The first thing Luke did upon crossing the colossal walls of the Cardinal Kingdom was not to go to the Cardinal Church, as indicated by the clergyman he talked to. First, he found a stable near the city entrance and requested that Atom be looked after.
The horse was fatigued from the long journey and really needed to rest in a suitable place, with plenty of hay, water, and shade. In addition, the whole city had many ups and downs, so Atom would delay Luke because riding was forbidden on many streets.
After that, Luke climbed many streets and stairs, always asking for directions about the best routes. The half-wolf soon noticed that no one judged him with their eyes for his race, but rather for the clothes he wore, always treating him with as much respect as possible. Soon Luke also noticed that although the people looked like peasants, no one seemed to live in the purest misery, as happened in other cities of the Broteforge Empire.
In Luke's mind, the factors didn't quite fit together. The most dangerous Dungeon on the continent was below the Cardinal Realm, yet the people still lived with a happy smile on their faces and their eyes shining. Luke couldn't tell whether that was the purest state of alienation or insolence at having the most powerful Adventurers.
On the way to the Guild, Luke wondered somehow Alexis Dmitry was when she lived in this vast city. Did she belong to a Clan? Did she have a party? A boyfriend? However, when he thought about the possibility that the half-dragon had a boyfriend, a bad feeling, which he had never felt before, came over him.
The half-wolf could easily visualize Alexis anywhere in that city; after all, the S-Class was powerful and cheerful, perfectly fitting the mystical and religious atmosphere of the Cardinal Kingdom.
Before he knew it, Luke was standing there with a silly smile and his face slightly flushed, and he only realized this when he heard some women whispering:
"Why is he looking at the ground like that?"
"Is he a pervert?"
"No, sister...he must be an Adventurer, don't talk about it that way."
Immediately Luke shook his head and regained his posture. 'What was that I felt?" he wondered, then returned to following the street orientation that a man directed him to.
After a few minutes, Luke finally found the Cardinal Kingdom Guild building. This one had very similar architecture to the Vasconcelos Guild building, but it was three times larger. Like any other Guild, in front of it was a quest board, which was quite crowded for this time of day.
Curious, Luke approached it to see the levels of the quests, and he was startled to see that the difficulty levels were no less than Class-B.
On the Vasconcelos mission board, it was hard to find one of that level, and in compensation, there were dozens of Rank-E and Rank-F missions.
A man who was alone searching for some mission for his group to do the next day, saw the half-wolf looking carefully at the board and spoke:
"Do you want help finding a mission? Or if you want a group, I advise you to go inside the Guild and make a chart pointing out your talents, sometimes there are groups looking for people of specific classes." He was tall and wore pointed armor.
"Thanks, but I was just curious about the fact that the levels of the missions are not low."
"Ah, yes... Well, the Dungeon here was one of the first to be discovered a few hundred years ago, so that's normal. The items on the first twenty floors are no longer as useful as those on the other floors."
"I see, thanks for quenching my curiosity. Goodbye!" said Luke, turned away and waved, as he opened the Guild door.
The man would invite him for a beer because he thought Luke was cute, but the words didn't leave his mouth before Luke entered the Guild. "Whatever... there's probably another new guy waiting around somewhere."
Upon entering the Guild building, Luke found a large three-story hall, and curiously the smell of mead was all over the place.
"Hello, how can I help you, sir?" A black-haired woman asked Luke. She was wearing a green uniform and carrying a scroll from under her arm.
The half-wolf took out the paper he received from the guard, which was the order to collect a reward, and held it out to the woman. "I killed the beast that was tormenting the surroundings."
"Oh! So, it was you who cleared the city gates? It's a pleasure to meet you." She said sympathetically. "Will you accompany me please? I will collect your reward."
One gold coin might not seem like much to someone who had won seventy gold coins as a reward from the Tournament of Legends, but this additional gold coin would already cover all the costs of the half-wolf's long journey, which he thought was a good thing. After collecting his reward, he began to follow the bright beam of light, which as the sunset, became even brighter, serving as a beacon to find the city. As he got closer, Luke wondered how he hadn't seen this gigantic column of light before while traveling.
From where this intriguing light was coming out, the Cardinal Church was a staggering building up close. Right at the entrance, there were dozens of columns made of quartz, and on each of them was a royal guard.
Before the half-wolf had a chance to speak a single word, they suddenly pointed their spears forward, and a voice that didn't seem to come from any of them asked:
"What are you looking for in the Cardinal Church?"
Luke was intimidated by how he was greeted and smiled wryly, but dared not make any jokes. "A clergyman of you people was spreading the word of the Church outside the city, and he directed me to come here to exchange my Gene Skill license for a Skill."
"Put down your spears." The same voice ordered, and all ten guards immediately lowered their spears.
Soon after, a woman stepped out from behind the main columns, surprising Luke with her stunning beauty. Her hair was as black as the densest night, and her eyes were as blue as the reflection of a full moon on the calm ocean.
"Come with me, please." She spoke, pulling her long bangs out of the front of her left eye. The half-wolf was ecstatic for a few moments and then complied with the woman's request.
The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on fr(e)𝒆webnov(e)l.com