ã€ŠThe Simple Life Of An Archmageã€‹


 Chapter 1: Inheritance

    Chapter 1: Inheritance

    --Prologue--

    While busy working on the plans of the new high rise project that his New York City based firm has been commissioned on, Eizo Walker has decided to finally quit his hectic work as an architect and just design and build furniture on his own time. He¡¯d inherited his grandfather¡¯s house upstate and that¡¯s where it was ideal for him to set up a workshop. Of course, this did not just occur to him all of the sudden. He has been debating with himself about this idea for the past year.

    Eizo had just turned 26 years old last month. He¡¯s single, no children, and he doesn¡¯t spend a lot of money. He¡¯d figured that his savings is enough for him to get by until he start earning a little money selling furniture he¡¯d made. Not that he did not like architecture any more. That will always be a passion of his. But he had other interests as well that he¡¯d like to pursue and he¡¯d like to live a more tranquil and quieter life away from the city.

    Family wise, Eizo had no one. Both his parents had passed away 3 years ago due to a traffic accident. He had no living relatives in his father¡¯s side and all his relatives in his mother¡¯s side was living in Japan.

    He talked to his boss about his plans and agreed to stay for a whole month to settle his work and help with the transition. The company and his boss personally had been good to him. Of course, part of the reason for that was because Eizo had always performed well in his work. He said his goodbyes to his co-workers and friends and let them know as well about his intentions. He had made some valuable contacts that can help him sell his furniture in the future and he¡¯d like to keep them.

    Eizo spent about a week organizing his stuff, separating things he was going to keep and things he was going to leave. The moving itself was easy enough. He¡¯d rented a truck and hired a couple of guys and moving all his things took just one trip. After using the remaining time of the day organizing his things in his new home, Eizo was reasonably tired. He ate a small diner and went to bed.

    --End of Prologue--

    The next day, Eizo woke up excited to begin his new life. After breakfast, he decided first to walk around and have a good look at the property that had been abandoned for the last 14 years since his grandfather disappeared. No one knew why and how he disappeared but Eizo remembered that he had a good relationship with him and was saddened for a long time after his leaving. The lot was quite big. The perimeter was surrounded by trees and his nearest neighbor was quite a distance away. From the front door of the house, it¡¯s about 50 meters to the road with the land gently sloping down. The backyard was about 25 meters deep.

    (Hmmm, I think it¡¯ll be nice to have a vegetable garden here someday.)

    The house itself was moderate in size except for the attached garage that can fit around three cars. This garage was perfect for Eizo to set up his workshop for him to make furniture with ample space to spare. Cleaning this space was his task for the day.

    (Oh god! -cough- -cough- I guess this is what 14 years of neglect can get you.)

    The garage was dusty all around. Cobwebs was hanging everywhere and the floor was covered in random junk that you could not see the floor.

    (Grandpa must have collected this things over the years. There¡¯s even a jukebox in here and a bunch of old records. I didn¡¯t know he liked music that much. But then again, who doesn¡¯t like music?)

    Half a day had passed when he¡¯d finally reach the back wall of the garage where a lot of wood panels, cabinets, and other wood works were leaning. He carried them all out after some difficulty and that was when he saw a double barn door around 2.5 meters in total width. The handle bars had been linked close with a chain and a padlock.

    (I wonder what¡¯s inside? Where does this even lead to?)

    Eizo knew the general layout of the house and he didn¡¯t realize that there could be hidden room in there. The day went by and he was finally finished in cleaning. He had taken out all the useless garbage and kept only what he can use for the house of the workshop.

    The next day, he called for a taxi and went to the nearest car dealership which he¡¯d look up in his phone and was about an 45 minutes away. He wanted to buy a small truck which he needed today and would definitely be useful in the future for his workshop.

    Not one to take a long time in deciding, Eizo picked a silver 4 cylinder 4WD Toyota Tacoma. Even though he didn¡¯t know much about trucks or cars in general, he had a good feeling about this purchase. He thought that it¡¯s a practical vehicle that can be versatile in its uses and that suited him just fine. He paid for the truck in full and quickly took care of the required paperwork.

    With a truck fresh from the dealers, he drove right away to the nearest hardware store. It was a warehouse type building and you could buy just about everything you needed in there. From gardening to electrical work supplies, they had it all (Home Depot type store). His reason for going in this store was to buy some tools he needed for his workshop. He had been making furniture for years now so he had the basic tools already, but since he had the space, he wanted to buy some power tools he¡¯d been missing.

    The first one was a band saw. He had only portable saws all those years and he had to go to a friend¡¯s workshop when he absolutely had to use one, but now, he can finally have his own band saw. He purchased a 2.5 amp 9 in. Milwaukee band saw and an assortment of saw blades of varied teeth sizes. The second item he wanted was a router table, so he went ahead and got one 24 in. x 18 in. Craftsman Router Table. This will definitely be useful in making joints and giving his work some more class.

    While walking through the store grinning menacingly thinking about his selections, he passed by the area where they had some bolt cutters on display. He was immediately reminded of that locked door in the garage that he saw yesterday, so, he snatched one of the 18 in. bolt cutter. With the help of a store employee, he loaded everything he just bought on the truck and drove straight home.

    Eizo was able to pay for these purchases in cash using some of the money he¡¯d received from his parent¡¯s life insurance. This is the first instance where he¡¯d even touched that money.

    (Well, these are all investments for my future. hehe. Not that I plan on making a lot of money later.)

    When he got home, it was only half past noon. It was an efficient morning. He parked the truck inside the garage and unloaded the power tools one at a time. He grabbed the bolt cutter and stood in front of the locked barn door.

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    (Now finally, we can see what¡¯s inside. It¡¯s been eating me since yesterday.)

    With surprisingly little effort, he cut the steel chain and open the door, sliding both panels all the way on either side. What he saw was a small room that was about 10 square meters big and it was completely empty.

    (What¡¯s the point in locking this room when there¡¯s nothing in it?)

    With a disappointed scowl, he casually stepped in the room and his environment was suddenly different. Shocked, he jumped out the room instinctively. He looked back and saw the room was just as before, empty.

    (Was I seeing things just right now. My mind must have been tired.)

    Using one leg, he stepped in again, and the room had changed again. Not only it looked different, it was also much bigger. He withdraw his leg, and the room changed again to its former state, boring and empty. He repeated this action of stepping in and out of the room if only to convince himself that this is actually happening.

    When not in the room, in was an empty, barely 10 square meters small room. When inside, it looked like a dimly lit corridor about 4 meters wide and 30 meters long. On either side, ran lit torches in regular interval. The floors dark colored stone, and the walls were made of grey bricks continuing into a vaulted ceiling around 4 meters from the floor.

    Even when his rational brain could not believe what he was seeing, he could not deny the simple fact that it really was a different room and that he was in it.

    His curiosity won over him and he started to walk towards the end of the hall. He saw that there was a big door at the end almost as big as the end wall itself. His eyes widened when he noticed what was lying on the side of the door.

    (Oh sh*t!!! A body?)

    He approached the body on a sprint and when he was close enough to make a proper observation, he saw that it was already a skeleton. It¡¯s flesh was completely decomposed. The skeleton was leaning on the wall. It was covered in what looked like something used to be a collared shirt and brown colored pants. Its right hand was holding a glass orb that seemed to be emitting a very faint light, black and purple On the left hand was something Eizo recognized. It was the golden wrist watch that his grandpa wore all the time that slid down off the wrist of the skeletal arm.

    (Granpa!? Is this you!? ...so, this is where you¡¯ve been. Were you unable to get out? No, that shouldn¡¯t be. I was able to go out earlier. What happened, grandpa?)

    The glass orb flickered a little bit and it caught Eizo¡¯s attention. He reached towards the orb and when his fingers made contact to the glass, his vision went dark. But, he could see something. In his mind, he saw his grandfather just like how he remembered him. They were both sitting in front of one another just like how they used to do when Eizo was still a child and his grandfather would tell him wild stories about magic, dragons,and heroes.

    His grandfather was looking at him with a gentle smile on his face.

    ¡°Is that you, Eizo? ...I¡¯m glad that it¡¯s you. You¡¯ve grown up well.¡±

    ¡°Grandpa, what is happening? What is this room?¡±

    ¡°How have you been, Eizo? How¡¯s your dad?¡±

    ¡°Oh right, you probably want to know. ...dad and mom, they died more than three years ago. It was a traffic accident. Many other people died. The doctors said they died before reaching the hospital. ...I¡¯m sorry, Grandpa.¡±

    Eizo was  looking down as he related the story. Tears were forming in his eyes. He thought he had recovered from the sadness of losing his parents, but telling his grandfather, even in this unexplainable situation that he couldn¡¯t even be sure if it¡¯s real, made everything resurfaced again.

    His grandfather was silent for a moment.

    ¡°I see. ...I wished I was there with you. Yet, you suffered alone. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, Grandpa. It¡¯s no one¡¯s fault. I¡¯m just happy to see you again. So, can you tell me what¡¯s happening here?

    ¡°This is a place between two worlds. It connects them. But, you¡¯ll learn all of that later on. For now, tell me about yourself. You were only 14 when I left. A lot must have happened, right?¡±

    Eizo realized that his grandfather said that because this is only temporary and they were short on time, so he held back his curiosity and told his grandfather his stories. Some of the things he told him made them both laughed. Several times his grandfather would say ¡°Really!?¡± in disbelief and then they¡¯d laughed again. It was like a scene from their past, except now, he¡¯s the one telling the stories. Several hours have passed and his grandfather and seemed content.

    ¡°Eizo, I think it¡¯s time. The orb you touched earlier has finished transferring the knowledge and power that I stored in it to you. Consider them your inheritance. Use them as you see fit.¡±

    ¡°Grandpa.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t make that face. Say your goodbye properly. I know you understand.¡±

    ¡°Goodbye, Grandpa.¡±

    ¡°Goodbye, Eizo. Take care.¡±

    Eizo opened his eyes and he was in front of the skeleton again. The orb gave it¡¯s last light and shattered into tiny crystal before crumbling into sand. After the orb was gone, the door in front of them opened, sinking into the walls themselves. Beyond, all he can see was white. He knew that this would lead him to another world. A world that he¡¯d recognized from the tales of his grandfather. A world where there is magic, dragons, elves, and more.

    Eizo at that moment knew what he had to do. He took the fabric of the decaying shirt and laid it on the floor. One by one he picked up the remains of his grandfather and placed them of the fabric; the last being the skull. He wrapped it in a bundle that he can carry with him. He stood up and took his first step towards the door way.

    (I will take you there, Grandpa: To that world you wanted to return to. Leave it to me. I will take you there.)

    Without blinking an eye, his steps steady, Eizo went into the other world.

    --End of Chapter 1--

    Author¡¯s notes:

    This is the first story that I¡¯m writing. Feel free to leave some tips on how I can proceed. I don¡¯t know how many chapters this story is going to take, but I¡¯ll try to keep the story flow naturally. When I read it over, I realized that most of the parts don¡¯t really have anything to do with magic or fantasy, I think the rest of the story is going to be like that. I think I will be writing more about technical things like carpentry tools and the like. That¡¯s one theme I¡¯m trying to incorporate.

 Chapter 2: Funeral and First Combat

    Chapter 2: Funeral and First Combat

    When he stepped into the doorway, his environment changed again and he realized he was standing somewhere in a grassy plain. It was early morning from what it seemed, so he knew that there was a difference in time from world before. He was standing  between two stones, around 4 meters apart, that were big enough to reach his waist. Looking at those stones, he knew that they were protected by a powerful magic and they can¡¯t be moved or destroyed as long as that magic was active. These stones marked the portal that he just passed through. There was an eerie silence about them that kept animals and monsters away.

    Looking around him, he saw the clearing or the grass plain was just about the size of a football stadium. All around were a forest. In the middle, was a small hill with a single tree standing on top of it. Eizo walked to the hill.

    (That looks like a good place for what I need to do.)

    After reaching the top of the hill, Eizo laid down the bundle carrying the remains of his grandfather. He wanted to give his grandfather a proper burial. From the information that was implanted to him, he knew that he had to perform a funeral by cremation, since when uncremated, bodily remains have a tendency to transform into an undead especially those with high magical concentration. So, he casted a fire spell on the remains.

    This was the first time ever he used magic. He knew the incantation as if he had known them for a very long time. It was spoken with clarity and precision. He felt the mana flowed out from him and he knew how to control it as it was exactly intended.

    The spell that he used was for a special type of flame. It was for a Spectral Flame, a flame that burned not only the physical matter but burned also the magical energy in them. He knew that this was the best way to dispose of the remains of a mage and that his grandfather would want it this way. After completely turning the remains into ashes, he recited another spell. This time a wind spell called Wind Sweep to blow the ashes away. He controlled his mana and the effect was like gentle wind blowing away carrying the ashes to the surrounding forest. Then, he recited another spell, Raise Earth. A rectangular stone emerges close from where the tree sprouted from, and it has an inscription written in the English language which he knew did not exist in this world.

    -Rufus Silvanus-

    -Great mage, even greater grandfather-

    ¡°Be at peace. I will miss you. I¡¯ve always loved your stories. When we meet again, I hope I can tell you stories about my own adventures. Goodbye.¡±

    ¡®Rufus Silvanus¡¯, that was the name real name of his grandfather that he learned the knowledge implant. He also learned that his grandfather was a great mage in his youth who reached the level of ¡®sage¡¯ at the young age of 78 and served as ¡®Archmage¡¯ of the human country called ¡®Arken Empire¡¯ for more than 200 years after that.

    From the information he had, he learned that magic was regarded very highly in this world. It was common sense that all great deeds ever done were done through magic. All throughout this world, people are dependent on magic, even though the number of gifted people able to become mages made up not more than one percent of the populace. Most mages are members of the nobility. And those of common birth who were gifted were granted a rank of that of a knight when they became 15 years old. In this way, magic was equal to power and was indispensible in measuring a country¡¯s military might. Magic was godly.

    Mages themselves have their own rank among them depending on the rank of the spells they were able to cast. The order of ranking goes from lowest to highest as novice, apprentice, intermediate, expert, master, grandmaster, and sage. The same rank applies to the spells depending on the difficulty.

    For most, the path to mastering magic was the Arken Academy of Magic. All qualified mages of the empire were admitted for free since the academy was sponsored by the empire. Few mages are able to learn through the path of apprenticeship under a ¡®Master¡¯, aptly named since only mages of the master ranked or higher can give a training that¡¯s officially accepted as equivalent to an academy certificate.

    Spells were categorized based on the element of the effect. There are six elements which are fire, water, earth, wind, light, and dark. Rufus Silvanus in his before travelling to another world was the greatest mage of the empire. No human has ever come close since. He achieved the following ranks:

    Sage rank in water element.

    Master rank in wind element.

    Master rank in earth element.

    Expert rank in fire element.

    Expert rank in light element.

    Apprentice rank in dark element.

    His accumulated mastery of magic was implanted to Eizo when he touched the orb containing them. Other informations he learned were about the world itself. After using spells for his grandfather¡¯s belated funeral, he felt somewhat drained.

    (My mana reserves should be bigger but I guess it hasn¡¯t filled up that much. Since there was no mana on Earth, even if I¡¯ve had a hereditary capacity for magic being the grandson of a great mage, I¡¯ve was not able to fill up on mana until a moment ago.)

    He sat down in front of the tombstone to rest take a moment to summarized his basic knowledge about the world.

    The world is called Crystallis. There are two continents with some islands sprawling here and there. In the eastern hemisphere of the planet lies the bigger Aria continent which hosts five of the major races in Etheria namely the Humans, Elves, Fairies, Beastmen, and Dwarves. In the western hemisphere is the Demon continent which is populated almost exclusively by the Demon race.

    The major races in Aria continent have been at peace for the most part. They had an unwritten agreement to unite whenever there¡¯s a demonic invasion from the west. The Human kingdoms are located on the great plains that made up the most of the Middle Aria Continent. The Northern Aria Continent are mostly tundra and the cold lands where the Beastmen resides. The Southern Aria Continent is covered almost entirely by the Ancient Etheria Forest that houses the Elves and the Fairies. Within the mountain range that spans from east to west, serving as a natural barrier between the Beastmen and the Human territories, is the Dwarven Kingdom.

    He also now knew two languages of this world: Human and Elven language.

    After resting quite a bit, Eizo stood up and looked at the sky.

