Arda-randir

After Mr. Wolf whispered a few words into Alana’s ear, she was shocked of who it was she was talking to. Never had she ever imagined hearing those words from a person outside her people: “Nán Arda-randir” - I am a World Traveller.

It’s true that she had heard many people saying extraordinary things about themselves, claiming they were “summoned heroes” and that “they came from another world”. But they all had a sense of self-entitlement that quickly proved to be nothing but lies and over-inflated egos talking. Some had even gone so far as to try and impress her with their knowledge of the Elven language, which, as usual, only showed that they had picked up the most vulgar examples used by those considered of the lowest education within the elves.

But when this stranger came up to her and whispered those words using the Ancient Elven language used by the elven royalty perfectly, she knew he wasn’t lying. When she was younger, her parents had told her stories of the Arda-randir, their exploits and their close relation towards elven society, therefore, they would more than likely learn the Ancient Elven language to identify themselves towards her kin. It would be impossible for a human to learn such a language without having the blessing of members of the elven royalty. The only possible reason why he could speak it so easily was because he was exactly what he claimed to be: “Arda-randir - A World Traveler.” Those mythical beings that travel through parallel worlds and universes under the guidance of the Divines to perform an important task. And she had met one!

It had been spoken in old traditions that World Travelers were powerful beings of immeasurable power, the highest forms of intelligence and capable of leading armies against the forces of darkness. She was somewhat hesitant to believe him at first given that he didn’t have the look of what she might’ve considered a World Traveler, but she had a feeling that this man had no need to lie about something like this.

While she guided the World Traveler to the Guild Master, she studied him a bit to confirm what she already knew to be the truth: He didn’t look like any kind of World Traveler that she'd ever hear of, his equipment was outlandish to say the least, his weapons looks like improved versions of this world’s firearms, he also had a more rugged and experienced look than any other adventurer she’d ever read about - not even a Rank A adventurer could help to match this man’s aura. When they reached the door of the Guild Master’s office, Alana knocked on the door and waited. A muffled “Come in…” was heard from the other side and Alana opened the door for Mr. Wolf to walk through.

The Guild Master, an ex-Rank S adventurer, who had met two World Travelers in the past looked at Wolf. The wily old man studied the Bounty Hunter who walked to the center of the room while the Guild Master sat at his desk.

“That’ll be all, Alana.” The Guild Master waved Alana off, but the Bounty Hunter interrupted Alana from leaving.

“No. She stays here. She knows what I am, so she needs to know the importance of discretion, if you don’t mind, Guild Master.” The Bounty Hunter spoke with a commanding voice, like he was the Master instead of the old man.

“You’ve got a bloody cheek, Outlander. You think you can just come into my guild and demand things from me like I’m some young pup?” The old man stood up clearly feeling offended by the Bounty Hunter’s words. Alana suddenly felt nervous watching the interaction between these two men. To her surprise, Mr. Wolf simply smirked and took a drag from his cigarette.

“Matter of fact I do, boy. If you want to compare lifespans, you better sit down or you’ll get a heart attack. Me? I don’t get heart attacks, I give ‘em.” Alana was horrified by the sudden rise of the tones of voices between these men. She wasn’t sure if she should go or stay… uncertain of who’s command to follow. The Bounty Hunter approached the Guild Master while the old man did the same. They stood face to face for a moment as if ready to challenge the other to fight.

After a very tense minute of staring, the Guild Master and the World Traveler suddenly laughed loudly and shook each other’s hand in proper greeting.

“Seems we finally got an Outlander with balls, for a change! The last two I met were pretty-boys who couldn’t even shave! Now we have someone special! Alana! Stay your cute butt here for a while, me and the Outlander need to talk about some important stuff and you’re gonna participate. So keep note of what we’re saying, but don’t tell ANYONE what’s been discussed. This is a matter of national secrecy, you understand? Alana?”

The Guild Master checked over Richard’s shoulder and noticed that Alana had half-fainted after that tense interaction between the two. After she recomposed herself, and the Guild Master explained again that she would have to be discreet about this conversation, the World Traveler, the Receptionist and the Guild Master sat down to have their conversation.

“Alana tells me your name is Richard Wolf, right Outlander?” The Bounty Hunter nodded at the Guild Master. “I’m the Guild Master of this city, my name’s Brando. So what can I do for you, Wolf?”

