Unexpected Healer Book 2 -- Chapter 31

Chapter 31

It wasn’t long before Thaden was forced to make a wide turn to avoid the murdering Contenders walking along the pathway that led toward the city of Rageharbor.  He stayed as far away from them as he could, which only amounted to about 500 feet as he skirted edge of the mountain range surrounding the Ragewater Sea, and he was running as fast as he could while still maintaining his balance.  Even so, one of the Scout Classes from the group spotted him and called out to the others before giving chase; the Lifewarden wasn’t sure what point there was in chasing him down, but the woman persisted in following him.

Unfortunately for her, she was only about a half to a third as fast as he was, and he lost her within a mile or so of running.  Thaden maintained his pace as he kept to the edge of the mountain range, as he was seeing more and more people moving along what appeared to be a well-traveled road now – and they weren’t all locals.  Now that he wasn’t involved in a situation where he was resurrecting murdered Contenders, he was able to get a better look at the local environment, and the first thing that caught his eye as he ran along was the Sea to his right as he ran along. 

The Ragewater Sea certainly lived up to its name, as the majority of it looked as if a terrible storm was currently ravaging its surface, as swells and whitecaps abounded, the rolling hills and valleys moving in seemingly random directions as they crashed against each other, sending up sprays of water that crashed back down with irregularity.  It appeared almost impossible for anyone to navigate their way through it… and it turned out that no one tried.

That was because a strip of about 200 feet near the shore of the Sea was unnaturally calm, and this calm section seemed to form a complete perimeter around the entire body of water.  Using that channel, ships and boats of different sizes were using it as a shipping lane, moving back and forth like a water-filled highway, and since the calm portion of the Sea connected with the rivers flowing into it from beyond the mountains, he finally understood how the city of Rageharbor was so important as a hub for trade. 

It was the central point of the entire Region, as you could get nearly everywhere by following the rivers, which cut it up like giant, lopsided wheel.  The only reason he hadn’t been forced to cross over any major rivers on his journeys thus far was because he had spent most of his time in a wedge in between the closest rivers.  There was a single river that he had to cross up ahead before he reached the city, but even at a distance he could see a hefty-looking wooden bridge that arched over its length.  In fact, it was so well-made and almost modern-looking that he thought it could’ve been transported from Earth.  He wasn’t exactly a bridge guy, but it certainly looked impressive.

Over the next few minutes, as he got closer and closer to the bridge he was going to have to cross, he slowed down and found a spot to hide in the shadow of the mountain nearby, where he changed out of his new Shadow Silk Robe and donned his red Bloodletter’s Robe he’d gotten from the Contender Market in Forgestone, and took off his Hood without replacing it.  Looking at all he was wearing, he didn’t see anything too out of place other than the Focus Stone he was holding in his hand, but he was banking on the fact that no one could tell that it was Level-restricted to Level 30 and above. 

As Christopher, Level 20, he walked normally out to the road leading to the impressive wooden bridge, surreptitiously joining the growing crowd that were going the same direction.  From what he could tell, no one marked his joining the spread-out line of pedestrians walking along, and he breathed a sigh of relief. 

The bridge was a marvel of magical engineering that would’ve had civil engineers going crazy at how the wooden construct, devoid of any supports in the river, was able to stay together without collapsing.  Sure, he knew the basic principles of an arch like this and how they spread the force imposed upon them all the way to their bases, and how the simple shape was extremely strong, but the sheer span of the bridge was over 500 feet over a rather large river.  It wasn’t even a high arching bridge, which would’ve spread the forces even better, but a relatively shallow one that – to his rather limited engineering expertise – should’ve collapsed under its own weight as soon as it was built. 

It did nothing of the sort, thankfully, as it seemed even sturdier than a steel bridge in concrete would’ve been.  While he didn’t know what exactly it was that made it so strong, he could only assume it was some sort of magical effect.

Thaden took in even more sights as he crossed over the bridge, seeing many dozens of boats along the river and in the nearby traffic lanes on the Ragewater Sea, with all of them either coming or going from the city ahead.  As he got to the apex of the wooden construct, he was able to see Rageharbor clearly for the first time, and he was just as impressed as he was when he saw Forgestone for the first time. 

