5 Chapter 5 - Clover Coin Guild

After talking about the details of what kind of place Stray wanted to be worshipped at, they settled on a three story building towards the west of the town. It was near the entrance of where Stray entered the town which gave travelers easy access, and would give the locals peace of mind since a god would be nearby in case the town was suddenly attacked.

With first floor of the building planned to be a reception and community area, the second floor is going to be a shrine area with a single large room for everyone to pray, along with a handful of small rooms for more personal prayers. The third floor meanwhile, was going to have multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, a medium sized library, and a living room for Stray and his guests.

Although it seemed extremely extravagant and expensive to him at first, Varis explained several times that even being offered multiple buildings like this wasn't much to the vast majority of deities. Once the talks were finished, Stray left Varis and the pink haired man to handle the rest after putting the several large chests of gold coins he received in his Inventory, before taking a stroll around town.

Stray saw a variety of shops, but it seemed like the vast majority of the buildings in the town were homes. Interestingly enough, he found two Guild Halls which seemed to have equally powerful Guilds, which were official groups where people accepted various types of quests depending on the type of guild. He remembered Jade mentioned being in the Clover Coin merchant's guild, and seeing the banner with a coin symbol hovering over the entrance of the guild hall on the left side, decided to enter it.

Inside was a reception desk, a standing board with several papers tacked on it, and multiple tables scattered around where various members of the guild talked to each other. Walking to the desk, there was a short female with dark purple hair that went down to her waist. She was wearing a black suit and matching tie, reminding Stray of the business CEOs of his past life.

"Hello, welcome to the Clover Coin merchant's guild. How may I help you today?" The lady asked. "Hi, my name is Stray, I was wondering if there was an easy way to increase my level by training my skills." Stray answered, and immediately when he introduced himself, the entire room went silent for a moment, before returning to normal.

"There is, but the method to do so depends on the associated skill involved. If I may, what is your currently highest skill Master Stray?" The lady asked, and although he was slightly concerned about the silence, Stray decided to put in the back of his mind for now. 'System, what are my skills with the highest values?'

{Host's search results are as follows: Arcana = +15, Athletics = +15, and Religion = +15}

"My highest skills are Arcana, Athletics, and Religion, which are all at +15." Stray answered. The female nodded, before excusing herself and entering a backroom. After a few minutes, the lady came back with three thick books, and placed them on the desk. "These are Tomes, books that are enchanted to stimulate certain skills and train yourself to increase your ability to use them. These three are each a single Tome of Arcana, Tome of Athletics, and a Tome of Religion. They each cost 50 gold coins, and are currently our only stock that suits your needs, however you can prepay for any more that we aquire in the future." Stray was in a daze at the sudden information, and had to take a moment to process it.

As if understanding when he was ready, the lady continued. "To use tomes, simply open them and they will vanish in a pale blue light. They are single use items, but are very popular among new adventurers." Stray nodded in understanding, and took out a single chest of gold coins from his gold coins, making it appear on the floor next to him. Opening the chest to reveal it being full of thousands of gold coins to the lady, Stray felt an odd sense of pride. "I'll take them all, and use the rest of the gold coins to prepay for all tomes like these that you can get in the future." The lady nodded, barely managing to hide her smile of giddiness.

After putting the three tomes in his Inventory, Stray left the Clover Coin guild hall. Seeing the the sun was setting on the horizon, he decided to go eat at the tavern again. Despite not drinking or eating anything all day, Stray didn't feel any effects of thirst or hunger, and guessed it was because deities didn't need to actually eat or drink to survive.

After making it to the tavern, Stray saw the man who tried to threaten him yesterday was pinning down a tiny silver haired waitress with large pure blue eyes onto a table. "Hey buddy, I don't know a whole lot about the different races, but pinning down to what looks like a little girl doesn't exactly help your image." At Stray's sarcasm, several of the customers who were too afraid to stop the man struggled to not laugh. The man looked over at him and smiled, before picking up the girl and slamming her through the table, instantly knocking her unconscious.

"You must be the dumbest rich kid I've ever seen. Once I'm done breaking your legs, I promise to only take your armor and not end you." The man laughed, however it was cut short when Stray burst forward at an incredible speed, grabbed the man's face, and smashed it through the wooden floor. "And you got to be the most arrogant idiot I've ever met." Getting up, Stray ignored the groggy moans of pain from the man, and bend down to check on the waitress.

Aside from bruises on her arms and her face, the girl seemed like she would be fine. Picking her up in a princess carry, he saw Jade along with an elderly man run over towards him. After handing the girl over to the man, he quickly rushed out of the tavern to a place where she could be healed by a priest, while Stray helped Jade clean up the mess.