9: The Guild

After seeing the fourth prince of the kingdom, Eliza rushed towards the adventurer’s guild, not wanting to be in the market at that point.

After witnessing what would have happened to her had she stayed in the town of Baron Slake, she didn’t even want to think about anything related to the kingdom. The prince was included in that, even if he was completely unrelated now that he's a citizen of the union.

So, she found herself directly in front of the adventurer’s guild. The architecture of the building stood out, being made mostly of wood, an oddity in a kingdom filled with stone housing.

As she entered, she was surprised to see that it had an even mixture of men and women inside. She was admittedly expecting it to mostly be men inside, so to see it be a fair mix was quite interesting.

From her imagination of an ‘adventurer’s guild’ from all the novels she had read on earth, it was filled with people who would discriminate against anyone who wasn’t a ‘rugged masculine guy’, though…Everyone here just seemed jolly, friendly, and jovial.

In one corner of the guild, a teenager and an adult man were clinking cups of beer and laughing as they talked about something together.

As she moved towards the counter, hoping to both register and seek information, she could smell the alcohol in the air. It was clear that people used this as a place to relax, probably to unwind after a long day of exploring and fighting.

However, what Eliza didn’t know is that most adventurers had normal jobs, too. Most people used adventuring as an additional income source, not their primary source of income like how she planned to use it as.. Most people would be afraid to spend every day fighting monsters like she was prepared for.

Her only hint towards this was some of the drunks talking about how many herbs they had gathered in the forest this time, and how they wish they could make this much every time so they could quit their day job.

If Eliza back on earth could make money that way, she’d probably have quit her tea shop job too.

She approached the counter, looking at the woman who was handling a document. Even she seemed to be drunk, even though she seemed rather young.

‘Just how old do you have to be to drink alcohol here? Will I have to worry about Lily coming home drunk if she becomes an adventurer?’ Eliza wondered.

She shook her head. That was something for the far future. She wouldn’t let Lily become an adventurer until she was a teenager, at minimum.

For a moment, she felt like she had a bit of insight into her future… Would she be an overprotective mother, who was scared to even let her daughter fight a monster?

She ignored that idea. She came here to register, and to get information about demons, and that was it. Worrying about Lily's future is something that should be done with Lily, when Lily herself is prepared to do it.

Now that she was no longer stuck in her own head, she went up to one of the counters, where a receptionist was looking at papers like they were the instructions on how to make a nuclear reactor with two sticks and a piece of string.

The receptionist was quite pretty, with clean brown hair and leather armor, but with the stress from what she was looking at, it made her appearance slightly disheveled.

Eliza looked down at the papers, curious about what was causing the woman such stress. 

“Adventurer’s school project?” she asked upon seeing the paper.

The receptionist looked at her, stunned.

“Ah, yes.” She said, regaining her calm. “You… can read, then?” she asked.

Eliza nodded.

“Oh, that’s great, thank the gods!” the woman said. “I’ve been stressed over this… Would you consider waiting here for just a moment?” she asked.

“Um… sure!” Eliza said, confused. “Is there, um, something I can do to pass the time while you get him?”

“Oh, yes, you can read that bestiary over there. It goes over the ecology of monsters in the nearby forest that adventurers explore. I, uh, well, I’ve never seen you before, so I assume that’s what you’re here for. I’m going to go get my boss, okay? Wait right here, then, please!” the receptionist said, running off somewhere.
 

Eliza frowned. She hadn’t even had a chance to register yet!

But she didn’t complain, she just picked up the book that the receptionist pointed to and began reading.

As she skimmed through the book, she saw nothing about the demons she was planning to look up, but she did see a few familiar entries.

“Orcs… they primarily live in forests, using fallen tree branches as weaponry to crush smaller prey. They have three hearts, making the head the primary weak point for this creature. They are large and heavy, so if you can weaken their legs, they typically are disabled and can’t continue to fight. They have mild regenerative abilities, and can regrow skin in chunks. Their meat is edible, and considered a staple meal for armies that need to travel through forests…”

For a moment, Eliza remembered the taste of the goblin she had eaten several weeks ago… and decided against trying to eat an orc, this time. She was in a city, with the ability to buy actual food, so she didn’t need to rely on monster meat anymoe.

“I was told you can read?” A man said, cutting through the silence in the corner of the guild. “Not bad.” He said, looking at the bestiary she was carrying.

