A Soldier's Life - 481 - Side Quest

Chapter 481: Side Quest

The streets were barely inhabited as people walked listlessly. The magistrate paraded us down the street like a prize. Most of the doors in the city appeared boarded, businesses and homes abandoned. At least the city seemed clean, even without a sewer system.

“Where is everyone?” Kyrenic asked as he fell in step with the magistrate.

“The young men were conscripted. Those who did not perish in the war now garrison other forts along the border. We have orcs to the west and goblins to the south. We used to have around thirty adventurers in the city. Some left during the war, some died fighting the goblin horde, and others left for other guilds,” the magistrate said breathlessly.

“Were the goblins repelled?” I asked, concerned. To my knowledge, the goblinoid horde had not decimated the Empire.

“Repelled? No! They never attacked. They built cities at the base of the Dragon Spine, and their numbers continue to grow each year. Rumor has it the Empress is training a contingent of mages to crush them. Here we are!” he pulled up at a simple building with a sign hanging out front featuring the guild emblem, a tree with many branches, mirrored by numerous roots below. There was a hitching post outside, and we tied off the horses for now. Ginger nudged me for an apple before I went inside, and I fulfilled her request.

The wide door swung in on greased hinges, and the common room looked typical. A posting board on the far side had dozens of loose sheets posted to it. There was a clerk window nearby. A dozen tables with benches only had a single occupant, an old man balding down the center. “Magistrate Presutti?” he questioned.

“Some adventurers have come!” He said excitedly. “This is Dante, the clerk for the guild. Where is Guildmaster Avanti?” The magistrate was looking around wildly. The clerk pointed to what I assumed were the kitchens. The smell of bread and grilling meat was heavy in air. “Well, I will leave you in his care,” the magistrate said. He started to reach out to pat Kyrenic’s shoulder, but thought better of it and retreated.

A middle-aged man came from the kitchens wearing an apron smeared with blood and flour. He watched the magistrate retreat before turning to our group. His eyes immediately went to Maveith, but quickly settled on Evie. She returned his gaze with a beaming smile. “What can I do for you?” he asked after a few heartbeats.

“Rooms for the night and an explanation of the magistrate’s eagerness,” I said, handing over my guild medallion. He took it and handed it back after nodding.

“Rooms for guild members only,” he said, looking over the rest of us. Maveith and Kyrenic produced theirs, while Alhar just narrowed his eyes.

“Can I join now?” Baelira asked, followed by the same request from Evie. Avanti didn’t even question Evie’s age, and to be honest, she actually looked harder than many adventurers I had seen in my time. The fee was twenty-five silver, and I paid for Baelira, Evie, and Alhar. The process was not as involved as at the Guild Hall in the capital. The medallion only had a number on it, and the Guildmaster recorded their names in a ledger that would be copied and sent to a Guild hall that could disseminate the information so they could use any guild hall in the world.

He warned that without the message sending spells working, the process was much slower. It was a decent trade-off since food and rooms would be cheaper at the hall than in the city, although I hadn’t seen an open inn as we passed through the city.

Evie held her amulet like her greatest treasure while the Guildmaster served us some meat kababs and warm ale. The Guildmaster was solemn as he spoke. “There are only seven adventurers left in the city, including myself. The others are off somewhere.” The clerk yelled over that two were looking for any surviving sheep, and the other five had taken a guard assignment for a group to Ogala and would be back tomorrow evening.

“The dungeon is available for us to delve then?” I asked.

“Aye, it is.” The Guildmaster replied tiredly. “If you are skilled, and I think you are, our biggest problem is the deep worms. They have killed more horses, livestock, and people than anything else. We thought the winter freeze would kill them, but they came back with greater numbers.”

“What species of deep worm,” Kyrenic asked seriously. Deep worms typically only lived in the Endless Dark, and I had references to them in the dreamscape, but I had not studied the entries.

