Chapter 8: Encounter at the Guild (Patreon)

A beat of silence followed as Guildmaster Sinclair, Lord Icefall, and I all awkwardly stared at each other through the Adventurers Guild doorway. Guildmaster Sinclair’s eyes flickered to the Alpha Inferno Wolf body I carried, and a pained expression crossed her face. Then she took a sniff, and her eye widened in surprise. She stared at me in shock.

I recovered first and gave Lord Icefall a slight bow, appropriate for someone who was a little lower than me on the social ladder. He was the Patriarch of House Icefall and a stronger wizard than me, but House Sturm was more powerful and more prestigious than House Icefall. As the young master of House Sturm, I ranked higher than him based on that alone.

“Lord Icefall,” I said in a polite tone. “I hadn’t expected to meet you under these circumstances.”

Lord Icefall gave me a deeper bow than I gave him. If he found it odd that the young master of House Sturm was carrying around the body of an Alpha Inferno Wolf, he didn’t let it show.

“Lord Gabriel,” he said, his tone matching mine. “I am pleased to finally make your acquaintance. Given your activities so far, or lack thereof ever since you arrived in the area, I assumed I would have to wait longer before we finally met. An outside observer would think that you were avoiding me.”

While Lord Icefall’s expression was mild, his voice carried a faint hint of rebuke. Leroy must have picked up on it, because I sensed him bristle at Lord Icefall’s tone. I arched an eyebrow at Lord Icefall, though I didn’t say anything. Unfortunately, he was in the right here. Coming to Icefall City without even saying hello to Lord Icefall and his family had been bad manners on my part.

When a member of a House entered the territory of another House for an extended period of time, at least a week or more, it was polite for the visiting scion to at least say hello to the local House. Usually this took the form of a brief visit. Not doing so was considered rude and dismissive, and overall a dick move.

Icefall City, though not the entire Icefall Region, was House Icefall’s territory. Since I hadn’t planned on socializing, I hadn’t cared about meeting with Lord Icefall or his House. They hadn’t factored into my plans at all.

As long as we didn’t meet, I could get away with it by using my injuries as an excuse. However, now that we’ve met and Lord Icefall could see that I’ve recovered, I couldn’t avoid my social obligations any longer. Not without damaging my House’s honor further at least.

Besides, if Lord Icefall wanted to, he could make my stay here more difficult than it needed to be.

“Yes, I apologize for that,” I said, wearing a bashful expression on my face. “I would have said hello, but I sustained heavy injuries not too long ago. My family’s healer told me I needed peace and quiet to recover, which is why I moved up here. I’ve spent most of my time convalescing at Sturm Hill Hall. I just recently recovered.”

Both Guildmaster Sinclair and Lord Icefall looked at the Alpha Inferno Wolf that I carried on my shoulders before looking back at me.

Guildmaster Sinclair wore a look of complete disbelief on her face at the bullshit I was spouting.

Lord Icefall looked like he didn’t believe me either. However, calling me out on it helped no one. My lie, as preposterous as it was, allowed us to both save face in this situation. I could pretend I wasn’t a rude dickhead, and he could pretend I hadn’t ignored his existence.

“Ah, yes,” he said. “Your duel with the Otherworlder that was adopted by House Thorne. I heard about that.”

Fucking hell. How were these people so well informed? While House Sturm was well-known, it was a mid-rate House on the decline. The comings and goings of its young master shouldn’t be that interesting to people who lived on the outskirts of civilization.

“Yes,” I said, a sour expression on my face. “I’m surprised you heard about that.”

Lord Icefall shrugged, before giving me a tight smile.

“I like to keep myself informed when people of interest arrive in my city,” he said. “It keeps trouble to a minimum, and reduces the number of potential misunderstandings.”

It was impossible to misinterpret his words as anything but a warning not to cause trouble in his city. It also told me that he was likely aware of my activities a month ago.

“Still, I am glad that you recovered from your injuries…”

Lord Icefall’s voice trailed off, before his eyes widened in surprise. It was slight, but I noticed it. It took me a fraction of a second to realize why. If this guy was as well informed as Guildmaster Sinclair, then he knew that my Circles had been shattered. To see me with my First Circle restored must have caught him off guard.

