They enter the walls of the supposed "Citadel" and proceed to a back alley where the guards at the front gate can't hear them. They all take in the sights around them. Even though they are in a back alley, they can still see the castle which is just an outstanding size. Nathan, who has been in several football and basketball stadiums is thinking that it's about double the size of the WVU football stadium which is able to hold up to 60,000 people, not including the people on the field.
"This place is just outstanding, there are so many different types of building styles that you can't pinpoint just one style in a big group."
Tanner points this out and the others quickly agree with them as they nod their heads up and down.
"Tanner did an intense bluff for us to get in here, so what's next on our criminal agenda?"
Nathan, who has noticed how many crimes they have done, decides to point out all of their bad deeds. Joey looks at Nathan with a sour face.
"We did all of this to survive this harsh world, and half of these ideas came from either you or Tanner so that says something about your morale characters."
Tanner, who had gotten out of the driver's seat and into the carriage to discuss what to do, chuckles at Joey's remark and just shrugs his shoulders.
"Well since the lie about taking a request from a guild seems to have worked, let's look for the guild. Maybe from them, we can find out more about what is going on." says Bree.
"That's probably the best thing to do right now so I agree with Bree." Tanner says in return.
Tanner nods his head as to pump himself up after agreeing with Bree. He starts to think of a few lies he can say to the guild to have them explain the details of this world without looking suspicious.
"Alright, I'll ask around and see what I can find."
As Tanner gets up to get out of the carriage, Nathan stops him.
"I'll come with you and ride out front, I can help you look for the guild and I'm pretty good at lying. While I am at it I can find out how much this currency is worth."
"Alright, sounds good."
Tanner and Nathan, who are usually arch enemies, finally work together to get something done for once. They both take their spots in the front of the carriage and the carriage starts to move at a slow pace. The part of town they are in seems to be busy especially since it is near one of the entrances. There are merchants everywhere trying to sell their product. The product ranges from an apple looking type of object to what seems to be leather-like armor.
"Only the finest wares from the Laithys Chapel!" "Get the best weapons from the best blacksmiths from the Dwarven Kingdom." "Here is the best foods and herbs from the Beastial Dukedom!"
All these are pitches coming from the many merchant stalls stationed up and down the main road. Tanner makes a note in his head of all the different territories that are being said. Nathan is trying to catch the attention of someone beside him but to no avail. The carriage starts to slow down due to the traffic of the other carriages around. Nathan can sense that people are staring at them. He can't tell whether it is curiosity or something more sinister.
"Man, we need to ditch these clothes sometime soon, they are attracting too much attention." Nathan says this at Tanner with an urgency, but Tanner just waves him off.
"We have to wait until we get to the guild and find out how much that currency is worth, we can't look like easy prey, it might make us lose some money."
"I guess you're right."
Nathan just looks at the ground in defeat because he knows he lost that argument.
"I don't want to ask someone where the guild is because it will make it seem like we haven't been here before and I don't want to stand out due to-"
Tanner stops talking because he can hear a conversation going on behind him that will completely blow their cover.
"Uh yes, you. Do you know where we can find the local guild, it seems that my driver has gotten lost."
Tanner turns around to find Joey with the door open and talking to the man driving the carriage beside them. The man in the carriage is well equipped but doesn't look like a guard, in fact, he looks like an adventurer.
"Yeah I do, actually I'm on my way there, you are going the right way but you can follow me just in case so you don't get lost."
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
"Thank you, driver, follow this kind man."
Joey smiles at Tanner as if he is a noble and Tanner is just a driver but Tanner hides his anger so they don't lose their cover.
"Yes sir, and thank you, kind sir."
The adventurer just nods at Tanner in acknowledgement. Nathan chuckles a little bit after hearing Joey talk to Tanner like that, but Tanner comes back with a witty retort.
"At least I have a position, at the rate you're going, you'll just be a lowly peasant that Joey picked up because he felt bad."
With saying that, the two look at each other with anger but it quickly subsides and they both start laughing. Nathan and Tanner have been like this throughout their Middle school and High school years together so they took no offence. After about 10 minutes of driving around in the carriage and following the adventurer, they come onto an enormous building that is huge in comparison to the other buildings around it.
"Why does the guild have to be so huge?!" Nathan asks.
"I don't know, but it seems to have a lot of purposes." Tanner says in response.
