“Thank you for your help,” I said to the mage.
“No, it is us who should be thanking you,” the mage said. “If it weren’t for you and the equipment you’ve provided, there would have been a lot more injuries, possibly even casualties.”
“No, I think you guys would have managed either way.”
“Perhaps, though you shouldn’t be too modest. We were all able to go all out thanks to the weapons.”
“What he’s saying is,” Rya interrupted, “without your ability, we would have run out of adventurers with working weapons.”
“It is as the lass says. Compared to other kinds of material of the same weight, mithril is durable, it doesn’t break as fast when huge force is applied. Even steel is no match to it.”
Now that there wasn’t such a big commotion, I was able to take a better look at the mage. He didn’t really look that old, about my age in my previous world, though I guess that would probably translate to between 90 and 120 years old. He kinda reminded me of this character in that one crossover RPG.
“By the way, allow me to introduce myself. The name is Frederick, known by many as Freerick Windmage. You can just call me Fred.”
In this world, some adventurers are more known by their titles due to their achievements. Because of this, many of these adventurers have put a habit of adding their given name to that title. This is often to distinguish themselves from others who share that title. Oftentimes, they leave out their last name, mainly to protect themselves or close relatives. Because there is magic that is most effective when you know someone’s true name, obfuscating the family name acts as a protection.
“Well, my name’s Rivers Neuwelt, and these are my companions Rya Tedin, and Jeanne and Gilian Fate.”
There was a surprised look on his face. I guess it’s because of the fact that they wore collars, though technically Rya’s wasn’t a slave collar.
“Well, you must value them dearly, I assume,” Frederick said.
“They are my friends after all,” I replied.
“My name is Arethea Lightrider,” an archer said as she approached us. “My sincere thanks for lending me your bow.”
“Well, you can keep it if you want.”
“Surely I cannot accept such a gift.”
“Eh, I’d rather you keep it.”
“Then at least allow me to compensate you for it. I don’t have a lot, but I might be able to spare seven or nine silver.”
“Like I said, don’t sweat it. I mean, you know.”
I looked at the direction of the monoceros, or at least where it used to be. It took a while before they got my hint.
“Well, that won’t be much of a problem,” I heard someone say, or more specifically, the local guild’s receptionist. “The guild has prepared a reward for those who participated in this subjugation.”
“Is it really okay for us to get this much money?” Gilian said.
“C’mon, just take it!” Rya said. “You guys did most of the work anyway.”
“I mean, true,” I said. “You both earned this money.”
“Aren’t slaves supposed to not have any property?” Jeanne said.
“No, and even if they aren’t, I don’t consider you guys my slaves. Anyway, this is the city. You guys should have fun, and you need money to do stuff.”
“Oh, boss, wait a minute,” Rya interrupted. “Most stores don’t allow slaves to shop alone.”
“Well, that is a bit of a problem.”
“I mean, if you want, I could go with them.”
“Don’t you want to have some time for yourself?”
“Nah, girls day out sounds like fun.”
“Well, in that case, have fun. I need to head back to the guild to make some preparations for when we go to the dungeon.”
As the girls headed off, I went back to the inn for a moment to take a moment for myself. Just like Rya told me, I took just one room. There were several options for parties of four and larger, but we just chose the cheapest, which was just six gold a night, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, beverages not included.
The inn itself was pretty fancy. It seemed more like a hotel. There were quite a lot of rooms, more than what a regular inn would have. The room itself was spacious, even with all the furniture, which included a table and two two-person beds. It was decided that the sisters would take one bed and Rya and I would take the other. I wasn’t planning on sleeping on the floor, and Rya didn’t really have any problems sharing a bed with me, so it was easily settled.
Because I had a 【Storage Box】 I wasn’t too concerned about valuables, but either way, each door had a magical lock which could only be opened with the proper key. I wasn’t able to determine what kind of magic it was, even with 【Analysis】, but at least it gave me a schematic of the magic lock. This lock consists of two parts, one part that’s completely mechanical, and one part that’s magical. Essentially the mechanical part works like a regular lock, pins have to align properly for it to be able to turn. The magical component comes from a panel that also coincidentally blocks the keyhole from being viewed through. Each end of the keyhole has this panel, and when the key is inserted, the panel is pushed all the way to the other side. When these two panels touch and the magic circle on the key aligns with the ones on the panel, a final pin is being pushed out, allowing the key to be turned. At least that’s what I could gather from 【Analysis】. I wasn’t able to get the magic circles on any of the items.
