Wild Era 3, Ch 3: Noble Banquet

As Kelin carted the kids back to their room, Yao and Naomi were mumbling.

“You weren’t just an archmage,” Yao said drowsily. “You were like the highest archmage...”

“Lord of Wildfire,” Naomi agreed happily before she hiccupped.

“Not the highest in everything.” Kelin said, feeling amused as he shook his head. “I was known for Soul magic and some for Fire. 

“You’ve heard of others, like the Archmage of Lunar Ice, the Archmage of Unchained Lightning, the Archmage of Artifice, and so on. They are all masters of their craft who have earned a title.”

Within a few moments, they arrived at their room and he ushered them inside, where he made sure they drank some water before they fell over.

“As good a time as any for this lesson,” he said, chuckling. “In the morning, remember to cycle your mana. Clear the fog from your mind and body. Training under adverse conditions, even self-inflicted ones, can help to improve your skill.”

They were already falling asleep, so he left the instructions as a note on the table and then he left them in their common room, where they were slumped on the couches.

“Try to make it to your beds,” he suggested, but he didn’t push the issue. “It’ll be more comfortable.”

He closed the door behind him with a click of the latch and tossed a minor warding spell at it, one that would warn him if anyone other than the two of them tried to unlock it.

He linked it into the guild wards so that if someone did, it would lock the entire area down.

He wasn’t sure about the character of all the nobles in town, but he was confident there were a few more like Verasun out there, ones who would try to investigate his relationships and take hostages if they could.

It wouldn’t be the first time he’d dealt with something like that, but the guild wards should be enough, especially since only the most clueless of the nobles would try.

His display at the duel was enough of a warning to the rest.

It was good to have some reputation again, even if it was a far cry from the terror his past self had been able to bring to bear.

He shook his head as he headed back to his room.

It always boiled down to threat and power, whether it was politics with allies or facing enemies.

Between the two, he preferred dealing with enemies, since it was simpler.

Now that he’d inherited the Verasun title, he should probably start thinking of the old baron under his real name of Silas Crest, in order to avoid confusion, but it would take him a day or two to get used to it.

In his room, he cleaned himself up with a few Fire and Water spells and did the same for his clothes, drying and pressing them with a series of casual spells.

While self-repairing clothing always kept itself in good condition and wrinkles eventually disappeared, it could still be shined up to remove dust or other things that had splattered across it.

He had never bothered to pick up a more formal set of clothing, but even if he had, he wouldn’t have bothered to wear it. 

His Runewielder’s Robe was fashionable with a deep emerald hue and golden runes spiraling across it, and at the Rare grade and Superb quality, it held an elegance all its own.

Few of what the nobles were wearing would be able to compete, although he wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to win in ostentatiousness.

He’d heard something about feathers being in style recently and some of the spectators at the arena had been wearing large ones in myriad colors on their hats and smaller ones embroidered into their clothing.

He wasn’t planning to follow the trend.

A few minutes later, he was ready and he headed back through the guild to the hall that was reserved for the banquet.  

There were only a dozen or so noble houses in Highmist, but over a hundred people were already gathered by the time he arrived. Each family had sent a small group and their attendants.

A few of the noble houses from other cities had got word in time to send their people as well. 

Teleportation was common enough as a mage ability and there were platforms set up that connected all of the city states in Celadon, even if only the nobles and richer merchants used them most of the time. 

It was expensive, but not worth mentioning among the nobles, especially since the bulk of the cost could be paid with personal mana if they had the right connections.

The guild had chosen its main audience hall for the purpose and the walls had been swiftly decorated with elaborate banners and details from the guild’s history.

Tables had been set up along the sides of the hall with steaming dishes and drinks, while the middle of the floor was arranged for people to mingle at casual tables.

The presentation was simple and authoritative without being austere, appropriate for both a military ceremony and an evening party.

The highlight of the drinks was a crystal fountain that was pouring out a golden and effervescent wine into crystal goblets and there was a bartender off to the side who was serving other drinks.

