The small town of Brooke, an inconspicuous village surrounded only by a makeshift wooden fence and moat. It was not the exciting and luxurious city life Yue and Ivan were expecting but as they say, humble beginnings and all that jazz. They directly decided to hop the fence as showing his status plate to a guard was not the way Ivan wanted to get found out. Not to mention that Yue didn't even possess any forms of identification.
That would become a problem in the future but right now their biggest concern was their budget. As much as Ivan just wanted to throw rare monster pelts and ores at willing workers it wasn't worth garnering all that attention. So that meant they currently needed to find somewhere to trade their goods for cash. And while Ivan was no gamer back on Earth he did play this game that had a pretty fun alchemy system for research purposes, and in that game, it was an adventurers guild that handled stuff like that.
With that in mind, they strolled the streets of Brooke, gawking at the sight of walkways full to the brim of merchants yelling and the haggling of housewives and adventurers who were just trying to get by. Despite this town's outer appearance, its actual condition was quite positive. The smell of piping hot food, the boisterous laughs of adventurers, the children that jumped around while avoiding their worried parents, in all it seems this town was quite lively.
After inquiring with a nice elderly couple along the streets they finally managed to find their way to the adventurer's guild. The two stared at the building with a big longsword drawn onto its signboard. This was the mark of every adventurer's guild. Ivan and Yue looked at each other before Ivan went ahead and pushed on the heavy wood doors.
Rather than some rowdy pub with a bunch of drunk glorified mercenaries what met their eyes was a surprisingly clean environment. Ahead of the door was a counter, while the entire left-hand side seemed to be a restaurant. And though there were a number of adventurers chatting around or eating meals, not a single one of them was drinking alcohol.
Meanwhile, the decently chatty room quieted down as they turned to look at the newcomers. They stared at the man with a plain white facemask who hid his head under a mantle, then to the short blonde girl who followed beside him. And then— nothing. No rude remarks, no 'tough' adventurers who picked on the new guys, they just all turned back to what they were doing before.
For the third time today, Ivan was taught to not judge a book by its cover. Though this was the best possible outcome as the two leisurely walked up to the front desk. That's when they found themselves standing face to face with a charmingly smiling middle-aged woman. Ivan ignored Yue's cold glare as he went ahead and engaged in conversation.
"Excuse me Miss, my partner and I would like your assistance?"
"Hoooh~ You don't have to act all formal with me, boy. Besides, act any nicer with me and that girl beside you is gonna get upset. Hahaha!"
It was true, as Yue's gaze was becoming colder by the minute, probably describing this middle-aged woman as charming had ticked her off.
"Never mind that, lady. We're here to sell some materials. I was just wondering if you could help us out with that?" Ivan saw no point in continuing his courteous act as the target saw through it immediately. If the woman favored honesty as much as she enjoyed preaching it then it should be fine.
"Hihihi, atta boy! Sure, it's my job to assist with that anyways. Just let me see your status plate and we could get to it."
"Oh, so I need to show you my status plate just to sell things?"
"You don't need your status plate just to sell things, but if you're a registered adventurer you get a 10% bonus to your sales."
"!0%!' Ivan exclaimed in his mind. If the pelts and hide had been as valuable as he believed then they could acquire the funds needed to build the workshop very quickly. However, the surprises didn't end there as the lady continued talking.
"A lot of inns and shops that do business with the guild will give adventurers 10-20% off for their services, and if your rank is high enough you can charter carriages for free. Would you like to register with us? The registry fee is only a thousand Luta."
Luta are coins made of combined alloys marked with special seals, meaning if someone went around stamping all of these coins odds were someone else was counting how many existed. Even if Ivan were to mass-produce Luta that looked exactly the same there would be people who certainly caught onto his acts. Which was precisely was even up til now he never thought of forging it.
Ivan mulled over the benefits as the risks came to mind, accepting this deal meant this lady would see his stats and know his identity. While she didn't seem to have the slightest ill intent whatsoever this was a risk he was unwilling to take.
"Haaaah~ Sorry lady but imma have to pass up on that offer right now. Though I hope you don't mind me returning later once I get things settled." Ivan leaned forward before holding his left hand against his faceplate, for now, he was going to feign frustration. He refused to believe there was no way to hide at least the status numbers on his plate, as it was unlikely adventurers weren't worried about having their abilities read by anyone that looked at their plates.
It would be something he would have to research soon but a little asking around and Luta should have that trade secret come flying out quickly. Though it was a good thing that you didn't need a status plate to sell stuff.
