Quaentir, The City of Beginnings

They step on this open grass field, with a cool breeze blowing. They see a paved path ahead, it looks extremely well maintained, with horse-drawn carriages making its way to and from the town. Upon closer inspection, the walls are extremely well-maintained, with its wooden roofs without any wear or tear. There seems to also be a guard house at the entrance with a large, sturdy metal gate.

“That right there is Quaentir, pretty mediocre town honestly,” said Keith.

The group makes their way on to the path and follows it right on the path, Liam notices a sign for the opposite way, but he can’t read it. To him it looks as though the letters are a mix of Japanese, Korean and a bit of Ancient Greek all mixed into their alphabetical system, or so it seems. Although, Liam curious as to what the sign says, is too afraid to ask.

They reach the entrance of the town, it’s called a town but the tall, imposing gate makes them think otherwise. There are two guards at the entrance, checking something using purple orbs. They get into the line following what Keith and his party is doing.

“What’s that over that?” asked Ingrid.

“That’s a Soul Meter,” replied Hilde, “it’s basically a background check on any form of crime.”

“Wait, why is it called a Soul Meter?” asked Aaron.

“It supposedly ‘measures your soul’, but seems like a whole load of crap to me,” replied Hilde, sounding annoyed.

“Well you never know if it actually does that,” said Lucile.

“Anywayyyy,” said Hilde, “just touch the orb and it’ll do the rest.”

Following the line, they finally make it do the front, they see Keith’s party do their check. It looks like an immigration gate by the way the guards handle the procedure. Keith touches the orb and it glows green, they give him a signal and he walks through the gate into the town. Lucile and Hilde does the same. Aaron then goes up first, puts his hand on the orb, it feels like something is getting sucked out of him and shoved right back in, then the orb glows green. Arisa goes up to the orb and it glows green, followed by Liam then finally Ingrid. They all make their way into the town.

“I wonder if there are any other colours?” asks Aaron.

As soon as he says that, he hears shouting behind them. They turn around to see the orb turn red and a young man with blonde hair trying to run away. A guard takes his spear and stabs in through the man’s leg. The man cries in pain as the other guard ties up his hands and takes him away.

“Well that answers that I guess,” said Arisa.

“That looked. . . painful,” said Liam, with fear sent shivering down his spine.

Instead of continuing to watch the gruesome scene, they instead turn their sights to the beauty of the town. The buildings look as though they were made in Middle Ages Germany, the buildings are not too large but the city layout is compact with very little room for alleys in between. It’s a surprisingly busy town, contrary to what Keith said. The roads are made using what looks to be black bricks and the side paths have lamp posts with magic crystals inside instead of a lamp. The whole city looks to be a mix of Victorian era city planning with German architecture, and it works quite well.

A cart suddenly passes by them, full of creatures, ranging from what looks to be chickens with horns to red raptors. Looks as though the creatures are going to be put up for sale, seeing as there are collars around their necks. Keith then calls them over.

“Hey guys,” said Keith, “Do you guys need help? You all look very awestruck.”

“Uh, we need a job don’t we? We don’t have any money do we?” said Liam.

“Yeah, hey Keith do you know what’s a good job?” asked Arisa.

“Hmm, being adventurers might work,” replied Keith. Liam perks up in excitement hearing this.

“What do they even do?” asked Aaron.

“You would usually take commissions from other people, like killing beasts or gathering herbs,” said Keith.

“That sounds. . . rather dangerous,” said Ingrid.

“People do what they have to do, like me, I don’t have any skills other than murder, and being an official soldier for army doesn’t seem like my kind of thing,” replied Keith.

“Maybe your just not patriotic enough,” sarcastically said Hilde.

Lucile and Hilde walk up to them, with bags in both hands. It seems like the both of them went shopping.

“You guys want to go to the Guild?” said Lucile.

“Uh, sure?” replied Aaron.

So they take them to the Adventurer’s Guild. There is a sign at the front with a coat of arms, it being a patterned escutcheon with a ‘fluer de lis’ on it, all in gold with the background in navy blue, and a sword that cuts behind the emblem. The building itself is like any other building, with a dark coloured wood for its beams and pillars. It has a grey brick base that transitions to white walls. The guild is also placed along the main street, right across it is a shop, that has a sign that reads ‘The Edyuor Merchantile Association’. As they are about to enter, a man comes flying out of the door as though he had been flung. They then heard a voice from the inside.

“AND STAY OUT!” shouted a woman.

Keith lets out a long sigh, “Not again. . .” he said.

“This doesn’t happen as often as you think,” said Hilde, with Lucile trying to help the injured man up and healing his wounds with magic.

They walked into the guild. It’s beautifully designed, somewhat akin to an Irish pub in terms of materials. There are a lot of people in the guild, as to be expected. The interior is made using a dark tone of wood contrasting the white walls. The tables and chairs look as though they were made for a bar. There also is a counter at the back, and above that, a veranda that looks to lead to another room.