If the city lord had arranged the banquet, the area would have been flooded with servants, but the guild didn’t go in for that type of thing. Except for the bartender and a few guild staff carrying out food, the guests were expected to be self-sufficient.

Yaslen and the Gold-rankers from the guild council were already there, as were some Silver-ranked guild captains from across Celadon, who must have teleported in for the event.

It was mostly a show of force, since the level of every captain was at least 200, which was more than enough to balance out the number of nobles.

Sandren was among them, standing near Yaslen and the Gold-rankers. She was pretending to be relaxed, but Kelin could see that she wished she was elsewhere.

He was noticed as soon as he entered and one of the guild captains who was standing by the door announced his arrival.

“The guest of honor has arrived,” the man called out in a rolling voice. “All welcome, Kelin of the Stars Alliance, Knight of the Path, who now holds the title of Baron of Highmist.”

As a hush fell across the crowd and their heads turned toward the door.

The order of the titles was intentional, showing the guild’s dominance, but Kelin paid no attention to it or to the nobles’ hidden frowns.

He only raised a hand in acknowledgement and didn’t stop as he cut across the floor, heading for Sandren and the guild commander. It only took him a moment to reach them.

“Commander,” he said calmly as he gave her a nod. Then a slight smile appeared as he looked at Sandren. “Captain Sandren.”

“Sir Kelin,” Sandren said with a chuckle, her expression lightening. “Welcome.”

“Sir Kelin,” Yaslen agreed as a faint smile touched her stern features. “Thank you for this, as well as for winning that duel. It does the locals well to see something of the guild’s strength and saves them from making more serious mistakes down the line.”

Her attitude was pragmatic and her attention was on the politics and stability of the world, and because of that Kelin had no problem with her.

Instead, he admired her persistence. 

The guild tried its best to guide worlds with a light hand, but it wasn’t easy to maintain peace for centuries when human emotion ran hot and memory was brief. 

“You are remarkably poised for such a young man,” Yaslen said as she studied him. Then she shook her head. “I noticed at the duel and here it is again, but it is hard to believe. You have none of the hotheadedness I would expect from such a prodigy.”

“He has more experience than we think, apparently,” Sandren said dryly, “or so he told me.”

“You must,” the commander agreed, completely missing what Sandren was alluding to. 

Then she cut to the chase. 

“Keeping you away from the nobles is good for the guild, but it is not a reward for you as much as a benefit for us. So tell me, what support can the guild offer you? If it is within my capabilities, I will take care of it.”

“All I need is access to dungeons and information on them,” Kelin said, shaking his head, “but if you can keep an eye on my two apprentices, that would be appreciated. They are easy targets for the nobles and anyone with ill intentions.”

“I’ll assign them some hidden guards,” Yaslen agreed without hesitation, “ones they won’t notice, so they don’t depend on them. It will be simple enough. I’ll also ensure they get into the right training programs. As for information and dungeon access, I think you have it all as a Knight, but I’ll issue that command as well.”

“That is much appreciated,” Kelin replied, smiling at her.

“Let me know if you need anything else,” she replied. Then she glanced out at the room. “As for this banquet, it would be best if you talked to a few of the nobles, but not too much. Don’t let them pull you into their schemes. You can also just greet them and disappear, if you don’t want to talk.”

“I’ll do that,” he agreed.

Yaslen was encouraging him to escape as soon as possible, since it would keep him out of politics, and that suited his own plans so he had no reason to decline.

He smiled at Sandren, but that was all, and turned to look at the crowd.

The nobles were mingling in small groups and he saw a few heading toward him, but they froze a moment later as they saw the city lord approaching him first.

Arcolen was dressed in an ostentatious uniform of light grey and gold, the main colors of Highmist, and he had several feathers scattered throughout the outfit. They were gold and white and they merged into the tail of his cloak and his sleeves.

It was obviously supposed to make him look like a flaming bird rising above the mist, and it made Kelin hold back a sigh as the man arrived.

He didn’t pay much attention to the next several minutes, merely answering the man’s questions without putting any effort into it, so before long the city lord wandered away again, clearly displeased with his lack of response and deference.

