[ToM] Side Chapter 4 – A Day in Pertia (Patreon)

Alistair could not sleep a wink, instead tossing and turning in his bed for most of the night, until he finally got up. He got dressed and left the inn before dawn. The chilly night air instantly clung to his skin, bringing clarity to his thoughts.

That girl… Melina was her name. When that hobgoblin picked her out as his target, I… saw something. Like a vision. Could it have been a vision of the future? I know that some high-level bishops have a skill that allows them to see brief flashes of the future. But I'm no bishop. I'm not even a mage. 

There are only two possible explanations. One—it is the result of that weird new skill I got. It did level up exactly after that so it's actually not so far fetched a theory. Two—I was hallucinating and I'm slowly going crazy.

A grey street cat mewed at him, as if agreeing with his second thought. He narrowed his eyes at it, shook his head, and walked past the cat. The street lanterns illuminated the main street as he walked through it alone. At this hour of the day, even a busy city like Pertia slept. 

All the windows were dark, almost suffocating silence dominating the scene. Alistair looked up and saw a crescent moon gazing down, the only being aware of his nightly walk.

But if what I saw was really a vision of the future then why was that girl in there? Why would this orphan girl appear in my future? Or perhaps it didn't show me the future at all but something else entirely? 

Oh, thinking about this really won't help me at all. I need to find out facts first instead of trying to come up with theories. I could come up with thousands of those, but that wouldn't make any of them real.

A pang of pain pulsed through his head as the thoughts swirled like a crazy hurricane, never settling down, instead continuing to batter him with ideas, forcing him to recall his battle with the hobgoblin, the appearance of which was yet another worrisome problem.

Alistair ruffled his hair in frustration. For the time being, he would focus on tangible things. His first task was to report the appearance of the hobgoblin and try to find somebody who could tell him about the unusual skill. So his first stop for the day was Pertia's Adventurer's Guild. As soon as it opened up.

Alistair wandered the empty streets for a while longer—moving around kept his body busy and his mind calm. An hour passed, then another, and soon he found himself making his way back down the main street. The sun had risen as had his hunger, his stomach groaning for some food. 

Much to his pleasure, a delicious smell wafted through the air, and Alistair noticed some vendors beginning to cook food. He walked up to one stall where a man was cooking something on a small magitech grill.

"Good morning, son. Want some hearty chicken and waffles for breakfast?" the man asked with a smile.

"Chicken and waffles?" Alistair asked in surprise. Meat together with dessert was certainly not a combination he had ever tried. 

"I see your doubts, but trust me—soon people will be demanding them everywhere," the vendor assured, redoubling his efforts at the grill. Alistair looked around, wondering if he could buy something else, but nobody else had anything ready yet.

It certainly smells good. Oh, I'll give it a try. Even if the combination is a bit weird, it certainly can't be as bad as the food they serve in the Guild.

"You've convinced me, good salesman. I'll take a portion for myself," he said, and the smile on the man's face widened.

"Coming right up. Trust me, you won't regret it!" The man took a steamy hot waffle with thongs, put it in a shallow paper bag, then quickly put the chicken from the other grill on top of the waffle and poured some kind of light sauce over it. "Here you go."

Alistair took the paper bag carefully and found it pleasantly warm. Only then did he realize that his hands had gone cold in the night chill. He eyed the strange dish warily, inspecting it from all sides. Finally, after concluding that it was probably safe to eat, he took a careful bite.

Alistair was pleasantly surprised by the crunch of the waffle and the nice fluffy, sweet inside. Meanwhile, the chicken meat was seasoned and cooked to perfection, savory juices exploding in his mouth as he ate. All of that was brought together by a sweet and slightly spicy honey sauce.

"This is pretty good," Alistair admitted, looking down at the dish.

"Told you! I wish more people were adventurous like you. They see waffles and chicken and believe that the two would never go together.

"Not going to lie, that's what I thought as well."

"But you did try it. Eat up, son. I promise this will keep you full until lunch. Just be sure to tell your friends and family about this. I could use a few extra customers," the vendor winked.

"Sure," Alistair nodded, taking another bite of the crunchy chicken waffle.

I doubt my family would ever be interested in commoner food, but perhaps I could suggest it to people at the Adventurer's Guild.

