Chapter 156: Salvation

The three of us walked down the path, approaching the town we’d just arrived in. It was well into evening by now, with the sun setting behind us, so I was more than ready to just get in and retire—though we’d probably have to find some way to make at least enough money to get a room for the night, first. We could probably just find a quick and easy job to complete; with our mid-Level Statuses, I had no doubt there’d be some decent-paying job out there for us.

The town itself looked rather quaint, though I couldn’t see into the walls yet. But there were no massive, towering buildings like the clock tower back in Carth, and the walls themselves looked pretty standard, being made out of that same magically-cut stone the outpost was with Bon and the rest of the guards. There were no guards that seemed to be manning the ramparts, either, only the gate itself, so ideally this place wouldn’t have too much in the realm of law enforcement. I didn’t plan on committing murder or anything, but the less scrutiny on us, the better.

So we walked up to the walls. The pair of guards standing at the gate, upon spotting us, instinctively reached for their weapons once we were in sight. One with a sword—probably a Swordsman, like usual—and the other actually had a staff. Staffs were an interesting item; they were effectively vessels for Magic-Types to use Enchantments with, sort of like Ripley’s Enchanted axe that drained my Health after it hit me.

Technically, the Enchantments used on staves—ones that modified Spells that were cast through them, typically—could be used on any type of item out there, but people preferred them on long wooden sticks for a few reasons, from what I’d heard. As opposed to putting the Enchantments on something like a sword, which could serve as a weapon if things went bad, wooden staffs were light and easy to use, and they were also cheaper to manufacture. Since most Enchanted gear came with additional Enchantments to harden it and make it unlikely to break, the difference between metal and wood was almost entirely one of weight and cost, and pretty much nothing else. And, in addition to this, staves had to be manually pointed at a target in order to aim ranged Spells, so having something long and maneuverable was nice when trying to do things like fight from behind cover.

But not all—or even most—Magic-Types used staves, and that pretty much entirely came down to the problem of cost. Even though most Classers wouldn’t have too much trouble finding employment as long as they lived in the right area, being able to spare enough money to spend on a well-made Enchantment was more than most could afford. Or, rather, they had more important things to buy. Housing, food, even just some nice clothes and material comforts. If you could get the job done just fine now, why spend so much on something that’ll just make it a little easier? That was the attitude of most.

So seeing someone with a staff, it was a bit jarring.

“You think they spend much on their military?” I asked Erani as we approached. “Might be an issue if they do.”

“Could also be a personal item, just something he brings to the job for the sake of safety, or something.”

“Yeah, well hopefully we won’t have to find out what the thing does.”

The Swordsman among the pair looked up and spotted us approaching, reaching for his weapon seemingly out of instinct. Considering the way the three of us looked, I didn’t exactly blame him; I was wearing a full suit of dark plate armor, Erani looked like a complete monster if you weren’t staring directly at her, and Ainash literally was a monster.

To assuage their fears, I raised my hand and gave as friendly a wave as possible. The guard, not breaking his stare at us, reached over and tapped his companion on the shoulder, gesturing at us. The Magic-Type looked at us suspiciously, but at least didn’t actively point his staff at us, or anything.

“Friendly!” I called out as we closed the distance. “Sorry if we startled you.”

They relaxed at my words, and we finally got up to them. The Swordsman was taller, with a growing beard, while the Magic-Type was clearly much younger, newbie eyes filled with fear at our appearances.

The Swordsman spoke up as we stopped in front of the closed gate. “Who are you?”

“Well,” I said, “I’m Annor Tor, and this is my companion, Eita Niin, and our, uh, pet.”

“You’re…wait, hold on. Just what in the flames are you?”

“Like…species? We’re Human.”

“Then why’s she got a bunch of…” he looked over at Erani, focusing on her so he could name the charactics he saw, but of course, the moment he looked closely, most of the strange things about her would have disappeared from his sight. “Sh-she looks weird. Why’s she look like that? And you’ve got smoke coming out of your eyes. You a Living Armor, or something?”

