Chapter VII: Quest
It took me halfway throughout trying to locate an inn to realize I had no money on me. I was completely penniless, and I needed a place to stay for the night. The sun still shone brightly and the clocktower in the town struck barely past four, but I needed to find a way to get money and fast.
My first immediate thought was the adventurers guild. If I quickly go there and find a quest to do, I can scrounge for at least a few coins to stay for the night. Another option is selling my broadsword and getting enough coins to last me for a few days and then planning it out from there.
Thinking about it further, going for quests gives me the best options right now, because if I sell my broadsword then I won't have a weapon to fight and do quests. That means that this broadsword was my only source of available income right now.
I quickly backtrace my steps, looking upward every now and then for that unforgettable crest. I locate the adventurers guild and quickly went inside.
There was still a fair amount of people, but the size was less than previously before. A commotion was still going around, adventurers we're still talking and murmuring, and there still stood a fairly long line at the reception desk.
I head to the second floor, moving towards the long quest board located at the back. Multiple quests were cleanly placed on the board, none of them torn or ripped.
Each of the quests had a name, a number tag and a large picture directly placed in the middle; It was used to promote the quest. Below it, a brief description can be identified and below that, a reward tag showed the amount of bronze, silver and gold coins that can be earned for that quest.
There were many types of quests as I looked around. Some were search quests, requiring you to find a certain type of plant or item, while others were subjugation quests, such as killing monsters, etc. Some included escorting a person or defending them.
Some adventurers can be heard arguing about which quest to do, and the occasional shout can be heard as they found a promising quest listed on the board.
As I skimmed around, there was a quest that I had my eyes on; it was a delivery quest. Delivery quests were quests that require you to deliver a package or item to a person. This one, in particular, required delivery of a handful of goods to the local blacksmith. The reward was a few silver coins, five to be exact.
I thought this was a good quest to get started on, so I memorized the quest number and went back down to the reception desk. Quickly getting into a line, it takes only a few minutes for me to get up front.
I walk up to the lady at the desk; it's the same one as before. She quickly shoves the previous papers she was handling to the side and looks up towards me.
"Welcome back, what do you need?" She asks, nonchalantly.
"Can I take a quest order?" I reply.
"Sure, which one are you looking for?"
"Uhh, number 112."
"Number 112? Give me a moment." She says as she heads towards the back of the room, moving inside a wooden door. She re-emerges moments after with a few papers and seats back in her chair.
"Here are the papers that explain what you need to do. Come back with this paper signed so I know that the goods were delivered, and then you're set." She says, pointing at one of the papers. "A person will get you the items, so head towards the market after you've read everything."
The few papers she gave me had detailed instructions on how to complete the quest. I had first needed to arrive at the local market. Inside the local market, there should be a storage house that the Adventurers guild owns. I'm told that If I head towards there, what will await me is a person giving me the items that I need to deliver.
I re-read the quest details making sure not to forget anything, and then put the papers inside my bag.
I quickly got out the of the building and started looking for the market. It wasn't hard to find because there was an open square in the city, and there were several signs throughout the town that directed to the market.
You could also hear the increasing sound of people talking and shuffling about as you moved closer, so that was another indication.
Moving through the city, I realize how eloquently planned out the everything was. Usually, in medieval ages, houses weren't equally placed, and the lack of infrastructure and difficult terrain usually caused houses to be unequally spaced apart, with some houses overlapping others and some on different elevations.
Not in this place, however, because the houses were placed equidistant from each other, and along with the small streets in between the houses, several main clean-cut roads could be seen. It was quite nice actually.
I got to what seemed to be the entrance of the market. The market was really an open square where vendors and merchants set up their stalls and tarps filled to the brim with trade items, along with some buildings that were already set up and built inside of the square itself.
One of the buildings had a shining crest atop its roof, the adventurer's crest. Next to the adventurers building was a huge warehouse, which I can safely assume that was the destination I was trying arrive to.
I cut across the market intersection and quickly arrived at the edge of the square where the warehouse was stationed. There were people rummaging around unloading items into wheelbarrows and small carriages and vice versa. Horses were stationed in small stables, and I could catch at the corner of my eye a buff-looking man yelling at a few people.
He seemed like the one in charge.
I walked towards him slowly, and as I got closer he looked towards me, his face showed a sign of annoyance.
"You, who are you kid?" He says. "Are you slacking off on the job again?" His tone was brisk and deep.
"No, I don't work here." I quickly reply back, "I am here on behalf of the adventurers guild, however, and I need to get some items."
I handed him the papers from my bag that I got from the adventurers guild, and he immediately takes it. He scans them and gives me a quick glance until directing his hands towards the adventurers building next to the warehouse.
"Give this to the man inside, he'll direct you to where to go." He says.
"Got it," I reply back.
"Thanks for helping us, we've had our hands busy ever since more monsters have been popping up lately." He says "Most of the adventurers like the action, so they tend to flock to those monster quests."
He gives a slight chuckle, stroking his goatee. "They leave to do the fighting, but helping the people out is also something that's needed around here."
"I also agree," I said, nodding slightly.
"Well, I'll leave you to it then, I've got to keep these guys in check." He points at the workers, "They slack off any chance they get, ill tell you!"
"Alright, thanks," I said, walking towards the building he directed me to.
Once I got inside, it was fairly straightforward from there. I met a slim man with eyeglasses and several papers stacked on his desk. This adventurers building was like the last one, however a lot smaller and accommodated only a few people. He gave me a small slip of paper with a storage number and asked me to go inside the warehouse and find it. After I found it, I would have then gotten the items out of storage and deliver them to the blacksmith located on the other side of town.
I was also given a map of the town for future reference. The map I received indicated mostly all the important inns, stores and other things that you would normally find on a map.
After I got the whole rundown, I was about to leave when he gave me a quick reminder.
"Make sure you don't lose that shipment, we check with the blacksmith and adventurers guild if you have delivered the goods, and if he does not receive them then you will have to pay the adventurers guild a fine."
Yikes, that would be bad.
I nodded to him and gave a thumbs up sign and walked out the door. Quickly checking my map, I headed inside the warehouse to get the shipment. After consulting with several workers, they directed me to a section of the warehouse and handed me a wooden crate with a large number inked on the side, the same one as the slip.
The crate was a bit heavy, but nothing I couldn't handle.
I briskly walked across town to where the blacksmith was supposed to be on the map, making sure to watch my step as I walked past countless people along the way. The sun was going down now and it seemed that it took about an hour for that whole ordeal, but only seemed like a few minutes to me.
I had the map already memorized by my AI chip and displayed to me at the edge if my retina, so quickly locating the blacksmith wasn't a problem.
"I wonder what's in here," I asked myself. Probably tools or weapons, or maybe materials to build them.
「The contents within the crate contain several iron ingots」The AI Chip said.
I was surprised that the AI chip replied to me unexpectedly, so I shook my head slightly. After walking for a few minutes, I arrived at the location that was seen on the map and I find a medium-sized looking blacksmith's workshop.
The workshop was a two-story house with a forge attached to the side, with a sign containing the crest of an anvil and hammer on the front of the house. There was an entrance with a balcony above it, where several weapons rested outside for display, along with empty wooden boxes and small red rags rested on the wooden rails.
You could hear the clacking of a hammer and the ding of hot iron being shaped, along with the strong scent of burnt wood and metal wafting through the air.
There stood a strong looking stout man of medium sized height with a long beard hammering away at what seemed to be like a sword. I walk up to him slowly until he notices me at the corner of his eye and his face lights up immediately.
"You!" He exclaims. I'm caught off by the excitement in his voice, but I quickly reply back.
"Yes?"
"Have you my goods?" He says, quickly putting down his hammer and quenching his sword in what seemed like oil.
"Ah, yes" I reply, slowly putting down the wooden crate.
He quickly opens one of the sides and low and behold, iron ingots were stacked neatly and filled to the brim inside the crate. His smile turns even wider as he inspects some of the ingots with his rough hands.
"Yes yes," He says contentedly "I've been waiting for these a few days, Thank you."
"Ah, no problem," I reply, smiling slightly.
I hand him one of the papers that the attendant gave me earlier, it required him to sign a signature to prove that he received his goods. He readily accepts it but takes a moment to find a writing utensil on him. After he does, he quickly signs his name on it and hands it back to me.