Tanner could tell this by looking at the different classes of people who walked in and out of the buildings. This is his first time noticing, but there are what seemed to be demi humans living here too. They were just like what is in anime, simply a human with their respective animal ears on their heads. Nathan just stares at these people in utter awe since he is into the demi-human thing, not sexually but you know, just interested.
"Here we are, this is where we leave our carriages."
The adventurer shows Nathan and Tanner where to stop the carriage, and once stopped Tanner imitated what the adventurer did and tied the reigns into the post. The post, which has a hole at the top, is at the end of what would be considered a parking spot.
"Wait, can't someone just steal this?" Tanner asks the adventurer this, but the adventurer just turns around and looks at Tanner like he is stupid.
"I don't know what guild you have been too, but they have watch guards all over the place so no one steals, and no one in their right mind would ever steal from a guild due to how much power they have over the kingdoms."
"Hahaha, I guess you're right, I must've forgotten."
Tanner nervously laughed while saying his former statement because he in fact probably sounded like an idiot. Joey and Bree have left the inside of the carriage and Nathan got off the passenger's seat so they all proceeded inside together, following the adventurer closely as to not get lost. The outside was pure white, and it kinda looked like the Capital of the U.S., just on a slightly smaller scale. The adventurer turned around and looked at them all.
"Welcome to the Citadel's guild! I guess this is where we part ways so good luck on your journey."
The adventurer walks up to Joey and shakes his hand, but ignores the rest of the group, probably since he thought Joey is nobility and the rest are just servants. As he walks away, Tanner makes sure to flip him off. Nathan just shakes his head and laughs at Tanner. Tanner just turns and flips Nathan off too.
"Come on you two, grow up." says Joey with a smart remark.
They both look at Joey with the intent of fighting, but Joey just laughs loudly at their anger. They decide to walk up to the closest counter to them.
"Oh, I have never seen you before, are you new to the Citadel?"
"Yes we are, can you please inform us of this guild's functions?"
Tanner is the first to speak up hoping the woman can quench his thirst for the curiosity welling up inside of him. The guild woman smiled at him and at length explained the guild's functions.
"So basically what you're saying is the guild not only offers quests for adventures, but it also gives out loans, is where all the people go to buy houses, and also has its own army which is stationed in each big town in each kingdom?" Bree asks.
"That is correct."
Bree's statement is confirmed by the guild woman and they all understand why the guild is so big, half of it is used for the guild's army. The reason behind this is that the original hero Laithys had made the guild and used his influence to firmly make it into an everyday use. This was so there is also a neutral party in any major conflict between kingdoms.
"So I have a question, what can this get me?"
Nathan puts the pouch onto the table so the woman could look at it. The woman opens the bag and her eyes open so wide that you clearly see the white from the section around her blue irises.
"This is... You could buy a medium-sized house with this gold coin and be able to live off these Iron coins for about a year. If you don't know, 100 bronze coins are 1 iron coin, 100 iron coins are 1 gold coin, and 100 gold coins are equal to one platinum coin."
"Well I know now, thank you." Nathan says.
The woman slightly bows to accept the thanks and looks at the others.
"Do you have any more questions?"
"Yes, where can we buy a house?"
Tanner asks this question and the woman immediately points to the woman to her left.
"If you wish to buy a house, this is the woman to talk to, her name is Catia!"
The woman slightly elbows the girl named Catia because she was spacing out.
"Huh, yes?!!"
The girl is surprised by the sudden elbow to the side and looks at the four.
"This is her first day, so please be kind to her."
The woman just walks away, leaving Catia and the four alone together. They awkwardly stand there for about a minute without saying anything. Nathan goes to say something and the woman named Catia interrupts him.
"My name is Catia and this is my first day, so please let me handle you with utter proficiency."
The girl violently bows her head down and she is blushing very badly. The girl is about 5'2, and she has short brown hair that kinda looked like she has a bobbed hairstyle. She also has small brown cat ears poking through her blue hat. She has on a matching outfit, which is like a blue jacket vest with a white button up shirt under it, and she has on a short blue skirt with black panty hoes going down her legs.
"Hey don't worry, this is our first time too so we can learn together."
Joey tried to calm the girl down, and it seems it has worked.
"Really, well then this will be a learning experience for all of us! Please follow me!"
She leads the group into a room that is behind the counter. Inside is a few filing cabinets on the left and right walls and a desk in the middle. There is two seats on one side, and five seats on the other.
"Please take a seat and we can begin the process of you buying your first home!"