18 The City of Baran

The morning sun had just risen but the citizens of the City of Baran were already up to their daily jobs, some were mothers going to the market, some were fathers ready to work in the fields. Caravans of various sizes and numbers could be seen entering and exiting the city while the merchants trying to sell their wares shouted as they manned their stalls.

On one particular busy street, people could be seen setting up their wares as the morning sun shined brightly upon them. The vast majority of these people were armored, some had simple leather while a select few were wearing eye-catching fancy armor.

"Imperial Crown Guild, looking for members!"

"2 pieces of Borak's shield for sale!"

"Looking for party members to do Gaiden's quest!"

All kinds of things were being shouted as countless people walked through the road. This road was the busiest as it was one of the main roads in the Main City of Baran.

Being one of the main stops of players who are doing the starting quest and the base of operations of those players who are level 10 and above, the City had a certain appeal that most players found irresistible as they were used to seeing skyscrapers and other modern-day buildings however the likes of that was nowhere in sight here. It was refreshing, to say the least. On this particular day, a certain event had managed to stir up the attention of these players.

"Hey... look at that guy."

"Wait, isn't that the guard at the gate?"

"Yeah, I thought that NPC can't move away from that post. Looks like the developers had really put a high degree of freedom in the game."

"That's that, but what about the other guy?"

"What about him?"

"He doesn't look like an NPC? Is he a player?"

"Look at that! A player is being escorted by an NPC!"

"Maybe he did something bad and got caught by the NPC?"

"Nah bruh, I've seen a pervert who was trying to harass a girl just a few minutes ago and he was quickly teleported to the jail after he came in contact with the NPC."

Unable to hear all the surrounding murmurs, Devin found himself in a situation where he attracted all the attention simply by being there walking together with the NPC.

So far, it's been easy and there had generally been no setbacks that could possibly increase Devin's chance of failure for the quest, in fact, it even appeared to be too easy for him. Thinking about the time when he accepted the quest for Delo, it was just at rank E, yet he had to fight wolves that vastly outnumbered them, however, when he accepted Velda's quest it made an inconsistency as the quest was supposedly harder than escorting Delo to the City being given a rank D.

He could only come to the conclusion that he would soon face some hardships after being led to Delo himself. He also took into account possibly fighting against Sleeping Beauty since she was the only player that he knew have associated herself with Delo. Although that seemed unlikely as she hasn't even replied to him.

Continuously thinking of other possibilities, Devin had soon arrived in front of a building about three stories tall. Its walls were made of stone while the interior was mostly made from wood. When he entered it, he saw that it was quite similar to what the branch back at the village had, but this time it looked better and had a tinge of grandeur. he saw a woman dressed as a clerk, in front of a counter.

As he entered the building, the City Guard saluted at him and told Devin that he would be going now as he would not be as rude to do so, to which Devin responded with a nod and thanked him. He was also taken aback as he saw that after he did so, he was notified that he had a +10 increase in reputation points for the Main City Baran. He quickly swept this at the back of his mind though, as he still had more pressing matters at hand.

"Welcome to-"

The female clerk stopped her greeting midway when she saw Devin took out the badge and showed it to her. She froze in shock for a bit and soon changed her overall tone by appearing to have more energy on her previously dull looking face.

"I'd like to see Delo, I was traveling with him a couple of minutes ago and got separated on the way."

"Please follow me."

The clerk soon led him towards a room on the second floor and made him sit upon a couch. Apparently, Delo was out and he had to wait for him to come back. He looked at the quest timer and saw that it was only an hour and a half left before it was deemed a failure.

Having another influx of free time, Devin looked around and saw that the room that he was in actually looked great. There were also a few paintings that were placed beside the door which complimented the overall decor of the room. Time slowly passed by and before he knew it, about thirty minutes had once again gone by without anything ever happening.

Suddenly, Devin heard footsteps that were slowly making their way upstairs. He immediately stood on guard and waited in front of the door slightly towards the right.

The door then opened but Delo wasn't there. Instead, it was the previous clerk who had come to call him. It seemed that being on the edge didn't really help at the moment.

"I have already notified Sir Delo, unfortunately, as of now he is busy and is incapable of meeting you. Still, as gratitude for helping him reach the City safely, Sir Delo would like to personally hand over the reward tomorrow."

At this time, Devin finally understood the fact that this quest was ranked higher than escorting Delo back to the City. It turns out that he needs to do something himself or else he won't even get to have a glance at Delo.

"Oh, that's too bad. I really need to see him because I have something important to tell him and it can't wait for tomorrow. Do you know where he is right now?"

The Clerk looked surprised and clearly looked like she was deliberating whether or not she should continue further entertaining him so Devin decided to give her another push on the back.

"I know that it must be hard on you waking up early only to man the shop, so I'll make sure to mention a thing or two about you when I get to talk to him, after all, what I need to tell him is so important he might just promote you after this."

With a wink, Devin tried to seal the deal which had somehow managed to convince her as she appeared to make up her mind as her gaze was now fixed towards Devin.