‘For a given value of welcoming,’ Constance said.
‘The people who count are welcoming.’
‘I suppose that’s true. We’ll go straight to the guild. Sonia will know whether there’s somewhere for you two to stay.’
‘Sonia is the guild master here,’ Mimi explained. ‘Sonia Brightblade. She’s an ex– I take that back, she’s still an adventurer, but she’s far less active these days. Too busy with running the guild here and she doesn’t have a regular party. She actually holds Master Adventurer rank with the guild, which is unusual. I mean, a town this size would normally only have a journeyman running the guildhall, but Hillock gets so much traffic that they appointed Sonia to run things.’
‘It’s quite unusual to have a woman running a big guildhall, isn’t it?’ Aneshti asked.
‘Yeah,’ Constance replied. ‘That’s the “compromise.” They appointed a Master Adventurer, but they also appointed a woman.
It’s kind of like taking the position seriously, but not wanting to waste a valuable member of the guild.’
‘It is true that few women ever get to Master rank,’ Mimi admitted. ‘There’s never been a woman in the top job.’
There were a couple of men with spears and studded-leather tunics guarding the gate. ‘Guarding’ was a rather loose term for what they were doing, but they were standing just inside the fence and watching those entering the town. One of them was actually holding his spear. The other one gave Constance a scowl as the party marched in and onto Main Street.
Main Street was, according to Rain, one of the few named roads in the town. It had cobbles on it, and it ran from the gate to the town square. It even had lampposts which appeared to be magical, which meant that the town paid someone to come along and apply Continual Light spells to them every few days. The lampposts themselves were iron, which meant someone had spent money on a relatively expensive, ornamental addition to the town’s main street at some point.
The buildings along Main Street were stone, but if you looked down the roads branching off this one, you saw a lot more timber-frame buildings with rendered exteriors. Kana figured that some were likely brick, but the majority had either planking or wattle walls. Most were single storey, but there were a few taller structures. In the distance, a tall stone tower could be seen on the forest side of the town. It was probably a lookout tower.
Kana thought she could see a bell hanging in the top of it.
The town square was not huge, but it was a reasonably big open space with cobbles for a surface. There were holes between the cobbles in various places. In fact, Kana started to notice that they seemed to form something of a regular pattern by the time the party were halfway across the square.
‘It’s market day tomorrow,’ Rain said when she asked about them.
‘You’ll see what those are for then.’
The buildings around the square were almost all bigger than one storey and all built of stone. Some of them looked like houses, grand ones compared to the rest of the town. Others were clearly commercial. There were a couple of clothing shops, one more upscale than the other, an inn, a shop which was showing staffs and other magical props in its window, another showing armour and yet another with weapons in the window, and there was the Adventurers’ Guild building.
Compared to the guildhall in Dvartim, this one was distinctly unimpressive. It had two storeys, and there was the guild insignia above the door. Here, however, the insignia was painted onto a wooden board and it looked like the paint could have used some touching up. The door – just a single door – also looked like the red paint coating it needed a little work, but it was open and inviting. The early autumn sun was warm, far warmer than Kana remembered from the White Castle, and the open door likely represented a need for ventilation rather than a welcoming attitude. Still, Kana felt like she was being invited in, so in she marched along with the rest of the party.
This was definitely not Dvartim. The ground floor was open and had tables, but they were unoccupied aside for one. That single occupied table was at the back, and the occupier was a tall, attractive, blonde-haired woman wearing a loosely fitted, off-white tunic and a mildly irritated expression. The irritation probably came from the stacks of papers she had in front of her on the table. The paperwork alone suggested that this was Sonia Brightblade, Master Adventurer. She did not look like the kind of woman who really enjoyed holding down a desk. She was reasonably perceptive, it seemed, because she looked up as the party entered the room, one eyebrow rising as she took in the sight.
‘I see you three managed to survive a trip to Dvartim,’ Sonia said. ‘And you brought back friends.’