    (Considering that it should be around late morning right now and the position of the sun, the direction from here to the portal in southward. I think I¡¯ll try my luck in that direction. If I get lucky, I¡¯ll be out of this forest before sunset.)

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Eizo walked around the stones marking the portal and south into the forest. Walking between the trees, admiring their girth, he wondered how old was this forest and came to the conclusion that it must be at least a thousand years of age. The trees were as crowded as it can get in such forest. Most of them were so tall that very little sunlight reaches the ground even though it should be the middle of the day that time.

    After walking for a couple of hours he felt that the influence of the portal were diminishing and he was beginning to sense some animal activities around him. He started walking extra cautious and he was thinking of a spell that could help him. But before he could think of the appropriate spell, he heard some noises in the bushes from his right.

    Two fully grown wolves jumped out of the bushes. One of them  sprinted towards him and the other was running to his right around him. Realizing that they were trying to flank him, he recited an audible incantation, pointed his right arm toward the wolf on his right with his hands close in a fist.

    ¡°Rock Fist!!!¡± From the ground, a ball of rock the size of a volleyball shot toward the flanking wolf. It hit the torso of the wolf and knocked it flying 2 meters away. Without taking a pause, he recited another incantation of a novice rank air spell, pointed his left arm with his hand opened, his palm facing the approaching wolf in front. ¡°Air Shield!¡± A rapidly circulating wind formed up in front of him in the shape of an elongated disk. The wolf jumped at him claws first, mouth opened wide, only to be blocked by the invisible shield made from wind. Its claws were shattered and its front legs broken as it fell backwards, whimpering.

    Not one to miss his chance, he recited an expert level spell, withdrew his right hand and gathered the mana within his fist. Fire started forming from within and while motioning his arm as if to throw it to the wolf, he shouted, ¡°Fireball!¡± Just like how it sounded a ball of fire shot out from his right hand towards the downed wolf in front of him. With the impact of the Fireball hitting its torso, the wolf was once again thrown backwards. The side of the torso where the fireball stroke home exploded like a small landmine. Flesh and blood were blown off, splattering in all direction, while the wound itself was immediately being singed by the intense heat of the fire before it spread all over the body of the wolf charring the entire animal in a bloody crisp.

    The sight and the smell of the fur and flesh being burned was enough to make Eizo gag, no to mention the crying sounds it made while it was burning. But he¡¯s not finished yet, he could throw up as much as he liked later on but there¡¯s still another wolf. He couldn¡¯t be careless now.

    The wolf who attempted to flank him earlier was on its feet, and was rushing for him as quick as it could. Seeing its mate killed increased its ferocity by two folds. Mad with anger, the wolf lunges at him still 10 meters away. Eizo¡¯s eyed widened in fear because he knew the wolf would reach him if he was unable to stop it with a very fast spell.

    Instinctively, he swung his right hand as if to claw the wolf midair. Four blades of water lunches toward the wolf and two of the blades sliced the  wolf with little resistance before it could reach him. After being deflected, the body pieces of the wolf, cut in unlikely angle,were spinning out of control, spraying its blood all over the place, before they landed apart on the ground.

    It didn¡¯t even take a minute but the encounter felt like it lasted very long for Eizo. He was panting while thinking over what just happened. He was almost killed before casting a water spell with no incantation. Reviewing his inherited knowledge about magic, he learned that casting spells of a specific element chantless were possible for those who reached grandmaster rank for that particular element. But, this came with a huge increase in the cost of mana. ¡®Water Blades¡¯ by it self was an expert rank spell. He casted four of them simultaneously chantless. He was reasonably drained of mana.

    (-gasp- I should be more careful from now on. Walking in this forest without an active detection skill is suicide. But what spell can I use instead?)

    Thinking while recovering his breath, he realized that he can use the intermediate wind spell called ¡®Air Perception¡¯ which infuses the air with small bits of wana to perceive all obstruction in space where air can flow while detecting any foreign mana in its area of effect. There was also the apprentice rank dark element spell ¡®Shadow Veil¡¯ which reduces the light being reflected on the body and dampens the sound coming from around the caster by 50 percent.

    Sustained spells such as these cost a small but continuous amount of mana to remain active. Looking inwardly into his mind, he learned that he can sustain both these spells and still continue to recover mana, slowly as it was, while resuming his trek southward.

    So he went ahead and cast ¡®Air Perception¡¯ and immediately his sense expanded 25 meters starting from his body. He knew exactly how the area around him was shaped. How big are the rock, the trees, how the earth is sloped, he knew every turn of the corner and crevices within the 25 meter radius. In addition, he felt the mana of some small animals around him and some traces of mana in can be felt on the surface of the trees where it is in contact with the air around it.

    (This is convenient, I can feel the mana of the small birds and the many insects around. And some of those trees, if I can feel mana from their surface, inside them, there must be a huge flow of mana. Not all the trees have them, I wonder what¡¯s the difference.)

    Confirming that there are no beast around that can threaten him, he casted ¡®Shadow Veil¡¯. A thin film of shadow enveloped him and he could tell the difference in the sound produced by him moving.

    He continued on his path for what seemed be 7 hours before he realized it was completely dark around him. Sensing the area with complete clarity using ¡®Air Perception¡¯ and since inside the forest was already dim, he failed to notice that the day has turned. Luckily, he can sense that he was almost at the edge of the forest. He finally saw a clearing in front of him.

    -Author''s note:

    Some action in this chapter. I''m just going by the flow as I write. Some chapters will have action some don''t. Again, leave your comments if you have some notes. peace

    p.s. what do you guys think of the length of each chapter? Too short?

    <hr />

    I made this map using fantasynamegenerators.com

    The eastern continent is Aria continent and the western one is the Demon continent.

 Chapter 3: Village of Iberia

    Chapter 3: Village of Iberia

    Eizo stepped, from the forest, into the open. He saw the bright stars in the sky and the moon seemed twice as big as the moon of Earth. It brought a smile to his face as a gentle breeze blew by.

    (You can¡¯t see that much stars from the city. -deep breath- ahh.. and the fresh air.. wait. what¡¯s that? smell like something¡¯s burnt.)

    He headed westward to the direction the breeze came from. After a bit, he saw a village, or what seemed to be the remains of a village.

    (Something terrible happened here. Should I check? No, it¡¯s dangerous. I can¡¯t be checking everything that¡¯s strange. Oh but maybe I could do that!)

    He empowered his ¡®Air Perception¡¯ extending his range to 75 meter radius and his ¡®Shadow Veil¡¯ to decrease the light and sound coming from him by additional 25 percent, a total of 75 percent reduction. There were no signs of life. Walking cautiously into the burned village, he saw a half burned hanging sign with an emblem on it. It seemed to be the village symbol but it was hard to tell what the images were.

    Going around the village gate, he used the smaller alleys to get around. The village from what he could tell was completely destroyed. Signs of battle can be seen everywhere. The smell of blood was strong. Strangely enough, there were no bodies.

    He checked everything he thought would tell him what happened to the village. He noticed what remains of bone arrows stuck on several of the houses. A shield on the ground was broken by a bone axe that is still stuck on it. There are claw marks on the doors that managed to avoid burning. Eizo concluded that this village were attacked by a big group of monsters, most likely by tool wielding monsters like Orcs or Goblins.

    He continued to explore the village and found a big ditch in the center of what seemed to be the village square. The smell seemed to be coming from here. He walked close to the edge and was petrified of what he saw. At the bottom of the ditch lies charred remains of both humans and goblins. Almost all of them turned to ash.

    (A mass cremation, of both the villagers and monsters. Meaning some people have been here after the attack. Thinking about it like that, these houses were probably burned by the same people.)

    He casted a fire smell on the remains until they are completely turned to ashes.

    (Just to be sure that these won¡¯t turn to undeads later.)

    From the village square he saw a single building that looked untouched by the goblins. He entered the building and found everything of value seemed to have been looted already. This building seemed to be a magical weapon shop. Everything has been taken away by the scavengers except for what seemed to be one training staff for mages that has fallen on the floor. Eizo took it and held it with one hand. He tested it to see if he can benefit using a training staff like that.

    He let his mana flow into the staff and tried some few novice rank spell. This staff seemed to regulate mana use a little better, although there is a limit on how much mana can be channeled through the staff at once without breaking the staff. He decided to take the staff thinking it¡¯s better than nothing.

    Behind the counter, he found a black hooded cloak with the same emblem that he saw before entering the village. The image was two staffs crossed in an X and a flame symbol above it. Below was the inscription, Village of Iberia.

    He took the cloak and wore it to protect him a little from the cold because it looked like he was going to have to camp outside for the night. He could sleep inside the shop if he wanted, but he¡¯d rather not be too close to that ditch filled with burnt bodies. He decided to continue west past the village. After getting far enough so he couldn¡¯t smell the stench from the village, he found a protruding rock the size of a small hut and decided to rest beside it until daytime.

    He chose the flat side of the rock to camp in front of. He gathered some firewood in area which was surprisingly fast, even in the dark, using ¡®Air Perception¡¯. After having enough to last him until morning, he arranged the firewood as needed then sat down leaning his back on the rock. He used the cloak, put on its hood to completely cover himself. Then, he recited a simple flame spell to lit his camp fire.

    He turned off his ¡®Shadow Veil¡¯ since it was useless with the fire so close and reduced the range of his ¡®Air Perception¡¯ to 25 meters. He felt that range was enough to detect anything that can threaten him. He fell asleep quick enough, but he was soon woken up when he detected some people from walking close to him. He remained in his seated position with one of his hand holding the staff in front of him. Other than his that hand, he was completely shrouded with his cloak.

    He whispered an incantation for ¡®Shadow Veil¡¯. He was in front of the fire, so it wasn¡¯t very useful right now. But, if he had to move and escape into the dark of the night, the few seconds that it will take him later to cast ¡®Shadow Veil¡¯ could be the difference between life and death.

    (These are the first people I¡¯m going to meet in this world. Will they be hostile or friendly? ...I just don¡¯t know what to expect.)

    The three people came close and walked into the light of the camp fire.

    ¡°Hello there! Mind if we share your fire tonight?¡± said in the human language by a middle aged man garbed in metal armor. He was equipped with a sword that was hanging on his waist and a shield strapped on his back. The two behind him were both wearing leather armor. The woman equipped with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. The younger man was equipped with a longsword.

    ¡°If you are fine with it, I don¡¯t mind.¡± -Eizo. He replied in the same language.

    ¡°Thanks lad. I go by Julian. The girl here on my right is Rose. The other one is Luke¡± -Julian

    ¡°Hello¡± -Rose

    ¡°The ¡®other one¡¯?¡± Luke

    ¡°I¡¯m Eizo.¡±

    They all took their seat around the fire and put down their gear. Eizo relaxed and took his hand off the staff.

    ¡°Well you¡¯re obviously not the main attraction here, Luke. Be glad I even bothered.¡± -Julian

    ¡°What¡¯d you s-¡± -Luke

    ¡°Anyway, Eizo, what are you doing here all alone this night?¡±-Julian

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t just ignore me!¡± -Luke

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know it¡¯s dangerous around these parts? There was a village near here that was attacked by goblins a week ago.¡± -Julian

    ¡°You mean Iberia Village?¡± Eizo

    ¡°Well, yeah. how¡¯d you kno-  Wait. Are you from that village?!¡±-Julian

    (Hmm.. He seem to be mistaking me as being from that village.)

    ¡°Yeah.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I thought. I¡¯m sorry, kid.¡±-Julian

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°I, um, how did you survive? I heard it was terrible.¡± -Rose

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t there when it was attacked.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Geez¡­ I don¡¯t know whether to say you were lucky or not. I heard it took three full party of adventurers working together to clear the village of goblins because there were more than 50 goblins in the village.¡± -Luke

    (So, those adventurers looted the village? Well, I guess they did their civil duty by cremating the bodies. But, did they have to burn the village?)

    ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid boy! You know how it is. They were probably exaggerating! Well, I¡¯ll say it. It¡¯s a good thing you survived.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Yeah, I was in the forest that time.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°The Grand Oak Forest? Were you foraging?¡± -Julian

    (He keeps making his own assumptions. Well, that¡¯s easier for me, I guess)

    ¡°Yeah, something like that. Did the goblins burned down the village?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°What? Um, no, kid. That¡¯s just the way it is. Don¡¯t take it personally. Adventurers have to burn any building that the goblins occupied to prevent the spread of diseases. It¡¯s probably part of their mission from the guild along with cremating any human remains found there. It¡¯s too bad, really. It was a good village too. Having a specialty of crafting magic staffs for such a small village. It¡¯s enviable compared to most.¡± -Julian

    (So, that¡¯s how it is? My grandpa¡¯s knowledge is telling me that the part about spreading the disease is only superstition, but I guess I can understand that. Free looting is probably part of the incentives for the adventurers. I guess crafting magic staffs is the main industry of the village. That would explain the emblem.)

    ¡°...¡±

    (Well, I should change the subject here. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯ll say if they ask more about that village.)

    ¡°um.. How about you guys? Where are you from?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Yes! We are adventurers from Tovaria.¡± -Rose

    Feeling the awkwardness in the atmosphere, Rose was happy to talk about something else.

    ¡°Tovaria? Is that a part of the Arken Empire?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Arken Kingdom? No, man. She means we¡¯re from the City-state of  Tovaria. Usually people are pretty familiar about Tovaria around these parts.¡± -Luke

    (Kingdom? I¡¯m pretty sure I said Empire, right? And this Tovaria, I don¡¯t have any information about that. I thought I knew the names with at least a basic description of all countries, city-state or otherwise, in the human territories. Is it new? Grandpa has been gone for about 53 years. He wouldn¡¯t know of anything that changed during that time. There¡¯s no newspaper here, right? Maybe I can play stupid here.)

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t study much and I spend most of my time in the forest. So, is it new? The City-state of Tovaria?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Oh that must be it.¡± -Julian

    (No, it definitely wasn¡¯t it? Am I good at lying? I think this guy is just gullible.)

    ¡°I think it¡¯s pretty new compared to other territories around here. It¡¯s about 120 years since its founding.¡± -Rose

    (120 years? That¡¯s weird.Grandpa should have known.)

    ¡°Anyway, we were passing by on our way back to Tovaria in the nearby town of Frostfield when we heard about the attack this morning. We accepted a request to patrol around these parts for straggler goblins, but, we haven¡¯t seen any.¡± -Julian

    ¡°It¡¯s good that we haven¡¯t seen any, right? You don¡¯t have to be sad about it.¡± -Rose

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Anyway we should turn in for the night. This is a pretty good camp site. So Luke, you¡¯re first night watch.¡±-Julian

    ¡°Why me!?¡± -Luke

    ¡°Who here votes for Luke to have first watch?¡± -Julian

    Julian and Rose raised a hand. Seeing that the deciding vote was on him, Eizo also raised his hand as well. Even though he can keep a watch using ¡®Air Perception¡¯ even when asleep, he¡¯d rather not reveal that right now.

    ¡°See, it¡¯s decided. Stop complaining.¡± -Rose

    ¡°...mumble...mumble...stupid democracy¡­¡± -Luke

    The night passed uneventfully. Julian did the second watch, then switched to Rose. The next morning the three adventurers shared their food with Eizo. It was dried meat and a piece of bread. He helped himself to the food and said his thanks. While eating, Eizo checked his condition and found that his mana was finally restored to full capacity minus what was required for sustaining the spell ¡®Air Perception¡¯ with the minimal range.

    (Looks like sleeping quicken the restoration of mana. Hmm¡­ Evaluating it using the information from Grandpa, I can tell that the my mana capacity is comparable to an elite mage that is considered very rare, but, it still fall behind Grandpa¡¯s mana capacity.)

    ¡°Are you going to Frostfield Town now that your village is gone.?¡± -Julian

    ¡°Yeah, I have to make a living somehow.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°I noticed you have a staff. Are you, perhaps, a mage? haha¡± -Julian. He said it as if joking.

