Chapter 23: A visit to Arathor
After only three hours they passed the outer walls of the capital. The towering structure was of the same style and size the wall to Northvale had. Twenty yards high and with towers left and right to the big portal.
Tharynn had shown his badge and they could pass through without halting. What greeted them was a paved street about 25 feet wide with a slight hump in the middle. It was bordered by only a small wall and three big statues were lined up at each side. As they rode along the way, J. saw the road actually was a bridge connecting to the city gate. One of the gigantic statues somehow looked familiar to him but he somehow couldn't grasp it.
At the other end of the bridge stood the biggest statue making it a total of seven. Riding around the right side they passed the statue and adjoining guard house. The road curved left and right around it and the backside of the building connected to the city's wall.
Riding through the portals they stood on a relatively wide plaza before the main gate. It had at least thirty yards in diameter and was heavily guarded. Passing through the main gate, J. could see the skyline for the first time. The over fourty yards high citywall had blocked it until now.
In the distance he could see two smaller towers siding a gigantic one, all having piking roofs. To the left was another tower but not that far away. Much more could not be spotted as the buildings on the main street all had at least three floors and blocked the view.
As they rode along the road they came to a massive oak in the middle of a great plaza. This was Arathors main plaza where markets were held and announcements published. The last house on the main street, directly at the plaza was the reason J. had come here, the Adventurers guild.
Before he could finally enter there he had to escort Tharynn and deliver the Totems. They had decided to go to the main quarters of the military at first, as Tharynn would take quite some time there. J. would be gouing to the adventurers guild during that time.
They rode towards the road on the right side from the plaza. Following another wide road, though not as wide as the main street, they soon came to a canal and followed it rightwards to a stone made bridge.
The Main street was located in the Trade district where stores of all kinds and inns were located. Even a bank was to be found there as well as the Tradeguild and Avdenturer Guild. Arathor consisted of -- different districts which were the Trade district, the old town, the heights, the workers district, the park, the palace, the warehouse district, the harbour, Sea view, the cathedral plaza and the mage quarters. They were all separated by wide canals over one of which they were leaving towards the north east. The barracks and the main quarters were located in the old town, wich got its name exactly from being old. It was not only the first district to be build but even had kept the old structures until now. Mostly though the buildings were still in a desolate state.
As they had passed through most of the district they arrived at a small fortress inside the town. Tharynn ended the city tour and J. unmounted the horse. Their transports would stay the night in the fort while Tharynn would wait for J. to return after the guild.
Going back the same way they had taken, it took him half a hour without idling around. The city was just that massive. When J. entered the Adventurers Guild he couldn't help but look around a little baffled. It was the splitting image from any fantasy fiction.
The building was big as the four storied house towered over its proximity. The main entrance was on the corner to the plaza. Striding in he saw bulletin boards to the right.
At the back wall he saw a bunch of counters. Most of them had a couple of customers in front of them, only one seemed to be unoccupied. J. decided to follow the cliche as he walked over to the lavender haired girl who was looking quite bored leaning on her counter. Her big grey eyes widened and she jolted up as he stood directly before her and began to speak.
"Excuse me, I'd like to register as an adventurer. Can I do that here or do I have to use another counter?" J.
"Awawa.... , sorry, y-yes, sure. W-Would you like me to explain the basics? Here, p-please put your hand here..." ???
The Girl was clearly fluttered he had chosen her counter. And it got even topped the moment he passed her the letter of recommendation he received from Haggard paired with his soldiers badge. It was to be passed down to the Guildmaster and the girl blushed fiercely while fumbling around as she had read the line of recipient and sender.
Sure, the other counter girls may have been more beautiful and definitely more professional, but the small girl on this somehow looked sweet and pitiable. The main reason was he just wanted to get over with this registration and this counter was free. Too free...
She took back the dull black orb she had him place his hand on and sighted in relief as it glimmered white. After she had stored the orb under the counter she jumped from her stool and vanished through the door behind her while screaming "I'll be right...". The rest was no longer audible.
She returned after a couple of minutes following behind a slender, black haired woman wearing a bun. She had a stern look on her absurdly beautiful face an mustered him intently.
"Welcome to the Adventurers Guild. My name is Nicoletta and I represent the Guildmaster as he himself is absent. I will notify him myself and make sure he has time for you at your next visit. Now, Milly here told me you wanted to register. I take it you know the formalities and mode of operation? If not, I will have our little Milly help you if you would like. As the content of your letter is pretty serious, I will have to prepare for the guaranteed to come call from the castle. So if you would excuse me..."
While Milly got pale and repeated 'castle' as Nicoletta mentioned it, the beauty with ice blue eyes nodded and turned around. As she walked away with her slightly wide his swinging left and right he noticed her long legs ended in flat shoes and was surprised. With her being about as tall as him, he would have bet on her wearing high heels.
The small girl behind the counter ha noticed his slightly lecherous stare on her bosses butt and cleared her throat. Not offended one bit J. turned towards her and smiled.
