Chapter 9: Revolving Ark Guild

CHAPTER 9

She waved me over as she climbed the steps of the relatively tall building of red wood and dark grey stone. The roof of the building was flat with silver chains, holding lamps hanging from the corners.

“If it comes down to it, we blame it all on him.” I heard Remen say as we entered the building.

First two things I noticed about it were that there were long rows of tables and benches across the room and that it was completely empty. I saw a few cups strewn around here and there across the tables and a number of plates with leftover food on them.

Off to the right there was a small wooden stand with a stack of papers and a bottle of ink on it and only upon paying closer attention did I notice that there was in fact someone there. From the door that was right behind this stand a female figure emerged carrying more papers. She had long silver hair tied into a ponytail and wore a red and white dress. Her eyes went wide in shock when she noticed us walk in.

“Meili, back already,” she said, setting the papers down, “what happened?”

“Quite a few things happened.” Meili sighed, although we had dried from falling into the pond by now we still looked nothing short of miserable.

“And we don’t wish to discuss them with you,” Remen interjected, “is Bailen around?”

“That’s master Bailen for you and I wasn’t speaking to you in the first place.” The girl said, pointing a writing tool that seemed a hybrid between a quill and a wooden pencil at Remen threateningly. “Oh and you have brought someone with you.”

Her eyes locked with mine as she finally noticed me standing behind the three of them. She had blue eyes that appeared almost silver, much like her hair and standing closer to her I noticed a pair of earrings with small dark jewels set in them. She was beautiful, I thought suddenly.

“Yes, he is deeply intertwined with the things that happened during the quest, it’s a long story.” Meili explained.

“I see,” the girl nodded, “well master Bailen is busy at the moment, Lord Edgar came by earlier they are currently discussing some matters.”

“High Proctor is here?” Meili seemed taken aback by the news, “why?”

“Nothing that we should torture our heads with, let them handle their business and you can relax. Our new guest too.” The girl said stepping out of her stand and walking over to us.

“I am Illenna, by the way,” she said looking at me with a smile.

“I am Oren, nice to meet you.” I nodded.

“Would you like a drink, something to ear perhaps?” she asked.

“Oh I don’t know, I wouldn’t want to impose.” I said.

“Not at all, Rai, our chef, hasn’t had work all day; this will be a great opportunity to work some life into his muscles.” She laughed and enticed by her charm I laughed back.

“About that, where is everybody?” Remen asked.

“A notice came by soon after you guys left, tensions at the west border seem to grow even higher, Lord of Peace himself requested more men and so two units with Gire and Dieden at the head were formed and dispatched at the border immediately.” Illenna explained leading us over to one of the tables.

“What? I missed out on that too, that would have been the perfect mission.” Remen stumped his foot.

“This isn’t right,” Meili shook her head, “now we have to fight wars too, that’s not our job, I can’t believe master Bailen would allow that.”

“One of the statues of the Guild Codex states that it is our duty to “uphold the peace of our homes”, I guess this constitutes as that.” Illenna shrugged.

“Well whoever wrote the Codex should have avoided so much vagueness, if I wanted to fight the kingdom's petty wars I would have enlisted in the army as a soldier.” Meili added.

“Quit your whining, it is as Illenna says, it is our duty to protect our own, those bastards on the other side of the border are worse than a pack of stinking trolls.” Remen said, raising his hands in a fit of fervor.

“Meili, as I said, just relax for now, it seems like you had a long day, we’ll discuss this later.” Illenna said, placing a comforting hand on Meili’s shoulder.

“Please sit down,” she pointed to the bench looking up at me, “I’ll be right back.”

And with that she went into another backroom, to what I assume was the kitchen.

None of this conversation bore any significance to me, I was completely oblivious to it all, yet there was that undeniable eagerness to find out as much as possible. A whole new world of intrigue and stories, I could hardly contain my excitement. I was by no means interested in taking part in this war that was being brought up but I wouldn’t mind learning about it as an outsider.

Meili put away her armor and took a deep sigh, leaning her head back and swinging her feet, there was something very endearing and childlike about this act. Meanwhile Remen nudged Alti in the ribs, telling him how they should try and join the guild units as soon as they get the chance. Alti seemed rather conflicted about this idea.

Illenna emerged from the backroom, balancing a few tankards in her hands. She placed them before us and then took a seat next to me as I was alone on the bench, across from Meili, Alti and Remen.

“Cheers,” Illenna picked up a tankard.

“Cheers,” I echoed back picking the one next to it.

I never said no to a bottle of beer so I didn’t see the reason in changing that habit now. I took a swing and the ale was different from anything I ever drank. It was sweet then sour and then had a bitter aftertaste. I didn’t hate it. So I took another swing. We were all silent for a while as we enjoyed our drinks.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“So can I hear the story now? You guys seem like you had it pretty rough.” Illenna said after some time. “Did you reach the floating dungeon?”

“Yes and no, by the time we got to the site, the dungeon was…well it was gone.” Meili began.

“Meaning,” Illenna asked.

“Meaning just that, there was no trace of it, gone, vanished, can you not follow.” Remen interjected.

Illenna shot him a furious glance and he went silent.

“It had disappeared somehow, and we have no idea how or why?” Meili said I could sense the guilt in her voice.

“Was there anyone else there when you arrived?” Illenna asked.

“Yes, that’s where we met Oren.”

