A.N: I edited the encyclopedia(lifespan).
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***Aesar POV****
Morning dawned with warm yellow rays of light entering in our room from the window next to me.
Once we had our gears equipped, I followed Ryfon down to the first floor in the dining area.
Many heads turned towards us upon our arrival.
The predatory looks of some of the females – mainly the Human females were a bit unnerving. But as usual, we ignored their attention.
This inn was very populated with adventurers; successfully looking one from what I could see. In the streets I could tell various quality of equipment, and the people here had better things compared to most from what I had seen outside. However, it still paled in comparison with the soldiers in our village.
To our right were a group of people finely geared in weapons and armor which I presumed were adventurers; 4 males and 2 females, all of whom were of the Human race. They inspected us seemingly as if they were trying to recall us or figure out who we were. Judging from that, they were probably not new to this place. They had an irritated look, probably jealous of the attention we got. And it worsened when we just ignored them. However, they did not confront us, for they knew nothing about us, and judging from our fine quality equipment, they probably thought that it would be trouble if they did confront us.
They were in an Elven kingdom, and to attack an Elf that had a high standing would not go well for them.
Once we made our way to an empty table and seated, a waiter came to take our orders.
After ordering, a large, hardened looking Elf, about 2meters tall, stood in front of our table. Ryfon and I faced the Elf and observed him closely. Certainly, he was an adventurer and a type that would be battle thirsty. And even though he was an Elf, his age was show a bit. Probably in his mid-years, 300-iss years old.
He was covered in scars and was adorned in weapons; at least 4 weapons could be seen on him, on his neck hung a silver medallion. I recognized the medallion as Adventure medallions which signify the ranking of an individual. To my knowledge from Ryfon, there were 7 different ranks in the Adventurer Guild, Copper, Bronze, Iron, Steel, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The higher the quality the medal was, the stronger you’re signified.
He was a cut from the rest, for only one other person had the same rank as him. The group that seemed to not like me and Ryfon very much was all Iron rank. Though, I was not quite sure what power each ranking held. We had not such rankings in our village, so I had nothing to compare to.
“What is it that you want?” Ryfon spoke in annoyance.
Just when the large Elf was about to speak, the other silver rank, a female Human, interrupted, “Elride, leave those two alone. They don’t even have Adventurer Medallions. They could be knights, but I do not see an insignia on them.”
At her words, everyone turned their heads to her. She had brown eyes, and long brown hair tied into a pony tail. She wore fine, brown leather pants and armor. Attached to her hips were two green daggers.
“I just wanted a duel, Renna. I have not seen these young lads around and I wanted to test them out and see if their fine quality weapons were not just for show. Hey, you. Young lad, where is your armor?” he directed his question at me. “I mean, armor can get in the way of mobilizations, but you don’t even have leather armor.”
I simply replied, “I don’t need any.”
Some adventures were vexed at my seemingly arrogant answer. Even the woman who defended us seemed affected.
However, the Elf named Elride only had an amused look.
“You want a duel? I’ll give you one,” Ryfon interjected seemingly annoyed.
He has been quite quick tempered lately. I can’t blame him from our current problems and annoying ‘flies’ buzzing around us.
The dining area went silent for a brief moment, and was soon followed by murmurs. Out of nowhere, someone retorted, “Tsk, fool. You don’t know who you’re getting angry and annoyed with.”
“On second thought, just beat those spoiled brats,” said Renna who also seemed annoyed.
“Brats you say? They are Elves and could possibly be older than you,” said Elride still in an amused expression. “Anyway, I did not come to you to cause trouble,” he looked at us. “This current situation has drained me from participating in any duels. Let’s just go,” he ended.
Soon after his last words, he left the inn. Renna followed him out, but before she exited, she turned to our direction and glared at us.
“It’s not a wise move to get on the bad side of a Silver rank, fellas.”
I shifted my attention to the table to us. Next to our table were 3 people, a male Human and two female Elves. Throughout the disturbance they stayed silence and only observed. From what I could tell, they were not adventures. Although, I could tell that the two female Elves were magic users.
The man only said one line and left it as that.
