Book 3: Chapter 45 - Rewards (RAW)

For five generations my family has held back the tides of disease, injury, and death. Until me, we had always lost. Now, finally, I have achieved an unsteady stalemate and those ignoramuses would have me fall upon my sword.

- an exerpt from the Diary of Vincenzio Barbieri.

The majority of all human conflict was born from miscommunication. This was my conclusion as I slung the bloody bundle of rat tails over my shoulder, sighing inwardly at the current state of affairs. Was there no such thing as a friendly, or at least neutral, interaction? Despite the recent tribulations, came now my favorite part of combat, going over recent gains and looting.

It was with a note of pleasure that I noticed that both my Rust and Inferno Bolt had increased in level. Two hundred and twenty-five points in experience and an organic gain in Intelligence was the icing on the cake. At just over halfway to my next level I was pleased indeed.

As for the loot situation, Muram was a smoking slag heap, his armor still glowing a dull ruined red and his equipment unsalvageable save for the naked Zulfikars that lay next to him. I felt no guilt at taking what I deserved, the swords would be worth a few coins, scabbards or not. Larynda and I quietly wrapped the fine curved steel, before placing them in her pack. The girl had recovered for the most part, in her I suspected was the iron that only a hard life could give. That, or she was simply adaptable in the way children were. Either way, it won her a pittance of my respect.

Tally was a different kettle of fish. The Inferno Bolt had struck her lower back, making a cooked cauterized mess. Her earlier screams testified to a swift, albeit painful, demise. I flipped her corpse over and turned away as I saw her face, contorted in a final cry of anguish. This was the first woman I had ever struck, much less killed. Instead of feeling satisfaction for having dealt with a threat, I felt an overwhelming emptiness. Tally had been a significant danger, more so than Muram, and I couldn't simply let her escape. In a moment of introspection, I realized my weakness had led to her death. If I were truly strong, I wouldn’t have perceived the small woman as a threat at all.

It was a grim milestone. My magic hadn't identified her, so the death notification merely stated that I had ‘slain a human’ for a considerable amount of experience.

Acidic bile rose in my throat as I confronted what I had done. I suppressed it with a determined effort, knowing this was no time for weakness. With a tight-lipped smile, I instructed Larynda to loot Tally for valuables. It was in me to do it myself didn’t.

I busied myself by pretending to be on the lookout for other threats. Oddly, my thoughts turned to Zariyah and I wondered at what she was doing as I was running about in the sewers. And then Kidu, Cordelia, and Elwin. No doubt the Rogue Elwin was up to some manner of mischief.

“This one was loaded she was! If these paper things have any real value that is…” intruded Larynda onto my thoughts.

I closed my eyes before I formulated a response. “They have value. Their worth is derived by the trust we place in them, and not their material value, like for instance gold. If the majority of people believe a thing to be of value then that becomes the truth of it.”

“So, like, what's to stop ‘em from just making more then?” 

“Nothing in the short term really. But in the long term, well… the people would lose trust in these scraps of paper, and with their loss of trust would also come the loss of their value. But this is no time for a discussion on fiat or representative money.”

She mulled this over, rifling through the woman’s corpse before she began to hand me a few notes. Feeling generous I refused.

“Keep those… you’ve more than earned it. Take anything else she had on her that might be of value. Isn’t that staff better than yours?”

“You really don’t know? Or you just testing me?”

I shook my head in response.

“To her… it would have been her focus. To you or me, well, it's just a piece of wood with fancy bits on it. Least that’s what the old biddy said. Ain’t you got one? You can use Mana, right?”

I was taken aback by her casual disrespect of the person who had introduced her to the mysteries of her element, but more so to her question. Why didn’t I have one indeed?

“I don’t know how,” I said, feeling foolish even as the words left my lips.

“Well… don’t know if it's the same and all, but I can tell you how I made one later if you like,” she beamed pridefully, chest puffed out and her hands proudly on her hips.

I was preparing a snarky response but realized it would do me good. Swallowing my pride I responded politely, “I think I would like that very much, Larynda.”

Her smile grew even wider, and for a moment I imagined I smiled back.

*****

The woman Tally had nearly a gold piece about her person and a few valuable pieces of personal jewelry. Though none of them were magical, they were pretty and no doubt quite valuable. Another job for Elwin. In addition, we were able to get two potions of Mana, one of which I gave to Larynda who gave me a hollow thanks.

She seemed a little out of sorts. Odd, I thought to myself, for the girl had killed before. How was this in any way different, and again in self-defense no less? 

As we turned to leave I surreptitiously cast Decay on Tally’s corpse, letting Larynda walk on a few paces ahead of me while the magic took root. If there was to be an investigation on the matter it would help to cover our tracks.

Luckily we encountered neither man nor monster for the rest of our time trudging through the dank sewers. The strain had begun to take its toll on Larynda and towards the end, we had to rest often. I found this particularly annoying as with my high Constitution I did not feel tired in the least.

