Solar Mage

Chapter 52: Ashland Trickster 2

"Please forgive me Great Commander of the Imperial Wardens, I was just trying to pass."

I say in a pathetic, pleading manner.

"Enough, that's not what I asked. Tell me your identity and what you're doing here, or I'll kill you."

So that's as far as flattery will get me huh? I guess since he's corrupt, he hears flattery a lot and gained some sort of resistance to it. From what I've seen from the mayor, he's quite thorough. He probably gave Qule some discipline lessons.

"Me and my sister, Rachel, decided to go visit the Zidden Dungeon because we heard it was a cool and safe place to visit,"

Tears begin to form around my eyes and snot in my nose at this point.

"But– I don't know what happened– the dungeon suddenly started collapsing and a rock fell from the ceiling and hit my sister, knocking her unconscious, and now she won't wake up!! And our parents–"

No, you shouldn't go any further Arthur, this should be believable and sad enough for him to let us go. I don't want to make him feel too sad and sorry for us, and give him an opportunity to help us and redeem his evil self from my wrath.

Because I acted like a pathetic and weak boy with a sad story to tell, I kept my face down, looking at the ground to make it seem more believable, but I had failed to realize one thing– that Qule would be truly evil.

Would you look at this fucker? He's staring so intensely and intently at a young girl with her clothes torn. Haha–

I want to end his life right now. How dare he think of committing such despicable acts on a child.

Flames slightly begin to form around my right hand.

In the next second, Qule shifts his focus and sees me groveling on the ground with my hand to my chest.

"What are you doing boy?"

"I apologize, Great Warden Commander, I have shown such a weak and pathetic side of myself, being unable to even protect my sister despite being the son of Baron Faylot."

Hooo– I almost lost myself here. Just calm down Arthur, you can get your revenge later. What you need to do right now is to get out of here and get back to Dustin! Now that I mentioned the name of a noble, this scum of the world should back away.

"B– Baron Faylot?! I apologize for my rude actions, young master, and being unable to recognize you. Please understand, Ashland is in a state of disarray right now, and we can't exactly send you out right now. But we can move you and your sister to the medical bay, and once we resolve this situation, we will send word to the baron immediately."

He says while moving around nervously, frantically making hand gestures to make sure I feel reassured.

"Thank you very much, but I want to return back to the estate as soon as possible so I can go into isolated training and make sure I'll be able to protect my sister and never let harm come to her ever again!"

I say with great pride and determination in my voice, raising my fist up in a pledge.

"Young master I–"

He begins to say before I cut him off.

"And so that I can become someone as great as you, great warden commander!!"

Normal flattery may not be able to break into you, but the flattery from a young child that has a higher status than you, but looks up to you, is all that a low rank knight could ever want.

"Young master–"

He looks at me with eyes full of happiness as tears of joy start to form in them.

"But I still cannot let you go, it's too dangerous–"

He abruptly stops speaking as he sees my hand full of gold coins being held up in front of his eyes.

"My father gave me a little bit of pocket money. This is your reward for helping us. If you let us pass, I'll make sure father gives you an even greater reward once I return home."

He immediately snatches the ten gold coins from my hands.

"I'll gladly take you up on that offer young master, I hope you have a safe trip home, and if you ever need guidance with the sword, just come to me!"

He says enthusiastically while pointing at himself with his thumb.

"Thank you sir! I'll also gladly take you up on that offer, hahaha!"

I'm down ten gold coins but still up by thousands. If only the lava hadn't destroyed everything, it probably would've been tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands!

I say while I seemingly struggle while lifting Rachel over my arms and walking away, to the adventurer's guild with her.

"Wait up!"

Qule shouts from behind.

Did he figure out that I was lying? Don't say those words Qule, or I'll kill you right now and everyone else here, instead of later. Do you want to stay alive for an extra few days or not?!

I slowly turn around, in an almost creepy manner.

"Here!"

He says while throwing a brown bronze tablet at me.

Holding Rachel with my right arm, I struggle to catch it with my left hand, almost dropping it but managing to get a hold of it and seemingly admiring it.

Just a bronze tablet huh? And it doesn't even say his name on it! Hahaha, how cheap this city is.

"Thank you, sir Qule! I won't ever forget what you've done for me today!"

I turn back, and continue my slow stumble to the Adventurer's Guild.

I'll fucking kill you when I get back, just you wait Qule.

***

Back at Qule, he thinks about what just happened.

"Baron Faylot huh? I've never heard of that name, and I don't remember ever telling that boy my name. Hmm... well! I guess I'm just that famous hahaha!!"

A platoon leader walks up to Qule, confused and curious.

"Captain Qule, who was that boy?"

The pathetic Qule strikes a cringeworthy pose in his ignorant and disgusting happiness..

"That was the son of Baron Faylot! And don't call me captain. Call me commander, or sir Qule."

The platoon leader's face changes into that of disgust, but mainly of confusion.

"Right..."

***

It's just as I thought, the adventurer's guild is still running perfectly fine– after all, not everyone who comes to Ashland for the Zidden Dungeon, most real adventurers come here to enter the Goblin Forest.

Just before I get into the Adventurer's Guild, I drop my act and carry Rachel normally, holding her on my back.