Eliza nodded, looking at the man. He was wearing grey brigandine armor with metal plates fastened to the leather. Each metal plate had the pattern of a fish engraved onto them, a mark typically shown by a craftsman to mark it as their product.. His face was slightly disheveled, with wrinkles clear from age, and his hair was black with grey strands visible.

But despite all that, what stood out the most were his eyes. They were grey, like his armor and hair, but they almost seemed to pierce through and see something about Eliza that she herself couldn’t.

Eliza recalled that she’s only seen one person who was as old as the person in front of her up til this point, and he was an incredible warrior, though he was…. Well, he was Sorin. Sorin was not quite the most impressive person, but still strong.

“Yes, I can. I’m a swordsman, so it would be helpful to know what I’m going up against before I fight it.”

The man grinned.

“Not bad.” The man smiled again. “You know, our little guild here offers classes to teach people to read, here. You ever think about being a teacher? We quite really need more of those.”

Eliza smiled.

“Teaching my little one and her friend to read has been hard enough on its own, to be honest. I don’t imagine I could teach others.”

The man grinned.

“We pay well. You’d only have to do it in the mornings, too. If you brought your daughter and her friend, you’d just be teaching a class of maybe ten people. It’s just kids from nearby adventurers who want their kids to be able to get a higher education without paying the ridiculous cost of the mage school or find some way to get their kid into a fancy school.”

Eliza thought for a moment. Even though it wasn’t something she had thought of doing before this, a stable source of income was something she had been wanting to look for.

“How much would I get paid?” she asked.

The man grinned.

“Fifty silver flints a day, and you’ll only need to teach a single class. No more than 2 or 3 hours at most. You can do whatever you want afterwards. That’s how most adventurers make money here, too, only adventuring after their daily work is done. You can bring your lil ones, too. They can attend any course, even. That way you aren’t sacrificing their learning for a bit of money.”

After a few minutes thinking about it, Eliza genuinely considered it. And then she remembered, she hadn't yet gotten some of the information she sought.

“Ah, can you tell me more about the ways adventurers make money? I’ve heard of the herb collection quest before, but not much more than that.” Eliza said.

“Oh, sure. As you know, monsters are the main targets of adventurers. The union itself issues quests for people to slay certain types of monsters if their population gets too high, or they begin endangering our merchants. The other big types of missions are monster hunts or monster assassinations. In a monster hunt, you’re tasked with retrieving specific parts of a monster, usually given by blacksmiths or alchemists.” the man said.

Eliza thought about it for a moment.

“Is that it?” she asked, expecting there to be more, somehow.

The man nodded.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Most people make money with those herb collection quests… Just think about it, okay? If you ever want to go ahead and apply, ask any receptionist for ‘Grant,’ and they’ll bring you to me.” he explained.

Eliza saw the man almost beginning to leave, but then she remembered something she still hadn’t asked.

“Wait, I have one more question!” she said.

Grant looked back, a little confused.

“Do you know anything about demons?” she asked.

The moment she did, it was as if several people in the guild started looking at her.

Grant seemed to clench his teeth for a moment.

“Follow me, then.” he sighed, heading into a separate room. Eliza followed, finding herself in an office with two chairs in it.

“What do you want to know?” Grant said, sitting down.

Eliza paused. Why had the situation gotten so weird?

“I want to know what exactly demons are. Why they’re not considered monsters, and ways to stay safe if I encounter one.”

Grant made a ‘hmm’ sound, as if thinking for a while on the question.

“To be honest with you, miss, I’ve got no damn clue.” He said bluntly. “Only thing I can confirm is they’re real. I’ve seen em, a couple times. Don’t even think of encountering one. If you see one of them, and they seem hostile… run. Unless you’re a sword expert, you ain’t got a chance of even surviving one of them. The only reports we have on them show them being able to control the environment with their mind, like sword experts or expert mages can. Having seen one myself, I can tell you that they don’t show themselves in front of humans in most cases. But they have killed people, and it’s mostly people who attack them. Don’t even consider it if you’re not an expert.”

Eliza thought about it for a moment. Should she tell him that she’s an expert?

She realized that right now, actions would speak louder than words.

Eliza reached her hand forward, creating a small crystalline blade of ice in her hand. A technique she didn’t even need a sword to use.

Grant’s eyes widened.