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m not that great one, mind you.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°What? Really? I¡¯ve never known a mage personally before! That¡¯s awesome! Hey, what kind of spells can you do? -Luke

    ¡°Calm down Luke!! It¡¯s embarrassing!¡± -Rose

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re not impressed, Rose!¡± -Luke

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not that impressive. I¡¯m only an apprentice. I can do water and wind element.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°What are you talking about, lad? It¡¯s totally impressive! What with mages being so rare afterall. Are you a noble?¡± -Julian

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Why not? I think even an apprentice  mage can become one if they¡¯re willing to pledge loyalty to a kingdom. Not that I know much about it, but you can even be a landed noble if you managed to impress.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Really?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°It¡¯s true. Haven¡¯t you heard of the tales of Sir What¡¯s-his-face Mage Knight of the Kingdom Whachamackollit?¡± -Luke

    ¡°At least remember the names!! The most famous one has to be the tales of Archmage Silvanus!!!¡± -Rose

    (Grandpa?) ¡°Yeah, I heard of that one. But, I don¡¯t remember the details.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°You can probably hear about it in Frostfield. They¡¯re big fans of the archmage over there. haha!!

    I¡¯ll tell you what, we¡¯re going to take a quick look around Iberia Village. We could sure use a mage¡¯s help. We can head back together to Frostfield after¡± -Julain

    ¡°Okay. That¡¯s sounds like a good idea.¡± -Eizo

    They all walked toward village and the three adventurers saw the damage for the first time. They were horrified, naturally. Seeing the burned down buildings during the day made it even clearer that what happened there was a real tragedy. They split up to survey the village as they¡¯re hired to do. Eizo stayed close to Julian.

    ¡°Even knowing what to expect, you can¡¯t help but be shocked about seeing it.¡± -Julian

    ¡°I know. Does monster raid like this happened often? -Eizo

    ¡°Not in this scale. There is always monster attacks here and there, but, you don¡¯t see an entire village like this completely overrun. Ah, I think that¡¯s the village  square.¡±

    Julian looked around the square to see if anything is amiss. The other two joined them.

    ¡°No signs of goblin or otherwise on my side. The adventurers seemed thorough enough.¡± -Rose

    They were getting ready to conclude their search when they heard Luke shouting from a distance.

    ¡°Goblins!! Over here!!¡± -Luke

    Everyone run toward the sound and they found Luke, at the edge of the town, surrounded by three goblins, two brandishing simple cudgels and one with a spear. 1 goblin was already lying dead on one side. Even with information from his grandpa, he wasn¡¯t sure how they looked like exactly. The goblins were about as tall as an adult man¡¯s chest. They had mossy green skin and usually were skinny yet mascular. Their ears and noses were long and they had big canine teeth that protruded from their mouth.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Julian rushed over to get between the goblins and Luke, with shield ready on his left arm and his broadsword on his right. Eizo followed behind while Rose climb a pile of rubble from a demolished house to get on a higher vantage point.

    ¡°Where¡¯d these came from!?¡± -Julian

    -catching his breath- ¡°They were crawling on the fields as they approach the village. I was already surrounded when I realized. -Luke

    ¡°Watch out! Eight more approaching! from the west!¡± -Rose

    ¡°The stragglers must have formed up for another attack.¡± -Julian

    He was defending from an attack as he said so.

    While Julian was defending with his shield, Luke came out from behind him and hacked his sword on the shoulder of the attacking goblin. The longsword came down with the full weight of the swing and cut through the goblin from its right shoulder down diagonally to the center of its chest. It died instantly. The combination of Julian and Luke worked out great.

    Eizo recited an incantation then he sidestepped to the right quickly to get the angle he needed. Holding the staff in the middle with his right hand, he motioned it as if to stab the the goblin from afar.

    ¡°Air Punch!¡± -Eizo

    A condensed ball of wind came out from the tip of his staff travelling as fast as the eyes can see it then striking a goblin on the left side dead center on its torso. The goblin was sent flying all the way back to the field like a ragdoll. With its limbs bent on weird angles, ribcage broken like glass inside its body puncturing its organs, the goblin died with the wind and more knocked out from it.

    Julian was familiar with that apprentice level wind magic but he had never seen it as powerful as that. But, not forgetting the situation in his amazement, he pummeled the remaining goblin in front of him and knocked it down, then finished it as it tried to get up with a downward slash of his sword.

    While all these was happening, Rose was shooting arrows at the closing group of goblins. She managed to take down two of them but the rest were still approaching fast.

    ¡°Into to that alleyway!!¡± -Eizo

    Trusting the words of the mage. They all retreated to the alleyway that Eizo pointed at, then, stopped just before passing through two burned down houses in front of each other.

    ¡°Hold this position! Let them come close!¡± -Eizo

    ¡°You have a plan, right?¡± -Luke

    ¡°Trust me.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Okay, lad. Luke and I will make a stand here. Rose climb that and shoot from there! (He was pointing to a standing portion of a crumble wall behind them) And Eizo, you do your thing.¡± -Julian

    Eizo and the others were already in their assigned position when the goblins rushed into the alleyway, their eyes blood red with violence. Among them was a bigger Red Goblin, a rare variant of the goblin species. It has red skin, hence the name, tall as a full height human, more muscular than a regular goblin. It seemed to be leading the rest while screaming madness as loud as it can.

    ¡°Sh*t!! A Red Goblin!! That wasn¡¯t on the report!!¡± -Luke

    ¡°Calm down! They probably didn¡¯t encounter it. They would not miss something like that in their story and probably would not come out unhurt after fighting something like that.¡± -Julian

    Rose unleashed her arrows as soon as she could, hitting the goblins in the front of the charge but it only slowed them down as she didn¡¯t manage to hit any vital points.

    Julian and Luke, were exchanging blows with the goblins while maintaining their defensive stances as Eizo started a chant for a spell. The Red Goblin pushed aside the smaller goblins in front of it then hammered Julian with its stone cudgel. Julian managed to block the attack over his head but the weight of the blow made him stagger forcing him on his left knee.

    The Red Goblin brought its heavy cudgel with two hands behind its head winding up to finish Julian with a full height vertical swing.

    Eizo stomped his staff to the ground and shouted, ¡°Move Earth!!!¡±. The ground in front of Julian and Luke sank fast as if falling after suddenly losing the support under it. All the goblins were caught in the 3 meters deep pit. Since Eizo made sure to sink the entire width of the alleyway, he did not miss even one of the monsters.

    Julian saw the Red Goblin in front of him lose it¡¯s balance then sank with a stupid look on its face not knowing what was happening.

    Not missing a beat, Eizo chanted a quick spell, pointed his staff to the group of goblins in the pit, and said, ¡°Incinerate!¡± A blast of fire blasted out from the staff and continued to blast out as if it was coming from a flamethrower. The fire sprayed all over the monsters. All of the goblins died burning with nowhere to run. Some of them attempted to climb the pit but the pain of their skin burning with the intense heat was just so crippling, they can¡¯t even make an attempt to leap. All of the monsters cried in agony as they died with the Red Goblin falling last.

    Eizo continued shooting out the flame until all goblins were completely turned to ash.

    The other three were looking at him in disbelief of what just happened. Julian especially so. Once again, he was familiar with the spells that Eizo used. ¡®Move Earth¡¯ was a novice ranked spell used to excavate or just move around soil but he never knew it can be used in such a way. The earth was depressed downward against the earth underneath so the force required to do that was significant without even considering the size of the pit that was enough to trap every goblin with room to spare. The second spell was just as amazing. ¡®Incinerate¡¯ was an intermediate ranked fire element spell, so, it is naturally devastating, but, Eizo¡¯s version was even more devastating than expected. He also sustained the spell until the monsters were burned to ashes.

    After he was done, Eizo walked to the side of the alley to vomit all the contents of his stomach.

    -bleeuurrrgghh- The goblins looked too close to a person. He couldn''t help but be disgusted by the thought.

    ¡°You did well kid. You¡¯ll get used to it soon enough when you travel often.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Th- That was incredible!¡± -Rose

    ¡°Right! I guess that¡¯s what you can expect for a mage.¡± -Luke

    ¡°You are a more powerful mage than you let on. How many elements can you use? Wait, you don¡¯t have to answer. I can understand why you would want to hide your power.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Hide his power? If it was me, I¡¯d be noble by now! Why would he hide his magic?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you understand? If it was known that he¡¯s a powerful mage, a lot of people are going to be coming after him! Idiot Luke¡­¡± -Rose

    ¡°That¡¯s right, there have been stories like that. Nobles try to recruit mages but when they are turned down, they attack the mage to make sure they don¡¯t join their enemies.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Is that right? hmm¡­ I guess I can see now.¡± -Luke

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe that.¡± -Rose

    ¡°Anyway, I understand why you hid your strength. I¡¯d be killed by now if you hesitated to use your magic. For that, I¡¯m thankful.¡± -Julian

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome. I¡¯d appreciate it if you guys keep it you yourselves for now.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Of course, that¡¯s the least we can do.¡± -Luke

    ¡°That¡¯s not the least we can do. Eizo, since you helped us completing the request from the adventurers guild, it¡¯s only right we split the reward with you.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Oh yeah, we should do that.¡± -Luke

    Eizo felt bad about sharing their pay, but, since he would need money in the future, he decided to accept it.

    ¡°Are you sure? Then, I graciously accept. Thank you.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, kid. You earned it.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Even though we can¡¯t acquire the proof of subjugation from the monster in the pit, we can still get it from those four earlier. That Red Goblin would have earned us quite a bit though.¡± -Luke

    ¡°It¡¯s done already. What matters is we¡¯re all safe. Since you¡¯re not a registered adventurer, you might not know. Aside from the reward from the request, you can earn more money by providing a proof of subjugation from every monster you defeat. In case of goblins, the usual proof is their right ears.¡± -Rose

    ¡°I see. I guess next time I should take the proof before burning the remains.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Well, not if you¡¯re in great danger. Safety first before thinking about the reward.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Right.¡± -Eizo

    Everyone walked to the edge of the village once again, gathered the goblin bodies, collected their ears, then, Eizo burned the monsters¡¯ bodies. They checked around the village one last time, then, started their journey on foot to the town of Frostfield. They walked while keeping in formation and made sure they kept a watch on the surrounding since they still have to carry out their patrol mission.

    They had to camp again on the way after it got dark. Luke was the first watch again, but this time, everyone took their turn as nightwatch, even Eizo. He felt happy about being included. The night passed by quietly and they resumed their patrol in the morning. They arrived in Frostfield late in the afternoon without encountering any more monster.

    -End of chapter-

    Author¡¯s note:

    Hello, Bearperson here. By the third chapter I think we¡¯re starting to have a feel about the world. I just want to mention the following before we continue on the story since I don¡¯t know if I will get a chance to clarify these topics in the natural flow of the narrative.

    There are no spoilers of the plot here and I¡¯ll explain them again in detail when the narrative calls for it.

    1. Monsters are powerful and people are fragile. Even a goblin can be a challenge for an experienced warrior especially when they outnumber the fighter. No matter how powerful a person is, they will die when stabbed in the heart or any vital points, they may just bleed to death depending on the wounds they receive. Armors help but only so far.

    2. Mage, especially powerful ones, are rare among the humans. Mages are basically OP compared to normal warriors (but remember they can die just as easily). Since the story is not set in a game like world, there are no level-up that increase a person¡¯s strength and vitality. This makes mages OP because they can learn stronger spells as they increase their mastery of magic. One mage can basically become a walking army provided the enemy don¡¯t get to them first.

    3. One balancing factor is that mages need time to recite the required incantation in casting spells. Unless of course a mage is ranked Grandmaster or higher in a particular element. (I think I mention this in the previous chapter, but maybe I didn¡¯t) The magic system is like the in classical RPG. Basically its : Element Type + Incantation/Magic Formula/ Rune inscription + Mana + User Control = Spell

    4. Mage rank basically depend on the rank of the spells that they can cast. And, the ranking goes from the lowest to highest like: Novice, Apprentice, Intermediate, Expert, Master, Grandmaster, and Sage. If the highest ranked spell you can cast is an Expert Wind Element spell, you are considered as an Expert Wind Mage. On a side note, almost all known spells are Master ranked or lower. Master ranked mage of an element are considered to have a complete mastery of their respective element. Becoming a Grandmaster means taking a huge leap in the understanding of that element that enable them to cast spell with no incantation by their will. Being Sage ranked means taking yet another big step in the understanding of an element that makes sage mages almost godlike in their use of that element.

    5. Description of races and their general capabilities.

    -Humans - are the most numerous of the races. Few humans are capable mages. The strength of the human warriors that kept them from being wiped out comes from their overwhelming numbers and their organized army plus the occasional mages in the mix.

    -Dwarves - are the most inventive of the races. They are not capable of casting magic but most are able to use inner body strengthening magic. Combine that with their extensive armory, every member of the Dwarven army is a capable heavy infantry even when fighting in range.

    -Beastmen - are the strongest of the races. Like the Dwarves, they can only use body strengthening magic, but, stronger. combined with their natural strength and agility, the Beastmen have the fastest and physical strongest military.

    -Elves - are long lived species but they have the lowest fertility among the natural born species. They are experts in archery and shield and sword style of fighting and a lot of them able to use spirit magic. The Elven army are comprised of small elite units that are most effective fighting in the forest.

    -Fairies - are born from dense magical energy in the forest. All of them can cast magic chantless due to their pure magical nature. However, their magic are limited to the element type in which they are born from and the strength of their spells depend on the individual fairy¡¯s age.

    -Demon - are both physically strong and a high number of them are capable mages. They are the most aggressive of the races. They set out to invade the Aria continent several times before and will do so again.

    6. Dragons exist in the world of Crystallis but they are not really sentient. They are considered smart for a beast, but, that¡¯s it. They are savage predatory beast. Right now, they are four types of dragons corresponding to the 4 major elements (Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll include a Dark and Light element dragons as well.)

    Wind dragons live on the peaks of the mountain range where the dwarves are living inside of and divides the human and beast lands. They are the main reason monsters are few in the open plains of the human territories. Can fly and are the fastest of the dragons but also smallest in size.

    Earth dragons live in the great forest in the Southern Aria Continent, the Elves and Fairies have learned to avoid them. They don¡¯t have wings

    Water dragon lives in the ocean that separates the two continents. They gather around a group of islands in the near the north pole. They are one of the main reasons why the Demon race can¡¯t launch invasion attempts one after another.They don¡¯t fly but swim in the water very fast.

    Fire dragons live on the great volcano of the Demon Continent. They can fly but not as fast as wind dragons.

    Dragons can cast magic at will. Most can use several element type of magic but specializes in their respective element. It can be said that, in general, one dragon is an equivalent of a Grandmaster ranked mage.

 Chapter 4: Frostfield Town

    Chapter 4: Frostfield Town

    Frostfield Town was north-west from Iberia and it was the fastest growing town of the Arken Kingdom. In fact, it was prosperous enough to have its own Adventurers, Merchants, and Crafters Guilds. This prosperity was a result of the town¡¯s location which is mid-route between three big cities: The capital city of Arken Kingdom to the south, the Arken port city of Cambria to the south-west, and the capital city of the City-state of Tovaria to north. The town was protected with a simple four meters high stonewall. The two town gates ,The North Gate and the South Gate, were manned with guards. The population was about 7,500.

    When they arrived in front of the South Gate, they were stopped by the guards. They were on high alert with the recent news of monster attack in a nearby village.

    ¡°Hold it! Show your identification, please.¡± -Guard. The please was somewhat of an afterthought.

    ¡°Here you go. The three of us are adventurers returning from patrolling Iberia Village. This man here was a traveller we picked up on the way back. He doesn¡¯t have identification on him.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Oh it¡¯s you. We have been waiting for you fellas. As for you, you have to write your name in the visitors list and pay a 30 Gil gate toll to be allowed into town.¡± Guard

    Eizo wrote his name on the list and borrowed 3 coppers from Julian. Seeing that the adventurer was willing to lend him the money, the guard became less suspicious of him and relaxed a bit.

    ¡°Good, all is taken care of. Please proceed to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild as soon as you can.¡± -Guard

    ¡°Understood. We¡¯ll head over right away.¡± -Julian.

    They walked into the city as instructed, and, after getting some distance to get them out of earshot from the gate before talking amongst themselves.