Illenna and the rest turned to me.

“I have no answers for you if that’s what you’re wondering, I saw the thing from afar but by the time I approached to get a closer look, the dungeon was no more.” I lied again; it was doubtless the best course of action at this moment.

“How peculiar,” Illenna said, cupping her mug of ale.

Before any more questions came forth we heard some commotion from upstairs, I heard the creaking of the door and the murmur of voices. Descending the stairs were two elderly gentlemen, their heads held close together as they exchanged some words, it wasn’t hard to deduce that those words were not meant to be heard by others.

The thought struck me like a lightning bolt, casting all other thoughts asunder. I had super hearing now, as soon as I realized that, the words of the two gentlemen shifted from incoherent white noise to clear, meaningful words.

“We proceed as always,” the tall, bald man spoke,

“Of course, our loyalty to the crown and eyes chained to the quest board.” A man with a head of graying hair and mustache replied.

“Precisely,” the bald man nodded.

I could tell that no one else beside me could piece out the conversation that just transpired, perhaps if someone else heard it, those words would carry all the weight in the world but to me they were no more than idle chatter. But just in case, I decided to keep the words in mind and keep them to myself for the time being.

The two gentlemen reached the first floor and spotted our table some distance away from the staircase.

Everyone at the table with the exception of me stood up suddenly and bowed their heads to the two gentlemen.

“Lord Edgar,” Meili said to the bald man.

“Master Bailen,” she turned to the man with the mustache.

“You are back I see,” the man, Bailen said with somewhat of a frown. He spoke to the three of them without even looking at them properly.

“No need for the formalities,” the bald man raised his hands, “please sit down, I will be leaving.”

“Illenna, see Lord Edgar out.” Bailen said.

“Yes, master.” Illenna stood up as she walked Edgar to the door.

“So, I see you have brought a guest.” Bailen spared a glance for me, no longer than a second.

“Pardon for my intrusion. I…”

“No need for apologies young man,” he held up his hand, “let’s leave all the explaining to my three members.”

“Yes, alright…” I said.

“Well then let us go up,” he said pointing to the stairs.

He went up as Meili, Remen and Alti followed him. Meili turned to me.

“Wait for me here,”

“Actually, I think it would be better if I left for now, you guys obviously have a lot of things to discuss and I think I might have overstayed my welcome.”

“Oh okay, if that’s what you want,” she seemed disappointed.

“I will be back though, I promise,”

“Alright,” she said with a smile, “See you and thank you for everything.”

“Thank you,” I said as she rushed up the stairs, in order to catch up with her members.

As I was exiting the guild I bumped into Illenna.

“Where are you going,” she said.

“I’m leaving,”

“Already, ah I was looking forward to some company today.”

“I am sorry but this is my first time here and I still need to figure out how some things work so there’s a long day ahead of me.”

“Figure out what exactly?”

“Well I need to know where the shops are for example, if there is any way I can take on a quest or something like that.”

“Oh I can help you with that,” her face lit up.

“No, I don’t wish to bother you,”

“No, not at all, it’s a slow day at work here anyway and I want to go out for a bit, I’ll just leave a notice at the guild and I’ll be right back.”

I was taken aback by the politeness and the willingness to help.

“Alright then, I’ll wait for you right here.”

Illenna hopped away into the guild and in no time she came back out. I still was in awe with how beautiful she was.

“Let’s go this way,” she said as she went out into the streets and I followed.

I learned a great deal from her about this world, she told me that the town is part of a large kingdom and this area specifically is the jurisdiction of an earl which is something that Meili had mentioned before. She finally took me to the fancy building that we had walked by on our way in, the one where I saw a man in blue walk in with a stack of papers.

“Since you’re not a member of a guild, this is one of the only ways to get a quest, legally at least. It’s the Questing Center.” She explained.

“Really, how does it work exactly?” I asked.

“Well first you’re going to get registered and then you will be able to choose from the list of available quests.”

“Really that’s all?”

“Pretty much, and if you finish the quest successfully you come back here for your payment.”

“And how do the quests work if you are a member of the guild?”

“Well there is an entirely different system for that. When a quest is submitted to the bureau of adventurers, which is a different place from this one right here, people who work there, assign a guild to the quest, the guild completes the quest and is rewarded for it.”

I thought about it for a moment.

“There is no balance between the two in that case,” I said, “one is an official business involving approved and established guilds while the other system allows more or less anyone to take on a job. The latter system is hardly trustworthy or reliable.”

“Not too bad, you caught onto that quickly,” Illenna said, “that is kind of the point, the people in charge of law purposefully allow just about anyone to take on a quest from the Center therefore making it a place filled with scammers and criminals who are looking for some quick coin. You see, the government is trying to make the guild quest system the system that everyone turns to. If the questing center becomes untrustworthy enough, joining a guild will be the only viable option. That is what the government wants because the government gets a large percentage of the rewards from the questing that the guild does, not to mention the guild taxes as well, whereas in independent work not much of the money gets back to the government, save for an entrance fee and some petty coin here and there.”

This was some really interesting information, I thought, another thing worthy of keeping in mind just for future reference. Greediness was a common trait even across dimensions. Though I didn’t mind this too much, the fact that I could easily accept a quest, which I figured was the easiest way to get stronger and earn money, worked in my favor.

“What are you thinking?” Illenna brought her face closer to mine.

“I think I will accept a quest.”