Aurora Scroll

"Finally!”

Cain was overwhelmed with emotion as he saw the town of his destination from his two weeks' journey. Mokash town was not special by any means. To Cain, the town was just a place amongst many. Still, it was hard not to feel relieved when seeing civilization after so many days in the wilds. The sight of Mokash town was like finding an oasis during a journey in the desert.

Longer than I thought… that encounter made me lose a few days. Thankfully that Arnold/Tarakai brought some food with him. Or I might have had to scavenge or hunt… which would have made the travel time even longer.

A few days had passed since his encounter with the assassins. Cain suffered a fatal wound, but he showed no sign of any injury now. With the town in view, Cain’s steps were lighter and his mood brightened. It was early in the morning and the sun’s rays greeted him at an angle that shone almost at eye level. There were other travelers besides him walking to the same destination, more and more people around him as Cain got closer to the town’s entrance.

“Brrr… It’s cold,” Cain shivered.

That’s it! I’m sick of eating almost frozen meat and sleeping on the hard ground. I'm gonna have a warm meal and sleep in a cozy bed tonight! Cain resolved himself to complete a grand quest.

“…What did you expect, girl? A floating island above the clouds? Of course it looks ordinary! It’s a human settlement… and not a particularly remarkable one.”

Cain was suddenly talking to himself again. A man that walked in front of him turned around and gave him a strange look. Cain smiled and nodded apologetically. The man dismissed him after a few seconds of silence and continued on his way.

That must not happen again… Damn voices in my head.

Cain kept his mouth shut and followed after the man to the town.

Before entering the town, I must confirm something first.

“Mmm… 31.04% huh,” Cain muttered after checking something. “That’s better than I thought.”

With all things in order, Cain entered a line for people that wanted to enter the town.

The good mood he had soured after the town guards at the gate detained him. Cain had no identification, no letter of recommendation, no one that could vouch for him, and no guards around that can confirm his Ur village exists. Which was logical since he made that up from 100% lies.

In short, he could be a criminal or a runaway slave or something along that unsavory ilk.

The guards brought him to a station where they could ‘question’ him in more detail. The gatekeepers brought him to a small office with a fat middle-aged man wearing the guards’ nicer clothes, signs of a higher ranking.

“Name?” The fat man asked with a bored tone. There was a blank parchment on the desk and the man had a quill ready.

“Cain of Ur,” the boy responded.

“What is your purpose here?”

“To register as an adventurer.”

“Anything or anyone that can confirm your identity?” The fat man scribbled something. The writing was so ugly that Cain couldn’t even read it.

“No,” Cain placed a pouch of 5 silver coins as he answered.

The man took the pouch, looked inside it, and then put it in the drawer without batting an eye. “Any criminal records?” he continued.

“No,” Cain put yet another 5 silver coins.

“You can pick up your identification in three days,” said the fat man while collecting the coins skillfully. He must have a lot of practice.

Cain rolled his eyes, sighed a little, and then placed 10 silver coins at once on the table. He had successfully resisted the urge to throw the coins straight to the fat man’s face.

The fat town’s guard took out a different parchment, signed it with special ink, and put a red wax seal on the document before handing it to Cain.

“Enjoy your stay at Mokash town, Mister Cain,” said the man with all smiles.

Money is, and most likely always will be, a universal language.

***

Cain took in the sights of the medieval town from the town’s main street. Compared to Earth’s version of the medieval town, there were many improvements to the standards of living. For example, there were no heaps of garbage left outside of the residents’ houses nor were there horse droppings on the streets. Cain was thankful for the existence of magic in this world.

Bureaucracy, humph! Cain still felt a little bitter about his experience earlier.

Adventurer’s guild tag should suffice for the next time I go to human settlement. Granted, I don’t have any identification right now, so becoming an adventurer should take care of my identity dilemma.

The day was still young but Cain was already exhausted from the long journey, he wanted to rest as soon as possible. After some thinking, he decided to endure the temptation of a comfortable room for a little bit longer. First, he would register as a fledgling adventurer then seek an inn affiliated with the guild.

Because unlike last time, he planned to make a living as an adventurer.

Finding the Adventurer’s Guild wasn’t hard, Cain just needed to ask a couple of pedestrians for direction.

The guild of Mokash town was smaller than the one he visited before. The inside of the building was more compact and the room had a rustic feeling about it. The wooden furniture and walls really gave a classic impression. After Cain went in from the door, he saw that there was an eatery with adventurer-like people eating loudly and heartily. He went to the left because the guild employees were doing office work behind a counter on that side.

“Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild, how may we help you?” A young woman wearing neat and proper guild attire smiled professionally.

“Yes, I would like to register as an adventurer please,” Cain said.

Here we go again… let's have a real adventure this time. The youth thought as he strived for grand aspirations.

20 minutes later he had finished the registration. It wasn't hard or complicated, even less so since he already knew the procedure. The clerk mainly asked about his identity, was he able to read and write, his ability as a Pathseeker, did he have experience fighting monsters, and the like. It was about formality and rough record-keeping, in Cain’s opinion. They also had a magic item to investigate his Level. Cain panicked a bit but since the result was Level 0, he regained his composure.

My magic item managed to hide my Level as intended, phew…

After finalizing everything and paying the registration fee, Cain was a member of the Adventurer's Guild.

“This is your guild tag,” the clerk gave a military dog tag look-alike with a tray. “With this, you’re an adventurer. Pleased to have you with us, Mister Cain,” the woman bowed.

“Thank you,” Cain took the glass-colored tag with his name on it. Not my real name but it will do, he thought. “As I said before, I need a place to crash. Any recommendation?” He asked.

“I recommend the Olopo Inn two streets to the left. The inn is well kept and adventurers get a discount. The guild can guarantee that there are no ticks in their bed,” the guild lady said with a faint smile.

“That will do. See you later, miss.” Cain nodded before leaving the counter.

“Thank you for your visit. We look forward to meeting you again,” she gave a slight bow.

The newly minted adventurer's next stop would be the inn where he would spend the rest of the day recharging his battery but since he was already there, Cain wanted to observe the guild and other adventurer’s situation. Cain approached the somewhat crowded wall. There was a board with various quests posted, adventurers could pick the ones suitable for themselves.

Alrighty then, let’s recap a bit to refresh my memory. Quests are ranked based on their difficulty. From easiest to hardest: Glass, Obsidian, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond. This world’s guild classified the danger involved into these seven categories. An adventurer’s rank is based on their ability to accomplish these quests. Basically, Silver rank quest for Silver tag adventurers. Since I’m a newbie, I’m at Glass rank. Let’s see what quests are available.

Cain scanned the board, reading the quests’ details. He didn’t have high expectations about the Glass rank quests so he wasn’t disappointed when he failed to spot anything interesting. He examined the higher difficulty ones next.

The highest difficulty quest in this town is Bronze, which should be for a Level 3 Pathseeker or a top-notch group of Level 2s… Investigate the castle that sprung overnight, about four days travel in the south-west direction, huh? Is there a Level 3 in this town?

Cain moved back from the board, giving room for others who wanted to use it. Cain turned to the other side of the room where the adventurers ate. They’re mostly human except three, two beastfolks and a dwarf.

Hmn, not enough racial diversity to scream fantasy, Cain thought.

Back to observing the adventurers, there were around 30 of them. About 10 were not Pathseekers, just normal humans who hadn’t mastered mana. From the 20, half were teens with simple adventurer gear. Cain guessed they must be fledgling adventurers like himself. Other than his sword, the rest of Cain’s equipment was nothing special. The other half of the bunch were older, veterans. Cain tried to discern their Level.

The youth with buzz-cut hair picked up just one Level 2 among the veterans. A man that looked like a thug, he was eating loudly and surrounded by underlings. Cain could sense his Level because he didn’t bother to conceal his ‘aura’ - for the lack of a better term. The rest of the bunch were Level 0 or 1 or concealed.

I’m Level 1 but by using a magic item my aura is Level 0. I shouldn’t be able to tell that thug is Level 2 normally but he flaunted it. As for the rest… Cain’s eyes went from person to person until he stopped at a woman wearing a pointed hat.

Her. She should be a Level 2 too. Her aura is concealed but I have a feeling she’s strong.

Certainly, he couldn’t be sure. It was more of a feeling rather than deductive reasoning. Still, Cain had seen and even conversed with Level 2s before so it wasn’t a complete shot in the dark. The woman stopped eating her pasta, wiped her mouth with a napkin, and drank a glass of water before sending a wink at Cain.

Cain was surprised for a split-second before making an apologetic face. He didn’t dare to look in her direction anymore, afraid of inviting her ire.

Stupid, stupid! Don’t mess with people stronger than you, fool! Cain berated himself.

“Hey, you.” A person called out to him from the side.

“Hmn?”

He saw a hulking tower of muscle approaching him.