    ¡°These guards can relax a bit.¡± -Luke

    ¡°They are still on alert regarding the monster incursion. It will likely stay that way for a while.¡± -Julian

    ¡°That¡¯s understandable.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Anyway, Eizo, since we¡¯re heading to the guild anyway to get our reward, would you like to register as an adventurer?¡± -Julian

    ¡°Hmmm¡­ I¡¯m not sure. Do you recommend it?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Well, there is always danger, but, not all quests require fighting to be completed. The pay is higher than what you can get from more conventional jobs because of the danger, but, you seem to be a capable man even without magic. You should consider it.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Few mages actually work as adventurers since they are mostly from noble families. People will take notice when they found out. It¡¯s up to you to use magic.¡± -Rose

    ¡°Yeah, yeah! Every one will be scrambling to get a mage into their parties.¡± -Luke

    ¡°I does seem interesting. I¡¯ll think about it.¡± -Eizo

    They arrived in front of the Adventurers Guild after a 10 minute walk. it was located adjacent to what seemed to be the town square. Other prominent buildings around the square were the Merchants and Crafters Guilds, the Town Hall, and big house next to it which belongs to the noble that rules over Frostfield and the land around it.

    ¡°Here we are. The Frostfield branch Adventurers Guild.¡± -Julian

    It was a two story masonry building. Three steps lead to the big double door entrance with the guild¡¯s sign hanging above it. The illustration on the sign can be described as a bow and a sword next to each other with the words ¡®Adventurers Guild¡¯ inscribed under it. Signs with simple illustrations, such as this, were common among the shops and institutions in town as most people cannot read. The low rate of literacy was one of the things that Eizo was having a hard time getting used to.

    ¡°I¡¯m kinda hungry so let¡¯s go in already.¡± -Luke

    ¡°Most adventurer¡¯s guild, such as this one, also serve food and drink.¡± -Rose

    During their travels, Rose has taken the habit of explaining things, even simple ones, to Eizo. After entering the building, Eizo took notice of his surrounding. The interior had a wooden floor and several columns can be seen set up in a grid. On the left of him was an open area. The quest bulletin board was located there as well as the stair that leads to the upper floor.

    In front was the reception counter with only one female staffs behind it since it¡¯s still mid afternoon. There was no line in front of it. The busy hours of the reception desk were during the mornings and late afternoons/early evenings, since, that¡¯s the time when adventurers  accept and report completion of quests.

    On the right was a huge dining hall. It was very spacious compared to restaurants that Eizo was used to. This was because many adventurers were adorned in armors and carrying their big weapons, packs, etc. The space was lit with oil lanterns hanging on the wall and columns.

    (This really has a medieval feel to it. You don¡¯t see buildings with structure like this anymore on Earth.)

    ¡°Hello there, miss. We¡¯re here to make a report of a completed quest.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Oh, sir Julian, it¡¯s nice to see you again. (checking a log in front of her) Umm¡­ Your party members are Mr. Luke and Ms. Rose, right? We¡¯ve been expecting your return. The guild master wants you to make your report personally with him. Please use that stair and speak to him in his office.¡± -Female Receptionist

    ¡°Right. I can make the report alone. Why don¡¯t you three take a seat in the dining hall and wait for me there. Order me a meal together with yours. I shouldn¡¯t be that long.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m already there.¡± -Luke

    ¡°Before we go, can we collect the rewards for the quest? We also have proof of subjugation for 4 goblins.¡± -Rose. She handed four goblin ears from her pack.

    ¡°Of course. Let see, the reward for the B ranked patrol mission is ¡­ 3,000 Gil. For the goblin subjugation, 200 Gil for the four of them. Please hand me your guild cards for verification.¡± -Female Receptionist

    They handed their guild card, except of course for Eizo, and the receptionist held each of them before a crystal ball one by one. The crystal ball lit up and written words can be read from within that showed the same information on the card itself namely the card owner¡¯s name, race, and adventurer rank. If a card was fake or stolen, the crystal ball would flash red instead.

    The receptionist returned their card with a smile.

    ¡°Here is your reward. Thank you for your hard work.¡± -Female Receptionist

    The receptionist handed Julian 3 gold coins and 2 silver coins. The currency is called Gil. 1 iron coin is 1 Gil. 1 copper coin is equal to 10 Gil. A silver coin is 100 Gil or 100 copper coins. A Gold coin is 1000 Gil or 10 silver coins.

    ¡°Thank you. (He handed the money to Rose.) Divide it as we agreed before.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Okay.¡± -Rose

    Julian headed upstairs and the three headed to the dining hall. After they were seated they quickly divided the reward to get it over with.

    ¡°Alright. Since we agreed on half of the total reward, your share is 1,600 Gil.¡± -Rose

    She handed Eizo 1 gold coin and 6 silver coins from her coin sack.

    ¡°Thank you. Since we are waiting for Julian, I think I¡¯ll use this opportunity to register as an adventurer.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Are you sure man?¡± -Luke

    ¡°Yeah, since they can be used as identification, there is no downside to registering. I¡¯ll can choose to do or not to do quests later on.¡± Eizo

    ¡°That¡¯s true. We¡¯ll wait here for you.¡± Rose

    Eizo went back to the receptionist.

    ¡°Hello again.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Hi, how can I help you?¡± -Female Receptionist

    Eizo has taken notice of the politeness of the receptionist. He has always appreciated politeness in people even though he himself can¡¯t be considered as polite.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to register as adventurer.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Oh, welcome! Just a moment. ¡­ Please fill out this form and pay 100 Gil fee.¡± Female Receptionist

    She handed him a simple form which he filled out right away with 1 silver coin. The only required informations were the applicant¡¯s name, race, and age. Everything else is optional. Eizo didn¡¯t feel like volunteering unnecessary information. He handed back the form.

    ¡°Mr. Ezio Walker, right? You can pick up your guild card tomorrow morning. In the meanwhile, would you like me to explain how the guild work to you?¡± -Female Receptionist

    ¡°Just call me Ezio. You don¡¯t have to call me mister.¡± Ezio

    ¡°Okay, Eizo. Then please call me Anna from now on.¡± Anna

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Okay, Anna.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Great! Now, let¡¯s talk about the guild. The ¡®Adventurers Guild¡¯ receive quest from the clients and we handle most of the necessary logistical work in exchange for 10 percent of what the client pays. Adventurers receive the reward as posted on the bulletin board and it is guaranteed by the guild upon completion of the quest.

    Each quest is ranked as E, D, C, B, A, and S respectively from lowest to highest difficulty. The rank for a quest is determined by the guild. Adventurers are also ranked in the same manner and they can only take quests that are the same rank or lower as theirs. All adventurers start from the lowest rank and can earn promotions after completing 20 quests of the highest rank that they can take or upon consideration by the guild master after performing commendable feats.

    Quests vary from subjugation, collection, patrol, guard, and bounty quests. They may also be quests that doesn¡¯t fall in one of these categories. Most adventurers choose a category that they specialized in, but that¡¯s not really necessary.

    Aside from completing quests, adventurers can also earn reward by subjugating monsters and providing a proof to guild. Any part of the monsters body can be used as proof as long as they are identifiable belonging to that monster.¡± -Anna

    ¡°I see. It sounds simple enough. I guess being an adventurer is a job with a lot of freedom. Are there rules that I should follow?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°There are really no special rules that you should follow, but, most morally questionable or harmful actions to other adventurers are frowned upon and may result to losing a rank or losing your guild membership all together. Failing a quest will incur a demerit and three failures in a row will also result in a demotion. In case of emergencies, the guild may issue a mandatory quest in defense of the city from monster or to help the people in disasters. All adventurers in the city are required to participate in such events. Other than that, you are expected to follow the laws of the land. You may also be demoted and lose your membership altogether if you damage the reputation of the guild.¡± -Anna

    ¡°I understand, Anna. So, as long as I¡¯m careful I shouldn¡¯t be worried in breaking the rules of the guild.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I welcome you to the guild, Eizo!¡± -Anna

    ¡°Thanks Anna. I look forward to it. Goodbye for now. I¡¯ll speak with you tomorrow about the guild card.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Goodbye!¡± -Anna

    Eizo walked back and join Luke and Rose at the dining hall. The food and drinks were already served. They ordered four meal sets, each one came with a meat stew plate, a bowl of salad, half a loaf of bread, and a big mug of ale.

    ¡°How did it go?¡± -Rose

    ¡°Well. I¡¯m registered now.I can get the card tomorrow.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°It looked like you were having a nice talk with the receptionist lady.¡± -Luke

    ¡°Yes, Anna was very nice.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Oh, you even got her name. hehehe.¡± -Luke

    Eizo just smiled at Luke¡¯s teasing. Rose was silent but listened along. Julian finally joined them at the table, So, they started eating.

    ¡°What did the guild master said?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Hm? -gulp- Nothing much. He was just eager to hear that there would be no more group of monsters roaming around nearby. -much- ¡° -Julian

    ¡°Let¡¯s finish up here and head to the inn. Eizo here still needs lodging.¡± -Rose

    They finished their meal and head straight to the Inn located across the square from the Adventurers Guild. It was a wide two story stone building typical to what Eizo expected thinking of the construction style he had seen around town. On one side of the inn was a designated space to park up to carriages. There was also a stable adjacent. After entering the Inn, Julian stopped to talked with Eizo.

    ¡°Eizo, lad, we¡¯re heading back to Tovaria tomorrow morning. What are your plans? You¡¯re welcome to come along with us if you want.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Thank you, but I think I¡¯ll stay in this town for a while.¡± -Eizo

    Luke and Rose were a little disappointed with his answer. They have taken a liking with Eizo even though we was silent most of their travel. But, Ezio felt like he needed to learn about the world on his own.

    ¡°That so? Well, it¡¯s not like we won¡¯t be seeing one another again. For now, let¡¯s head up to our room to get some good rest. I¡¯m sure everyone is eager to take a proper rest. You should go ahead and check in. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re also tired after all that¡¯s happened.¡± -Julian

    Julian, Rose, and Luke retired to their rooms that they rented since they were last in town. Eizo walk toward the reception desk to speak to the innkeeper.

    ¡°Hello. I¡¯d like to rent a room for one.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Good evening, brother. A single room cost 20 Gil a night. That includes breakfast served in before noon. Any other meal cost 5 Gil. Using the bath also cost 5 Gil. So, how many nights do you want to stay? -Innkeeper

    The innkeeper was a big man with a matching pair of big arms. He was a prominent adventurer during his youth and now he owns and manages this inn.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay for five nights right now. And, I¡¯d like a bath later. Here is a silver coin and a copper coin.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Certainly, here is five iron coins in change. You can come down for your bath after you¡¯re settled in.¡± -Innkeeper

    Eizo went upstairs to his assigned room at the end of the hall. The room was just enough for one guest. There was one bed on the side and a small dresser on the other with a desk lamp on it. He sat on the bed for a minute. He didn¡¯t really have that much luggage. He realized that all the things he had was the cloak on his back and the staff he¡¯d been carrying. He didn¡¯t even have a change of clothes with him.

    (With all the things that have happened, I guess it¡¯s natural to forget about these things. I have to take care of this tomorrow.)

    He took his bath in the inn¡¯s shared bath. He had to wear the same clothes afterwards which was something that really bothered him. But, he didn¡¯t really have a choice at the time, so,he went to sleep right away. That was his third night since coming to the world of Crystallis.

    The next morning, he saw Julian¡¯s group already at the dining hall eating their breakfast.

    ¡°Goodmorning guys.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Goodmorning!¡± -Rose

    ¡°Morning!¡± -Luke

    ¡°Hey lad! You¡¯re up! Come sit with us!¡± -Julian

    Eizo shared their table. He ordered his breakfast which was toasted bread with jam, ham and scrambled eggs, and hot herbal tea to drink.

    (I wonder what fruit this jam was made of. And this ham, its flavor was a little different from what I¡¯m used to, more subtle. But, they taste great nonetheless.)

    They spent their breakfast with small chatter here and there, Luke and Rose telling jokes about each other. It was a very nice time spent among friends. But, it had to be their last breakfast together for a very long time.

    After breakfast, they said their goodbyes after exiting the inn.

    ¡°Well, I suppose this is goodbye for now, lad.¡± -Jullian

    ¡°Yes, thank you for all you¡¯ve done these past two days.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°What are you talking about? It¡¯s you who have our gratitude. It was interesting meeting someone like you. If you continue on being an adventurer, you¡¯ll find that meeting interesting people in your travels is the true highlight of the job! Haha!¡± -Julian

    ¡°We say our goodbyes for now, but this is not the last time we¡¯re gonna see each other man! I can tell!¡± -Luke

    ¡°For this time only, I have to agree with Luke. We¡¯ll definitely meet one another again.¡± -Rose

    ¡°Right. Goodbye everyone. I¡¯ll see you soon.¡± -Eizo

    Julian¡¯s group left for Tovaria to complete another quest that sent them to this area in the first place. It is common for adventurers to cross national borders to accomplish their quests. Eizo didn¡¯t ask about what their quest was since he felt that it was confidential. He was curious, but frankly, he didn¡¯t care that much. They had treated him kindly and he was happy to return their kindness.

    -End of Chapter-

    AN: No action this chapter but I feel like these are some things I have to get out there in the early chapters. A lot of things here are in common with so many light novels you might be familiar with but it is still nice to clarify those this early on the story.

    As always, feel free to leave any comments you may have.

 Chapter 5: Frostfield Town 2

    Chapter 5: Frostfield Town 2

    (AN: This is more world building)

    Eizo sighed and he had a melancholic smile as he watched his friends leave. Yes. He now considered them friends and he was sad with their sudden separation soon after getting to know them. He knew he would miss them.

    Ezio have had many people from Earth that he considered as friends. But, these ones are people whom he had gone to battle with. Something completely unimaginable on Earth. They relied on one another. It made his affection for them stronger. He had regret on his face knowing that, unlike on Earth, he couldn¡¯t call or video chat with them anytime he liked. There was that much gravity in saying goodbye to friends.

    Ezio sighed again. This time it¡¯s to perk himself up with determination to carry on his day.

    (Alright, let¡¯s do this! First order of business is shopping. ~Shopping~. hehe)

    After having to wear the same clothes after a bath, he really prioritized getting more clothes. Plus, there were a lot of necessities he was still missing. After asking the innkeeper where he could buy clothes and packs, he was directed to the area around the Crafters Guild.

    He entered a shop that specializes in leather items. There he found leather armor, fur cloaks, belts, and other things crafted with leather or animal skin as base material.

    ¡°Mister, can I see the traveling packs that you¡¯re selling?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Sure sonny. This way¡­ You an adventurer? This ones here are popular among adventurers.¡± -Old man shopkeeper

    Eizo checked the items he was pointed to.

    (I see why this would be useful for adventurers. It has multiple pockets and the main flap is quite secured. Huh? What¡¯s this?)

    ¡°Mister, can you tell me about this one?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Oh? Certainly. That there, sonny, is an enchanted rucksack. It can store much more items than it looks. It is enchanted with runes with space-time magic, you know.¡± Old man shopkeeper

    ¡°Really can I see it?¡± -Eizo

    (Now that he mentioned it, I can, indeed, sense mana from this rucksack, but, they are barely noticeable as if distorted or barely even there. Is this the effect of space-time runes? Oh, I can recognize these marks.)

    The marks that he was thinking about were actually invisible to the naked eye. It was only when he focused some mana in his eye that he was able to see those marks or notice the distorted circulation of mana in the rucksack.

    ¡°How much is this thing?¡± Eizo

    ¡°That one is 5,000 Gil. I¡¯m sorry, sonny, but, I don¡¯t think you can afford that.¡± -Old man shopkeeper

    ¡°No. You¡¯re totally right. There¡¯s no way I can buy something like this. hehe.¡± -Eizo

    (Hehe. I¡¯ll just make one on my own later.)

    ¡°How about this one right here?¡± -Eizo

    He was talking about a dark leather rucksack that has a very simple design. It has 3 pockets in total; one main compartment and one on either side of the rucksack. Each pocket has a flap and a buckle to seal them. Eizo thought that he could enchant this rucksack later.

    ¡°Hehe. Enchanted rucksack are usually carried only by experienced adventurers. That one you¡¯re pointing at costs 500 Gil.¡± -Old man shopkeeper

    ¡°500? Hmm. I¡¯ll give you 350 Gil for it.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Haggling? hehe. I¡¯ll take 425 Gil.¡± -Old man shopkeeper

    ¡°Deal!¡± -Eizo

    Ezio was not new to haggling. In some places on Earth, it was still widely practiced, especially in places where they gave no receipts and accepted no returns. In fact, some shopkeepers even liked it when their customer haggle. But, he felt that he shouldn¡¯t haggle too much to avoid being an annoying customer. Since he was going to make this town his base of operation, he wanted to maintain an amicable relationship with shopkeepers he was likely to shop from often.

