The next day, Tenebris, Sanaa and I headed into the city at first light. I wasn’t sure why, but my body seemed to need sleep less. It wasn’t quite superhuman levels, but I wasn’t tired as often as I used to be. We made our way through the city and to the Adventurer’s Guild. It took less than twenty minutes for us to arrive. The guild’s headquarters was two stories tall and was shaped into a half circle. The top part of the building was larger than the bottom, which kind of made it look like it was floating off the ground. When we arrived there was a lot of foot traffic going to and from the building. The people here were divided into two groups. There were the people in fancy armor or robes with peace-bonded weapons. Then there were the people dressed more normally. The few that had weapons kept them loosely on either their backs or on their hips. A lot of them had injuries and moved at a more leisurely pace. As if they had little need to hurry.

The guild’s front door was made out of dark brown and held the insignia of two crossed swords. Each time the doors closed, it looked like the swords clashed. The inside of the guildhall was beautiful. Large banners were hanging from the balconies above the entranceway. Each one held a different symbol. I was sure that the symbols were heraldry, but I had no idea to what organizations they belonged. The colors were off too. Several of the banners had gold and white together. I was pulled out of my musings when a person cleared their throat behind me. I turned around and found a person made completely out of plants. They were humanoid with dark green skin. It looked as if their skin was made out of vines that had been pulled tight and then stretched. Their face was wooden, like looking at an old mask. Lastly, he had a large white and gold flower growing out of the top of his head.

“Excuse me. It is rather rude to stare.” His face didn’t move nor did the voice come out of the lips. It was a bit like talking to a doll. When I realized what he said, I smiled politely. “I apologize. I was hoping someone would be willing to speak with me. I have some questions about the guild.”

The man nodded and gestured for me to follow. “I see. Will your companions need anything? I admit I have never dealt with Dragonkind, but I am sure we can find something for them.” I shook my head. “Thank you for your offer, but they will be fine. They prefer to sosaki balls. However, if you have someone who would know more about them, I wouldn’t mind talking to that person. I summoned them a few weeks ago.”

“Oh? Were they a gift from your teacher?” I shook my head. “I am self-taught. I found a tome in a dungeon.” Our conversation lulled for a moment as we reached our destination. We were standing in front of a stone doorway with a thick piece of fabric acting as a doorway.

“You may enter.” A deep voice called out to us a moment later. The man gestured for me to enter. I nodded and stepped through the doorway. The room was larger than I was expecting. It was decorated like an office with a stone desk in the center and two chairs. One chair was on my side of the desk, while the other was opposite it. There was a large bookcase on one side of the room.

“Hmm? I don’t believe I had a meeting with anyone scheduled today.” I looked up as an elderly man appeared in the middle of the room. He was tall, probably less than a foot shorter than me. He had a thick black salt and pepper beard. On one hand, he held a book with no cover. “Ah, you must be the adventurer with the dragons. You have been causing quite a stir. I assume you wish to be tested for the guild?”

I shook my head. “No, though maybe at a later time. I was hoping that you would be able to help me with something.” I removed the blade from my ring and held it out handle first. “I found this when doing a quest. I am hoping that you would know someone who could tell me more about it. I have spoken to several blacksmiths in the city and they knew nothing.”

The man took the blade from me and ran his finger along the back edge of the blade. “I am afraid that there won’t be many that can help you. This blade was not forged in the traditional sense. You are a magician, right?” I nodded. “In that case, have you cast a divination spell on the blade?” When I shook my head, he handed the blade back to me. “This blade is “corrupted” to be more accurate. Someone took a normal blade and changed it using a magic ritual. I can’t tell what ritual was used, but it’s a nasty one. Harvesting souls is a horrid practice. What quest were you completing?"

I considered making up a story, but the truth about what I was doing was going to get out, eventually. It would be better to take the weak hit today instead of the big hit tomorrow. “I was asked to investigate the missing people by some of the guards.” As soon as I finished speaking, a prompt came into view and I had to work to suppress a sigh.

You have lost 200 relationship points with the Adventuring Guild of Afrium. Your relationship has gone from Neutral (0) points to Neutral (-200)

It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Technically, I was still “neutral.” “I see well. I will strongly suggest that you abandon the quest. The proper course of action would be for the guards to submit the quest to us, but it is your choice. Now for the dagger, without knowing who cast the spell, there is little that can be done. Eventually, the magic will fade away. Until then, I would hide the blade.”

