Looking around the great capital city was wonderful, buildings towered over you as you walked down the middle of the busy streets. weaving between the people was not an easy task. We walked out towards the nearest inn for a place to stay for a couple of days before we find a source of income. Leading the way was Milda as I followed behind with Nell in hand.
"lets stop here." she said as she opened the door to a tall building. her tail swishing behind her as she pushed her way in.entering the building I realized that it was very similar to the inn we were in before, but only a lot bigger. Instead of having only one side of the building be rooms and one for a bar. This inn had many floors and the base floor being a large restaurant and a very popular local bar. a receptionist desk was in the middle between two large sets of stairs leading to higher floors.
"How can I help you today?" a lady with horns asked Milda. the small woman was wearing a black apron that went along well with her work outfit. her black hair spread all the way down her shoulders down too her waist. she appeared to be the head receptionist and a worker for the bar as she called out to another woman to help her table.
"I would like to rent 2 room please." Milda took on a very professional look as she talked to the receptionist.
"alright, that will be 20 silver per week." she responded with a smile.
Handing her over a gold coin and getting 80 silvers back in change we grabbed our keys and headed up the stairs. Our rooms were once again side by side, but its preferred that way. after setting our stuff down inside, we ventured outside to eat, which was pretty good. but it wasn't anything new. as we were eating we took out a map that we could buy at the front of the store.
"you think I should get a job?" Milda asked with her mouth full.
"I don't think I should be relying on someone who's younger than me. besides, i know that i might need to be self sufficient at one point in my life."
"You can do whatever you want to do right now, we just got here and I've got a little bit saved up, I'm probably going to try and find something like the guild around town here and sign myself up."
looking at the map they had multiple guild halls around to go towards, I realized that the majority of people are adventurers while a minority of people work elsewhere. Which leads to the question, why do we need so many? But ignoring these questions I ate another mouthful.
"that might be a good idea" she giggles.
"I want to help too" Nell sat in the corner not really fully grasping the situation but she wanted to help anyway.
"maybe later, you've got to mature first."
"oh, why don't I take her out and get her to the next grade?" i said while taking another bite. food was good, I like food.
"Are you nuts!? Why would you do that? She just started to talk more, why would you throw her back into another terrifying situation?" Milda looked at me like i was insane, but to be fair it kind of was. But she wanted to mature and advancing your grade would be the best way to do so.
"Well, its quicker. If she wants to help she could do that. I may need the help someday." i replied honestly.
"That's why I was thinking of getting her to apply for school here, that way she would learn stuff about the world. But me working would only cover hers and part of my tuition. I would like you to go as well." she stared at the map and pointed to the large grey circle marked (campus).
The conversation we had after that is why it would be beneficial to go to school, we both agreed that it would be best for all of us to go as they gave classes until you were grade 5. but tuition was a problem, I could go out and kill a couple of monsters, but everyone here is miles above me and that may prove to be a problem.
exiting the restaurant i decided to wonder around a bit before returning back to the inn. The others decided to head back for now and get ready for the time we spend here. Heading towards one of the main guild halls I stumble on a flyer hanging on one of the side doors for a branch of the guild.
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HELP WANTED, KNIGHT RECRUITMENT
REQUIRMENTS
-UNDER 40 PH OR UNDER 500 SP
-BASIC EDUCATION
-ABLE TO FIGHT AND USE MAGIC
REWARDS: 1 gold per week (may vary on performance)
CONTACT THE KNIGHT HALL FOR TESTING
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'well that was easy' taking a look at the flyer I decided to go and try to do this instead of hunting monsters solo. With this I could afford tuition by the end of the month, along with having a better chance at finding out who burned our village down. I looked on in anger, they were not going to be happy with what they did to us. Crumpling up the small flyer I turned towards the knight hall.
'The map said it was left of here if I remember correctly' I said after walking down the street from the guild hall. There was a grand building I'm the distance behind an opening with a large fountain with a majestic knight holding a shield. The shield had four different symbols on it each representing a different faction. I really like this cities formation, keep all the important things close then have houses and inns separate the sections, really makes my life easier.
'I don't know who that person is, but they really look up to them' I looked up at the knight. I walked around the fountain towards the grand door, knocking twice once I get there. a young man who looked as young as I am opened the door.
"Hello! are you here for the recruitment?" he asked excitedly.
"yes i am, is this the right place?"
"Yes it is! come on in!" he ushered me inside, he looked like a kid who had found a new puppy.
"we don't get many new young knights as they all go to the school instead of becoming a knight. I'm really glad you're here, training I have people to talk too. but around here, these old fart for brains cant understand anything I say." he bounced towards a door and opened it
"Hey Boss, I found a new guy!"
"send him in." A roughened voice spoke, walking inside i saw a man with black and grey hair. His face was brittle, small cuts everywhere and a little dirt here and there. His goatee was well trimmed as he turned to look at me.
"you came here because you read the flyer, correct?"
I nodded
"good, you past basic education. now show me your ring I need to see your age." I was baffled.
'all you needed to know was how to read? I mean, all you do is fight but I thought it would be a little more' raising my hand to show the man. A gold glint appeared around his eyes, stared off for a bit, the jumped in surprise.
"YOUR ONLY 2!?"
'oh, that's the age they want when talking about SP. good to note.' i smiled and nodded at the man who was still recovering from the shock.
"alright, I don't really care if you know how to fight or use magic, you're grade 2 already so. so its basically a given" he turned around and pulled out a form and started to fill it out. handing it too me after a couple of minutes.
"you're hired, show up here tomorrow at dawn everyday from now on. if you wish to quit, inform me ahead of time and we wont have any problems." He handed me a badge and a book.
"read this, its a bunch of rules you now have as you are now a knight. If you are put on discipline section, I will need you to read the second half. if not, don't worry about it." He said as he turned around
"you're dismissed" he called back. i turned around and was about to open the door when i heard one more call.
"Oh, one more thing. Don't ever talk like you did today to anyone else. you will be backslapped before you know it." The atmosphere around him turned black and i felt like there was a hand around my neck.
"are we clear?" he looked at me with the eyes of a predator, I felt my knees start to buckle as i looked at him.
"ye-yes sir" stammering I bolted out the door, nearly slamming into the boy from before. he looked at me and then the badge and smiled. I swear, this guys like a pet dog. he grabbed my shoulders with his knight armor and shook me.
"THANK YOU FOR JOINING!" he bowed slightly towards me as i looked at him with a small smirk.
"no problem uhhh.. what's your name?" i asked taking his hands off my shoulders.
"names Hu, nice too meet you! What's yours?"
"Akio, nice too meet you as well." I smiled at him and turned to leave.
"I have to tell my friends about this, see you tomorrow i assume?"
"yep!" he did a short wave as I turned to leave the building.
'this is going to be very interesting.' The walk back was once again a task in itself to weave between the amount of people out in the streets. this street was probably main street as it went through this entire quadrant and towards the campus located near the center of the city. Opening the door to the inn I saw Milda speaking with the receptionist from earlier. She turned too look at me.
"I just got a job here, so ill be sending out Nell to school in about a week or so." She turned too look at me as I walked in.
"That's awesome! I just joined the knights for a quick grab for cash." The receptionist looked at me in surprise.
"R-Really? Even with the leaders they have? Aren't they all really strict?"
"no idea! just got here today." I said with a small smile as I started to head too my room. She sighed.
"good luck with that"