    ¡°Can I buy a belt as well?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Okay. I have one that matches the leather of that rucksack. ¡­ This one here is 100, no just 75 Gil with the racksack. So, that¡¯s a total 5 silvers.¡± -Old man shopkeeper

    ¡°Okay. Here you go.¡± -Eizo

    He handed one gold coin and got 5 silver coins in change.

    Now that he had a rucksack, he went to a nearby tailor shop to buy some clothes. The selection they had ranged from the most affordable to very expensive ones used by nobles.

    ¡°Hello there, I¡¯m looking for some clothing for myself.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Hmmp. How much can you afford? -Granny Tailor Shop

    ¡°Please show me the cheaper ones.¡± Eizo

    ¡°Okay this way. ¡­ This ones should be appropriate with your budget.¡± -Granny Tailor Shop

    She showed him her selection of  tunic, cloaks, and trousers made from the cheaper fabrics. Upon looking closely over the merchandise he picked three tunics and one trouser. The tunics had short sleeves, low neck line, and were made of wool. It had very simple design, white, or undyed, with minimal accent black stripes along its ends. The trouser had a dark brown color and was made of jute like plant fiber fabric. It seemed durable enough for his travels.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take these ones. How much?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°For the tunics, 50 Gil each. For the trouser I have to ask for 150 Gil.¡± -Granny Tailor Shop

    ¡°Okay here is 2 silver coins.¡± -Eizo

    He decided not to haggle with this granny.

    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ve received exact payment. huh? Wait boy! That clothes you¡¯re wearing under that cloak. Can I see it? I¡¯ve never seen anything like it.¡± -Granny Tailor Shop

    Eizo realized that his clothes did seem strange compared to the clothes available here. He was wearing a simple buttoned shirt paired with jeans. His shoes would also be strange when thinking about it.

    ¡°That top you¡¯re wearing. I¡¯ve never seen any fabric as fine as that. And, so many buttons! Are they made from pearl? Are you a noble? And those trousers, they looked very durable. I¡¯ve never seen any fabric like that. Are they made from hemp? From Jute? Flax, perhaps?!¡± -Granny Tailor Shop

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not a noble and these things are not that strange. They were common where I came from.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Really? Either way, how about selling them to me? I could pay you coins or I could exchange them with clothes in my store, with a discount of course.¡± -Granny Tailor Shop

    ¡°Hm? It sounds like a good offer. But, I¡¯ll have to refuse. These clothes are important to me. See?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Of course, of course! I understand if you get attached to your favorite clothes. If you change your mind, come back to me, okay?¡± -Granny Tailor Shop

    He put all the things he brought to the rucksack. Eizo exited the tailor shop and proceeded to the Adventurers Guild.

    (That granny got excited all of the sudden about my clothes. I guess they would seem interesting to tailors from here. I should make an effort to wearing the common clothes to fit in. It was very tempting to sell my clothes when I feel the lightness of my coin sack. I should have about 595  Gil remaining. For now, I should take a simple quest.)

    ¡°Hello, Anna. Is my guild card ready yet?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Yes, I was waiting for you. Here you go. Do you know how to take care of your guild card?¡± -Anna

    ¡°Take care of it? You mean don¡¯t misplace it?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Well, naturally you should try not to lose it. But I¡¯m talking specifically on how guild cards function differently from normal cards.¡± -Anna

    ¡°Oh? What do you mean?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Each guild card is tuned to a person¡¯s mana. Yours is still new and it¡¯s not attuned to anyone¡¯s mana right now. Please keep it on your person for at least 12 hours. By then, the card will have registered your mana. The card will store a very small amount of your mana, after that, it can only store your mana once it¡¯s attuned to it. This trace amount of mana will also dissipates after about 4 hours that the card was not in close proximity to you.¡± -Anna

    ¡°So, this is how you check the authenticity of a person¡¯s guild card?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Exactly. The verification orbs we have in every guild branch can check if the card has its registered mana in it while also verifying that the information on the card is accurate. This way we can prevent other people from using your card.¡± -Anna

    ¡°I understand. It is good to know that. I guess I don¡¯t have to worry about other people using my card then.¡± -Ezio

    ¡°That¡¯s right. But please, take care not to lose it. Remember that it may still be used by others within 4 hours after you lose it. Be especially careful not to lose it in big cities where guild receptionists can¡¯t be expected to be familiar with all their regular adventurers. Also, you will have to pay 150 Gil for a replacement and you will have to wait another day for it to be ready. Your first one comes free with your registration.¡± -Anna

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    (I¡¯m thankful that Anna had the patience to explain things to me. She¡¯s definitely the kind who can become a good teacher, especially for young kids. hehe. I can imagine her explaining the same things to every new adventurers.)

    ¡°Thanks, Anna. I appreciate you taking the time to explain it all to me.¡± -Ezio

    Anna blushed a bit.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s my job afterall. hehe¡± -Anna

    ¡°Well, in that case, can I ask you another question? Do you know what kind of monsters can I expect to encounter near the town?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Oh for that, you¡¯re free to use the guild library. We keep a small library here. It¡¯s filled with local informations especially about monsters. Head to the second floor and you¡¯ll find it to your right.¡± -Anna

    ¡°Is that right? Thanks. I think I¡¯ll do that right now.¡± -Ezio

    Ezio went to the upper level of the guild building. On his left from the stairs was the library as expected. They had several bookshelves and a sitting area where a whole party of adventurers could do some research about a quest. On one end was a desk where for people who wanted to do more serious research. On the right were a door that lead to the conference room and another door for the guild master¡¯s office.

    Ezio went to the library. He found an old man sitting there, reading a book. He decided not to bother the old man as it was the custom in libraries he was used to from Earth. He found the book he wanted to check from a bookshelf dedicated to monster informations. The book he selected was titled ¡®An Illustrated Survey Of Monsters Around Frostfield Town¡¯ written by Frostfield Branch Adventurers Guildmaster Sergius Bellator 3rd Ed. 487 Draculis.

    (487 Draculis? Wait a minute. The year that Grandpa was transported was 119th year of the Draculis Era. That means this book was published 368 years after that. That¡¯s about 7 times the time Grandpa spent on Earth which was 53 years including the time we thought he was missing. For all I can tell, the duration of a day and the number of days in a year is the same as on Earth. Do this means time flows here about 7 times faster that on Earth? I can¡¯t confirm it at the moment. For now, I¡¯ll just do what I came here to do.)

    ¡°Is  something wrong, young man?¡± -old man

    Apparently, the old man noticed the shock on Eizo¡¯s face.

    ¡°Huh? No, everything¡¯s fine. Sorry¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Don¡¯t be sorry. I was just curious why you had a sudden change in expression after picking up that book. Is it that surprising of a read? Haha.¡± -old man

    ¡°No it¡¯s not that. I haven¡¯t read it. I just think it¡¯s a good book to read for new adventurers.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Oh. You¡¯re new, huh? I¡¯ll take what you said as a compliment. It is why I wrote that book, to help newbies. Haha.¡± -old man

    ¡°You¡¯re the guildmaster? ¡° -Eizo

    ¡°Yup! Sergius Bellator, at your service.¡± -Guildmaster

    ¡°I¡¯m Eizo Walker, adventurer as of today.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Oh? Welcome to the guild, young man.¡± -Guildmaster

    ¡°Um. If you don¡¯t mind me asking, how old is this book.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°You¡¯re worried if it might be outdated? It¡¯s only been three years since I made this edition. It¡¯s good to see a cautious new adventurer. Most of the newbies are overconfident thinking they can¡¯t be possibly defeated by low level monsters. But, it is like I always say, you won¡¯t see an old adventurer that isnot careful! Haha!¡± -Guildmaster

    (Three years? So, now is the 490th year of Draculis.)

    ¡°Right. I will keep that in mind.¡± Eizo

    ¡°Good. I look forward to what you become in the future. I¡¯ll leave you to your reading then.¡± -Guildmaster

    Guildmaster Bellator exited the library and went into his office. Eizo went right into reading. It was very helpful that the book had illustrations of the monsters. He already had a basic knowledge about monsters from his grandfather but he wanted to make sure what to expect. Knowing the appearance of monster would be essential later on.

    (That old man is a great scholar and illustrator. It¡¯s kinda unexpected.)

    After going over the book about monsters, he was thinking of reading a history book about the past three centuries, He was excited to take his first quest, like a little boy about to go in a field trip. But frankly, he was still shocked to find out that more than 350 years had passed since his grandpa was transported. From the selected memories he inherited, he knew how his grandpa wanted to return to his homeworld, especially after his grandma passed away.

    Having a depleted mana pool due to the lack of mana on Earth, Rufus Silavanus had to wait for a specific celestial condition to use in a ritualistic spell to power the world bridge he deviced. But unfortunately, the portal to Crystallis required more mana than he expected. He collapsed after trying to open the portal, never being able to stand up again. He died after using his remaining mana in creating the crystal orb containing his knowledge within. (AN: More on this later.)

    Of course, being unable to come back, he couldn¡¯t have known that before he  died almost three centuries had passed by in his home world. Rufus Silvanus, as free spirited as he was, truly cared a lot for his home world and it¡¯s people. As the archmage of the human empire, with the constant monster threat and the possibility of another demon invasion, he was increasingly worried as the years, decades went by. But now, realizing that his grandfather was actually gone for more than three centuries, Eizo felt sad for his grandpa. But, that was his grandpa¡¯s worries. Eizo knew that his grandpa wouldn¡¯t want him to inherit his worries.

    But just like a cat, he couldn¡¯t contain his curiosity  any longer. He checked the history section of the library and found a book that looked interesting. It was ¡®The History of Humanity: Draculis Era¡¯ by Gaius Ignatius , 13th ed.

    Eizo flip the cover of the big book and looked at the information about the author. It said:

    Gaius Ignatius, 1st Mage of the Arken Kingdom

    Headmaster, Professor Emeritus in Human History, and Master Instructor of Fire Magic of the Obsidian Tower.

    Head Keeper of Records of the Human Mage Genealogy

    (Wow. That¡¯s a lot of titles. Someone¡¯s an overachiever. But, it¡¯s good that he¡¯s the leading figure in the study of human history. I couldn¡¯t care less about those other titles right now.)

    The Draculis era started after the successful repelling of a full demon invasion, as it was custom to start a new era in celebration of surviving a demon invasion. He skipped over about the first third of the book and found the section about his grandfather¡¯s disappearance. The book had a section dedicated to the unsolved mystery of the disappearance of the former Archmage. It¡¯s obvious that the author revered Rufus Silvanus as the unreachable god like level of what a human mage could be. He even provided the popular theories as to how and why the archmage disappeared.

    One theory said that he was abducted by the demon race as payback to the failure of their last invasion of the Aria Continent. Another said that he was assassinated by the beastmen in  preparation for their war against the humans. One said the archmage simply tired of living among the humans and decided to live among the elves instead. The most bizarre one said that he accumulated too much power and turned into a dragon before flying away.

    (I guess as weird as those theory, travelling to another world was even more unimaginable.)

    Human history took a bad turn after losing their last archmage. Eizo skimmed through the contents, only noting events that he was curious about at the moment. He summarized what he read in his head.

    Having the archmage as advisor to the old Arken Empire increased the prestige of the then emperor. Under his rule, humanity was united under one banner. During the demon invasion, the human army was decisive in its deployments and was able to quickly defeat the invasion in the human territory with the help from the archmage. They were even able to lend their forces to help the elves fight the invasion in their territory.

    After the archmage disappeared, the authority of the emperor was put into question. Some people even accused him of driving away the archmage due to jealousy of the archmage¡¯s fame. It resulted in a civil war that resulted into the collapse of the empire. The human land was divided into three kingdoms: The Arken Kingdom in the west that rose from the remains of the empire, The Alosha Kingdom in the south,  and the Khora Republic in the east.

    Not long after that, the Beastmen Hegemony attacked Arken Kingdom blaming them for the devastation of their lands during the demon invasion because the humans decided to help the Elves instead of them. After almost two centuries after the invasion, widespread starvation in their territories fanned the hostility of their people toward the humans. The battle occur on the border that served as a choke point between beastmen and human territory. The disputed border was claimed by both sides at one point but they were unable to hold it for good.

    At that time, wealthy human, beastmen, and dwarven merchants founded the independent City-state of Tovaria on the disputed border between the beastmen territory and the Arken Kingdom. This city-state was able to hold on their country using their army of mercenaries. In time the city-state was formally recognized by other nations and it has now become one of the biggest economic power in the continent. To this day, Tovaria is still ruled by their merchant council.

    In time, a peace agreement was signed by all the leaders of the nations of Aria Continent. This is because the demons may invade anytime. Historically, the demons have invaded with intervals of 400 to 600 years. Ironically, the threat of a demon invasion was holding the peace in Aria Continent.

    -End of Chapter-

 -Concept Art-

    This here is the MC during the early part of the story.

    I might upload more drawings in the future on this post.

    Ezio - He''s kind of a low key mage. Here he is wearing a cloak and hood combo, carrying his rucksack and the training staff on his back. Imagine him walking like this alone in his journeys.

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.<hr />

    I haven''t drawn anime style since elementary school. My shading is horrible.

 Chapter 6: First Quest

    Chapter 6: First Quest

    By the time Eizo finished going through the book, it was already late in the afternoon.

    (I completely forgot the time. Now it¡¯s too late to start a quest today. I guess I have to leave that for tomorrow. Like I always say, why do today what you can leave for tomorrow. Wait? Is that how it goes?)

    Sergius Bellator, the guildmaster, walked out of his office and found the youngman he met earlier that day still in the library.

    ¡°Youngman, um¡­ Eizo, right? You were reading here all this time? Don¡¯t you have a quest to do? hahaha. I did tell you to be careful, but, aren¡¯t you taking it too easy?¡± -Sergius

    ¡°Hehe. Does it look like that? I did plan to go on my first quest today, but, I got carried away in my reading.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Oh? There can¡¯t be any books here that¡¯s that interesting. What¡¯s this you¡¯re reading? History?¡± -Sergius

    ¡°Oh yeah, I happen to read an interesting topic in the book. You know the last archmage, Rufus Silvanus?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°The archmage? That is indeed interesting. Are you an admirer? Haha. Although a lot of people believe that the archmage is only a legend, saying, there is no way a human mage can be that powerful, here in Frostfield, we are avid fans of the archmage. Good timing, why don¡¯t you join me for dinner and we can talk about the great archmage over a meal.¡± -Sergius

    ¡°Okay, I was getting hungry anyway.¡± -Eizo

    Both of them went down to the dinner hall for some food. Since Sergius was in a good mood, he decided to treat Eizo for dinner. They sat on a table for four on the far corner of the hall. Most of the tables were filled with other group of adventurers. There was a lively atmosphere as they share their meals after a successful quest. After a while, their food arrived and they started eating heartily.

    ¡°Thanks, guildmaster!¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Sometimes, I can be generous.¡± -Segius

    ¡°So, by the way, what is the connection of Archmage Silvanus to the town?¡± -Eizo

    They continued their talk as they ate.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know? Our town is named after him. Well, not him exactly, but, one of his greatest feat. This is the land where it is said that he defeated the demons using a sage rank water spell that froze the entire demon army, hence Frostfield.¡± -Sergius

    (Froze an entire demon army? Grandpa you¡¯re a monster.)

    ¡°Surely that is an exaggeration. A whole army?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°It is unbelievable. And, since almost five hundred years has passed, more and more people believes it is only a legend.¡± -Sergius

    (I see. Even if it¡¯s recorded in history books, since most people are illiterate, many things are lost from the common knowledge.)

    ¡°I guess, I can understand how they¡¯d think that way. It¡¯s been too long since it happened.¡±-Eizo

    ¡°That¡¯s true, however, in my years as an adventurer, I have travelled this wide continent and reached the Elven lands. There, the older elves can tell you first hand story of that age. That¡¯s how I know for sure that archmage Silvanus was definitely real.¡± -Sergius

    ¡°So, you¡¯re a believer too, guildmaster?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Ha! That¡¯s right, hahaha! I remember when I was a young boy, I wanted to be a mage just like him. But, you know mages are born not made. Even so, I dreamed of having adventures just like him in the legends, before he became an archmage. Having a legendary figure like him to look up to is necessary for any aspiring adventurer.¡± -Sergius.

    ¡°Is that how it is?  hehehe¡­¡± -Eizo

    He was blushing as he talked, embarrassed as if he himself was being complimented.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! That¡¯s right! Archmage Silvanus is the greatest!!¡± -???