I pretended not to notice any of this.

“I look forward to having you over for dinner tonight, Lord Gabriel,” Lord Icefall continued, speaking as if he hadn’t paused.

Presumptuous of him, but as the injured party in this situation, no one could blame him. I’d let him get away with it this time.

“I can’t tonight,” I said. “I have prior obligations I need to take care of. However, I am free tomorrow night.”

“Tomorrow night it is then,” Lord Icefall said, giving me a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Now then. We have taken up too much of Guildmaster Sinclair’s time, talking through her doorway like this, and I have business to attend to. If you’ll excuse me.”

I gave Lord Icefall a nod, which he returned before he walked out of the Adventurers Guild and was on his way. Soon she turned a corner and disappeared. It surprised me that he was walking rather than riding a carriage. Not only that, he had no bodyguard. Either he was confident that no one would attack him in the middle of the city, or he was confident that he could handle himself if someone did attack him.

Perhaps it was both.

“I think that went well,” I said to no one in particular.

At this, Guildmaster Sinclair snorted.

“That’s because you don’t know Lord Icefall like I do, Lord Gabriel,” she said. “The man is a stickler for the rules. He is a devout follower of law and order, and frequently prays at Justin’s shrine.”

I raised an eyebrow at this. While the Church of the Sun was the dominant religion in the Solarian Empire, it wasn’t the only one. Not only that, the Church of the Sun was a polytheistic religion and worshiped a pantheon of gods. At the top was Sol, the Sun God of course, with the other gods either being his family or his servants. Justin, the god of justice, law, and order was one of Sol’s sons.

“Meaning he’s very upset with me, isn’t he?” I asked with a sigh.

“Very,” Guildmaster Sinclair said with a nod. “If I were you, I’d prepare a nice gift to get back on his good side.”

“Any recommendations? You seem to know him pretty well.”

She gave me a tight smile.

“That depends. Are you prepared to spend the favor I owe you?”

Oi.

I furrowed my brow.

“No.”

“Then no.”

I gave her a flat look. Guildmaster Sinclair just grinned at me, before gesturing to the side of the building.

“If you want to get those bodies processed,” she said. “Go down that alley. That’s where the door to our butcher is located.” She started to close the door. “Oh, and don’t forget about your guild obligations, Lord Gabriel.”

She closed the door before I could even respond. I stared at it for several seconds.

“I’m not sure if I like that woman,” I said. “She has spirit, I’ll give her that, but her attitude is terrible.”

Leroy snorted at this, but otherwise remained silent. I rolled my eyes at that and hefted the Alpha Inferno Wolf body, before heading towards the alley Guildmaster Sinclair indicated.

***

One of the reasons why I joined the Adventurers Guild was because one of the services it offered to its members was that it had butchers who specialized in butchering magic beasts with minimal damage. Adventurers could then sell the parts themselves, or sell them to the guild. Either way, the guild took a cut but that was a small price to pay for convenience.

Since I planned to hunt down a lot of magic beasts in order to speed up my cultivation, this service was a must for me.

I could have learned how to do it myself, and likely would in the future, but I didn’t have the time to spare right now. I needed to focus on my cultivation. That was also one of the reasons why I had wanted to avoid Lord Icefall. Fulfilling my social obligations would take time away from cultivating.

The butcher shop for Icefall City’s Adventurers Guild was a large open space with wooden walls and a stone floor with a drain in the center. Several large tables took up most of the room. The shop’s outside entrance was a large sliding door that took up an entire wall. The coppery smell of blood lingered in the air. A team of butchers dismantled various magic beasts, the sound of their knives at work filling my ears.

The butcher I talked to was a burly man named Bill. He was big and hairy, and reminded me of a bear somewhat. Despite how he looked, however, Bill was a soft-spoken man. The three of us stood next to one of the tables, which held the bodies of the four Inferno Wolves.

“Do you want to keep the parts for yourself, or would you rather sell them to the guild?” he asked in that quiet voice of his.

“I want the mana cores and the bones, but sell the rest to the guild,” I said.

He nodded, as if this was a common request. Perhaps it was. Adventurers were still wizards and mana cores helped when forming threads. They were also the ones who needed magic items the most, considering what they did for a living, and the body parts of magic beasts were great for magical crafting.

