Raed's New Adventures, Five Years Ago...
The Finulid City guild hall was much more expansive than the reports described. It far outshone the tiny shack in Silas Village that passed the minimum qualifications to be considered a guild hall. Even the capital's guild hall was not as luxurious, Raed admitted. Because of that, Finulid City, and not the capital, was the true central guild headquarters.
Bronze double opened outward to the spacious promenade in front of the building. Raed walked along the wide cobblestone path, paved with uniformly chiseled basalt, to the open doors. The dark rocks on the ground contrasted with the limestone street lamps that stood unlit at regular intervals at the sides. Small stone lions stood atop the waist-high trunks of the decorative lights. The open mouths of the beasts served as a holder for the flames that alighted at dusk.
Large trees grew in neat rows along the path. Soft pink blossoms were beginning to fall, sprinkling the black rocky road with small clips of color. As one petal fluttered to a rest on Raed's right sleeve, the rosy color stood out against the blue fabric. Raed picked it up between two fingers. A peach tree, he identified it, before letting it go to join countless others of its kind on the ground.
Peach trees would have required travel across the eastern Korsus Mountain range or sailing through the southern Imatin Sea and crossing the Hitoran Desert after landing. Many greenhorn travelers and inexperienced traders, intimidated by the unpredictable weather and largely unexplored Korsus Mountains, would opt for the calm experience of sailing along the temperate Imatin Sea. But too often they would realize their mistake when they became lost in the immense Hitoran Desert, where the only features on the entire horizon were sand dunes. Anyone traveling through the Hitoran Desert with any sense now knew to hire an experienced navigator who could read the stars lest their bones become bleached and buried under the ageless sands.
Then there were the rare eccentrics who sailed the open ocean south. Their vessels were often stocked more with food and water, rather than wares, for the long journey. Those intrepid (or desperate) people would then take their ships to the southern edge of the Tail of the World, wrapping around that infamous rocky tip of the continent. The jagged cliffs served as the final home of many ships throughout the centuries. A single deviation from the known safe path, or even one unfortunate wave, would splinter a hull and pull all aboard into the depths. From there the next half of the voyage would have involved traveling across nearly one-third of the whole world on an empty ocean before finally landing at Shandao, often at one of its southern ports. The luxuries found in that mythical Gilded Empire put to shame anything Galesia could boast, making the hazardous voyages ultimately worth it for most survivors who returned.
Naturally, the risks of acquiring anything from the Gilded Empire would lead to extraordinary costs for any Galesian looking to buy. Those two dozen peach trees must have cost an unholy fortune, especially if they were purchased decades ago when the routes to Shendao were not as familiar.
The musings inspired by the peach trees eventually led Raed far enough along the promenade path to the bronze double doors. Raed passed through the portal. The open entrance was wide enough to fit two carriages while still sparing enough space to fit a person in between them. The door frame was tall enough to fit a person sitting atop the shoulders of a rider on horseback, with enough space to put their arms up and still not touch the top.
Once inside, Raed could smell the aroma of cooked meats and vegetables mixed with the sharp odor of alcohol. The gathering hall that occupied the first space past the front entrance was huge. Raed counted eighteen fine mahogany tables that could each seat twelve lined up in two sets of three neat rows and columns. There was ample space in between the two arrangements of tables such that neither those seated nor those walking through would be anywhere close to bothering the other.
At the end of the hall, opposite to the double doors, was an impressive polished oak counter where six guild receptionists stood in their separate spacious booths. The guild insignia hung on the wall behind the counter. It was a large blue circle with its outside borders etched in silver spiraling knot designs that formed the outer ring. A pair of identical crossed broadswords facing downward decorated the front of the seal. In the space between the hilts was a golden rhombus inside a silver ellipse.
Raed walked across the rich red carpeted floor toward the counter and stepped up to the nearest open booth.
"Good morning, sir, how can I help you?" The guild receptionist in the booth was a short girl whose cheery greeting did not fully mask her internal boredom. The blue dress shirt she wore was ironed but wrinkles had already returned, and the white apron with embroidered guild insignia on the front looked hastily placed. One of the straps was not even securely tightened, causing the string to hang loosely over her shoulder.
"I'm here to pick up quests," Raed said.
"Sure! May I please see your adventurer license?"
Raed slipped a thin prismatic card made of crystal across the counter.
"Please wait a moment as I put in your information," the receptionist said, inserting it into a sleek ceramic device behind the counter. She made a series of button presses, staring down at the machine and watched lazily as it began scanning.
Raed glanced at the name tag pinned to the receptionist's apron.
"Nina, is it?" He said, trying to spark some conversation while waiting for the guild system to complete verification on his license.
"That's me," Nina said without looking up from the device scanning Raed's card.
"Do you have a quest board somewhere?" Raed asked.
"Nope, that's all handled internally here."
"So if I want to add quests to my card..."
"I can put them in for you. Or you can talk to one of our representatives in the back," Nina explained, though it sounded like she would have preferred the second option.
A beeping noise from the scanning device interrupted them. Nina brought up her head and told Raed, "Your adventurer license is expired."
