45: Report
I don’t think I’d ever slept that well.
The bed was, amazing!
Even when Milo shook me awake in the morning, all my body wanted to do was sink back into that heavenly cloud of a mattress! I had never had a proper bed like this before. At the Academy and Temple, the beds were incredibly thin, and at the Inn or Micca’s house, I usually slept on a bedroll. But this bed... it was something else entirely.
What did finally drag me out of bed, though, was Milo telling me I’d miss breakfast if I didn’t get up now. So, despite my body protesting, I got up, pulled on the same set of dirty clothes, and followed Milo out of the room. It seemed like Hari had already left.
Curiously, I noticed that Crisplet wasn’t around either.
“Uh, Milo? Where’s Crisplet?” I asked, eyeing the empty lantern on the desk.
“Oh, Jen came by, and Crisplet went with her,” he said nonchalantly.
“Traitor!” I muttered. I didn’t really mind, but still, my own companion running off like that! Milo just chuckled.
We headed downstairs into the common room, where Hari, Jen, and Liane were sitting around a fairly large table. Liane looked just as sleepy as I felt, but Hari and Jen were deep in conversation. Hari had several sheets of parchment spread in front of him.
When they noticed us, they waved us over, and the lone person serving food brought us our breakfast.
“Trevor! Come, sit here,” Hari called, sounding jovial. It was strange not seeing the big man in his armour. In a regular tunic and trousers, he still looked huge.
“We have some things to discuss while you eat, especially since this is your first time in the city,” he added with a smile.
I took a seat and saw some of the papers in front of him. They looked like maps, but they were so strange compared to the ones we were shown at the Academy. I had no idea what they were of.
“Right, so we need to discuss how we’re going to handle the next couple of weeks in Boltron. It’s been brought to my attention that Jen has already told you we’ll be with you at all times. I want you to know, this isn’t because we don’t trust you, it’s that we don’t trust others. So, it’s for your own safety,” he explained.
I just nodded. “It’s fine. I really don’t want to be kidnapped anyway,” I said with a laugh.
“Okay, great! That was the main thing I was worried you’d be upset about,” Hari said. “So today, we expect to be at the guild until at least lunchtime. But if our suspicions are correct, and Kevin’s already beat us there with his report—and Troy, who I guarantee has already been in first thing this morning to settle the job—there will be questions regarding your… let’s say, stalker,” he continued.
“We’ll make it very clear that it’s not your companion, your pet, or any other nonsense, but that should be obvious from the fact it’s a Shadow Cat…” Jen added.
“Exactly,” Hari said. “From my understanding, there are four main things you need to do in the city: getting the Runescribe books and possibly mentorship, visiting the temple, and shopping.” He glanced at me for confirmation. I nodded, and he carried on.
“Perfect! Jen and Liane have requested to be the ones to go shopping with you, and Milo will join you for the Runescribe book hunt. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if I join you for the visit to the temple?”
“Uh, yeah, of course, that’s fine. Perfect, even. I don’t know if it’s possible, but would I be able to get access to a kitchen while we’re here? I don’t have many supplies left, but I’d love to prepare some meals… you know, just in case,” I asked.
“Yes! That’s actually one of the topics we’ll be discussing at the guild later. I’m hoping they have access to some remote kitchens, or if not, their own kitchens at the guild itself,” Hari said. “Now, we have these maps.” He slid one of the sheets of paper in front of me. After I stared at it for a moment, confused, I saw the realisation dawn on Jen’s face.
“You’ve never seen a city map before, have you, Trev?” she asked, and after I shook my head, slightly embarrassed, she explained how the map worked, how to orient it, and—most importantly—where the key buildings were. She pointed out the inn, the guild, the markets, possible bookstores, the temple, and, lastly, circled a huge area, instructing me to stay away from it.
Overall, it was incredibly helpful. The map finally made some sense when I looked at it. By this point, my breakfast had been served—boar belly, two cooked eggs, and a roll cut in half. Honestly, it was really good food, simple yet something I’d be able to make myself. I even had the boar belly in my storage!
Once breakfast was finished, we all left the inn. To my surprise, Hari stopped and waited for me.
“Trev, you have the map. You can lead us to the guild, right?” he asked, smiling softly. Everyone else, including Crisplet (that traitorous elemental), patiently waited, with Jen’s shoulder as the perch.
“What? Oh, uh, yes, hold on.” I unrolled the map, orientated it the right way, and spotted the inn. If we took a left out the entrance, we could follow that road until it hit a much larger road. From there, I saw a right turn, and the guild didn’t look far away. Rolling up the map again, nodding to myself, I started walking in the direction.
