Chương 5: Lorelark Adventurers Guild

At the Lorelark adventurers guild, Evelyn was busy sorting out the new missing-persons posters when her attention turned to the two newcomers who'd just entered. The older one was an elf, and he stepped up to the counter first while his companion, a young human lady, went over to look at the quest board.

"We'd like to register as adventurers," the man said.

"Of course!" She reached under the counter for a registration form and placed it in front of him along with a quill and ink pot. Once he'd filled it in and handed it back, she took a look at it.

"Havlo?" she said.

"You don't have a last name?"

"Do I need a last name?" There was a slight shift in his demeanor. The question seemed to bother him, as much as he was trying to hide it.

"Well, as an adventurer, your reputation will be very important, so when people talk about your accomplishments, you'll want them to distinguish you from the thousands of other Havlos out there."

"Maybe I don't want to stand out," he said. She took this answer in stride. Not everyone got into adventuring for fame and fortune. Some people just wanted a little extra coin. Who was she to judge?

"It isn't strictly necessary," she agreed.

"But we would like a way to tell you apart from the other Havlos. Normally we would use your date of birth, but I see you've left that blank too." This observation made him even more uncomfortable.

"What do you do with people who don't remember their date of birth?" She sighed.

"Do you have a title or a nickname? Something you're comfortable sharing with others, since it will be going on your guild card." He thought for a moment and said, "What if you just mark me down as from Restford?"

"Havlo the mage from Restford? That could do. Not many mages come out from there."

"Then it's settled?" he asked. She scribbled his chosen moniker onto the form and nodded.

"Let's go prepare your guild card. Would you come with me?" She led him into the room where the guild's Shift tablet was stored. It looked like a sheet of polished obsidian. When she touched it, the ancient magic imbued within came to life and words appeared on the flat surface, recognizing her as an authorized user. All the adventurers guilds in Kalimor were connected by the magical Maker's Shift system. It allowed them to update and track the status of adventurers between branches without the burden of distance.

Unfortunately that was all it was good for, and all the other guild functions such as messages and quests had to be distributed the slow way. Recalling her training, she pressed the completed registration form against the tablet. She checked that the information had transferred correctly and then pressed her thumb against the image of a button in the lower-right to confirm. A new image popped up, this time of a hand.

"Can you press your hand to the tablet?" she instructed. Havlo did so and then the tablet prompted her again to confirm, which she did. Immediately there was a flash and two items appeared atop the tablet as the words on the surface faded away to black. She took the items and led the adventurer back to the reception counter.

"Here you go, your shiny new guild card and badge. While you seem to qualify for silver, all adventurers begin at bronze, I'm afraid. Do you need me to explain our rules and systems?" He smiled.

"You can sense my mana. It's at silver level, you say?"

"I happen to be particularly sensitive, so I'd say it's a good estimation. I'm a registered adventurer and a mage myself. Silver." She pointed at her badge.

"I'm only helping out because the guild is short-staffed at the moment. The usual attendant went missing."

"Missing?" She held up one of the missing-persons posters on the counter, which showed a detailed sketch of her friend.

"Amy. Please let us know if you've seen her." Havlo studied the sketch and then glanced over at the quest board, where another dozen similar posters were pinned alongside the job requests. When he turned back to her, his eyes were troubled.

"This isn't normal in Lorelark, is it?" She shook her head.

"The city watch is on alert, but they haven't had much luck. That's why we're asking every adventurer to keep their eyes out."

"I hope you get your friend back," Havlo said.

"Thanks." Havlo the mage from Restford walked over to the job board, and the young lady who'd come in with him came over to the counter for her turn. Evelyn couldn't help but notice that she had similar color hair to Amy.

"Hi, I'm Amberlin!" the girl said enthusiastically.

"What's your name?" She pushed aside the thoughts about her missing friend and forced herself back into customer-service mode. Smiling back at Amberlin, she replied, "I'm Evelyn. How can I help you today?" The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"I'd like to sign up to be an adventurer." Unlike with the elf, Evelyn didn't sense any mana from the girl. Looking down at her hands, besides a few calluses on the fingertips, they were soft and smooth like they'd never seen a day of hard work in their life.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked.

"Being an adventurer is dangerous and sometimes unpleasant work."

"I'm sure," Amberlin replied.

"I've been beating up slimes and selling their materials." Even children can beat up slimes.

"You can continue to do that without registering with us," she said.

"Even beginner-level adventurers tend to already have some training and experience. I hope you don't get offended when I ask this, but have you even used a weapon before?"

"Oh, I had a bow. But it broke. So I just punch things now." She looked again at the girl's knuckles and saw none of the hardiness of a trained martial artist. This was something the adventurers guild had to deal with all the time. Impressionable people would pick up some lofty ideas of the adventuring life from a bard's tale at the local taverns. Particularly youngsters like Amberlin, who at that age felt themselves invincible and dreamed of being the heroes in those stories.

While Evelyn couldn't outright deny the registration, as Amberlin appeared to be of age to make these sorts of decisions for herself, she could still try to get it across to the girl what she was getting herself into. In order to do that, she needed to understand her motives.

"Just why do you want to become an adventurer anyway?"

"To be honest, Havlo talked me into it," Amberlin admitted.

