Finally, after a couple of hours of dead ends, loops, and otherwise wandering, I finally made it back to the guildhall. The place was rowdy enough that I questioned if the banners were doing anything to deal with the noise.
Carefully, I navigated through the clusters of people and tables, avoiding the two very drunk men reaching out as I went for the stairs. Just as I stepped onto the first step, Ginny yelled to catch my attention. “Kyren, can we talk?” While I wasn’t all that great at reading people''s emotions, even I could tell she looked a tad upset.
Without saying anything else, or looking to make sure I followed, she turned and started in the direction of the training rooms. This had me sweating as it could be out of courtesy or not. She could be trying to make sure we didn’t have to yell to make ourselves heard, or she could be making sure no one else could eavesdrop on the conversation.
The training room she led me into was the same one I had been using this entire time and, to my relief, we were not the only ones there. In addition to my three instructors, a short, green-skinned man stood to the side. While he looked like I would have imagined a goblin would, I doubted it because goblins didn’t typically live in human cities. Hell, they were usually the foot soldiers in armies sent to kill humans. Add to that the amount of glass vials and pouches strewed across his body, I highly doubted he was a goblin.
“Where the hell have you been?” Mindi asked. She sounded a bit miffed about something.
“Dealing with the frog creature things,” I said as my mind completely spaced on the name of the creatures. Only after I said it did I realize I could have just looked in my inventory as the corpses were labeled.
“The emergency quest ended hours ago, where have you been since then?” Barti asked, his voice sounding neutral, but something told me that something else was going on.
“I was dragged into a meeting with one of the guards.”
Every one of them stiffened at that but it was Barti that asked the question I was sure they all had on their mind. “Which guard?”
Thinking back, I tried to figure out if he ever told me his name. Curiously enough, while I felt like he had, I couldn’t recall him actually doing so. Thankfully though, I had at least heard his secretary say his last name. “He never told me his name, but I did hear someone call him Mr. Morrowgrave.”
“Tall, thin, odd purple eyes?” Ginny asked. I nodded. “That would be Kaelis Morrowgrave. The guard captain for the city. Do you mind telling us what you guys talked about?”
For some reason, the tension in the room increased to the point that I might have been able to cut it with a butter knife. They were clearly stressed out and I didn’t blame them. If I was looking to do something and one of the people you were helping had a meeting with an enemy, I would be worried about what they would do and say. Too bad for the captain, I didn’t trust him to tell me the whole truth. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t take the quest. I would still have to think about that. What it did mean was that I wouldn’t keep it secret, at least not from these four.
“He simply asked me to keep an eye on the other races and report anything they might have planned.”
The tension in the girls'' bodies vanished. Barti, however, stayed tense as he asked another question. “And will you?”
“I don’t know.”
“How can you not know?” Tindi scoffed. “It is a simple decision. Either you trust us or you don’t. So, which is it?”
“Nope,” The goblin-looking man finally says. His crisp accent, while hard to place, cut through the air and stopped anyone else from talking. “I think the lad is well within his rights to be hesitant. It was no different when I came to the city years ago. Every creature, human and not, are taught to trust those with higher authority without argument. That is great until someone or something proves them wrong.”
The last of the tension filtered out of the air as he continued, “It is your job, as his teachers, friends, and guildmates, to explain why the person is wrong. Sometimes they come around, other times they don’t. That is their choice. So, Tindi, why don’t you explain why you think it is a simple decision? It doesn’t even have to be her, any one of you four could explain this to him. Hell, one of you might have tried to explain this before it came to this.”
While the four of them mulled over what he said, I had to know something. “Who are you?”
“I, my dear,” he said as a smile filled his face. A smile filled with lots of pointy teeth. “Am the Guildmaster. Before you ask, yes, I am a goblin. Though, unlike my brethren, I have long since tamed my ravenous need for flesh.” I didn’t know what was worse, the look of his teeth or his admission to desiring to eat flesh.
Thankfully, Barti’s soft voice pulled my attention from the Guildmaster, and his smile, toward him. “You have been fortunate enough not to be exposed to the dark truth of this city. Fortunate to not see how non-humans are treated for even the simplest mistakes. The beatings some get for simply walking too slow or bumping into some human’s path.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
His voice cracked, almost as if he was recalling something. “If that were not bad enough. The beatings for those who try and defend them are worse. I have had to be physically held back as…as…” The elf’s voice cracked again. While I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, I could have sworn that I saw the glint of tears falling as he tried to continue. “As a kid tried to save his mother by shoving the human enough to cause them to stumble. The nearby guards cut the kid''s head off without even bothering to ask what was going on.”
What the fuck was going on in this goddamned town? What developer was sick enough to add such a backstory? Also, what else had happened to make the hardass elf cry?
At that point, my face was probably one of abject horror. As Mindi moved to comfort Barti, Ginny took over. “This isn’t isolated to one section of the city or another. There are laws in place to protect the humans and suppress every other race.” Hearing that made me think of what had happened in the arena with the guards.