“The hells is a Living Armor?” I asked. “Listen, she’s practicing a Spell right now, and I’m wearing some Enchanted gear. That’s why we look like this. Put us under a Truth Stone if you want. It’ll agree with me.”

“Can you just take off your helmet, or something? Don’t like looking at you like that.”

“I can’t. Like I said, it’s specially Enchanted. Grafted onto me. Can’t take it off.”

“Grafted onto your—” he shook his head, muttering curses to himself. “That’s a load of horseshit. You just haven’t pulled hard enough.”

He walked up, reaching out to grab onto my helmet and yank it off, and I panicked. If he tried to, he’d be totally able to take off my helmet; my claim that he wouldn’t be able to was a bold-faced lie. But if I shoved him away or tried to tell him not to, wouldn’t that just make him more suspicious?

He grabbed onto my visor, and just as he began to pull, I did the only thing I could think of and activated Noxious Grasp.

The moment I did, he yelped and pulled his hand back. “What in the…’infected with noxious gas?’ Double Stamina loss? What did you do to me? The hell is this?!”

“Told you, man,” I said, trying to keep my nervousness from showing. “It’s the armor. You can’t take it off. Just does that every time you try.”

“How did you even find this shit?” He demanded.

I sighed. “Do you want me to tell you my life story, too?”

“Yeah,” the Magic-Type spoke up to his coworker, “don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid? We can just ask them the usual questions with the Truth Stone, right? Why should we—”

“Why should we?” the Swordsman spun around on the Magic-Type. “Being paranoid is our job, rookie! Haven’t you heard? There’s an invasion in the Koinkar Kingdom. Demons ‘n shit. How can we be sure they aren’t Demons? I signed up here to fight against that threat, not let them wanderin’ into our own home, killing our citizens! You,” he turned and pointed a finger at Erani, “what’s with your look? Why haven’t you said anything yet?”

He was correct that it was somewhat strange for Erani to have not said anything yet, and that was because we’d decided it’d probably be best for her to avoid speaking until she was directly addressed. With her Spell also affecting her voice, talking would only introduce more complications.

But it would be much more suspicious for her to refuse to speak, so she opened her mouth. “Sorry, I—”

The Swordsman pulled back and looked around himself the moment she spoke. Even the more relaxed Magic-Type seemed startled at her voice. Again, I understood their attitude; it certainly wasn’t calming to hear the voice of someone speaking right in front of you coming from what felt like directly behind your ear.

“—I have a Spell that makes me sound strange,” Erani continued. “But it also keeps me safe, so I’d prefer not to deactivate it. Unless there’s a rule that says people absolutely have to have all Spells toggled off in order to enter, of course.”

“Well maybe there is a rule that says—”

“C’mon, man,” the Magic-Type interrupted the Swordsman. “Let’s just follow protocol. If they don’t check out, then sure, question them. But I don’t want to get an infraction during my first month of service for mistreating citizens.”

The Swordsman rolled his eyes. “Flamin’ by-the-book newbies. Fine. Get the flamin’ Stone and do your thing. But if they lie, I’m arresting them.”

“Sure. You stay here and watch them, I’ll grab the Truth Stone.”

The next few minutes passed in the way I expected them to. The man went and got the Truth Stone and questioned us with it, with us answering using the same method we’d bypassed the other guards’ questions, me using Index and Erani using Ainash to help us lie past the Enchantment.

We were obviously placed under a bit more scrutiny with the Swordsman guy watching our every move, but our backstories were solid, so we got by with mostly no issues. I even made up a bit of a sob story on the spot about my “grafted-on” armor and how much the curse impacted my life and all that, which seemed to get the Swordsman to lessen up on the suspicion.

“Okay,” the Magic-Type said after jotting down a note about my previous answer on whether I had a criminal record, “one last thing. I presume you two are Classed?”

“Yep,” I nodded.

“Great. What are your degrees?”

I remembered what Erani had explained to me about degrees back when we’d first entered Carth. They were effectively a way to gauge one’s general level of strength while not divulging too much private information, for the sake of ensuring there wasn’t some Level-40 powerhouse wandering around in a city without the government's knowledge, and also so that nobody got too in over their heads with adventuring. The guild limited jobs to certain degrees, that way there weren’t any unnecessary incidents about arrogant low-Levels getting slaughtered by powerful monsters. At least, that way there weren’t as many incidents.

