I’ve been here for a week and my life has gone smoothly. I had learned magic. It was simple: you just muttered an incantation and called upon the force of an element. After a while, you saw the patterns in the incantations and then you could remember or make up spells on your own. I got the hang of it quickly with the universal language skill I had, so it was easy.
I had bought a mage’s staff from a vendor and used it regularly, it helped me concentrate my mana. I had taken up several requests posted and made a name for myself.
The guild had its members broken up into several ranks based on their experience and skill levels. There was the E rank, then D, C, B, A, and Z rank. The Z rank is the highest. Each guild request was ranked and based on what the member did with the requests, points would be added to their scores, boosting or lowering their ranks. A member could only take requests up to one rank above them, and if they wanted to, they’d have to make a party of members where at least half were within one rank of such request. Since I was alone, I had to make do with doing only E-rank quests until I rose in rank.
After doing quests for a week, I had finally managed to raise my rank from an E to a D. From rank C onward, there were added subranks as well. There were C- and C+ and Cs in-between. This went all the way up to the Z rank with Z+ being a calamity level threat.
Such differences didn’t stop me, I wanted to rise to the top, I didn’t have set reasoning or anything like that, I just needed a goal to strive for. As for my great uncle’s request, I had joined up with a few others for quests, but none of them gave me the spark of friendship. Other than Razana of course.
Razana was my receptionist, and as a pretty lady in this sort of job, she attracted a lot of attention. But despite all the troubles, other members seemed genuinely interested in bettering society through the guild. Her face lit up when I entered the hall.
I had just gotten back from my first D-ranked quest, to kill six Octuple horned rabbits in the nearby fields. The lack of administration around these parts made monsters able to breed easily. With no patrols or centralized transportation or communication network, many monsters were able to accumulate and run rampant, attacking towns. This was one of the reasons why so much of this land was undeveloped or taken over and administered by other countries. The towns themselves were very profitable, however. Sitting between the north and south, merchants and the like we're able to travel through the towns, selling wares between the nation This influx of people brought money into the local economy, but due to the weakness of the current administrations, not much of that money went to public welfare, making an average townsperson poor.
Despite it all, adventurers made a lot of money here. The merchants needed hired swords and scouts to travel monster-laden territory, and occasionally a rich patron would post quests exacting revenge on particular monsters, or get rid of nuisances. However, most monsters here weren’t very strong. Monsters were ranked the same as adventurers, and most monsters ranked between E and C here, with the upper echelons of monsters usually existing in the Demonkin’s continent or other areas. Despite it all, these adventurers made big bucks here, and I did too.
Razana helped me collect my reward and then followed me as I sat down at a table to read. I raised my eyebrows.
“Why are you following me here? Don’t you have work to do?”
“Sure, but I can take a break, and better yet, I get to see your goofy faces as you read!” She said,
Wait, I make goofy faces?!? “Ummm, okay I guess? Why are you so intrigued with me anyway?”
Razana leaned in, “Can I tell you something?”
I was a little confused and said, “Sure?”
“Okay, to be honest, most people here suck.” She said seriously.
I was a little taken back, Razana was always kind to everyone, it seemed a bit weird that she’d say that most people suck.
“Oooookaaay?” I said slowly.
“But you're one of the exceptions, unlike most people here, you seem to do it for more than the money, like you have some purpose hanging around and living here.”
“Well, I mean I guess. I like money and I need it, but I promised my great uncle that I would try to make friends, so I have been putting an effort into that.”
“That’s nice, I can get along with someone like that, so what do you say? Can we be friends?”
I was a little taken back, but it wasn’t like I could or wanted to refuse.
“Sure, I’d love to be friends with you.”
Razana smiled at that, “Great then, let’s talk friend.”
And we did, Razana was very interesting. It turns out she grew up around here, so she knew a lot of people and things about the area. I learned a lot from talking with her as well. Razana hated people without loyalty it seemed, people who changed loyalties easily and were unreliable seemed to aggravate her. That’s why she hated some of the adventurers here, many would flee if it looked like they would lose a battle, and abandon their clients.
Talking with her gave me a good perspective on what this world was like, what this region was like. It would benefit plenty if someone came and took over, providing effective policies that would help organize this place into a more ordered society.
