Waiting it was finally it was my turn. The man who handed out the food wasn't what I thought a monk or a priest would look like. He was wearing a grey robe with a reddish sash tightly bound around his waist, and you could see that he was fit, which I thought would be weird for a monk to be. "Hello there," he clasped his hands together and slightly bowed.
"Did you bring a bowl?"
"Sorry, didn't know I had to bring one."
"No worries. Of course, we have spare bowls for anyone who doesn't have his own," he poured some porridge into one of them and handed it to me.
"Smells great."
"Here have some milk too. I can see that you are not of age and still have some growing to do," he also handed me a mug.
I sat down on the low wall next to the stairs leading to the church.
"I'm Brother Nidle. I don't recognize your face. Are you new here? Are you a relative of someone here? It's such a pity that someone as young as you has to come here."
It would have been too much of a hassle to tell him what really happened. People still didn't know about the attack, and the old driver said that he would tell the guards so I'll just tell him something.
I thought about it then swallowed the bread, I began telling him in the most genuine tone I could muster, "I tell you, brother. It was the most horrible thing in my life. My father, of the House of Kolja, who was a knight turned king by the right of marrying my mother who was the princess of Foy and powerful sorceress and me were in our carriage on our way to the capital when we were suddenly ambushed by at least fifty bandits and a hundred monsters. They sadly perished in the attack but only after decimating the hordes of evil that stood in their way."
I made a gesture of punching an invisible monster in front of me.
"That was three months ago, and I have survived on my own in the wild as my ancestors did."
He gave me a smirk and a slight nod of the head, "I see, oh Prince of the Kingdom of Foy. Would you need anything else?"
"Could you answer a few of my questions?"
"Sure."
"The first one may seem weird."
"Don't worry."
"Why are you so muscular? I thought monks spent all their time praying and doing other religious stuff? The priest in my village was, you know," I gestured to my stomach, "kind of fat."
"Thank you for noticing," he flexes his arm. "And you said village? I thought you were a prince. Would you not live in the most luxurious castle in a big city?"
"Don't worry about it, maybe I tell you about it later."
"I'm always here to talk." He sat down next to me, "to answer that question I'd like to know how much you know about religion first."
"I know about the gods and that they created the world as we know it, yadda yadda yadda, there are enough songs about it."
He suppressed a chuckle, "I see, prince, that you must have had the highest education to know that. Okay, let's see. Where to begin? Thousands of years ago a major prophet, Haydant, foretold shortly before his death that monsters and magical creatures will one day be the downfall of humans."
"And the begin buff part comes in where?" I interrupted him.
"I'm getting to that. Because of this we," he gestured at the church, "decided that we, monks and priests, should defend humanity. So we train with weapons, harden our bodies and pray to Yule to give us strength."
"So you guys just wait for the apocalypse to happen?"
"If you want to phrase it like that."
"Doesn't the King or the Nobles of this city fear the church because you basically have an army of devoted, able men and woman, I guess?" he shook his head. "Okay, devoted able MEN who are trained to fight?"
"No, no. They know that when you join the church you have to take an oath that you would never, ever kill another human, even under the most dire of circumstance."
After finishing eating I stood up and started to stretch.
"Hey Nidle," I could clearly see that he disliked that I talked to him so casually, "Brother Nidle," I corrected myself, "what do you know about the Adventurers Guild?"
"I know that they train people to complete requests that the guild receives."
"Have you ever interacted with some of the people that they train?"
"Once, when I was just an initiate at the church."
"Can you give me a quick rundown of what happened?"
"One of them turned up one day and requests to duel against some of us. It wasn't anything official."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Maybe he wanted to test his fighting skill? There isn't anyone else he can fight except other members of the Guild and maybe they aren't allowed to fight each other?"
"That doesn't sound right. Can't he just ask the guild if he can have a mock battle against another member?" He shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you. You could ask a member if you find one. Back to the topic. I wasn't allowed to fight and even if I did I wouldn't have won. He pretty much beat everyone except the head priest."
"Was he really that good?" Doubting what he told me.
"Yeah. Afterward, I heard that he had only just completed the training and graduated to an official member."
"Their training must be really tough if he can beat all of you. How did he even persuade you to fight him? Shouldn't fighting another human be looked down upon?"
"Well, I thought so too but then I found out that he would give a more than generous donation to the church if he was allowed to fight."
Seems even the church is buyable, no surprise there.
"Can you tell me where the next guild is?"
"Sure, we're here at the moment," he used his palm as a map.
"It's almost at the complete opposite side of the city from where we are now."
He was giving me precise direction while swiveling his finger over his palm. When you see this turn right for this long and you see this you've gone too far. Blah, blah, blah, "I get it, no need to baby me this much."
"If you're lost then don't be afraid to ask the city guards for directions," I looked at him with raised eyebrows and he seemed to understand at once. "Right, just be careful."
"I know, I know. On I go then. Thanks, Brother Nidle."
"No problem."
I made my way through the city. There were things I was interested in but at the moment I was too focused on finding the Guild first. I was following Nidle's direction, but I didn't need to ask anyone for directions because at once it was obvious where it was. People in armor and who were wielding weapons hung out outside of it, drinking, eating, and chatting.
Just to make sure I asked one of them, "Is this THE Adventurers Guild?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Of course it was.
When I entered the tavern, it felt like a different world. One where everyone could do anything, where everyone fights, drinks and enjoys life to the fullest each day because they could just die the next, except for me. I had no armor, no expertise in any kind of weapon. I wasn't like them. I couldn't lift a man like he weighed nothing with one hand or hit a bullseye on a target hundred paces away. I couldn't even swear like them, not yet at least. I felt out of place, but I wanted to join their world. Something like this is exactly what I want, to really live life that freely.
Looking around I saw an older man on a counter who I thought looked like an Innkeeper.
Approaching him, I leaned against it raising a finger and saying in a nonchalant manner, "One membership, please."
"Aren't you too young to join the guild?"
I gave him an insulted look, "what? Nonsense! I'm actually much older than I look."
"Fine. Got any notable skills?"
"I can hold my breath for ten minutes!"
He sighed, tired he asked, "Anything more... fighting related?"
"As I have trained under the best teachers the world has to offer I have mastered spear, sword, bow, and hand-to-hand combat."
"And where are the weapons you use?"
"Sadly, I lost all of them during many of the skirmishes I take part in."
His patience must have run out, "Listen, kid. I had enough of this. You can come back if you have a weapon. A real weapon. If you come back here with a stick or something I will throw you out personally, you understand?"