Diana Pov:
After separating from Kira on the way to Valen town I followed the road to the entrance to the gate, on the way I knew Kira was watching me, thanks to Érica’s group location spell we both know each other’s locations. all the time.
When I arrived at the gate I got in line to enter the city, the city walls are ten meters high closing like a box the city, and the gate is five high and three and a half wide.
There are two lines, one for the nobles and one for everyone else, when you reach the gate you must have an ID and pay a stack of ten copper to enter, merchants with carriages must have their load checked before entering and paying one silver.
As I’m an adventurer I can come and go for free as long as I have a quest, they can check it by the Adventurers Guild card, it’s a magic item, its functions are to record the quest the adventurer accepts and when the quest is completed it is also recorded on the card, this makes the cards have all the adventurers’ quest history, the cards are connecting items they are linked by blood, Aura and the owner’s magic signature, it locks when the adventurer dies, the card has the information of the adventurer on one side like the adventurer’s name, the branch he registered with and his rank, on the other side of the card the adventurer has control to show if he wants his status or his mission.
My card still works perfectly, but Érica’s was locked as if she had died, according to her transformation into a Demon changed her magical signature, her Aura, and her body completely, it was such a big change that her card didn’t recognize her anymore and your link was cut, it makes it easier for me to tell the story that the master created.
———–
After almost an hour of waiting, I finally reach the gate, before being stopped by a soldier in iron pacas armor.
“Documents, please.” (gate guard)
“Here.” (I)
The guard looks at me sternly and asks for my documents, I present my Guild card, he takes a crystal from a bag at his waist and holds my card close, a green light comes out of the crystal and the guard gives me back the card.
“Where have you been Miss Diana?” (gate guard)
“The Guild reported you and your companions missing over a month ago and now you show up here alone?” (gate guard)
It seems the Guild reported our disappearance, this guard must have recognized my face from some photo, so he looked at me seriously and checked the authenticity of my card, to verify that it is me.
The other guards start to approach, he must have given a signal in case I needed to arrest me, I’m glad for the master’s story now, as it seems I was wrong as I thought there would be no problem.
I pull out a leather pouch from the storage item I brought and hold it out for the guard to look at as I speak with a growing bloodlust.
“My group and I had accepted a mission, but there were more monsters than we imagined, luckily we managed to win, so we bumped into bandits on the way back but we were too tired to fight, two of my group died in the confrontation and my partner and I ran away very injured further into the forest.” (I)
“…” (gate guard)
I stop as I scrunched up my face in anger as the master taught me before continuing.
“We spent a month recovering from our wounds in a cave before we came across a two-headed wolf that killed my mate, I barely managed to escape.” (I)
The guard opened the bag I gave him and his grim expression turned grave, then as if remembering something he softens and looks at me with pity.
“I wouldn’t leave that forest empty-handed, I searched everywhere for a clue, and finally found their hideout, killed three of them to make the fourth take me to the hideout where I found these two still sleeping.” (I)
The master told me that when I get to this part I should close my eyes and remember my favorite food, I don’t know why, but I will obey the master’s orders.
Remembering my favorite food I open a big smile involuntarily, when I open my eyes again I see the guards around sweating for some reason, but the guard who was talking to me still looks at me with pity, he puts his hand on my shoulder and says.
Sigh
“You did well, better than most in your place would have done, you have my respect for avenging your mates.” (gate guard)
“…” (I)
“My name is Roger, if you have any problems in the future you can look for me, I’m the commander of the city guards, I’m sorry for your companions, take these heads to the Adventurers Guild and they’ll give you your reward.” (Roger)
“Do you still have your teammates’ cards?” (Roger)
“Yes.” (I)
I pull the three cards out of my pants pocket, he looks at the cards to confirm the names, I figure this out before he gives it back to me.
Sigh
“You can enter.” (Roger)
With his words, the other guards walked away and I entered the city.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen the city, it’s always busy, full of people of various races walking to and fro, it has four gates on the four sides of the city and the main streets that connect the gates to the city center where there is a big square with a fountain and many street stalls selling all kinds of things, along the main streets there are also many stalls as the streets are wide.
