Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (100/?) WiP 1

Hey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 100 I hope you guys enjoy! :D

Nexus. The Crown Herald Town of Elaseer. Ambassadorial District. The Adventurer’s Guild Hall of Elaseer. Local Time: 0740 Hours.

Emma

“A week?!” The guildmaster shuddered in place, their thin iridescent membrane spiking up in every direction, in a way that reminded me of Bim Bim’s fur standing on end after his first encounters with the automated cleaning bots.  

“Or sooner, if at all possible.” I quickly added, just as we entered the meat and potatoes of the contract, hammering out the details of the more vital requirements of this atypical request. 

That answer didn’t seem to help matters much, as the guild master did the human equivalent of leaning back against their chair — melting into a small gelatinous puddle. 

Though strangely, that didn’t seem to affect their ability to speak at all.

“You ask for the impossible, in addition to the atypical.” The greater slime answered promptly, with a clear pang of annoyance present throughout their voice. 

“So… a week isn’t possible?” I quickly followed up, cocking my head in the process.

To which the slime ‘sighed’ in response, or at least, I assumed that was what the bubbles forming within its confines was the equivalent of. 

“I… am willing to give you the benefit of a doubt, newrealmer. Considering this is a completely foreign land, with foreign conventions and foreign expectations, there may be some potential… adjustments that may need to be made with regards to boisterous, outlandish, and frankly eccentric requests. I… will assume this deadline was made either in some attempt at jest, or perhaps a strange conversational bluff.” 

A brief pause punctuated the guild master’s rebuff, to which I was once again thankful for my helmet, for acting as a reasonably intimidating poker face for these sorts of dealings; its glowing red eyes drilling deep into the slime’s unflinching photoreceptors.

“This isn’t a bit, or an attempt at bluffing, guild master.” I responded firmly. “I’m afraid I am very much serious about that deadline.”

The slime took a moment to consider that response, their ‘eyes’ shifting from my visor, to that of the library card still firmly clenched between my fingers. 

“The circumstances are that serious, I presume?” 

“I’m not at liberty to divulge that.” I responded diplomatically. “Though you have my word that I’m not being hyperbolic for the sake of petty mind games or posturing. I need it within a week, max. Or sooner, if at all possible.” 

Another silence manifested soon after that reaffirmation, as the slime once more formed an ‘arm’ and a ‘chin’, if only to show their genuine  contemplation of the terms of this quest. 

“A week… is possible, provided that supplementary conditions are considered for this quest.” He began cryptically. “Adventurers tend to operate on foot, or on horseback. They sometimes utilize the service of mainline transportiums, but those are hard-linked to others of its kind along a chained path. Which means that they are, in effect, limited to towns and cities with mainline transportiums. Thus, to venture into the wilderness, to where this amethyst dragon may potentially reside… will require either the tolerance of time… or the use of unconventional forms of transportation.” The slime once more paused, ‘cocking’ their whole body in the process. “And since you have vehemently denied the use of the former, then we must thus employ the latter, to expedite this entire quest.” 

I nodded along at that, the rest of the group seemingly agreeable to the suggestion. 

“So you’re saying we need to rent a form of transportation for them.” I surmised. “Something that isn’t just a horse or a donkey or a horse-drawn carriage or what have you.” I continued, reaching a hand to rest my own chin upon. “Alright then, what do you suggest?” 

“Ideally? Drakes.” The greater slime answered succinctly, a vast improvement and a breath of fresh air from these sorts of interactions back at the Academy. “However, drakes are both prohibitively expensive, and would require the involvement of Mayoral meddling… which I assume you lot will probably be against.” 

None of us responded, though the silence itself was seemingly enough of an answer for the Greater Slime. 

“In lieu of Drakes, we could settle for Pegasi.” Piamon continued, as they generated a five-fingered hand just to list off the various other options we had at our disposal. “But if Pegasi are leased for longer than half a week, we may see the same issue of meddling from Mayoral audits. And on that note, other forms of air-based transportation larger than Drakes will bring even greater scrutiny on this quest, so I will move onto land-based forms of transportation for discretion’s sakes.” 

The guild master paused once more, as if taking a moment to ponder our now-limited options. “We could simply make do with enchanted beasts of burden, enchanted horses and the like, or… if the newrealmer can grapple with such a concept… there is also the option of beastless artifices of transport.” They spoke in a manner that was starting to feel more befitting of their station — that of a Nexian noble. The sense of superiority oozing from their voice was practically palpable, even if their ‘eyes’ never once shifted from that ‘neutral’ looking expression. 

“Okay.” I nodded, crossing my arms as I did so, giving the universal expression of ‘Okay… so?’, before moving swiftly onwards without missing a single beat. “What options do you have for us on that front?” 

The slime’s lack of expressions made it difficult to see just how disappointed he was by my reaction, or lack thereof. 

So with his baiting tangent out of the way, he continued on, business as usual. 

“I have connections around town that would allow us to lease the services of anything from a Golem-Steed, to a Mono-treader, the former I believe requires little explanation, but the latter, I assume you to be probably unfamiliar with—”

“It’s a giant wheel with a person perched inside of it isn’t it?” I interjected with the bluntness of my earlier rebuff. “Powered by mana or something, or enchanted, or what-have-you.” I quickly added, eliciting a moment of silence from the greater slime. 

“Y-yes.” The guild master replied with a certain level of abashment, their entire ‘face’ turning away if only for a moment. “I will be honest, newrealmer. I am quite… surprised that you would know of such an artifice this early on into your stay within the Nexus.”