Just as he thought that, Alistair noticed the old baker across the street together with his apprentice. Melina looked at him and the food in his hands with great curiosity and said something to her Master. For a moment, he wondered whether he should suggest they try the waffle. But the old man replied, scowl on his face deepening, and the girl turned her gaze away.

"Someone you know?" the vendor asked, having witnessed the scene.

"Not quite. Thank you for the breakfast. I'll be on my way now," Alistair said and gave the man two silver coins. There was a sort of bitterness in his mouth. An unpleasant tingle. 

Did I really get offended because two commoners turned away from me? Ridiculous. Their thoughts shouldn't even matter to me.

"W-Wait, this is a bit too much," the vendor stammered, looking at the coins in shock.

"Count the extra as a tip. If you feel it's too much, then you could point me in the direction of the Adventurer's Guild," Alistair said, trying to dismiss the unpleasant feeling in his chest.

"Oh, you're an adventurer. I should have known. They're always brave enough to try out new things. The Guild is located right next to the school over there on that hill," the vendor said, pointing at the old church building.

"Thank you kindly." Alistair waved, and slowly made his way up the hill, enjoying his warm breakfast along the way. The waffle chicken did wonders for sating his appetite as well as pleasing his palette. 

As he walked up the main street, the city was slowly beginning to wake, more and more vendors setting up their stalls while shop owners hurried to prepare for opening. Children were also appearing from within their homes, their laughter filling the city with life.

The older children were heading in the same direction as Alistair was and before long, he found himself walking along with about a dozen of them. They peered at him with curious gazes, but none were brave enough to start a conversation. However, one younger boy with a messy brown mop of hair was slowly inching closer to him, trying to appear nonchalant.

"It's a nice morning, isn't it?" Alistair said and smiled at the boy. He appeared startled at first but then smiled back.

"Where are you going, mister?" he asked.

"To the Adventurer's Guild." The kids huddled together, whispering and muttering "I told you so" excitedly. 

"So you're an adventurer, mister?" The same boy asked, daring to walk closer to Alistair.

"Sure am."

There was a wave of amazed gasps as the children began to huddle closer and closer around him, staring at him with star-struck eyes.

"I knew it! Mister, have you defeated many monsters?" A different boy from the crowd dared to ask.

"I have defeated a fair share."

"Really? What's the last one you beat? Was it a dragon?" A smaller girl asked, walking right next to him.

"No. A lone adventurer couldn't defeat a dragon. They need to form a large party and recruit at least several strong mages," he explained, and he saw that smiles on children's faces flickered as they didn't quite understand what he was saying. "But I did defeat a hobgoblin yesterday."

"What's a hobgoblin?" the same little girl asked, looking confused.

"I thought goblins are weak," an older boy said, almost derisively.

"Yes, that is true. Goblins are some of the weakest monsters out there. But I said "hobgoblin", didn't I?"

"What's the difference?" The boy snorted.

"Imagine a goblin but as big as the largest man you'd ever seen with crimson red skin and muscles strong enough to swing a giant wooden club around like it was a mere matchstick," Alistair accentuated his story by drawing the shape of the hobgoblin in the air with his hands. 

The children gasped, appearing frightened. He feared that he had gone too far, but boys scuttled even closer to him.

"How'd you defeat it?"

"Did it try to hit you with its club?"

"Did you die?" A smaller boy screamed out and blushed as soon as the question left his mouth. Alistair and the other children chuckled.

"No, as you see, I survived. But it certainly did try to hit, no, in fact, it hit me many, many times."

"But how come you are fine?" The children looked confused.

"I had a shield. It kept hitting me again and again and again—it felt like my arms would break," with one hand Alistair showed the hitting motion against his other hand, and the kids watched, mesmerized. "But then I activated my skill which allowed me to build up strength with each hit ."

"What's a skill?" One of the boys asked, cocking his head in confusion. Looking around Alistair saw that others were equally confused. 

How peculiar—they are not familiar with System users. Without the Church to preach about them people here are not very familiar with them. I wonder if I'll even be able to find another System user in Pertia.

"It's a very strong and special attack. The hobgoblin kept battering me, but I stood my ground and slashed at it with my sword whenever I could. At one point, it felt like it would overpower me, but I gathered my strength and used my special attack, paralyzing the hobgoblin and defeating it," Alistair said, occasionally accentuating his story with a wave of his hand or an overly dramatic expression.

The kids listened in amazement, some barely noticing where they were walking, so he deliberately slowed his pace to match theirs.