    A drunk middle aged adventurer chimed in from the next table.

    ¡°Here is to Archmage Silvanus!!¡± -Sergius

    All adventurers raised their drink and the whole tavern erupted in a cheer. All of them idolizes the archmage in one form or another. Eizo joined them in their cheer. He was happy since it¡¯s his grandfather their cheering for.

    The evening ended on a happy note for Eizo. After getting back to the inn, he took a bath right away, then went to bed after. The next morning, he got himself ready in a hurry, ate his breakfast in as few bites as he could, and went out the door in big strides. He hadn¡¯t been in this great of a mood on a morning for a long time. He was wearing one of his brand new trouser, tunic, belt, and over it all, his cloak as always.

    (Except for the boots, all I¡¯m wearing are from this world. This should make it easier to fit in. Now it¡¯s time to take a quest.)

    He went to the Adventurers Guild right a way, greeted Anna at the reception desk, and looked at the available quests posted on the bulletin board.

    (Hmm. What do we have here?... ...Herb gathering and Goblin subjugation in the forest west of town¡­ Can I do those at the same time? I¡¯m going to be in the forest anyway, so, might as well hunt the goblins I find there.)

    He took both postings and walked over to the reception desk. There were other receptionist there, but, since he already knew Anna, he decided to wait in line to talk to her.

    ¡°Hi, Anna. Is it okay to take multiple quest at the same time?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°It should be okay, if they can be done while meeting their deadline. What quests did you pick?¡± -Anna

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking of these; a herb gathering one and a goblin subjugation one. The objectives are in the same forest, so, I was thinking of doing them both.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Let¡¯s see here. Herb gathering is fine, but, goblin subjugation, even though it¡¯s an E rank quest, is usually taken by a party of at least three adventurers. Are you sure you want to take it?¡± -Anna

    ¡°That should be fine.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Okay, just give me a moment here.¡± -Anna

    Anna took the quest postings and register the quest to his name. She was reluctant to let him take the subjugation quest, but, she had a feeling that he was not one to overestimate his strength and take more than he could handle.

    ¡°It¡¯s  all set. The deadline for both of these quest is in three days. Please take care.¡± -Anna

    ¡°Thank you, Anna.¡± -Eizo

    Eizo went around the commercial area to buy some things he might need on his journey. He bought a small knife, some cheap cloth for packing, a rope, and glass vials in case he found some collectible precious liquid that he could sell later. Everything cost 320 Gil in total, so, his remaining funds as of that moment was 275 Gil. It was getting really low for comfort.

    He exited the south gate and he was greeted there by the guards.

    ¡°You an adventurer?¡± -Guard

    ¡°Yes.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°There has been more news of stray goblins on the road. Keep a lookout.¡± -Guard

    ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll be careful.¡± -Eizo

    He pressed on his way toward the forest to the west. It would take him the best part of the day to get there, but, since he didn¡¯t have his own mount, he had no choice but to walk. While walking through the farmlands outside town, he observed other people travelling from Frostfield.

    (Those in armors must be adventurers. Those in the carriage must be merchants. Having a horse and a carriage sounds nice, I should plan on having one. Hmmm¡­ I guess, this is what the morning rush is in this world. Travelling the open plains like this, risking being attacked by monsters or bandits everyday. It takes some getting used to. Even the merchants must brave through monsters to conduct their business.)

    He finally entered the forest in the afternoon. He came across several adventurers on their way back to the city. But all in all, the journey there was uneventful just like how he wanted.

    (There is only about two hours of daylight left. I wonder if I can get enough herbs by sunset. I¡¯ll have to camp somewhere here tonight. Let¡¯s see what we can do until then.)

    He maintained a 50 meters range in his ¡®Air Perception¡¯ and activated ¡®Shadow Veil¡¯. This way, he can sense anything coming close to him while making himself harder to detect. He detected no animals or monsters within his sensor.

    On several spots, he detected some plants that had noticeable mana within them. These were the herbs that he was looking for. With ¡®Air Perception¡¯ sustained, finding the herbs was easier than expected. He gathered as much as he could, cutting them as he saw in the book with a small knife, tied them in bundles using a simple string, then put them in his rucksack. It

    (I should be able to come back to the town before tomorrow evening. Now, where can I find some goblins?¡±)

    He went deeper into the woods to look for goblins while he continued picking up herbs on his way. But, he didn¡¯t find any goblins or other monsters and night time has come before he realized it. He decided to camp by a big tree for the night. He set up a small campfire, then sat down leaning on the tree with his cloak covering his body.

    -----------

    ¡°Hold up guys, We should agree here what to report to the client. I think we should leave out any information about Eizo.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Agreed.¡± -Luke

    ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t want the words about his magic to come from us. It will surely complicate things for him in the future.¡± -Rose

    The trio has reached the citygate of Tovaria that night. Unknown to Eizo, these three were actually among the leading adventurers of the city of Tovaria. They were actually members of the clan ¡®Titans Fell¡¯ which was a group of adventurers famous for successfully hunting a Frost Giant in the beastmen territory. Now, their clan has a total of 62 members with Julian as clan leader. All member of Titans Fell were at least C rank adventurers. The three of them were all A ranked.

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    They finally returned to the city after a confidential quest from one of the merchant council of the City-state of Tovaria to deliver a message to the king of the Arken Kingdom about the stabilizing situation in the Beastmen Hegemony.

    ¡°Finally home. Walking all the way to the capital city of Arken Kingdom was definitely something I¡¯m not gonna do again. Why did we ever accept this quest.¡± -Julian

    ¡°Because the pay was good?¡± -Rose

    ¡°The pay was ridiculous, right? But, I still don¡¯t understand why did we have to travel on foot with these cheap equipments.¡± -Luke

    ¡°Well, what we just did was very close to espionage. It¡¯s better we are unrecognized. That¡¯s why.¡± -Rose

    ¡°I guess I understand that. Even I know that relations is not great right now between the Beast Hegemony and the Arken Kingdom. But, what really puzzling me was the message we delivered. Why did they need us to relay that everything is fine in the Hegemony?¡± -Luke

    ¡°It is because, as the countries that are in the western front of the continent, fastest reached by demons, Arken Kingdom and Tovaria needs to continue coordinating their information in the near future. They need to know if whether the Hegemony is vulnerable if ever a demon invasion happens.¡± -Julian

    ¡°A demon invasion¡­ That¡¯s right, isn¡¯t it? Even if only one territory fell to the demons, it will affect all of Aria Continent. ¡± -Rose

    ¡°You think an invasion will really happen soon?¡± -Luke

    ¡°That¡¯s what every country leaders seemed to be thinking. I can¡¯t really say for certain, but, it is also true that the past demon invasion have happened in the intervals of around 500 years, even though, there has been only four. Well, I guess in this case, it is four too many.¡± -Julian

    ¡°I see.¡± -Luke

    Luke was silent for a moment. He was thinking what he would do in the event of a demon invasion.

    ¡°Anyway, what about Eizo? Shouldn¡¯t we recruit him to our clan? Having one more mage will make our clan stronger.¡± -Rose

    ¡°hehehe¡­ you miss him already?¡± -Luke

    He never miss a chance.

    ¡°Shut up! Idiot! So, are we not going to recruit him.¡± -Rose

    ¡°No, I have a feeling he¡¯d hate the idea of joining a clan. He has only begun adventuring and he needs to see if it is really the life he wants to live. Either way, I feel like he¡¯s gonna be big soon. I don¡¯t want to annoy him unnecessarily.¡± -Julian

    ----------

    It was in the middle of the night when Eizo awoke as he sensed a presence within the range of his detection magic. First a single entity, then six more at once, coming from different directions. It seemed the goblins had him surrounded and were closing in on him from all sides.

    (They¡¯re finally here. It took them long enough to see the campfire. But, actually surrounding me for a surprise attack, it seems these goblins are not all that stupid.)

    As the goblins closed on him, Eizo kicked poured a sack of dirt he had prepared on the fire. It went out with a hiss and was extinguished immediately as trace amount of smoke continued to rise from it. Turning his ¡®Shadow Veil¡¯ to the strongest at 90% less detectability, he sprinted to a nearby shrubbery. He was well hidden within it and, from there, he had a good vantage point on his previous location.

    The goblins finally reached the campfire. They were confused and were looking all around to find the prey they thought would be there. One of the goblins was the obvious leader of the pack. It was bigger than the rest and seemed to be commanding the search for their prey. Other than that, it was an ordinary goblin.

    (7 goblins. There aren¡¯t any more nearby. This is my chance.)

    Eizo jumped out of the shrub and alerted some of the goblins nearest to him. With ¡®Shadow Veil¡¯ on, even the noise of the shrub as he moved through it was barely noticeable by the whole goblin pack. As every goblin reacted to the alertness of their fellow goblins, they all looked at the direction of Eizo. However, what they saw was just a haze of a shadowy figure standing in front of them.

    With his staff on his right hand, he pulled his staff back and swung it horizontally from left to right as if slashing with a sword. A blade of high pressured water shot out from the staff with a shape following the arc of the swing. It was the expert ranked spell, ¡®Water Blade¡¯, that was casted chantlessly.

    Unlike the ¡®Water Blade¡¯ that he caster before, there was only a singular blade. However, it was much bigger and it caught a cluster of six of the goblins in one swoop. The monsters were cut in halves in an instant on their abdomen or on their chest. Six goblin torso fell on the ground unceremoniously along with a number of their arms as their lower body toppled to the ground.

    The remaining goblin screamed in terror as it saw its packmates got killed in a matter seconds. After finally realizing what has transpired before its eyes, it dropped the spear it was carrying, turned back and started to flee. But, Eizo was not gonna let it. He already had the required number of goblins ears to bring back to complete his second quest, but, he didn¡¯t want to take the chance that the goblin might come back with even more of its kind if he let it escape.

    Eizo thrust his staff toward the fleeing goblin as if stabbing it with a rapier 20 meters away. An ¡®Ice Spear¡¯ was fired from the tip of the staff flying as fast as an arrow. Even in the dark, with his ¡®Air Perception¡¯ activated, he knew the exact location of the goblin and where it was running to. Fortunately for Eizo, the goblin didn¡¯t think about running into a cover and just run straight in panic as quick as he could get farther away from Eizo.

    The expert ranked ¡®Water Element¡¯ spell, ¡®Ice Spear¡¯,  hit the goblin center on its back and came out from its chest going through its spine and ribs with minimal resistance. The goblin fell on the ground as if a puppet got its string cut, blood pool was quickly forming on the ground.

    (Maybe that was a little too much for these guys, but, I can¡¯t be careless just because they¡¯re just goblins. It was good that there was no one around, so, I can cast chantless without anyone finding out. But, I can¡¯t rely on that always. I will have to use better strategies in the future.)

    Eizo was always looking for ways to improve his performance, but, he also realized his accomplishment at the moment. He just killed seven goblins alone, something even an A ranked adventurer would find hard to do.

    Eizo cut off the right ears of the seven goblins. Four ears were required for completing the subjugation request.

    (I wonder if Anna will be surprised.)

    After he finished collecting the ears of the last goblin, he sensed a creature coming closer to his location. Eizo hid under the shrub once again. As the creature was getting closer he determined that this creature was much bigger than the goblins.

    It was a stray Forest Troll. A feared monster of this forest. It probably smelled the blood of the goblins and came to feed on their remains. Eizo finally saw the silhouette of the monster. It was twice the height of a person even as it walked hunching its back. It¡¯s arms were long enough to reach its knees. The whole body of the monster was covered in long brown hair. With each loud step the troll took, Eizo could feel the ferocity of the monster.

    Eizo was thinking whether he should engage the monster or keep hiding in the shrub, but, the troll made his decision for him. It head turned toward Eizo after it caught his scent even amidst the strong smell of fresh goblin blood.

    (Sh*t!!)

    Eizo quickly whispered an incantation, pointed his staff at the troll, and shouted ¡°Fireball!!!¡±. A ball of fire was shot from within the shrub as Eizo run out of it to the opposite direction of the monster. The shrub was also set ablaze. The troll was pushed back by the impact of the ¡®Fireball¡¯ on its right chest. It let out a growl in pain as the fire burned the flesh on its chest and spread along its fur on its front torso.

    Eizo ran to a distance of at least 20 meters from the troll. When he turned his head back, he saw that the troll was still burning from the fire spell. However, it wasn¡¯t going down. The burned flesh on its chest was already healing due to its ability, that made any troll a monster to be feared, regeneration.

    Eizo was hidden in the dark beyond the range of the light from the burning shrub. He was moving around the troll with his ¡®Shadow Veil¡¯ on, making sure the troll couldn¡¯t pinpoint his location by scent again. In the meantime, the troll was standing in place in front of the light as it looked around looking for its assailant while still in pain from his slowly burning flames.

    (I need to kill it in one strike. Even if it has regeneration, it will still die if its heart was pierced or its head cut-off, right?)

    Ezio held his staff with both arms and aimed it to the troll. The monster turned its body to face him as if sensing the danger coming from that direction. It started to growl louder as if challenging whatever it may be that may come out of the dark.

    With mana flowing from his arm into his staff, an ¡®Ice Spear¡¯ shot out from the staff and flew straight to the same spot that was hit by the ¡®Fireball¡¯. The troll¡¯s growl was cut short as the ¡®Ice Spear¡¯ pierced through its heart. It stood there motionless as an ¡®Ice Spear¡¯ was stuck halfway through its torso. It fell face first on the ground.

    Eizo was breathing heavily after the battle. He walked toward the body of the troll to check to make sure it really was dead.

    (Good, it¡¯s dead. Hmm. What¡¯s the proof of subjugation for ¡®Forest Trolls¡¯? Anna said, any part of the monster can be used as long as you can tell what monster in came from. Hmmm. Can I just bring its head? I¡¯m cringing just at the thought of it, but, I guess I have to do it.)

    Eizo cast ¡®Water Blade¡¯ twice to cut the head of the troll. He took three glass vials that he brought with him and filled them with blood from the trolls severed neck. He then took the head and wrapped it with a cheap cloth, tied off with a short rope, and stuffed it in his rucksack. He then dragged the bodies of the goblins and stacked it with the headless corpse of the troll. Then, he casted an ¡®Incinerate¡¯ fire spell and burned the corpses to ashes.

    He camped far from the scene of carnage that night.

    The next morning, he walked out the forest to head back to the town.

    -End of Chapter-

    AN: I keep misspelling Eizo to Ezio.

 Chapter 7: Quest Rewards

    Chapter 7: Quest Rewards

    Eizo got back in Frostfield a little past noon. He was greeted kindly by the guards on the gate. The guards here were mostly former adventurers and they still show a sort of  camaraderie to other adventurers just like they¡¯re used to. As he walked through the town, he observed the liveliness of the people there. Workers were running to and fro. Vendors were yelling what products they¡¯re selling. And, a multitude of all kinds of people going about their business.

    (Now that I think about it, this is the first time I walked through the town in the middle of the day. The other times I walked about were mostly in the morning when I¡¯m shopping. This town is a city in all aspects but its name.)

    Eizo entered the Adventurers Guild and walked to the reception desk. There, Anna was talking to a couple of adventurers like normal. She was the only one working there at this time as she was the only full time receptionist in the guild. The guild is usually deserted around this time, so, only one receptionist is on duty. The kitchen was also closed before late afternoon when most adventurers return to town.

    After waiting in line, he was finally able to talk to Anna.

    ¡°Eizo, welcome back! How did it go?¡± -Anna

    ¡°It went just fine. I got a total of 15 bundles of herbs and hunted 7 goblins. Please confirm it.¡± -Eizo

    He handed his guild card to Anna and she started processing the completion of the quest.

    ¡°So, you really was able to hunt that much goblins. And, you did it alone, too! That¡¯s amazing!¡± -Anna

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t much. I just had the advantage over them in that situation.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Really? You must have had some amazing strategies against the goblins.¡± -Anna

    ¡°Something like that.¡± -Eizo

    Anna gave back the guild card to Eizo.

    ¡°Here you go. It¡¯s been processed. The reward for 15 bundles of herbs is a total of 750 Gil at 50 Gil each. And, the reward for the Goblins is 100 Gil for the required four goblin ears for the quest and a normal subjugation reward of 50 Gil for the other three ears for a total of 550 Gil. So, your total reward is 1,300 Gil. Here it is.¡± -Anna

    She handed him 1 gold coin and 3 silver coins.

