Attu:
- "So, what plans do we have?"
Valorant:
- "We're going to the Adventurers' Guild."
Attu:
- "What's that?"
Valorant:
- "A place where you can sell wolf horns."
Rebecca placed the food on the table and said:
- "Where are you going? To the local guild?"
Attu:
- "Yes, that place."
Rebecca:
- "If you want, I can tell you where it is. Of course, it won't be free! On top of that, you'll need to pay for last night's stay as well."
Valorant took five silver coins from his pouch and placed them on the table.
Rebecca's eyes lit up at the sight of the silver.
Valorant:
- "I think this will be enough for you. Now tell us where the guild is!"
Rebecca took the silvers from the table:
- "It's not far from here, just three streets away. There's a building where armed men gather; that's our local guild. There's a girl named Silvia there. If you tell her I sent you, your business will go much faster."
Attu had finished his meal by this point. Valorant was looking at Attu. Attu picked up his sword and was about to stand up.
The two of them headed outside towards the guild.
Attu:
- "Master!"
Valorant:
- "Should we leave Mr. Scott behind?"
Valorant:
- "I've spoken with him. We'll set out at dawn. Until then, we need to hurry and sell the wolf horns."
Attu:
- "I wanted to ask you something else."
Valorant:
- "What is it?"
Attu:
- "How did I end up at the inn?"
Valorant:
- "You were sitting in front of the cave and got frozen. Then you were about to get really cold. That's why I brought you here myself."
Attu thought: "I caused a problem for my mentor. I need to thank my mentor."
Attu:
- "Master Valorant!"
Valorant:
- "Yes?"
Attu:
- "Thank you!"
Valorant:
- "You don't have to say thank you. Just focus on doing well!"
Attu:
- "Of course!"
Valorant and Attu arrived at the guild. As Rebecca had said, armed men were indeed gathered in front of the guild door. Despite the snow around, there were many people on the street. Valorant and Attu approached the guild door. Valorant quickly moved aside from the door. Attu was confused about what to do. Valorant grabbed Attu's clothing from behind and pulled him next to him. No sooner had Attu been pulled than a man flew out of the door. Attu was bewildered by what had happened. Valorant let go of Attu's clothing and said:
- "Watch your surroundings!"
Attu nodded in agreement. Another strong man came out of the door. Valorant, ignoring this, went inside. Attu followed his mentor from behind. Once inside, they saw tables overturned everywhere or, at the very least, shards of dishes scattered around.
Valorant looked around. He noticed a girl standing nearby and went up to her to ask:
- "Good morning. Are you Silviya?"
Silviya:
- "Yes, I am Silviya. How can I help you?"
Valorant:
- "Rebecca recommended you to us."
Silviya:
- "What did Rebecca send you for... are you looking to buy something?"
Valorant:
- "Yes, I wanted to register this young man." - and pointed to Attu. Attu was surprised to hear this.
Silviya:
- "If you have time, please wait a minute. Go stand over there to register," she indicated with her hand.
Valorant and Attu went to stand where Silviya had pointed. Silviya, meanwhile, started picking up the broken dishes on the ground.
Attu:
- "Master, are you going to register me?"
Valorant:
- "You need a sword like mine. With your sword, you won't be able to perform the techniques I used to kill the snow wolves."
Attu:
- "Do I need a magical sword to perform those techniques?"
Valorant:
- "What did you think?"
Attu:
- "Why can't a regular sword work?"
Valorant:
- "To perform the techniques I showed you, your sword is too fragile; you can only make three strikes at most before it breaks. With my sword, you can perform those strikes as many times as you want."
Attu:
- "Ah, now I understand. That's why we were able to kill the snow wolves."
Valorant:
- "Yes."
Attu:
- "Where can we get these swords?"
Valorant:
- "These swords are specially made. In the land of the earth, craftsmen make such swords on order. Since your flame is blue, you need to have one made for you as well. But you can't go there, so you'll have to use a regular sword that is used for basic eternal flame techniques. That doesn't mean the sword is cheap. It would be much easier if you could use your own flame, but since you can't, earn some money to buy a sword."
Attu:
- "Understood. I'll make sure to work hard from now on."
Silviya came over and sat at the registration desk, saying:
- "I apologize for the inconvenience! What would you like to sell?"
Valorant:
- "The horns of the snow wolves."
- "Did you bring them? This winter, for the first time, they brought the wolf horns. Where did you hunt them?"
Valorant:
- "They attacked us when it was snowing heavily yesterday."
Silviya:
- "I see. How many horns did you bring?"
Valorant:
- "Count them from this bag." - he placed a bag on the table.
Silviya opened the bag and began to count the horns. In total, she counted 24 wolf horns.
Silviya:
- "You brought 24 wolf horns. Each horn is valued at 10 silver coins. Are you going to sell them?"
Valorant:
- "Yes, and also register this guy."
Silviya:
- "In that case, I'll go get the coins and papers now." - she took the horns and went into the inner room.