“The deadly kind. Fifteen feet in length, a mouth that opens like the petals on a flower with layered rows of hooked teeth to snare prey. The mouths also produce a foul acid that can melt metal,” he said grimly.

“How many?” Kyrenic added, looking at me. He knew I had the earth speak spell form.

“Dozens probably. They took out a flock of fifty sheep in one night along with the shepherd and his two dogs,” Avanti replied somberly.

“Can we delve the dungeon?” I asked, unconcerned about the worms. We didn’t have time to hunt them down, and if I let Kyrenic get side-tracked, we could be here for days. The dungeon, however, was a simple four-room dungeon, if I remembered correctly. The first two rooms were easy and should allow Evie a chance to test her wind blades.

“The dungeon is open. Without the harvest, many of the craftsmen in the town have left. The lumber, wool, and copper were relied on by most of the crafters in town,” the guild master revealed.

“And no one else has come to delve?” Kyrenic said incredulously.

“A few locals tried their hand, but four of the six died, and no one has had the courage since,” the guild elder said. “We are on the edge of an Empire in turmoil. The youth have been conscripted, and foreigners are not welcome—though that has been slowly changing with the new Empress.”

“We will take on the dungeon in the morning, but I don’t think we will be harvesting any trees,” I decided. The guildmaster nodded with a content smile and confirmed I knew the dungeon was just southwest of town. There was a paved road leading to it and a large outbuilding outside the entrance that was not currently manned by the guild.

After we paid for our meal, the Avanti waived the cost of the rooms. “We usually give new members a week free to wet their toes in the guild. Since you are leaving tomorrow, consider all your rooms paid for — but breakfast will be three coppers each,” he said with a wry smile.

I retreated to my room to get a few hours of rest in the dreamscape. I barred the door and slipped into the dreamscape amulet. I reviewed the dungeon. It was called the Redvein Depths, and it was a very simple dungeon. The last room was somewhat dangerous, but since six people were allowed to enter, I thought it would only take an hour or two for our group.

I studied the deep worms next, paying close attention to the description of the death worms. They were truly terrifying creatures, growing up to twenty feet long, and their bite was not only corrosive but also poisonous. Once their teeth latched onto you, the best way to escape was to sever the limb. Since the creatures weighed over a thousand pounds, you wouldn't escape otherwise, as they pulled you into the groud. There was no information about their ecology in my references, so I had no idea how they reproduced.

They did have one serious weakness. Their corrosive saliva was extremely flammable. I exited the dreamscape and brought out my alchemy supplies. I had hellhound ash and some ingredients for a simple incendiary pellet. It would be weak, useful for no more than starting a fire, and a slight waste of the rare hellhound ash.

I didn’t have time to mix, dry, and create a shell around the pellets, but I could combine everything in a vial, and it should solidify within an hour. Once exposed to air, it would burn for a brief time. It wouldn’t be as effective if I let the ingredients dry for a few days before combining, but all I needed was a short burst of flame. I mixed up twenty vials and stored them all in my belt.

I removed the sentinel boots in favor of my earth drake boots and dropped out the window into the alley. I only took two steps before Alhar asked from the shadows, “Where are you going?” I pulsed earth speak again and narrowed my eyes, activating aether sight. The bastard was balancing on a rope, evading my earth pulses.

“I am going hunting and you are not invited,” I said harshly.

“You are not the boss of me,” he said, amused.

“What are you, ten?” I retorted, as Alhar’s response was one of my favorite sayings growing up when my sisters told me to do something.

“Ten?” he said, confused. “No, I am 497…or 498…you lose track of these things.”

“You can't come,” I said, and started jogging, annoyed that I detected him following me. I wanted to use the collector on the deep worms, and didn’t want Alhar looking over my shoulder. The pastures were west of town, and I increased my pace to run, pulsing earth speak as I went. I smiled smugly to myself as I started to outdistance the elf. I must have run four miles before I finally caught the attention of one of the worms.

