Chương 48: Chapter 47

The pale brown stones of the road clicked beneath my boots as I strolled with my mother along the mountain road west towards Magatha's cottage. All around us towered the Horndale pine trees, the hallmarks of our mountain home, their dark green leaves spreading across the sky like a patchy blanket. Mother was wearing a white and dark blue woolen dress today while I was in drab greys.

The clothes were thankfully soft and warm as the weather had begun to turn, winter close enough now that the first signs of frost had started to show in the early hours of the morning before the sun's warmth managed to melt them. I had just finished another bout of running and was catching my breath, which meant I had time to indulge my curiosity by pestering Mum with questions.

"Did you go to an academy, Mum?" Her lips pursed in thought which I interpreted as this being a topic she wasn't too keen on discussing. Yet, despite her clear hesitance, she answered me anyway which was just another reminder of how much she loved me.

"I did. In fact, I attended Songleaf Academy," she replied, a hint of sadness tinging her voice.

"I thought it was really expensive?"

"It is, but your grandpa used to be decently wealthy. Teaching Aether Manipulation is a highly regarded and well paying job. He taught many of the sons and daughters of wealthy merchants as well as sponsored Guild members. More than enough to cover my tuition to Songleaf. All that dried up when we left though and…" She paused and I could tell that without prompting she wouldn't continue her explanation which was something my curiosity simply wouldn't allow. So, I prodded her, gently.

"And?" She sighed.

"And, when we left he spent most of our remaining wealth to handle the issue that caused us to leave. We weren't beggars when we moved to the Horndale mountains, but most of the coins that your grandpa had saved were gone and with no students to teach he didn't really have a way to start saving up more."

"Why did you have to leave Helenica?" I pressed. I really wanted to know, but the moment I asked, I could see my mother already clamming up and knew I wasn't going to get an answer.

"I'll tell you when you're older. It's not a nice story and not something I want my little man hearing just yet. But I promise, when you're older, I will tell you." Just from her reaction I had a pretty good guess about what had happened. The truth of the matter could wait for now, but since it might be relevant to my future — especially if revenge was on the cards — I extracted a promise from her.

"Before I start at Songleaf Academy?"

"Before then," she agreed with a sad smile to which I responded with a nod.

"What was Songleaf like? What did you study?" I asked, changing the subject and hopefully the mood along with it.

"It was…competitive. A little like you can get with Etta, only with a lot more students. The first couple of years weren't too bad, since almost everyone was focused on working on their Paths to get the best Class Path they could…"

"Not everyone was focused?" I said, interrupting her. The very idea of not getting the most out of making your numbers go up was anathema to my very existence. Even now I was hopping from stone to stone and landing on one foot to work on my Path of Balance while recovering my breath from working on my Path of Running. I knew not everyone was as dedicated as I was, but to go to the best academy on the continent and then put in less than your all almost broke my brain.

"Of course not. The Myriad Paths give opportunities for growth, but it's slow for most people, measured in years. Most children, especially those who have been… spoiled, find it hard to put in that kind of effort. The Myriad Paths aren't the be all and end all. It's harder to sense aether without the Aethersensing Attribute, yet you're already doing it. It's hard to manipulate aether without the Aether Manipulation Attribute, yet your Skills work just fine without it.

The Paths and their rewards make things easier, simpler or stronger, but you could have someone with the Polyglot Attribute who learns languages slower than someone who has never even worked on a language Path. Natural skill and talent are still factors. Plenty of the students are happy to put in enough work to keep their families happy, without really pushing themselves."

"But not everyone?"

"No, not everyone. The children of nobility will definitely have a few that push themselves to the extreme… a little like you." Her words somehow managed to sound both proud and sad.

"And of course, the Guild sponsored members will all be pushing themselves as hard as they can, as their scholarships will depend on it."

"Songleaf Academy pays for them to attend?" I asked, knowing it likely wasn't the case but just wanting to keep Mum talking.

"No, the scholarship is from whatever Guild they are a member of."

"Like, how Keryth was a member of the Farwalker's Guild?" Mother nodded.

"They're one of the more prominent Guilds across the continent." You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"How do Guilds work?" I pressed. Mother glanced at me with a small smile as I hopped to another rock, my leather boot slapping down on the stone as I balanced on one foot.

"Why do you ask? Thinking of joining one when you grow up?" she asked.

"Maybe. Are there a lot of Guilds?"

"Hundreds. Some are small, with only a single team. Others span the continent with Guildhouses in almost every major city. The Farwalker's Guild is that big. They take on members that are good at scouting and collection work, with enough warriors to handle Rift work as well. You remember the Shining Light Guild?" I nodded. I remembered them of course. Both for saving my life when I was barely a few days old along with the last time they visited and how at least one of their members had messed up Magatha's garden.

Which just showed that anyone could be a bastard, regardless of their affiliation.

"The Shining Light Guild also spans the continent. They mostly focus on… dealing with demonic cults. Every nation I know of except for the orcs of the Ravi Plains pays them to keep such things under control, though that doesn't mean they're all as kind as Halkur." I pursed my lips in thought.