"Hmmpf, the orb you touched before was just to test your criminal history. Though I sometimes doubt the accuracy..." M.
Clearly unhappy about his glance moments before she on with a sour mood. Though she did her job and was no longer stuttering and fumbling around, the timid version of her had more appeal to J.
"You know, I would look at you too if you walked off the same way. And no, I won't excuse myself looking after beautiful ladies. But sorry if it offends you if I say this..." J.
Now getting a crimson blush she shook her head and continued, now back to her usual behavior.
"B-Back to the topic then. The Guild offers Adventurers Quests that we receive from all over the continent. Those Quests can be taken up by Adventurers of matching Rank. The ranking goes from H all the way up to A. A very few rare Individuals even topped that ranking and received a special ranking. Every achievement gets into the evaluation and adds guild points so you can rank up. From D-rank upwards there is a exam for the next rank. From this point on we also measure and record the Status of each individual.
The quests are always available two ranks lower to one rank above the Adventurer picking it. They are differentiated in group and single quests though a Party is recommended for beginners. Some of them are repeatable or can be taken by multiple persons but a few only can be taken up one time, so you should check the board regularly.
Now, you'll have to fill out the registration so I can make your ID. Should you have problems to read and write of if you would like me to help I can fill out your registration..." M.
"I'd like that. My common is not too good and I doubt you could decipher my writing..." J.
Millie took out two parchments and a small, rough looking stone which shone in a light blue light. It was a color he could never forget as the first light he saw in this world came before his eyes. As the girl asked him for his name and race he answered like he was told by Alexis and Mia.
"My name is J., or János, a human..." J.
"Hmm, ...weird name. Ok, done here. N-Now please touch this stone... And this are the rules for the guild. I'll be right back." M.
After a couple of minutes J. got two notifications. He hadn't even thought about him having formed a party with Alexis. Now that he read it again he made sure to ask her about the heroic buff he had received.
***
you left the Party: Alexis
Experience points will no longer be shared
***
***
Heroic company has ceased
***
Over ten minutes later she came back with a small metallic plate in her hands. She was shaking slightly as she handed over the ID-card and excused herself for taking so long with rugged breaths.
"I'm sorry for taking that long. The vice Guildmaster asked me to directly update your rank upon the reports and badge handed over from Commander Haggard. I had to double check as the result was you directly jumping to F-rank. That makes you one of the fastest rank-ups in this branch's history!
Anyway, here's your card. With this you have access to every country on this continent, even to rivaling factions. As the Adventurers Guild is a worldwide organization, the ID works also overseas for the most part. But don't loose it as its record of your progress would be lost and there would be a fee of 1 Gold." M.
Wtih those last introductory words another notification appeared. This one he had even waited for as he got it the moment he woke up in Gold Creek quite some time ago.
***
Quest:
'Identity – register as Adventurer' cleared!
1000 XP
***
***
Quest-line:
A new Life (final)
updating Object:
Job – get your first job!
***
Overwhelmed by this sudden flood of information he took his new ID-card and inspected it. It was a dark silvery metal plate slightly bigger than a credit card. A big F was imprinted on the left and a small crystal implemented at the right side. The backside was blank and shiny.
As he touched the small stone peeking out to both sides of the plate, his name and information revealed itself on the backside.
_______________________
Name: Jay Yanoz LvL: 10
Job: - Job LvL: -
Group: - Age: 16
_______________________
He had to look twice. 'Where the hell came that name from?' he screamed in his mind. He looked at the small girl behind the counter with dead eyes.
"Is there a problem?" M.
"What... is this name?" J.
"Oh, I thought you looked at the registration, no? Can't be helped now as the name was registered with your mana signature." M.
"Huh? No, I..." J.
"I can have it changed for you when the Guildmaster returns as only he is authorized... the fee will be 10G though." M.
"It actually ain't bad but won't there be problems if my name is written wrong?" J.
"As this is your identification the only problem is for you to sign with this name if you have to... but for you to be this big with only sixteen..." M.
"You have no idea..." J.
Sixteen... He felt he should be way over thirty. His body felt younger, and a lot at that, but sixteen? Though it explained some unwanted urges and reactions he had until then.
"Um, would you like to use the job-changing room now? It should be free..." M.
Milly had asked while fumbling with her fingers after she returned to her meek attitude. As he nodded she asked him to follow her towards the left and into a corridor. Walking behind her he kept his promise and stared at the barely four and a half feet tall girls small butt. As she noticed it she tried to walk more seductively like Nicoletta but failed miserably...
As Jay and Milly walked down a long corridor she explained that the private meeting rooms to their left could be booked by groups or single individuals. Arriving at the end of the corridor she directed him through a open door into a small room. In the center of the room stood a post with a milky white orb on top.
"Just touch the orb and choose one of the jobs that you get shown. Think about your job carefully as you can change it only after reaching the maximum level. If you need further information about a job you can borrow the guilds compendium. It's without a fee but you have to book it beforehand..." M.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone