PART 2/2
The next few minutes passed in the way I expected them to. The man went and got the Truth Stone and questioned us with it, with us answering using the sa thod we’d bypassed the other guards’ questions, using Index and Erani using Ainash to help us lie past the Enchantnt.
We were obviously placed under a bit more scrutiny with the Swordsman guy watching our every move, but our backstories were solid, so we got by with mostly no issues. I even made up a bit of a sob story on the spot about my “grafted-on” armor and how much the curse impacted my life and all that, which seed to get the Swordsman to lessen up on the suspicion.
“Okay,” the Magic-Type said after jotting down a note about my previous answer on whether I had a criminal record, “one last thing. I presu you two are Classed?”
“Yep,” I nodded.
“Great. What are your degrees?”
I rembered what Erani had explained to about degrees back when we’d first entered Carth. They were effectively a way to gauge one’s general level of strength while not divulging too much private information, for the sake of ensuring there wasn’t so Level-40 powerhouse wandering around in a city without the governnt's knowledge, and also so that nobody got too in over their heads with adventuring. The guild limited jobs to certain degrees, that way there weren’t any unnecessary incidents about arrogant low-Levels getting slaughtered by powerful monsters. At least, that way there weren’t as many incidents.
Either way, I was glad to hear that the adventurer’s guild was a multinational organization, so I didn’t need to morize any new way of classifying power. Levels 0 to 9 was wood degree, 10 to 19 was bronze, and the range I just barely fell into, 20 to 29, was silver.
So I answered truthfully, seeing no reason to falsely represent my Level. If I lied about being weaker than I was, then I’d ultimately just be screwing myself over when trying to find work appropriate for my Level, and if I lied about being stronger, I’d only cause an unnecessary ruckus. “Both of us are silver.”
“Man,” the Magic-Type shook his head. “More mid-Levelers, huh? I swear, you people have been flooding in here recently.”
“More like Classers in general,” the Swordsman shook his head. “Flamin’ power-hungry combat addicts itching to kill so Demons for the XP.”
“Didn’t you just say you signed up to be transferred here specifically so you could fight Demons?”
“No, I said I wanted to be transferred so I could protect people from the Demons. If they co invading…” he got into a fighting stance, obviously attempting to look badass, “I’ll be ready.”
“Sure.”
“Anyway,” I said, “there are a lot of mid-Levelers that recently moved here?”
“Yeah. Last few weeks, they’ve all been coming down to the towns near Empire’s Edge, I heard,” the Magic-Type shrugged. “Probably just looking to Level up in case of an invasion, or protect the people, or make so money, or whatever. But I swear, I’ve signed in more Classed than Unclassed in the last few days.”
“Well shit, I was hoping we’d be able to find so work here. If the place is flooded with people just like us, though…”
“Oh, I doubt you’ll ever find yourself totally unable to find work, what with the Gloomspurs around here,” the Magic-Type said. “Always around killing crops and livestock. Farrs are constantly putting in requests to exterminate them.”
“Pfft, those weak things?” the Swordsman scoffed. “They’ll be extinct within a week, with all the Classers in here. What are you talking about?”
“Listen dude, I know you’re newer around here,”
“You’re the newbie.”
“Yeah, sure, with work, but I’ve lived here all my life. You’re the one who’s new in town. And I’ll tell you, every day I’ve lived here, the Gloomspurs are always an annoyance for the farrs. Always have been, always will be.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I dunno,” he shrugged. “But they’ve always been around. Never bothered to ask. Probably just breed like rabbits, or sothing.”
“Well, thanks for the info,” I nodded. “I guess we’ll just go kill so Gloomspurs if we ever need money.”
“Mhm. Oh, and before I forget, can you guys show your license for your pet? Just gotta mark down the species and make sure it isn’t out of date.”
“Our…what?”
He looked up at us. “Your pet license. You said that monster was your pet, right? If it is, you have to have a license to bring it into town.”
I blinked. “Oh. I didn’t…realize that.”
“You don’t have one?”
“No. In Koinkar, we didn’t need licenses. Just had to prove they were trained and everything.”
The Swordsman scoffed. “Maybe that’s why the place burned to the ground. Too many rabid monsters running around in the streets.”
The Magic-Type looked over at him. “Dude. You really don’t think that joke is too soon when you’re literally talking to refugees? Of the invasion you’re joking about?”
He held up his hands in faux-surrender. “Sorry for trying to lighten the mood, I guess.”
“Anyway,” he looked back at us, “I definitely can’t let that thing in without a license.”
“Well, can we get one sowhere?”