"I want to go out and see the world and make lots of friends and eat all the cakes. He made me realize that that's going to be very expensive, so I'm going to need lots of money, and this is a good way to earn something along the way without working too much, and we can keep our noses out of anything complicated." Evelyn tried to wrap her head around everything that was just said.

Once she felt that she had a grip on it, she replied in a low voice so that the elf couldn't overhear, "So Havlo is the one making you do this?"

"He isn't making me do anything. Well, except to teach him magic, but I agreed to that." She heard the words, but they sounded jumbled in her mind. After some thought she nodded and said, "I think I understand. He's taken you on as an apprentice mage. Since you'll be traveling together and he'll be completing quests, it makes sense for you to be registered too and get some credit for your assistance. Does that sound about right?" This wasn't an unusual situation, but she still worried for the girl.

Even if the master was doing all the fighting, the apprentice could still end up in harm's way. But what really bothered her was how Amberlin didn't appear to have a lick of magical talent. She couldn't think of any good reason why a mage would take on such an apprentice, and if she couldn't help Amberlin here, she was going to have to go find someone from the city watch who could. Amberlin replied, "No, silly. He's my apprentice."

"He's your apprentice," Evelyn echoed.

"That's right." Something in her mind finally clicked.

"Sorry, he's the apprentice?" At this point Havlo had wandered back over to the counter.

"Is there a problem here?" She turned to him.

"This young lady claims to be your master." He nodded.

"That's right." She glared at him.

"What's really going on here? You better tell me the truth right now or I'm getting the city watch involved." Havlo held up his hands.

"There's no need for that. Lady Amberlin here is a really talented mage. Aren't you, La... Amberlin?"

"I sure am!" Amberlin confirmed.

"Prove it," she said.

"Show me some magic." Amberlin shrugged and opened out her hand. A flame sprang up on her palm, and Evelyn could feel its heat all the way from across the counter. It was a real fire. Yet there was no mana flux between the girl and the spell. Not one that she could sense, anyway. And all the while, there was never any sign that the girl herself possessed any mana. To any mage, it looked like the fire just... existed on its own. And then Amberlin closed her fist and the flame disappeared.

Evelyn stared at the girl while trying to collect her thoughts. No, this wasn't just a girl. She should have seen it sooner, with that sharp and intelligent look in her eyes. Amberlin was a master mage with decades—no, centuries—of experience. High-level mages could make themselves appear younger, and that must be what was happening here. But just how high was her level? Not many mages bothered training in mana suppression. Having lots of mana was like having lots of muscle—everyone liked to show it off.

The only ones who wouldn't were those who were beyond the need for status and validation. Suddenly the words came back to her. To see the world and eat all the cakes. She was dealing with someone completely beyond her comprehension.

"My apologies for inconveniencing you, Lady Amberlin," she said.

"Just Amberlin," the master mage replied.

"Not even my apprentice calls me lady. Isn't that right, Havlo?"

"Right you are, La... Amberlin."

"R-right. Amberlin. I'll help you get registered as an adventurer right away." She retrieved another registration form from under the counter.

"Would you mind filling this in?" Lady Amberlin made a huge mess on the form like she'd never used a quill before. But Evelyn could see it now. It was all an act. A very committed, realistic act. She took the completed form and checked the details. Of course the date of birth was left blank. This time she didn't bother drawing attention to it. There was no need anyway, as there was enough to set this Amberlin apart from the others in their records. She'd given a last name. One that no one else would have dared.

"Amberlin Kalimori," she read off from the form.

"Very bold, claiming the name of the world."

"Haha, yeah. Bold." Lady Amberlin laughed.

"Well, there's no rule against it," she said. Even if there was, she wasn't sure she wanted to make a fuss over it. Every rule had an exception for the strong. She repeated the process with the Shift tablet as before with Havlo and handed over Lady Amberlin's new guild card and badge.

"I hope you don't mind starting out at bronze," she apologized.

"Though I suspect it's what you'd want anyway." Lady Amberlin nodded.

"Yeah, I don't want to stand out."

"Do you need me to explain our rules and systems?" she asked. Lady Amberlin pointed to the column of emblems painted in the wall behind the counter.

"Are those the guild ranks?"

"That's right. There are the four metal ranks at the bottom and the four crystal ranks above them."

"Bronze, silver, gold. Is that platinum?"

"That's right. Platinum is the top metal before the crystals." Lady Amberlin squinted at the top half.

"Those colors don't make any sense."

"The colors represent gems," she explained.

"They go ruby, emerald, sapphire, and amber at the top."

"What I mean is, why that order?" Evelyn laughed it off.

"I don't really know, myself. Except for amber. That's a special rank created for the Amber Guard, the greatest heroes who ever lived. Of the four, the only one who might still be around is the Amber Mage." She had a funny thought and added, "Who knows, maybe you know him." Lady Amberlin didn't laugh but instead muttered something under her breath. Evelyn didn't quite catch it, but it sounded something like, "Maybe I do." She noticed the apprentice stiffen momentarily.

Evelyn realized that she may have pried without meaning too. It seemed obvious now, but she hadn't given a thought to how a centuries-old secretly powerful mage would probably be on familiar terms with the Amber Mage. Or perhaps they were great rivals. But these two were going to great lengths to maintain their privacy, and she was going to respect that. Both out of principle and also in the hope that they would stay awhile in Lorelark and with some luck find her friend Amy.

She took a deep breath and said, "If it isn't too much to ask, I'd like to make a special request."