Chapter 159.2: Salvation
PART 2/2
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.”
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