It was deep, nearly forty feet below the surface, had made a hollow in the earth, and was curled up. It began burrowing toward the surface, but not very quickly. It compressed earth and coated it with a quickly hardening mucus as it moved, creating tunnels that goblins in the Endless Dark liked to make their burrows.

I waited for the creature to reach the surface, only feeling a slight tremor as it approached. I stepped on three air shields to get ten feet off the ground before it burst forth. Its mouth hinged open into five triangular lips. The scent of rotting meat hit me as I chucked the vial into its mouth. It clinked off the layers of teeth, and I cursed as the glass didn’t shatter.

My anxiety quickly subsided as the worm did the work for me, crushing the vial in its throat. A jet of flame shot out, and I jumped off my air shield to dodge it. The beast moved in silent pain as the fire was fed from its glands filled with corrosive fluid that burst over and over again in the heat. I stepped back, sending out earth pulses as I waited for the creature to die.

The worm didn’t actually smell terrible as it was barbecued in the flames. Alhar came jogging up, sweating heavily. He hid his out-of-breathness well. “I didn’t know you had fire magic,” he said, watching the worm burn with me.

“I don’t. If you’re going to follow me, then you can help. These are fire burst potions. Toss them into the creature's mouth and shatter it. They are ambush predators and don’t move very fast, but you need to focus on the tremors beneath your feet. Don’t get more than fifty feet from me or I can’t save you.” I handed him half of the vials.

“I thought you said you were not going to hunt the worms,” Alhar said, confused but taking the vials.

“I never said that. I only said we would delve the dungeon in the morning,” I replied, walking to the still worm. I produced the collector with Alhar to my back. I still pulsed earth speak because I didn’t trust him, but I was not going to leave an essence behind. I was hoping for an earth essence as the collector drew in the blue wisps.

I was disappointed when a lesser essence of coordination appeared. Feeling a bit disgusted, I stood and placed the dark pink sphere on my belt. I turned to Alhar, who hadn’t moved. “We will search in a grid pattern ten strides apart. I will let you know when we have the attention of one of the creatures.” He nodded, and I held in a retort that he had just agreed to take orders from me, so in fact, I was the boss of him at the moment.

It wasn’t long before we reached an area where the grassland was pockmarked by places where the worms had emerged. They were still spread out and seemed to be hibernating deep underground, but when we passed over them, they stirred and surfaced to feed. Curious if Alhar could handle himself, I warned him of the approaching worm and watched.

He was very still, with his eyes closed to focus. When the worm got close, he sensed it and leaped back. He flicked his wrist as soon as the worm gave him a target. “It didn’t work,” he hissed at me.

“Give it a sec…” the flame shot toward Alhar, and he rolled away unscathed. He stood looking annoyed but didn’t comment. “Another one is coming from that direction,” I indicated as Alhar’s worm writhed in silent agony, as little bursts of flame erupted like the prior one. “I think mine was bigger,” I commented while Alhar crouched and prepared for another attack.

When we ran out of vials, I killed a 21st worm using my dimensional space. The essence harvest was mediocre after five hours of work. Seventeen minor coordination essences, one major coordination essence, and three minor strength essences. Not a single magical attribute or affinity.

Alhar was covered in dirt and smelled like roasting meat. I had let him do most of the work for the night as we covered nearly four square miles. “Ready to head back? Sun should be up in a few hours,” I said. He nodded silently, and I handed him a canteen of cold water since he had not been smart enough to bring any with him. He gratefully drained it in one long pull before handing it back to me.

When the others woke up in the morning, Alhar and I were sipping on some ale in the common room. Alhar was telling me stories of Raelia’s youthful indiscretions while I told him of our alliance in the Shimmering Labyrinth.

© Copyrighted 2024, 2025 by AlwaysRollsAOne

No permission is granted to translate, copy, or repost this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site other than my Patreon, it has been stolen without my permission and violates the DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removing or altering this notification acknowledges that you are aware that you are violating the DMCA. No permission is granted for my original work to be used to train AI.