I had studied political systems back in my old world so I was fairly sure of what needed to be done here to make things better, as I shared a few of my ideas, Razana’s eyes lit up and she was intrigued by my ideas. This talk led throughout most of the day.
I was on another quest with a party that I got along well with. There was Herbert, a strong fighter that had a brain to boot, and Jana, a thief with a good body and even better dexterity.
They both liked me well enough and over the past two weeks we had been working together, I got to know them well and for the first time, with them and Razana I felt as if I had good friends.
We were tasked with scouting a route from the town to a small pond for a group of fishermen that avoided most monsters. Jana had gone ahead and managed to find a good path, now it was just up to me and Herbert to walk the path and get rid of any stray monsters that lingered.
Herbert wore a set of light metal armor and had a shield and sword equipped. I had used my money to buy myself a good mage getup. It was a dark red tunic and a pair of black pants with some leather boots to match. I had gotten a mystic-looking short red cape and draped it over my shoulders. That, and with a nice pointy hat and my staff, I looked the part of a mage.
Walking down the path, Herbert and I made small talk. Herbert, along with Jana had grown up in this region. They had loyalty to protecting it so Raana liked them as well. This quest didn’t pay much but it did offer them a way of contributing to the community, that’s why they took it
“Whoa there,” Jana called out. She was up front scouting.
“What is it?” I asked.
“A big one, it’s coming soon, be on guard”
I nodded, as a thief Jana had good senses and skills, she could detect this sort of thing.
Suddenly, through the woods a large wolf crashed through the bushes and appeared. It was a direwolf, a C- class monster that usually hunted in packs. This one seemed to be a loner.
Herbert advanced, “Hyaaaah!” he cried, raising his sword in a charge.
However, he was too slow, and the wolf simply sidestepped, wheeling around for a counterstrike.
I couldn’t let that happen, raising my staff I called out, “Oh fire, come forth, Fire Javelin!”
A spear of fire manifested in front of me, launching itself at the wolf.
The wolf wasn’t fast enough to dodge this one and it struck it square.
Struggling for a bit, its fur caught fire, and Herbert quickly swung his sword to end its misery. We stamped out its fur, which was relatively unharmed, and examined the corpse.
The wolf pelt was in good shape for being slightly burned, so we decided to bury it for the time being. We’d come back and dig it up to sell later.
Herbert smiled, “Thanks Silvi, I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t distract it back there.”
I blushed, “Nah it’s fine, I’m just glad you are all safe.”
Jana called back at us, “C'mon let’s go, we got to hurry if we wanna get this done before nightfall!”
We laughed and moved on.
Jana was tall, around 20, and with brown hair and a slim build. Herbert was also very tall, and around 20, he had dark brown hair and a thick build. They both were reliable and fair people, so it rusted them to watch my back at this party.
Herbert was so kindhearted, I found it hard to believe he would hurt anything at first. But then I saw his strong determination, and that superseded any feelings he might have had. He showed no mercy, and I understood after Jana told me that his family was slaughtered by monsters when he was younger.
Jana herself was another victim, but her to slavers. Slavers had raided her village just north of here. The village had hired adventurers to protect them, but when their mayor couldn’t cough up the money to pay them, they bailed, leaving the village vulnerable. The slavers came in and subdued the inhabitants, killing many people, including Jana’s parents. Jana and her siblings were taken as slaves for the northern kingdoms. While there, they were separated, and with strokes of luck, she was able to escape and make her way down here. Here she trained as a thief, sabotaging slaving operations and finding out more about her family. Right now she was saving up to go back north and liberate her younger brother, who she had found.
I had no sympathy for the slavers she had punished, coming from a society that abolished slavery, I had nothing but contempt for others who saw life as nothing more than an object to be sold.
We got along great, she was a good person to have as a friend. Scouting this path, we put clear markers and cleared bushes to make it easier to use. Technically, the last part wasn’t required but Herbert insisted we did it, and we were in no position to refuse.
After completing our quest we went back to the guild, talking with Razana we received a fair bit of money and the gratitude of several fishermen. The fishermen offered to sell us fish at a reduced price and we eagerly accepted.
This sort of thing happened quite often. Jana and Herbert were popular for their contributions to the community welfare, and they stole the hearts of the common folk here. By joining them, I had become a recipient of that gratitude as well. People quickly warmed up to me. As much as I'd like to deny it, I was a charmer.