The Bounty Hunter took off his hat and seemed to relax a bit while he took out a notepad and stylus, then he seemed to tap something on his right ear which made some sort of magic circle appear on it. “I need a couple of things, Guild Master, and while some of them are pretty standard stuff, others may be unconventional. First, I need information about this world: main countries, main cities, head honchos, Guild branches, a Bestiary and, more importantly, if there is a common territory where the demon race operates. My job, as it is with other World Travelers, is to defeat the Demon Lord. But my ‘benefactor’ wasn’t sure when this beasty might appear, so I need to gather information about all possible complications.”

The Guild Master nodded at the first request telling Alana to be sure to get Mr. Wolf some books, maps and the last bits of news regarding the countries of the world and demonic sightings.

“Second, I’ll be needing a Guild Card, like I’m sure you folks issue to every adventurer, but mine has to be modified.” The Guild Master and Alana were a bit confused by this request. It was the elven receptionist that spoke up.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why would you need it to be modified? Our usual methods would be to use a divination crystal to gather information from every adventurer such as class, race, age, rank, etc.. Why would you ask for such a thing?” Alana stood up for a moment, went over to a cabinet within the office and took out one of those crystals. “If you don’t mind, we could check your status right now.”

The Guild Master crossed his arms and frowned a bit. “There must be a good reason for that, is that what you’re saying, Wolf?”

“Alright, missy… keep an eye on my results and then you tell me what’s wrong with it. Then you’ll know.” Richard rubbed his hands together for a second and reached out with his right hand towards the crystal.

Alana was expecting something extraordinary to happen when the World Traveler placed his hand on the crystal. She’d heard of stories of World Travelers who had shattered crystals due to their enormous powers which earned them much renown with the Guild. But when Mr. Wolf placed his hand over the crystal, it didn’t really glow all that intensely nor did it rumble or explode as she might’ve expected. She was somewhat disappointed by this lack of exciting revelations until she noticed the information that was being provided:

“Let’s see:

- Name: Richard Wolf.

- Class: Bounty Hunter - Rank - SSS (!!!)

- Race: World Traveler - 999 (???)

- Age: 1132 (!!!)

- Specialization: Gunslinger, tracking, hunting, knife fighting, ax fighting, rifleman, sharpshooter, stealth, survival, monster slaying: humanoids - all, demons - all, beasts: all, magical beasts - all, dragons - all, celestials - fallen angels….”

As Alana was reading the extensive list of Mr. Wolf’s abilities and skills, she became surprised that one human could learn to do so many things! But the one thing that struck her as astonishing was his age - 1132 years of age? But he looked human to her! No human lived for more than 60 or 80 years at most! How could he be that old!? He was even older than the elders of her elven tribe and they were at most 600 years old!

“H-How is that even possible!? Yo-you’re WAY older than most creatures alive in this world!” Alana was still looking at the results of the reading from Mr. Wolf. Were all World Travelers this odd?

“Well I had to live that long in order to complete my bounties, miss Alana. When you’ve traveled to so many worlds like I have, you gotta stay in shape and in your prime in order to perform.” Richard smirked while the Guild Master watched the results with some reservation and concern.

“Outlander… are you saying that you’re immortal?” The Guild Master looked at him with a sharp gaze while Alana turned to look at him with curiosity. To their surprise, Richard seemed to grimace at the revelation and nodded with regret.

“It ain’t something to boast about, I can tell you that…” Wolf took out another cigarette, lit it and took a long drag from it. Alana was dumbfounded at this revelation which made her turn to look at the Guild Master who looked concerned.

“You’ve seen more than any other World Traveler ought to have seen, haven’t you, Wolf?” The Guild Master could tell that the Outlander didn’t like the idea of being immortal, but he soldiered on, nonetheless. “I’m starting to see why you’d want your Guild Card to be hand-made rather than the generic stuff we give to the others. If word got out you’re immortal, you’d become a wanted target for mages or nobles.”

Alana started to realize now why the World Traveler had only told her what he was in order to ensure his secret was kept safe. He’d placed a lot of trust in her… “Umm… Mr. Wolf, I wanted to ask you something about these results. It says, ‘World Traveler - 999’. Do you know what that means?”

It was the Guild Master who answered: “That’s the amount of worlds he’s traveled to, Alana.”

“Oh! I see…” The sudden realization of what the Guild Master said made her stare at that number again. “999 WORLDS!?” When she stared back at Mr. Wolf, she saw that he smirked and seemed way too nonchalant about those numbers.

“I’ve been around, you know?” The Bounty Hunter laughed softly while Alana was about to pass out from so many surprises. The Guild Master laughed as well at the odd scene before him.