"Okay, to be fair, even you just walked in and lay down on any available floor space."
Aiden sat in the corner of the minecart as it rattled down the mountain track, Jax's arguments not reaching him. He was sulking, and he did not think anyone could fairly blame him.
He had woken up to find almost his entire house covered in ash and soot.
His house.
The house he normally kept meticulous because mixing herbs in an unclean space could cause problems with more complex potions.
In one night, it had been reduced to the cleanliness of a used firepit.
So yes, Aiden sulked the entire ride down.
He was so deep in thoughts of sweeping, scrubbing, washing, dusting, and possibly setting the whole cabin on fire to start over, that he did not notice the cart had stopped until Jax shook him with both front paws.
"Aiden, buddy, you there?"
Aiden blinked.
Then Misty splashed him in the face.
That got him moving.
He climbed out of the cart and trudged down the path toward the city, mumbling to himself about ash in floorboards and soot in bedding.
His mood improved a little when he saw Larz at the gate.
Unfortunately, Larz was already laughing before they even reached him.
"Did you all roll in a firepit or something?"
"Something like that," Liora said, wiping her sleeve.
A small rain of ash fell from it.
Larz looked the group over for a moment, then his mouth curled into a cheeky grin. He turned to Jax.
"Well?"
Jax returned the smug grin.
"You were right. You're the winner of the bet."
Aiden turned to them, confused.
Larz rose onto his back legs, did a small victory dance, spun in place, and pointed down the road.
"In yo face! Free drinks for a week!"
"Only for yourself!" Eustus called from down the road, already sounding annoyed. "No sharing and running me out of business, you overgrown hairball!"
"Am I missing something?" Aiden asked as they headed through the gate.
"Larz and Eustus had a bet on whether we would succeed or need more time," Jax said. "Larz won."
Aiden shook his head and nearly wiped his glasses with his shirt before remembering the current condition of his clothes.
That would have made things worse.
He turned to Jax and held out a hand.
"We still need to turn in the quest, right? You and I can handle that."
"Sounds good." Jax turned to the others. "How about you three find us something to eat and maybe a way to clean your clothes?"
Liora tapped the end of her staff against the ground.
A circle of whipping wind swirled around them, their clothes rattling and shaking violently in the sudden burst making the ash fly away in a spiral.
Party member Liora has used the skill Whipping Wind (E)
The effectiveness of ranged attacks is reduced by its buffer
"Sorry," Liora said, lowering her staff. "I was getting tired of walking around covered in ash, and the last first impression our group needs is you two turning in a quest while looking like you crawled out of a feast hall fireplace."
Aiden stared at her.
"And you did not use this very convenient skill to clean my house, which you all have been crashing in, why?"
There was relief in no longer being covered in ash.
There was also a new kind of irritation as Aiden thought about how much of that ash was still inside his cabin.
"It's not like I can control the direction," Liora said, holding up a hand. "It blasts the ash away from me in a ten-foot circle. I don't control where it goes after that. That is why I waited until we were in an open area without plants. The minecart would have been covered, and your house would have become an indoor ash tornado."
Aiden opened his mouth.
Then he looked up and saw the ash already starting to fall back down around them.
"That's…" He sighed. "That's fair. Frustrating, but fair."
He turned back to Jax, and the two of them started down the road.
In a strange way, Hopestone felt brighter than before. The walls, the streets, the shops, even the distant rumble of the water wheels all seemed slightly different.
Or maybe Aiden was different.
They passed the library and made their way toward the Hopestone Adventurers Guild.
The building itself was simple, no larger than an inn. Still, Aiden had always known it as one of those places people like him did not just walk into. Only those taking quests or trying to earn plates were allowed inside.
Standing to the left of the doorway were two large quest boards. Even with a passing glance, Aiden could see quests listed as high as Sapphire rank.
That meant almost nothing to him, but it certainly sounded impressive.
"Looks like someone has a case of quest craze, Let's turn in this one before we go looking for another." Jax Jokes
They headed inside.
The room was spacious. To the right, an unlit fireplace sat near several long tables, where groups in various armors and robes looked over quests of their own. At the front stood three lines, each ending at a uniformed worker: an elven woman, a human man, and a dwarven woman.
To the left sat what looked like a bar. A halfblood beetle beastman cleaned a glass with one set of arms while pouring a drink with another.
