NOVEL WEB Chapter 19 – Adventurer
"The Adventurer's Guild..." I look at it with awe.
"Hehe mama said that I shouldn't go there!" Mary said as she giggles to herself.
The very staple of isekai. If you don't have an Adventurer's Guild somewhere, what's wrong with you? Or you're just very creative.
But anyways. [Finally after such hardships we're finally here.] I thought as every event today transpires in my head.
[I met Mary, gone into this city called El Niño, met Mary's family, slept in their inn, met god, my characters, and the merchants, and fought in an alley.] Now that I'm reminiscing what happened to me, this is a very weird deviation from the script.
[But I still ended up in a Adventurer's Guild...] I laugh to myself, am I different or not?
"Let's go Mary." I said to her, grabbing her hand as to not get lost.
"Yup! Yup!" She happily replied, while doing hopscotch as we walk along.
Right now Myidari has dropped us on the street across the adventurer's guild, so I can look at the massive building in full.
Unlike the splendor and intricacies of the Merchants Guild, the Adventurer's Guild has a more practical design with stone brick walls and wooden roofs. From the white marble to the grey bricks. Even their buildings reflect their occupation.
But, [Holy shit it's massive.] I thought as I cross the road.
Although the Merchants Guild is taller the Adventurer's Guild is definitely the wider one. With the merchants only taking the corner like an L, the adventurer one takes the whole street, as it stands in between two intersections. It's a short street but long nonetheless.
I walk finished crossing the street and I'm now taking a close look at this building. "...What an intimidating building." I said as I touch the walls.
The stone brick walls are slightly slanted a bit with banners of swords and other weapons hanging, with stone brick pillars budging out of the walls where it reaches a certain point and becomes a support for a timber frame upright wall with white walls typical of medieval design until the roof, where it's made with clay tiles. There are large vertical windows along the brick walls and smaller ones on the top, with finally a large double door in the middle as we walk to it.
"Man this looks more like a fancy garrison than anything else." I said to myself. If I were to compare the two. The Merchants Guild would look like one of the early skyscrapers from the gilded age and the Adventurer's Guild would be a castle that the Normans would built.
So in my confusion Mary heard and answer it for me. "Hehe well everyone in the city knows that the Adventurer's Guild was made from the old wall after all." She happily informed me. "Oh really?" I said with surprise, as she tells me more. "Yup! I dunno how long ago but they destroyed the old wall and the Adventurer's Guildhall is the only thing remaining from it!" She said to me. "Mama and papa always tell me about it." She added.
"I see." I look back at the stone walls. [It's a common tale so I guess it makes a lot more sense now.] It's weird how this building is mostly made out of stone bricks, from my medieval knowledge is an expensive material, at least not too far off from how the Merchants Guildhall costed. Plus it stands out from the timber structure of the rest if the buildings thus far. [So that's why this building is close to the wall.] It's because it's a former wall itself.
[The one who bought the walls is a genius.] I thought to myself as this city's government essentially built them a building. [What a history.] Normally the guild will just be a location for the heroes to visit but with this I learned something more about the city that I'll be living in.
As we made it to the door. "...But what's that?" I stare intently at two statues of the same person next to the doors.
It's a man in a face helmet with two pairs of arms and one large horn sticking out of his head. His whole head is covered by a helmet but has a beard. A very muscular with a fur cape and armor, then finally he's first pair of arms is him with his arms crossed and the other pair holding a sword and axe.
[He looks a bit familiar.] This feeling of getting there but not quite is irritating me. [But who is he.] I feel stupid for not knowing.
Mary has notice my eyes focusing on the statues and spoke to me. "Oh that's—" But before she could say anything. "Those are the twin gods of fighting and perseverance." A voice said, as he walks out of the door. Wearing a green out uniform.
"Yeah! These are the gods that papa worships!" She excitedly said to me.
"Y-yeah..." I should be responding in kind but I'm too preoccupied with thinking right now.
The man wearing a green uniform spoke with the same tone. "I'm a worker here, I clean up the adventurer's mes— I mean help out the adventurers." He pauses as he looks at us with those dead eyes. "What are you two doing? You seem new." He said to us with the same face.
But I didn't notice him completely. [Fighting and perseverance...] Those words slowly come together like finally finding the lost jigsaw puzzle under your couch, and when that final piece connects. [So then...!] I open my eyes wide as I look at him and ask. "What are these god's names?!" I answer him, my breathing not normal as I look at him with intense eyes.
Even he is surprise by my expression. "Uhm okay..." He pauses, with much contemplation he answers.
"Zank and Beharren." He said.
My mouth opens up and down. "I-it's him..." I mutter. To which Mary looks at me with concern. "Mori-san?" She looks at me as she tilts her head.
"...No, I'm fine Mary. Just a little tired." I pet her head and we walk forward inside.
I take a final look at the statues. [So it's really you huh...] I thought before going inside.
•••
Zank-und-Beharren.