“Good work.” Yaslen said with a chuckle. “He wants almost nothing to do with you now.”

“I have the same opinion of him,” Kelin replied with a brief laugh.

After that, other nobles approached over the next hour and he treated them mostly the same, only becoming more animated now and then when one wanted to discuss magic or dungeons.

Their main interest was in Verasun’s dungeons, which Kelin now held, as well as the tax rates for them, but whenever that question came up, he deferred the matter and told them there would be no changes until he had a chance to understand the estate better.

Whenever someone pushed for more information, he reminded them that no one was allowed to own a dungeon and let Yaslen give them a lecture on how Celadon’s laws were harmful to the overall strength of the country.

The nobles’ arrangement mostly taxed one another in the dungeons they claimed to control and they routinely interfered with adventurers by ensuring there was no space for anyone else to run them. 

It was close to breaking the Edicts of the Path, but since they didn’t outright block entry to the dungeons and only filled them with their own people, it was a grey area.

Most worlds wouldn’t have allowed it, but the guild presence on Lareth was weak. The number of adventurers wasn’t high enough to fill all of the dungeons, and even with all of their efforts, the nobles only held a small fraction of the total, so conflicts were limited.

For now.

One day there might be a swift reckoning.

Sleset’s visit had reminded the nobles of where they stood in the grand scheme of things, so whenever Yaslen berated them, they didn’t dare to argue and quickly slunk away.

Eventually, all of the nobles had come up to talk to him and he was about to head back to his room when a few new people appeared.

It was a group of three adventurers led by a man who looked ill at ease. A woman and another man were with him. 

There was an aura of strength around all of them, but it was overshadowed by a sense of deference, as if they were afraid of the people here.

Kelin didn’t recognize any of them and they didn’t seem to be nobles, so as they approached, he felt curious enough to analyze them. He kept it to a very light scan that was still within the range of politeness, only gathering their names and level.

Telos Milesan. Level 172. 

Olesa Selet. Level 165.

Palto Farez. Level 148.

They were on the upper end for adventurers in Highmist and as they came closer, he had a sudden realization of who they probably were. 

It was confirmed a moment later when the three of them bowed to him.

“Lord Verasun,” the man, Telos, said with some hesitation. “We are the leaders of your strongest adventuring teams. We didn’t know if we were invited, but we heard about this banquet and thought it would be a good place to meet you. We weren’t sure if the old channels were still working.”

“We witnessed the duel,” the woman, Olesa, added. “We understand the ramifications and hold no ill will. We are willing to work for you. We have over a hundred people each under our command, all awaiting your orders.”

“The old Lord Verasun was a hard master,” Palto, the third of them, said. “He would not have forgiven us for forgetting to welcome him, so we came here even though we thought it might not be appropriate. If so, please forgive us.”

“I see,” Kelin replied as came to a decision. “You did the right thing.”

He could tell that they were worried about their future, so he waved his hand and three golden message runes appeared in the air. 

He sent one drifting across the distance to each of them. 

“I’ll meet with you soon,” he said. “Here is a way to contact me through the guild. I can see you have guild badges as well, which is for the best. For now, enjoy yourselves at the banquet. Tomorrow, prepare reports on your activities and submit them to Jesra, one of the attendants at the front desk. I’ll review them before we meet. ”

The three bowed and didn’t say anything else, but they looked relieved. They quickly withdrew from the room, not even daring to take any of the food.

Kelin held back another sigh at that.

He created another message rune and sent it out to Jesra to tell her about the three of them. At the same time, he memorized the signatures of the guild badges that he’d sensed so he could contact them in the future.

He had been wondering about Verasun’s dungeon teams, so it was for the best that they’d come to find him. 

The three had left him with a fairly good impression, which was a pleasant surprise. Once he looked through the reports, he would decide what to do with them.

He doubted they wanted to give up their profession, so the two main choices were to keep them in their current roles or to integrate them more closely with the guild.

He waved the thought away for later as he looked across the banquet for anyone else who was approaching, but that was the last surprise of the night.

