ana and strode out.
His stomach grumbled as he made his way out of the guild. He only had meat jerky all day long, so he had to get some good food before retiring for the day as exhausted as he was. He soon reached the inn he usually stayed at, called ‘The Wandering Stag.’. It is a very normal inn used by people of all walks of life.
He entered and beelined straight towards the old innkeeper and placed 4 silver coins while saying, “The usual, Mr. Oswin.”
The innkeeper unhurriedly took a key from the bunch of keys tied on his hips and passed it along to me and droned, “Second room on the left.”
Asherean nodded slightly and plodded towards the upper floor where the rooms are. After finding the room and placing his rucksack in the chest at the corner of the room. He took out the spare clothes and a towel he had brought along and walked towards the backyard of the inn. He soon found a large tub full of water for him. After submerging in the tub, Asherean relaxed from the constant stress in the last three days, like every time he completed a quest.
After scrubbing himself clean, Asherean changed his clothes and ordered a very simple meal of bread with some soup. He enjoyed the food thoroughly as if he hadn't eaten for a long time. After finishing his dinner, Asherean trudged towards his room and locked the door behind him. It hadn't taken a long time to hear a light snoring sound coming from his room.