Ero Skill Tree

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.

"We do… This is business and we all decided to stay here."

"I suppose that's understandable."

"That doesn't mean that we stop for a visit if we have time."

I wondered what kinds of places their families lived in here. Serin's home in the backwater town that we had travelled from was impressive enough and that was just a holiday home. The families main house must be something else. Then there were the two princesses, I had no idea where Altira's family might live here, but it had to be something impressive. I wondered if there was a palace for each of the royal families from each race in the city. Lillia's family, her father was the high king and head of the alliance they had to live in the best building in the city, I had no doubt.

Finally, after standing in queue for over half an hour we were finally seen. There were several girls manning the desk, each of them wearing the same guild uniform I had seen in the other branches. Ours was a blond bombshell.

"Good evening, how can I help you all?" She asked smiling, noticing we were a party.

"We've come to check in with the guild and to let them know we have arrived. I'd also like to secure lodgings for the four us." Lillia answered her.

"Okay, hold on one moment. I'll check what rooms we have left. As you can see, we're pretty full at the moment."

"I can, are they all here for the summoner ceremony?"

"Lots of them are, but there has also been a rumour that the party that killed one of the demon lord's officers will be coming through here. Adventurers from all over have gathered just to get a look at them." The girl explained.

"Is it that big of a deal?" I asked without thinking.

"Yes… Are you new to the guild or something?" The desk girl asked, looking quite surprised at my seemingly strange question.

"Sorry, yes, I'm pretty new to all of this. We came all they from Dunshelm, to visit the capital."

"I see… Yes, it is a really big deal. Just take a look at that board over there. It will give you a sense of their achievement. Um, and just a word of friendly advice. I wouldn't let anyone else around here hear you making light of it, okay?"

"I wasn't, I mean I just didn't understand."

The girl went back to checking through the room bookings, and while we waited to hear what rooms they had available, I checked out the board that she had pointed out to me. I only had to glance at it to realise why she was so surprised by my question. I had walked past it thinking it was just another ordinary quest board, showing what was available each day but it wasn't. The board was tracking the progress of the quests against the Demon lord and his forces.

At the very top was the Demon lord. All it had was the name demon lord and an undisclosed figure upon completion. Underneath were six generals, underneath that were twelve others, then twenty-four and so on. The board went down eight levels and what struck me the most was that all the quests were still open, all except one that was. In the middle of the last layer amidst the many other names there was one that was crossed out. Just one!

"Hold on, Lillia." I said grabbing her arm.

"What is it?" She asked me.

"Was that the first of the officers to be defeated?" I whispered into her ear, so that no one could overhear me this time.

"There have been others, but it has been over a decade since the last of that class had fallen and well over half a century since any of the higher ranks have fallen." She explained.

"Really?" I asked, shocked.

"Yes."

No wonder that everyone here was finding it all such a big deal. But surely some of the adventurers could have tried, we managed after all. Were they just not trying or had any that had tried simply failed? I didn't want to ask here for fear of upsetting someone after the front desk girl's warning. I'd have to wait until we went to our rooms to ask.

The girl had finished checking through the bookings and looked up.

"We don't have any single rooms available, but there is a four bunker. Will that be all right for you?" She asked politely.

"Yes, that's fine with us." Lillia replied without a moment's thought.

"Let me just get you the keys… Ah, here you go." She said passing them over.

"Thanks."

"Now, was there anything else I can help you with?"

"Yes, we were supposed to check in once we arrived, I believe we are expected. Then there is our reward, we've come to collect it."

"For a completed quest?"

"Yes."

"Then please present the doc.u.mentation and proof of completion."

"I already presented to the branch office, but I was told the reward needs to be collected here at the main branch."

"Oh, okay. Then please place you tag in here." She said pointing to a small device, similar to the one that created my tag back when I first arrived.

Lillia placed the tag down on the device, which glowed as it made contact. The girl just stared at the information speechless, glancing between it and us for a moment.