"...I see, well it's fine. I'm not going to pressure you about things you're obviously uncomfortable with. Hand me over the stuff you want to sell and we could complete the trade." Though the lady was a bit suspicious of his actions she felt it wasn't her place to pry in.
Unceremoniously, Ivan plopped down some pelts from the sea of trees from the backpack he made as a coverup. As items magically appearing out of thin air would just attract more suspicion.
The lady's eyes opened widely for a moment before she rebuilt her facade quickly. The pelts in front of her, not many dared to travel through the sea of trees as it was extremely likely for one to get lost without the guidance of a beastman. With that into consideration, the beast pelts from monsters that resided in the sea of trees were quite rare and valuable.
But seeing her two customers' motions she immediately discerned that they wanted to lay low. Her gasping in surprise would only attract needless attention. Right now she didn't want to earn the disfavor of two warriors, potential future members of the adventurers guild, as she was sure her boss would reprimand her for it.
Quietly she completed the transaction before handing Ivan a few sacks of coin. He swept them off the counter and into the backpack, not bothering to check the contents as the more time the money spent in the open the more likely they'd attract dubious characters.
"Ah, before you two go, how about you take these maps of mine. They'll surely help you navigate the city. And don't worry about paying me for them, they're a little something I do when I have the time for it."
Rather than a map, what she handed the two were akin to tourist pamphlets, with detailed notes and highlights that decorated the borders of the strangely tough paper. From inns to entertainment shops, and restaurants, all that was needed to be known about the town resided in these papers.
Ivan and Yue marveled at this map- guidebook actually, as they nodded graciously at the woman. They left in a good mood as the first full interaction they had in this town ended on a positive note.
Ivan analyzed the map as he sought their last place to visit before heading toward the inn. He turned to Yue with a downcast expression as it seemed there were no construction services in this town. She patted his back in an attempt to comfort him, remarking that there was sure to be one in the land of trade, Fuhren.
It would probably be better to locate themselves near that hub of material and supply rather than out here anyways.
That's when Ivan jumped back up in excitement, that's right, there was still Fuhren. He made a reminder in his mind to ask the guild lady if there were going to be any transports to Fuhren anytime soon. Well, he'd do that tomorrow. For now, he just wanted to rest with Yue in an actual bed rather than a cold hard ground like their days in the sea of trees.
With that, the two headed towards the nearest inn located on the guidebook. It wasn't long for them to walk on over there, as the sun only fell a little by the time they checked in. Nevertheless late was late, and the previously boisterous town quieted down as nighttime was approaching.
But to Ivan who was quite used to working late into the night, this was the perfect time of peace and quiet for him to plan and work out his ideas. Pulling out a ton of schematic paper that only served to look cool, of course, the other factor being something to lay his ideas out into the real world on.
While creation wasn't exactly in his field of expertise as he spent most of his life researching the human construct, the ancient creation magic would greatly aid him in his endeavors. As he simply had to think of the properties he had a great grasp on to apply them to the item of his choosing.
An example being he could make a banana extremely tough as all it would take is imagining the bonds becoming stronger, on the other hand making it live forever without expiring would mean having a firm grasp on the aspect of immortality. He turned to the sleeping Yue as those last words came to mind.
He wasn't sure how she'd feel becoming an aspect of his work, but if she truly found it unpleasant and demeaning then he wouldn't force her for the sake of his curiosity.
'But immortality huh…' In the past, Ivan has waved off the notion of mankind's desire. And yet now as he thought about his relationship with Yue, he couldn't help but want to change his decision. As just a human he would eventually age and die, that was his fate. But then what would happen to his immortal vampire lover.
Would he be okay with leaving her alone just because of his pride? He didn't think so. So the moment the workshop was up and running he'd run by his thoughts to her. If it meant casting away his mortality then so be it, right now all he wanted to do was spend eternity with his wonderful assistant.
He smiled softly as he continued scribbling away, if to spend an eternity with him was all that Yue wanted then who was he to deny it. It was the least he could do for her going along with his antics. Hardships, suffering, sadness, even if it all lasts an eternity they'd be fine so long as they were together.
That's when Ivan scribbled very distinct words on a schematic of his: "The Elixir of Immortality: Vampire"
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Quite the short chapter today. I just wanted to get the workings of the adventurer's guild out of the way. Along with that a bit of future plans as well. I just finished the second volume of Arifureta so now I got to buy the third volume. My precious wallet!
Anyways, thanks for reading todays chapter, hope you have a great day/night. And see you next time!
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