It was also built into the side of a mountain, though the mountain range here was much shorter and acted more as a backdrop than a major feature.  Rageharbor was larger in size than Forgestone, at least as far as what was visible outside of the mountain, but most of that was probably due to the docks he saw lined up next to the calm waters of the Sea, which extended for miles and had thousands of boats and ships lined up, moving in, or moving out in a logistical nightmare that he was glad he wasn’t in charge of.

Other than where the docks were situated, the entire city was enclosed by walls, which weren’t quite as tall as the ones around Forgestone, but they were close.  Down near the wall he’d have to pass through to get to the city, there was only a single large gate that seemed to be handling all the traffic; it was a major change from what he saw in the previous city, which had multiple gates to handle all the traffic, but he supposed that the fact that most traffic came from the water, it wasn’t needed as much.  This was made obvious when the line to get into the city was much shorter than the one that he’d had to enter at Forgestone.

Approximately 30 minutes later, he joined that exact line he’d spotted from the bridge, with the sun overhead hinting that it was getting close to dinnertime.  He pulled a hunk of bread out of his Inventory and tore into it as he waited in the line of about 30 people, which moved fairly quickly. 

“Hey, Christopher.  What Guild you in, bro?”

Bro?  Who is—?  Thaden turned around a second later, somehow remembering that his name was Christopher again, and saw a pair of burly looking Fighters that were surprisingly Level 22 behind him in line.  Thankfully, they weren’t familiar to him, as he wasn’t sure how he would react if one of the murdering Contenders had been behind him, so he answered like he thought he should.

“None, actually.  I’ve come to join a Guild before I hit Level 21, because I’ve heard it’s a bit hazardous for my health to reach Level 21 without one.”

The one that had asked him the question chuckled and pat him roughly – but good-naturedly – on the back, which got through because he didn’t have his Fields active right now; the glow of them in their active state would generate too many questions.  Thankfully, his Physicality was high enough that he didn’t even shift at the contact, which was probably a bit of a mistake on his part, but the Fighter didn’t seem to notice.  He looked up to see the man’s nametag and had to suppress a groan.

Brad

Human

Level 22

Not Chad, but close enough.  Fortunately, Brad seemed to have a better personality than the Contender back in Ashcleft.

“That’s for sure, bro.  If you’re not in a Guild, you’re a dead man once you walk out of the city.  You a healer?”

Thaden nodded.

“We could definitely use you in the Guild then; healers are few and far between.  When you get a chance, check out the Victory Guild down on Montpier Street later and tell them Brad sent you; I could definitely use the referral bonus, bro.  In fact, I should just bring you there—”

“Thank you for the offer, but I really need to get to the Adventurer Coalition before my Quest timer runs out.  Speaking of which, do you know where it’s located?” he asked.  “This is my first time in the city, if it wasn’t obvious.”

“Sure thing, Bro!  It’s straight down the main street just inside and after about a half-mile just take a turn toward the water and bam!  It’s right there, bro.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.  I’ll be sure to visit your Guild after I’m all done with my business with the Coalition.”

“I can follow you and make sure no one else snatches you up—” Brad added, but a shoulder-check into his side by his companion stopped him. 

Conner, the other burly Fighter, interrupted.  “We’ve got plans, moron.  The Guild Leader is expecting us back yesterday with this information, or had you forgotten?”

“No, I didn’t forget, but recruiting another healer should be equally important,” Brad grumped.

“Normally, yes, recruiting another Support Class for the Guild is extremely important, but we’re on a timetable we can’t ignore.”

There was further argument between the two, but Thaden managed to slip away as it was his time to be questioned by the gate Guards.

Marketh – City Guard

Charee

Level 85

The Level of the City Guard was identical to the ones at Forgestone, and other than a slight change in the uniform, appeared so similar that it was hard to tell the difference. 

He walked up to the impatient wave of the Guard, pulling out his Adventurer Badge and palming it in his hand.

“Business in Rageharbor?” came the bored question.

“Just visiting the Adventurer Coalition.”

“Badge.”

Thaden flashed the Silver-Ranked Badge briefly, before whispering just loud enough that only the Guard could hear, “I’d prefer to stay anonymous.”

His words prevented the Charee from going pale and sputtering, which he was fairly certain was what about to happen if he hadn’t said what he did.  As it was, all three of the Guard’s eyes opened wide before he seemed to collect himself.  “Uh, very good, Contender.  You may enter.”