‘Of course we managed the trip,’ Constance replied. ‘We did the job, picked up another one while we were there, and, yes, picked up a couple of new party members on the way. Sonia Brightblade, this is Kana and Aneshti. They’ve got a letter from the Dvartim guild office for you.’
‘Two elves? Wait, no, the ears aren’t pointed.’
‘I am shitagi,’ Aneshti said. ‘Kana is just more attractive than most humans.’
Sonia smirked and got to her feet, rounding the table and holding out a hand. ‘Nice comeback. I might decide to like you two.’
Standing, Sonia’s build became more obvious. She was a big, if shapely, woman. Kana figured she was over a hundred and eighty centimetres, probably a good five centimetres taller than Kana was. There was a strong suggestion of a body composed largely of solid muscle, aside from a bust which did not rival Constance’s but was trying pretty hard. Her face was perhaps a little masculine with a strong jawline and a very slight cleft to her chin. But her green eyes were quite large and she had very full lips.
Kana took the offered hand. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard almost nothing about you, but what I’ve heard was good.’
Sonia burst into raucous laughter. ‘We’ll have to have a drink tonight. I like to get to know a little about the new adventurers who come here.’ She took Aneshti’s hand and shook it. ‘Of course, we get a lot of new adventurers here, so I can’t always get to know them all as much I’d like. That’s mostly in spring, however, so I’m not as busy this time of year.’
‘A lot of novices come out of Alabeth to here in the spring,’
Rain said. ‘Heads full of fantasies about becoming famous and rich.’
‘If they last until the following spring, they might even have a chance of it,’ Constance added.
‘Most give up rather than getting killed,’ Sonia said, maybe a little too quickly. ‘A lot of youngsters don’t realise how tough the life is. They expect gold to drop on them like snowflakes in the mountains. We usually lose a third by this time of year and maybe half of what’s left will take off through the winter.’
‘These two will be long term,’ Mimi said. ‘They’re already pretty advanced as far as education goes. They just need some experience. And zombies don’t scare them.’
‘Yes, they do!’ Aneshti countered. ‘They might not stop me, but they do scare me.’
‘Can’t stand the things myself,’ Sonia said. Her gaze returned to her desk and its stacks of paper. ‘And when I turn into one from abject boredom, I hope someone will put me out of my misery quickly and painlessly.’
‘We promise you won’t even see it coming,’ Constance said. ‘Kana has some really powerful fire spells that should do the trick.’
‘Thanks. True friends know when to reduce you to ashes.’
~~~
Hillock had a seemingly unending supply of guesthouses which catered to the needs of adventurers who needed a place to stay
‘while their adventuring career took off.’ It was somewhat disheartening to discover that many of those staying in such places had been doing so for years with no indication that they would be moving out soon. Then again, if your career did ‘take off’ it was likely that you would move to Alabeth or maybe another city. Or you might hit a big enough pay-out that you quit the business to live out the rest of
your life in comfort, or sometimes to run a guesthouse for beginning adventurers in Hillock.
The place where Constance and Mimi shared a room had rooms free, which was convenient for Kana and Aneshti. Rain had her very own room, which sounded great until you discovered that it was a space over the stables adventurers commonly used, not far from the town’s gate, with about enough room for a bed and some floor to stand on. Rain helped in the stables when she was not out on a quest, which paid for her and Ranulf’s housing as well as providing enough cash to keep them fed. Kana and Aneshti got to pay a copper piece a day, or five coppers for a full week, for a room with two single beds, a desk, and a chest of drawers, and not much space besides that to move around in. Linen and water were included in the cost, but there was a list of extras: one copper per week for magical lighting, if you could not provide it yourself, one copper a day for a breakfast of porridge and light ale, three coppers for the laundering of clothes, etcetera, etcetera.
