Chapter 12: Money is a Big Problem Living in a City!
When Jay's group were dealing with werewolves, Arthur and the other students had arrived at the capital of Corinth. There they were brought to a luxurious room. "Please wait here while I notice the king about your arrival," said Icarus. The group of students waited in the huge room, amazed by the glistening walls and antique furniture.
"Yo, the king is really loaded," said Vlad, running his hands on the leather of the armchair. As some students were chatting about the kingdom, a guard pushed open the large door. "I will now lead you to the king. Esteemed guests, please head this way," said the butler as guards pushed open a humongous door. The butler gestured them to enter. The group of students were anxious but excited at the same time. As they entered, they saw majestic man sitting on top of a golden throne. The power radiating from him was enough to make Arthur's legs feel weak. All the students uncontrollably knelt down because of the strong aura, except for Arthur. He immediately activated his skill Heroic Aura to shield his students from the strong aura. The buff that Heroic Aura granted managed to prevent some of the students from falling unconscious, but a lot of them were on the ground, their eyes rolled back and with white foam oozing out their mouths. "What is the meaning of this?" shouted Arthur. The king stood up and clapped. "This king is very impressed by your performance, this king was just trying to separate the weak from the strong," said the king in a booming voice. Arthur turned around and saw that the ones standing were indeed the more powerful people, including Connor, Asher, Freddy, Bill, and Turner. The king then pointed towards Vlad, "There is no need to play possum, this king knows you're awake," he said. Seeing that his plan to play dead failed, Vlad unwillingly stood up. As he brushed the imaginary dust off his clothes, he said, "Vlad Alucard, glad to be at your service." The king was amused by his behavior and let out a chuckle. He looked at Arthur and said, "This king apologizes for testing out you and your fellow companion's strength, you can hide your aura now. The ones who are conscious, come with me." He walked towards a room that looked very similar to a conference room. "How about the ones who are unconscious?" asked Arthur, worried about his fellow schoolmates. "Bring them to their rooms," said Icarus. Some servants appeared and carefully carried the students out of the throne room. The remaining students followed the king to the conference room. After waiting for all the students to sit down, the king said, "Let this king first introduce myself. I am King Aletes the Third, welcome to the Corinth Kingdom. I wanted to recruit otherworlders to defend this peaceful kingdoms that is currently threatened by demons, monsters, and undead." Arthur interrupted Aletes, "I know your majesty is recruiting us to defend your country, but we are all untrained students that somehow got powerful abilities." "This king understands your concern, but rest assured. You all will be sent to the imperial academy to learn the arts and skills of battles for a couple of years." "What about the other students?" asked Connor. "They could choose if they would enroll at the military school or live peacefully as a normal citizen. They would all be given a hundred golden coins as fund to ensure they live happily," said Aletes. After discussing a long time with both the king and the other students, they agreed to the king's plan. "Then this king will be leaving. If any of you have any questions, feel free to ask Icarus," said the king, as he went back to his room.
In the king's private chamber, the minister was sitting face to face with the king. "Your majesty, this humble servant thinks that recklessly giving weaklings hundreds of gold coins isn't a good idea, that amount is enough for commoners to live for decades," said the minister. "It may seem like a lot, but this king believes that it is worth the risk. Not only can the otherworlders bring their skills and knowledge to our country, the nice treatments of their schoolmates will help rope the stronger ones' loyalty," said Aletes.
Meanwhile, Jay's group was walking down the streets of the capital. The buildings on the side of the road were nothing compared to the modern buildings that Earth had, but was still a lot better than the White Claw Clan's. "This must be the place where normal citizens live," said Louis as he observed the buildings. Fen's stomach was growling in protest of its starvation. Fen was embarrassed and burrowed himself in Jay's embrace to hide his red face. "It's OK, I'll get you something to eat real soon," assured Jay. He walked towards a small vendor who was selling fruits on the side of the road. "Do you know where we could sell these?" asked Jay, as he showed the vendor the loot that he obtained from the goblins. "Turn left on the corner of the street, you will see a bar, next to it is the guild. You can sell the materials there. You are not from here, huh? Be careful, they might try to scam newcomers," said the vendor. "Thank you very much, I will definitely remember this," said Jay, bowing his head with gratitude. He took Fen's hand and began to head towards the adventure guild with Louis following closely. They followed the vendor's instructions and found themselves at the front door of the adventure's guild in no time. They walked straight through the entrance and was immediately greeted by tons of shouting and the foul stench of sweat and alcohol. Jay found the counter right away and the trio quickly walked towards it, trying to avoid any trouble. "Yo newbies, bringing a child here isn't the correct choice," said a burly man, blocking the trio's path. "Seriously? Nothing can go smoothly," thought Jay, secretly casting Appraisal on the man.