With that, I give him a firm handshake and leave him on with his business. What do I do now? I think I know the answer to that, so I start heading back to the adventurers guild to collect my quest reward and finally get a goods night sleep.
My first immediate thought was the adventurers guild. If I quickly go there and find a quest to do, I can scrounge for at least a few coins to stay for the night. Another option is selling my broadsword and getting enough coins to last me for a few days and then planning it out from there.
Thinking about it further, going for quests gives me the best options right now, because if I sell my broadsword then I won't have a weapon to fight and do quests. That means that this broadsword was my only source of available income right now.
I quickly backtrace my steps, looking upward every now and then for that unforgettable crest. I locate the adventurers guild and quickly went inside.
There was still a fair amount of people, but the size was less than previously before. A commotion was still going around, adventurers we're still talking and murmuring, and there still stood a fairly long line at the reception desk.
I head to the second floor, moving towards the long quest board located at the back. Multiple quests were cleanly placed on the board, none of them torn or ripped.
Each of the quests had a name, a number tag and a large picture directly placed in the middle; It was used to promote the quest. Below it, a brief description can be identified and below that, a reward tag showed the amount of bronze, silver and gold coins that can be earned for that quest.
There were many types of quests as I looked around. Some were search quests, requiring you to find a certain type of plant or item, while others were subjugation quests, such as killing monsters, etc. Some included escorting a person or defending them.
Some adventurers can be heard arguing about which quest to do, and the occasional shout can be heard as they found a promising quest listed on the board.
As I skimmed around, there was a quest that I had my eyes on; it was a delivery quest. Delivery quests were quests that require you to deliver a package or item to a person. This one, in particular, required delivery of a handful of goods to the local blacksmith. The reward was a few silver coins, five to be exact.
I thought this was a good quest to get started on, so I memorized the quest number and went back down to the reception desk. Quickly getting into a line, it takes only a few minutes for me to get up front.
I walk up to the lady at the desk; it's the same one as before. She quickly shoves the previous papers she was handling to the side and looks up towards me.
"Welcome back, what do you need?" She asks, nonchalantly.
"Can I take a quest order?" I reply.
"Sure, which one are you looking for?"
"Uhh, number 112."
"Number 112? Give me a moment." She says as she heads towards the back of the room, moving inside a wooden door. She re-emerges moments after with a few papers and seats back in her chair.
"Here are the papers that explain what you need to do. Come back with this paper signed so I know that the goods were delivered, and then you're set." She says, pointing at one of the papers. "A person will get you the items, so head towards the market after you've read everything."
The few papers she gave me had detailed instructions on how to complete the quest. I had first needed to arrive at the local market. Inside the local market, there should be a storage house that the Adventurers guild owns. I'm told that If I head towards there, what will await me is a person giving me the items that I need to deliver.
I re-read the quest details making sure not to forget anything, and then put the papers inside my bag.
I quickly got out the of the building and started looking for the market. It wasn't hard to find because there was an open square in the city, and there were several signs throughout the town that directed to the market.
You could also hear the increasing sound of people talking and shuffling about as you moved closer, so that was another indication.
Moving through the city, I realize how eloquently planned out the everything was. Usually, in medieval ages, houses weren't equally placed, and the lack of infrastructure and difficult terrain usually caused houses to be unequally spaced apart, with some houses overlapping others and some on different elevations.
Not in this place, however, because the houses were placed equidistant from each other, and along with the small streets in between the houses, several main clean-cut roads could be seen. It was quite nice actually.
I got to what seemed to be the entrance of the market. The market was really an open square where vendors and merchants set up their stalls and tarps filled to the brim with trade items, along with some buildings that were already set up and built inside of the square itself.
One of the buildings had a shining crest atop its roof, the adventurer's crest. Next to the adventurers building was a huge warehouse, which I can safely assume that was the destination I was trying arrive to.
I cut across the market intersection and quickly arrived at the edge of the square where the warehouse was stationed. There were people rummaging around unloading items into wheelbarrows and small carriages and vice versa. Horses were stationed in small stables, and I could catch at the corner of my eye a buff-looking man yelling at a few people.
He seemed like the one in charge.
I walked towards him slowly, and as I got closer he looked towards me, his face showed a sign of annoyance.
"You, who are you kid?" He says. "Are you slacking off on the job again?" His tone was brisk and deep.
