World Sphere - 181 - Skyholme is a Newbie Zone

Chapter 181 Skyholme is a Newbie Zone

Since I transported the peace delegation, I hadn’t been to Goldreach, the Capital of the Sadian Empire. My two Wolfsguard were behind me in their silvery uniforms that denoted they were part of my household. Palace guards lined the room when I arrived, twelve in total. They all wore unimpressive runic armor to my trained eye.

It was momentarily disorienting to arrive in the unfamiliar location. I had a lot of experience with quickly adapting from using my exchange ability, though. This was also my first time using the portal, and this was not one of the ancient portals located throughout the Sphere. The mages of the Sadian Empire constructed it. I could make out a dozen minor errors in the runic work, but that was not why I was here.

It looked to be in the inner palace courtyards with marble paths and flowering trees in a rainbow array. A matronly woman approached in dark purple robes and bowed in respect, “High Mage Storme Hardlight. I welcome you to Goldreach Palace on behalf of the Emperor. He is not currently available for an audience, but I am at your service. I am Councilor Dyna.”

I recalled the Emperor had a council of twenty-three advisors. Each advised him on a different aspect of ruling the Sadian Empire. “What are your normal duties, Dyna?”

She straightened after being addressed, “I oversee trade and defense for all five portals in the Empire, Councilor of Portal Affairs.”

I considered trying to dig a little into why this portal between the Sadian Palace and Aegis City had been so important to the peace negotiations and trade. I changed my mind and decided not to pursue answers at this time. “Dyna, I came to visit your Adventurer’s Guild.”

She arched an eyebrow in apparent surprise but did not question my reason. “I can escort you to the Hall in the upper city or the Hall in the lower city.”

“Whichever Hall has the pirate bounty books,” I replied with a slight nod. Multiple Adventurer’s Guild Halls in large cities were not uncommon, but that also meant the different Halls would specialize in certain aspects of Guild Services.

Dyna looked curious. “Follow me. Are you turning in some bounties then?” She questioned as I fell in step next to her.

“Not at present. I am here to compare and contrast the Guild Hall in Skyholme.” I noted that she arched her eyebrow at my answer but did not press it.

My two Wolfsguard followed a step behind me. We exited the palace grounds shortly and moved into the upper city. The Sadians had a wide range of races in their citizenship, but most of the populace was still human. My prescience went by relatively unnoticed, and I guessed Dyna was not a well-known figure in Goldreach, even in her councilor robes.

For conversation, I asked, “Where is your Emperor?”

“Visiting other cities. He spends most of his time traveling from city to city, meditating between the governors. We are not fortunate, like Skyholme, to have our population so clustered. Each city acts as its own state.” Dyna paused momentarily to talk energetically into a comm stone under a privacy screen before continuing to escort me. 

Dyna appeared exasperated, so I offered to let her go. “We can find our own way if you are needed elsewhere.”

She laughed mirthfully, “No, I am actually keeping away the nobles from getting to you. Your exploits and power are well known, and many merchants and minor nobles think they should ingratiate themselves with you. If you wish, I can arrange…”

I stopped her. “No. I prefer to stay as far away from politics as possible.” I already had Loriel attached herself to me to raise herself, and I didn’t need the Sadians either.

Dyna didn’t say anything as she navigated the crowded streets. We reached a massive black granite building, four stories in height. The Adventurers Guild symbol was clearly on the door. “High Mage, I can leave guards to escort you back if you wish.”

“My Wolfsguard are enough to keep me out of trouble. Thank you for taking the time, Dyna.” She bowed formally before leaving.

Tibault came close when she had left. “She might be a Counsilor, but I would bet a year’s wages that woman is a warrior mage. I bet she is close to the portal in case something dangerous comes out.” I agreed that Dyna was fit for an older woman. But she didn’t strike me as a warrior. I shrugged, trusting Tibault’s feelings.

I entered the Adventurers Hall. Mostly experienced human adventurers looked toward us from the tables. Two wolfkin frowned on seeing the Wolfsguard behind me. They had been playing a board game, and their dark gray furry, elongated faces showed teeth. I assumed they were making a silent snarl. Skyholme’s legacy was still evident. These wolfkin were angry with me. TheTriumverate had stolen young wolfkin females and bred them with humans to produce the Wolfsguard. These wolfkin adventurers clearly realized I was a Skyholme noble with my Wolfsguard.

A middle-aged man with dirty shoulder-length blonde hair and a fake smile moved to intercept me, sensing the developing tension. “Good day. I am Guildmaster Darius. Would you prefer to do your guild business in my office?” It was not worded as a request. He interposed himself between the wolfkin and guided me.

Before we reached the stairs, he whispered, “Trion’s mother was taken by Skyholme when he was a pup. He has been rather vocal about the peace between the Sadians and Skyholme.” We started to climb the wide stairs. “Be careful around Trion; he is not a good sort.” We climbed all the way to the fourth floor and entered his office, which had an amazing view of the city, which slopped away down a hill. He took his seat behind his desk. “Now, if you have your adventurer card, I will be happy to personally help you.” 

