Chapter 27 - The Unseen

The Guildmaster’s Office was something between a trophy room and what Nate would’ve expected from some CEOs office back on Earth. It was richly decorated with a huge dark wooden desk and a comfortable chair behind it. Two bookshelves sat behind the desk, with the books mostly neat and tidy except for a few places that looked like books had haphazardly been jammed in. The walls were decorated with trophies from what Nate could only assume were past battles. A sword hung next to the head of some furry beast with claws as long as Nate's forearm. He was pretty sure one of the trophies was a Razorlash, though the head suggested this one was considerably older than the one he and Kiri had fought in the forest.

Aisling moved around behind her desk, unstrapping her spear and leaning it against the wood with a solid thunk, before flopping into the chair. As she looked back at them he felt something pass through him and knew she’d just used Identify on him.

“Gods be good, I am tired of idiots,” she lamented as she leaned forward, looking at them for a moment before she waved to two of the four seats. “Sit, oh and put your hand on the desk,” the woman waved her bronzed hand in Nate's direction.

Nate looked at Kiri and she gave him a small nod before moving to the seats and sitting down. He followed, sitting down in the high backed chair, enjoying the fact that it was cushioned, and carefully put his right hand on the dark wood of the desk. Guildmaster Aisling had obviously meant his injured hand. The Guildmaster walked back around the desk and looked over his hand studiously.

“Looks like you crushed it. How many days ago was this?” she asked, gently touching the back of one of his broken fingers. Even with her attempting to be gentle it still hurt, but far less than Nate expected.

“One and a half days, I suppose,” he responded, his eyebrows drawn down from wincing at her touch.

“Oh really? You have a higher Constitution than I would expect for a Mage. I can already see the healing your body has done on this. What landed on it?”

He didn’t like the line of questioning but a glance at Kiri told him lying wasn’t an option.

“It was a statue.”

“How big?”

“As big as me,” he said with a sigh.

“And this statue, was it perhaps, in a Dungeon?” she asked.

He just sighed again and nodded. This woman wanted all of his secrets apparently. Best to give up the ones that were less important. She hadn’t reacted oddly to seeing him so he figured she couldn’t see his Class.

“HA!” she crowed. “I knew it! Easy bet to win. Nice boots by the way. Rare quality and decently impressive. Boots of the Wandering Mage. Your robe however refuses to give up any of its secrets and that in and of itself, is very telling. Epic quality I am venturing. And I don’t know of any Noble families with an heirloom robe that matches that description. Which makes you either a foreigner, or one of the Unseen.”

Aisling’s stare was piercing as she watched his reaction, pinning him to his seat. He didn’t have to pretend to be uncomfortable and confused. He had no idea what she was talking about.

“What are the Unseen?” he stammered out.

“Don’t play dumb with me kid. We all know some of the older Noble families take third and fourth born, the ones who will never inherit, and turn them into weapons. The Unseen, because the public is never made aware of them. The Noble family's secret weapons. You’d be about the right age. If it wasn’t for your low level I would be certain of it.”

Aisling leaned forward, looming over him. He felt the air become charged again, like a storm ready to unleash thunder and lightning.

“I’m…I’m not one of them. The Unseen. I swear!” he blurted.

Aisling watched him a moment longer with narrowed eyes, then the charge in the air dissipated and it was like the storm had cleared. Her eyes were no longer thunderous, instead merely appraising.

“Your family going to come to my town looking for you, kid?” she asked, resting her hands on her hips.

“No, ma’am,” he said, deflating in his chair.

She grunted, before reaching down and placing her hand over his. He muffled a scream as he felt mana flowing into his hand and the bones realigning, muscles being pulled back into place. The mana felt different. Where before it had felt like a storm was circling, this felt like watching a flower grow and bloom. It lasted less than thirty seconds but felt like five minutes before Aisling removed her hand. Testing his hand and fingers with a few flexes he smiled and looked up to thank Aisling.

She was already moving back behind her desk. “No charge kid. Consider it repayment for me scaring the shit out of you. Thought you were close to doing the real thing to be honest.”

Kiri gave an awkward laugh and Nate just sighed. He supposed a little intimidation wasn’t so bad and his hand was working again.

“Well, that’s all I had kids. Get out. And Kiri, good work on the Razorlash, lass. Crafters are happy and that means they’re not bothering me. Now shoo. I’ve got blasted paperwork to do.”

