With that out the way, I was a fully fledged, if completely unknown, Hero. The newly received Guild Seal permitted me the use of the Cullis Gates, and also offered a teleport to the Guild in a pinch.
I was allowed to keep the room I had as an apprentice, though Whisper moved out. Several other apprentices who'd been sharing a room were offered the spare bed in my room, but apparently once they discovered I was going to be their room mate, interest dropped off. Did they think I'd go after them or something?
True to a long standing tradition there, I took a number of other apprentices down to the guild's bar – I would have brought friends, or other graduates, but there weren't any of either – and paid for the first round of drinks. One of the few times I paid for anything. They paid for the rest, and sometime late that morning I staggered back into my bed. According to the Guildmaster, I was busy singing about how many drinks I'd had along the after keeping to those two traditions, I woke up with a massive hangover that I immediately cured with another drink and some apple pie. Don't ask me why, alright? Apple pies always seemed to help me through hangovers. I'm not going to question it.
With the world no longer trying to break my head with every sound, I collected my various savings and ill-gotten gains from my room, went to the map room, and picked the first Gold quest card.
The colour of those quest cards doesn't really mean too much. I learned that Bronze ones pay the least, and Gold ones had some of the better rewards, but not much else. Though, I have a suspicion that a lot of the Gold ones I picked up also 'happened' to be the ones that set me on the course the voice had told me about.
The quest card was nothing special. Giant wasp attack at the picnic area just outside Bowerstone, the town not far from the Guild. It wasn't even more than a few minutes walk from here.
They didn't bother to wait for me to get there before showing up though, with one flying after a man crying for help just as I turned up. A casual swing of the iron sword I still carried dispatched it without issue. I didn't even bother to see if the guy was alright.
The picnic area was swarming with more wasps though, and they weren't going to be so easy to deal with. I cheated though – I tore off some cloth from an abandoned picnic blanket, wrapped it round an arrow, then set it on fire with my fireball spell. With so many wasps around, aiming wasn't a problem. To make it even more effective, the fireball spell detonated when the arrow impacted, catching a lot of wasps in its blast.
Those that survived turned on me, but there weren't exactly a lot of them. Then the Wasp Queen showed up. Queen or not, she was still just a big bug, and it wasn't too hard to deal with her. I shot her full of arrows mostly, then when she got close I stabbed her, impaled the tip of the sword in the ground, then stomped on her until she stopped moving.
Then of course I went around and looted the area and the bodies of those picnickers that hadn't made it out safely. By the time the other turned up, I'd more than doubled my savings, and the reward they gave me only added to it. Maybe there was more profit in Heroing than I'd thought.
On the way back out, I got a surprise.
"Hero, Maze is looking for you," the Guildmaster's voice sounded. Evidently he could send messages to me through the Guild Seal. I'd heard of this, but passed it off as just a light tale to explain how all the Heroes knew when someone wanted them. "He asks you to meet him in Bowerstone."
How nice of him. He personally chose to give me placement in the Guild, but doesn't bother to turn up for the graduation ceremony, and now he just wanted to meet me.
The way the Guildmaster made it sound, you'd think he was going to offer tea and biscuits or something.
I didn't bother to reply, continuing on my way back up the crossroads that linked the picnic area, Bowerstone, the Guild and Greatwood. I'd learned a bit about Bowerstone from other Heroes that had passed through the Guild in my novitiate, and already decided I wasn't going to stick to the rules. Not if I had anything to say about it, at least.
The guards on the gate stopped me, of course.
"You've never come into Bowerstone before, have you?" one asked me.
"I'm about to change that, once you let me through," I replied.
"Bowerstone's a peaceful place. I'll have to confiscate your weapons."
I pulled out a small pouch I'd prepared in advance.
"What do you say you leave the weapons with me, and give you my word I won't use them on anyone?" I asked, bouncing it in one hand.
"We don't take bribes," the other guard began, but was quickly waved into silence by the first. He untied the drawstring, looking in at the coins inside.
"I believe you're a trustworthy fellow," he said. "We'll accept your word, Hero. Do keep within our laws anyway of course."
"Naturally," I answered with a false smile as he let me in. The coins I'd given him were gold – on top. Underneath the gold of the coins was a mix of metals that made it feel the right weight for a gold coin, but gave it practically no value in the slightest. I'd stolen them from another Hero, taking from one fool who didn't guard them, and now passed on to another unsuspecting fool.
