Merchants Guild

'Miss Monica sure is generous, handing over 2000 golds as if it's nothing.'

Aren thought as he glanced at the small pouch in his hand. If he said that there was more than100 golds in the pouch he was holding, no one would believe him. However, this pouch really had 2000 golds along with the runestone and other books because this was no ordinary pouch.

It was a rare storage equipment enchanted with dimensional magic!

Even though it looked small, it had a space of roughly 2 meter cube inside it. Even if this didn't help a mage in combat in any way, this was still categorized as a mid-grade magical item due to the rarity of magic used in it.

Putting it in pocket of his black robe, he took large strides and left Monica's Mansion. He had already taken off his School uniform and was in his black robes now.

After stealthily leaving Northern district, Aren went towards the branch of the Merchants' Guild here in Havrick. He had always wanted to make an account for himself but he forgot everytime.

The Merchants Guild was the place from where money circulated. It would not be an understatement to call it the World Bank of this world. All coins used were also issued by this Guild.

As the major financial Powerhouse of this world, it's branch was naturally located in the central district. More accurately, it was located at the Evergold Avenue of the Central District.

This wide thoroughfare was very famous in Havrick. The land here was so expensive that to even open a small shop at one side of this boulevard, one had to pay a monthly fees of 300 gold coins. That much money was enough to buy an ordinary low-grade magical item!

Walking on the flourishing street of Evergold Avenue and looking at the shops which were already open for business, Aren stopped before a large building.

It was also a five-storied building having wooden roofs. Though the place looked showy from outside with its new furniture and large structure, it was not par with the building of Mages Association.

However, it was more busy than any building in Havrick. Aren opened the door and as expected, the hall presented before him was filled with people. Some had nothing in their hands while some were holding bags full of money. Aren also saw some Nobles in luxurious clothes being led around by some individuals, presumably, staff members of the Guild.

Most of the people here were merchants though. In this world, there were two types of merchants. One, who were registered under the merchants guild and other were ''free merchants''. The first ones were the majority of merchants who sold goods making groups in the name of the Guild and got paid.

The latter were the minority who sold their own goods and kept the profits to themselves. They were those that didn't want to be bound under the Merchants Guild. Naturally, they were suppressed by the Guild so Aren wasn't sure if there were any of the free merchants here.

Passing through the horde of people, Aren came before a counter and said to the person seated there.

"I want to open an account."

The fat man who heard Aren quickly pulled a slip and giving it to him, he said "Take this and go upstairs, when the number written on it is called, it will be your turn."

As Aren took the slip and looked at it, he saw a three numerical number. In this world's number system, it was number ''110''.

He then nodded to the man, showing his understanding and went towards the stairs which led to the second floor. However, from behind him, he heard the man's voice.

"Oh and please remove that hood during the identification process."

Aren paused for a second and again started climbing the stairs. The man didn't know whether the hooded young man heard what he said or not. Since he had reminded him, there was nothing he could do any further.

Climbing the wooden stairs, Aren reached the second floor. What appeared in his sight was a short hallway with doors opening to the one-one rooms at both sides. Many people were queuing near the door of one side while the other side only had four people.

Aren didn't know which room he should enter but a teenage girl in yellow clothes quickly came beside him and asked. "Sir, are you here to open a new account or withdraw money?"

Relieved after being asked, Aren stated his purpose to the girl who, after she heard him, pointed to the door on left side. It was the one where only four people were gathered.

"It's this room, do you have the slip?"

"Yes." He answered.

"Then please wait here, your number will be called soon." Saying that the girl quickly left and started helping others who had arrived.

'Hmm, the Merchants Guild sure is efficient in its work...' he thought as he looked at the well-managed coordination of the customers. It was also because of this efficiency of the merchants when it came to money that the people liked to store their money on Guild.

After 15 minutes of waiting, the number ''110'' was called.

'Guess it's my turn then...'

Like others, Aren also pushed the door slowly and entered. The inside was very large. There were three women writing something on papers while seated on their chairs.

"Ah, please come here and fill your name in this."

A woman said as she looked at Aren after lifing her head. The other two were still busy on something.

Aren came beside the desk of the woman that called him and looked at the paper she gave him. In it were neatly written words which read as.

______

Name: Hometown:

Job:

(Nobility/Commoner/Believer)

Amount to be deposited:

______

He then took the quill pen handed to him and started filling in the paper. Halfway though, he was forced to pause.

'Eh ...What does it mean be a believer?'

Though he was confused, Aren just tick marked the ''commoner'' option and after writing the amount, gave it to the woman.

Holding the paper, the woman did a quick read of what he wrote. She then put it down and asked him.

"You have written that you're an adventurer, can you give me your card? Its necessary for the procedures."

He took his Guild card and as he showed her, he heard her say, "Ah, and can you please remove your hood?"

While he handed his card to her, he nodded his head and slowly removed his hood. After checking the card, the woman looked at Aren and saw that the adventurer before her had a face of a young boy in his late teens.

'Hmm... his sketch isn't on the bounty list, he's not a fugitive then.' The woman judged Aren to be clean. Then, she started observing his face carefully.

He had blond hair, dark blue eyes and charming facial features. If she didn't just see his Adventurers' Guild card, she would have believed that he was a nobleman's son.

Then she remembered something.

'He has ''Von'' in his name... he might really be a noble but as he didn't tick mark the noble option, it seems he is a fallen noble whose title is snatched away.'

The lady understood things so she didn't ask him anything related to nobility. Picking up the filled paper, she just told him.

"It will take some time. We need to contact the adventurers guild to finalise your account. You see, the two guilds have cooperated with eachother to make the storing of money easier for adventurers.

The money you got from the quest rewards can directly be stored in adventurers guild's vault. You can also withdraw your money from any merchants guild branch in all of Ashlar Kingdom after the paperwork is done. You just have to wait for 2 hours for it to complete. After that, you can deposit the 1500 golds you have written while filling the document."

"Alright, I come back two hours later." He said

As the woman put the document that he had filled on top of a stack of papers and called the number ''111'', he quickly left the room and came outside the Guild building.

'It seems there is nothing wrong with the potion I drank at miss Monica's mansion.'

To change his appearance, Monica had given him a grade one transfiguration potion. It seemed that the potion was just lying about in her room. She had got it as a gift from an alchemist, however, as she was already beautiful, there was no need for her to change her appearance.

So the potion which was just eating dust in her room was used by him to change into the appearance of a young son of a noble.

Leaving the Guild, he went towards the market.

Now that he had two hours free time, first he would look for a good horse and then wait. The journey from the capital to deathlands would take about 15 days even on a horse.

Previously, because of flying on mountain Raven, Aren and Cowen had reached the capital in a short time of 5 days. But now that he would be going by land, he had to prepare.

As he left Evergold Avenue and was about to turn on a junction, he suddenly heard a familiar voice talking with someone a distance away.

"Do you understand what I said?"

Aren closely looked and saw that it was a nobleman instructing some young men who were lined up before a carriage which looked familiar to Aren at a glance.

'Baron Reiter... What is he doing here?' He thought as went towards the carriage.