When it was the party’s turn, a gaunt-cheeked guard lowered his halberd to block the road.
“Routine inspection.”
The guard’s voice was hoarse and cold. “Names, origins, purpose for entering town, and show your identification.”
“Adventurers.”
Marcus was terse. “They’re all members of my party. We’re going to the Association to turn in a quest.”
He took a copper badge from his pocket and handed it over. It was the identification issued by the Adventurers’ Association.
The surface of the badge had been rubbed smooth from years of wear. Marcus’s name was engraved on it, along with a crossed sword-and-shield emblem.
Gray and Wallace both took out their badges and handed them over. Zeriel remembered that he had one as well, and after feeling around on himself for quite a while, he passed it over with the others.
Only, the other three badges were all bronze, while Zeriel’s was the plainest iron kind, making it look rather shabby.
The guard accepted them and swept his eyes over them a few times, confirming their identities.
Then his gaze fell on the group again.
Bulging backpacks giving off a fishy smell, dried bloodstains on their clothes, and Gray’s exposed, injured arm—nothing out of the ordinary.
The guard gave a slight nod and returned the badges to the party. “Welcome back to town. Go get those wounds treated.”
The halberd was lifted, and the group was allowed through the checkpoint.
After entering Blackstone Town, a brand-new scene unfolded before their eyes, as though the melodious sound of a lute had begun to ring beside Zeriel’s ears.
Most of the buildings in town were two-story structures, stone on the lower level and wood above, with roofs covered in dark red or brown tiles. The main road was paved with uneven slabs of bluestone, and shallow drainage ditches had been dug along both sides.
The clamor of merchants hawking their goods, the rhythmic clangs of hammering from the blacksmith’s shop, and the unrestrained laughter and chatter of passersby all mingled together, instantly pulling Zeriel back from the monotonous Graywood Forest.
What appeared before his eyes was a living, breathing world—a world utterly different from the concrete cities and steel forests of his previous life.
A plump auntie in an apron was busy at the entrance of a bakery, placing a basket of freshly baked soft bread dusted with icing sugar onto the display shelves.
A bard sat on a street corner, recounting the great deeds of heroes, his moving melody flowing out along the strings.
Adventurers sat in twos and threes at outdoor tables, wiping their weapons while loudly boasting about their experiences on their last quests.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going!”
The shout startled Zeriel.
He hurriedly retreated two steps as a farm cart pulled by a packhorse wobbled past at speed, nearly running him down.
“What are you thinking about? You can even zone out while walking—did you use too much magic and overdraw your energy?” Wallace patted Zeriel on the head.
“No, I just think…”
Zeriel struggled for a long moment before finally saying, “I just think it’s amazing.”
Wallace looked at Zeriel with a strange expression.
After crossing two streets, the party finally arrived at the Adventurers’ Association.
It was a building with a rough, rugged style.
The main structure was a three-story house built from wood and stone. Years of wind and sun had left the walls mottled with color. Relief carvings adorned the entrance; the crossed sword and shield above had already faded, and scratches of varying depth remained along the edges.
Pushing open the door, a wave of noisy voices rushed toward them.
“Goblin subjugation quest in the Misty Cavern, need a frontliner!”
“Gnoll cleanup deep in Graywood Forest! Need two warriors! I want every last one of those bastards’ heads twisted off! Fair pay, all equipment losses covered!”
“Caravan escort quest! Rangers prioritized! Class rank must be at least lower tier!”
Bursts of enthusiastic calls for teammates rose and fell one after another, making people’s ears buzz. The faint scent of blood mixed with the sour smell of sweat, making the atmosphere feel even more feverish.
The interior of the Association was also more or less what Zeriel had imagined.
The massive wolf-head specimen hanging on the wall, the empty wine barrels stacked in the corner, and the adventurers with all sorts of weapons hanging at their waists—everything was filled with the peculiar sights that should only appear in fantasy novels.
Zeriel could clearly feel his heartbeat quickening.
Everyone here was the sort to live with their heads on their belts. Adventurers died on quests every day, yet fresh blood continued to pour in without end.
For money, for ambition, and also because they were unwilling to spend their lives in mediocrity.
Marcus, clearly familiar with the place, pushed through the crowd and came to the counter. The receptionist was a young girl with a few freckles scattered across her cheeks.
“Hello, I’m the receptionist Ella. How may I help you?”
“I’m here to turn in the wild wolf extermination quest.”
Marcus unloaded the cloth sack and poured a large pile of skinned wild wolf left ears onto the designated counting tray.
“Very well.”
Ella first searched through the documents. After confirming that such a quest existed, she began using counting tabs to tally the wolf ears.
“A total of thirty-six wild wolves. According to the quest conditions, you can receive a reward of one hundred and eight silver coins.”
“Good.”
Marcus said, “In addition, I’d like to report an encounter with a monster.”
“An encounter with a monster?” Ella’s brows furrowed slightly.
“Yes. We ran into a juvenile mist demon,” Marcus said.
“To think it was that…”
Ella’s expression grew somewhat solemn.
Although it was a juvenile mist demon and its threat level was not as high as an adult’s, a monster with a [Challenge] rating was no joke. This was already serious enough to cost lives and had to be reported.
“Which area did you encounter the mist demon in? What kinds of creatures’ bodies had been stitched into it? Its movement speed shouldn’t have been very fast, right? Otherwise, it would have been difficult to escape…”
Faced with Ella’s questioning, Marcus merely shook his head.
“We didn’t escape. We killed that mist demon.”
“…”
Ella’s brown eyes widened slightly, and the hall also fell silent for an instant.
The adventurers who had been speaking loudly all turned their eyes slightly, their attention drawn by Marcus’s words.
“You… killed that juvenile mist demon?” Ella asked in surprise.
Marcus did not say much. He simply took out the spoils of battle wrapped in thick cloth from his pocket.
When the adventurers who had still been skeptical saw this scene, they had no choice but to believe everything Marcus had said.
That prismatic crystal wreathed in mist was undoubtedly a mist demon magic core!
“Marcus’s party actually took down a mist demon…”
“How did they do it? That energy barrier on the surface of a mist demon can almost ignore all physical attacks. An adventurer party I knew all died at its hands.”
“I know Marcus. Lower-tier warrior, hasn’t even grasped battle aura yet. Gray and Wallace are about the same… Was it that newcomer who broke the energy barrier? I heard he’s a mage?”
“I saw him a few days ago. I think his name is Zeriel… To think there are still mages coming to the Adventurers’ Association to take quests these days. How rare…”