It was a nice enough place. If you paid in advance, they would even keep your room for you while you were away. Very few people prevailed of the breakfast, however, since the adventurers of Hillock ate, and drank, a lot in the Sword and Staff pub. Beer was a copper a pint and you could get a pretty substantial meal for two or three coppers. The Sword and Staff was an unusual sort of building, at least to Kana’s eyes. In a town composed largely of wood frame or stone houses, the pub was essentially built into an artificial hill in one corner of the town which had a number of other, similar buildings in it. The roof had grass growing on it! Inside, it was warm and cosy, but not too warm. The thick layer of earth overhead had to provide insulation from both hot summers and cold winters.
‘This is the dwarven district,’ Constance explained. Lunch was being had. ‘They like living underground, right? Well, when they can’t, they often build regular houses into hills, or they cover the building in earth to give the impression that they’re underground.’
‘It looks like it should be in Hobbiton,’ Kana commented. The door of the pub was not actually round, but it was sort of rounded. Given that it was wood, that was overcomplicating a simple structure.
‘Never heard of the place.’
‘Uh, no, you wouldn’t have. It’s not important. What do we do now? We’ve made it to Hillock. What’s the next step?’
‘We’ll check the job board in the guild this afternoon. When there’s nothing there we can do, we’ll do whatever we can.’
‘That’s… encouraging.’
Mimi giggled. ‘It’s what adventurers do. Make money however you can while waiting for something to come up. You said you can make scrolls, Kana? The magic shop is always looking for scrolls. Go see them tomorrow morning and ask what they need. They’ll usually pay a little more for spells that are in demand or they’re running out of.’
‘Huh. Back to my old day job. But okay, I can do that.’
‘You said you learned to make enchantments, Aneshti, so your best bet is to check for enchanting circles who need an extra. They usually post on the job board at the guild. Just make sure they’re not seeking to fill long-term positions, or you’ll be tied up for weeks and might miss something more lucrative.’
‘I doubt I’d qualify for permanent enchanting jobs,’ Aneshti said. ‘I know how to do the basic work, but I never learned any of the major enchantments. You want a wand that casts Light, I’m
your girl. You want a magic sword… No. I can make scrolls too, so I can do that if there are no enchanter jobs going.’
‘Except there’s only one desk in our room,’ Kana said.
‘You’ve got your little writing box thing. You can work anywhere.’
‘Yeah, because a day spent working with that box on my lap is oh so comfortable. You’re paying for the extra baths I’ll need to take because my back is killing me.’
Aneshti giggled. ‘I’m okay being a kept woman. You can make the scrolls and we’ll live off your earnings.’
‘Yeah, right. We have got some money in our pouches anyway. That should keep us going for a while.’
‘It can,’ Rain said, ‘but you’ll want to think about investment as well as living expenses.’
‘Investment?’
‘New or better equipment. Uh, what are those books of spells called, Constance?’
‘Grimoires,’ the necromancer replied.
‘Right. Grimoires to help you learn new spells. I think the magic shop carries those.’
‘It does. It’s tedious learning from books like that, but you can do it in your off time and break off when we get a real job to do.’
‘Uh, and if you can see your way to making a few scrolls for me,’
Rain added a little sheepishly, ‘that could improve our chances when we’re working.’
‘You can use scrolls?’ Kana asked.
‘Yeah. I’ve got enough talent to do that. I even learned to cast Light. I’m really bad at it, but I can do it.’
‘About one in five humans has a basic magical talent,’ Aneshti said, assuming her lecturing tone. ‘Many of them become adventurers because, at the very least, they can sense when they’re around something magical and they can use most magic items and scrolls. Practically, to be a mage, you need to be better than that and only about three in every fifty humans are.
Elves are a different matter. Almost every elf has that basic talent and two in every five have the potential to be a real mage. However, most don’t pursue a career in magic, even if they learn to cast a few spells.’
‘Sorry,’ Kana said, ‘she gets like that sometimes. The pomposity wears off quickly.’ Aneshti gave out a squeak of protest. ‘How do you remember things like that? Were you bitten by a radioactive encyclopaedia when you were a teenager?’
