Master Of None

With the previous days battles behind them and some good sleep under their belts the group was excited to finally reach a new kingdom. For everyone in the party thus was the first time seeing another kingdom, it was something they never had imagined would happen. Heading out early in the morning the plains began to fade away. The first hours brought small cottages with their own farmland or animal pens. The farther they traveled the more grouped the homes became giving way to small villages. These places were not major in size but housed large families that had been there for years. Massive yellow stone walls began to come in to sight, the yellow stone was rather rough compared to the smooth grey stone the Crystal kingdom capital Diamond was. Walker stocked that up to the locations being different influencing the availability of certain materials.

Massive gates opened in the wall allowing many different demi-humans access to the city, there seemed to be a spot for those with wings to land and check in with guards at the top as well. Large guards wearing red and yellow armors were stationed along the entrances to each gate. One demi-human in particular seemed to be acting as the foreman at the gate requesting identifications from travelers. The group began to approach the gates after waiting in line for sometime, Laurence had taken the lead since they would be visiting the tamer’s guild headquarters while in the city. Walker double checked that every member of the party was wearing their travel medal that the king had gifted them, hopefully it would speed up the entry process.

”Name or affiliation, identification, and reason for entry into the city of Ordist today.” the demi-human that was asking Laurence for these things seemed fairly bored, his hair was white and fairly curly. Long black horns arched from his head, a sheep trait demihuman.

Laurence pulled some papers from his cloak, ”Myself and my fellow tamers are checking in at headquarters for a scheduled report. We will be bringing in some guests with us for our report.”

The sheep demi-human took the papers and adjusted a small wire frame pair of glasses to carefully read them. Looking at Elise, Riley, and Laurence in turn nodded and passed back the papers. ”Everything is in order please have you guests step forward for identification.”

Following the man’s orders Laurence waved the party forward. Standing in front of the demi-human man he recited the same things asked of Laurence. ”We are registered with the adventurers guild as the Omnipotent party. We are here to finish an escort quest with the tamer’s guild members. We would also like to do some sightseeing, the city so far looks rather amazing and I can not wait to see within the walls.”Realizing they only had their medals as identification Walker removed his and placed it in front of the demi-human man. ”I hope this is enough as a form of identification, we also have our silver tier adventurers’ plaques on us.”

The man had been focused on the paperwork on his little table but seeing the medal his quill fell to the floor. Seeing this two large guards approached, they sensed something wrong since they had never seen their superior drop anything let alone their prized quill. The guards had short black hair on most of their bodies along with bulging muscles, definitely gorilla traits. Worried that something was wrong Walker picked the medal back up, about to apologize, however the demi-human man spoke first. ”Honored guests, I do apologize for my inappropriate greetings” the man stemmed from his table and lowered his head. ”I shall not allow myself this mistake ever again, I should have recognized emissaries from the Crystal kingdom immediately. I shall notify our king of your arrival, I am sure he will look forward to speaking with you. Until then I shall send my personal guards with you as an escort to the tamer guild headquarters, Welcome to the city of Ordist!” Motioning to the two guards that had been approaching he whispered orders to them, after just moments the guards snapped to attention as straight standing as possible taking one side of the group each.

Meanwhile the group was looking at each other quizzically, since when were we emissaries? All of the party asked this question to themselves, they may have met the king and been given a mansion but not such an important title. Inching next to Walker, Laurence bent down slightly whispering in his ear. ”You never mentioned those medals made you emissaries, that would have been useful.” some frustration was definitely evident. ” If we had known you were emissaries we would have been able use a much more discreet entrance.”

”Trust me if we knew that the travel medals the king gave us made us emissaries we would have told you. We seem to have been duped.”Walker was equally frustrated, now on top of meeting the Tamer’s guild master they would have to meet more royalty potentially making their trip home farther away. They loved adventuring; it was their dream but the party did miss their family.

Having the two intimidating guards at their sides they didn’t feel like wandering off to sight-see would be possible, so Laurence settled for taking them directly to their headquarters. Once through the gate a new world was open to them, needing to stop to take it all in the party saw tall buildings made of the same rough yellow stone. The streets were massive with plenty of room to move and haggle in. Bustling crowds swarmed food stalls which cooked up any food imaginable. There were many trees and bushes planted making it feel almost as if they were in a very organized jungle. The air was not empty but populated by many flying demi-humans, some buildings had openings up high allowing them to land there for entry.

Looking down the large road they could see all the way to a massive stone castle, branching off from the castle in the four cardinal directions were the coliseums. They were large enough to house thousands and attracted massive crowds outside. This was one major reason travelers visited, the kingdom was known for their exceptional warriors and challenging them was often a dream of those with related systems. Remey would most likely be vying for an opportunity to do battle herself if they let her get too close. To be fair even Walker considered it slightly but he preferred magic instead of close combat.

Being led down side streets the party saw many fruits and vegetables that their kingdom did not trade in, the demi-human kingdom definitely had a very food focused lifestyle. This was part because they had the open spaces of the plains to farm in and also because their animal traits often push their metabolism very high requiring more nutrition. ”Before we leave we will need to pick up some new ingredients for Hilda! Walker, your mother would love that!” Remey was thankfully only eyeing the food and not the coliseums. She did have a point: these were ingredients someone with a baker system may not have access to, and seeing that experimenting with something new could help her level up it would be a perfect gift.

”Put the food aside, we need to bring back some seeds for my mother to grow. If we do that she can grow all the food we like and Your mother can cook with them, it’s the perfect plan.” Gil’s idea was also spot on.

”We are definitely doing both, I also want to check out what else they get in from other places. It might not just be food, it could be books, gear, clothing, anything! We should also stop in at their adventurers guild, they may operate on different laws but they are still connected to ours.” As much as he wanted to shorten their to do list Walker seemed to see more and more things to add to it as they walked.

Curing through many of the extra wide roads and past some more elegant buildings Laurence paved the way for the party. Soon they were approaching a very large open area. It was fenced off with its own gates and had a partial roof. Many different stables and roosting areas were set up all populated by a myriad of different monsters. Some of the larger beasts roamed the open area. One large stone hut in particular was letting out a constant stream of dark smoke, Walker could only guess that was where the guild master’s dragon was relaxing. The open space even had a small but deep pond that constantly rippled with motion. This was most certainly the tamer;s guild headquarters.

”Well Laurence I’ve got to say, this is pretty amazing. I think we could spend a few hours just touring all of this before even getting to the city.” Smiling at these words Laurence gestured so a man on the other side of the fence. A small section of the fence fell in to the ground revealing an opening to enter.

”Welcome to the guild my friends.”