Either way, I was glad to hear that the adventurer’s guild was a multinational organization, so I didn’t need to memorize any new way of classifying power. Levels 0 to 9 was wood degree, 10 to 19 was bronze, and the range I just barely fell into, 20 to 29, was silver.

So I answered truthfully, seeing no reason to falsely represent my Level. If I lied about being weaker than I was, then I’d ultimately just be screwing myself over when trying to find work appropriate for my Level, and if I lied about being stronger, I’d only cause an unnecessary ruckus. “Both of us are silver.”

“Man,” the Magic-Type shook his head. “More mid-Levelers, huh? I swear, you people have been flooding in here recently.”

“More like Classers in general,” the Swordsman shook his head. “Flamin’ power-hungry combat addicts itching to kill some Demons for the XP.”

“Didn’t you just say you signed up to be transferred here specifically so you could fight Demons?”

“No, I said I wanted to be transferred so I could protect people from the Demons. If they come invading…” he got into a fighting stance, obviously attempting to look badass, “I’ll be ready.”

“Sure.”

“Anyway,” I said, “there are a lot of mid-Levelers that recently moved here?”

“Yeah. Last few weeks, they’ve all been coming down to the towns near Empire’s Edge, I heard,” the Magic-Type shrugged. “Probably just looking to Level up in case of an invasion, or protect the people, or make some money, or whatever. But I swear, I’ve signed in more Classed than Unclassed in the last few days.”

“Well shit, I was hoping we’d be able to find some work here. If the place is flooded with people just like us, though…”

“Oh, I doubt you’ll ever find yourself totally unable to find work, what with the Gloomspurs around here,” the Magic-Type said. “Always around killing crops and livestock. Farmers are constantly putting in requests to exterminate them.”

“Pfft, those weak things?” the Swordsman scoffed. “They’ll be extinct within a week, with all the Classers in here. What are you talking about?”

“Listen dude, I know you’re newer around here,”

“You’re the newbie.”

“Yeah, sure, with work, but I’ve lived here all my life. You’re the one who’s new in town. And I’ll tell you, every day I’ve lived here, the Gloomspurs are always an annoyance for the farmers. Always have been, always will be.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I dunno,” he shrugged. “But they’ve always been around. Never bothered to ask. Probably just breed like rabbits, or something.”

“Well, thanks for the info,” I nodded. “I guess we’ll just go kill some Gloomspurs if we ever need money.”

“Mhm. Oh, and before I forget, can you guys show me your license for your pet? Just gotta mark down the species and make sure it isn’t out of date.”

“Our…what?”

He looked up at us. “Your pet license. You said that monster was your pet, right? If it is, you have to have a license to bring it into town.”

I blinked. “Oh. I didn’t…realize that.”

“You don’t have one?”

“No. In Koinkar, we didn’t need licenses. Just had to prove they were trained and everything.”

The Swordsman scoffed. “Maybe that’s why the place burned to the ground. Too many rabid monsters running around in the streets.”

The Magic-Type looked over at him. “Dude. You really don’t think that joke is too soon when you’re literally talking to refugees? Of the invasion you’re joking about?”

He held up his hands in faux-surrender. “Sorry for trying to lighten the mood, I guess.”

“Anyway,” he looked back at us, “I definitely can’t let that thing in without a license.”

“Well, can we get one somewhere?”

“Sure. If you go to town hall, there should be someone you can talk to about it. They’ve got a list of different requirements for each species of monster, so if you go in and pay a fee, they’ll have a verifier go out and make sure it’s well-trained.”

I sighed. “Is that really necessary? She can literally talk. She’s not going to be biting peoples’ hands off, or whatever.”

He just shrugged. “I don’t make the rules.”

“Can’t you just let her in, for a day or something? Just to prove she’s—”

“Listen, dude, I really can’t do that. What kind of monster even is that thing? I don’t recognize it.”