Maze was not in Bowerstone, at least not that I could see from the entrance. I activated the Cullis Gate just inside, allowing me to return to that Gate whenever I wanted, then continued on in. An overheard conversation filled me in about a Lady Grey, the mayor of the town who lived in the north part of it – which was out of bounds unless one either lived or worked there, or had special permission. I fit none of these.
The smithy was the next stop. I replaced my basic iron sword and plain wood bow with much better weapons. With my spoils, reward and savings, I obtained an Obsidian longsword, and a sturdy crossbow. The arrows were traded in for crossbow bolts, of course – not that I needed to. The quiver the Hero's Guild had given me was one of those magic ones that never runs out of ammunition, and automatically switches to whatever bow I was using at the time. Of course, they're not normally given to apprentices or even Heroes, they're given out to Heroes who do something very nice for the Guild. Not something I was going to do, so naturally it was one of the many things I'd stolen during my time as an apprentice and quietly stashed away. Maze once searched my room for it, but never found it. I'm good at hiding things.
I would have picked up some armour as well, but the smith insisted I try to wear it first so I'd have an idea of the weight. Despite keeping in practice with my weapons, I wasn't quite up to strength enough to bear any heavy armour, and what else was on offer was hardly better than what I had, so for now I remained in the apprentice's outfit. I had noticed that it seemed slightly darker than those of other apprentices, but at this point I paid it little attention.
By this time, Maze had turned up outside the Inn, so I wandered up behind him. He was still looking toward the gate, expecting me to come from there.
"Looking for someone?" I asked him. He wasn't surprised.
"Oh. You're here already. With your weapons?"
"I had a little discussion with the guards about it. I'm trustworthy enough to be allowed to keep them."
"Interesting. But that's not why I asked you here. Word of your little bug-slaying exploit has already gotten round."
"You came here to tell me that? I should have skipped town and gone on to the Guild already."
"Don't be so impatient, Adam. Just hear me out. You'll find word travels quite quickly here in Albion, quicker than you might expect. Don't let it go to your head though."
"Me? As if!" I snorted.
"Sometimes I wonder," Maze murmured. "You already have a fair reputation within the Guild. I wouldn't be surprised to find you garner one outside just as quickly."
"Why should I care if people hear about me? I do whatever I want."
"Then how about replacing that basic equipment before you leave?"
"Way ahead of you, Maze," I answered, pulling my new sword slightly out of its scabbard on my back. "Obsidian and freshly forged just yesterday."
"And no doubt stolen."
"What do you take me for, a thief? I paid for this, fair and square!"
Maze appeared to give up after that, electing to disappear into the Cullis Gate. I guess he couldn't stand me for long.
There was one other thing I did while there though. I decided to explore a little, learn who lived where, what stocked what and such, where to steal from... as you do, of course. Along the way, I noticed a house up for sale. Two, in fact, right beside each other, just up beyond the schoolroom. Purchasing them both would temporarily drain pretty much every last coin I had on me, but that could easily be solved with a few night-time expeditions and quests. Plus I could rent the second one out to pick up a nice sum from my tenants as well.
So naturally I bought them off the guy selling them. He seemed a little surprised that I wanted both, but was more than happy to take my money. When I offered him a little more than the sale price he was asking for. Money can buy someone's curiosity to the point they practically hand it to you and don't want to know any more.
Once he'd gone off wherever, I examined my two new properties. The furniture in each got shifted around a bit, so I could have my pick of it in my one, and leave the rest for any tenants. They could make interior improvements on their own funds. One was put up for rent – only 1200 gold, payable nightly or at a discount for weekly payments, costing only 8000 instead of the normal 8400 gold that way. You'd think with that kind of rent, not many people would have wanted to take it, but I found a tenant almost immediately.
"So, you own this place do you farm boy?" Whisper asked just after I'd put up the sign giving the details of the rent. She'd snuck up on me so silently I almost jumped.
"Naturally," I answered. "All set and looking for a tenant. Terms are right there on the board."
"I guess even you have to make a living somehow. At least this is honest." Not at my prices it wasn't.
"Don't think for a moment I'm giving up being dishonest outside the town," I replied.
"Wouldn't expect it of you, farm boy. But at least I can see to it you get some legitimate gold."
"Are you offering to move in, Whisper? I thought you didn't like me."
"Don't get me wrong. I still think you're completely untrustworthy and a scoundrel to boot – but I want a place to live, and you've got a place I can stay. I'll pay weekly, if it's all the same to you."
"Sure thing. Just don't be a late payer – I deal harshly if you can't explain yourself well enough."
"Don't worry. I'll make sure you get it."
So I retrieved the board, stashing it away inside in case anything 'happened' to Whisper, then went back to the Guild for another quest.
