Training on the Road (1)

They had left the city gates behind an hour ago. Alex's feet started to feel sore inside his new black shoes. His annoyance toward the trip vanished and was replaced by a contemplative state of mind. As he continued his walk, he continued to think about his next steps.

His curiosity wandered towards the mystical figure of Rand'Allar, whom some regarded as a historical hero and others as just another man, possibly an acquaintance to Kael'Talar and Ratamir. Another question popping inside Alex's mind was, what made an adventurer so strong? Ravi had shown them he could handle a sword like no one else, which was impressive. Still, there was a difference between Ravi and other skilled swordsmen?

Alex also wondered if there was any reason for the guild members to be ranked similarly as the Devil's Hand and himself were ranked by the system. Alex couldn't ask this question or about Rand'Allar without looking suspicious, so he kept thinking. He tried to connect the dots between his magical powers and Tevia but couldn't. They seemed disconnected altogether.

One of the first things Tina asked Alex was how he performed magic without the runes or the token. To use his Devil's Hand, he had needed nothing of sorts, just fighting and occasionally drinking a hobgoblin's blood. His powers were definitely magic, but they were somehow linked to his physical and life force, as well as the ones of his enemies. When fighting the goblins, he became faster; when fighting the hobgoblin, he became stronger and capable of manipulating his bones.

Alex sighed deeply, finally freeing himself from his own thoughts. Despite receiving so many answers in the last few days, he still had hundreds of unresolved questions. He glanced to his side and watched a resolute Tina walking as if nothing could shake her. This one is a secret, too. What's her actual relationship with Valther? Why does she care so much about me? Why do I care so much about her? Alex posed this same question several times in the last two days. He wanted to believe it was some residue of Valther in his body, but he wasn't sure.

The girl definitely had its charm. She was funny and determined, cared deeply about him, and was brave. That was enough to like someone, right? That was what he thought, but he couldn't hide the feeling that something was off. As if she was hiding something, and that mystery intrigued him more than anything else,

"We are here!" Ratamir announced, getting away from the carriage in a jump,

"Already?" Alex asked,

"Oh! No, not the dungeon!" The dwarf replied, and Alex finally noticed where they were. The rural road in the middle of nowhere had been replaced by a small village in the middle of nowhere. Cows and sheep grazed in the distance. Female white elves cleaned their houses, and little white elves ran from one side to the other. Alex couldn't see even one dark elf between them, "Welcome to "Little Heaven. We are getting supplies here for the trip. We'll travel for two days. More if we are unlucky," Ratamir cleaned his clothes with his hands and stretched his legs, "sitting is really tiring, you know?"

Alex couldn't hide his grim at the dwarf. Suddenly, his legs felt even more sore. Realizing the young man's face, Ratamir rushed to correct himself,

"Oh, kid. I did not mean it mockingly. Soon, you'll have a place to sit, alright? That's the reason for our stop here." The dwarf said, walking to one of the houses. Alex turned around and stepped towards the carriage to sit on it but was surprised by a grave voice calling him,

"Let's go?" the big orc asked, and Tina replied. 

"Where?" She was slowly walking towards the carriage, too, clearly wanting to sit and rest a little,

"A training, of sorts, of course," the orc said, smashing his staff against the ground and smiling. This particular orc had great fangs leaving the low part of his mouth, making it a terrible sight when he smiled. Alex got up in a second, shoving away all his tiredness. That's why he was there, wasn't it? To learn and get stronger. Training was the way to do it. 

Witnessing their readiness, the orc chuckled and waved his staff, pointing to a far point on the horizon, away from the animals and elves, but beneath the shadow of trees alongside the road. 

The orc leaned on the most prominent three and waited for them to be in front of him,

"My name is Bogath. I'm the mage of the adventure's guild. I'm a B-Rank adventurer. I've been in several guild headquarters, but because of… particular reasons, I decided to stay in the capital, even with its problems, if you know what I mean…" he said. Still, Alex could only guess while doubting that any guess would be correct. This orc was an enigma to him. His tone was professorial, and his voice grave, smooth and calm. He was totally different from the other orcs he had known so far,

"I know most orcs are known for their uncultured manners, bloodlust, and lack of intelligence, but I can guarantee that's not my case. I'm here to introduce you to the guild and satisfy all questions I can answer," the orc said. Alex bit his lips, not knowing the extent of the questions he could ask, but at the same time happy for that being possible, "but before you two start asking, I'll say some words. You'll probably have no more questions after that, okay?"

"I spoke these exact words to several elves, orcs, and humans in the last years, and inevitably, all of them died or left the guild not long after, so listen carefully. Being a Slayer, and I mean it, a Slayer of Monsters, is not an easy feat. Yes, society will see you differently; this is a job no one wants, but everyone knows the value of it. Yes, you can be rich in less time than most would dream of, but the risks are immense. Dying is the least of your problems. Being locked in a dungeon with a soul-devouring ghoul? That can happen. 

"Being skinned by gray goblins? That's more than common, honestly. This is a dangerous, dangerous world you are entering, and for that, I want both to commend and warn you. You already showed courage to join, and if you leave, no one will judge," the orc finished his speech with a caring tone and narrow eyes, staring at them one at a time.

Seeing that none of them had a protest to make or a run to the capital to perform, the orc continued, smiling.

"Good, good. Most people just start running at the last part." He chuckled and patted his belly, "First, a lesson of history. The guild has more than five thousand years of existence. We were here before the church of the Moon Goddess before Valinor was the empire's capital, and even before the empress empire existed. The guild saw empires rise and fall, helping some earn power while others lost it. And we did it several times. The history of our institution is not completely clean, but one thing we always did. We killed the monsters for them not to kill the people of Tevia, people of any race. The guild does not discriminate."

"Say that to Ravi," Alex muttered,

"Do you think that has something to do with you being a white elf?" Bogath chuckled again, "He's just stupid, kid. But he has zero prejudice towards you. Your eye color or the history of your people means nothing to him. Rest assured of that," Alex sighed, not knowing if that relieved him or not,

"As I said. We have a deep history in the continent, maybe even before the great war, but we have no reports. Before the mining of Arcanite, the guild used to seal the dungeons completely. Now, we work to guarantee that the mining continues without the magic of dungeons breaking the seals. Our empress needs the Arcanite. We need the coin, and we like killing monsters. It's a fair trade, right?" he asked, but Alex could see in the orc's face that the orc himself couldn't be far from happy with the trade.

"Right," both Alex and Tina replied, and the orc continued,

"During our trip, ask me if you have any questions about the guild, and I'll gladly reply. The last thing: You are now Rank-F adventurers. This is the lowest you can be in the hierarchy of the guild. Between the one thousand members, maybe only one hundred are ranked F, which means you need to be a newbie or inept to stay on it for a long time. You need to work and have commendable feats to get away from it. Rank F is straightforward: enter dungeons or hunt monsters in front of the guild members, and you'll be rated at the end of the job. If we have a unanimous decision, you'll be a Rank-D Adventurer. Only then I'll explain to you what you need to become a Rank-C, but I can tell you it's not that easy,"

Both of them nodded, and the orc pulled back from the tree,

"Okay, that was all. Expect training with all the other members in the next few days. As soon as you get an affinity with one or other weapon/style, you'll train more with one single member," the orc finished and started moving. Alex had not forgotten that he could ask questions, so he didn't wait and shoot,

"Can you teach me magic?"