Guilds

After paying for the food he didn't eat, Locus left the inn. He left the carriage and his valueless belongings and set forth to the guild's main branch, about 5 miles further into the city.

The streets were as full as they were when he entered last time. The sun had just risen, and trade was in full swing. One couldn't take a single step without anyone advertising their products on the side of the street.

It reminded Locus of Condre Village, but instead of experiencing a wave of grief, the memory only fueled his immense rage towards the Mastermind Guild.

Now, his former goal of living a quiet life was but a naive fantasy of Locus' past self.

He didn't care about his own life any longer. He cared for nothing but one thing: the complete and utter destruction of the Mastermind Guild.

Locus was rather simple-minded, but no one would be so foolish as to think they could just casually take down a whole guild. The Mastermind Guild at that.

There were tens of thousands of guilds, each reigning over their own territory. For most guilds, that was about 500 square miles of land.

With roughly 20,000 square miles, the Berthram Guild was one of the biggest guilds in the world.

But even with that amount of space, it still couldn't hold a candle to the Mastermind Guild. With about 15,000,000 square miles and therefore about a quarter of all of the available land, it was the first big guild and, by that time, was one of the two biggest guilds.

At the top of the guild stood the Mastermind, the Grand Admiral.

The ranks were as follows:

Someone without any stars on their epaulette was a "Cadet".

The next highest rank was the "Officer" with one star.

Then followed "Lieutenant" with two stars,

the "Commander" with three stars,

the "General" with four stars,

and lastly, the "Admiral" with five stars.

The rank of "Grand Admiral" was reserved for the Mastermind and the Mastermind alone. The five stars on his epaulettes were completely black.

In addition to these ranks, one could get the prefix "high" or "low". This would settle disputes between two people of the same rank. The stars of someone with the prefix "low" would not be filled, and those of someone with the prefix "high" would be white instead of the usual golden tone.

Even though it might sound complicated, this was seen as basic knowledge since the Mastermind Guild was considered the ruler of the world. To do to that guild what they did to his village, Locus needed more power and more influence.

And to get those things, Locus was planning to kill two birds with one stone by doing jobs for the Berthram Guild. And as a side effect, he would also not have to worry about his expenses since guild work paid pretty well.

Some guilds, like the Berthram Guild, offered the possibility to accept and complete quests without joining the guild itself, just like a mercenary. No matter whether you are part of a guild or not, there were grades for the different jobs a guild had to offer that were the same for every guild in the world. They went from F to S, and you had to be at least the same rank as your job to take it.

When Locus entered the guild's base, he was welcomed by some very loud noises. Most people who need a job to be done submit a request to the counter, where it gets registered and offered to adventurers. Nevertheless, there are some people who cannot wait and who advertise their mission on the spot. Due to that circumstance, the building doubled as a tavern for adventurers who were waiting for someone with a dire request, since their jobs usually paid better money.

Upon going through the giant building's entrance, consisting of two huge and heavy wooden doors, the three most recognizable things were the counter, with many people running around behind the ridiculously long table that were trying to take care of the long line of, judging from the armor they were wearing, adventurers in search for a quest,

the people going from table to table of adventurers, trying to acquire their help for a matter,

and said adventurers sitting at their tables, drinking, chatting, and laughing.

Locus made his way to the counter, and after waiting in line for a few minutes, it was his turn.

"Hello, my name is Locus. I'm not a member of the guild, but I'd like to take a job."

The nice lady behind the counter politely smiled at him.

"All right, do you have your adventurer card?"

"My what?"

"Oh, is this your first time going on a quest?"

"Yes."

"I see. Every adventurer gets a card that displays basic information about them, like their name, association, and rank. Would you like me to register you as an adventurer?"

"Yes please."

"Okay. Then I just need you to fill out this form and return it once you're done."

She handed him a sheet of paper and a pencil. Locus thanked her and sat down at a table. The form was very superficial, asking for name, place of origin, etc., and it took Locus about ten minutes to fill out and double check.

After that, he went back to standing in line and eventually passed the form back over the table.

"We will prepare your adventurer card and make an entry in our adventurer archives. That will take about a week. After that period of time, you can return to collect it. Alternatively, you can pay a fee to reduce the time it takes to about a day, so that you could come and collect it by tomorrow morning."

Locus had nothing left, so sitting around and waiting for a whole week was not an acceptable option for him.

"How much would that cost me?"

"The fee is one gold."

Due to Mr. Andersson's passing, money wasn't a problem for Locus. He took out a golden coin and handed it over.

"Thank you; you can come and collect your adventurer card here tomorrow."

Locus nodded and left the building. By now, it was already afternoon, and Locus felt hungry. Understandable, considering he hadn't eaten in more than a day. Still, he didn't want to eat at the guild, not until he had an adventurer card.

After stuffing his stomach with a delicious stew from a good-looking neighboring restaurant, from which there were a lot around the guild, he decided to go shopping in the city. He had heard that adventuring could get pretty dangerous, and so he wanted to brace himself by buying something along the lines of a weapon or armor.

There were three categories of jobs one could take: offensive, which meant hunting and likewise; defensive, which usually was an escort; and social, which consisted of more mundane deeds, like, e.g., lumbering. To prepare for his greater goal, Locus was planning on taking more offensive quests.

While thinking about what he wanted to buy, he noticed a man walking straight towards him.

"Excuse me, my name is Daren Vullos; I saw you at the guild earlier. You are planning on becoming an adventurer, right? May I perhaps interest you in some gear to take with you on your first job?"

This is what you call a fortunate event.