“One Swing, is it? And you're… let's see…" The woman at the reception desk scanned her eyes across the grey metal plate that served as an identification for adventurers. "An E-Rank adventurer. Very good, sir.”
One Swing smirked.
After returning to the town of Zwieback, he had reported his completion of the B-Rank quest to slay the monster known as Troll King Shur-Burt. Confirming the death of the troll—through great difficulty due to the state of both the corpse and the cave that it made its home in—they had made the decision to promote him from F-Rank to E-Rank by the time he was ready to leave for the Capital the next morning.
Taking Condie up on her offer to take him as close to the Capital of Gran Torte as the railway track would bring him, he waved goodbye to the busy woman as she directed the track workers under her supervision, and then walked off in the direction of his destination.
Quickly finding the road ahead, he spent many days and nights walking down the dirt paths until the crunching of dirt beneath his feet eventually became the clomping of boots against stone, and he found himself gazing upon the grand capital city itself—Gran Torte.
With a population of millions, this thriving centerpiece of the world showed no signs of the state of ruin it once was twenty-four years ago. When Demon Queen Gluttony and her Blackspawn tore and slaughtered their way through its streets. That was all, of course, due to the efforts of the Queen, Kokoro la Peppyseed. It was a known fact that, without her, such an overwhelming recovery would not have been possible in such a short time. If even at all.
One Swing was quickly allowed through the busy gates and into the bustling city behind its towering walls. Gran Torte saw an assortment of strange people of different types passing through its gates every day, and an adventurer with a fifty-meter sword—trailing one-hundred-and-sixty-four feet into the sky—was quickly waved onward without a second glance as just another one of those occasional oddballs.
Though it might seem that security was relatively lax at the gates, it was a well-known fact that Queen Kokoro la Peppyseed—sitting in her royal palace at the center of the city—was a woman who knew everything. The Omniscient Overlord, she was called. The woman who knows all, sees all, and stands above all. She was a queen who knew everything about every single one of her subjects across the land, and thus, would immediately know if somebody who threatened the city was intending to approach its gates. And because of her all-knowing foresight, nobody dared to even try. It was a pointless and fruitless effort, after all. Guaranteed to fail.
Seeing as One Swing had lived most of his life in this city, it was easy for him to navigate its busy streets. And from all the tall buildings and structures that loomed across them, he felt oddly at peace amongst the lengthy architecture. It was the kind of man-made length you could only find in cities of this size and scale.
Making his way to one of the several Adventurers Guild halls dotted across the city, One Swing quickly found the closest one to the gate and stepped inside.
Due to the sheer size of the city, you could typically find one close to each entrance gate. Though the city was large, each guild had a quick way to contact one another across the city, meaning any important information or urgent quests were available at any of the guild halls. One Swing didn’t know how this quick exchange of information worked, but it was assumed it all happened below ground somehow. More dwarf ingenuity at work, most likely.
Carefully guiding his large weapon beneath the doorway of the building—leaving the blade to trail across the street, down a side alley, and through the backdoor of somebody's home—One Swing approached the noticeboard of quests, took some that caught his interest, and placed them down at one of the open desks with an available guild attendant.
“E-Rank, E-Rank…Hmm...” the woman at the desk hummed as she browsed over the quests One Swing had brought. “Ah, I’m sorry, sir, but this quest to walk the lengths of the city walls to check for any signs of monsters attempting to dig or climb their way through has been restricted to D-Rank and above. There’s been some odd kobold attacks on the roads coming into the city lately and it might be too dangerous for an E-Rank at this time.”
“I see.”
“Oh, and this quest to exterminate giant long-tailed rats in the sewers and bring back their tails as proof has been shifted from F-Rank to D-Rank as well. There have been rumours of someone suspicious hiding out down there that matches the description of a wanted criminal from Bredkrum. It's still being looked into so we're limiting the amount of adventurers down there for the time being."
“I see…”
“And this quest… Hm? This is… This isn’t a quest, sir. This is a note that just says, ‘baguettes, bananas, and asparagus’ on it. It… it looks like someone's shopping list."