Turns out, I still took the wrong turn. What the map depicted as a large road, and what I considered a large road, were vastly different. Rather than walking far enough to reach the larger road, I turned early, leading us down a path that clearly wasn’t correct. As the road started to curve away, I realised something was off—there was no curve on the map’s road.
I pulled the map back out and retraced our path. I had turned four streets too early. That forced us to backtrack before we finally found the actual main road.
Now, I understood why the road had looked so large on the map. The street was massive—at least six wagons wide. Speaking of wagons, there was a constant flow of them moving back and forth. But it wasn’t just horses pulling them. To my amazement, I saw what looked like Buvul—giant beasts with enormous horns. They didn’t move fast, but the wagons they pulled looked absolutely enormous.
Then, on some of the carriages, I saw what, at first glance, appeared to be horses, but their bodies were covered in scales. They were leaner, far more fierce-looking too.
As I stood there, stunned by the sight, they must have thought I was lost again, because I received a tap on my shoulder, turning around a little, I saw Liane pointing in a direction. But wait—Liane was several steps away from me. No one was close enough to tap me on the shoulder…
Liane’s using decoy again, isn’t she?
Nodding to myself and taking a deep breath, I turned in the right direction and started walking down the road again. After a short while, I saw the buildings growing larger and larger. Then, I spotted what must’ve been the guild. It made Forest’s Edge look like a shack. The building was massive, with carvings of giant beasts on the pillars supporting the floors above the entrance. The entrance was a set of massive wooden doors, up a small staircase.
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Shaking my head, I reminded myself that I couldn’t be stunned by everything I saw. I marched toward the building with purpose. Then, behind me, I caught a glimpse of the party following, all with bright smiles on their faces. Even Crisplet let out a burst of sparks.
I couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed but also proud. I had successfully read the map—albeit after one small mistake—and got us to our destination.
Hari clapped me on the shoulder. “Nice work, Trev. Most new recruits who become adventurers are useless with maps, but you did great,” he said with a wide grin, before taking the lead up the stairs and pushing open the massive doors to the Adventurer’s Guild.
The inside was just as impressive as the exterior. A huge central pillar stood in the middle of the room, lined with hundreds of available jobs posted on it. On the left-hand side, eight desks were arranged in neat rows. On the right was a waiting area, much like the one in Forest’s Edge, though here, it had a twist: a food stall serving cooked meat skewers and drinks. There were no mugs of ale in sight, so I guessed it was a different kind of drink.
Directly opposite the entrance, there were two doors. One, next to the desks, was unmarked. Above it, a sign indicated a central staircase leading up, and a guard stood near the first step. A screen I recognised from before was displayed on a pedestal nearby. To the right, just before the seating area, was a large set of double doors, with a sign above them reading "Training."
As I stood there, taking in the impressive surroundings, the rest of the party moved ahead and approached the desks.
“Trev, keep up,” Liane chuckled, nudging me along. It was easy for her to say, especially since I couldn’t even see her at that moment!
When we reached the desk, Hari took charge once again.
“Polite Company, reporting job completion of the escort from Grantholm to Boltron, for Troy Stevens,” Hari said, his tone all business once more.
“Ah, yes, we had Mr. Stevens in here earlier,” the man behind the counter replied, with a slight hesitation. “He provided... an interesting report of events, but you did complete the job as stated. Payment of six gold will be provided.” The clerk paused, seemingly gathering his thoughts before continuing, a new resolve in his voice.
“Sir, if you’ll excuse me, we also received a report from a Mr. Odiefont and his group, the Starhops. They made certain claims that require me to request the audience of an officer. Would you mind waiting?” the man added, bowing slightly at the end.
“That’s not a problem. I was going to request an audience regardless. We have a very serious report, and it’s not just about the Galvonsons,” Hari said.
“Then, please excuse me, sir. I’ll be just a moment.” The clerk left the counter and retreated through the small, unmarked door.
Turning to the group, Hari flashed a large smile.
“Well, seems everyone else has already reported. That should make most of this conversation go smoother, hopefully,” he chuckled.
A short while later, the clerk returned and approached us.
“Excuse me, if you’d all please follow me, the Vice Captain would like to speak to you in his office regarding the reports we’ve received, as well as your own,” he said, bowing once more.
Hari nodded, and we followed him toward the door.
“Ooh, Vice Captain getting involved. This should be fun,” Liane whispered next to me, now appearing again.
“Do you know him?” I asked curiously, trying—and failing—to keep my voice as low as hers.
“No, not at all. The usual hierarchy is we speak to officers, they speak to the Vice Captain, and he speaks to the boss. It’s very rare to break from that. Lucky us,” she said, and I couldn’t tell if she meant it sarcastically or not. Shrugging to myself, I followed her into the hallway.