Where we finally exited was quite a ways from where we had initially entered. Close to the western walls, it was an industrial area and the smoke of its many forges and factories was most unpleasant. A saving grace was that leaving the sewers was infinitely easier than entering, the Perfumed Men giving us nary a second look or words of inquiry. The bloody bundle of tails draped across my shoulders and the look in my eye might have helped in this.

Resting for a while, we next took the time to wash the worst of the sewers off at a public fountain. We exchanged only a few words with each other, our priority being to get some semblance of cleanliness as soon as possible. The people here ignored us all but ignored us even as the water grew dark and grimy with our accumulated filth. This must have been if not common, at least a regular thing for them to witness. 

For me, it felt like I was washing away the memories of that horrible place. Remembering my communion with the rats, I shuddered and inwardly vowed to never go down there again.

Except for the part where Larynda unwrapped her headscarf to give it a rinse. Then the people stared, but a glare from me set most of them quickly about their business. I would have to see to an alternative way of disguising her appearance. Elves were a rare thing on this continent. It would be good to keep in mind that even though here was ostensibly a safe haven for her it would do us no favors for us to advertise her existence. Better to not stick out at all.

A seed of an idea formed, though I doubted she would agree to my suggestion. Her human genes were strong, and if not for her ears she could pass off as just another young girl. If I could use my magic and knife, I could solve this problem, albeit crudely. She would thank me later.

I smiled at her as we finally washed off the worst of the muck, and she gave me a wan smile in return. The smell of our latest adventure still lingered but a good soak in a proper bath would sort that out once we returned to the inn.

Next, we made for the Adventurer’s Guild. Thankfully, the citizens of the city of Al-Lazar kept their distance, only giving the occasional wrinkled nose and looks of disgust. Oddly, on the way, my experience rose by a single point for seemingly no reason at all. Was I gaining experience points by simply existing? Perish the thought.

Finally arriving at our destination, we made quite an entrance as I dumped the whole bundle of tails down onto a proscribed counter. Aldina, the freckled clerk who had taken down our details before and provided us with our map looked positively anxious.

“Already finished!” she squeaked in surprised disbelief. “This was meant to take a few days at least… no group has ever done it in a day…”

“I guess we were lucky,” I replied without missing a beat. I could hear Larynda’s sigh.

“It’s been a long day. Just give us our money,” the half-elf barked out of character. 

“Manners. No need to be rude. The woman is just doing her job,” I chided the girl. Larynda simply shrugged and I had to fight an urge  

“Of course. Of course,” the mousy clerk answered quickly, nodding as she counted out our payment. At nine silver pieces, it was not a bad haul for less than a day’s work.

“Thank you,”  I replied succinctly, returning the map of the sewers to her. “And apologies for my ward’s manners.”

“No matter at all… I can imagine what you must have gone through to have finished so quickly. Now, is there anything else I can help you?”

“Will this go some way also to improving our rank? I am growing tired of the Copper.”

“Oh, yes! Most certainly! Keep this up and Bronze should be…” she bubbled excitedly, her enthusiasm clear for all to see.

I interrupted her. “Yes, but is there… perhaps a faster way? A faster way for one of my potential,” I added slyly, slipping a silver note back across the counter in her direction. An even number, it would be easier to split our earnings.

Quick as a fish, her pale hand darted forward and the note disappeared into the folds of her puffy sleeves.

Aldina pursed her lips for a moment. “I will see that the proper eyes take note of this achievement,” she bowed graciously, before glancing at Larynda, “On this girl's first day of registration, too… Hmm, if you were to officially challenge someone at least two ranks higher you could get promoted if you were to win. You’ll need an appointment with the Guild Master first though, to sort that out. But I would not recommend that as our Silvers are exceptionally skilled…” I mentally chuckled at this description. “Or you can do well in the upcoming Festival. That goes quite a long as it helps promote the Guild’s reputation,” she explained.

“I see, I was planning on joining this Festival. Where can one find the rules and information for this event?”

“The Festival will be held at the square near the Dome, you can’t miss it, in two weeks’ time. I can register you if you like. As for the rules, you can read them here,” she suggested helpfully, handing over a thin wooden slate inscribed with a series of characters for my perusal. 

“If you can not read, I can have someone…” she left the offer hanging.

“That will not be necessary. I can read well enough,” I said with a tight smile.

“Of course. Is there anything else?”

“Yes,” Larynda chimed in, “There any prizes for the Festival?”

“Apart from the acclaim and opportunities awarded for ranking high, yes there are monetary awards for those who finish in the higher brackets. And a grand prize for the winner awarded by the Council.”

“Sounds right fancy then,” cooed the girl. 

“Oh, and when are you usually on duty?” I inquired of Aldina as casually as I could, wanting to make the very most of my spent silver. I was surprised to see Larynda shooting me a dirty look. 

The woman turned away slightly, and I caught the faintest hints of a blush. She had misconstrued my words.

“Oh before I forget, there is a package and missive for you Gilgamesh from our resident Alchemist Master Barbierri. How silly of me, I shall fetch it right away. Please wait a few moments,” she beamed at me before disappearing into a backroom.