10 chapter 10: On the road.
After a week of travel, Elrica finally arrived at Nasha's village, it was morning and farmers could still be seen working in the fields as they watered their crops.
They also noticed Elrica as they murmured to each other. Approaching a middle aged farmer who was by himself Elrica asked him, 'Could you point me towards the city of Aldia.'
Looking up at Elrica he said "It's a days walk using the dirt road north, If you would like I can give you a ride."
"No thanks I wouldn't want to bother you." Elrica said.
"It's no bother at all I was going to go there today anyway. Follow me." The man said and beconned for Elrica to follow him.
Entering the village, Elrica's nerves grew tense as she followed the old man. The people of the village would greet the man as they passed by and send curious gazes at Elrica.
Elrica hadn't been around such a large group of people in decades and she felt surrounded as she looked for the best escape route in case all the villagers suddenly rushed her, and instinct carved into all inhabitants of the spectral world.
In the Spectral world, people tended to keep to themselves and would get instantly aggressive if anyone approached them.
Elrica lived by herself even though she met hundreds if not thousands of people. So seeing such a large group of people get along without trouble was completely alien to her.
The man mounted a horse drawn carriage and Elrica sat behind him, a rude gesture, but Elrica preferred having the upper hand over being polite.
The man seemingly didn't mind as he urged the horse and they left the village, as they drove along the road the man made asked Elrica.
"Are you an adventurer, miss?"
"I'm just a traveller." Elrica answered.
"Well it's dangerous for a young lady like you to travel by herself even if you have a weapon, you should be careful, there are unsavoury bandits out there." The man advised Elrica.
"I agree." Elrica answered simply.
"That's good, if you're okay with me asking, why are you going to Aldia, miss?" The man asked.
"For work." Elrica answered.
"Ah, young people are always hopping around looking for who knows what, one shouldn't wander to much and make a living with their feet planted firmly in the dirt." The man said.
"I agree."
"Speak of the devil." The old man said as he looked at a group of two men and a woman wearing light leather armour and carrying daggers at their wastes as they walked Infront.
Pulling the carriage next to them. The man spoke "Are you heading to Aldia?"
One of the two men, a taller one with black hair answered him "yes."
"Get on, we'll give you a ride." The man said.
"Thanks uncle." The black haired man answered with a smile and climbed next to the middle aged man while the other two got on the back with Elrica.
All three of what Elrica guessed were adventurers looked pretty young. Although she looked young as well. More so than that they seemed juvenile and carried a naiveté characteristic of those lacking in either life experience or bloodshed.
It was less obvious on the old man and the adventurer that climbed next to him but the two others looked like the spitting image of a new weak arrival to the Spectral world, those types usually didn't last more than a day.
The girl was short, had blond hair and blue eyes while the boy was only a bit taller with a skinny build with black short hair and black eyes.
He looked up at Elrica with a gaze she couldn't understand for a second before quickly looking somewhere else.
"Hi." The girl greeted Elrica.
"Hello." Elrica returned the greeting.
"Are you also an adventurer." The girl asked.
"No."
"REALLY, you look strong."
"The mind likes to play games." Elrica said while slightly activating her {Intimidation} skill causing the girl to clamp up for the rest of the ride.
Meanwhile Elrica silently listened to the conversations between the two men riding Infront. They talked about the weather, the price of crops and random happenings they heard about in Aldia.
As time went on, more and more roads merged and more carriages and people appeared as they moved in a line, soon Elrica finally saw Aldia.
From the stories she heard from Nasha and Aina she expected the city to be big but she had clearly underestimated it.
Looking at the large stone wall the extended for kilometres and the hundreds of people entering and exiting the city. Elrica was shocked.
Elrica had seen a lot of strange things since coming to this world but this had to be the most alien. Elrica's mind couldn't comprehend how such a large amount of people existed in one place and they all agreed to not to kill each other.
Once they entered the city, Elrica took in the scene of the endless houses and streets all crawling with people as they went about their affairs.
Arriving at the adventurers guild Elrica and the Adventurers got off the carriage and the middle aged man left.
The group of three walked in and Elrica looked around before also walking in.
Inside, the place looked like a pub more than anything as groups of people wearing all sorts of different armour sat around drinking, talking or looking at a board full of posters.
Noticing a reception desk Elrica walked to it.
"Hi I would like to register as an adventurer." Elrica said. Due to her extended contact with Nasha and Aina Elrica new all about being an adventurer.
The adventurers guild was a place where people could take up jobs that required handling dangerous tasks like escorting people, killing monsters or gathering exotic herbs.
Adventurers were ranked based on a number of quests they completed and successfully passing the test for each advancement to the next rank.
There were five ranks, and from lowest to highest was iron, copper, silver, gold and Titanite.
Elrica was only good at fighting so she had no choice but to become an adventurer.