Tibault and Neoma bookended the door inside the office, and I sat across from the Guildmaster and placed my copper captain’s card on the desk. It only had 49/500 pips complete. He took it, read it, and smirked, “High Mage Storme Hardlight! I should have known.” He reached across the desk to shake my hand, and I complied. “I have been seeing your name a lot recently. So, what can I help you with?”

“None of it bad, I hope.” I rested in the rather uncomfortable chair. “I am here to view the pirate bounty books.”

Guildmaster Darius looked amused, “I have received twenty-nine communication requests with your name on them. And one for Overseer Ligan Warren. Maybe you could shed some light on it for me?”

I was just as confused as the Guildmaster but tried not to show it. “Communication requests with my name came here?”

He paged through some papers on his desk. “Yes. Communications for a number of silver and gold adventurers and one regional Guild Overseer. Ah, I can see your confusion. The Skyholme adventurer’s guild does not have the range to reach distant Guild Halls. Your communications have been sent here and will be forwarded to the most recent Guild Hall, where your targets are registered.”

I started nodding and puzzled things out quickly. Apparently, Sana had worked extremely fast. Only a day had passed, and she had contacted the Adventurer’s Guild Overseer and her delver acquaintances to offer a teaching position at the Dungeon Academy in Aegis City. “So you are not aware of what is included in the missives?”

In helplessness, the middle-aged Guildmaster put up his arms, “No, we take member’s privacy seriously. The messages are encoded, and only the correct Adventurer’s Card can break the cipher. If I may ask, why do you need Overseer Ligan Warren? I don’t know him personally, but he is well-regarded. Does this have to do with your feud with Guildmaster Huckle?” His expectant look told me he was fishing.

“Feud? I wasn’t aware it was a feud.” But maybe I could pry out some information from Guildmaster Darius.

“Well, I am assuming you are requesting the Overseer Ligan’s help to get Huckle off your back in regards to your exclusive dungeon.” He leaned forward, “Huckle is a pain in the arse, so I can understand you going over his head but be aware he has friends high up in the Guild as well. Otherwise, he would not be a Guildmaster.” The man reclined in his much more comfortable chair. Clearly, I was in a chair he had reserved for meeting with adventures he wanted an advantage over.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised as this Guildmaster was aware of what was happening in Skyholme. I was not going to give him any information. “The bounty books?”

He didn’t relent and tried prying further, “So, you must be preparing to delve into a rather challenging dungeon with all the names on this list. If you let me know which dungeon and which level, I might be able to connect you to a few interested delvers that can help.”

It appeared that Guildmasters would pry into my business no matter where I went. “Just the pirate bounty books, Guildmaster,” I said dismissively.

Darius sighed and tapped his index finger rapidly, “The local pirate activity is minimal. Your actions a year ago have dispersed the pirates, but they are like an infection. They are starting to spread once again.” He stood, went to a shelf, pulled a large tome, and placed it on his desk. He returned to his side of the desk and put a large stack of the copying paper. He made no move to leave me alone while I searched the postings.

I was starting to like the Adventurer’s Guild less and less. I started paging through the bounty postings by region, and he was correct. The last time I perused the books, the activity level had been much higher, and there had been more than three times the number of entries. I might have to travel further away than planned to do my pirate hunting. “Do you have other bounty books from other regions?”

“Alas, no,” Darius said, putting his feet up on his desk. “My communication mage can import them if you give me some time. Which region are you interested in?” Each region was hundreds of millions of square miles, with the leylines running through the Sphere determining the border.

“The region in the direction of the Amethyst passage.” He put his feet on the floor and sat up in surprise.

“Really?” I could see his mind working. He called in his assistant, a young male elf, and told him to contact the communication mage to start on the copying of the requested bounty book. Normally, you would move closer to a region and then access such books, but I was planning ahead.

“Is there any fee for creating the bounty book?” I asked the surprised Guildmaster.

He waved his hands, “No. The last updated copy is about three years old. We don’t like to burn the aether unless there is interest. It will just take some time. So, why the Amethyst Passage? The Garnet Passage is much friendlier.”

“It is 100,000 miles further away than the Amethyst Passage. I don’t think I will be traveling to the city or Outer Sphere any time soon.” A knock at the door had the Guildmaster summoned to deal with an issue, and I was left to wait in the room.

There were massive passages through the Sphere to the Outer Sphere. These passages were thousands of miles across, allowing massive ships to traverse inside of them. Each of these passages had massive trading cities surrounding them and tens of millions of people living inside them. The main export out of the Sphere was aether crystals and precious metals harvested from dungeons. We were so far away from the nearest passage that skyships would take months or weeks to use the portal network.

