Chapter 12

The following day Naro went to talk to Venilis early in the day, trying to catch him before he opened for the day. While the old man’s stall was already open, no others were since the Bazaar wasn’t open yet, this meant no customers making it easy to be ‘first in line’ when he approached.

The elf promptly pat his shoulder grinning at him glad that he was still around, a day gone missing in Uliaz could mean that person has no tomorrow anymore.

Naro immediately filled in what blanks he could from being missing, glad to have his talking companion again. While he tried to leave out the parts about possibly being related to Shadow Mages, Uliaz’s wrinkles weren’t for show and Naro ultimately had to share it with him.

“Hm…” Venilis said rubbing his beard. “That is a conundrum…”

A short chuckle escaped from man causing Naro’s head to tilt.

“You are in quite the predicament, but I’m still glad you awakened to magic, that increases your options.”

“You’re…not going to start avoiding me.”

“I imagine most people would…but I’ve been around for a few centuries at this point I understand that not all Shadow Mages are bad people, at least compared to the Shade Empress, her presence eclipses any old mage.”

“You met Kasia?”

Venilis shook his head.

“I’d be a dead man if I had, no I saw her handiwork.”

The old man’s brows wrinkled further as he recalled the memory, Venilis stories would sometimes on for a while, especially about his travels, but this one he purposefully kept short.

“I was blessed by a Deity of Light once, not a powerful one, but a Deity nonetheless. We were on good terms, they knew my bloodline. They informed me Kasia was nearby and they were going to deal with her.”

The old man closed his eyes, his fingers curling into fists.

“I had ignored their warning and gone to the place they told me to avoid when suddenly I lost my blessing. I traced our fading connection and found their corpse thrown to the side of the road like a common animal…I made it just in time to watch their form dissipate into light. There was nothing but shadow around them, and I could feel her malice in the air.”

Venilis opened his eyes, mentioning he made a grave for them later before continuing on his journey, though he never pursued another blessing again.

“The Shade Empress slays even her own kind, Naro you should avoid mentioning any involvement you have with her. I trust you because I’ve had time to interact with you, but even I would have avoided you had I known that before.”

His warning didn’t stop there, unlike mortals deities were far better at sensing Mana, and they could feel connections much better than they could. They would be able to sense the Shadow in him, whether or they could sense Kasia was another matter. However if he had a connection to Kasia, then he would have a connection to the Shadow.

“Only a Shadow Mage would bless you if you wanted to increase your power…and those of the Shadow always incur large costs for their gifts.”

Naro fell silent staring at the sand under his feet, at first having Magic brought him joy, it’s one of the things he wanted, if not the biggest thing, but having it now brought him countless enemies.

“That being said…you should go the guild and get registered as an Adventurer."

“Huh?” Naro said looking up.

“Most guilds would have some opinions about a Shadow Mage…but Uliaz’s guild is desperate so they’ll be a bit more open minded. Your magic also isn’t put on your guild card just that you're a mage.”

“...you really think they’ll just accept me?”

“Beso is the only mage around, most adventurers pass through and the few that are still here are just swordsmen who do the bare minimum to get by. I assure you they’ll accept you.”

Venilis started digging inside his stall, mumbling to himself before a small ‘ah’ escaped from him.

“If you are going to go…then you should show up properly.”

Venilis held what seemed to be a pile of clothes towards Naro.

“This is an old outfit from my own adventuring days. I didn’t wear it too often and washed it often since it was good for meeting clients. It’ll be enough to get you started, a fresh start, till you can get a blessed or armored outfit with your future pay.”

Naro slowly raised his hands and with some hesitation took hold of the clothes, the softness of it caught him off guard, even with his limited knowledge it was obvious these clothes were high quality. His words caught in his throat, his lips quivering slightly before he found his words.

“You’re really giving this to me?”

“Of course, it is a hand me down which I hope you don’t mind. ”

“I don’t mind at all,” Naro said smiling at the kind elf. “Thank you Venilis.”

Ava had lost track how many times she had seen this scene, standing at the guild counter, a few ‘adventurer’s’ sitting nearby, drinking their free drink for the day. Every morning it was the same, sometimes they would take a quest, sometimes they would stand up and leave. Some would bring cores in from the monsters in the forest, but not from the requests, just for a bit of pocket change.

Drumming her fingers on the counter she anticipated another letter from her boss, complaining about something she couldn’t change. A long sigh escaped from her, and just as she was about to consider taking a ‘break’, the doors to the guild opened.

A young man walked into the room, from his clothes he seemed like one of the citizens in town. Looking closer however she noticed that his outfit was actually finer than expected, the greyish tunic with white sleeves, while simple was made with fine materials, a pair of clean black trousers accompained by brown long boots. It wasn’t flashy so the stranger wasn’t a noble, but it was fine enough to last wear and tear, yet simple enough to easily replace, which meant this person was a traveler.

Realizing this Ava actually sat up straight and put on her receptionist smile, being at this job for this long she understood the needs to make a good first impression to those passing through, with luck she may be able to talk them into taking a request if they were an actual adventurer, that would make the future conversation with her boss less of a bother.

“Welcome to the Uliaz Adventurer’s Guild. How may I help you today?”

“Oh it’s me, I’m back to become an adventurer.”

Ava’s brows furrowed a bit, her eyes moving over the young man in front of her, she didn’t recognize him, thus all she could offer was a shake of her head and her honesty.

“I’m afraid I don’t know you sir. Are you sure you came to his guild?”

“Ah I did…I was that guy from before. The one who was a risk.”

Ava stared at him for a short moment, her eyes narrowing before they widened as Naro’s previous state echoed in her mind.

“You’re…that Vagrant form before…well you clean up well but clean clothes doesn’t get rid of the risk that you are.”

For a moment Ava had hope, she almost slunk back into her seat when Naro raised his hand up.

“Actually I can use magic.”

Purple energy surrounded Naro’s hand and Ava seeing it stumbled backwards, almost falling over her chair.

The few adventurer’s in the area, conscious ones also stood up fro their seat, some drawing their weapons others eying the door.

In one moment every person’s attention was on Naro and he could feel the animosity and fear of the people around him, he remind still his magic flaring as he was surrounded.