Chapter Twenty-One


    Eric Delorsa walked a jaunty jig into Nidaros. He paid little attention to the groups that went about their business. Nidaros was a town of length. Buildings and walls made with vertical logs and intertwined planks. Runes gleamed on some of the buildings.


    Dirt roads wound throughout the little town, and the scent of ocean spray carried on a slight breeze. A large cliff overlooked the town, atop it could only be Lord Egir’s castle. It was a circular design, almost like a fort to Eric’s eyes. Planks made up the walls, but they weren’t ruddy to look upon, instead the planks had been polished smooth, runes shining upon them.


    It took up most of the cliff and a singular path led up to it. A seagull drifted lazily above it. Even from here, on the main road, Eric could see the two guards at the gate that barred the way up to the castle proper.


    Conversation drifted to his ears.


    “Adventurers Guild has put up a bounty for a werewolf in the forest! They say it could be high D-Grade, maybe even C-Grade! They need a gold class adventurer to take it on.”


    A robed pink haired woman was saying excitedly to a pasty faced youth in silver chainmail. Her white robes were touched here and there with blue lining, and she held a brown-gold sceptre. Her green eyes sparkled in the light of the sun.


    She might have been pretty, if Eric bothered to notice that sort of thing. The youth had strong features, but his brown eyes were dull. He shrugged at his companions words,


    “What does it matter? We aren’t going to have anything to do with it.”


    Pink haired girl slapped his shoulder, the chainmail ringing.


    “Dummy! Gold-rank adventurers are a rare sight! Think of the questions we could ask! Lord Egir is only silver!”


    Eric rubbed his hands. There appear to be ranks separated by metals here, which is good to know, as he acknowledged them to himself. He had no idea what they meant, but it wouldn’t be hard to find out.


    Finding a nearby tavern wasn’t hard, and he slid into a table near the very back moments later. A plump blonde woman in serving attire came over to him, flashing a dimpled smile.


    “What can I get for you, hon? Our specialty is a pork roast right now, and we have a nice honey mead to go with it.”


    He gave her an easy grin. He might have missed it if he hadn''t been used to picking up on it, but an ever so slight shudder went through the woman, her smile suddenly looking slightly strained.


    “I''ll take that. Sounds delicious.”


    She nodded, writing it down on a notepad.


    “Right then, that''s 25 SC.”


    Eric willed the System to give her some of his SC and it was taken from his account. Her eyes glazed over for a moment as she verified, nodded politely, and walked away. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Eric was here for a purpose, of course. To observe and to listen. He could have attempted walking right up to the castle, using his legendary skill to take over, killing everyone inside.


    However, he couldn''t be sure it would work out that way. Lord Egrin could be very powerful, but for all he knew, his skill might be useless.


    He snorted softly, that hadn''t been the case yet, but it didn''t pay for him to take stupid chances.


    He sat. He waited.


    He did that for most of the day, picking up lots of information. He had to piece it all together like a puzzle, but he managed it.


    What he came away with was incomplete but gave him a good grasp of how things worked here in Midgard. The Adventurers Guild could be considered the main organization of this world.


    It worked much like a mercenary organization worked. You paid them a fee to put up a job, and an appropriately ranked adventurer or group of adventurers picked it up and did it, collecting their pay from the people who offered the job.


    It usually came with experience because it often involved fighting monsters or a group of bandits. Sometimes, it involved collecting dangerous ingredients from a dungeon or other such place. Regardless, Eric had also learned a lot about the rankings.


    It was more than just your grade; it also considered how many jobs you had completed and how dangerous a job was or ended up being. Then, you had to take an assessment. Based on how well you did in that test, you ranked up.


    What was crucial to Eric, was your ranking determined where you could go in Midgard. A tin-ranked adventure, basically an E-Grade with no jobs completed, was stuck in town, hardly better than a civilian. If a civilian wanted to move out of town, they had to get approval from the town''s lord, and then a group of appropriately ranked adventurers escorted them.


    Eric had wondered why this was so, but no one had talked about it yet. He had only figured that out because an elderly couple had talked about moving to Laragos, and they had to have a jade-ranked adventurer party of three to do that.


    Currently, he was frowning, rubbing his hands absently. No one had revealed anything in particular about Lord Egrin. He was able to confirm that the forerunner used a spear. But is it the spear I’m looking for? He sipped at his mead.


    It was fine, certainly nothing to write home about. A little too sweet for him.


    Moving around would be a problem because Eric didn’t want to leave a trail of bodies in his wake wherever he went. Those he had killed in the forest were going to draw attention enough already if and when they were discovered.


    Not that he was worried about it. It would appear as if they killed each other unless someone was smart enough to think it was a skill; those deaths would remain a perplexing mystery. If found out, it could bring dangers upon him that he may not be ready for.


    He drummed his fingers lightly on the tabletop, mulling over his options as his viper brown eyes trailed over the room. It had grown considerably bigger, with parties of adventurers discussing their plans or going over loot they had found.


    The blonde serving woman was still present, bustling from table to table with practiced efficiency. Another woman had joined her, a matronly woman with silver-white hair and a warm smile. Scents of cooking food, mead, and well-traveled adventurers were in the air.


    Eric wanted to get involved with this town''s less reputable people. He did not doubt that they existed. Where there was society, there were criminals. It was a multi-universal fact as far as he was concerned.


    If he could get a grip on the town''s underworld, that was sure to open doors for him.


    There was Ambrose to think about, too. He was sure to come after Eric. It wouldn’t be all that hard for him to figure out where he had gone. Getting the cash together would be difficult, but Eric knew Ambrose Severen. He would find a way as surely as the sun rose.


    It would be nice to have resources in place to slow him down when that happened.


    Eric had felt that pressure from him, that overwhelming unseen force that threatened to crush everyone in its radius. That was part of why he had left for Midgard. He had nothing to counter that. He had no spiritual skill of his own, and that was very quickly becoming a problem.


    This spear, though, if the information dossier he had bought was accurate, and it had been so far, would help with that.


    I will have that spear. After that…then we’ll see.