Magic actually was pretty handy, and replaced most of the functions of technology. Even though everything looked pretty medieval, there were still some modern commodities. For example, there was an actual sewage system. It would rarely if ever be cleaned, mostly because it would always be infested by slimes, which actually is a good thing, as most forms of slimes can actually process human waste by consuming it, and every once in a while the sewers would get flushed through with water magic.
There were showers and bathtubs, though not many homes had them. You could use a magic stone to create showers, but this would deplete the stone fairly quickly, and even though you could recharge them, magic stones aren’t infinitely durable, and will at some point in time wear out. Most of the water comes from reservoirs, which are either filled with rainwater, imported water or water conjured by magic, though the latter is only done in emergencies or when somebody needs money. The water would then be transported to smaller water tanks connected to hand pumps, or certain buildings that are directly connected to these sources.
Another problem with showers is related to why there aren’t modern toilets yet. The way to have everything connected to the sewage system hasn’t been fully developed yet. One huge problem is stench. In the modern world, a U-shaped pipe would prevent the stench from the sewers to make its way to your home, provided that it’s filled with sufficient water to block any air from flowing up. This has not yet been discovered in this world, or rather, it’s been known for a while, but this knowledge isn’t widespread, and it would require the entire city to be renovated. It’s mainly new buildings that make use of this, though there have been efforts to modernize existing buildings as well.
The inn I was staying in actually was one of the buildings that was being renovated. They also used a combination of water provided by the city and their own water tank. The water was mainly used to wash yourself with. You’d be provided with a bucket of water and a few washing clothes. Warm water would cost extra.
The guild hall was large, which made sense, many adventurers would venture here for the dungeon. There were also training halls attached. There was a bar where adventurers could gather, and to keep them away from regular bars, since adventurers tend to be a bit more rowdy.
The guild wasn’t the only thing that was large, everything in Benita was bigger. It made me wonder what the capital of Albega, Gameo, looked like. Benita could be described as a fantasy version of New York. There were a lot of highrises, though with more organic shapes and made of less conventional materials.
My main goal was to get more information about the dungeon, before we’d actually venture inside. Rya already had some experience, but she also said that a lot could change in a year. What I had to check was which monsters would spawn where. I also had to get everybody a permit. Only adventurers were allowed inside the dungeon, and a permit would ensure that. It also acted as a form of entrance fee. A permit was valid for five years, so I also had to get one for Rya as well.
The dungeon is located within the city walls, though in a secluded part, in the rare cases monsters would escape to the upper layers and outside the dungeon. One of the measures against that is a permanent barrier, with only some openings to let people in. These openings had to be closed mechanically, so they were heavily guarded. There’s a good reason why the barrier isn’t conditional. You want an as strong a barrier as possible, and making an exception for even just one person would compromise the stability of the barrier.
On top of the barrier, there’s a distance between the entrance and the walls, and said walls are reinforced to sustain any type of damage. They’re essentially the outer city walls built inside the city, and the entire area around the dungeon is treated as such. Due to this distance, a lot of stalls can be found on the main road.
The dungeon itself is a labyrinth type dungeon. There are many such dungeons, and all hallways are created by the dungeon core. You also have natural dungeons, dungeons that use the natural environment as a basis to build a dungeon. This doesn’t mean that these dungeons don’t generate their own rooms, but it’s often unclear what is and what isn’t created by the core. Finally there’s ruin dungeons, dungeons built upon existing structures. They aren’t always ruins in the traditional sense.
Aside from these types, dungeons come in two varieties, ones that manifest physically in the world, and ones that extend in their own pocket dimension. Sometimes it’s a combination of the two. In those cases, you could literally dig into a wall and never see the other side.
The guild itself is pretty big, and requires various receptionists. Their lead receptionist, Lenne Schultz, has a sort of teacher or librarian-like appearance, with a stern look, and her hair tied up in a tail. She almost always wears glasses with the rim at the bottom, which is usually black, just like the lipstick she wears. Even though she often looks like she’s constantly slightly pissed off, she’s always really kind and friendly.
“How can I help you?” Lenne asked. “Are you looking to do a quest in the dungeon?”
“Well, I was going to ask about that,” I said. “What’s the difference between a quest and a request?”
“A quest is more of a personal goal, one to challenge oneself. There are no penalties for failing a quest, and a failed quest can be done again at a later point in time. Finishing certain quests can also help you with your rank as an adventurer, and most adventurers take these as a substitution for rank up exams.”
Ranking up in the early stages of being an adventurer is simple. Complete enough requests of a certain rank and you’ll automatically get promoted. However, from rank C onward, ranking up is quite difficult. You’ll have to prove you can actually take on higher rank requests. The quickest way, which is also the hardest, is to complete a request way above your rank. The only way you’re really allowed to take on these requests is when the request in hindsight deserved to have a higher rank. These situations do exist, and while it’s not frequent that someone gets ranked up due to that, requests can get adjusted when the guild who issued the request receives more information. All requests get an estimated rank which can change even after the preliminary evaluation by a guild representative.