*****Elride POV*****
“You should have accepted the dual. I understand that you don’t like to cause trouble, but you would have accepted the duel request like usual,” Renna huffed.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Hmm, I think it was wise for me to not have engaged that angered Elf. If he was a bit calmer I might have accepted the request.”
Renna raised an eyebrow. However, she did not challenge my words. She could tell that their skill levels were quite high.
“Surely they seemed strong, but they seem young. I don’t doubt your win.”
“Renna, do you know of the legendary Elves that live in the Forest of Asteria?”
*****Aesar POV****
As we exited the inn and moved through the cobbled streets, we continued to attract attention. I’m beginning to think that we should wear a mask. Then again, that might also attract quite a bit of attention.
"Where are we going to, first?” I asked as I made my way next to him.
“Let’s get some information about the current situation this world is in, and other information.”
I’m guessing the tavern.
As we continued to walk on the street, we passed a large build. Next to the door had a sign with an image of a sword and a shield. It was the Adventure Guild. Various people in armor and armed with weapons were going in and out of the building.
I had a slight interest in it. In my early days, the Adventure Guild highly piqued my interest. Ryfon would always mention adventurers in his travels that he’d meet.
It’s quite an interesting profession, being an adventurer.
After walking for some time, we arrived at a large tavern.
It was early in the morning so there were not many customers inside. Thus, we were not disturbed.
We walked forward and seated in front of the counter. The bartender, an Elf, gave us the drink we asked for.
Afterwards, we had a chat with him and open up various subjects to gather information.
From what he said, there were larger increases of monsters appearing. There was also news about 3 kingdoms, Zoswen Kingdom, Vacien Kingdom and Astac in high tension. He also told us about the currencies in countries and wide arrays of rumors.
After Ryfon seemed satisfied with the information he gathered, we enjoyed the rest of our morning drinking.
We left the tavern in the afternoon when it started to fill with people.
I followed him outside and noticed that we did not take the same direction we took to get to the tavern from the inn. I presumed that he was too drunk to navigate, but it was not the case. Indeed we were intoxicated, but not to such an extent.
I asked, “Where are we headed to, next?”
“Let’s go to the port and see if we can find anything, so we can leave in the morning quickly,” he replied.
With that, we moved west of the city. It was irritating that we had to go around the noble district which was in the middle of the city just to get to the port.
It was midafternoon when we decided to get something to eat for lunch. Instead of going inside a restaurant to eat, we went to a food stall to grab a quick bite.
As we made our way to the port, I couldn’t help but think about how the village was doing and what their situation was. I started to become impatient as I continued to brood over the subject.
After walking for a while, the scent of the salty breeze intensified. Ahead of was the port. Large ships were on the ports, some were out at sea, and the area was a congested with people. Birds were everywhere, on the ships and other structures, perching noisily. I could see fishermen hauling their load for the day as the sun neared the horizon. The area was buzzing with noises from bossy captains and talkative workers. Some were drinking and going wild on a large ship. Lots of other people were transferring things to and from other ships.
To my left Ryfon just stared out into the sea with and calm and solemn eyes.
I also followed his example and admire the ocean. This was the first time I have ever seen it. It was truly spectacular. The smell was refreshing, the breeze was relaxing, and the sight of the blue ocean water was mesmerizing.
From the thought of the ocean, my heart ached. I started to worry about my dear mother. I thought back on how she was calming, and beautiful like the sea. My expression turned from stoic to anguish.
While I still continued to stare into the ocean’s horizon, Ryfon called for me, “Aesar.”
I turned towards him and nodded.
We continued to the port. We passed by many people, but some were too busy to take notice of us.
Afterwards we went to a large stone building. However, we did not go inside it. Off to the left side of the building was a receptionist.
After gathering information from the receptionist on what ship was heading to Galedria tomorrow, we searched for a large ship with two Nereids carved on its side, as the receptionist described.
After scanning through the area filled with ships, I saw the ship we were looking for. It was large, 100 meters in length with large and tall sails. At the highest point of the ship was a green flag with an image of an unfamiliar bird.
When we neared the ship, Ryfon asked for the captain. However, he was unavailable.
Since we had already confirmed on what ship to take in the morning, we decided to call it a day.