I had briefly considered commissioning armor made from Inferno Wolf hide, but decided against it. I was better off relying on my speed for now. When I formed my dantian, I would be able to create a mana shield to protect me. That would suffice until I got my hands on protective magical items.

“Coin or merits?” Bill asked.

“Excuse me?”

He gave me a wry smile.

“You must be new,” he said. “When adventurers do gigs or sell items to the guild, they can be paid in coin or in merits. You can spend merits to pay for guild services, or even buy items from the guild. There are even some things that you can only get with merits. If you pick to get paid this way you get more, but the downside is that you can only spend merits with the guild.”

Huh. That was unexpected. This system reminded me a lot of how the sects back on Spirit Earth worked. I wondered if there was any connection. It was possible that I wasn’t the only Otherworlder from Spirit Earth.

It was something to ponder.

“Merits,” I said.

I didn’t need the money, and the services and resources offered by the Adventurers Guild were the main reason why I joined in the first place.

“Very well. This will take me a few hours. You can wait here if you want, but I don’t recommend it. Things will get messy.”

I took Bill’s advice. While butchery didn’t bother me, I didn’t want to wait around while Bill did his work. Instead, I headed towards the front hall of the Adventurers Guild, since that’s where the mission boards were. I needed to find a quick and easy gig to do in order to fulfill my obligation to the guild.

As I walked down the halls of the Adventurers Guild, I passed by several other adventurers. Each and every single one of them gave me cold and unfriendly looks. No one said or did anything, no doubt thanks to Leroy’s presence, but I could feel their glares.

While Guildmaster Sinclair had outed me last time, I didn’t bother with a disguise this time. Anyone could tell at a glance that I belonged to a House. Since adventurers apparently didn’t like House wizards, I knew I wasn’t going to make a lot of friends here.

That was fine. I wasn’t here to make friends. I was here for the sake of my cultivation.

The front hall was just as boisterous today as it was the first time I came here. While I recognized a few of the faces, including Loudmouth and Fatty, there were even more that I didn’t recognize. Rat was missing.

A part of me wondered just how many adventurers made Icefall City their permanent home compared to how many came here on a temporary basis. There were plenty of weaker monsters to hunt in the Icefall Region, but eventually an adventurer might grow too powerful or too bored, and seek out more challenging pastures.

When Leroy and I entered, the room quieted down as conversations died and people just stared at me. No doubt they were confused as to why a House wizard entered the front hall from deeper within the guild instead of the front door. It didn’t take long for the stares to turn into glares. From what I could tell, no one recognized me from last time. At least, not yet.

Conversation resumed, though not to the same level as before. One topic in particular caught my ear. Someone mentioned the “freak flash storm” that occurred not too long ago, causing people to speculate about it. This amused me to no end. Some people assumed a powerful magic beast had passed by. Perhaps they were right. I know I saw an outline in the clouds that day, and something caused that roar.

As before Lorelei manned the front desk. Her eyes widened when she saw me.

“Hey there, Lorelei,” I said, giving her a wave before examining the mission boards for a suitable gig.

“Mr. Gabriel?” she exclaimed, staring at me in shock. “Is that you? Your hair looks different. You look different.” She frowned. “You look like you’re from a House.”

I gave her chagrined smile.

“That’s because I am,” I said. “I was in disguise last time I was here, since I didn’t want to draw undue attention.” I gave the adventurers in the mess hall a sideways glance. “You saw how well that worked. Sorry about the deception.” I gave her a brief bow. “Lord Gabriel Sturm of House Sturm, at your service.”

Lorelei’s eyes grew even wider, and her cheeks reddened.

“Hou-House Sturm?” she stuttered. “Oh no. Mother was telling the truth.”

Oh, so Guildmaster Sinclair had told her daughter about me. I wondered about that.

“I’m so sorry about the way I acted with you last time, Miste- I mean Lord Gabriel,” Lorelei said, a fearful expression on her face. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“It’s okay,” I said in a gentle voice. “You did nothing wrong. The fault is mine for disguising myself. You have nothing to apologize for.”