We passed several doorways on the left side of the hall, but the clerk led us deep inside. Then, we reached a staircase, climbing higher and higher. Just how tall was this place?
Eventually, we arrived at a level far more richly adorned than the lower floors. At the end of the hall, there were large double doors, and to the left of that, a single, beautifully carved door. The clerk led us to the left. When I pointed to the double doors, Liane leant in.
“Guild Master's office,” she whispered.
After knocking, the door was opened by an aged man, weary-looking but with striking, nearly black eyes.
“Please, please come in. Thank you, Eric. You may return to the front; I’ll take it from here,” the Vice Captain said, dismissing the clerk, Eric, who bowed and quickly left.
As we entered the room, I was blown away by its grandeur. Five very comfortable chairs were arranged around a massive wooden desk that dominated the centre of the room. As we walked in, Crisplet, who had been sitting on Jen’s shoulder, caught the man’s attention.
“A Piercing Archer with a flame elemental companion?” he said, confused. “How did that come to be?”
“The elemental belongs to our support, sir. Its name is Crisplet, but you’ll find it, like its master, is a non-combatant,” Jen said, adopting a serious business tone, much like Hari.
“Ah, the rare class support, yes, yes, I read that report. Anyway, come in. Please take a seat. It seems I’ve been rude as well. I know all of you from your files, but my name is Jackson—Jackson Staridge, but please, just Jack or Jackson,” he said, closing the door behind us once we’d entered.
The room itself was massive, flanked on either side by full bookcases made of dark, almost charred-looking wood. Behind the desk sat a large window, looking out over parts of the city. It was then that I realised we were at least on the third level—perhaps higher.
“Now, I’m sure you know the reason this got escalated to me. Killing two Galvonson, rescuing the village, and if the report from Forest’s Edge is to be believed, at least two run-ins with a Shadow Cat. One of which it came inside your very dwelling… for food?” he said, almost disbelieving, as he took a seat behind the desk.
Hari, as usual, took the lead. “Yes, sir—”
“Jack or Jackson, sorry, I must insist,” the Vice Captain interrupted, half-exasperated. “Being called ‘sir’ drives me crazy.”
This clearly caught Hari off guard. He paused for a moment before composing himself again. “Yes, Jackson, however, it’s likely more serious than you know regarding two of the events.”
“Oh?” Jackson raised an eyebrow.
“We did have two encounters with the Shadow Cat before Forest’s Edge. We also have reason to believe that it is still stalking our support, Trevor here,” Hari explained.
“Stalking your support?” Jackson asked. “According to your report in Forest’s Edge, it stood right next to your support—sorry, Trevor—and then took food and left. It would stand to reason that if it wanted to stalk and kill the poor boy, he wouldn’t be sitting in front of me today.”
“Absolutely, you’re correct. When I say that the Cat is stalking Trevor, I don’t believe it’s to hunt or attack him. In fact, during the fight against the Galvonsons, it appeared purely to save his life,” Hari continued.
Jackson’s jaw dropped slightly. “It what?” He shook his head in disbelief.
“No, clearly, during the battle, you must have mistaken something else for the cat,” he began, but before Jackson could finish, Hari interjected.
“Sorry Si—Jackson,” Hari said, clearly getting the name right this time. “In this situation, there was no accidental sighting. It wasn’t seen from a distance. The cat quite literally cut the bird’s head off in one swift attack, then came to Trevor for some food, before disappearing again.”
Hari then turned to me. “Trevor, do you mind removing the head for me, please?”
I nodded absentmindedly, and without thinking, I pulled the head out. I forgot how large it was, and it slammed down onto the desk with a loud thud. Worse yet, since it had only been out of storage for a brief moment, some fresh blood spilled onto the desk.
“As you can see,” Hari continued, “the Galvonson was no small creature. This is an adult, bordering on ancient in age. And I’ll remind you, the cat—in a blink—cut its head off, then appeared at Trevor’s side for food before the corpse even hit the floor.”
Jackson’s eyes went wide. “And you brought the cat here? To this city?”
“To be clear,” Hari replied, “we have no control over the cat. But bringing Trevor to one of the largest cities would be the safest course of action for his own protection. That said, I’m unsure if it’s wise to attack or threaten the cat if it decides to show up.”
Jackson let out a long sigh. “Somehow, this is even above my pay grade to deal with. Please wait here; I’ll go talk to the Guild Master. Her input will be required.”
With that, Jackson stood and left the room, leaving the door open behind him. We could hear him enter the Guild Master’s office next door.
“Well, that went well,” Liane chuckled, “You got blood all over his stacks of paperwork. That’s a real win.”
“Ah, damn,” I cursed, quickly shoving the head back into storage. She was right—there was blood all over his desk and the papers. But I guess it couldn’t be helped.