“Well, damn.” He said, chuckling. “I guess The Shelf has its fortieth sword expert. Have hundreds of swordsman who can use intent, but… Quite rare to have an expert just wander out from nowhere like this.”

Eliza nodded. “I was taught by Sorin. He’s… quite odd.”

Grant looked at Eliza as if she was lying for a moment.

“Sorin already has a disciple. Are you telling me the whole truth?” he frowned.

Eliza nodded.

“Teddy, as Olivia calls him. Sorin said he was going to check out some small town to see if a hall should be built there. That’s where I’m from.”

Eliza explained about what had happened to her, how Baron Slake had somehow turned the town against her and tried to arrest her when she was leaving, and how she saw Sorin swing a sword and learned sword intent, and when a guard nearly smacked her daughter she became a sword expert.

Grant frowned even further.

“I promise you,” Eliza spoke. “I’m telling the truth.”

Grant sighed.

“No, no, I believe you. That bastard, Sorin, is my blood brother. What you just described sounds exactly like him. Though he’s not wrong. If what you’ve described is as serious as it sounds to me, that’s exactly a reason to not let a hall be built there… Damn. I’ll have to do some actual fucking paperwork over this. That dumbass just jotted down that he thought a hall shouldn’t be built there without even explaining why…”

Eliza thought of it for a moment. That… sounded like Sorin.

“Ah,” Grant said. “You’ll need to leave soon, but I have a piece of advice for you before you do. It sounds like you became an expert because of your daughter, but if you want to become a swordsmaster, you’ll need to experience a lot more than that. You’ll need to experience a lot more of the world, see new sights, experience new emotions, and more to have a chance of becoming one. If you’re wanting to become a swordsmaster, teaching the kids from the guild’s adventurers would be a good way to get some of that experience in, once again. The love from your kid ain't enough on its own.”

The man seemed quite smart, to be honest. Eliza wondered if he was like Sorin, for a moment.

“Are you a sword expert too?” Eliza asked.

Grant smiled, then shook his head.

“No. I’m not.” he said.

“Oh, that’s-” Eliza was about to apologize, but she was cut off by his next sentence.

“I’m one of the three swordsmasters in the world.” He said, making the room instantly feel blazing hot.

The room was engulfed in transparent flames at Grant’s words.

It was as if the entire room was lit on fire, and when Eliza looked around, it was like everything in the room was melting.

The walls looked aflame, burning extremely hot. Eliza felt every aspect of her body telling her that if she were to fight this man in front of her…

She would die.

But…

Grant stopped the flames.

Instantly, everything returned to normal, as if nothing had ever occurred in the first place. Nothing was damaged, and nothing had melted… Or rather, the damage that was caused was reversed as if it had never happened in the first place.

“Now that you know what a swordsmaster is like… consider the fact that even I don’t go out fighting demons for fun.”

Eliza shivered, feeling like something left her body.

“... Why don’t you?” she asked.

Grant sighed.

“Even a swordsmaster isn’t invincible. If a hundred sword experts fought me at once, I’d die. Demons have shown signs of intelligence. If they wanted to take revenge on me, they’d likely do so. It’s… Not a good idea to do something like that. I’d be potentially starting a war against an enemy I know nothing about. Sorry, but… I have quite a bit to think about with Sorin right now. Would you mind giving me a bit of time?”

Eliza left, nodding, slowly leaving the room, and then she headed towards the exit of the adventurer’s guild.

And then she realized something.

“Oh!” Eliza said to the receptionist, realizing she hadn’t yet finished her goal. “I’d like to register, please!”

And after she finished, she left, mostly happy, but still concerned about everything.

Demons, paperwork, humans… Everything was complicated. She didn’t want to start a war by encountering a demon, but she didn’t even know what a demon was yet.

‘Reminds me of that one quote… Nothing can be said to be certain except for death and taxes.’

She laughed.

“I’ll need to talk about starting that job with Lily and maybe Olivia before I can think about actually taking it.” she said to herself.

And then she left the guild, soon to go home with her daughter and friend.

From afar, in his study, Grant sighed.

"A younger expert than even I was... Feels like us old folks are getting surpassed every decade. I wonder... with the wisdom of her forebearers, could she potentially reach the realm of a swordsmaster?"

He looked at the paper in front of him, barely halfway through his report.

"Damnit, Sorin... Just do your fucking job, man."