A second way, which is probably more reliable, is to take a rank up exam, which basically is just an evaluation of your skills. The higher the rank you aim at, the harder these exams get, naturally. It isn’t always a combat evaluation, it’s mainly based on the job you fulfill during adventures. A healer would naturally not be that effective in a fight, as they’re more focused on supporting the team.
And then there are quests. While quests are repeatable, subsequent completions of the same quest won’t give you rewards, and the rewards for completing quests isn’t that substantial anyway. Often, people take on quests alongside requests, and unlike requests, you don’t need to register for them beforehand.
“Well, for now I just want to get some permits for the dungeon,” I said.
“For how many?” Lenne asked.
“Four people.”
“Are there any slaves among them? They get a reduced fee.”
She could see I was hesitating. I mean, technically they were slaves, but I didn’t feel comfortable calling the sisters that.
“You don’t have to get the discount,” Lenne said. “There have been quite a few adventurers who’d rather pay the full amount as well.”
“Honestly, I would pay the full amount, but, well, one of my companions would probably be against that.”
“I can understand that, it’s better to save when you can rather than to spend when you shouldn’t have to.”
“Well, in that case, two tickets with the reduced price.”
“Then that’ll be two gold, six silver and four copper.”
I paid the fee, and Lenne handed me the permits.
I spent the rest of the day looking around. There were many stores, some having a rather modern look. I wondered if it was due to the influence of otherworlders, but it turns out that everything actually progressed naturally. As cities in Albega grew, things got bigger. Stores had to increase in size for the many people living here. No longer were markets sufficient, so supermarkets were created. Sure, the stores themselves weren’t all that modern, but it did have the same feel.
“Boss! We’re here!” I heard Rya yell.
“Oi, didn’t I tell you to not call me boss?” I replied.
“Yeah, yeah, anyway, we’re done shopping.”
“Well, that sounds great. What did you guys get?”
“Mostly casual clothing. Like, we can’t always walk around in adventurer gear, right?”
We decided to head back to the inn. It was still early, but we already had a long day, with the bandits and monoceros. I just wanted to eat and go to bed early.
“This city is huge,” Gilian said.
“This ain’t even the biggest,” Rya replied. “The Albega kingdom probably has the biggest cities in all of the kingdoms.”
“How big is the Albega kingdom actually?” I asked.
“Well, I don’t know the exact size, but there are about 24 cities and a few dozens of towns and villages.”
“That’s pretty big, I assume.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
“Have you been to any other kingdom?” Gilian asked.
“Well, yeah, I did, though I did tend to avoid the Alvolen kingdom and the Vaslion kingdom.”
“Why’s that?”
“Not every kingdom treats everybody equally. Alvolen and Vaslion both are kingdoms that are primarily populated by humans. Albega is pretty much the exception where every race is represented roughly equally.”
“Are there other kingdoms?” Gilian said.
“Yeah, there are quite a lot, though the biggest is probably Albega. And that’s only this continent.”
After dinner, we all went to bed. While our room did have some separators, I decided to wait outside until the others were done changing. Even from the hallway outside the room, which was on the third floor, you could hear the crowded inn’s dining area. They were mostly merchants, either passing through or staying here for business.
The inn was well lit thanks to the lightbulbs installed. Technically you couldn’t call them bulbs, they were more like crystals that were partially translucent. When turned off, they’d be a milky white, which would help diffuse the light when turned on. There is nothing in these crystals, the light actually comes from the magic stones that are in an easy to reach location, that way, only the magic stones would have to be replaced if a light would stop working.
“Yo, boss, you can change now,” Rya said.
“I’m good, it’s not like I have any change of clothes.”
“Boss, nightwear is essential for a good night’s rest.”
“I guess you’re right. By the way, since when did you have payamas?”
“You do know I went shopping with the girls, right? Anyway, I already figured you didn’t have a change of clothes, so here.”
Rya handed me a paper bag with some simple payamas. They weren’t too fancy, but pretty light. Come to think of it, ever since I’ve come to this world, I never really changed my clothes that much, and I’d always sleep with the clothes I’d wear throughout the day. Sure they weren’t that comfortable, but I didn’t really like the idea of sleeping in just my underwear, since I never did that in my previous world. It never even occurred to me to just buy payamas.