“…”
“Is… is this your shopping list, sir?”
“…”
One Swing sighed.
It seemed that, even though he was E-Rank now, the availability of lengthy quests was still very much an issue for him.
As he went to browse through the selection once again, he felt a hand clasp itself across his shoulder. Turning around, he was immediately met with a familiar friendly face.
“Hey, brother! Welcome back to the Capital!”
A smirk crossed One Swing’s face at the sight of the familiar man.
“Grapple Krumble. It’s good to see you again.” One Swing bowed.
"You too, brother!" Giving One Swing another pat on the shoulder, the muscular man with the thick horseshoe moustache gave his exposed pectoral muscles a friendly flex. For reasons unknown to One Swing, he was still not wearing a shirt.
“What a wonderful coincidence meeting you here at this time,” One Swing mused. “The city’s bounds run very long indeed. What are the chances of seeing a friendly face so soon after my arrival?”
“It wasn’t much of a coincidence. I could tell the moment you walked through the gates from halfway across the city.”
One Swing tilted his head to the side. “How so?”
“Well…” Grapple gave a quick glance at the blade still sat across the swordsman’s shoulder, trailing all the way across the room and out the door on the other side. “Never mind that. I see you’re an E-Rank now! Congratulations, brother! How are you finding it?”
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One Swing shook his head. “I was hoping there would be lengthier quests, but…”
“Haha! I thought so!” Grapple laughed. “That’s why I’m gonna help you out, brother. Now that you’re a bona fide E-Rank, how do you feel about taking the D-Rank exam?”
“Is that possible?” One Swing asked, raising an eyebrow. “I only just made it E-Rank.”
“It is with a recommendation from a veteran adventurer like me! So, how do you feel about moving on up to D-Rank, brother?”
One Swing smirked. “Tell me the details.”
“Well, the exam won’t be for another few days. It’ll be something like a group test with a bunch of other E-Ranks. Should be easy enough for someone like you! I’ll let you know the details closer to the date. In the meantime though, why don’t you think about competing in the Krumbledome? There’s a tournament coming up before then and I’d love to see you there! I can squeeze you in if you want?”
One Swing tilted his head again. “The Krumbledome?”
“You don’t know the… Y-you used to live in this city, right? You know, the Krumbledome! With your host, Grapple Krumble!… You really don’t know?”
One Swing shook his head.
“O-oh, well, that’s okay, I guess…” Grapple continued. “It’s the big stadium near the main plaza. You can’t miss it! Swing by tomorrow and I’ll find you a spot in the tournament!”
“Very well. I’ll come by tomorrow then.”
One Swing wasn’t particularly interested in tournaments. They were a series of short bouts between those searching for short-lived fame and fortune. He felt they weren’t something that would help on his journey to become the longest. However, this was a request from Grapple Krumble. And Grapple was a friend. Honouring a friend’s request was a very important part of keeping long-lasting friendships, One Swing thought, and so he had agreed to it.
Saying farewell to the man, One Swing carefully backed out of the Adventurers Guild hall, and stepped back onto the street, making sure his blade did not break anything this time.
The sun was starting to set below the high walls of the city, and so One Swing went to find a place to stay. Though the Adventurers Guild did offer lodging to adventurers, their available rooms only went up to the second floor. Being in the grand Capital now, One Swing wanted to take this opportunity to find an inn with greater length. One that offered lodging on a third floor, at least.
As the setting sun began to empty the paved paths of the city, One Swing found himself wandering down one of the emptier backstreets. Continuing to scan the city for any inns of great length still within his budget, he was drawn to the sound of metal being rattled against stone.
“Dammit, it stinks… Why do I even have to…?”
One Swing followed the whisper of mumbled complaints alongside the sound of rattling metal, until he finally found the source of the noise. A figure obscured in black was climbing out from one of the manholes in the lampless street beneath the dim evening light.