Yeah, that was the problem. If the town hall had a different list of requirements for each species, then Ainash—who was a species that was, at the very least, extremely rare—would almost certainly not be on that list. Damn bureaucracy was going to be the death of me.

I sighed. “Can you give us a moment?”

“Sure.”

We stepped away, and I messaged Ainash. She’d, of course, been getting filled in on the conversation as we went, so it wasn’t like I had to break any news to her, but still. “Hey, kiddo, so I don’t think we’re going to be able to…”

“It is okay!”

I frowned. “Really? You don’t mind?”

“Yes, you and mother can go have fun in Human town. I will have fun in my home. Will make new home out here!”

I smiled bitterly. “Yeah, but I don’t want you to feel alone. I feel bad making you sit out here all on your own.”

“Well…you will come visit?”

“Of course.”

“And will bring me to Human town later?”

“Yeah, definitely. It’ll be my number one priority to get them to let you in.”

“Then it okay! You make friends with new Humans, and I will make friends with new animals. Then, when I come to Human town, we trade friends! You show me your new Human friends, and I show you my new animal friends.”

I laughed. “That’s a great idea. And I promise I’ll get you in here. And I’ll show you all the furniture and stuff, too. It’s honestly so awesome.”

“Am excited!”

“Okay,” I smiled. “Keep within a thousand paces, alright? That way the Bond never deactivates, and we can always talk to you if we need to. I think our words will get a little weaker if we’re further away, so we probably can’t talk forever like we normally do, but at least that way we can say something if either of us needs anything, or if we’re ever in danger. And I promise we’ll visit every day.”

“Okay father!” she reached out and hugged me tightly, which felt weird since she was still taller than me. But it was still nice.

She also reached out and hugged Erani, lifting her up and spinning around with Erani’s legs dangling at Ainash’s shins as she did so. I held back a laugh at the sight, and the sound of Erani’s yelp as she was swung around like that.

Once Ainash put her back down, she smiled and took a step back, looking at us. “Okay, will see you soon! Love you!”

“Y-yeah,” I said. Why was I tearing up? We’d barely even be apart. This wasn’t… “Love you too, kiddo.”

She turned and sprinted off, energetic as always.

“Be sure to tell us if you see anything weird!” I called after her. “And we’ll get into contact when we next leave to do a job or something, okay? It’ll probably only be a couple hours!”

“Okay!”

I looked down and saw that Erani was gripping onto my hand tightly. Once again, I was struck by the fact that I had literally never been apart from either her or Ainash for longer than a few minutes at a time. So seeing her leave like that…it was like seeing a kid leave for school for the first time. Sure, I’d see her again in probably just a few hours, but it was still the first time she’d left since I’d met her.

“Hey, you guys ready to get through here?” The Swordsman called over to us. “There’re some more people coming down the road we gotta sign in soon. Don’t wanna hold them up.”

“R-right,” I nodded. “Coming.”

We got everything finalized as we signed ourselves in, getting the two silver-degree badges that hung around our necks—mine just phased right through my armor so it ended up actually touching me—and then the guards went over to open the tall gates that kept us out.

“Hey,” I asked the Magic-Type as he reached down to pull the lever to open the gates, “what’s the name of this town, anyway? Don’t think you ever told us.”

“Interesting story, actually,” he said. “Guy who founded it, he was lost and looking for water or something, wandering for days trying to find a river. Well, when he finally did, it was right here. He was hours away from dying, they say, but the gods put the river here to save him. So to thank them, he founded a town right here on the riverbank. And when they named it, he could only really think of one thing to call it. Salvation.”

“That’s so flamin’ cheesy,” the Swordsman laughed. “No way that’s really why they called this place Salvation, right? I thought it was just called that after some dude with a weird last name.”

“I think it’s inspiring,” the Magic-Type shrugged. “Maybe it’s a fake story. I don’t care.”

Their conversation faded out as the wooden doors creaked open. Salvation, huh?

I turned to Erani. “Okay, let’s figure out how to get some money, and then let’s find some real fucking food to eat.”