Making good with the common folk gave us a ton of advantages. Commoners didn’t hold too much political power, but in a destabilized region like this, local politics mattered a lot. These locals, while commoners, did hold connections and familial ties. Using these connections they had and our idolization, I had a pretty good information network in this town and even the surrounding villages. Anyone who said not knowing normal people was a fool, at least in this country anyway.
The region was autonomous as an established political entity wanted to take it, despite its advantages. The town of Elentiania was one of the largest towns, it would be fair to call it a small city. With a population of 10,000, of course, this included slaves, which numbered about 30% of the population. The leader of Elentiania was the mayor, a purely ceremonial position and most of the town was administered by the council. The council was a group of well of slave traders and merchants who used their wealth to gain influence, usually to deter any attempt of tolling or taxing goods (including slaves) while traveling through the kingdom. They had no idea how to govern, using their authority purely for business purposes.
It was quite pitiful. As far as I knew, the mayor was a good man and loved by the people, but he was way too weak and without will. I wished someone would come in here and do something, make this place an actual city-state, and rule with a stronger fist, keeping these people safe. This time here made this lifestyle grow on me, now these strange people I considered friends. It was kind of inevitable, after all, most of them were so kindhearted, even the slaves. I felt bad, I wanted to do something.
Turns out that something came up right then and there. My best friend, Razana, whispered to me “Hey, we need to talk…”
I raised my eyebrows, "Okay” I said.
We went into a private room in the back, it was near the guildmaster’s office. The guild master wasn’t a very good man, he was the kind of guy you’d find lounging in this office, paid well to do things that he didn’t even try to. He was a slacker. Razana ran this place, the staff respected her so they followed her lead.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Bad news,” She said, “A group of monsters is forming in the nearby forest, and it looks like they’ll attack the town.”
“What are these monsters?”
“From what it looks like, sentients, goblins, tons of them, and they’re commanded by a high orc demondessenter.”
I gasped. Chewing my lip, I said, “What can we do?”
“Not much I’m afraid, the town doesn’t have enough guards to defend it, and even if it did they are not very loyal, most of them will probably flee."
The town had a state-funded police force, but most of them were inexperienced bandits looking for the cheap buck. Sentients were a special class of monsters that had some level of intelligence, but without civilization or other things that made a creature respectable. Most of them were male, and the lack of females led them to raid villages, taking the women as breeding stock. And the high orc was in big trouble, a high orc was a demon dissenter, those were intelligent demonkin who diverged from normal demonkin. They went into savagery and while quite smart, they were brutal, only seeking blood and lust.
Despite the high orc’s brutality, the race was known for their cunning, so these goblins would put up a coordinated and good attack. “How many?” I asked.
“7,000 in all,” Razana responded.
“No way!” I exclaimed, the reason why this town still stood in its terrible state was that despite it all, monsters were hostile to one another, they didn’t form groups. 7,000 was unspeakably high, that high orc must have had this invasion planned out. It was a given that monsters would invade settlements, their lust and hunger were never suitable, they desired something, they’d go at any length to get it.
There was no way the town could hold up against 7,000 monsters, not with what we had now. “If you haven’t noticed, many merchants are pulling out. Not only that, but the mercenaries hired to protect the town are leaving too, along with a bunch of adventurers.”
“That means no one will be left to protect this place.”
“That’s right, and the citizens who are too poor or incapable of leaving will be stuck to fend for themselves. They’ll die.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked.
“Because I know how smart you are, and I want you to help this town and the people in it using your abilities.”
As a mage, I was pretty powerful, but my magical knowledge was severely limited. The only magic I was particularly proficient at was dark type magic or summoning magic, in which I was able to summon powerful beasts. However, this took time so it was impractical in combat situations. Due to this, I figured what Razana was saying was to use my intellectual power to strategize and save the town. Despite my studies in history and military logistics, to beat an army of 7,000 bloodthirsty monsters with barely any troops of my own was a feat that would be near impossible to accomplish.
Knowing this, I went back into the considerably emptier guildhall, the town and its population were getting smaller every day as more people fled. But I knew that the slaves and many of the commoners would not be able to leave, they couldn’t afford it or their position kept them here. They would all die if no one did anything. Resolved to help them, I sat down and began formulating a plan.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