"No, I don't work here." I quickly reply back, "I am here on behalf of the adventurers guild, however, and I need to get some items."
I handed him the papers from my bag that I got from the adventurers guild, and he immediately takes it. He scans them and gives me a quick glance until directing his hands towards the adventurers building next to the warehouse.
"Give this to the man inside, he'll direct you to where to go." He says.
"Got it," I reply back.
"Thanks for helping us, we've had our hands busy ever since more monsters have been popping up lately." He says "Most of the adventurers like the action, so they tend to flock to those monster quests."
He gives a slight chuckle, stroking his goatee. "They leave to do the fighting, but helping the people out is also something that's needed around here."
"I also agree," I said, nodding slightly.
"Well, I'll leave you to it then, I've got to keep these guys in check." He points at the workers, "They slack off any chance they get, ill tell you!"
"Alright, thanks," I said, walking towards the building he directed me to.
Once I got inside, it was fairly straightforward from there. I met a slim man with eyeglasses and several papers stacked on his desk. This adventurers building was like the last one, however a lot smaller and accommodated only a few people. He gave me a small slip of paper with a storage number and asked me to go inside the warehouse and find it. After I found it, I would have then gotten the items out of storage and deliver them to the blacksmith located on the other side of town.
I was also given a map of the town for future reference. The map I received indicated mostly all the important inns, stores and other things that you would normally find on a map.
After I got the whole rundown, I was about to leave when he gave me a quick reminder.
"Make sure you don't lose that shipment, we check with the blacksmith and adventurers guild if you have delivered the goods, and if he does not receive them then you will have to pay the adventurers guild a fine."
Yikes, that would be bad.
I nodded to him and gave a thumbs up sign and walked out the door. Quickly checking my map, I headed inside the warehouse to get the shipment. After consulting with several workers, they directed me to a section of the warehouse and handed me a wooden crate with a large number inked on the side, the same one as the slip.
The crate was a bit heavy, but nothing I couldn't handle.
I briskly walked across town to where the blacksmith was supposed to be on the map, making sure to watch my step as I walked past countless people along the way. The sun was going down now and it seemed that it took about an hour for that whole ordeal, but only seemed like a few minutes to me.
I had the map already memorized by my AI chip and displayed to me at the edge if my retina, so quickly locating the blacksmith wasn't a problem.
"I wonder what's in here," I asked myself. Probably tools or weapons, or maybe materials to build them.
「The contents within the crate contain several iron ingots」The AI Chip said.
I was surprised that the AI chip replied to me unexpectedly, so I shook my head slightly. After walking for a few minutes, I arrived at the location that was seen on the map and I find a medium-sized looking blacksmith's workshop.
The workshop was a two-story house with a forge attached to the side, with a sign containing the crest of an anvil and hammer on the front of the house. There was an entrance with a balcony above it, where several weapons rested outside for display, along with empty wooden boxes and small red rags rested on the wooden rails.
You could hear the clacking of a hammer and the ding of hot iron being shaped, along with the strong scent of burnt wood and metal wafting through the air.
There stood a strong looking stout man of medium sized height with a long beard hammering away at what seemed to be like a sword. I walk up to him slowly until he notices me at the corner of his eye and his face lights up immediately.
"You!" He exclaims. I'm caught off by the excitement in his voice, but I quickly reply back.
"Yes?"
"Have you my goods?" He says, quickly putting down his hammer and quenching his sword in what seemed like oil.
"Ah, yes" I reply, slowly putting down the wooden crate.
He quickly opens one of the sides and low and behold, iron ingots were stacked neatly and filled to the brim inside the crate. His smile turns even wider as he inspects some of the ingots with his rough hands.
"Yes yes," He says contentedly "I've been waiting for these a few days, Thank you."
"Ah, no problem," I reply, smiling slightly.
I hand him one of the papers that the attendant gave me earlier, it required him to sign a signature to prove that he received his goods. He readily accepts it but takes a moment to find a writing utensil on him. After he does, he quickly signs his name on it and hands it back to me.
With that, I give him a firm handshake and leave him on with his business. What do I do now? I think I know the answer to that, so I start heading back to the adventurers guild to collect my quest reward and finally get a goods night sleep.