“Then why don’t people leave? Maybe get the,” I stalled for a second as I tried to figure out what kind of government this nation had. Eventually settling on nobility as the most likely option given what I had seen. “Nobles in a nearby city to come and deal with the issues?”
While Tindi glared at me like I was stupid and the Guildmaster’s smile grew, Ginny sighed. Almost sounding as if she was disappointed in my answer. “You think some people haven’t done just that? None of the ones that leave are ever heard from again. Given that, when they go to leave, the guards search and confiscate everything on them to pay back an overdue tax or bill, they likely don’t even make it a day without dying.”
“Wait,” I stop her, confused as to how the guards could even do such a thing. Could they see inside everyone''s inventory or something? If so then how would smuggling and such work in this game? Surely the developers wouldn’t kill off such an interesting tactic to gain riches and knowledge.
She shook her head. “It has to do with the city itself. Specifically, the magic that allows it to exist at all. It is the same magic that protects the city from monsters.”
“But what about the…actually never mind.” I wanted to ask about the emergency quest and the fact that the creatures could have taken over the city, but now was not the time to get sidetracked.
She waited a few seconds to see if I had another question before continuing. “But, none of that matters. From what the few human adventurers we have on our side, have said, the nearby nobles have been told to stay their hand.” That did not sound good. It almost sounded as if at least a few higher-ups were complicit in what was going on here. As the nobles were told to not interfere instead of copy, this town was likely a testing ground for future plans.
While all of this had my emotions flaring, one thought brought me back to the ground, settling my emotions. This was a game. While it looked real, it wasn’t. I had been having so much fun and loving the challenge that I hadn’t even bothered to look for ways to make money. Now, I needed the money and I didn’t have time to decide between what was right and what was wrong. I needed to find a decent source of income. Something steady. Something that I could live with. With the internal reminder, I simply asked, “While I get that this is bad for the non-humans, what is in it for me?”
Barti was looked at me with something resembling resignation. As if he had expected more but couldn’t be bothered to argue. Ginny and Mindi both wore shocked looks. Almost like they couldn’t believe what they had just heard come out of my mouth. The Guildmaster, I didn’t even want to know what that face meant. It sent shivers down my spine and had something in the back of my head telling me to run.
Tindi, on the other hand, looked pissed. “How about doing the right thing? It is not always about what you can get. In fact, you sound like the demons every time someone goes to ask for something.”
Wait, demon? That came out of left field. “Tindi, there were better ways to say that,” Ginny spoke through her hand as she rubbed her face.
Tindi, looked like she realized what she had said but I spoke before either could say anything. Looking directly into the Guildmaster’s eye, I asked, “What demons?”
He sighed. Leaning against the wall as he started. “There are demons inside the city. Well, only one family. They are the ones behind the scenes pulling the strings.”
“As in deal-making, soul-devouring, devil-following creatures from hell?”
“While I have personal experience with their need to form deals, I have never heard of any that eats souls or that they follow a devil.” He continued after taking a second to think about something. “And, while I don’t know where they come from, I know that they are not native to our world.”
I took a second to think about what he said and the ramifications of these creatures. “So, what limits would there be if I made a deal with one?”
“Depends on what you are offering in return.” The Guildmaster said while Tindi and Mindi both yelled out in protest. His voice was soft as he calmed the two of them. “Now, girls, he is the only one that can decide his path. No one else can do it for him.” Looking back at me, his tone grew a bit harder. “While I would never approve of such action, there are a few things that you need to know about demons for if you do decide to take this path.”
“Demons cannot lie. They can twist the truth, but they cannot lie.” He continued. “And their contracts are binding. Neither side can break it. Even in death, the contract will find a way to fulfil the conditions. Not that they are easy to kill. Not at your current level.”
Well there went my idea to backstab a demon for money and power. But who knows, maybe I should still do it. Surely the demon has connections outside of this town. Connections that would open doors for me. But, would the doors opened by the demon be worth more than my betrayal of all the other species? Could my helping the people here open a path that would otherwise stay closed? Neither was guaranteed, but they were both likely outcomes. Hell, even if there was no one person here with the power to do anything, saving them would be more likely to let me travel to their nations. Nations that might be closed off if I try to make a deal with a demon hell bent on killing or enslaving all non-humans.
“I…” I started but stopped as I tried again to think of what path would be best. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. At least not right now. “I need time to think about this.”
The Guildmaster nodded. “Go, eat, get cleaned up and get some sleep.” He looked over at Tindi, Barti, and Mindi. “Take the next to days to think about your options. Come down here and train when you can. That way you can ask any questions you have.”
My nod was jerky and my steps a bit faster than normal as I made my exit. The door was barely open when the yelling started. Ignoring it, I did as he bade. Ordering a plate of food be delivered to my room so I could shower before I ate. The server offered to get my dress cleaned and returned before tomorrow and I agreed without hesitation. Even with my mind occupied with everything I had just heard, I could smell just how rank I had become.