Chapter 2: Farpass
Rayden looked at his feet and saw five more shadow wolves he had slain. He pulled out his adventurer's card and tapped quest once again.
[! Shadow Wolves: 30/30]
Both the count and the exclamation mark signified that the quest was complete.
With that, he exited the quest tab and took a moment to look over his adventurer card.
[Rayden: Light]
[0137522]
[Quests]
[Map]
The card was made out of a fine black metal, and was nearly as big as his hand. His name and the other words were written in blue light on the left of the card, and each would pull up more information if he put his finger to it.
On the right of the card was a white rune code, used to identify that this card was authentic and to connect it with the greater network of information spirits the adventurer's guild used to run on a multi-national scale.
All of it was surrounded by bronze trim with a capital "D" in the top center, signifying his rank from F to S.
After looking at it for a couple seconds he tapped on the map and saw a dot that represented his position, as well as an arrow that pointed in the direction of town.
Now knowing where to go, he put the small card back into his pocket and set off. Eventually he found himself leaving the dark part of the forest, seeing that there were many more gaps in the leaves, and he could feel that there was more light in the area.
'Illie, you can rest now, there isn't any danger in this part of the forest,' he said to them.
'I'm fine!' they responded, 'I've still got plenty of power to go!'
'No, let's not use power unnecessarily,' he held firm in his decision.
'*Sigh* fine,' they gave in, but made sure to make their frustration known.
With that, the glowing aura disappeared from Rayden's body, and his speed slowed down to that of a regular person's. In no rush, he just walked leisurely through the forest, taking his time to get back.
It was nearly sundown by the time he saw the town gates, which were likely soon going to be closing for the night. As he entered through them he waved at the guards, who waved back. He went out of the town almost every day, so he knew most if not all of the town's guards.
Farpass was rather small as he could see the center of the town off in the distance. Most of its buildings were pretty shabby looking and small. Even places like the mayor's mansion weren't all that much bigger than the rest of the housing.
In fact it wasn't even the biggest place in the city. That would be the adventurer's guild building.
The adventurer's guild is one of the biggest corporations in not only the Draidian Kingdom, but in the continent as a whole.
Their employees, known as "adventurers", take quests, which are jobs commissioned by townspeople, other corporations, or sometimes even royalty and nobility.
Not only does it create jobs, it allows small problems to be taken care of before they become bigger issues, such as the shadow wolves that were making it hard to use that forest as a trade route.
As I walked in, the place was bustling about as usual, even at this time of day. People were chatting as they lined up to turn in quests and the folks that did quests at night were looking over the quest board.
The mead hall was the loudest though, almost all the tables were filled with adventurers winding down from a day of work. Drinking beer, wolfing down full meals in seconds, and raising a storm with the clamor of their voices.
Rayden quietly took his place at the end of the shortest reception line. A few people waved to him but he didn't prompt a conversation with them.
Eventually it was his turn, and he silently handed his adventurer's card to the receptionist, a young lady named Esta.
She took it and raised her palm over the rune code, both of which emitted a soft glow for a few seconds as she scanned the card's data.
"Great job!" she said as she confirmed he had completed the quest. "One moment," She went to a room behind her and returned with a sack of coins which she placed on the counter.
"You know, with your skill and talent, it's only a matter of time before you get promoted to C rank," she continued.
"I'm not anything special, anyone else could have also done this quest just as fast, maybe even faster," Rayden replied with a small sheepish tone in his voice.
"True, any group of D ranks could also do this quest," she responded, with a particular emphasis on the word group, "but not solo like you did. I've heard from others how hard it is to take on multiple enemies alone."
"But," he looked away from her, trying not to meet her gaze. "I'm not nearly as strong as Jorone."
A frown crept up Esta's face. "I've been working here ever since you joined the guild. I've seen your progress," she said in a stern yet disappointed voice, "if you wanted to be as strong as him, you could be. I know it."
Rayden also frowned, and was unable to respond as he grabbed the coins from within the sack and placed them in the wallet strapped to his belt.
"Thank you," he said as he walked away.
"You're welcome," she responded with a sigh.
He went to the mead hall, grabbed some dinner for the night, and went up its stairs to the second floor where the dorm room he lived in was.
As he went up the stairs, a man named Victor was watching him from his seat at a table, his thoughts not shown on his face.
"Here is your food!" a waitress said as she came over with a big plate full of meat dishes on it. She set it down, prompting Victor to look away and grab his food.
"So!" said a hulk of a man, the biggest person at the table, "Nathan, you said something crazy happened at your house today?" He had surprisingly neat hair and a well-shaven beard that were nothing special but didn't match his brutish face. This was Jorone, the strongest person in town and its only C rank adventurer.
"Yes!" said a young man with slick black hair and the best looks of the group. "An actual knight showed up today! And not just any knight, he's a vice-commander for one of the six orders!" he said with excitement that couldn't be contained. Nathan was the mayor's son, and although he wasn't that exceptional of an adventurer, his deep pockets certainly helped Jorone's group rise even higher.
"Really? What's a big shot like him doing out here in the boonies?" Victor asked.
"My father didn't let me in on the conversation, but when I asked him about it later, he said the knight is looking for someone," Nathan responded.
"Oh, do you think he's here for me?" Jorone chimed in with a triumphant grin.
"Why would he be here for you? You may be the biggest guy in this place, but C ranks are a dime a dozen even in low end cities like Olnsley," another member shot back.
"Yeah, why do you think I'm in this backwater dump?" Jorone responded, and the entire table burst out laughing.
At the time, they had no idea what the Knight's arrival meant for the small town.
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