New Life As A Level 0 Undead Mage

It took Mat roughly 2 hours to reach the gate of the city. He had no watch to compare time with, so he concluded this by watching sun's movements towards the west.

The city had short walls all around it, most of the which were made of sturdy looking wood enforced with black metal beams. Along the length of the wall were several watch towers, each spaced by a distance of roughly 200 meters. On each of the towers stood a man in leather armour, wielding a bow.

At the head of the trail that let inside, a large gate stood, large only in width, its height being the same relatively short height as that of the walls. The almost square shape door looked almost comical.

4 meters? Maybe a little more.

Mat made a guess with respect to the height of the people that were walking in and out of the city gate. Indeed, there were finally people in sight. Humans, humans, mostly humans, and then he'd see a group of beastkins walk by among them. Some hat cat like ears, some dog like, and some even had ears like a mouse!

As he stood there gawking for a few minutes, Mat noticed the guard at the gate giving him a weird look. Suddenly, he felt embarrassed and closed his wide opened mouth at the realisation of difference in reality. He was in a fantasy world after all.

Mat casually walked into through the city gate, hoping to pass off easily like most people were, but then he heard a guard call out to someone from behind him.

"Hey kid! You! What is your name, I've never seen you here before?"

Mat froze in his step, and slowly turned around to see the guard looking straight at him. It was the same person who was giving him the stink eye before.

Pointing at himself, Mat mouthed, "Me?"

He tried not to betray any emotion, and pretended to look in both the directions behind him, before looking at the guard again and asking, "Me?"

The guard nodded slowly, he face showing little caution, just mild interest.

Mat walked to him, and tried to mimic the most harmless expression he could muster with his untrained facial muscles.

"I am an Traveller, mister Guard. I saw the city and hoped to find myself a place to stay and relax in."

Mat sad in a neutral sounding, simple tone.

The guard nodded at his answer, and asked him again, "Are you registered with the adventurer's guild? Do you have your card?"

Mat tilted his head in an attempt to emulate confusion, before he replied again, "Sorry sir, but I am from a small mountain village, so we do not have any guild there. I have only heard stories about the adventurers. In fact, that is the reason why I am here in the first place, I want to be an adventurer myself!" He quickly changed the direction of the conversation with half true excitement, to make sure the guard didn't think much about the village story.

The guard looked at him in a new, bored light, as if he was looking at just another one of hundreds of idiots that passed by his sight everyday.

Bro, why do you look like you are insulting me in your head, huh?

The odd look made Mat feel bad at such disrespect. But inwardly, he sighed in relief. At least he wasn't a focus of suspicion anymore.

"I see, in that case I doubt I should be expecting any source of identity on your self?"

"No sir, nothing I have for now."

Mat replied to his answer with a nod. The guard was giving him the same bored look, as if he had just expected that answer; like he had seen many his kind, and was used to their state of poverty.

"Makes sense. Well, you don't really need any for now. Just sign here in this register, and get yourself an adventurer's guild membership card. Entry and exit might be allowed to you during day time, but if you ever happen to be late during the night, you would not be allowed in without proper identification."

The guard pointed at a thick register which was placed on the suspended slab of the guard post. Mat nodded and walked closer to see a fountain pen resting beside the register. It was placed nib pointing up, and was tied to the register's hard cover with a string which probably made sure that it wouldn't fall.

Looking at the register's open page, Mat saw the last entry, which entailed a name, the time the person entered, their age. Surprisingly, it was all written in a script that looked like the new English alphabet, unlike the Old English like runice script he'd seen in the catacombs.

With familiarity, Mat held the pen between the fingers of his right hand, noted down on the page.

Name: Mordain Nelson

Age: 14

He looked at the guard's face, while pointing the pen's tip at the cell that was meant to be filled with the time of entry. The man turned his head to look inside the guard's cabin, which Mat followed, to find his eyes landing on a 1 foot wide, circular wall clock. A pendulum hung from it, swinging to and fro in a continuously smooth motion.

