The streets of Rozen were far cleaner than Naya expected and bustling with activity. So many people walked around to various stalls set up right by the gate that Naya had trouble navigating, which left her feeling suffocated.
"T-there's so many people!" Rula exclaimed. She was tightly gripping Naya's hand now, almost to the point of being uncomfortable. Still, she seemed much more excited about the place than Naya was.
The buildings were well made, with brick and wood, and the people venturing around the streets seemed happy.
Of course, people would stop and stare at Naya as she passed the road, but traffic was heavy enough that she went relatively unnoticed, and those who did stop and stare were quickly pushed aside.
The long road ended before a massive fountain that depicted a dragon shooting water straight into the air as it fell into the pools below.
There was finally some breathing room, though the loudness was starting to give her a headache - her Elven hearing didn't help. Now that there was plenty of space, though, people did freeze unabated as they stared at her.
"It's so annoying!" Rula shouted. She could also sense the stares, but she seemed more upset by them than Naya was.
--There are some scornful looks mixed in toward her; you just didn't notice. Look around; how many other races do you see besides humans?--
Naya complied and scanned the bustling crowds; there were only a few Dwarves mixed in with the Humans and even fewer Beastkin. She didn't see any halflings. She figured she'd be in human lands, so seeing any race other than them was still surprising.
--It's both good and bad. It is Good because the races are finally mingling more, and bad because this city seems to give each race its own section.--
Naya didn't get why that was a bad thing. Elves were sectioned off from the rest of the world, too, and they were better for it.
--I'd disagree; from your memories, it seems not much has changed for the Elves, whereas the other races we've seen so far look far better off than they were centuries ago.--
[How so? ]Naya hated it when Lia challenged her when she brought up the Elves.
--Magic. Look at Sophia; I wouldn't be surprised if she could wipe out the entire Elven race by herself.--
[She could not! And she is an exception, not the rule.]
--I exaggerated, silly Elf... But you'll see eventually, especially with the Guild and those four towers.--
"You're doing it again!" Rula suddenly shouted. "You look annoyed, but you shouldn't fight with voices in your head!"
Lia laughed, and Naya's ears twitched.
Rula giggled, then pointed to her right. "Look, that sign says Adventurer's Guild on it!"
Naya thanked Rula's short attention span.
She was right; a massive building dominated one side of the plaza. It was a tall building made of granite and wood, with arched windows on the first two floors, which allowed her to see the bustling activity within. The right side of the building had a large tower built into it, which Naya assumed the building owner lived in.
A giant wooden sign above the arched entrance read, The Adventurers Guild.
It was a domineering sight and easily took eyes away from every other building circling the massive plaza.
That was her destination.
People dressed in all sorts of types walked around the building, some dressed like knights, some rogues, and some mages.
--The guild is a great place; I don't think a lot of the mortal world would be in good shape without them around.--
Naya didn't care much for it. She only wanted to see why Sophia wanted her to join it. However, she still couldn't see herself becoming part of any group, especially one owned by another race.
"Let's go." She tugged on Rula's hand.
"Okay!" Rula was eagerly snapping her head from left to right, overwhelmed by the city around her. "Man, I'm so excited now!"
Naya wished she could feel that excited about it.
They both went through the crowds and stopped right before the entrance.
Not by choice.
A hulking man stood before the door, wearing no shirt to show off his massive frame. He was even taller than Naya; his torso was riddled with scars, and his muscles bulged. He crossed his arms and stared down at Naya; she did not like it.
"Elf, huh? Your kind ain't been around these parts for a long time. You lost?"
Naya looked at him coldly. His face was middle-aged, with a head of short white hair and squinted grey eyes. He might have been intimidating to anyone else, but to Naya, he was just an eyesore.
It did seem to work on Rula, though, and she squeezed Naya's hand.
One of the biggest annoyances Naya had was when people blocked her path, especially when the reason was something stupid, such as challenging her to a fight, which appeared to be this man's goal.
"You're in the way, human. Move." Naya coldly commanded; she pushed Rula behind her just in case she had to fight the presumptuous human.
The man didn't speak. Instead, he stared daggers at Naya. The longer he went without saying anything, the more annoyed Naya became.
"Final warning," Naya said and placed one foot forward.
Suddenly, the man uncrossed his arms and moved to the side, shocking Naya. His eyes were no longer squinted, and he had a big smile plastered on his face. "Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild, Elf! You got spirit; I can't wait to see what you do here!"