I placed the blade back into the ring. “I see, thank you. Do you know of any cults? Specifically, one dealing with a “Forbidden” something? I assume the person gathering the souls needs them for something."

“I will see what I can find out, but I make no promises. I would suggest you decide how you want to continue. The owner of the blade will certainly come to reclaim it. You can either get rid of the blade now or wait for them to come to you.”

“I considered that, but I don’t know who I am dealing with. They can be ten or even twenty levels higher than me for all I know.” The old man laughed at that before shaking his head. “As far as I know there is no one that powerful in the city.”

“Perhaps, do you mind if I ask you for your name?” The man raised an eyebrow at me. “You picked a fine time to ask. You may call me Madani. From what I have heard, your name is Darterrius. I am not familiar with your lineage. I have never heard the names Solomon or Maximilian.”

I laughed at that. “Well, it is a name I chose for myself. I don’t think anyone else has it.”

“Is that right? Audacious of you, but I can appreciate someone taking initiative. Was there anything else you needed?” I shook my head. “In that case, I must ask you to depart. There are a few things that require my attention.”

I stood up and began to depart. “Before I leave. Who would I need to talk to about submitting a quest? I have something that might be interesting.”

“You will speak to an attendant once you have the details of the quest. We would then assign it a difficulty value and post it for anyone to accept. Be forewarned that failing to pay the offered reward for a quest will have dire consequences.” I nodded and stepped out of the room. I decided to leave the guild for now. I wanted to cast my lot with regular people first and if I still needed people, I would come back here and see what I could get."

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With that finished, the next thing was to take care of the egg. I made my way beyond the second wall and toward the location of the auction hall. The building was three stories and made from stone, wood, and clay. The main entrance was a large arched doorway that didn’t have an actual door. On either side, it was flanked by stone warriors. One held a sword with the point down, while the other held an open book. The whole thing reminded me of a court or government building. There were very few people working, though. I made my way to an unattended desk. “Hello? Is there anyone here?”

“Ah yes, yes! I will be right with you?” I turned as a woman made her way into the room. She was disheveled, with her micro-braids hanging down her face. She was holding a stack of scrolls, one she was trying to hold against a wall to stop it from fully unrolling.

“Help her.” Tenebris’ voice broke through the momentary stun and I made my way over to her. I gently grabbed the scrolls from her so she could stand properly. “I uh, well tha-thank you” Her eyes went as wide as saucers when she got a good look at me. She was about two feet shorter than me, even in her heels. “Ah, you are a very large man.”

“Thanks? Where would you like me to put these?” I gestured to the scrolls. “Oh! Right, uh, could you follow me?” I nodded, and she led me into a backroom. It looked a bit like an apartment building’s mail room, only filled with scrolls. “Just give me a minute.” She began sorting each of the scrolls into a different slot. The process was oddly calming to watch. It was a bit like watching a finely tuned machine operating on autopilot. Once she was finished, she turned to me.

“Right uh, sorry about that. What did you need help with?” She asked with all the joy of a customer service representative who had talked to way too many people today. “Right. I was hoping to talk about the auction. I have something I would like sold and I want to see if I can get a line of credit?”

“Right, right, uh, well, I can help you with that. Come with me.” She led us back into the first and then into a side room. When we entered, she placed a hand on a stone next to the doorway. A second later, a hush fell on us. “What was that?”

“Noise dampening enchantment.” She took a seat at the desk and gestured for me to sit across from her. “Right, so let’s begin with the line of credit. Any debt opened with us will need to be paid in full within seven years. If not, we will be forced to send someone to collect before the end of that year.” She held up a hand to cut off the question I was going to ask. “The maximum amount we can do for you depends on your reputation. Are you a part of either of the guilds? Or do you belong to one of the merchant families?”

“No, to all of those questions.” Before I could continue, she cut me off with a sigh. “Right, well, in that case, we will be limited in what we can offer you. We will require you to provide either proof of being able to pay us back or sign an agreement to work as caravan guard—” I wasn’t sure if Sanaa and Tenebris felt my irritation through the bond or if they were just as irritated as I was with the situation. Either way, the pair of them let out a low growl that stopped the woman mid-sentence. I reached up and gently stroked their scales as I took a deep breath.