I look around the room, searching for the receptionist desk.

What the hell? I've looked around the room multiple times, but I can't see it at all! Where the hell is it? And what the hell are all those adventurers doing over there, crowding and blocking the entire section of the guild?

I walk up to it and hear loud, indiscernible screaming from all the adventurers shouting at the same time.

Ugh– why can't they understand that no one can understand what they're saying if they all scream at once? I could use Heightened Senses and Body Enhancement on my ears to separate the sounds and make the sounds more discernible, but that would just rupture my eardrums!

I slightly lean right to get a better look at what the adventurers are crowding in on and see the receptionist being crushed and trying to calm the adventurers down.

Great, just my luck. I want to help her, but if I use my powers here and news of me not being weak gets to that bastard, Qule, it will get troublesome.

I begin walking away, to find someone before purposefully dropping a gold coin and shouting.

"LOOK, IT'S A GOLD COIN!!"

Every adventurer in the crowd, and in the room, stop shouting and turn in silence, seeing me pointing at a shiny gold coin, the calm before the storm, if you would. Before they all stop what they're doing and come charging.

Ha, they're all so easy to manipulate.

I walk up to the receptionist who stares in amazement at the massive crowd surrounding the gold coin, not even noticing me approaching.

I wave my hand in front of her face to try and get her attention, but her focus does not falter

Wow... her concentration is insane. She must really want a gold coin.

I place a gold coin on the counter, and her focus finally breaks, as she looks down at the gold coin being placed under my finger. Then she looks up.

"You, you're the one who dropped that gold coin!"

I try to respond, but she moves quicker than me, grabbing my right hand, without the gold coin, and clasping it between hers.

"Thank you for getting rid of those adventurers, it was so loud and hectic! I would say that I hope you enjoyed the Zidden Dungeon experience, but thanks to the dungeon collapsing, and your current state, it wouldn't make sense. Anyways, how can I help you today?"

Great, so she understands that I am in a hurry.

"Don't worry, I had a great time in the dungeon."

She tilts her head, looking at me in confusion, wanting me to explain further.

"Can you just direct me to the warp gate back to the capital? I've finished with my business here and would like to return."

I slither my hand out of hers and move the gold coin up the desk with two of my fingers.

"Oh you don't need to pay me for this information, you've helped me enough and this information is free for all adventurers!"

She slides the gold coin back down the table to me.

Seemingly giving up, I take the gold coin back and put it in my pocket.

"The warp gate back to the capital of Usagan Kingdom is just through the door, past the long hallway and the cost to get past is one gold coin, and two for two people."

She side-eyes the unconscious, beautiful and radiant Rachel on my shoulder before letting out a long sigh.

"I see you have a girlfriend now, it sure is nice to be young."

What is she talking about? She only looks like she's five years older than me though?

"Hm, no. That would be illegal. Hurry along now, I'm sure you want to get back as soon as possible."

I laugh nervously.

"Haha... thank you."

I quickly move away to the door with Rachel, the receptionist's eyes too focused on us to see me place a gold coin on her desk.

There's nobody here, that would make sense since most people here came here to gain experience, they're all D to C rank adventurers who probably arrived here through the use of a carriage. They don't have the kind of money to pay for a warp gate, as shown from how everyone dropped whatever they were doing and came running after seeing a gold coin.

A single, half asleep person sat in a chair next to a small portal.

What the hell is this gate master doing? Is he asleep? Should I just step through the gate since he won't notice me?

The person sitting at the gate stops snoring, his sleep ruined as he suddenly starts coughing terribly, after his cough stops, he almost dozes back off to sleep before he notices me in the corner of his eye. He stares intensely at me as if he was looking at a ghost, not saying a word before he throws a punch at the air, directed at me.

What the hell is he doing now?

"Um, excuse me sir–"

"AHH– NO– DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!!"

He screams out while moving his hands above him with a terrified expression. Before he opens his eyes again and takes another look at me.

"Oh, you're just a kid. I thought you were a reaper coming to take my life. Scram kid, this warp gate isn't a game, it costs money to go through it."

I walk up to the man and hand him the bronze plaque given to me by Qule.

"Huh? What's this? Lets see, it says, Warden Captain. What's this supposed to be? A present? I don't want it, I don't like that Qule guy."

Of course it wouldn't work, I should've known.

"Fine, here's 2 gold coins, now let us pass."

I pull out 2 gold coins from out of the inventory, acting like I took it from a pocket behind me. The gate master stares in surprise and amazement at the gold in my hands before quickly taking them and placing them in his pocket.

"Hoho, thank you very much sir, I apologize for not being able to recognize a customer, please step in with the lady whenever you're ready."

I immediately walk through the gate without a second thought, tired of the situation and the wasted time.

What a stupid interaction. I ought to get older already so I can avoid these. Wait– I forgot to ask what stage he was as a gate master, well, it's too late now. I can't even relax though, this gate really is low quality. There is no color in this tunnel, just white lights and the void. The lights aren't even moving by me that quickly! Sigh, I already know this is going to take a long time, let's just sleep.

I lay Rachel down and fall down, turning to my side and closing my eyes.