There was also an upstairs area, though Aiden could not see much of it from where he stood.
Jax nudged him and gestured toward the stairs with his nose.
"That's a special place only super high-rank adventurers get to go. Forges, living quarters, food, and more. All paid for by the guild."
"So they pay for adventurers to have a place to stay and eat?"
"Yeah, but only for Bronze rank and up."
"I've actually never heard much about the ranks," Aiden admitted. "I know they exist, and I know adventurers need certain ranks for certain quests, but how does it work?"
Jax took a moment to think.
"Well, there are ten total ranks. Porcelain, Obsidian, Steel, Emerald, Ruby, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum."
"You missed one," said the person ahead of them in line. "After Steel, there is Sapphire."
Jax blinked.
"Really? Crap. I might not know this as well as I thought." He looked up at the man. "And you are?"
"Todis. Todis Jackel. Steel plate Gunner."
The man turned around.
He stood around five foot eleven, with a shade of afternoon stubble across his jaw. He wore a long coat, two pistols at his sides, and a bullet belt around his waist. A metal plate with a triangular piece set into it hung where Aiden could see.
Todis gave them a calm, polite smile.
"When it comes to ranks, you need two things," Todis explained. "The correct level and the plate mission. Or, in my case, a replate mission. The only real difference is that a plate mission is for when you first get to Porcelain, while a replate mission is for moving up a rank. Generally, it's a test to make sure someone doesn't bite off more than they can chew."
"So since there are ten ranks, is it every ten levels?" Aiden asked.
"Close. You need more than 5 levels to go from Porcelain to Obsidian, you need to reach level fifteen and complete a replate quest."
"Then why the weird shape on the plate?"
"Of the symbol?" Todis shrugged. "No idea. The running theory is that even people who know nothing about plates can count the corners and figure out an adventurer's rank."
Aiden wanted to ask another question, but Todis's turn came up.
Todis stepped forward, turned in a quest involving a pack of twenty dire wolves, received his reward, and moved aside.
Then Aiden and Jax stepped up.
"Hi," Aiden said. "We're here to turn in our plate quest and register our party."
"That's the other line," the worker said. "This line is for general quests."
Aiden and Jax turned.
The line they had been in had only five people.
The other line stretched out the door.
Aiden thought back to the caravan Jax had come in on, the one supposedly full of people seeking their plates.
Jax looked at him.
Aiden looked at Jax.
Together, and without a word, they stepped into the other line.
Aiden would later decide that the next three hours did not deserve a detailed description. Some suffering was better left vague.
Especially the part where, after turning in the plate quest, they discovered they had also been in the wrong line to register the party.
By the time Aiden and Jax stepped out of the guild, their legs were tired from standing, their souls were worn thin by paperwork, and they had five plates and five hundred gold in a bag.
"You two look like you've never been through guild bureaucracy before," Todis said.
He was standing near the quest board, apparently still browsing.
Jax slowly turned toward him.
"This happens every time?"
"Oh yeah," Todis said. "Most parties draw straws. Loser turns in the quest. I got unlucky today. Same happen to you?"
"Nope," Jax said. "Numbnuts over here volunteered us."
Aiden gave him a tired look.
"Well, Jax, if I had known what it involved, I would have sent you alone."
Todis cracked up and needed a moment to catch his breath.
"So, you all got a next quest in mind?"
"Not really," Aiden said. "We were going to look after dinner."
"Do you plan to travel, or are you staying local?"
Aiden opened his mouth.
Then he closed it.
Then he opened it again, because apparently his mind had decided to test whether he could look like a confused fish.
Jax saved him.
"Depends on group consensus."
"That's a good way to handle things," Todis said. "I've seen parties fall apart because they couldn't agree on that kind of stuff."
Jax and Todis started talking, and Aiden turned toward the quest board.
He did not get far.
Someone grabbed the back of his shirt.
Aiden tried to turn around, but the grip held him in place.
"We have been sitting there for four hours," Kaelen said in a dangerously annoyed voice. "Where in the hells were you?"
"In our defense," Aiden said, "the line was literally out the door. What did you want us to do?"
Kaelen rolled his eyes, released him, and turned to walk away.
"Fine. But you two had better have our plates and reward money."