Aisling motioned for them to leave and they didn’t need to be told a third time, hastening out the door and down the stairs.

Kiri looked at him, “Are you alright? I didn’t know Guildmaster Aisling could be so intense. She’s always so relaxed when she comes to speak with dad.”

“I’m fine Kiri… but, umm, thanks for asking. I appreciate it.”

She just rolled her eyes at him before spinning to face him fully and grinning, “Hands fixed. Let’s go look at the job board!”

The job board, it turned out, was colour coded.  They seemed to have no shortage of paper in this world. Nate suspected the source of so much paper had to be some Class that specialised in crafting it. The job board had pieces of paper in brown, off-white and yellow. Brown for the bronze tasks, off-white for the silver tasks, yellow for the gold tasks. Kiri told him there were other colours for the higher Guild ranks but they were incredibly rare to see in Helmfirth.

The bronze tasks seemed mostly collection tasks. A few simple kill tasks too. He wasn’t sure but he thought one was about dealing with some rabbits on one of the farms that were eating the crops. The silver ones were a bit more interesting. More collection tasks but Kiri pointed out they meant going deeper into the forest. There were also ones for collecting specific materials from some of the beasts. That wasn’t the one he was looking at though. Frick had started cackling in the back of his mind and drawn his attention to one particular task. A pack of goblins had been spotted near a farm and the Mayor had put out a Silver task to track them down and exterminate them.

“You’re a goblin. Or a wannabe goblin at least. Why would you want us to take that task?” Nate thought at Frick.

“Weren’t you paying attention? Even goblins hate goblins! Damn goblins, they ruined goblindom! Or better yet. There can be only one! Goblin, that is. Me. Frick the Great! Besides I want to taunt something that understands me as they die. And you’ve got no reason to hold back against the vicious little bastards. They’d piss on you while eating your heart if they could!”

Nate caught himself before he rolled his eyes at Frick’s comments. He didn’t want to get in the habit of looking like a crazy person responding to the voices in his head. Reaching up to the board he tapped the job.

“Can we do this one Kiri?” he asked.

She looked over the task and the pay. “Decent pay and I should be able to track them. Are you sure though? Thought you’d want something a bit easier for your first task?”

Nate almost used the idiom ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’, but didn’t think it would translate well.

“Yeah I am sure. I really don’t like goblins.”

Kiri grinned and nodded, taking the task off the board and heading to the reception desk. Nate watched as Melinda wrote something in a book before Kiri pocketed the paper and strode back over to him.

“All set. Time for some clothes?” she asked, sidling up next to him.

“Yep. Fancy stuff though. Silks and the like,” he said with a cheeky smirk.

Kiri just laughed and started out the door, teasing him as she went, “Come on then, sir! Best silks in town, sir! Will compliment your soft skin, sir! Oh the ladies will go crazy for it, sir!”

Nate laughed as he followed her out, quickly heading out of the square.

*************

Aisling watched the pair out of the fourth storey window as her personal assistant, and longtime confidante, Deverell, slipped up next to her.

“Could you tell?” she asked.

Deverell shook his head, his long black hair flicking back and forth. “No. The same as you. The robe or his Class. But he’s at least Epic tier in Class.”

“Are you sure? He hasn’t even achieved his first evolution,” Aisling responded, her pale eyebrows climbing.

“I’m sure. You estimated his Constitution to be high twenties, low thirties? That factored in with his level, his barrier stopping Torian’s fist at full force and his heightened perception and the size of his mana reserve, which he hasn’t yet learned to shield…he either has an incredibly specific Rare Class, or it’s Epic. I would bet on Epic,” he replied, flicking his straight black hair back into place.

“Think he was lying, about being Unseen? Or anyone looking for him?” she asked.

Deverell shook his head again. “Not unless he has an incredibly high Charisma score. I didn’t get a sense of that. And it wouldn’t make sense for most Unseen. While there might be some, they wouldn’t be a Mage of all things. I’d expect that from an Infiltrator style of Class. No, he’s either not lying, or at least he believes what he says. I will put out feelers though. See if any of the other Guildhalls have heard anything.”

“Thanks Dev, you’re a gem. You called him a Mage, not a Barrier Mage, like everyone else downstairs,” Aisling muttered. The two kids were now almost out of the square. They seemed to be joking and Jorge’s kid seemed more than comfortable with the boy. Maybe he wasn’t a Noble? But that line of thinking begged a lot of questions. Glancing at Deverell she could see he was formulating his response. She could tell the moment he was done as he pressed his lips together before speaking. It was an old habit and she’d always found it endearing.