"What?" Naya blurted. The sudden shift was too shocking.
"Hall master! You can't keep block- ELF!"
A young woman exited the hall and screamed when she saw Naya. The girl wore a pair of black pants and a white shirt with a yellow vest with white outlines. She had short brown hair and similar hazel-colored eyes as Elizabeth did. Naya wondered if they were related.
"Haha!" The burly man, the Hall Master, laughed. "Well, it's recruitment week, and only those who can handle my impressive frame can join my hall!" He pounded his bare chest.
Naya did not want to deal with this, but she needed more information since Sophia assured her it would be different from what she thought.
Rula reached around and grabbed Naya's hand again, and she didn't appear as afraid as before. She did look embarrassed, perhaps because she shouldn't have been scared of the man.
"Tell me how your guild works," Naya asked the new girl and made it a point to ignore the man.
"Me too!" Rula exclaimed.
"M-me?!" The girl pointed at herself.
"Go ahead, Sal. But do it inside; I have a job to do!"
Naya found his booming voice to be unpleasant to her ears.
"R-right! Please come with me!"
The hall master winked at Sal as she turned around.
--He really wants you to join and knows he would not be the one to do it.--
[I'm aware. You explain things to me as if I am a child.]
Naya walked into the building, following closely behind Sal.
--In my eyes, you are a child!--
The interior of the guild hall was filled with tables and booths, where people were gathered in merriment, drinking and eating still in what Naya would consider battle gear. A longboard stretched across the entire wall on the right side of the building, with many pieces of paper nailed to it.
Sal skipped past the tables and up to the back of the hall, where a long counter stretched across, with doors on both sides of the wall behind it.
A lot of eyes turned to Naya as she entered, and she could hear them whispering. Luckily, the hall was large enough to prevent total silence, and most were too busy to care about people entering the building.
Still, the whispers discussing Elf's rarity, her purple hair, and her distasteful comments about her beauty all reached her ears. Naya did her best to resist the urge to violently teach the ones with lecherous thoughts a lesson.
--Better get used to it; you will hear and see it all over the place.--
[Disgusting humans.]
--It's normal; at least they're keeping it to themselves.--
[Only because they fear me.]
"Woah~" Rula exclaimed. "This place is so cool!"
They eventually reached the long counter, and Sal lifted a gate up and walked through, waiting for Naya and Rula to enter before she let it drop.
"Sal, what's this?" Another girl asked.
"Super important!" Sal waved her off and entered the next door.
Naya and Rula entered after her, and it became much quieter.
The door led to another room of doors, and Sal turned to the left for the next one. "This way, please."
The new room was small, with a table and chairs on both sides. It looked as though it was used for private meetings.
Sal explained quickly. "This is one of the rooms where we handle the more... private nature of some quests." She sounded anxious and quickly sat on the opposite end of the table.
Naya and Rula took a seat, too.
Sal's face was severe and not as scared as it was moments ago. "Miss Elf, I hope you understand what your presence means."
Naya was tired of being told that. "Of course I do."
Sal shook her head. "Miss Elf, the King himself will be at our door with you here. Eventually, all of Cornelia will know an Elf is in our lands. It might even spread further."
Naya was surprised. She knew she'd likely be called to the King, but for him to come to her was not what she expected. She thought it only went as far as shocking that an Elf was outside Aleria, not to the point where the world would be up in arms. "Why?"
--I told you.--
[You never tell me anything.]
--Well... --Lia didn't continue.
Sal looked at Naya incredulously. "Forgive me, but you don't seem aware of the worldly politics..."
"Of course not." Naya wasn't offended; that particular field was dreadfully dull. Elven Society was pretty straightforward, and she never had to worry about it due to her mother's talents.
Rula was sitting by her with her sketchbook open and painting something. She pretended uninterested in the conversation, but Naya could see her taking peaks. She behaved as though she shouldn't be hearing the conversation but was curious nonetheless.
It made Naya happy, but she kept her face in check.
"Well, I figured. Why would the Elves care about the rest of the world?" Her eyes widened. "Oh, I didn't mean anything bad by that!"
Naya shrugged dismissively. "You are correct, human. I didn't even know what surnames were until I met one of you."
"That..." She appeared shocked. "I didn't think you were so disconnected to not even know our ways."
"Enough of that. Tell me why my presence matters so much to you people."
--You should do something about how rudely you speak to people.--
Naya ignored her, something she'd been getting better at doing.
"Yes, well... The last time the outside world had contact with Aleria was when the Thrara Empire found a dragon's corpse."
