Chương 24: New Roommates

They found Maya hunkered down in a rest stop with a large group of travelers who'd fled from the monster attack. When Alex waltzed into the room, every head turned, and every conversation stopped. All of them had witnessed how she'd confronted the Petralisk. All of them knew she was the most powerful person in the room. Evan felt a twinge of jealousy. He had never been the kind of guy to go after fame or admiration. He'd liked his job as a nurse even if many people didn't appreciate the work he did.

He'd never wanted to be more than a good nurse, but Alex was literally a superhero. And which little boy didn't dream about being a superhero? He quietly wondered if he could really become that kind of person. The renowned hero who saved people from monsters. Did he have what it took? His musings were rudely interrupted by Maya. She left the table she had shared with a family of five to greet them.

"What's taken you so long?" Oliver blinked.

"Did you see the number of Mountaincrabs coming out of that hole in the ceiling?"

"Crabs? No. I just saw the massive stone snake and went running in the other direction. Anyway, is the path clear now?"

"It is," Alex announced for everyone in the inn to hear.

"The monsters are dead. You can all continue your journey." Her words caused the crowd to break out into cheers and applause. Several people offered to buy a round of drinks for them, but Alex refused. She led them out of the inn and re-conjured their cloud horses.

"Saddle up, kids." The rest of their journey through the Mountain was comparatively uneventful. When the end of the tunnel finally came in sight, the sky was already painted orange by the setting sun. Despite their complaints, Alex refused to call it a day and rent a room at one of the local inns. Instead, they continued their journey past nightfall until they'd reached a river. It was much wider than the Silverwater and Evan spotted a few boats floating on it, transporting both passengers and wares.

"This is the Goldwater. The river is the lifeline of this region, Shattercoast," Alex explained while they set up their camp for the night.

"Most major settlements are along this river, including Stormhaven." They rode through the next day, following the road running alongside the Goldwater River, only stopping once for a short lunch break. A stiff wind blew into their faces the entire time, making the ride a lot less enjoyable than before, but by late afternoon, Stormhaven came into view. They entered through the busy main gate and Evan was amazed by the size of the city. It was a proper metropolis.

Many of the buildings were three, four, or even five stories high and in the distance he could spot even larger buildings and towers. They were built from pale sandstone and white plaster, but most houses had decorative edgings and borders in bright colors. To Evan, it looked like a proper fantasy city; and he couldn't get enough of the interesting architecture and the many people around him. The streets were crowded, making for a colorful sight.

Evan noticed that the blues, greens, and teal fabric colors he'd gotten used to were mixed with orange, red, and yellow, although the tunic style seemed mostly the same. It was loud and busy and a little bit smelly, and he loved every second of it. Because of his obligations to his father and lack of money, he'd never been able to travel outside of the US, but Stormhaven felt like he was visiting about six different Earth countries at the same time. Maya and Oliver seemed equally amazed.

They kept craning their necks to get a better look at the tall buildings lining the street. Alex, however, appeared to be quite at home. She wove her way through the dense crowd of people and led them to a large market square. Shaded by a large tree in the middle of the squares two dozen vendors with stands or street carts sold their wares. Alex headed straight toward a food stand and bought dinner for them: sausage on a stick.

After she handed one to each of them, she made an announcement: "Okay, kids, you're on your own now. I have business in Stormhaven and there's no point in dragging you around with me." Oliver was just about to bite a piece off his sausage, but froze mid-motion.

"What? You can't just leave us now. We have no idea where to go." Alex shrugged.

"You wanted to stand on your own two feet, didn't you? Find your own way in the world? Now's your chance. I'm sure you'll be fine." Oliver opened his mouth to protest, but Maya silenced him with an elbow nudge to the ribs.

"We will," she said quickly.

"We're not little kids anymore. This is a city full of opportunities. We'll figure it out, I'm sure." Evan straddled the fence. He'd been "figuring it out" for over a decade of adult life now, but this city was huge and loud and confusing to him.

"A couple of pointers would be nice, though." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Alex gave him a mild smile.

"That I can give you. I suggest you stay in a boarding house for a while. There are a lot of them in Stormhaven and the rooms are usually quite cheap. Avoid the Broken Steps District though. If you want to register with a guild, you'll find most of them in the Citadel District. That's this direction." She pointed north.

"Just follow the stairs that lead upwards and you'll get there. If the buildings start to look fancy, you're on the right track. Maya, there are tons of smithies all over the city, and most of them are hiring help. You already have some experience, so I'm sure you'll find work quickly." Evan nodded.

"Boarding house, then guild. Got it. Where can we buy gear? Is there a central market? A shopping center?"

"For proper mana user gear, you'll have to visit the auction house," she explained.

"That's where you can sell your loot, too. It's close to the guild halls. I'm sure you'll find it easily. And if push comes to shove, come and find me. During the day, I'll probably be busy. The first order of business is informing the Guardian Guild of what we saw in the abandoned village. But at night I'll be staying at the Silver Swan hotel in the Marblegarden District." They finished their sausages, said their goodbyes, and then Alex went off, leaving them alone in the busy market square.

Evan, Maya, and Oliver headed in a different direction, wandering the streets and searching for one of the boarding houses Alexandra had mentioned. A friendly local pointed them in the right direction. The nearest boarding house was a comparatively plain-looking, three-story building. The housekeeper was a gray-haired lady with deep laugh lines around her eyes and mouth.