"If there are so many Guilds, what do we do?"

"You mean the Adventurer's Society?" Mum asked.

"Mmhmm!"" We work with the merchants, nobility, and other groups to organise it all, I guess. Most nations have at least one Dungeon and almost everyone wants access to it."

"Can't the King or Queen or whatever just keep it to themselves?" I said interrupting mum again.

"They could, and it's been tried before, but it usually causes problems. If the Dungeon isn't delved enough for resources, it grows and grows. When it gets too big, it explodes, releasing everything that was inside and killing the Dungeon in the process. That's what happened in Northern Ajinar in the Deeping Gorge. That was the name of the dungeon before it exploded about a hundred years ago, and they're still dealing with the undead that ravage those lands.

They lost a third of their country because of their greed and because the previous rulers couldn't delve it enough. The other problem is that when people feel like they're not getting the chance to grow or participate in the… kingdom, they get angry. When people get angry and feel like they're being kept beneath the boot of their rulers, they start looking for ways to strike back. In almost every historical reference, there is a sharp rise in demonic cults which sometimes reaches the scale of civil war."

"Most nations find it's easier to share the Dungeon with those they rule. They divide it into quotas for who can access it and how much, which brings in a lot of… bureaucracy. Do you know that word?" I shook my head, swallowing the bile as my Path of Deception ticked up. I hated lying to my mother, but I was still only four and even with my vaunted Mental stats, I didn't think I could get away with claiming to understand a word she had never used before.

"Bureaucracy means… keeping lots of records and writing about who can do what and when and how. Does that make sense?"

"Is that what you're always doing when you write stuff down?" I asked.

"Kind of," Mother replied with a laugh.

"Close enough. But what it means is that there is lots of paperwork to do to track who is in the Dungeon, how much they're bringing out, and what they did in the Dungeon. A couple of nations might manage this themselves, but most don't want to deal with it because it costs a lot of coin and takes a lot of people. The kingdom, or those that rule it, just want their cut… which are called taxes. That is where the Adventurer's Society comes in. We manage all of that and provide records to the Kingdom.

The only parts we don't manage directly are the nobility's access to the Dungeon. That is done through the Kingdom's side of things, as no noble wants to have to answer to a commoner.

"For example, let's say a merchant submits a request to set up a bamboo logging operation on the first floor of the Echoing Depths Dungeon. They would negotiate for a spot with the Adventurer's Society. All Dungeons are dangerous, so they would need people to protect their workers. The Adventurer's Society would assess the request based on the allowable resources that can be extracted as agreed with the Kingdom, then put up job postings for the Guilds for guards.

If everything got approved, we would log who entered the Dungeon and when, and upon exit, track how much bamboo they extracted and any other details around the task. We would collect the taxes, which would be in bamboo or coin from the merchants, and make sure the Guild was paid for their time. Then we would submit those records and the payment to the kingdom."

"Sounds like lots of paperwork," I grumbled.

"It is," agreed my mother.

"Which is why the Adventurer's Society has such an important role. All Guilds pay a small amount of dues for the use of Outposts, while the various kingdoms that utilise us also pay for various tasks to be seen to outside of the Dungeons."

"Like Rifts," I added.

"Like Rifts," Mum agreed.

"Or beast migrations. Or like with the raids from the orcs in Eastern Ajinar where they're paying for warriors to protect the villages. It makes their lives a lot easier if they can just go to one organisation to get what they need, which I suppose is why they tolerate us. That, and history has taught them the alternatives are far worse. Still, politics change all the time and you never know when a new ruler might decide to change the agreement with the Adventurer's Society."

"You know a lot about this," I said with a winning smile.

"Well, you asked what I studied at Songleaf. This is it. History, politics, and bureaucracy. I had planned to be an administrator for the Adventurer's Society."

"Isn't that what you are?"

"Not really. More like a secretary for your grandfather and even that doesn't take much time. Our home is about as far as you can get from anything that requires much administration." I hummed.

"How do you progress your Class Path then?"

"Slowly, my beautiful boy. Very slowly."

"Should we go somewhere else then? Somewhere you can progress?" I asked with worry in my voice. I didn't like that my mother's progress was stalled and I knew from his complaints that Gramps was as well.

"We could but there wouldn't be much point. If we left, we might be able to get a placement somewhere in Ajinar but by the time we moved there, you would be six. The Adventurer's Society would drag their feet. If we left without getting a transfer approved we would have to find new work. That might help with your grandpa but we would only get a year or so before we had to leave again for Helenica, assuming you still want to attend Songleaf.

Most people wouldn't hire someone for a decent job if they were going to leave again so soon."

"Couldn't we go straight to Helenica then, instead of somewhere in Ajinar?"

"No," answered my mother, before lowering her voice.

"Your grandfather's exile won't end for another two years and we can't return before then." I lowered my head in thought, wondering just what Gramps had done to warrant exile.