Midas watched his earned coin as it was briefly picked up, inspected, and stached into the room that lay behind the counter by the same blonde lady from before. Having displayed his guild card as well, the youth looked down at it as its back was stamped, leaving only five of the six empty spaces to be filled out with completed quests. With it came also a tiny stack of bronze coins—not needing to count them, the youth held onto five of them, most likely not enough to finance another night in their inn.
Already finding himself standing in front of the same wooden board, Midas scanned through the pinned-up papers—some older, others seemingly put up only a few moments ago, all of them slightly overlapping each other as they were crammed to fit onto one large place. Already having anticipated it, the youth wasn't able to find any quests of the knight rank he could take care of on his own—making him cross his arms over himself to think more thoroughly.
Having spent no time changing his slightly bloodied bandage, still remaining to cover his entire right hand, the youth shuffled his few coins around in his trousers pocket half-mindedly as he searched for a fitting task. Pausing, his stern expression lit up at the sight of a quest on the knight rank, one that doesn't require him to have others help him—seemingly the only one left on the board as it was buried among other put-up papers. Extending his hand out to it, the youth suddenly felt a heavy arm on his shoulder.
Freezing in the midst his movement, his head turned, forced to glance up at a figure covered in heavy plating that spanned his entire torso—underneath chainmail that sat on blue garn, the hand that grasped his shoulder was large, suited in a thick leather glove protected by additional plating. The person who approached him didn't wear any headgear, despite his heavy armor—one Midas had seen before, as it was none other than Gunvar, the knight that helped him get to the university—a man he had already sparred with before as the youth noticed the greatsword that was slotted onto his back.
"Able to finally understand me...? Huh? Avalon told me how fast you made progress in learning the water tongue—and the head of the knighthood club has told me you joined their training. I'm impressed, kid."
"Yes—I have to thank you for helping me out in being accepted to this university in the first place... May I ask, why exactly are you here? I thought you were busy with protecting the university grounds."
The grin that was displayed on the tall man's face dimmed down as he nodded at the youth—his gloved hand scratched the back of his head as he sighed. Turning towards a set of Water Kingdom knights that observed their leader squabbling with a kid, Gunvar picked out a sheet of paper from the board, making the youths eyes widen at a quest of 'paladin' rank—one rank higher than the knight rank.
"Things have changed—the king back at the capital is losing his influence; my position could rapidly change any time under the new leadership... and to add to that, a whole group of our knights were lost to the Luvious forest without anyone able to figure out where they went—having not returned from their last trip... I'm not sure what the new head of the knighthood will think of because of that. Which is why I'm out here, trying to earn some extra money in case our funding for the crew gets cut short—plus... I was chosen to become the new commander, who leads the troops stationed around the Luvious forest."
"Isn't that a good thing...? You're able to be one of the commanders of the knighthood... that's certainly something not everyone gets the chance of earning such a rank."
"That's certainly correct—yet, I haven't earned the title... My ability to prove myself will come when the region's festival of growth is starting—it's quite a large area, one large plain of grass and a bunch of wagons parked on top of it. We, as the knighthood, are tasked with securing the perimeter and protecting any noble that is interested in participating in the auctions held there... the water kingdom has been doing so for multiple Trestempos now as a sign of our alliance with the people of the plant kingdom."
The grin the youth almost formed quickly fainted again, dread almost contorting his face as he listened to what Gunvar spoke—the man in front of him would be the one who most likely guarded sought-after goods like the Nor'Luft powder they came here for, being a major obstacle in getting his hands on it if the youth really planned on pulling through with Jikith's idea of simply stealing it during the festival.
Blankly staring at the warm smile the tall man in front of him had on his face, Midas reminded himself of the sight his flying greatsword presented when their ride was attacked on the way to the university, hulled in water, as it spun around, being thrown and coming back to its owner. A technique the youth couldn't muster any way to counter, as he most likely wouldn't find any way of stopping the rotation of the blade—easily cutting through any rock he might throw against it.
Freezing at the fact his idea of obtaining the powder during the fest would most definitely fall short, Midas found only one suitable way of potentially getting his hands on the medicine they were after without having to face Gunvar. Forced to somehow locate where the goods set to be auctioned are stored, having to steal them from there before the festival takes place, as competing with nobleties to outbid them is simply impossible given the short time frame he had to earn enough money.
"...So, why are you here...? Cascrender also has a guild building—even though it's not as big as this one."