--WHAT?! --Lia's shocked voice boomed in Naya's head.
Naya understood her shock. Dragons were an ancient, extinct race with powers even the Elves had to admire. She wasn't sure why, and it wasn't taught to her, but they all disappeared before Aleria was locked away, and not a single one remained.
They had the ability to bend the laws of the world, similar to what a Witch's devil could do in physical manifestation. They would likely dominate the world with little challenge if they were still around.
"Dragon's corpse?" Naya asked. "Explain that first."
Sal suddenly looked excited, and even Rula was paying apt attention.
"Yeah! I wish I was alive back then to see it. They found the bones while on an expedition to wipe out a Goblin tribe. After that, their fate was forever changed, and they would no longer be a small nation struggling to even survive next to their competitors!
"I don't care about that; tell me more about the corpse." Naya thought it was obvious the Empire would become powerful; it needn't be discussed.
Sal cleared her throat. "Yes! The corpse was massive and so large it could probably blot out the sun if it flew over us today!" She was quite animated, with her eyes in awe. "It was just bones, but those bones could forge the most remarkable artifacts in existence!
"How did Aleria find out?"
Sal continued. "I'm not sure, but rumors say that a whole group of Elves came to the dig site and demanded the entire corpse. Naturally, Thrarl wanted to resist - not that they could - but the Elves paid them handsomely. That's how they became so strong today and conquered half the continent."
--A dragon corpse... I wish I could see it... --Lia sounded sad and spoke in barely a whisper.
"Wow~ That's so cool!" Rula exclaimed. She picked up her brush and began drawing again; it was clearly an artifact because it produced colors without being dipped in anything.
"Yes, that is interesting," Naya said. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat.
Aleria had come wherever the corpse was discovered and traded with the Kingdom, enough so that it became a massive force in the aftermath. Naya wanted to know how Aleria found out, given how adamantly she was taught that they needed to stay away from the outside world. That meant her people did some kind of network outside.
--That doubt is a small flame that will eventually ignite. You have no idea what sort of secrets your people keep. --Lia sounded ominous.
[I wouldn't have to wonder if you just told me.]
--I don't wanna shatter your reality.--
[Whatever.]
"Anyways," Sal got her attention again, "That was decades ago, before my time. So, the last time Elves showed up, they tipped the world's balance of power. Get it?"
"Yes." The humans would think that if they got on her good side, they could get the same boon that the once-weak Empire got. It wasn't just the humans; any other race would likely jump at the opportunity. Though Naya wasn't sure of their situation, she knew she was in primarily Human lands.
"That's why you should join the guild!" Sal suddenly offered.
"What?" Naya's turn to be incredulous. [How does that make sense?]
Sal cleared her throat. "Righ. Allow me to introduce the guild to you."
Sal stood and pushed in her chair. "The guild exists as a 3rd party for people to make any request that would be put on our board, along with the compensation for it. On the Adventurer's side, you would be free to come and go as you please, you would not be required to answer to anybody, and unless you become a criminal, you're basically free to do whatever. Our only requirement is that you take a certain amount of requests per month. Once you rank up, the requirement lowers until it's nonexistent, and you only get the best requests delivered straight to you."
She took a deep breath and eagerly watched Naya.
--You should accept. All it means is you get access to their quest board and whatever other benefits they offer.--
[It sounds way too good to be true. What do they get out of all this? ]
"What does the guild get from this?" Naya decided to ask.
"We get a fee to put up requests and accept any sort of materials adventurers gather to resell later. We also get special privileges from the governments of the territories we operate in. Still, none of that should matter to you, Miss Elf."
Naya seriously considered.
--Remember, you'll need money in the future; gold is good everywhere.--
"Naya, I think we should join." Rula tugged on Naya's arm.
Naya stood up and copied Sal's movement of pushing in the chair. "You said I should join in response to the Kingdoms wanting me. Why?"
Sal smiled; she likely knew she had Naya hooked. "By joining the guild, you're pretty much saying that you don't want to work with anyone. It obviously won't thwart them from trying to get on your good side, but you at least won't be swarmed by offers to join some leaders' power unless they want to make an enemy of the guild."
Naya nodded. She couldn't believe she was doing this, but Sophia and Lia were both correct. This would be the easiest way for her to live and complete her mission without aimlessly wandering.
Plus, she suddenly found herself with mysteries about her own people that she wanted to solve.
Sal clapped once and, with a bright smile, "Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild!"