Thaden thanked him even as he eyed the crowd behind him, looking to see if anyone had noticed the Guard’s reaction, having learned from his experience with Camille at Forgestone.  While he couldn’t be 100% certain, he was fairly confident that no one was even paying attention, especially as Brad and Conner were nearly in a shoving match as they argued about Thaden.

Unfortunately for them, the object of their argument speedily rushed away as soon as he was past the Rageharbor Gate Guard, quickly ducking down a side street to break line of sight from the gate.  He quickly navigated his way through the buildings he passed that seemed to be a mixture of stone from the mountain range and driftwood, which gave the whole aesthetic a solid-but-aged look that was actually more pleasing than a whole city made of stone. 

The people that he passed were different, too, as most of them were dressed in loose clothing or even had outfits that reminded him of sailors and pirates, what with their bandannas and sashes that looked straight out of a pirate movie from the 1960s.  At least he didn’t see any eyepatches or peg legs, but he had the feeling if he looked hard enough they would show up somewhere.

There weren’t any helpful signs along the building like there were in Forgestone, but thankfully finding his destination was as easy as traveling parallel to the main street that led from the gate and following the instructions that Brad had given him.  In a little over 10 minutes, he managed to make his way through the crowd to reach what was undeniably the Adventurer Coalition building, which was larger than the one in the previous city, though it wasn’t as tall; it simply spread out further and was basically a city block all by itself.

Looking around, he saw Contenders all around the building, moving in and out with the same hustle-and-bustle he expected.  What was surprising to him, but shouldn’t have been, was that their Levels were – on average – much higher than what he saw in Forgestone.  There were some he saw that were lagging behind in the early teens, but probably two-thirds of those he saw were Level 20 or above.  He even saw some sort of Mage that was already Level 25!

It had only been a few days since he had inadvertently been the cause that had destroyed a city, but it seemed as though the rest of the Region hadn’t hesitated to take advantage of the bonus PICK they were receiving from the Achievement they had all acquired.  His Level lead on the other Contenders was shrinking, though he wasn’t too worried; once he got his so-called Evolution Assignment done with and was able to choose his next Class, he would rocket back up in Level with his PICK held in reserve.  And it wasn’t like he was going to stop earning more PICK, as he needed to get strong enough to tackle two very SPECIAL Quests that only he could complete before time ran out on them.

He no longer felt too out of place as a Level 20 entering the Coalition building, but he was wary as he found himself in a large and grand lobby with thousands of different Contenders milling around or lined up to visit the reception desks around the perimeter – just like every other Coalition building he’d ever been inside. 

As he somewhat expected, a very important-looking Charee emerged from a back office and made a bee-line straight toward Thaden from across the entire lobby.

Hartin – Rageharbor Adventurer Coalition Vice-Leader

Charee

Level 100

Thaden caught his eye and frowned, before shaking his head very deliberately.  The Vice-Leader stopped in his tracks in surprise and then nodded almost imperceptibly, before spinning on his heel to head back the way he came.  The whole thing caused a bit of a commotion in the lobby, as a visit by the Vice-Leader was apparently rare, but not a single person looked in the Lifewarden’s direction or even seemed to understand that he’d been given a discrete signal not to approach.  Either the word had gotten out that Thaden didn’t want too much attention paid to him, somehow communicating this fact to all of the other Coalition locations, or the Vice-Leader was simply smart enough to understand what was going on.  Either way, “Christopher” breathed a short sigh of relief as he looked around, before moving toward the very distinctive counter that was staffed by the strange beings known as Assimilators.

As he walked over to them, spotting the Support Class Representative easily enough, he surreptitiously changed his Level to 21, as if he had just completed a Quest or had been saving a Level-up until now.  Luckily, it didn’t seem out of place as more than a few other Contenders were also Leveling-up, and he wasn’t even the only one at the Class Representatives – though he was the only Support Class Contender there. 

He had done everything he could to be as “normal” and inconspicuous as possible up to this point, so now it was time to figure out what his Assignment was, complete it as quickly as possible, and then gain his new Class.  With a furtive look around him to make sure no one was paying undue attention to him, he looked up into the black void-like eyes of the Assimilator and heard a voice enter his mind.