“While unaspected barriers like the one he seems to favour are very uncommon, I don’t want to make assumptions about his Class and his spell repertoire based on the limited information we have. I’m sure, given the mild fame he’s already enjoying for being a mage, a well off mage at that, will give us more than enough encounters to better determine what he is capable of.”

Aisling nodded her agreement.

“That just leaves the Dungeon, Dev. Is it still active or did he complete it? And where are the rest of his party?” Aisling looked thoughtful. She hadn’t pressed the boy on those questions, mostly because she knew she didn’t need to hear his stories, whether they were truth or lies. Besides, he really had looked like he was about to shit himself in the chair.

“I already dispatched Saskia. We know which Gate they entered and that they swung by Jorge’s place. She’ll be able to pick up their trail and follow it with ease since it’s less than a day old. We’ll have our answers about that soon,” Deverell assured her.

“Thanks Dev, always appreciate your input. I suppose I better finish up this paperwork,” she finished with a huff. “Never knew how much paperwork there was involved in being a Guildmaster.”

“Not a problem, Aisling,” he replied, ever formal. It was something she had always liked about him. He was consistent to a fault. Well there was nothing she could do about that kid for now. She’d just have to keep an eye on the whole situation. Settling in behind her desk she sighed and started reading through the paperwork. It was going to be a long day.

*************

Shopping had thankfully been quick, though not quick enough for Nate’s taste. Kiri had seemed like she disliked standing around while the seamstress measured him as much as he did. She’d touched a few of the fabrics with her fingers but the look on her face had been one of disdain rather than longing. She was a country girl through and through. Nate had smiled at the thought. The seamstress had taken all his measurements and then asked how many clothes he wanted and what he needed. He’d settled on ten sets of clothes, which had elicited a small gasp followed by an eager smile from the woman. That included underwear, pants, shirts and socks.

Most of the clothes she promised would be made of a fabric that reminded him of silk, while she had agreed to make a couple from a sturdier fibre that looked a little like wool. He’d had to push for those, the seamstress assuring him that the silk wouldn’t break or fray under physical work, even combat. She’d promised they’d be lightly enchanted too. In the end the whole thing had cost him almost three gold coins. Not much to him but the seamstress had seemed ecstatic and even let him buy a couple of pairs of the sturdier fabric, which he had changed into before leaving the shop with an assurance that the rest would be delivered to his suite at the Oaken Ring over the next two days.

That was how he found himself walking out the gate to Helmfirth with Kiri, wearing a black shirt and pants beneath his robe. He even had clean socks and underwear. It was a miracle to be back fully dressed rather than roaming around in his star studded robe freeballing. Some guys swore by it but he personally couldn’t stand it. It didn’t feel liberating at all. Basically, Jung was full of shit. Nate laughed at the thought and Kiri gave him an odd look, as did the guards on duty.

“Sorry. Just thinking of a funny story. Any idea where we’re going?” he asked, his focus shifting so he could review the supplies Kiri had them purchase, now stored safely in his spatial storage. Mostly food with some camping equipment in case they were out in the forest for a few days.

“Yep. Oran’s farm isn’t too far from my place. We’ll swing by there, ask Oran if he’s seen anything else, then try and pick up the trail from there. Hopefully the goblins were just passing through and if we can prove that and report back we’ll still get paid a partial reward and the job will be considered completed. If they’re hanging around though, ears for proof and we make sure they’re all gone. Maybe check to see if they’re a scouting party, or a roaming group that got kicked out of their tribe.”

Nate raised an eyebrow in question. “Jeez, your lordship. Didn’t they teach you anything?” Kiri griped. “Goblin tribes split sometimes. When one of the goblins can drum up enough support but isn’t brave enough to fight the current chieftain for leadership, they just grab their things and up and leave. Try and start a new tribe elsewhere. Doesn’t happen often but it does happen.”

“Got it. Oran’s farm. Track goblins. Make sure they’re gone or wipe them out. Bring back evidence of their demise and if they were a scouting party or not. Seems straight forward.”

Kiri rolled her eyes at him and turned, cutting through the field towards a distant farm. Nate caught up without too much trouble and enjoyed the midday sun on his head and breeze through the fields. It was time to see what being an Adventurer was all about.