"Oh." Raed fell silent. Obviously in the ten years since he last adventured the license would have run out. "Can I renew it?"
"Yeah, give me a second," Nina said, tapping in a series of more button presses that resulted in a whirring noise to come from the machine, and sounds of small hammers striking the crystal card. Once the whirring and hammering stopped, Nina retrieved the card. She read the name while she held the card in hand.
"All done, here is your renewed adventurer license, Raed."
The receptionist held out the card. She pronounced the name like 'Reed'.
"How did you know my name?" Raed asked.
"I read it on your card."
"No, I mean how did you know to pronounce it that way? Most people who read my name say it like 'raid' or 'red'," I said.
Nina shrugged. "Lucky guess. Anything else I can help you with, sir?"
"Wait, was that it? I haven't done anything related to adventuring in about ten years. And now that's all it takes to become activated again?"
"Yes?" Nina answered, confused. "Were you expecting something else, sir?"
"Well, yes, actually. I kind of thought there'd be at least some sort of test. When I tried for my license originally, I had to pass a multiple choice test, a written test, an oral presentation, and a practical exam involving a live giant rat!"
"We haven't done those for the last six years," Nina explained.
"That's...different. But convenient," Raed said. And also lowers the standards of adventurers! No wonder the kingdom keeps pestering me to go on quests ten years after I retired!
"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Nina asked, breaking through Raed's internal monologue.
"Oh right, the quests," Raed said. "Would you please add everything that is tagged as 'demon hunting'? Or anything that contains 'demon slaying' or 'demon vanquishing' in the description."
"You want to take all demon hunting quests is that right?" Nina asked, raising an eyebrow and no longer so bored.
"That's right!" Raed proclaimed with utmost bravado.
Nina gave Raed an 'as you wish' look, and typed into the device behind her counter. A holographic projection appeared for her and she read through Raed's saved information.
"It says here that you are an alchemist..."
"And healer!" Raed added. "I didn't go through four years of school and another eight years of training just to have that part of my experience ignored!"
"Alchemist and healer, sure. Now, will you be registering any homunculi, summons, or pets?"
"No, it's just me."
"I see," Nina said, boredom once more seeping into her voice.
"What's the problem?"
"No problem, sir. Just that the healer class is not very well-suited for solo questing, especially on combat quests. And an alchemist also has issues without at least a serviceable homunculus."
"I'll be fine."
Nina gave Raed another 'as you wish' look and typed some commands into her console. "You have been registered for eight local quests involving demon hunting. Your assigned guild representative for these quests is Ms. Sara in office B on the third floor. Please contact her at your earliest convenience."
"Thanks."
"Can I ask you a question?" Nina said. Not waiting for an answer, she asked, "Why would you do something crazy like taking every single demon hunting quest."
"Because if there are no more demons left, maybe people will stop bothering me!" Raed mentally slapped himself for shamelessly announcing such a frivolous reason.
"Why would anyone expect you to be the only one to hunt demons?"
"I don't know! Ask the soldiers who repossessed my house, even though I never took out a loan on it! Well, to be fair, the kingdom did grant me the land and gave me the money so technically it was all still theirs, I guess. But the point is that they took my house and threatened to put me in jail if I didn't fight the demons! So what else am I gonna do?"
"Woah, that's a crazy story," Nina said, only half-listening to what Raed had finished describing.
"It sure is!"
"But why you?"
"What?"
"I mean what makes you so special that a bunch of soldiers would threaten you just to make sure you fight demons? There's so many adventurers everywhere. Why are you special?"
"Because I'm Raed."
"Yeah, I know. I can read the name on your card. So what?"
"No, I mean I'm THE Raed."
"So?" Nina asked, losing interest fast and wishing he would leave soon.
"Raed, the Alchemical Thaumaturge?"
"Did you make that up? I don't see any titles on your card."
"Ugh, my living in obscurity worked too well where it's inconvenient, and not well enough where it would have been convenient," Raed bemoaned to himself, more than to the receptionist.
Hoping to end the conversation, Nina said, "Sir? Are you alright? If you really want it, I could write it as an unofficial title for you."
"No, no need," Raed said, putting up a hand in front of the receptionist. "I was having a moment. Just ignore it and let's move on."
"Ok then, anything else you need?" Please say no, Nina begged inside her mind.
Raed sighed, pulling back the raised hand to instead hold his chin between the thumb and forefinger. "I would like to know what this organization teaches its employees about its history. Tell me, do you know anything special that happened ten years ago. Anything specific, or important come to mind?"
Nooo! Nina felt vexed in her head but showed a smile on her face. She humored him by searching through her memories, returning with an "Aha!" and said, "I started school."
"Are you for real?" Raed spewed in disbelief. "I really don't want to say it, but I'm gonna have to say it. You kids these days..."
"Are you trying to ask to speak with my supervisor?" The girl asked. "Because I can get him if you want."
Raed did not reply. He said not another word. There were very few times in his life that Raed rushed out of a place unceremoniously, but that guild hall was the most recent of such events.