Attu and Valorant straightened up the table and chair that were lying there and sat down. At that moment, a strong man entered through the door. Attu looked at him. The man came over and said:
- "Hey kid, you've taken my seat."
Attu immediately stood up and straightened the chair next to him, sitting down in it. The man looked at him and smiled, saying:
- "Haven't they taught you to listen to the end of a conversation? You should pay for the right to sit."
Attu:
- "Did you ask for your seat? Now sit in your place."
The strong man reached out to Attu, trying to grab him by the collar. Valorant stopped him by grabbing the man's hand. Valorant held the man's hand tightly. The man tried to shake his hand free but couldn't. Frustrated, he attempted to punch Valorant with his other hand. Valorant stood up, twisted the man's arm towards his shoulder, and with a swift kick, sent him out through the door. Attu was left astonished by this.
Valorant:
- "The people here seem to be ruder."
At that moment, Silvia came out of the room. She brought a tray with white paper, a round orb, two gold coins, and 40 silver coins beside her.
Silvia:
- "Sir, here is your reward."
Valorant:
- "I'll take the two gold coins on the tray; the rest is yours." - Attu said, looking at her.
Attu took the 40 silver coins from her.
Silvia:
- "Who shall we register?"
Attu:
- "Register me."
Silvia:
- "Alright, how old are you?"
Attu:
- "I am twelve years old."
Silvia:
- "Good, you are exactly the right age for us to register you. If you were 11 or younger, I wouldn't have registered you. You're lucky. Place your hand on the orb and direct it towards me."
Attu placed his hand on the orb as Silvia instructed. The orb trembled slightly.
Silvia:
- "Alright, you can take your hand off now."
Attu:
- "Is that it?"
Silvia:
- "Yes, that's it. We have now registered you. If you look at your hand where you placed it on the orb, a mark has appeared. If you show that mark to other guilds, they will accept you and provide services."
Attu looked at his left hand and saw two round rings with the inscriptions "Northshtat" and "8.12.2018" in between them and asked:
- "What do these inscriptions mean?"
Silvia:
- "This is information about where and when you registered. Now we need to find out your rank." - she said, bringing the white paper over the orb. Evil figures began to appear on the paper.
Silvia looked at the paper and said:
- "Right now, your rank is D rank."
Attu:
- "Is that good?"
Silvia:
- "Yes, it's not bad. It's a start."
Attu:
- "How many ranks are there?"
Silvia:
- "There are a total of 8 ranks: E, D, C, B, A, S, S+ and SSS. Right now, you are at D rank, which reflects your current physical state and your ability to control the mana."
Attu:
- "Understood."
Valorant looked at Attu:
- "Have you learned what you needed? Now we need to return to Scott."
Attu:
- "Then I'm ready. Is everything done with Silviya? Can I leave now? Do I need to write my name or anything else anywhere?"
Silviya:
- "You don't need your name. The mark in your hand shows who you are and your information. If you continue to practice, your control level and your body's endurance will also increase."
Attu:
- "If that's the case, thank you."
Silviya:
- "The Northstate guild is happy that we have registered you, and we wish you good luck in your adventures, Adventurer Attu."
Attu:
- "See you!" Attu and Valorant left the guild.
When they stepped outside, they saw that the man was now getting up from his seat.
Valorant:
- "Was that not enough?"
Man:
- "I'll show you right now."
Attu:
- "How do you plan to defeat one of the seven sages?"
Valorant slapped his forehead and shook his head.
He looked at the boy and said:
- "What did you say?"
Man:
- "Nonsense!" he shouted.
Valorant, angry, displayed an aura of bloodlust. Everyone around felt a strong sense of bloodlust, and fear appeared on their faces. The man's voice fell silent.
Skot was preparing to take the cart away. He brought the cart in front of the hotel. Meanwhile, Attu and Valorant were approaching.
Attu:
- "Hello, Mr. Scott."
Skot:
- "Hello. How are you? Have you recovered?"
Attu:
- "Everything is good; I'm feeling much better."
Skot:
- "Mr. Valorant. Shall we hit the road?"
Valorant:
- "Yes."
Valorant and Attu sat in the cart. Skot drove the horses away. Thus, they traveled for another 4 days. After such a long time, they finally arrived at Duke Alaris's house. Two guards were standing in front of the house gate.
Skot:
- "Hello, guys! Open the gate, I'm bringing the guest summoned by Duke Alaris."
The guards opened the gate wide. As Attu entered the house in the cart, it appeared to him not as a house, but rather like a palace. After entering along the path, a man was waiting in front of the entrance door. The cart stopped in front of the door. Skot opened the door. Valorant and Attu got down from inside. One of the individuals dressed in servant's attire approached. He had white hair and a beard, appeared to be of the same age as Valorant, and was dressed in a black service tailcoat. He was wearing white gloves and a white shirt with a raised collar. Servant said:
- "Hello, Sage of Fire is waiting for you, Duke Alaris."