Chapter 119 - Splitting Ways With Krater's Party

For the standards of someone coming from an advanced civilization, the city near the dungeon didn't offer anything great. 

It was created with the shape of a star at its base, with each of its five protruding arms spewing out a road.  Yet, despite this actually ingenious shape, only three out of the five roads leading out of the city had any real use. 

Starting with the southern road, it connected the city to the treasure trove that the dungeon was. According to Krater's words, it held an unofficial name of "adventurer's road" from how mostly people of this profession used it. 

"Dang, it takes a while to reach the city," Claudia muttered after nearly half an hour's worth of a slow-paced journey. 

"It only makes sense," Tom said in a low voice. "As much as the dungeon can offer, it also inherently brings danger. If the city was any closer, then the people would be justifiably worried what would happen if something were to change about the portal to the dungeon," he added, keeping his voice as silent as he could. 

For someone like him, an otherworlder, there were some logical reasons behind the city being so far away from the dungeon. Yet, there was a huge chance that locals looked at the matter from a whole different perspective. 

'Details,' Tom thought, biting on his lip. 'It's all about the details that we don't know.' 

"Yes, they are with us," Krater said, pointing his hand at the two of them. While Tom talked about the city with Claudia, the leader of the other group was busy dealing with the guards at the city gate. 

This was yet another point on which Tom was reminded just how little he knew about this world. Despite its clearly medievalistic look, the guards didn't take their duties easily, as opposed to what Tom was used to from all the periodical literature he consumed in his earlier days. 

"You know it's not going to be as easy," the guard in the middle of his twenties smiled viciously, clearly seeing Krater as nothing but a fat lamb to skin for his own benefit. 

"Here," Krater only sighed before handing out a stacked pouch. The metallic clattering it gave as it moved made it clear what kind of content was hidden inside. "We happy?" he asked, gently squinting his eyes. 

"Are we?" the guard wasn't going to make it any easier for the adventurer. "The rates recently went up, so you know..." he said, as his smile widened. 

"Meanwhile, those two behind us came here to officially register with the guild," Krater said, quickly losing his patience. "I wonder what the Magister will say when he learns that they decided to register somewhere else... And sell their grade five stone elsewhere..." Krater muttered under his nose, just loud enough for the guard and guard alone to pick his words up. 

"Keep talking," the guard didn't really pay any mind to Krater's insinuations. "If what you said is true, they would long be registered in the guild, wouldn't they?" he asked before leaning his head over his shoulder. "Or should I call my superiors to deal with this matter?" he then asked in a threatening tone. 

"That would actually be a great idea," Krater countered. Even though Tom didn't know the man for long, he could see from his face how Krater was quickly reaching the limit of his patience. "I wonder what Trayan will say once he discovers a tracker in the pouch that you are holding," he added, taking his own turn to put a vicious smile on his face. 

"You little..." the guard clearly hesitated. His face filled with wrath, only for it to recede a moment later. "You are free to go," he ended up saying, standing aside and waving his head at Krater's group. 

'I guess some things don't change, no matter what world you are in,' Tom thought, hiding his snicker as he went past the guards. 

Entering the city... Didn't affect him much. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by the ever-present feeling of a fantastical world filled with different races and magic items displayed at every corner, the place was no different from how Tom pictured the insides of a small, medieval city.

'I know that saying that medieval towns were full of stink is nothing but a historical lie created to blame the past ages, but still,' Tom thought, taking a deep breath of the surprisingly fresh air. 'It's nice that it doesn't smell like shit in here,' he thought, following after Krater deeper inside the town. 

"The guild is located all the way up this road. Once you reach the top of the hill, it will be the most magnificent building around," Krater suddenly said, pointing his finger in the distance. 

"Huh?" Tom shrugged in surprise. "I thought you were going there with us," he said, slightly disappointed by the implied situation. 

"We will," Krater said, nodding his head, "but not yet. We need to get Celestia to the shrine to let her heal properly. Then, we will go and report the death of one of our own," he said, lowering his head as a sudden wave of grief took over the man's face. 

"Fine," Tom nodded his head. Between forcing the group to guide them towards the guild and letting them deal with their own matters first, the choice was pretty obvious. Given how they were not only the only people that Tom somewhat knew in this world but how they were also indebted to him, it was better to keep their relationship somewhat positive. "Let's meet at the guild then. In case that we won't be there by the time you arrive, just ask which Inn they recommended to us," Tom said before nodding his head. 

The two groups finally separated. Even though they didn't spend that much time with each other, Tom could feel a strange feeling welling up in his soul. 

'That's one thing I already like about this place,' he thought to himself. 'You don't need to waste hours just to bid your farewells,' he noted before shaking his head and turning his face towards Claudia. "Let's go."

The road to the guild building was as simple as Krater pointed it out. After moving through a crowded main street uphill, they quickly reached a small plateau. Right in its middle, there was a huge town's square with fountains, benches, and even well-trimmed trees growing here and there and offering a nice shade for the locals. 

'Compared to the dull concrete plazas of the future, this looks way more pleasant,' Tom thought, recalling the sad and lifeless look of the cities from back home. 

But there was nothing that he could do about how most of the towns looked like. With the recent war devastating the greater part of the world's natural landscape, only a few retained the privilege to live in the countryside amidst nature. 

With the arable land greatly limited, the cities turned into the true hub of human dwellings, where every inch of space had to be used effectively. Taking into account the popularity of self-driving cars and the huge demand for parking spots, it is no wonder that the green color almost completely vanished from the human settlements. 

'Now that I think about it, it was quite a privilege to live at my family's ranch,' Tom thought, recalling the pleasant landscape of natural wildlife that surrounded the entire settlement of his tribe. In a sense, it was a barrier that separated the local town from the radioactive desert that made up roughly seventy percent of what was left of the earth. 

"Are you okay?" Claudia asked, bolting her elbow into Tom's side. 

"Auch!" the young man screamed out lightly, more from a surprise than from actual pain. After all, if he could still be bothered by such a tiny nudge, then all his leveling and current power would have no meaning whatsoever. "What was that for?" he asked, turning his eyes towards the girl. 

"Stop spacing out," Claudia said with a small, dishonest smile. "You can do that once we are in the inn, not when you are about to kick up a massive mess!" she added, sizing Tom with her eyes. 

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Tom replied. He then shook his head to get rid of all the useless and unnecessary thoughts. "Making a mess comes first, doesn't it?" he said before moving forward. 

Krater's advice on how to find the guild building proved to be quite useful. While all of the places around the square were quite impressive for the standard of a medieval city, only one stood out of them. With all sorts of decorations, columns, and even paintings that prettied both its walls and its doors alike, there was hardly any doubt which of the buildings could actually house the guild. 

"Just in case, do you want to kick some assess in there?" Claudia asked, as she never really bothered to ask about what exactly Tom's plan was. 

"It all depends on how they will react," Tom said as he let his hands loose along his waist before stepping towards the gate of the guild. "I guess you will have to decide that yourself," he said, pushing the doors to the building open.