"What's this special attack? How does it work?" one boy asked.

"I hit my shield with my sword and created a shockwave with it,"  he explained.

"What's a shockwave?"  A smaller girl asked.

"It's like electric magic isn't it?" Another boy wondered.

"Yes, exactly," Alistair nodded.

"Wow! You can even use magic! That's so amazing, Mister Adventurer!" 

"I want to be just like you when I grow up!" One boy said, holding his little hands as if there was an invisible sword in them. The other children cheered along with him, also pretending they had invisible weapons in their hands.

A pang of guilt passed through Alistair as he watched the kids imagine that they were fighting invisible monsters. 

Is this really something children should aspire to? Kill monsters day in and day out, risk their lives when most of them will never become System users. So many adventurers die because they try to claim just a smidgen of glory that System users have. But they'll never be able to compare to us in terms of strength, no matter how hard they try.

Alistair wondered whether he should try to talk the children out of such ambition, but before he could, they were already waving him goodbye.

"See you, Mister Adventurer! Tell us another story sometime," one of the boys called as he ran towards the repurposed church building. Alistair stood there for a while, watching them and other children hurry inside. There was an unpleasant nagging in his chest.

But there was nothing he could do about it. These children would surely stick to their aspirations until the day they became adults and realized that the world wasn't quite as glorious and shiny as they thought. After all, Alistair had clung to his own ideals until very recently, despite his father's warnings.

He turned to look at the Adventurer's Guild, a large sturdy-looking building a bit further down the street. It was larger than the one in Sunglow, and also more welcoming, blending pleasantly with the surrounding city houses. Sunglow's Guild was made from solid stone and looked uninviting in Alistair's opinion.

The large front door of the Guild was open, some adventurers already bustling about in front of the quest board. Alistair headed straight to the reception where a rather young boy, about sixteen years old, was writing something in a notebook. He stopped as soon as he noticed Alistair's approach.

"Good morning. Welcome to Pertia's Adventurer's Guild. How may I help you?" He said stiffly while trying to keep a rather awkward, forced smile.

"Good morning. I would like to talk to the Guildmaster," Alistair said. 

The boy relaxed a little and pointed towards an ornate door next to the quest board. "You can find Guildmaster there. You came at a good time… uh…" 

"Alistair," he said, not wanting to frighten the boy with the fact that he was talking to a noble.

"Mister Alistair. The Guildmaster is currently free," the boy explained.

"Thank you," he gave him a curt nod and headed straight towards the Guildmaster's office. He knocked on the door and waited. 

"Come in!" 

Alistair headed inside and saw a middle-aged man with a long beard polishing armor on a stand.

"Good morning. I am an adventurer from Sunglow's Adventurer's Guild. I've come to report the appearance of an unusual monster as well as ask you a favor," he announced dutifully.

"From Sunglow you say. Go on, tell your report," the Guildmaster said, not bothering to introduce himself. Did he expect Alistair to know who he was? Rather conceited, but he decided not to comment on it. 

"On our way here we encountered a group of nine goblins together with a Hobgoblin." 

The man stopped polishing his armor, turning to face Alistair. "A hobgoblin? Are you sure?" 

"Absolutely. It was the size of a fully grown man with red skin," he nodded.

"That… that is concerning. I'll make sure this news gets to the Main Branch. And what was the favor you wanted to ask?" 

"I hoped you could perhaps introduce me to a System user."

"I'm sorry to say this, but you're a few months late. There are no more System users left in Pertia," the Guildmaster's expression grew sour as if Alistair had poked at a fresh wound.

"None? I was told there were some here."

"Yes. We had three fine System users working for our guild, but one of them retired and the other two were called to the capital by the Church." 

Retired? That's ideal. They're bound to know much about how the System functions.

"Where is the retired System user now?" Alistair asked.

"If you hope to coax them out of retirement, forget it, son. They sustained a horrible injury and won't even meet anyone anymore. It was a tragic incident, not to mention that he lost his life partner." 

A horrible injury and lost life partner? What could have happened?

"Perhaps, you could advise me as to where I could find—"

"No, I promised to leave the man in peace. He's been through enough. Now, if that's all you wanted, boy, then leave," the Guildmaster said, returning to polishing his armor. 

I could push to tell me what I want by using the Sinclair family name, but that doesn't feel right. I'll try to find this retired adventurer in another way.

Alistair inclined his head in thanks and left the Guild.

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