While she didn’t look completely convinced, the fear in her eyes receded. Good. I liked Lorelei, and I didn’t want her to act differently with me now that she knew I was a House scion. There was just something adorable and disarming about her.

“Is there a problem here?” someone called out.

Lorelei and I turned to find a female adventurer heading in our direction. She was a tall and lean red-headed woman, with pale skin and green eyes. She looked to be in her late teens, early twenties. She had the aura of a First Circle Wizard with an affinity for Air and Wood magic.

From what I could tell, she had formed about five or six threads, which wasn’t bad considering her age. In fact, depending on when she started her magical cultivation, then she might even be considered a genius. Not on the same level as me, few people were, but definitely above average.

Like many of the adventurers here, she wore leather armor over rough clothing. A bow and a quiver full of arrows hung from her back.

Leroy stepped forward, putting himself between me and the red-headed woman.

Despite her question, the glare the woman leveled towards me made it clear that she thought that there was indeed a problem, and that problem was me. She interjected herself between Lorelei and I.

“No, Corie,” Lorelei said. She shook her head and gave the red-headed woman a meaningful look. Since the woman was facing me, she missed this. “Everything is fine. Lord Gabriel and I were just talking.”

“Yes,” I said, giving this Corie a bright smile. It had no discernible effect on her. “I was just apologizing to Lorelei here for lying to her the last time we met.”

Corie’s eyes narrowed at me.

“Gabriel,” she muttered. “Oh, I remember now. People were talking about a House brat who beat Gyles in a duel, and then joined the guild to play at adventurer. I thought they were full of shit, but I guess they were telling the truth.” She crossed her arms. “So, why are you here, Lord Gabriel? You got tired of pretending you’re better than everyone else, and decided you wanted to play adventurer again?”

Her voice dripped with sarcasm when she said my title.

“Corie!” Lorelei said, aghast.

Leroy growled at that. While he had tolerated people’s attitude the last time we were here, since I was in disguise, things were different now that I was here as myself. Hostile looks were one thing, but blatant disrespect like this was another. Even Guildmaster Sinclair wasn’t this bad.

“Such impudence,” he ground out.

I gestured for him to stand down. While I appreciated his support, I didn’t need it. Leroy looked unhappy about this, but obeyed.

I stepped closer to Corie, until we were a few feet apart. From the corner of my eye, I noticed several of the other adventurers stand up. None of them moved in our direction, but they were definitely paying attention.

“I’m not playing at anything,” I said, maintaining my smile but speaking in a cold tone. “I am an adventurer. Being part of a House doesn’t negate that. In fact, just the other day, I hunted down and killed some Inferno Wolves, including an Alpha Inferno Wolf.”

Corie scoffed at that, derision and disbelief was plain on her face.

“You expect me to believe that someone like you managed to kill an Alpha Inferno Wolf?” she asked. “It feels like you just barely formed your First Circle.”

That wasn’t inaccurate, though it was far from the truth. Not that she would believe if I told her the truth, nor did I care to explain it.

“I don’t expect anything from you,” I said. “However, if you would like a demonstration of how I did it, I would be more than willing to show you.”

As I said this, my smile turned savage and I let out some of my aura. It wasn’t much, especially since I was stuck at the lower end of the First Circle, but it helped punctuate my point.

“Both of you stop it!” Lorelei said, pouting. I assumed she was going for angry and intimidating, but like last time, she looked cute when she was angry. “Corie, leave Lord Gabriel alone. Lord Gabriel, don’t threaten my friends.”

A beat passed, and her eyes widened as she realized she just told a House scion what to do. Before she could offer another unnecessary apology, I chuckled.

“Very well,” I said. “I’m not here to start a fight anyway. I don’t want to cause you unnecessary trouble. I’m just here to find a gig for my guild obligations.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Lorelei said. “It’s almost been a month since you joined Lord Gabriel and you haven’t done a job yet. You should hurry. You don’t have much time left.”

I stepped away from Corie. She scowled at me, but didn’t say anything. I went back looking over the mission boards. Corie whispered something to Lorelei, which I didn’t catch, and then left. Before she did, she threw one last glare my way.

“Corie is a close friend of yours, I take it?” I asked, not taking my eyes off the mission boards.