    ¡°Thank you. By the way, how much is the subjugation reward for a ¡®Forest Troll¡¯?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°¡®Forest Troll¡¯? Why are you asking? Did you see one in the forest? They are nocturnal monsters, adventurers don¡¯t usually come across them in the forest as long as they stay clear of their territory.¡± -Anna

    ¡°I camped in the forest and came across one. I recognized it from the monster survey I read.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°You camped in the forest? Are you crazy? Why didn¡¯t you sleep outside the forest?¡± -Anna

    ¡°It was part of my plan to hunt the goblins.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Well, that was reckless, you know? You¡¯re lucky you got away from the troll in one piece.¡± -Anna

    ¡°So, how much is the reward?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Hm? It¡¯s 3,000 Gil per troll since. You¡¯re not thinking of hunting one, are you? It¡¯s a B ranked monster, and you don¡¯t even have a party yet.¡± -Anna

    ¡°3,000 Gil? hehehe.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Why do you look like that?¡± -Anna

    Eizo had an evil grin on his face as he took out an object wrapped in cloth out of his rucksack. He handed the object to Anna.

    ¡°Hm? What¡¯s this? It¡¯s pretty heavy.¡± -Anna

    She carefully untied the rope and lifted the cloth to reveal what¡¯s inside. Her eyes went wide when she realized what¡¯s in it.

    ¡°Eeeee!!! What¡¯s that!!? It¡¯s a head!!¡± -Anna

    The few people in the guild turn towards their direction with the sound of Anna¡¯s scream. She was famous for being the calm and collected beauty of the guild. There was not a lot of things that can startle her so.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on!?¡± -Adventurer no.1

    ¡°Did you do something wrong?¡± -Adventurer no.2

    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t do anything wrong. Relax.¡± -Eizo

    A small crowd gathered around Eizo out of curiousity, but, only the two were asking him questions.

    ¡°No, no! nothing wrong, Grant, Nelson. Everything¡¯s fine. I was just shocked for a moment.¡± -Anna

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you that shocked before, what the hell is this thing anyway.¡± -Grant, Adventurer no.1

    ¡°What? It¡¯s a monster¡¯s head! Is this a prank on Anna? Why would you show her something like this?!¡± -Grant

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know what proof I should get from this monster, so, I just took its head.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Grant! D-do you know what this is? It¡¯s a head of a ¡®Forest Troll¡¯! I can¡¯t mistake it for anything!¡± -Nelson

    The crowd was voicing their amazement as well, saying, ¡°What?¡± ¡°Really¡± ¡°Forest Troll¡± ¡°Unbelievable!¡±

    ¡°So, the reason you were asking about the reward was because you killed one ¡®Forest Troll¡¯?¡± -Anna

    ¡°Yeah, I told you, I came across it last night.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°You? How did you kill something like this? He¡¯s obviously lying, Anna. There¡¯s no way a guy like this can kill a ¡®Forest Troll¡¯.¡± -Grant

    ¡°I used traps to kill it.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Traps? What kind? How?¡± Nelson

    Nelson has less accusation in his voice than Grant.

    ¡°Well, I can¡¯t tell you obviously. Keeping the secret of my ways is part of the trade.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°So, you can¡¯t tell us? You¡¯re lying afterall!¡± -Grant

    ¡°Believe what you want. What do I care? What matter is, here is a head of a ¡®Forest Troll¡¯. You¡¯re friend confirmed it afterall.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°What did you say!?¡± -Grant

    ¡°SILENCE!!! What¡¯s the reason for all these commotion?¡± -???

    ¡°Guildmaster, this man here is falsely claiming he defeated a ¡®Forest Troll¡¯ by himself it seems!¡± -Grant

    After hearing the loud commotion, the guildmaster went down to restore order to the guild.

    ¡°A ¡®Forest Troll¡¯? Really?¡± -Sergius, guildmaster

    Sergius checked the wrapped object on the desk and confirmed that it was, indeed, a Forest Troll¡¯s head. He had seen a number of them during his youth.

    ¡°Hahaha. How did you say you killed it? -Sergius

    The crowd was interested as well as they start to argue about it on their own

    ¡°Is he someone really strong?¡±

    ¡°Probably, right?¡±

    ¡°But, look at his body. You can tell that¡¯s not the body of a strong warrior.¡±

    ¡°Maybe he¡¯s a mage?¡±

    ¡°A mage? Maybe. But I heard all mages are old¡±

    ¡°Also, mages are rich. They wouldn¡¯t be working as an adventurer.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Really, trust me.¡±

    ¡°I used traps.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Traps, huh? Well I don¡¯t need to ask anymore. Anna, please prepare the appropriate subjugation reward.¡± Sergius

    ¡°Yes, right away.¡± Anna

    ¡°What? Guildmaster, are you saying you believe this man?¡± -Grant

    ¡°Believe him? And why would that matter? Here is an unmistakable severed head of a Forest Troll. That¡¯s all you need to present to get a subjugation reward. Just mind your own job and try not to bother the other adventurers. Or have you forgotten how to behave yourself?¡± -Segius

    ¡°No, guildmaster. We will be going on our way. I apologized for overreacting. Let¡¯s go, Nelson!¡± -Grant

    Grant and Nelson walked out the guild building in a hurry. The guildmaster went back to the upper level to his office as he determined there was nothing more to do in the lower level. The small crowd of adventurers also went on their ways.

    ¡°Here is your reward, Eizo. 3,000 Gil for the subjugation of one Forest Troll.¡± -Anna

    Ezio accepted the reward and put them in his coin sack. He had a total of 4,575 Gil in his funds. The heaviness of the coins felt good to Eizo.

    ¡°Thank you, I didn¡¯t expect it would be that big of a deal.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Hunting a Forest Troll was definitely a big deal, no matter how you did it. You¡¯re lucky there was only a handful of people here at this hour, or else, it would have been a fanfare hehehe.¡± -Anna

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Anyway, what do you do to the monsters¡¯ body parts you receive here  as proof of subjugation?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°We harvest what¡¯s usable to sell them. The rest are burned in the back.¡± -Anna

    ¡°Oh. That¡¯s how it is. Anyway, I should get a move on. Goodbye Anna.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Goodbye.¡± -Anna

    Eizo exited the guild building, walked across the town square, and went to the Crafters Guild.

    ¡°Hello, is this where I can sell ingredients for alchemy?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°What kind of ingredients are we talking about here?¡± -Old man crafter

    The man behind the counter was an old man who appears to be an experienced crafter judging from his hands. The main goal of the Crafters Guild is to protect its members and allow them to practice their crafts freely. This old man behind the counter seemed to take this responsibility seriously as he looked at Eizo with untrusting eyes.

    The other function of the guild includes coordinating quest with the Adventurers Guild about the collection of ingredients in demand, arranging guards for crafters that has to venture into the wilds, connecting their members to reputable merchants to sell their products, and many others.

    ¡°I have 3 vials of Forest Troll¡¯s blood I wish to sell.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Forest Troll¡¯s blood? Let me see that.¡± -old man crafter

    Eizo handed a vial of the blood to the old man who checked the contents of the container.

    ¡°Hmm. This seems to be real. I¡¯ll tell you what, young man, we can buy all three vials here for 500 Gil each, or, you can try your luck in the auction.¡± -old man crafter

    ¡°An auction?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s starting in about an hour. However, it¡¯s a gamble. Some items don¡¯t sell as much as we would pay for them here. But, considering the rarity of troll¡¯s blood in the market, how about it?¡± -old man crafter

    ¡°The auction sounds interesting. Let¡¯s do it that way. My name is Eizo Walker, by the way.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Nice to meet you, Eizo. I¡¯m called Marcus Serranus. I¡¯m the guildmaster of this branch.¡± Old Marcus

    ¡°Really? I would never guess the guildmaster will be working the counter.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Hahaha. Well, unlike the other two guilds, we don¡¯t have a lot of staffs here. Every one has to man the counter once in awhile.¡± -Old Marcus

    ¡°Is that so? How does this auction work, anyway?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Every seventh day, at 4:00 PM, we hold an auction here to sell some of the crafting ingredients that are not commonly in stock on shops. This way, many crafters has the chance to acquire some ingredients that they don¡¯t come across with often.¡± -Old Marcus

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯d like to see that as well.¡± -Eizo

    Eizo waited for the hour of the auction and he sat in the far corner of the auction hall. There was a small stage in front for the auctioneer. When the time came, around twenty people have gathered in the hall. Most of them are crafters and merchants, some are representatives or apprentices. They exchanges their greetings and gossiped among one another.

    ¡°Did you hear?  They said there are Forest Troll¡¯s Blood in the auction today?¡± -???

    ¡°I heard. That¡¯s what I¡¯m here personally, instead of sending an apprentice in my place.¡± -???

    ¡°Well, it looks like we¡¯ll be enemies for today. hahaha¡± -???

    ¡°Let¡¯s  have a good match! hahaha¡± -???

    When the auctioneer came out, a small cheer was heard from the group of bidders. After saying his greetings the man finally open the auction for the first item.

    The first item was a weapon crafter by one of the local crafters. Such weapons are usually the ones that the owner crafted with pride, but, are too expensive to sell in their shop in this town. It was sold for 1,500 Gil to a merchant. Selling the sword in a big city was the only way to make a profit off that weapon.

    (Wow, that¡¯s plenty cheap for that weapon. I was thinking it would go for more than 3,000 Gil at least.)

    After several other items, the Forest Troll¡¯s Blood was finally brought out.

    ¡°Now for the next item, we have three vials of ¡®Forest Troll¡¯d Blood¡¯! The guildmaster himself vouched for its authenticity! Let¡¯s see here, we¡¯ll start the bid for 600 Gil for all of three vials!!¡± -Auctioneer

    ¡°800!¡± Bidder 1

    ¡°900!¡± Bidder 2

    ¡°1,000!¡± Bidder 3

    (It seems there are some interest. Hm¡­ I need  at least 1,500 Gil to break even with how much the guild would have paid me had I sold it to them. Well, actually I need it to sell 1,875 Gil taking into account the 20% commission of the guild.)

    ¡°1,400!¡± Bidder 4

    Bidder 3 and 4 shared a look with each other like two cowboys facing off in a gunfight. It seemed they can tell that they have to outbid the other to win this auction.

    ¡°1,600!¡± Bidder 3

    ¡°1,800!¡± Bidder 4

    ¡°1.850!¡± Bidder 3

    ¡°1,900!¡± Bidder 4

    (Yes! I can live with that!)

    ¡°You¡­  2,500 Gil!¡± Bidder 3

    It was all the cash he was carrying with him. He was going all in.

    ¡°-oohh¡¯-¡± other people

    ¡°2,500 going once-¡± -Auctioneer

    ¡°2,600! hehe I won this match¡± Bidder 4

    ¡°ah- 2,600, going once, twice-¡± -Auctioneer

    Bidder 2 approached Bidder 3 and whispered something to him when he shouted,

    ¡°3,000 Gil!¡± -Bidder 3

    ¡°Hey, what did that guy tell you?! That¡¯s cheating!¡± -Bidder 4

    ¡°3,000 going once! --Twice! --Sold!! to the man known as Bidder 3, I mean, that gentleman over there. Congratulations.¡±

    ¡°Yes!!¡± -Gentleman formerly known as bidder 3

    Bidder 3 was ecstatic with his win. But, the clear winner here was Bidder 2 who made a deal with Bidder 3 to contribute 500 Gil in exchange for one vial of the troll¡¯s blood. So in the correct sense, Bidder 3 paid 2,500 Gil for only two vial of troll¡¯s blood.

    (Yes! I¡¯m rich! mwuhahahaha!! - oops, my evil side slipped out for a second there. I shouldn¡¯t get too excited here. hehe)

    The auction continued as Eizo went back the auction hall to meet with Old Marcus.

    ¡°Hey Eizo, youngman, we made a killing there!¡± -Old Marcus

    ¡°Right! Selling in the auction was the right choice! Thank you, old man Marcus.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Don¡¯t thank me too much. The guild also made a profit with it. So, here is your money as we agreed to before.¡± -Old Marcus

    He handed 2 gold coins and 4 silver coins to Eizo. The three vials of troll¡¯s blood sold for 3,000 Gil. Minus the commission of the guild, he received, 2,400 Gil. Now he has a whooping 6,975 Gil!

    ¡°Thanks.¡± -Eizo

    He put the coins in his coin sack. The sound of metal coins hitting one another was music to his ears.

    ¡°If you come across something interesting again, be sure to come to me. hehehe.¡± -Old Marcus

    Eizo walked out the Crafters Guild happy and he went straight to the inn. He paid 10 Gil for a meal and a bath, then he went back to his room after.

    ----------

    In the Adventurers Guild, Guildmaster Sergius was working until late in the evening.

    ¡°Hmm¡­ That Eizo, I was sure he¡¯s not the type to lie about his accomplishment. So, would that mean he really did kill seven goblins and a Forest Troll by himself? It is unbelievable to say the least. I can understand how the other adventurers would take it as a bad joke. He could be mage with that staff he carries. But,not all staff users are mages, isn¡¯t it?

    We don¡¯t even know where he came from since he didn¡¯t write it down in his guild application. But that cloak he wears, I¡¯ve seen it worn by the staff crafters from that village, Iberia. So, is he from there?

    Now that I think about it, he came here with the Titans Fell¡¯s leader, Julian Corvus. Did they meet him during their quest? Is that all their relationship is? Hmmm.

    That Julian, could he be planning to create a division of Titan¡¯s fell here in Frostfield? Why keep it a secret? That can¡¯t be it. I wonder what¡¯s their connection. In any case, I have a feeling things will be interesting around here in the near future.¡± -Sergius

 Chapter 8: He Might Be a Mage

    Chapter 8: He Might Be a Mage

    The next day, Eizo noticed the curious stares directed at him as he ate his breakfast at the inn. In just one day, his name has gotten around with news regarding a successful subjugation of a Forest Troll. He decided to ignore the gossiping crowd and went about his day like nothing happened.

    But, when he got to the Adventurers Guild that morning, the murmurs of the crowd just got louder, loud enough for him to understand some of what their saying.

    ¡°Is that really the guy?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe it.¡±

    ¡°Must be someone else.¡±

    ¡°They say, he might be a mage, of all things.¡±

    ¡°Maybe that¡¯s a magic staff he¡¯s carrying after all.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t he take the head from someone else?¡±

    ¡°If that guy can kill a Forest Troll, then I can kill a dragon.¡±

    (I don¡¯t mind them talking badly about me, but, can¡¯t they show a little consideration and do it where I can¡¯t hear them?)

    He sighed to himself, then, continued his walk toward the bulletin board. The adventurers there before him cleared a path for him, as if they¡¯d rather have nothing to do with him.

    (I don¡¯t have the flu, you guys.)

    When he was looking at the available quest, the people behind him were watching him and were curious to see what kind of quest he was going to pick. After looking at the postings, he picked a herb gathering quest. The same one he had taken before.

    Unlike herb gathering, subjugation quests tend to show up after multiple sighting of monsters.Because goblin sightings and attacks were finally becoming less frequent, there are no more request at the moment for their subjugation. It seemed Eizo picked the last request concerning goblins.

    ¡°pfft. Gathering herbs? I guess it really was just a rumour.¡±

    The other adventurers laughed after finding out what quest he decided to take. They were expecting him to take a subjugation quest, but, Eizo was only ranked E after all.

    (What¡¯s wrong with herb gathering? I bet everybody had to do it when they started.)

    He waited in line again to talk to Anna.

    ¡°Hello, Anna. This is what I picked for today.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Hm.. No ferocious monsters to kill today, sir mage?¡± -Anna

    ¡°I can¡¯t be killing trolls everyday, you know?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°hehehe. So, you¡¯re not denying you¡¯re a mage. Interesting.¡± -Anna

    ¡°I guess I have to live up to the expectations, right? hehe¡± -Eizo

    ¡°I¡¯m just teasing you. I¡¯m not telling you to hunt monster everyday. In my opinion, herb gathering is the best kind of quest.¡± -Anna

    ¡°Right. hehehe. I¡¯ve been getting this weird look from everybody. It seems they expect me to hunt a dragon or something.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°I can see you doing just that. In any case, what happened yesterday surprised everyone, you know? We don¡¯t get many exciting news around here, so, forgive them for being a little too excited on your expense, m¡¯kay?¡± -Anna

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I get it.¡±  -Eizo

    ¡°Good. You¡¯re all set here. Try being a little more careful from now on. Don¡¯t go fighting every monster you meet.¡± -Anna

    ¡°I got it already. See you later.¡± -Eizo

    Before setting off to the forest, Eizo visited the horse merchant. It was located in the Commercial district around the Merchants Guild. There he found a building with a big stable and a yard where horses are free to roam during the day. Beside it was the wagon maker¡¯s shop, but, Eizo was only looking for a horse that day.