‘Tell me what “radioactive” and “encyclopaedia” mean, and I’ll give you a definitive answer.’
‘And what’s a “teenager?”’ Mimi asked. ‘Is it an elf thing I’ve not heard of?’
‘I’m going to give up now,’ Kana said. ‘Jokes aren’t funny when you have to explain them. Especially when it’s right down to the meaning of all the words.’
~~~
Kana and Aneshti decided not to wait before checking out the magic shop. It was, after all, a magic shop and they were mages.
The only thing more exciting to a mage was a library.
This one was simply called ‘The Magic Shop,’ and it seemed to provide the most basic of magical shopping experiences. There was a room with a counter at the back and a lot of shelves on which various things sat. There were a couple of locked cabinets around the counter area, presumably containing the rarer and more expensive items. Most of the things on display were wands or basic jewellery; such things were often used as the basis for magic items, so they were the most common physical objects in the shop. It was a basic shop with mostly basic objects in it, but it smelled of magic. You could feel the magic in the air as you walked in. The least magical thing in the place was the girl behind the counter. The shop itself had at least one enchantment on it, probably something to prevent theft.
The girl behind the counter did look like a girl rather than a woman. Kana figured she was around fifteen, no more than sixteen.
She was pretty. There was red in her brown hair and her green eyes were bright. She also had a bright, warm, and welcoming smile. There was a hint of curiosity in her eyes as she watched Kana and Aneshti enter, likely because she did not recognise either of them.
‘Welcome to the Magic Shop,’ she said. ‘Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.’
‘Actually,’ Kana said, ‘we understand that you buy spell scrolls for resale. Do you have a list of spells you’re most interested in?’
‘We do. We’re always in need of warrior enhancement spells, principally offensive and defensive multipliers. More esoteric protections are also popular. Fire protection sells well in particular. So do Continual Light and Analyse Magic scrolls.
We’ll consider anything relatively rare
. We’re particularly low on Extinguish Fire and Weather Shield.’
Kana grinned. ‘You’ve got a good memory.’
‘I remember things I need to. I don’t recognise you two, so you must be new in town. I’d certainly remember two elves.’
‘One elf,’ Kana said, indicating Aneshti, ‘and one person who keeps being mistaken for an elf.’
‘Oh! I am sorry.’
Kana waved the apology away. ‘I don’t mind. Now, where do I find the books?’
The girl pointed to her left. ‘Behind that set of shelves, against the wall. Unless you’re after something special. We keep those in the cabinet here.’ She pointed to her right, at a glass-fronted cabinet with a lock. ‘I’m Letina, by the way.’
‘Kana, and that’s Aneshti. Uh, you don’t own this place, I take it?’
‘Oh, no. Master Mage Torval is the owner, but he spends most of his time in the workshop making magic items. He’s… less customer friendly than I am. Or that’s what he tells me.’
‘I’ve met a few master mages. He’s probably right.’
Aneshti had already found the bookshelves and was examining the spines when Kana arrived to do the same. There was a pretty reasonable collection of what could be best described as ‘basic instruction manuals,’ grimoires devoted to teaching a particular spell tree or other useful collections. ‘The Enchanter’s Primer,’
for example, was a collection of ten simple spells which provided the base you needed to learn the Enchant spell. ‘Enchanting for Beginners,’ meanwhile, contained Enchant and a number of basic enchantments such as the one used on mages’ staffs and the one used to create protective amulets. Everything seemed to be about the same thickness, about a hundred pages, and they all contained ten spells. Kana was a little surprised at the prices, which seemed fairly low; every volume was written by hand, some had carefully drawn diagrams, and yet they had bulk-rate prices.
‘They’re copied,’ Aneshti said. ‘There’s a spell which can copy an entire book onto blank pages in a few seconds. They run production lines of them in most cities.’
‘Huh. We had to invent the printing press to get that kind of mass production.’
The Girl Who Dreamed of a Different World Page 16