"I and some of my classmates also plan on going to this festival—I'm trying to finance our inn and earn some money for the day on which we will be attending the fest. Doing guild work was the only solution I came up with—even though the pay is... minimal."
"All by yourself...? Listen—I'm short on men right now, since we still need one more member to join us in order to accept the quest. Why don't you join us...? It's not completely safe—but I'm sure you're able to compete with my men if the situation of danger presents itself. You'll get a quarter of the pay—easily enough to finance you at least two nights."
The youth widened his eyes as he looked up to Gunvar, his arm already having let go of the 'knight' grade quest he found—unsure whether he should let go of his rare find in order to take a quarter of the pay given for completing a 'paladin' grade task. At least not having to rely on total strangers to do the job, Midas eventually accepted the offer, most likely earning just as much with only a quarter of the pay from this task as compared to taking care of the 'knight' rank quest all by himself.
With a pleased grin, Gunvar turned to his men, who shortly nodded at the youth, slightly taken back by the smears on his blue garn, opting to simply ignore them as the southern boy in front of them seemed to be affiliated with their leader, who currently chatted with the blonde woman behind the counter, claiming the task for themselves—as the four of them wasted no time to get out of the building.
Already wondering what a paladin-grade quest would look like, Midas climbed onto the ride that belonged to them, parked at the side of the broad street—the striped cloth above them and the wooden benches he, Gunvar, and one of his men sat on identical to the carriage he took on his way through the Luvious forest. Watching from the back as their ride approached the inner parts of the city, the boy was dimly shook as the ride drove off of the circular road that curved around a wooden platform that seemingly sat at the heart of the giant trunk the city was built on top of.
Stopped briefly by the positioned guards, equipped with thick leather-wooden plating and spears, their ride was let through at one glance of the card Gunvar held up to identify himself with, simply nodding as the guard promptly stepped back. Now positioned in the center of the wooden platform—its diameter just wide enough to allow for some space around the ride—Midas watched as the guard hit the ground with the dull end of his wooden spear, seeing a green light emit from the orange plantfibre rope that secured the metal blade of the long weapon.
The floor beneath them shook, abruptly sinking for a short moment before slowly descending down, mirroring the entrances of the city. His eyes glued to the back of the ride, Midas watched as they descended down into the trunk—the sight of them descending made the youth replace the sharp dread he felt just moments ago with dim excitement and uncertainty as wondering where they would end up in was much more pleasant than thinking about the fact he sat beside a possible enemy.
"I'm sure you know how the nature of the plant kingdom differs from the things you typically see inside water kingdom territory—giant grass and flowers that sprout at seemingly random spots, a seemingly never-ending forest that spans the entire half of the territory, bugs the size of Fahin... this gigantic tree trunk on which an entire city is built into... all of these things originate from the center of this tree."
Listening to Gunvar's words, Midas watched as the platform halted briefly—a mechanical snapping sound ringing from the wooden walls around them—before eventually descending further into a lit-up crevice covered in vibrant green moss, which covered the inside of the cave that sat in the inside of the trunk, dimly shining; glassy rock spread along its wooden walls as a green shade of light radiated from them. The platform was now held onto by the same thick rope that was strapped between the gears of the entrance platform that drove up into the tree trunk—eventually halting for good as they arrived at the bottom.
"Do you see these green glowing rocks—their glassy texture...? That's a plant stone, a crystal that stores mana—allowing its use to bend and flourish plant matter, similar to the sun shard... The reason why grass suddenly reaches unbelievable heights and the forests around Baumfall have such expanse is because of these rocks alone. Inside of this wood flows great amounts of mana, which stores up in these crystals—forming them—while most of it is pumped directly into the ground, making the soil extremely nutritious..."
Midas watched as Gunvars had slammed against the wooden wall of the cave, a numb sound appearing from it as he spoke. Their ride was parked right at the sunken platform, his two men equipped with swords exiting the carriage as well as their steps were cushioned by lichen and furry moss beneath their heavy boots. The inside of the tree was dim rather than dark; mild green light shone from the nodes of crystal from above their heads and the walls around them—the way that followed further inside marked by circular growths, their yellowish glowing, bloated bodies held up by a thin warped stem that acted as a bowl—also secured them to the ground.
"Now, the reason why we're here... is because a troop of plant kingdom guards has gone missing on their way of doing their routine work—which is keeping the wood and bark of the tree intact, which sometimes can burst open due to the age and condition of the trunk... practically being dead for a great amount of Trestempos already... Men, since there are potentially human lives on the line, I say we don't waste any time and head out."