Changing my clothes was a bit problematic. I didn’t really like to change in front of others, and I didn’t want to send the girls to the hallway. The separator did help, but only so much, as I was still aware of their presence. Even though my physique improved ever since I came to this world, I was still not that confident in my own body.
By the time I was done changing, Rya was already lying in bed, ready to fall asleep. The sisters were also getting ready to go to bed. After saying good night, I turned the lights off. It wasn’t long before everybody fell asleep.
I wasn’t sure what woke me up. I guess it’s just a result of my sleeping pattern the past few days. I didn’t really feel that tired, so I decided to just change my clothes and head up to the roof, which is accessible to anyone and provides a good view of the city. Even at this time, the streets are still filled with people. You can always see adventurers going to or from the dungeon or going from bar to bar. There are also the brothels, which mostly are confined to certain areas of Benita. Every once in a while you can see guards patrolling, making sure anybody walking outside won’t cause any disturbance.
“I guess you can’t sleep as well,” I heard Gilian say.
“Yeah, it seems all those nights splitting guard duty with Rya has messed with my sleeping pattern. What about you?”
“I just… I guess I’m getting used to sleeping in a bed at all.”
I looked at her. During the day, she was just her usual self, well, as far as I knew her usual self. She wasn’t exactly cheerful or anything, but she was just your average girl. This time, though, I could see that there was something that she’s been hiding from everybody. Or rather, something that she’s been hiding from her sister.
“Gilian, how are you doing?” I asked.
“If I’m perfectly honest, I’m not doing well,” she replied. “I’m getting better, but right now it’s not going great.”
“Wait, is it just now that you’re feeling like this, or…”
“Jeanne should never see me like this.”
Gilian stared blankly at the streets. There was a lot that was troubling her, and for some reason I couldn’t muster up the courage to ask her what was wrong. I don’t think it would have mattered either way, but at that point, I didn’t have the confidence to be there for her. Eventually, she just began to speak on her own.
“I need to be strong for her, for Jeanne,” she said.
“You don’t… You don’t have to.”
“Maybe.”
“I mean, I might not be the most reliable person here, but I want to be there for you.”
“Don’t sell yourself too short, from what Rya told me, you always had her back. I’m sure you’ll have ours as well.”
She briefly glanced at me, and for a moment, I had the feeling she knew that I wanted to ask her something. I’ve kept myself from asking this question, since I couldn’t find the right time. Part of me was too scared that I would come off as too pushy, making it harder to get any answers.
“Gilian,” I said. “What exactly happened in those four months?”
“It’s like what’s already been said.”
“Yeah, I’ve read the reports, or at least the parts I was allowed to read. No, I want to know what they did to you guys.”
“Not a lot, which was enough for us.”
“So they didn’t touch you?”
“No, even if we were eligible for that, if you could call it that, it wasn’t our time yet.”
“I don’t get it.”
She sighed. I knew this was as much as she was able to tell me, but I could also see that she was at her limit.
“You don’t need to tell me everything,” I said. “When the time’s right, just tell me.”
“I will,” she said.
It would still be a while until the sun would rise. Gilian already went to bed again, and I still didn’t really feel sleepy. I guess talking to her got me worried. Should I have asked more? Probably not. I couldn’t put her through it all, at least not at the moment.
The stars were shining bright. Well, I guess they aren’t really stars in the traditional sense. Each and every star we see is a world on its own, quite literally. I guess that’s what makes Arvarva everything.
“You know,” I heard from the shadows, “they have a lot of potential.”
“Warn me next time you’re here, Frederick.”
“My apologies for startling you, that was not my intention.”
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
“I just wanted to say, you do have quite an unusual job.”
“It’s a unique job, or at least at the moment it is.”
“Yes, I see. I have never heard of this 【Technopath】 job, but I have to say, your job level hasn’t increased at all.”
“I wasn’t even aware there were job levels.”
“They’re just rough indicators for how experienced you are. They’re really not that important. More often than not the skills you learn and the experience you have with your job determine its level.”
“Which means I still haven’t figured out what my job does.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out eventually.”
I wasn’t sure where this conversation was heading, but I knew there was a good reason for Frederick to approach me even this late at night.
“I’m here to talk about these sisters that accompany you. It seems they have a lot of potential, yet they lack experience.”
“I mean, to be fair, they were never given the chance to develop their powers.”
“Which is why I’m here. I want them to come by the guild. I want to fully assess their magic prowess.”
“I’ll ask them when they wake up. I can’t promise you anything, though.”
“That’s alright. Whenever they’re ready, they’re welcome to stop by.”
Frederick was already walking towards the door when he turned around.
“By the way, have you heard of the skill 【Perfect Understanding】?”