    He spoke to the middle aged man in charge of the shop.

    ¡°Hello mister, I¡¯d like a horse.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°What kind of horse?¡± -Horse Merchant

    ¡°Um¡­ I don¡¯t really know a lot about horses.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Well, what do you intend to use it for?¡± -Horse Merchant

    ¡°I want a horse that can pull a wagon, but, I don¡¯t have a wagon yet, so I¡¯d be riding the horse for now. One with good stamina would be nice as well.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Walk with me. ¡­ How about this stallion here. It¡¯s an Aloshan draught horse. It has plenty of stamina, and it¡¯s not as big as other draught horse, so, it¡¯s great for riding as well. It¡¯s pretty docile and it¡¯s easy to ride, but don¡¯t expect to win any races with it.¡± -Horse Merchant

    The horse merchant showed him a chestnut horse that stood around 1.7m tall on its shoulders. It has a broad forehead and big muzzle, so it had a gentle yet strong look about it. It was well muscled and it had an arched neck.

    (It¡¯s a pretty big horse, yet it seems very mobile.)

    ¡°What else can you tell me about this horse?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s a lively one. You can see how light and tall its gait is as it walks about. And you see those big hooves, they are ideal in pulling carriages. This horse can pull a wagon weighing about the same as itself.¡± -Horse Merchant

    ¡°Hmm¡­ How much do you like for it?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°I can give it to you for 2,000 Gil.¡± -Horse Merchant

    ¡°Hmm.. Are the hooves with shoes? How about a saddle?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°I can have it shoed for 50 Gil. And, a fitted saddle for an additional 100 Gil. How about it?¡± Horse Merchant

    ¡°How everything for 1,700 Gil? Shoe and saddle included?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°What? That¡¯s too little. I¡¯ll hardly make a profit.¡± -Horse Merchant

    ¡°2,000 Gil.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°That¡¯s better. Deal. So, I¡¯ll have my boys take the horse for fitting. You¡¯re gonna have to wait a little bit.¡± -Horse Merchant

    Eizo handed the man 2 gold coins. This was the price that he wanted to pay in the first place. He just had a feeling that if he haggled lower, the merchant would be happy to meet him halfway.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. In the meantime, can I borrow a horse so I can learn how to ride one?¡±

    ¡°What? You don¡¯t know how to ride? Hahaha, Let¡¯s go to the yard.¡± Horse Merchant

    Eizo and the horse merchant walked to the yard and approached a saddled horse. It was a black horse smaller than the one he bought.

    ¡°You can ride this one.¡± -Horse Merchant

    ¡°Okay.¡± -Eizo

    He was standing on the left side of the horse. He grabbed both girth of the saddle, put his left foot into the stirrup, and pulled himself up lifting over his right leg over the horse. He managed to sit properly on the saddle. He¡¯d seen how to get on a horse on TV before. Good thing it came in handy.

    The horse merchant taught him the basic of horse riding. First, how to send the horse to a walk, how to stop, turn, how to make the horse trot and canter. And finally, how to make the horse gallop. Eizo had a hard time picking up the lessons from the old merchant, but, after sticking it out he finally had a hold on the basics.

    After practicing for about an hour more, the horse he just bought was taken in the yard. Eizo walked over to greet it.

    ¡°Hello there, horsie. Hmm..  I should give you name. What kind of a name do you want? How about Ripples!? No? Daisy? Wait you¡¯re a guy. Black Star! No. Lightning! Not quite. hmmm. How about Porthos! One of the musketeers? Right, you look like a Porthos. Porthos it is!¡± -Eizo

    The horse looked happy enough about its name. Eizo climbed Porthos and rode him around the yard so they can both get used to one another. Porthos was bigger from the horse earlier, and, Eizo can feel the difference in the strength of the two. Porthos had a more determined feel in each step he took while still being so light gaited for a horse his size. After getting comfortable with each other, they went out the yard and into the streets.

    The sight of a man on a horse was not uncommon among the people of Frostfield, but there were some puzzled look as to why a man would choose such a horse like Porthos as a riding horse, but, the sight of a horse his size on a casual trot on the streets in the middle of the day was something that still impressed a lot of people.

    After exiting the city, he rode on his horse at a steady canter (a natural pace of a horse between a trot and a gallop).

    (With this pace, I can reach the forest in a little more than an hour. I should be able to finish this quest in one day.)

    And, he was right. In only about 80 minutes, he was entering the forest. Eizo, as always, had his ¡®Air Perception¡¯ spell on. He gave it a 50 meter radius of detection range. Not only was he able to sense living creatures in the area, he was also sensing anything that has a particularly high amount of mana, like the healing herbs he was there to look for.

    Eizo dismounted and walked around the forest while leading his horse. Along the path, he picked up the herbs he came across with. He made sure to go to the parts of the forest that he hasn¡¯t been to before. After an hour of collecting herbs, he sensed a small group of goblins 40 meters in front of him and Porthos.

    He tied the horse¡¯s reins on a nearby tree, then he began to close in on the goblins in stealth with the help of his ¡®Shadow Veil¡¯ spell. After carefully taking the path that kept him from direct line of sight of the goblins, moving behind one tree to another, he managed to approached them as close as 15 meters without being noticed.

    There were three of the goblins. Based on their position, Eizo thought about what spell that can kill all the goblins at once that would be most appropriate. He decided on a spell and chanted an intermediate air spell while hidden behind a tree. Even without seeing the goblins directly, he knew exactly their position with the use of ¡®Air Perception¡¯.

    After completing the incantation, three rotating disks of wind appear in front of him. He felt his control over the disks as if they¡¯re an extension of his body. He stepped into view which startle the goblins momentarily. Without losing his beat, Eizo pointed his staff toward the goblins and shouted, ¡°Wind Spinning Edge!¡±. The three disks of wind accelerated, each one having their own target.

    Before the goblins realized that their about to die, the disks flew in and out of them like cutting through paper. Two of the goblins tried running away only to be hit by the projectile wind spell on their backs. One was unable to react at all and its head got cut off its body. But in actuality, there was no escaping from the attack. Each disk¡¯s trajectory was controlled precisely by Eizo.

    All of the goblins were dead. Eizo proceeded to collect the proof of subjugation from the goblins. Then, he burned the corpses as always.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    He went back to where Porthos was waiting and continued his search for more healing herbs. After spending a total of three hours in the forest, Eizo was able to collect a total of 25 bundles of herbs.

    He got on his horse again, then head back to town on a relaxed pace. On the way to town not far from the forest, he saw two men standing in the middle of the road blocking his path.

    --- Earlier ---

    ¡°Grant, maybe we shouldn¡¯t do this after all.¡± -Nelso

    ¡°We have to do this. Everyone in town are being lied to! We have to reveal his lies.¡± -Grant

    Grant and Nelson followed Eizo on foot after hearing that he was headed into the western forest.

    ¡°But, they say he¡¯s a mage, you know?¡± -Nelson

    ¡°Just because he has a staff, doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯s a mage. A lot people use it as a melee weapon.¡± -Grant

    ¡°Well his staff seems just like a normal staff. But, what if it¡¯s true?¡± -Nelson

    ¡°That¡¯s what he wants you to believe. Haven¡¯t you heard of schemes like this. Someone pretending to be a mage for a chance to get peerage. He probably has a bunch of mercenaries helping him with his deception.¡± -Grant

    ¡°That sounds like a very expensive way to do it.¡± -Nelson

    ¡°You know how it is, even if you¡¯re the son of a rich merchant, when it matters, you can¡¯t be treated the same way as a noble.¡± -Grant

    ¡°Really? I wouldn¡¯t know something like that. Anyway, what¡¯s the plan here exactly?¡± -Nelson

    ¡°Relax, we¡¯ll just scare him a little. Teach him the error of his ways. Can¡¯t be helped if we have to hurt him a bit,¡± -Grant

    ¡°So¡­ You don¡¯t have a plan?¡± -Nelson

    ¡°Shush! Someones coming this way on a horse. This might be him. I heard he was riding a big horse out of town.¡± -Grant

    --- Back to Eizo ---

    (What¡¯s this about? Oh, it¡¯s that guy from yesterday. This can¡¯t be good.)

    ¡°Ho there! Eizo! We¡¯ve been waiting for you. You know, I¡¯ve been asking about you in town.¡± -Grant

    Eizo dismounted, then walked a little to the front. He didn¡¯t want Porthos to get in the mix of what¡¯s about to happen. Eizo and Grant were standing around 15 meters apart with Nelson behind Grant.

    ¡°You did? What did you learn?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Not much, to be honest. That¡¯s what makes you suspicious! Nobody knows you. You stay in the inn alone. You even managed to be friends with the guildmaster! Everyone¡¯s eating up your lies!¡± -Grant

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for being suspicious and not having any friends, okay? Can you let me go, um, Frank and friend.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Grant and Nelson! You bastard!¡±

    Eizo really did not remember their names. But, he also knew it would get this man angrier and make him stupider. Grant was fuming with rage after finding out that the very target of his anger did not even remember his name properly. The usually calm Nelson was also annoyed for not being remembered at all. After all, this duo was considered skilled adventurers around this parts.

    ¡°Okay, Grant and Nelson, what exactly do you want from me?¡± -Eizo

    ¡°We are here to stop your lies! We all know you didn¡¯t defeat that troll by yourself! Where are your goons, huh?¡± -Grant

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have them here with me. But, I did kill that troll by myself.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Y-you lie! How could someone like you do it?!¡± -Grant

    ¡°With traps. I thought I said that before.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Traps, my ass! You know nothing about traps!¡± -Grant

    ¡°I meant magical traps. Haven¡¯t you heard? I¡¯m sort of a mage.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°Mage? ha! You can¡¯t cast a spell if you¡¯re life depended on it. Don¡¯t think we don¡¯t know what you¡¯re trying to do here.¡± -Grant

    ¡°Oh? What do you think I¡¯m trying to do?¡± -Eizo

    A smile was forming on Eizo¡¯s face. He was never a sadistic man, but he just couldn¡¯t help it.

    ¡°Grant, let¡¯s just forget about it, okay?¡± -Nelson

    ¡°No man, we have to stop him right here. We know what you¡¯re after, Eizo. You¡¯re only pretending to be a mage for a chance to receive peerage! Don¡¯t think it hasn¡¯t been attempted before! You¡¯re not that clever!¡± -Grant

    ¡°Pretend as a mage to become a noble? Do people really do that? hahaha!¡± -Eizo

    Eizo was only laughing on the outside. All this time, he was thinking about what would be his strategy when they attack him.

    (I can¡¯t fight them at the same time. I also have to take into account the casting time of my spells. I don¡¯t really want to reveal I can cast some spells chantless.)

    ¡°That¡¯s it! You¡¯re gonna regret this!¡± -Grant

    Grant unsheathed his sword and charged at Eizo, while Nelson stayed behind. Eizo was expecting him to do this. He quickly recited a spell and using his right hand he casted ¡®Air Shield¡¯ as Grant closed on him. An elongated oval shaped wind wall was created between the two men. Grant¡¯s sword got caught in the rotating torrent that formed the shield in front of him. With the force of the wind on his sword, he could not hold on to it and he was disarmed. His right wrist was twisted as a result and would need resetting later on. Grant was blown back falling on his behind.

    ¡°Argh!! Nelson! Kill him! Kill him or we get killed!¡± -Grant

    Realizing the mistake they just committed, Nelson was stunned for a moment. All mages in the kingdom are noble and attacking a noble is punishable by death. Beads of sweat were fast forming on his forehead. Understanding the meaning in Grant¡¯s panicked words that if they were found out attacking a noble, they¡¯d be executed later on. He thought Grant was right. That they have to kill Eizo to survive. They couldn¡¯t simply teach him a lesson now.

    Nelson also unsheathed his weapon this time. Unlike Grant who used a single handed longsword, Nelson was equipped with a sword and a shield. He charges at Eizo with his shield raised up, anticipating to encounter the same spell.

    But, Eizo used a different spell this time. He had taken notice of their equipment before and suspected that ¡®Air Shield¡¯ would not be as effective in repelling a person hiding behind his shield. Eizo took his staff and recited a short dark element spell. He aimed his staff at Nelson¡¯s face, then he said ¡°Dark Shroud!¡±. It was a spell that every dark element apprentice mage knew. A cloud devoid of light surrounded Nelson¡¯s face which robbed him of his sight.

    Nelson continued his charge toward Eizo, but he was already somewhere else. Eizo sprinted to the left going around Nelson. He had a clear shot at Nelson from behind as he watched him swing his sword blindly. Eizo recited another spell aimed at nelson. Grant was still unable to get up as he watch his friend being completely vulnerable.

    ¡°Nelson, behind you!¡± -Grant

    Nelson turned around with his shield raised up again. But, the spell that Eizo used was something you couldn¡¯t block with a shield. ¡°Move Earth!¡±, shouted Eizo. The ground around Nelson suddenly fell creating a pit 4 meters in depth. There was no way the blind Nelson could climb out of it.

    ¡°Nelson!! You bastard, how could you!¡± -Grant

    Grant gathered his strength and managed to stand up. He pointed his sword toward Eizo, showing his intention to fight until the end. Eizo watched him calmly as he recited another spell. He pointed his staff at Grant and casted an ¡®Air Punch¡¯ spell. The ball of air shot toward Grant with a spiral wake of wind trailing behind it.

    Grant was hit in the abdomen and was knocked back flying with the air taken out from him.

    ¡°Gugh!¡± -Grant

    He landed about 4 meters from his standing location, unconscious but breathing. Eizo fought without the intention to kill them. But, he couldn¡¯t just leave them like this.

    (There has to be some sort of consequence for attacking me. hmmm. I wonder what should I do.)

    Nelson was still trapped in the pit shouting who knows what, while, Eizo walked toward the unconscious Grant, kicked away the sword, and search the pockets of the sleeping man. He found Grant¡¯s purse and checked how much was in there. He emptied the contents on his palm and counted the money. There were 2 gold coins, 14 silver coins, and 22 copper coins, a total value of 3,620 Gil. Of course, Eizo took everything.

    He raised the pit where nelson was trapped and canceled the blinding spell on him. Nelson saw Grant on the ground but he had a feeling he was still alive. Then, he turned his eyes on Eizo with fear. Being trapped blind in a pit was the scariest thing he had ever experience.

    ¡°P-please forgive us. W-we won¡¯t do it again, promise!¡± -Nelson

    ¡°Relax. I won¡¯t do more than this as long as you don¡¯t bother me anymore.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°We won¡¯t. We won¡¯t. I swear!¡± -Nelson

    ¡°Good. I¡¯m leaving you to take care of your friend over there. He should be alive at least.¡± -Eizo

    ¡°I got it, I¡¯ll take him to town. Thank you for showing mercy on us!¡± Nelson

    Nelson was bowing on his knees. Frankly, Eizo was uncomfortable, so he just left without saying anything more. He climbed back on Porthos, who was quietly watching the battle from a distance, then head straight back to town.

    After Eizo reported back in the guild that evening, he received 1,250 for the 25 bundles of herbs he collected and 150 Gil from the three goblin ears he had. Combined with his remaining funds and the money he took from Grant, his remaining money, after paying for a meal and a bath that night, was 9,975 Gil. Porthos was also happy, well fed, kept in the inn¡¯s stables. All things considered, it was a productive day for Eizo. He slept satisfied that night.

    -End of Chapter-

    AN: I¡¯d like to thank ¡®mt4k¡¯ for reminding me of something I forgot in the last chapter. I made some minor changes in the previous chapter about some people suspecting the MC of being a mage. Reread it if you want some clarification but you won¡¯t be missing much if you don¡¯t.

    Once again, please leave any comment you might have. I don¡¯t really have a concrete plan on what I¡¯m writing. I keep everything in my head until I have to write it, so, I tend to forget certain things.

    PS: Edited for grammar corrections. No change in story.

    Next chapters might take a little time. Chapter 9 and 10 will probably be the end of the first arc.