[Race: Human
Lv.40
Rank: Soldier
Name: Billy
Class: Berserker
Blessings: None
Stats: Vitality 50
Strength 50
Agility 50
Mana 10
Fortitude 10
Skills:(Active)
Berserk Lv.1
(Passive)
Martial Arts Lv.2
Soul Weapon: None
Description: A pitiful adventure that bullies the weak and fears the strong. Due to his lack of achievements, to fuel his pride, he likes to pick on the weak newcomers of the guild.
]
"Are you kidding me, same class and similar name to that bastard? This is just my luck…" mentally exclaimed Jay. "May you please step aside?" asked Louis politely. Some adventures turned their gazes towards the trio, preparing for Billy to put up a show. "I'll move if you kneel down to me," said Billy, trying to embarrass Louis. Jay mustered up all the strength he had to stop himself from immediately lashing out. "Scram," said Jay, barely containing his anger. He covered Fen's ears and eyes to prevent him from shape-shifting because of the ill-intent coming from Billy. "What if I don't? What are going to do? Go home and find mommy? Kneel and I'll let you pass unharmed," laughed Billy. The trio tried to avoid Billy by walking around him, but Billy stepped sideways and tripped Fen. That was the last straw for Jay, black feathers appeared behind Jay. They shot towards Billy, stacking him with curses. He threw a right hook punch, sending Billy flying. As he was going to finish off Billy, a vanguard appeared out of nowhere, blocking Jay's punch. Seeing that even his full force punch couldn't move the vanguard a inch, Jay stepped back immediately. He conjured a powerful Feather of Curses, holding it in his hands to intimidate the vanguard. "That's enough, killing isn't allowed in the guild," said the vanguard, as he turned at went back to minding his own business. The people who were watching exploded into laughter. "Finally! A newcomer kicked his ass!" shouted a random adventurer. "Seeing a newcomer beat him like that was so refreshing for some reason," said another. The trio ignored the others and headed towards the counter. "Hello, how can I help ypu?" said the receptionist. "I want to sell these for a fair price," said Jay. He took out the four goblin fangs and two magic cores. "How much do these sell for?" asked Jay. "Looking at the perfect quality of the materials, 10 copper for a Fang and 30 copper for a magic core," said the receptionist. "Deal," said Jay, even though he didn't understand the value of the currency of this world. "The price is fair," said Louis, telepathically. "Oh, and one question. Is there somewhere we could stay with a decent price?" asked Jay. "Yes, walk down the road and turn to your left, there should be a nice inn there," answered the receptionist as she handed Jay a silver coin. "So a silver coin is 100 copper ones," Jay took a mental note.
As they walked towards the inn, Jay felt immense killing intent. He instinctively grabbed Fen and jumped to his right. A arrow struck the place where Fen was standing. "Who's there," said Jay, looking at the dark alley the arrow came from. It was already getting dark, so not many people were outside. Seeing that a attack was going to happen, they hid inside buildings immediately. Jay activated wild instinct in case of another sneak attack. He heard a rough voice coming from the alley, "Boss, he dodged the arrow, he is at least peak soldier-grade," said a masked man. A group of gangsters walked out of the alley, surrounding the trio. Some with the aura of lieutenant-grade and most with soldier-graded ones. They pulled out there weapons, drawing near Jay. "Time for repayment," said a man walking out the crowd. It was Billy, with fresh blood still on his shirt. "Well, I guess it time for the bird to have a feast," sighed Jay.