“I was asking if you can give me credit for an exchange. I have the money, but I don’t want to carry it around with me. I don’t need your money for this. Now, if you can take care of this issue, that would be great. If not, I would appreciate it if you would say so.”

“I ah right well, I will ask if you can keep your—” I stepped in and interrupted her. “I would strongly recommend you don’t call them pets. They hate that word.” She took one look at me and then at them and slowly nodded her head.

“How much did you need?” I placed a hand on the table and willed all of my remaining gold bars, the gold claws, the rest of the golden beast parts, and the basilisk egg to appear. When she saw everything, her eyes practically popped out of her head. Suddenly, she became much happier. “Ah well, I, of course, can help you with this. It will take us some time to review the bars. We will need to check their purity, of course. Not to say that a distingui—” I waved my hand to stop her.

“Take all the time you need.” She smiled, stood up, gave me an actual waist-length bow, and left the room. She moved so quickly you would think someone was chasing her.

“Why do this?” Tenebris asked as he folded his wings close to his body. “Because it will make things easier. It will also guarantee that people know about us. Ideally, we can raise our profile enough that when I start asking for people to move to Radiance, they jump at the chance.”

“Why don’t you say that?” Sanaa added. “Because I also want to buy things at the auction. They looked so fun on TV so it could be exciting.” Our conversation was interrupted when the woman and a man entered the room. The man was a bit taller than her. He was mostly bald except for a single braid going down to his waist. He also had cat-like brown eyes and slightly pointed ears. “Greetings, greetings. I am told that you have some business you would like to do with us?”

He swept into the room with a flair that immediately picked up my mood. He took a seat across from me. “I am told that you would like to exchange your fortune for credit. Are you intending to do the entire thing?” I smiled, leaned forward, and nodded. “Yes, though, would I be able to get back anything that I don’t spend?”

“Of course, of course. I am afraid I don’t have a recollection of your family name. Would you happen to be a dignitary visiting from abroad?” I shook my head. “No matter, no matter. It will take us some time to get this stored away for you. Have you received a catalog of everything for sale?”

“I have not.” The man reached into his robes and removed a scroll. “In that case, it is my honor to provide you with one. We can also provide a private booth for you and the guests you would bring.” I slowly nodded, knowing that Zakia would probably be annoyed by it, but what was money for if you weren’t willing to have a little fun? “That would be perfect. I mentioned that I wanted to have something sold for me as well.” I gestured to the Basilisk egg. The man reluctantly parted with the bar of gold in his hand and picked up the egg. After reading it for a time, he placed it back on the table.

“Ah, it’s in good shape and it doesn’t look close to hatching. I will have added once we finish our business today. I assume you would like the proceeds added to your account with us?” I nodded. “Perfect then it will all be taken care of. If you would like, I can arrange for an attendant to meet with you in your room. They might be able to add additional context to what is for sale.”

“That should be fine. Oh, if you have anything that would be beneficial for my companions, would you notify me? I am always looking for something that would help them grow.” The man nodded as he looked at the two dragons.

“Of course. Is there anything else you need?” I was about to shake my head when I realized I had the perfect opportunity. “Yes actually. I am in Afrium searching for people willing to move and settle in a new city. Would you be willing to have that announced at either the beginning or the end of the auction?” At that, the man paused, as if considering how he should respond.

“We would, of course, need payment for that. Also, we are unable to endorse your undertaking. I am sure that your endeavor will be fruitful, but we are unable to link our reputation with yours. Especially not on something as serious as this.” I was just about to chalk up the ask to reach for too much when a notification appeared.

Notice! Neither the relationship between the State of Radiance and the Merchants of the Grand Emporium nor your Statescraft skills are at a high enough level to broker this kind of agreement. Increase either or both in order to make similar agreements in the future.

I read and reread the notification. It was good to know that renown would have tangible benefits, but it wasn’t much good for me now. If I managed to deal with this kidnapper, I might get a boost to it. I made a mental note to look into it later, but for now, I smiled as politely as I could. “Of course. I hope we can build such a friendship in the future but for now. I would appreciate it if you merely spread the word that the opportunity exists.”