Chapter 10
“That was quite large; the little lady must be powerful,” Aurelia said, looking down at Igni, who looked back and wagged her tail forcefully. I smiled and thanked Aurelia for the help, and we returned to the desk where she finished the paperwork and handed me a bag of gold and a plate made of bronze.
“That's your adventure card. This is how you will sign up for quests and it serves as ID in larger towns deeper in the Kingdom. I also included a familiar tag for Igni. You'll want to attach it to her collar—again, not a big deal while she's that size and not in a frontier zone like this, where adventures and familiars are relatively common, but the city folk are a bit more jumpy.”
She handed a little medallion across, and I bent down and attached it to Igni’s collar before giving her head a quick tussle. She playfully pretended to nip me before shaking her hair back flat again.
I looked back to Aurelia. “I have a friend outside who doesn’t speak the local language. I have one of these, and I was wondering how common they are and where I might find one?” I said as I took the pendant off and showed it to her. She picked up a small metal rod, waved it over the item, and checked a chunk of crystal I could barely see on her side of the counter, then handed it back to me, and I put it back on.
“That is a very high-quality translator necklace. One like that would be hard to find, as it will work with most languages and on written language when fed mana. If you're looking for one just for the common spoken language, though, it should be easier—they are used as training projects for apprentices. The guild does sell them for a silver, but we recommend buying from us. The guild's reserves are designed to be used during an emergency, to provide the basics at remote outposts, or as a check on monopolies—our prices tend to be twenty percent higher than a shop would charge. If you can't find them for 60 coppers in town, I would be shocked.”
After receiving directions to one of the two shops in town that likely sold them, I thanked Aurila and turned to leave.
As I passed a wall with sheets nailed to it, I pushed that unfamiliar power into the amulet like I had with the Codifer. The words swam around for a moment before they appeared to be in English; I read three of them.
Horned Rabbit Infestation
Requirements: Two copper or better
Pay: 50 copper + salvage
Goblin Camp
Requirements: 2 bronze or better
Pay: 3 gold + bonus based on participation
Baskalisk Slaying
Requirements: 2 silver or better
Pay: 20 gold + salvage
I nodded and decided I would need to ask how these were organized later. Even one gold was enough to live on for a month on my side of the portal, and something like the scouting mission would be well worth it. Combine that with selling some convenience items like Zippos, tents, or rifle optics. I was sure there were magical versions of most of those items, but I was also sure they would cost much more than two gold—the price of a high-end optic in the U.S.
As I stepped outside, I saw two guardsmen trying to pantomime something to Mike. They looked frustrated but not aggressive, and Mike appeared to be trying his best to understand.
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“Excuse me, officers. I’m sorry, my friend doesn’t speak Common. How can I help you?” one of the guards turned to me with relief as I spoke. Then noticed the new Codifer on my arm and straightened up a little bit more.
“Our apologies, Sir Mage, but you cannot park your, umm…” He looked over at our bikes. “Mana wagons in front of the guild building like this—while I will admit yours are smaller than normal and unlikely to block traffic, the rules still say parking must be off the main street, especially since the guild has an area in the back.”
I nodded. “My apologies.” I checked his uniform but then realized I wouldn’t recognize ranks. Hopefully, the translation spell would interpret the respectful title. “Officer, this is our first time in town, and we were unaware. We will move them right away.”
The officer gave me a considering look, then nodded. “Alright, we will let it go with that this time since they are so small, but just so you know, it’s a two-silver fine in the future.” I nodded and thanked the officers as they left. Mike looked over at me. “What was that about?”
I shrugged. “No street parking in town.”
He looked around, also noticing a lack of parked wagons on the road. “Fair enough, what now?” Mike asked. “The guard said the guild has parking out back; let’s go take a look.” We pushed our bikes around back to save on fuel and found a gated area watched by two teenagers in the guild levery.
“Good evening, gentlemen. Can I see your guild cards, please?” I said as I showed mine. “My friend does not have one yet,” the teen replied with a nod. “That’s fine, sir. We have 5 priority spots open if you want to pay one silver per—” He paused for a moment. “Wagon? Or, for guild members, we currently have 3 of the first-come, first-served free slots available. Unfortunately, for nonmembers, it’s one silver for the general parking and 3 silver for the priority shed.”
I thought for a moment. “Can I see one of these sheds?”
The teen nodded. “Yes, Sir Mage, follow me, sir.” He opened a small main gate and led me into the wagon yard. There was a section on the right where two wagons were parked in what seemed to be parking spots with painted signs numbering them. To the left were sheds about twice the size of one of the parking spots, with what looked like locking double doors.
I nodded. “If we pay the nonmember rate for one of the sheds, would it be okay to park both our vehicles inside?”
The teenager thought about it, then shrugged. “You're renting the shed, so I guess if you want to put three wagons—or even a single loaf of bread in there—it’s really up to you.” I nodded and, reaching into my pocket, pulled out three silver and the few coppers I happened to have. “Here you go.” The teen nodded, then frowned. “Sir, you gave me extra.” He tried to hand it back, and I shook my head.
“Keep it; it's a tip.” His face screwed up in confusion. “A tip, sir?”
“Yes, it's a bonus people sometimes give to someone for doing a good job.” The teen started looking upset. “A bribe?” I shook my head quickly. “No—a bribe is to get you to do things against your job, generally given before you do something; a tip is a bonus for giving excellent service after you did a job.” The teen thought about it, then nodded and pocketed the money.
We took five minutes getting the motorcycles locked in the shed and collecting the keys for the bikes and the shed. With a wave, we left the kids and headed out of the wagon area. I followed the directions Aurelia had given us. We found the shop and walked in; the shop was full of many random items—some of them recognizable, other stuff completely indefinable.
“Hey, no pets in the shop—” the middle-aged man at the counter cut himself off upon seeing Igni’s collar.
“My apologies, familiar,” he said, then looking at me, “Mage, how may I help you today?” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder to Mike. “My friend is a long way from home and doesn’t speak the local language; the receptionist at the guild said you might be able to help with that?”
The shopkeeper nodded. “Yes, sir. For a basic enchanted translator, it's 60 copper. It does direct translation, so it does not handle idioms well. The price jumps quite a bit—the next level would be six silver. It can handle the common language, including idioms and written language. It has an 18?hour mana charge, so you would need a mana stone or a mage like yourself to charge it once a day. For 2 gold, you can get the same but self?sustaining. There are other better ones out there, but I don’t carry them—we would need to special order them from a major city.”
I decided to get Mike the two?gold one so we didn’t have to worry about it dying at the worst time. I handed over the gold, and the man handed me the necklace, which I passed to Mike. “Test test test,” Mike said once he put the necklace on. The shopkeeper smiled. “I believe it's working, sir.”
Mike smiled. “Thank you, sir. It's nice to be able to understand people around me.” We looked around for a few more minutes but didn’t find anything we desperately needed at the moment. With one more goodbye and a “come again” from the shopkeeper, we left, heading back towards the Adventure’s guild.
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