235: Guild

Entering the inn, the first thing I spotted was Luis sitting at a table with five other people, two of whom appeared to be guards of the city, while the remaining three were adventurers.

When we briefly locked eyes, he gave me a smirk but carried on chatting and drinking—I had to assume this was part of his efforts to gain information from locals, so I didn’t interrupt, just waving hello to Coral before heading upstairs.

In the living room up top, Crisplet was quick to jump into the fire that had already been burning, with Liane and Milo still sitting nearby, both with books in their hands.

“Did you get anything interesting?” Liane asked.

Nodding, I pulled out the jar of slugs. “I did! Look at these!”

I was surprised when even Liane recoiled a little at them.

“Oh, come on, usually you’re happy to try the strange stuff!” I retorted.

Liane nodded, “Yeah, but they are slimy. I don’t know about slimy.”

Jen laughed from the side, “You had us eat snails.”

“They were not slimy when they are cooked though!” Liane attempted to defend herself.

Truthfully, I had no clue where to even begin cooking it, but that was part of the fun, and worst-case scenario, I knew Lily would like it, and Hari likely wouldn’t even notice.

But I don’t know that I’d get any cooking done tonight, I’d not organised with Wyatt to use the kitchen at all, and the inn was nearly full downstairs.

Falling into the chair, I had to ask, “Did we find out what happened in the capital?”

Milo put his book down. “No word yet. Those who arrived today, who were closer, just said a pillar of fire erupted into the sky from the centre of the capital, claiming it was the palace.”

I frowned, “So it was our house then.”

“Yeah, almost definitely, though we saw Alira leave, we never saw her return, so I don’t really know what exactly would have caused it, but there is still a small pillar of fire in the sky even right now that I’m sure will look brighter as night falls.” Milo said, looking towards the window.

This shocked me. How was it still burning?

“That’s not to say she didn’t return, we were inside when the sky lit up.” Jen added thoughtfully.

Milo nodded, “You’re right, that certainly could be the case.”

Liane shuffled over, making sure she was sitting closer. “What else did you get then?”

I went through all the items I got, getting approving nods, but no one was sure if the roots had ever been used in cooking. Milo was familiar with them, but only in alchemy, where the toxins were neutralised.

I pulled out a book that I had used nowhere near enough The Magical Art of Foraging, Flicking through the pages to try to find the roots, with no luck, however.

“I’m not sure if it’ll actually be in there since it’s a dungeon item, but we still have a little bit of time in the day, I can take you to the guild and we can pick up an item guide there.” Milo said.

I really wanted to see the adventure guild here again, so I was quick to agree and leapt to my feet as I had never got to go in last time we were here.

Crisplet came out of the fire to join us as well, while Jen and Liane stayed behind.

The building itself was impossible to miss, the closest thing I could describe it to was the temple of storm, it was a giant stone building with massive pillars at the front, it looked to be at least four levels high, but it wouldn’t have surprised me at all if it were larger.

As we approached it, climbing the stairs leading to the main doors, I also noticed just how busy it all was, and got a fright when I realised Luis was walking alongside me.

“Figured you’d not mind if I tagged along.” He grinned.

I had not even seen him get up from the inn and join us, but I guess that was the point.

Entering the main hall of the guild it was similar in design to the others we had entered just everything seemed to be on a larger, grander scale, there was several restaurants serving adventurers sitting to the right, it looked like simple food, but it seemed the focus was the drink.

To the left there were dozens of desks manned by staff, and every single one of them was busy.

“There are jobs for items from pretty much everything in the dungeon, so this place is always busy.” Milo explained.

We made our way to the staircase that I knew would lead us to the room with the shops, when a voice called out from the food area.

“Milo! Trevor! Is that you?”

I turned around to see a familiar face, and one that I honestly didn’t expect to see again anytime soon, as Colin was getting up from his chair with a beaming smile.

As he approached, he embraced us both before turning to Milo, “That was quite the reception you lot had at the Capital.”

“You could certainly say that,” Milo laughed.

“When I didn’t see you again, I feared the worst. Then I kept hearing rumours of this fearsome new Lord with a fire elemental, a dragon and a cat.” He looked at me with a giant grin.

I let out an awkward laugh, “Yeah, I heard the rumours got a little crazy. Also, let me introduce you to Lewie.”

Colin nodded to Luis, but didn’t really react past that, just accepting he was there, then moving on.

“What brings you to the guild? Don’t suppose you’re heading to the dungeon?” Colin asked happily.

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Milo shook his head. “No, unfortunately not. We’re on a job up north, but Trev here picked up a bunch of dungeon items to cook, so we’re here to grab a guide to figure out what exactly they are.”

“Oh, you can have mine. I have all the stuff memorised now, and this one has extra notes I’ve taken over the years.” Colin said happily, pulling a well-worn book out of his storage.

Taking it, I bowed slightly. “Thank you, that would be a great help.”

“I’ll leave you to it. It was a pleasure catching up. If you ever want to visit the dungeon, let me know! I’m happy to guide you.” Colin said, waving.

“You know, Trev, Sylverith is on to something. Things do always seem to happen around you,” Luis said in a low tone.

I shrugged, “It’s just meeting someone we met before, that’s all.”

I attempted to wave it off as we approached the stairs, which were flanked by two guards.

“Someone we randomly met twice and travelled with us to a full military confrontation, and then just so happened to run into him when we decided to leave.” Milo said, grinning.

“Coincidence.” I tried to say.

“Sure, sure. Well, we’re here anyway. Let’s go upstairs and have a look.” Milo grinned.