It was a guess on my part, but one I was confident in. The way Corie came to Lorelei’s defense spoke volumes.

“Yes, she is,” Lorelei said, giving me a cheerful smile. “Corie and I have been best friends ever since we were kids. I’ve known her my entire life.” Her smile turned apologetic. “I’m sorry for the way she acted, Lord Gabriel. Corie is protective of me.”

I thought that was rather sweet. Everyone needed a friend to stand by their side when the times were tough.

Melancholy filled me as I recalled memories of my life back on Spirit Earth, and the best friend who stabbed me in the back. I shook those memories away and continued to look over the mission boards.

Unsurprisingly, most of the jobs posted were monster hunting gigs. Hunting monsters and selling their body parts is one of the main sources of income for the Icefall Region. The other was its thriving timber industry. While the Icefall Region wouldn’t be called the richest in the Solarian Empire, it was far from the poorest.

There were also quarries and mines in the region, since it was littered with rocky hills, but those were relatively new.

To my surprise, however, there were also a lot of bounties posted. While some of them were for specific people, most were for members of known bandit groups within the region. In fact, House Icefall had even posted a bounty for members of The Black Wolf Gang, dead or alive.

I didn’t know much about how the Adventurers Guild within this area worked, but this seemed unusual to me. Were bandits that active in the Icefall Region? I remembered some of the servants at Sturm Hill Hall mentioning something along those lines.

I decided to ask a local about it.

“Lorelei,” I said. “Is bandit activity that bad within the region? I’m seeing a lot of bounties here, including one put out by House Icefall.”

Lorelei nodded, her expression turning somber.

“Yes. There have always been bandits in the Icefall Region, according to my parents at least, but it has gotten worse within the past few months. There are rumors that the leader of the Black Wolf Gang has taken over the other bandit groups in the area, which is why they’ve become so active.” She nodded in the direction of the bounty posted by House Icefall. “The Black Wolf Gang is the worst, however. They’re new to the area, but they’ve already caused a lot of damage. Robbery, murder, theft. They’ve even raided some of the smaller villages within the region. They even attacked a caravan owned by House Icefall, which is why that bounty was put up.”

Ah, that made sense. Reputation mattered a lot among the Houses. The right reputation could mean the difference between prosperity and extermination for a House.

House Icefall needed to deal with the Black Wolf Gang; the sooner, the better. Otherwise the other nearby Houses will think them weak, and start to eye them the same way a pack of wolves would eye an injured deer.

“The increased bandit activity is also the reason why there are so many escort and protection jobs,” Lorelei continued. “There are even some villages and towns who want to hire adventurers as guards.”

That let me know just how dire the situation was. From what I understood, House Icefall claimed Icefall City as its territory, but the other villages and towns in the region were independent. They only had themselves to rely on. While I imagined that House Icefall would like to claim the rest of the region as its territory, it simply didn’t have the power to do so.

As bad as this might sound, the increased bandit activity did give me the opportunity to earn plenty of merits and hone my skills. While I sympathized with the inhabitants of the Icefall Region, I had my own concerns to worry about.

First and foremost among those concerns were my House’s interests and my own cultivation. Everything after that was secondary. If House Sturm had a bigger presence within the region, I might care more. As it was, I had no reason to. This wasn’t my home.

That said, there was no reason why I couldn’t help the people of the Icefall Region and help myself at the same time. I was an adventurer after all, and there were plenty of jobs available. It didn’t hurt that the rewards for many of the posted jobs were quite substantial.

However, they would have to wait. If my encounter with the Inferno Wolves had taught me anything, it was that I needed to form my dantian first before I tried anything dangerous or stupid. While restoring my First Circle gave me the ability to cast spells again, and my body cultivation gave me an enhanced physique that was still limited compared to my full potential.

That didn’t stop me from feeling a little disappointed.

With a sigh, I picked a notice for one of the easier gigs, collecting medicinal herbs. It was a far cry from hunting magic beasts or fighting bandits. Still, needs must and I was on a time limit.

As I turned to head back to the butcher’s shop, I noticed Loudmouth and Fatty watching. Neither one of them said or did anything, but they emanated killing intent. Their eyes followed me until I left the front hall.