Mat absorbed as many details as he could take in from the wall clock, and committed them to his memory.

"1 and 20 minutes in the afternoon."

The guard spoke to mat leisurely, and watched him write the time down.

Done with the task, Mat put the pen against the register again, like it had been, with its nib pointing up, and nodded at the guard before turning around.

The guard nodded back to him, and walked back to the city gate. He leaned against the wall, and leisurely looked out at the city outskirts, no longer interested in whatever Mat was.

Feeling safe, Mat simply walked through the city gate's area, and entered one of the several cobblestone streets that went through the city. He asked a fruit shop owner the way to the adventurer's guild.

Getting a proof of identity was the most imperative thing for his goals right now, only then would he have an easier time finding employment. And only when he had employment would he be able to experience the world without having to worry about the next meal of the day.

Following the fruit shop owner's directions, Mat took the right hand street, and walked briskly for about 20 minutes when he reached the gate of an impressive looking, large, woody building.

Above the building's gate hung a big, ornately designed but dusty signboard. In a flowy, caligraphy font, the signboard read, "Adventurer's Guild, Duskendale".

The door of the guild was open wide, and inside he could see the environment lit in cool, dim lights. Almost every minute, a single adventurer entered the building, and every few minutes, a group of 2-5 people exited, at least one of them holding a piece of paper in their hand.

Mat took a moment to collect himself, then entered the guild in all his 4 feet of glory.

He casually walked over to the receptionist, who only now entered his field of vision. There were two people already standing in front of her, one tall, lanky man of blonde hair, and a short, black headed, somewhat feminine looking young man who could easily be mistaken for a woman if he had hair any longer than his shoulders.

Mat stood on the side, behind them, as he saw them sign something on a few papers, and taking one of them along with them. As they walked past him, Mat had to tilt his head up to get a glimpse of their face.

Finding the space in front of him empty, Mat walked forward to cover it, and reached the smoothly polished, gleaming wooden table. It was a tall desk that had its front entirely covered, giving the person behind a private environment from the hustle and bustle of the guild's hall.

Mat took a close look at the guild receptionist. She was a short, plump woman, who looked to be in her late 30s. She had well kept dark green hair that suited her baby shaped face, and accentuated a subtle charm, which when matched with a cutesy smile, had the potential to put anyone's worries on the back burner.

Right now, she was looking at Mat from her one feet higher vantage point.

"Hello adventurer, I hope it's a good afternoon! I haven't seen you before, are you new in the town? Would you like to take a quest, or make a transaction for any items from the guild?"

The lady asked in a practised tone, as if she was used to repeating those words quite often.

Mat nodded in response, and said, "Good afternoon lady.. And no, I'm not registered with the guild. Yes, yes, I am new in the town, and I would like to register. Does that entail any fee? I can't really exchange for anything, since I am extremely low on funds right now, because I travelled down here all the way up from my village."

Low on funds my ass, I'm dead broke. Not a single penny on me.

The receptionist blinked into her brilliant smile again, and answered Mat in a slow, easy to understand manner, "No sir, the guild doesn't charge any membership fee from the new members, it is only when your first year with the guild has been completed, that you are charged an annual, recurring membership fee that varies depending on your adventurer rank. Also, my name is Mathilda by the way, pleased to make your introduction Mr…?"

She didn't make any comment on Mat's financial conditions, and just answered his questions with assurance.

Mat nodded and said, "That is great, then I would like to register as an adventurer. It is my pleasure as well, meeting you lady Mathilda. My name is Mordain, I come from a little village in the mountains."

Mat tried to mimic an enthusiastic teenager, in which he did seem to succeed somewhat, although he did cringe on the inside.

"Amazing, then let's have you fill this form, and apply for the guild membership. Since it isn't super busy today, I'll get it handled right away, and you can then pick up quests if you'd like."

The receptionist clapped her hands with a hint of joy, and handed Mat a two page form that was written in the modern English like script.