Lindroot

Kai followed the river upstream, keeping a few paces distance away from the water to avoid further attacks from waterleapers or any other creature that may lie beneath its surface. He rested his palm upon the pommel of his shortsword as he walked along.

“The hunters said that Lindroot was only about a league away, whatever that means.”

As Kai mumbled to himself, he suddenly came a random realization.

How could they communicate? Kai recalled being unable to read most of the texts in the cellar he was summoned to, barring the letter, so it should track that he would face a language barrier with the locals here. Not to mention, though Kai was unfamiliar with this world’s geography, he imagined that there would likely be multiple countries, if not nation-states, with their own cultures and thus, languages. Well, it was not as though Kai was a scholar or anything, so he figured that he would just have to piece the puzzle as he went.

Putting those thoughts aside for the moment, Kai noticed the trees around him thinning out. He stepped away from the river to inspect his surroundings when Lindroot came into view in the distance. It was a sizable city, at least from what Kai could gauge from where he was. It was built adjacent to a small lake in a misshapen oblong form, encircled with sandy stone walls. The stream Kai was following flowed out from the lake, and he could see a couple of other rivers connecting to it. Most of all, the massive tree towering above the town could not be understated. It was just gigantic, to the point that Kai could almost see the town as a miniature model set up around a tree trunk.

With newfound energy bubbling up within him at the sight of his destination, Kai’s pace quickened as he made his way towards Lindroot. He continued walking alongside the river until he drew nearer to the city gates, where he came upon a small line of waiting entrants.

The person in front of him had black horns poking through his brown hair and a red tail that swept side-to-side in a steady rhythm.

Another “kin,” Kai presumed. Although, he was not sure what the other three kin were, as he did not want to push his luck and make the hunters even more suspicious of him.

Ignoring that query for the moment, Kai got the person’s attention and started speaking with him.

“Sorry, is this the line to get into the city?”

“Hm? Yeah, shouldn’t take too long, though that merchant ahead of us has all those goods to inspect, so that might take some time.”

“Um, this is my first time coming to Lindroot. What’s the procedure like for entering?”

“Oh? Your first time, huh? Well, in that case, you’ll need to let the gatekeeper know about that, he’ll run you through the steps. It’s been a while since I first came here, so I don’t quite remember how it went.”

“I see… Got it. Thank you.”

“You looking to become a purveyor?”

“Oh… y-yeah, maybe. I didn’t really come with a clear plan, haha…”

“Huh. Well, either way, it wouldn’t hurt to check out the Purveyor’s Guild then. They can send you on your merry way if becoming a purveyor isn’t up your alley. Oh, you can call me Melphorm, by the way.”

“Oh right, haven’t introduced myself. I’m Kai. Thanks for the advice.”

“You’re very welcome. Oh, looks like it’s my turn. Hm, if you want, we could go together. I’m heading to the guild anyway.”

“You’d do that?”

With a nod, Melphorm gestured for Kai to follow along. The two walked up to the gatekeeper, who greeted Melphorm like a familiar friend. He glanced at Kai and before he could ask who he was, Melphorm gave the gatekeeper the rundown on Kai’s situation.

After the gatekeeper was brought up to speed, he beckoned Kai to follow him into a room near the gate. Kai was brought into a rectangular room with a small table and two chairs on either end. Atop the table was a violet crystal ball not unlike one belonging to a fortune teller. It pulsed with a faint light that shimmered through the foggy glass.

“Alrighty, put your hand on top of that for a few seconds.”

Kai complied and wrapped his palm around the orb. A moment later, the orb emitted a pale blue shine. The gatekeeper handed Kai two blank slates, telling him to get a bit of his saliva on both. Complying, Kai drooled a bit onto each plate. After a moment, the slates absorbed his saliva as symbols appeared on the white surfaces. Kai was not sure what exactly they represented, since he could not read the script. The gatekeeper took a slate for himself and told Kai to make sure not to lose it before letting him leave. Wondering what that was all about, Kai met up with Melphorm who was waiting on the other side of the gate.

“Oh, that? It’s just a magic tool to detect whether you’ve committed a crime here before. That slab you got from him is another magic tool used for identification. It also keeps a log of any crimes you’ve committed and the amount of lind you have. Best of all, you can use that slab in place of hard lind, so you don’t need to lug all those coins around.”

“I see… that’s handy.”

So, it’s like an ID and debit card combined then? At least, if this lind thing is what the currency’s called here.

Learning the importance of the slate, Kai pocketed it away.

Melphorm led the way to the Purveyor’s Guild, which he explained had a north and south branch. The two were heading for the south branch, which generally saw more traffic compared to its northern counterpart. As Kai followed behind Melphorm, he took in the sights of the city.

The labyrinth city was bustling with people shambling about, making purchases at street stalls and hauling goods around. Children were gathered by the plaza fountain, playfully chasing after each other, not afraid to get their toes wet in pursuit. Overlooking the town was a small plateau crowned with a verdant fuzz and a decrepit watchtower. As if to shade the massive tree root at the bottom from the sun, the scarp curved over it gently. A modest, yet lofty stone castle stood beside the tree root. Blue banners paled from sunlight adorned the otherwise dull gray-brown building. One would think the building held some significance, yet the makeshift campsites littered around the structure suggested otherwise.

And of course, the massive tree itself was some distance away from all of that. The Tree of Sigdra, as Kai recalled from Etrim’s letter. Unlike the lavender trees in the surrounding area, this tree had green foliage, which was a familiar sight for Kai, though the same could not be said for its gargantuan size. The tree itself was at least thrice as wide as the castle nearby it, but that was still probably underselling it.

“Here we are, the Purveyor’s Guild.”

Kai turned back to Melphorm, who stuck his thumb out towards the building in front of them. The signpost above its doors drew Kai’s gaze. There, a pickaxe and shovel were engraved, crossed like you might find crossbones on a jolly roger.

“Well, I’ll bring you to the front desk and they can take it from there.”

Kai nodded and followed Melphorm in as he pushed open the creaky wooden double doors.