It appeared that he’d reached the extent of his obligations.

He thanked Yaslen for arranging the banquet and then gave Sandren a wink as he walked away.

Instead of heading back to his room, this time he turned through a different hall and headed down to the guild shops.

It was time to sell off all the stuff Verasun had kept in his storage ring.

Silas Crest, he reminded himself.

Before long, he was at the sales counter. It was the usual clerk on duty, who typically looked like nothing short of dragon fire would make his expression change, but the man woke up as soon as he saw Kelin.

“Sir Kelin,” he said politely. “I saw the duel. How may I assist you?”

“I came to sell off all of Verasun’s spare items,” Kelin said as he began unloading it all. 

“Understood, sir,” the clerk replied as he began to sort the pieces. “The guild does not discriminate. You also have a 15% discount as a Knight if you wish to purchase any standard items from us.”

Kelin nodded in thanks. He didn’t bother counting Verasun’s items as he stacked them on the counter and watched them disappear. 

They were a mix of First Evolution and a few Second Evolution artifacts, weapons, and other things. Among them were some rare materials that he considered before handing over, but he sold off most of those too.

He kept the mana crystals and other things of immediate use, of which there were several hundred, as well as the coins and monster cores. 

There was a large amount of everything, since it seemed the baron had kept most of his wealth on his person. It made things simple.

He’d estimated 50,000 gold when he glanced through the items earlier, but the total ended up being even higher, due to the fluctuating demand of various things.

“A bit over 72,000 gold, sir,” the clerk said eventually. “Would you like it in coins or as credit toward purchases? The guild can also hold it in your account if you prefer.”

It brought Kelin’s wealth to roughly 80,800 gold, which was sufficient for a while.

“Let me see the guild’s item list again?” he asked, holding out his hand.

A moment later, he had an engraved tablet in his hand that he channeled his mana into. The guild’s inventory appeared in his mind.

He scanned through the available items, debating what he could use, and then he shook his head as he handed it back.

“Just bank the full amount for now,” he said. “I’ll probably use some of it later.”

He set 100 gold on the counter as a tip and waved at the clerk as he walked away. The man bowed slightly in thanks as he made the gold disappear.

Kelin stopped by the front desk, but he wasn’t surprised to find that Jesra was gone. 

He spent a few minutes setting up a small line of credit for his apprentices, one that would draw weekly from his accounts in case he wasn’t here to give it to them.

He’d given them 50 gold not long ago as a starting amount, so he set the allowance at 50 silver a week each, which was two and a half gold.

It was more than enough for basic expenses. 

One gold could buy a basic mana or healing potion or a decent stack of simple crafting materials. 

As an afterthought, he set the cost of their room, which was 28 silver a week, to be billed directly to his account. 

Then he added an override to the allowance that would allow any guild captain to approve other adventuring or useful expenses for them as long as it was under 1000 gold a year.

If they didn’t use it, it would accumulate. 

He would check the record once in a while, but he didn’t plan to pay much attention to what they were buying. He would assess them on their skills and training instead.

Perhaps it was too much for young adventurers, but they wouldn’t be that way forever, and he trusted in their basic common sense. 

They would probably agonize over what to spend it on and rarely request anything extra.

With that settled, he checked the guild records for dungeons in Celadon and neighboring countries, which let him update his list of potential targets.

This time, instead of just telling him about some of the dungeons, the clerk handed him a white stone memory slip.

“I’ve copied our entire record for dungeons in Celadon, Baralis, Sarathia, and the Ocean of Storms there,” the clerk said politely. “A benefit of your rank, sir. You may keep the memory slip.”

“Thank you,” Kelin said, smiling slightly as he tucked the slip into his storage.

He rented out his usual crafting hall and headed for it with a whistle on his lips, one that was an old and lilting tune from his homeland.

With everything in town almost settled, it would be fine to give Jesra and those three adventuring team leaders a few days on their own.

He was going to spend the night making talismans and then choose a dungeon to burn.

He had a long way to go to the Second Evolution and he needed some experience to close the gap.