There is also a lady at the counter. She looks rather young, with her silky blond hair and emerald green eyes. She waves at Keith as he walks towards the counter. He seems to be quite popular in the guild, considering the envious stares of all the onlookers. He walks up to the counter, all with the confidence a veteran would have. It seemed as though he has been here hundreds of times.

“Oh, Keith! Are you report your quest?” asked the woman at the counter.

“Yep, done. The pay was 30 gold, correct?” he replied, eager to leave the establishment.

She nods her head and heads to a room at the back. The group hears the faint sounds of coins dropping on to a piece of wood. The woman comes out with a bag of gold that seems to be made out of jute. A distinct clink sounds throughout the room as the bag hits the counter at full force

“30 gold. As promised,” she said with an almost menacing smile, and shifting her eyes towards the group, she said, “And who might you be?”

“Uhhh,” nervously stuttered Liam.

“New members,” promptly said Keith, butting-in before it gets too awkward.

“Alright then,” she said, “Follow me please”. She takes them to a room in the back, through a corridor on the left of the building. They stop at a room with an intricately carved door with the writing ‘Test Room’ written on it. Seeing this makes the group nervous as to what the ‘test’ might be, but Liam whispers to Arisa what the writing on the door said, as though he couldn’t read the writing. Arisa tells him what it is with a concerned tone as Liam seems to be illiterate for some odd reason.

They head inside to find themselves in a forest. Looking at the group being confused, the receptionist explained that they are in an illusionary zone, where all injuries and the like are not permanent, however they can still feel the pain. She explains to them further that the test is purely testing their combat prowess.

“You’re going to be fighting a ‘red wolf’, E-class monster on its own. However, it usually is in a pack of three to five, bringing it up to a D-class threat,” she said, “You’ll be fighting two of them for this test.”

Two wolves come out from the forest, charging right at them. The group panic while also being confused why the receptionist, who is just standing there, is so calm. The wolves launch at them, Aaron who is right in front got targeted. He put up a guard as a sword miraculously appears in his hands. The sword looks like a kendo sword, beautifully and masterfully forged with a black blade and a gold finish. It also has a black leather handle with empty slots carved into it. The guard is also ornately made, with gems indented and a silver coating. Aaron then somehow instinctively block the first wolves strike, and then the second, as though he has been trained before. However, Aaron has not done a single class on kendo in his life, let alone a martial art.

Ingrid who sees the wolves staggered by Aaron, charges at them with full force on instinct, inspired by Aaron’s courage. She a shield and hammer appears in each of her hands, the former in her right and latter in her left. The shield and hammer look angelic as both seem to be made of silver with a gold finish around the edges.

She shouts at them, garnering their attention. One of the wolves leaps at her. She parries the bite with her shield. An arrow of light suddenly appears from behind her, impaling the wolf. Ingrid turns around to see Arisa holding a wand in her hand, with a bracelet of magical runes on her wrist. One wolf down, one more to go. The remaining wolf pounces on Aaron, wounding his left cheek. He takes his blade to slice the wolf when an arrow flies over his shoulder, piercing the side of the wolf. Aaron then follows up by connecting his initial strike on the wolf, slaying it.

An applaud comes from the receptionist right after, congratulating them on their first victory. The group then takes a good look at Liam, who is holding a bow. The bow seems to be in the style of a traditional Hungarian recurve bow, but instead of being fully made of wood, the center is made of steel with lines of rose gold spiraling on the bow, creating a gorgeous pattern all adjoining at the grip. The bow however did not come with arrows. Liam explains that when he pulled the bow, an arrow just appeared from thin air.

“Those are what we called ‘spirit weapons’,” said the receptionist, “All people own a form of weapon, it’s all based on your soul. Usually you would need to practice channeling it before you can even conjure it, but somehow you people did it on the first try”. She then leads the group back out to the counter, goes to the same room behind where she first took out the coins. As she leads the group out of the room, Aaron does notice that the wound on his cheek has fully disappeared, as though it never happened. She then comes out with a purple crystal, carved to the shape of a diamond, with a cyan pillow below it, and places it on the table.

“Place your hand on it please, one by one,” she said.

Aaron goes first, the crystal glows and a card appears on it. Aaron takes the card and walks back and lets the next person go up, which in this case was surprisingly Liam. Then he does the same, then Ingrid and finally Arisa.

“These are your registration card, there is a fine for losing it so be careful,” said the receptionist, “You also need to bring these here when you take on quests.”

“Quests?” questioned Arisa.

“Missions on that board over there,” said the receptionist, pointing towards the board on her left, “You are not allowed to remove the quests on the board. So you have to come to the counter and declare what quest you take on and come back when you report completion.”