"You're lucky we still have beds available. A lot of young people are in town right now."

"More than usual?" Evan asked as the housekeeper led them up the stairs to show them the room she had available.

"Yes, more than usual. They're all here for the Academy entrance exam," she explained. Right, the Academy. Agatha had mentioned it. She had told him to go there if he wanted answers. That the Academy would be the most likely place to find someone who could tell him how to get back to his own world. Just a few days ago, getting back home had been all Evan could think about, but now he found himself shoving visiting this Academy to the very bottom of his to-do list.

The housekeeper led them through a narrow hallway with creaking floorboards and unpainted plaster walls, then stopped in front of a door. After knocking, she pushed the door open to show them the room. It was about 200 square feet, with two bunk beds on either side and a small table in the middle. A small stone fireplace was right next to the door.

"The two beds to the right are already taken. Young men, your age. Nice, polite, you shouldn't have much trouble with them. Rent is five mana stones per day, thirty mana stones per week, or one hundred per month. Rent is always paid upfront." Evan exchanged a quick glance with Oliver. They would most likely stay in Stormhaven for a while, so there was no reason not to pay for an entire month.

Paying upfront would eat into his savings, but it was the better deal long term, and he hoped he would soon earn the mana stones back. Especially now that he'd reached rank 3 and could fight stronger monsters.

"We'll take it for the month," Evan said.

"Fantastic. The bathroom is at the end of the hallway." The housekeeper turned to Maya.

"Do you want to see the women's lodgings now? They're on the next floor."

"Yes. Thank you." They turned to leave, but the housekeeper stopped in the doorway.

"Just so we're clear. This boarding house is strictly gender separated. No men are allowed on the third floor, understood?" Both nodded dutifully. Satisfied, the housekeeper left them to their own devices, taking Maya with her. Evan looked at the bunk bed. It was spartan, but he could deal with that.

"Are we going to fight about who gets the upper bunk?" Oliver laughed.

"No, it's fine. I'll take the bed where I won't break my bones when I roll out of it." They went to the washroom to clean off the dust from the road, and once again Evan was amazed at how the people of this world had invented magically operated plumbing. When they returned to the room, their two roommates had already returned. Both were blonde, with suntanned skin, but one was tall and lanky, while the other was short and stocky. The taller one stood up from his bed to greet them.

"Good day. I'm Luca, and this is my cousin Kai. You two are mana users too, right?" Oliver shook his hand.

"I'm Oliver, and this is my friend Evan. Yes, we're mana users."

"Are you here for the entrance exams too?" Luca asked.

"Kai and I came all the way from the Brightwater Coast Region to take the tests."

"Uh, no," Oliver said.

"We're more the self-educated kind of guys. Right, Evan?"

"Sure," Evan said. The conversation reminded him how little he knew about the education system of this world. He was pretty certain Oliver's home village didn't have a school. Was that unusual? Did young people usually go to school here? Did mana users? He'd have to ask Oliver about it later. Asking basic questions like this would make him look pretty stupid in front of their two new roommates.

"Right," he said hesitantly.

"We're here because we want to join a guild."

"Ah, which one?" Luca asked. To Evan's own surprise, his answer came immediately and confidently.

"Monster Hunters." Oliver's eyebrows shot up, but he kept his surprise to himself.

"Yes, right." A grin snuck onto his face.

"We're going to be monster hunters."

"Cool. I'm still undecided. My mother wants me to become a classic healer after the Academy, but I would like something with more action. Kai wants to join the Sentinels after the Academy. If we get in, that is."

"Are the exams hard?" Evan asked. The question earned him puzzled looks from both Luca and Kai.

"Are you kidding me?" Luca said.

"It's the most renowned Mana Academy on the continent, of course the exams are hard. Out of ten applicants, only four make it through and are accepted."

"Do you think you'll make it?" Oliver asked. Luca shrugged.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. We don't come from a rich family, so our affinity crystals aren't anything special. I have Water, and Kai has Turtle."

"Mine isn't great either. Earth," Oliver frowned.

"My father insisted I take Earth." For the first time since they had walked back into the room, Kai opened his mouth.

"My grandfather says it doesn't matter if you have a common affinity or a legendary affinity. They can all be equally powerful in the right hands." Evan looked at Oliver.

"See, I told you, Earth has potential." Oliver's frown smoothed out a bit, but he still didn't look convinced.

"Maybe, but rarer affinities do come with advantages. Think about Alex, for example. She has Storm, so she has rain powers and lightning powers and cloud powers and wind powers. Her skill set can be much more versatile than that of someone who has just the rain affinity or just the wind affinity." Kai eyed Evan with curiosity.

"Why does your friend need to explain this stuff to you? You're a mana user. Shouldn't you know this stuff already?" Evan shifted his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other. Even if people from other worlds weren't a completely insane idea here, he felt revealing his origins would draw a little more attention to him than he was comfortable with.

"I come from far away. Very far away. We don't really have many mana users where I come from. I kind of stumbled upon my affinity crystal, and now I'm just trying to figure things out as I go."

"Ah, that explains your weird name," Luca said.

"Hey, what? What's weird about my name?"