Ero Skill Tree

Chapter Ninety-Six: The Capital's Guild

Rosa drove the carriage through the streets until we finally reached our destination. We had stopped at the foot of a grand looking building. I didn't need to look at the sign to know exactly where we were. It was the guild building, it was built on very similar lines to the two I had visited before, only this place was on a much larger scale. No surprise there, this was the head office of the guild after all.

The square in front of the guild here was busy as we pulled up outside. There were food stalls, pop up bars and cafes dotted about. The entire place was ringed with shops on its perimeter. This was nothing like back in Dunshelm, there was barely any sign that this was a nation at war. The places I had visited before, you could tell that these people were on the verge of destruction. Here it was like nothing was happening out of the ordinary.

Once we had come to a halt, the four of us climbed out of the carriage and grabbed our gear. Before heading up to the guild building, we all stopped to talk to Rosa and say goodbye.

"Thanks for getting us all here safely." Lillia said as Rosa climbed down from her seat to speak with us.

"Oh please, think nothing of it. This is my job after all and all I did was drive us here." Rosa seemed slightly embarrassed to be receiving praise.

"Well, you got us here safely and in good time."

"Thank you all for letting me spend the night with you. It really brightened up the journey for me."

"We all enjoyed your company."

"You know, if you are at a loose end tonight, you're more than welcome to come and join us for dinner? That is after you have stowed the carriage and stabled the horses." Offered Serin.

"Thank you Serin, but I'm afraid I had already made some plans for when I arrived. I'm meeting up with a few friends from the company, that are based in the capital. It's become a bit of a routine for when I stop here. Sorry."

"Please don't be. I'm just glad that you have somewhere to be."

"Perhaps I'll come and see you before I make the return journey?"

"If you have the chance, feel free to drop into the guild. I'm not sure when we'll be there, but we're staying in town for more than a couple of days. Don't feel like you have to come and find us though!"

"No, I'd like to see you all again."

We parted ways with Rosa after saying goodbye. The four of us stood at the foot of the steps until her carriage left the square. Once she had disappeared out of the sight, we climbed the steps leading up to the entrance.

The moment we opened the doors to the hall, we were hit by a wave of noise. The place was packed full of people. There was barely a free table free in the food hall and there were people milling about everywhere. I wondered if everyone here was an adventurer. It didn't seem that there could possibly be that many quests available, especially here in the capital to keep all of these people in work. We squeezed our way through the crowd and made our way to the main desk. Lillia wanted to check in with the guild before we did anything else. It wasn't going to be quick though, as there was quite the queue just to get to the desk.

"Where will we be staying whilst we're here?" I asked Lillia as we waited.

"We're all staying in the guild." She replied.

"Oh, I wondered if they had accommodation here, despite it being the head office."

"Of course, they do."

"Right, well I guessed that I would be staying somewhere like this, but um... Don't you all have family here that you could stay with?"

Lillia paused in thought for a moment before answering.