“Sure. If you go to town hall, there should be soone you can talk to about it. They’ve got a list of different requirents for each species of monster, so if you go in and pay a fee, they’ll have a verifier go out and make sure it’s well-trained.”
I sighed. “Is that really necessary? She can literally talk. She’s not going to be biting peoples’ hands off, or whatever.”
He just shrugged. “I don’t make the rules.”
“Can’t you just let her in, for a day or sothing? Just to prove she’s—”
“Listen, dude, I really can’t do that. What kind of monster even is that thing? I don’t recognize it.”
Yeah, that was the problem. If the town hall had a different list of requirents for each species, then Ainash—who was a species that was, at the very least, extrely rare—would almost certainly not be on that list. Damn bureaucracy was going to be the death of .
I sighed. “Can you give us a mont?”
“Sure.”
We stepped away, and I ssaged Ainash. She’d, of course, been getting filled in on the conversation as we went, so it wasn’t like I had to break any news to her, but still. “Hey, kiddo, so I don’t think we’re going to be able to…”
“It is okay!”
I frowned. “Really? You don’t mind?”
“Yes, you and mother can go have fun in Human town. I will have fun in my ho. Will make new ho out here!”
I smiled bitterly. “Yeah, but I don’t want you to feel alone. I feel bad making you sit out here all on your own.”
“Well…you will co visit?”
“Of course.”
“And will bring to Human town later?”
“Yeah, definitely. It’ll be my number one priority to get them to let you in.”
“Then it okay! You make friends with new Humans, and I will make friends with new animals. Then, when I co to Human town, we trade friends! You show your new Human friends, and I show you my new animal friends.”
I laughed. “That’s a great idea. And I promise I’ll get you in here. And I’ll show you all the furniture and stuff, too. It’s honestly so aweso.”
“Am excited!”
“Okay,” I smiled. “Keep within a thousand paces, alright? That way the Bond never deactivates, and we can always talk to you if we need to. I think our words will get a little weaker if we’re further away, so we probably can’t talk forever like we normally do, but at least that way we can say sothing if either of us needs anything, or if we’re ever in danger. And I promise we’ll visit every day.”
“Okay father!” she reached out and hugged tightly, which felt weird since she was still taller than . But it was still nice.
She also reached out and hugged Erani, lifting her up and spinning around with Erani’s legs dangling at Ainash’s shins as she did so. I held back a laugh at the sight, and the sound of Erani’s yelp as she was swung around like that.
Once Ainash put her back down, she smiled and took a step back, looking at us. “Okay, will see you soon! Love you!”
“Y-yeah,” I said. Why was I tearing up? We’d barely even be apart. This wasn’t… “Love you too, kiddo.”
She turned and sprinted off, energetic as always.
“Be sure to tell us if you see anything weird!” I called after her. “And we’ll get into contact when we next leave to do a job or sothing, okay? It’ll probably only be a couple hours!”
“Okay!”
I looked down and saw that Erani was gripping onto my hand tightly. Once again, I was struck by the fact that I had literally never been apart from either her or Ainash for longer than a few minutes at a ti. So seeing her leave like that…it was like seeing a kid leave for school for the first ti. Sure, I’d see her again in probably just a few hours, but it was still the first ti she’d left since I’d t her.
“Hey, you guys ready to get through here?” The Swordsman called over to us. “There’re so more people coming down the road we gotta sign in soon. Don’t wanna hold them up.”
“R-right,” I nodded. “Coming.”
We got everything finalized as we signed ourselves in, getting the two silver-degree badges that hung around our necks—mine just phased right through my armor so it ended up actually touching —and then the guards went over to open the tall gates that kept us out.
“Hey,” I asked the Magic-Type as he reached down to pull the lever to open the gates, “what’s the na of this town, anyway? Don’t think you ever told us.”
“Interesting story, actually,” he said. “Guy who founded it, he was lost and looking for water or sothing, wandering for days trying to find a river. Well, when he finally did, it was right here. He was hours away from dying, they say, but the gods put the river here to save him. So to thank them, he founded a town right here on the riverbank. And when they nad it, he could only really think of one thing to call it. Salvation.”
“That’s so flamin’ cheesy,” the Swordsman laughed. “No way that’s really why they called this place Salvation, right? I thought it was just called that after so dude with a weird last na.”
“I think it’s inspiring,” the Magic-Type shrugged. “Maybe it’s a fake story. I don’t care.”
Their conversation faded out as the wooden doors creaked open. Salvation, huh?
I turned to Erani. “Okay, let’s figure out how to get so money, and then let’s find so real fucking food to eat.”
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