As I walk through the streets I try to get used again to walking on this smooth stone floor that the earth mages made, I spent a lot of time in the forest walking on an uneven earth floor, that’s why I’m finding it strange to walk so comfortably.
The city districts are divided into four by the main streets, one is the noble district where the Duke’s fortress is located, the noble mansions and rich merchants’ mansions, one is the commercial district, there are many shops everywhere, one is the residential district where the normal population lives and one is a mixture of the residential area with a commercial area where hotels and inns are located.
There are branches of four guilds in this city which are the Adventurers’ Guild, the Commerce Guild, the Alchemists’ Guild, and the Mages’ Guild.
These four Guilds are in the center of town on the square, each on the side of a district, the Mages Guild is a five-story tower of smooth stone brick, the Commerce Guild is a large four-story complex with several shops together on the first three floors, of all the Guilds it occupies the largest area, the Alchemists’ Guild is an all-white, five-story square building with three chimneys on top and a beautiful entrance with a staircase and a three-meter-high ledge. and the Adventurers’ Guild is a four-story building with marble columns at the front and three-meter-high doors.
Due to the size of these Guilds I who just entered through the gate I am able to see them still far away, they are very big compared to other buildings, whether houses or shops that only have a floor or two at most.
I walk along the main street until I reach the town square, then I head towards the adventurers’ guild, as there are always many armed people in and out of here, I can also hear the endless noise from inside.
When I enter I find the large counter where the receptionists wait and the various tables full of people talking, laughing, and drinking.
I check the receptionists and find one I’m more familiar with and go to her, just as the master told me I walk towards her with a serious face and when I stop in front of her I sigh.
Sigh
“Hello Mari.” (I)
“…” (Mari)
Mari is the head receptionist, she is also an old friend of mine, she was the one attending Érica the day I met her, Mari is an Elf with long blond hair and green eyes, she is considered the muse of the Guild, any man who dares approaching her with ulterior motives becomes hated by every adventurer in that guild.
“Diana, is that really you?” (Mari)
“Where have you been? Where are the others? Because you look different?” (Mari)
“It’s a long story, it all started with…” (me)
I started to do the same act I did at the gate, but this time I was a little more specific about how I killed the bandits and how one of them in a mask fled the moment he came out of hiding holding the heads of his comrades.
“Follow me up to the third floor, let’s go into a room so you can show me what you brought.” (Mari)
“All right.” (I)
The Guild has four floors, the ground floor is where I am now, the first floor is where the quest boards are and a second reception to record quests, on the second floor are several empty rooms where adventurers show what they’ve brought from their quests and they earn their rewards, things are done that way so no one knows how much each one earned, on the third floor is where the administration staff rooms are and on the fourth floor is the Guild Chief’s office, a living room for the nobles and a large meeting room.
I follow Mari up to the third floor and we both enter a room, inside I pull out the three Guild cards, the leather bag with the two heads, and the various monster materials I brought.
Mari is shocked by all this, but still checks each item to be sure and counts everything, after it’s over she asks what happened to my lock of hair that changed color to red and what happened to my scars, I tell her that I found a medium-grade HP potion that healed my scars and suffered a partial awakening of my bloodline.
I see in her eyes that she’s worried about me, but this is not the time, there’s still one more thing the master asked me to do, Mari left the room and in a few minutes she came back with the reward I took without looking and I go back downstairs, sit at a table alone and spend the rest of the day drinking, the master told me that would fool anyone who still had doubts.
Spending the rest of the day drinking is not a problem for me, I always drank a lot and that’s why I have great resistance to alcohol, besides, since I woke up my Ki I should be able to resist twice as much alcohol as before, at the end of the afternoon I paid for everything I drank and go to the Inn of the Eternal Traveler and rent a room on the second floor.
“(The master is amazing, after telling the story that the master invented no one asked any more questions, they didn’t even touch the subject again.)” (I)
I spent the rest of the time in the bedroom with the window open waiting for Kira, while I was thinking about the master trying to understand how he knew what was going to happen.