Climbing to their feet and stretching out to their full height, One Swing could see that the figure was tall. Very tall. The length of their body towered far above his own. Not only that, in stark contrast to the black cloak obscuring their body, atop their head was a very large, wide-brimmed hat. It was almost comically large, and its lengthy brim bobbed along wildly with each little movement the mysterious figure made.
Although mysterious, it was a figure One Swing recognized immediately.
“Excuse me,” he said, approaching from behind. “Are you—?”
The figure snapped its head toward One Swing, two piercing red eyes from beneath a pair of glasses burning deep into his own.
“… Hm?” And then the figure blinked, and gave a little tilt of her head. “You look familiar somehow. Why?”
“Ah, I’m glad you remember me,” One Swing gave a short bow. “We met back in Bredkrum. Your name was Trish, yes? You were looking for your sister.”
“Oh, right. You’re that guy.” The tall, freckled woman seemed to breathe a short sigh in relief, before poking a pale hand out from her cloak to fix the glasses slipping down her face with a sharp, black fingernail. "So, did you happen to run into that dumbass sister of mine?"
One Swing shook his head. “Sorry to say that I haven’t, no.”
“Yeah, figured.” The woman sighed again. “I’m pretty sure she was sent to the Spire. I was gonna go check it out from the outside before heading back home. Know much about it?”
One Swing smirked.
He did know much about the Spire. Very much. And the reason he knew so much about the Surstrom Spire prison, was because it was the longest man-made structure that One Swing had ever seen. It was the biggest prison in all the world. In the center of the gigantic Surstrom Lake, was a black tower that stretched far past the clouds and up to the heavens. Even One Swing’s mighty sword would look like a mere insect in the presence of such a gargantuan structure.
It was a tower that was rumoured to have been built by the dwarves. One Swing had always doubted this rumour in the past, but having met Condie Mints and witnessing her passion for constructing structures of great length across the land first-hand, he had come to put his past biases aside. Perhaps the dwarves did indeed build the Spire after all.
Though he had never been inside the Spire himself, One Swing told the woman everything he knew about the towering prison. From the number of floors, to the most notable criminals held captive inside its walls, and even the identity of the prison warden himself.
The woman’s face grew sour as she took in all the information. And as One Swing came to a finish, she let out another sigh.
“Alright, I get the idea… Thanks.” She gave the man a short nod. “If that dumbass really is in there… ugh… That's gonna be such a pain to break her out. And with Wrath and Lust in there too? I really need a drink…”
As she turned to leave, she suddenly paused for a moment, before turning back to One Swing in realization.
“Hey,” she said. “Can you do me a favour real quick?”
“Of course.” One Swing nodded. “What do you need?”
“Well, I’d do it myself but I don’t wanna get caught. I need you to buy me something. I can pay for it, I just need you to go in and do it. Is that cool with you?”
“I have no issues with that. What would you like me to—?”
“Great!” she exclaimed. As her lips curled up into a smile, One Swing suddenly became aware of the sharp, razor-edged teeth showing from inside her mouth. “Here, it’s gotta be hard buying stuff with that sword of yours in the way, right? I can hold it for you if you want.”
Reaching a pale arm out from beneath her cloak, she held out the palm of her hand with outstretched fingers, tipped with sharp, black nails.
“Hm? Oh…” Distracted by the long woman’s lengthy teeth and nails, One Swing absent-mindedly lifted the giant sword from his shoulder and placed it in her awaiting hand.
Wrapping her single black-tipped hand around the handle, she effortlessly heaved the violet blade to rest upon her own shoulder, its one-hundred-and-sixty-four foot length trailing fifty meters above her head. As she did, the giant brim of her hat was shifted out of the way slightly, revealing the black glint of something poking out above her short black hair.
“Cool, I’ll wait here until you get back,” she said, a smile still on her face as she rummaged around in her cloak with her other hand. “Here’s the money. And get me two of their biggest ones, okay? The whole kegs.”
Taking the money, One Swing blinked back at her with a tilt of his head. “What was it I was supposed to be buying again?”
“Ah, sorry,” she said, pushing her glasses up her freckled face once more. “I just need you to buy me some booze.”