These passages were all named after gemstones. The Amethyst passage was the closest one to Skyholme. I had no plans to get close to the passage as that was where the truly powerful beings in the Sphere resided. Well, the passages and those on the moons were truly powerful. Skyholme’s floating islands were far away from the interests of these powerful beings.

I was interested in the zone toward the Amethyst Passage just for the potential pirates to hunt. The young elf returned an hour later and had a massive tome for me, “The Guildmaster has been called away. I can bring you to Captain’s lounge.”

“This room will be fine.” I took the opportunity to take the guildmaster’s chair and page through the book. The elf didn’t know what to do and eventually just left me to work. I could see my Wolfguard snicker at my behavior. I brought out a general map from my dimensional closet to figure out the locations of the pirate bounties—at least where they had been posted.

I made copies of certain bounties and wrote notes on them as I went. In the end, I had thirty-seven bounty sheets. The pirate ships were definitely more dangerous by the descriptions of their weapons and crew. This also meant there was a chance for higher value in loot.

Only two of the thirty-seven ships were noted as being members of the Black Mauraders. That was not a surprise, as the attack on Skyholme had drawn in most of the Maurader ships in the region. Over time, they would grow in number again—unless I managed to destroy them completely on their moon—then I could see them becoming disorganized on the inner surface of the Sphere.

Guildmaster Darius returned and paused on seeing me in his seat. It had been hours, and I knew he was surprised that I was still there and that I had taken his desk. “High Mage, surprised you are still here. Do you want me to have a study room open for you?”

“No, I am fine. I should be done in a few hours.” I looked up, “Can you have a meal sent up from the kitchens?”

A thin smile formed on his lips. “Perhaps you would care to join me for a late dinner?”

“Certainly. We can eat here while I work.” I indicated the uncomfortable seat he had forced me to sit in and didn’t look up. “What business took you away?” I asked while continuing to study the bounty book. I had gotten past the pirate skyships and was now copying individual person bounties.

The chair squeaked as he sat, “A tier four dungeon essence was found, and the Dungeon Guild Worthwhile Bet was killed, and the essence was stolen. I had to communicate with some of my superiors, and an investigative team is being sent to Goldreach.” That got me to look up and the Guildmaster looked haggard.

“Is that normal? Someone wipes out an entire Dungeon Guild for an essence?” I inquired, closing the book.

“In multi-team dungeons, it is uncommon. In cities, it is very rare. All tracking magic was found ineffective.” He sighed heavily. “It is the third tier four essence stolen from a city in this region in the last month. The first time the Dungeon Guild has been killed, though.”

“What was the essence, and which dungeon did it come from?”

“The Black Sands Dungeon. It is the deepest dungeon in the Sadian Empire. Maybe once a year, a tier-three essence would be found. This is the first time a tier-four essence has been found on the final boss guardian. The dungeon essence was some type of water control ability. Besides confirming it was tier-four, my mages didn’t identify it.” He shifted uncomfortably in the chair.

“So, some type of organized crime?” I inquired, standing.

“Most assuredly. The power to foil the tracking magic is at least tier five, and Worthwhile Bet was the strongest delve team in Goldreach. The city is going to be turned upside down soon.”

“It is time I take my leave then. Thank you for your help, and best of luck with finding the thieves and murderers.” I pulled all the copied bounties into my dimensional closet and made to leave.

“Some advice, High Mage.” I paused and waited for the wisdom. “If you have something of innumerable value, don’t show it off in public.”

I forcedly smiled, “I will heed your advice.” I had more secrets than anyone knew—well, one person knew most of my secrets—Gareth. “I hope you find your villain.”

I exited with my Wolfsguard, and we made our way back to the palace. A wolfkin briefly followed us, but he no longer tailed us once I entered the palace grounds. The palace guards took me to the portal, and Dyna was there to send me off.

On returning to Skyholme, I made it to my room in the Shiny Platinum. Adrial and Kiara tackled me as I entered. “Sorry, girls, I was gone much longer than anticipated. A lot of things are happening.” I thanked my cat sitters, Sammie and Lana. Once they left, I was dealing with just the cats and Aelyn.

Aelyn let me wrestle the six-legged felines for a bit before talking, “There is a ball coming out in Skyhold. I know you hate them, but I would let you escort me.” She had on her sweetest smile. Loriel had gotten to her as I had expected.

I ignored her request for now. “Is everyone moved out of the Spire into the Shiny Platinum?”

“Yes, your sister is below, and everyone is out. I think Bleiz said Toblan needed about two weeks before he had his first attempt at opening the vault. So, I should tell Loriel you will be attending? I got you a nice ensemble today for the event.” Aelyn pressed.

“Yes, I will escort you, but I will not stay long.” I sighed resignedly.

“Excellent. I should probably get a new dress as well. Oh, the beast tamer, Ardendale. He had a message sent. He should be in Skyholme in a day or two. He found his friend and has everything he needs.” Aelyn said.

I grinned as I went into overdrive mode to outmaneuver the two felines, “Did you two hear that? You are going about to get much stronger!”