That's his full username. A player that I kept trying to join my guild but always refuses, so we spar often. He's a Nephilim, generally speaking. But his constant duels, hunting, and breeding to restart all over again had caused him to evolve into his own sub-species of Nephilim, the Nephilim Sanguis.
In the Endless History he is depicted as the unyielding ruler of the Blutig-Rot mountain range. Which is situated within Kurumi's territory. It is routinely crusaded, subjugated, turned into a vassal state, then rebel and become independent once again. It is an area which Kurumi has famously been unable to control.
He has four arms, blood red veiny skin, has two small horns on the sides of his chin and one large horn on his head and a spiky beard. He started in the game as a goblin, so he has a bit of an orc-like facial features but overall looks to be a buff, middle aged man.
He is what you call a Germanophile, or someone that's obsessed with all things German. I dunno if he's just LARPs or an actual German but he even went as far as using the German words for fighting and perseverance into his username. Which admittedly fits his playstyle very well.
As a classic berserker, the longer he fights the stronger he is so he often plays defensively at first and killing mobs until his bloodlust race passive kicks into gear that increases his power, at that point is very hard to beat. Especially with his other race skill Masochist which increases his stats when he's in low health.
In fact he is the inspiration of my Collita, so that I could finally beat him in combat. Although by his appearance he can be mistaken as a fiendish war demon but he's actually on the neutral side like me and in personal he seems to be a pretty nice guy, easy to talk to and chat about our geek hobbies. I just tune out of his German ramblings though.
I dunno why he is seen as a god in this world. But since this is EWO afterall I should have expected it. [I think I heard Marina call Silkco before I left...] I dunno if I should be happy about this or not. [It means that they definitely exists in this world...] I ponder for a moment. [If they, my friends, became gods then how long have they existed...?] it does not take merely years or decades for someone to become a god. It should at the very least a century for the people to believe you are a god.
[Then what happened to them?] My friends have races with ages that far exceeds humans and even some that are technically immortal. But that doesn't guarantee that they are safe. In the worst case scenario they are all— [No, they are powerful players after all. The cream of the crop in the game, the highest rank in PvP and own massive territories. So I'm sure that they should be able to defend themselves.] But this feeling of anxiety that's creeping to me isn't disappearing to me at all. As I clutch my head and bit my nails.
Then, "Mori-san!!" Mary had once again pulled me out of such thoughts.
"Oh Mary..!" I shouted in surprise. "...Sorry, I'm just thinking too much about these days." I said to her while scuffling her head.
[...I shouldn't worry about these things right now.] I thought. As it makes the friends I have now sad. [This world is Endless. So there are infinite possibilities.] that's another motto from the game. [They should be fine if they have those resurrection potions.] Is what I thought to finally calm me down and look back into reality.
I look at the place, "...Wow." And look at it with awe.
If I were to describe it with one word; it's long. It's not only long on the outside but the inside as well. The best comparison I could give to the interior is kinda like an airport's cafeteria. But instead of being modern it's made with timber, planks, and stone bricks. The inside definitely has a rough but cozy feeling in it as I hear the sound of wood and metal, with the warmth of the torches reverberating about.
Right now after the guy with the green uniform left we're sitting on a bench next to the entrance, the center of the building so we can get a the whole view from here. In front of us on the opposite end of entrance, there is a very long reception desk that stretches through most of it's wall, where it ends with the stairs on both ends. There are walls in between the desk so it kinda looks like the shops in a mall or the reception area of a bank.
The reception area is obviously where the adventurers take there requests from but since there's quite a lot of extra booths the spare ones are used to sell things such as drinks, food and even potions and spells.
In front of them in the center and middle are rounded tables that dots the whole inside of this building, with chairs of course and is the main place where the adventurers interact.
The rest of the of the walls are fitted with benches and chairs with some plant pots thrown in. But it also has small booths with weapons and armor lined up and put on the walls. There are banners, shields, other weapons, and even heads of beast being put as decorations as well. But most importantly the request and bounties of monsters are also on the walls.
But of course, I'm not forgetting the... "Hey! I was supposed to take that request!" adventurers themselves.
"Hah! I got it first idiot!"
"Hagh?! I was eyeing it the whole time!"
"You wanna duel for it bastard!"
"Shut it up you two!!"
"...Mori-san~!" Mary clung tightly onto me. "Just don't look at 'em Mary." I patted her head.
[What a rowdy bunch.] I thought. Just beside me is where the bulletin board is with the request, so I've been trying my best to dilute their yelling in my head, as Mary is holding her ears. [Thank god I wore my hood before I entered here.] The men reeks of sweat and booze. But I won't even be surprised if I also smell the strong scent of perfume in them somewhere. So I'm quite fortunate that I hid my face and so didn't notice me that much, but I do see that they're glancing at my legs a bit, so I covered them with a cape.
"Alright I guess it's time to..." As I stood up, "Mori-saaan..." It's Mary, clinging on my clothes not letting me go.
"What is it Mary?" I ask her. "...D-don't leave mee..." She said with messy speech.