“Is there a penalty for retreating or leaving a quest?” asked Liam.

“Depends on the quest,” the receptionist answered, “Abandoning a client in an escort mission will have a hefty find, and abandoning a party on a joint mission may revoke your membership but nothing too bad will happen if you don’t complete a material collection quest.”

“Alright, also one more question, is there an inn you recommend?” said Ingrid.

“There’s one down the road on the right, Eagle’s Roost,” she replied, “Well my name is Elizabeth and I’m the receptionist of the Quaentir Adventurer’s Guild, pleasure to be working with you all.”

“The pleasure is ours,” replied Arisa. Elizabeth also slides a small pouch of coins on the counter, gesturing for them to take it. They all thank Elizabeth and walk out of the guild. The city was full of people of varying races, ranging from humans to beastfolk, all going about their day in the bustling streets. They follow the receptionist’s instructions and follow the road. Along the way they find themselves in an open-air bazaar.

The market sold many different things, with vendors laying their goods on the path, on top of a mat. There are a variety of goods for sale, such as spices, ores, jewelry and even weapons. Even the vendors do not seem restricted to only a single race. As the walk along the path, they reach a plaza. It was beautifully decorated, with paving masterfully crafted with what seems to be better quality stone compared to the rest of the roads. There was a glorious statue that had seem to be erected as a form of a commemoration in the center, it was a statue of 3 people, one mage, one warrior and one elven archer, as though they were some kind of heroic party, all standing in a form of victory pose, on top of a fountain. Liam too thought that the sight of this was quite cliché, being the avid light novel reader that he was.

The was a girl standing on a wooden crate that has been flipped over. The girl looked to be no more than 14 years old, in white garments and a rather religious looking hat on her head. They party approached the crowd around her, it seemed like she was preaching some religious jargon to the masses.

“Hear ye, hear ye,” she cried, “Reject thou humanly vices and worldly vices, return to thou merciful Lord and Savior, Racso. Let thee bask in his glory and light, and ye too shall be forgiven!”

The party refused to heed to this message from ‘on high’. The just walked past her, following the path. Aaron, feeling as though someone was staring at them, turned around, and to no surprise there was someone watching them. It was a robed man standing near the girl, as an assistant would. He was wearing a black robe with gold accents on it. But as they party walked quite a distance already, Aaron could not make out a single facial feature, thus kept this to himself.

They reach the inn at last. By this point, they had been up for nearly twelve hours and were exhausted. The group stepped inside the inn only known as the Eagle’s Roost. The found themselves to be in a bar which was quite odd, they asked around to find the manager, Nisala, a small, frail woman who looks to be in her 40’s.

“It’s 10 copper for a night and 3 for a meal per person,” said Nisala, after being enquired about the fares by Arisa.

The group agree to pay for a room, so they hand her some money. The bag Elizabeth gave them were full of silver coins, and they were very confused about the conversion rates. Nisala who thought they were from a small hamlet, considering the peculiar clothes they were wearing, explained to them the different coins. She told them the following:

“One royal coin is ten platinum coins,
one platinum coin is one hundred gold coins,
one gold coin is one hundred silver coins,
and lastly, one silver coin is one hundred copper coins.”

Nisala also asked them whether they could do basic arithmetic, and Arisa made up the excuse that the elders in the hamlet made all the kids learn some form of basic arithmetic from a young age, and that the money they got was from their father who recently passed away. Nisala, upon hearing this sad news, allowed them to stay in the room for the night and only had to pay for their meal. They gladly accepted the offer albeit feeling a bit guilty.

They got two rooms, one for the girls and one for the boys, they all go up to their rooms to find it rather nice. It was something akin to a hotel room, with 2 single beds, separated by a side table with an unlit candle. Both rooms are identical with the sole exception of the window placement, it being across the beds for the boys, and above the side table for the girls. The rooms were also surprisingly spacious, with plenty of space to run around, although they were requested not to make too much noise as it would disturb the patrons below.

They all decide it would be a good idea to get a meal before they sleep. The last thing they ate was the standard school lunch, which was truly somewhat mediocre. The meal they were served at the inn was, unsurprisingly, fantasy-like. For the 3 copper, which to them would be equivalent to 3 dollars, they were served a single, small, sundried fist that resembled a mackerel, a bowl of soup that was on par to watery can soup, and a tacky, dry bun. Even though this serving of food, by modern standards is extremely poor and can only be considered as garbage, the party gobbled the food up as though it was the best meal of their life. The party had not eaten a piece of food since they had entered this new land.

As soon as they had finished eating, they went up to their rooms, and immediately fell asleep. It had been a long day for them, full of ups and downs. They were all mostly contented with a slight bit of worry with this new change of pace in their everyday routine. It’s not every day you can experience another world.