Pilka had been the head clerk of the Altrai branch of the adventurers’ guild for nearly a month at this point. She had been doing some paperwork and musing on the new tax codes, when a titan in armor had walked up to her desk.

  “I want to register for this guild thing. Is there a fine I have to pay? How does this work?”

  Pilka flashed him her trademark smile. “You want to sign up? No problem! There’s no fee-the only thing you pay for is your tag. It’s only three copper. Come around back with me-we can get this done in my office where it’s not so loud!”

  She motioned for him to follow around the desk, and they both went into a small back office. She sat down behind a desk, and he sat on a chair that looked significantly sturdier than the one he had broken at the gate security office earlier.

  She pulled a form out from under the desk and handed it to him. “Fill this out please. That’s all-we can give you your tag and you can get straight to business!"

  ———-

  Kyle took his time filling out the form. It was only one sided, and it took him about 10 minutes to complete. Basic questions-his name, his noble house, for which he put down the Great House Jessek, and his specialties and skills.

  Also some more interesting questions like what his role in a party would be. He put down Vanguard, a durable brawler that had a viable ranged option. He felt it was the closest one. Honestly, he doubted he would ever have a real need to work in a party with others, but you never knew.

  He handed the filled out form to the energetic rabbit girl, and asked about the paper.

  “Where was this made? Is there a printshop around here?” The girl thought for a moment, and answered. “We have our own press in the back, but I don’t actually know where the paper comes from. It is one of our higher costs, as the merchants doubtlessly upsell it compared to whatever mill it came from.” Kyle quickly nodded.

  “Anyways, here’s your tag.” She handed him a small copper dog tag. “Keep it somewhere visible-it’s your proof of membership. Thanks for joining the guild!” Before he left, he handed the girl three of his ancient copper pieces. She looked at them, intrigued, but waved him off.

  Walking out of the guild with his tag clipped to his shoulderplate, he considered his next move.

  Now to the Waggoners guild.

  The Waggoners guild was much less conspicuous than the white marble adventurers guild. Their guildhall was a wooden building with a stone base, and a huge field packed with wagons behind it. They were actually in their own area just outside of the walls, with their own dedicated gate for traffic. Kyle was actually a bit impressed by the level of urban planning evident in the city.

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  Walking up to the Waggoners guild was very different from the earlier adventurers guild. Every merchant and carpenter around looked at him with clear suspicion; he didn’t belong at all.

  Inside, it was basically a mix of a bar and an office.

  On one side, a large restaurant with lots of bored looking caravaners eating could be found. Opposite the bar, a huge desk with a couple clerks handled some light paperwork.

  Kyle walked up to the desk. The clerk, a young man with yellowish eyes, looked at him worriedly. “Can I help you, sir?” Kyle decided to cut to the chase. “I want to buy a warehouse. Or a compound; I assume you have information on available manors and estates?”

  The clerk looked almost shocked, as though he had been expecting violence or something. Kyle supposed the armor was still imposing, even if it didn’t seem like it to him.

  “Of course, milord. Although the local administration actually owns a lot of the land, we can handle the purchase for you for only 2 percent. If you would give me a minute to go and access the records…”

  The clerk shuffled into the back room leaving Kyle alone for a few minutes. Kyle had almost zoned out by the time he returned. “Sorry for the waste of time, milord, but here are the latest documents on available compounds.” The clerk handed Kyle a few pieces of low quality medieval paper and almost shooed him away.

  Kyle went and stood off to the side. His armor obviously didn’t need to rest. With a thought, he immediately sent the armor into Back-Supportive Idling Stance. It shifted a few things around on the inside of the armor, theoretically making it comfortable enough to sleep in.

  He immediately slumped over. Through countless hours of corrective surgery and Nanotherapy, his body didn’t chafe or get sore-but he could still feel comfort. And it had been quite a while since he had sat down and took a break, even for a moment.

  Most of the manors available were useless. Too close to the city, too few barns or large structures, too small, too large, the problems were endless and cut most of the manors from the list of possibilities.

  There was one that showed promise-a huge manor and estate, with several huge barns, a stone warehouse, a huge manor, lots of farms, and even a population of tenant farmers approaching 2,000.

  It was the perfect size and distance from the city. It was only available because of some kind of dispute between the nobility-but that didn’t concern Kyle at all.

  It was perfect until he saw the price. 30,00 gold Deacons. Each deacon was a gold coin the size of a dollar coin from antique American currency.

  Short of killing a dragon for its whole hoard, he didn’t know how he would acquire that much money-Wait. That’s an amazing idea.

  Once a distance away from the city once again, he tapped Bariyon for assistance. “Know any dragons around here?” The skull sounded almost groggy as it woke up.

  “You spent so damn long in that shithole of a city, I couldn’t help but doze off. And yes-there was an elder dragon up in the Scourge Mountains, east of here. Dragons hibernate for centuries at a time! One I was actually studying at the time, but that’s not important. It should be there-I recall it was one of the higher peaks, but, again, the specifics elude me.” Kyle immediately began jogging east. A guard on the wall looked at him like he was utterly insane-his back camera caught it.

  “How far are these mountains? I can see them from here-but how large are they?” “Well under a hundred miles, I think. Wake me when we arrive, would you?”

  Kyle had been about to ask him what his naps actually entailed as a talking skull, but the lich’s eyes were already dark.

  And so, Kyle found the next step on his path to who knows what.