[Well...] I took a glance beside us and also see some guys staring at her, so this is unforgivable. [I can't be indebted to her more than I do now.] I thought to myself.
So, "Wanna come along with me?" I suggested, but she shook her head. "...No." She said as I look in front of me.
Even the tables are filled with scary looking guys, some more so than the lot beside us.
[What should I do...?] I can't let her stay here but she also doesn't want to go to there, I'm stuck.
But as I thought of going back outside and make her wait there, a savior arrives. "What is a girl doing here?" It's a women's voice.
I turn around and see her patting the head of Mary. "This place is not something a girl like you should be in." She said as her gauntlets rubs her hair.
[I've gotten paranoid that she'll be taken away.] I thought but anyways...
[Finally a woman!] Moreover she's a knight! With orange hair, she looks like the many female knights I've seen before. With glossy plated armor and a sword, she's perfect. There's no boob armor though, which I'm thankful since I heard it'll slice through your breast like a bear trap.
"And who are you? I haven't seen you here before." She said to me as she stops petting Mary's head and looks at me suspiciously.
[Well I'm not surprised she's looking at me that way.] I'm wearing a hood and covered myself with a cape.
"Oh well I'm new here and wanna apply for the guild." I answer her.
To which she widens her eyes. "Hm?! A fellow women as well!" She shouts in surprise. "Haha well join already! Finally there someone that doesn't smell like sweat and goblin blood!" She happily said as she scratches her head.
"Well..." I look worriedly at Mary.
She's confused at first but after hearing. "I'll beat you up you bastard!" "Try me!" In the background she realizes my worries. "Oh don't worry about her, I'll keep a watch of her just for you!" She says with a smile.
"Oh really?" I guess I'm indebted to someone again. "Thank you!" I said to her.
I stood up without worry and wave at the two of them as I walk to the counter.
I look around and see many adventurers talking on the tables, mainly about splitting up rewards and tactics to beat monsters. As well as many types of adventurers too, from a leather wearing rogue to a fully armored tank, [What a great scene.] This place is just as filled with activity as the market is.
But as I walk further I can begin to see some stutues of people on the top of the reception area, to where the stairs lead up, the open air second floor of this building which stares down this floor from a platform.
There are many statues of people that are likely gods but the one I'm looking at is the two in the middle.
[Why is Beharren two gods now?] I wondered. As it was mentioned and explained from Mary and that guy with a green uniform that Zank-und-Beherren is two separate gods instead of being one like in my memory. [Could it be that...] It could be that so much time has passed that the people had mistaken Beherren's name as two different gods or time had just passed so much that it became two gods instead.
[I don't know how long in the future this is but it couldn't only been centuries from this.] If such a common sense knowledge such as Zank-und-Beherren is one person is gone then... [I guess a few thousand years isn't too far off.] I thought to myself.
[But be positive Morus, his species doesn't age if he's fighting.] I thought as I encourage myself, [Plus he'd be pretty angry if he became a god, much less two separate ones.] I laugh about the thought of a raging Beharren so I got my mood up and finally walk to the reception desk.
There a person smiling appears before me. "Oh hello there!" It's a woman wearing a green dress. [So it's really they're uniform.] I thought to myself.
"Hmm? I haven't seen you from here before, are you perhaps a new adventurer?" She asks me with her finger in her cheek.
[This girl reminds me of one of the interns in the company.] She's always aloof but turns out it's an act and she's been fucking a lot of the managers. But back to reality. "...Yup, I wanna join the guild." I said to her. [Well Earth things are left best on Earth so not gonna make any assumptions.] I thought to myself as I return to look at her.
Her eyes wide open. "Oh really! I thought you were already an adventurer so I apologize!" She bows to me. "Well first off may I have your name please?" She asks me.
I answered normally as I pull back my hood and show my face. "My name's Morus." I said to her. [Well that's a normal enough introduction.] I thought to myself.
But that seems to have given her an even bigger reaction. "Oh Morus?!" She said my name in surprise.
"What is it?" I ask her. [Don't tell me I've become a god as well?] If that's the case I'll be changing it to Mori.
But thankfully it's not that. "Oh the guild master has told me to look for someone with that name you see..." She said in a slow manner. "And well, ask for Guard Captain Lefer-sama's badge." She explains.
"Oh that?" I search my pocket and grab the small pin, "You mean this?" I pointed to her.
She grabs it instantly. "Yes! U-uhm I apologize for your inconvenience but I'll be leaving temporarily." Then she need an extremely big bow and left while holding the pin tightly in her hands.
[I didn't know it'll illicit such a reaction.] I knew that a Guard Captain's recommendation is big but don't even it'll make her run away.
While doing nothing, I look back to see Mary pointing at me, as with my superhuman hearing I manage to hear what she's saying.
"It's big bro!" She shouted as the woman earlier is beside her.
[Oh really...] I turned around in a different direction and what do you.
"It's you."
"So that's her?" "She's hot." "Hello there.." "Juno stop being such a stubborn ass."
It's Juno and company.
