Solar Mage

Chapter 24: Ashland

After I step through the warp portal, I enter a dimension where bright purple lights are rushing past me at high speeds where I am left alone with my thoughts.

One thing the headmaster told me was that most warp gates made by not just inexperienced portal mages, but any portal mage without multiple decades of experience's portals are vulnerable to attacks where another portal mage could disrupt the warp portal and change the destination.

Luckily, the portal mage who managed my portal is one of the most experienced in this age, so not only is his warp portal safe, but also fast.

I gaze at the lights flashing past me.

This portal on the other hand, is not as good. It shouldn't be that long of a distance between the capital and Ashland. But, we still haven't gotten there yet. I wonder how long it will take. My portal was near instant.

The lights flashing past start to slowly become just white.

Looks like I'm closing in on my destination. That wasn't too long of a wait.

Everything turns into a blinding white light. The next moment, a house comes into view, before the town appears.

This town is a lot less... visually appealing than the capital city. Not to be mean but, the capital also has slums and people living in poverty, but this whole town looks like the slums. Well, what can you expect from a town bordering the slums? Lets see, where is the adventurer's guild?

"Hello there adventurer, welcome to the Ashtown Adventurer's Guild, please continue working hard for the sake of peace. To Glory, Peace, and Freedom."

Says a man wearing a green suit, resembling the adventurer's guild receptionist outfit in the capital.

I nod in acknowledgement.

He must be working here for tips. He's so over the top. But... I do need to know where the adventurer's guild is.

The man continues staring at me in anticipation.

I sigh before reaching into my pocket and taking out a silver coin.

He smiles and tilts his head slightly, before taking the coin out of my hand.

"Hooh, tell me where the guild is."

"Thank you for your kindness, sir adventurer. The entrance to the guild is just behind you."

This sly bastard scammed me! Whatever- I can't afford to waste any more time.

I turn away from the scammer and see a sight I wasn't expecting to see.

The adventurer's guild in this town is almost as grand as the one in the capital! It completely contrasts the rest of the city. Actually, it kind of makes sense. An adventurer's guild branch being big when it's close to the monster territories makes sense.

I hear lots of noise coming from the interior

It seems another thing that doesn't change between all branches of the Adventurer's Guild is how loud it is.

I walk through the entrance.

Hmm the average level of strength between this branch is higher than the capital. Everyone here is equipped with weapons and armor, even the mages! Most adventurers in the capital were there to meet nobles or F ranks who took on civilian commissions like cleaning. However, everyone here is here for subjugating monsters or raiding dungeons so all of them are at least E rank.

I walk over to the task board.

Kill 10 slimes? No. Kill 5 goblins? No, not that one. Capture the bandit, Fuze? No. No. No. No.

WHERE IS THE DAMN QUEST FOR THE ZIDDEN DUNGEON!?!? I'VE LOOKED THROUGH ALL THE QUEST BOARDS BUT STILL CAN'T FIND IT!!!

I walk over to a female black haired receptionist.

"Excuse me ma'am could I'm new to this town. Can you explain to me why there are no quests for dungeons posted on any of the quest boards?"

She starts to blush and avoids eye contact.

"O-of course I can explain that to you adventurers, the Zidden dungeon is more of a landmark than a dungeon. For a few decades now, we have not been giving out rewards for clearing dungeons that have already been cleared."

It seems my knowledge on the adventurer's guild is outdated, since I mainly got that knowledge from old stories and myths.

"Oh right- I had forgotten about that. Thank you for reminding me."

I place a silver coin on the table.

8 Silver coins left, not a lot. I have to use my money sparingly now. Never thought I'd see the day when I'd ve left with less than 10 silver coins since I became the Grandmaster's disciple.

I walk out of the guild and wait for a carriage. I waited for several minutes.

I know this town is poor, but are there really no carriages?

Then a man wearing a ranger hat speaks to me as he walks toward me.

"Hey there young adventurer, you waiting on someone?"

He doesn't seem like a bad person

"I'm just waiting for a carriage."

"Haha, what're you a noble? You must be new to Ashland, we don't have carriages here. This is a town of adventurers. We get to our destination by walking. And if you do see a carriage, they're probably bandits trying to steal your money so watch out for them. Anyways,"

He puts his hand on my shoulder before entering the guild building.

good luck with your adventure!"

He didn't seem evil, so I shouldn't take his words lightly.

A second later, a worn down carriage stops in front of me, the coachman wearing a wrinkled and old suit.

His clothing is suspicious, as if he had stolen the suit from the original owner and not bothered to take care of it. I am suspicious, but looks can be deceiving. I shouldn't judge him too quickly.

"Need a ride young adventurer?"

He says with a sinister and evil smile.

I take it back, he is definitely evil but let's see what he tries to do. I needed a ride anyway since I don't know where the Zidden Dungeon is.

"Yeah."

I say as I open the door to the carriage.

I'm certain he isn't a coach now. No coachman should ever let their customer open the door by themselves.

"Where to?"

He asks without turning around to face me.

I can hear and feel other people in the carriage moving, under my seat. Clearly they are an inexperienced bandit group.

The carriage begins to move.

Hah, this guy clearly isn't bringing me to the Zidden Dungeon. I barely spoke loud enough for myself to hear it. There's no way he could have heard it.

As the carriage moves, we pass by the same ashy and depressing colored houses. Then, we pass by an opening where there are many people with weapons standing around some kind of old gate leading downwards.

Was that not just the Zidden dungeon? These bastards must take me as a fool.

I grab my sword, but keep it sheathed.

Then, the carriage moves out of the city and into a green forest.

He must be taking me to the rest of the bandits. Looks like it's time for me to act.

"Coachman, where are we going? Didn't we pass by the dungeon a while ago?"

He angrily responds.

"Shut up kid! We're almost there!

He's not even a third grade bandit, but a fourth grader. Tsk.

Eventually, the carriage stops.

"Did we arrive yet?"

"Yeah, now get out you little brat."

Hoho yeah I'm going to have fun punishing him.

I gently open the door.

Let's not reveal my strength just yet. I can't have these bandits running away now.

I get ready to act as well as I can.

"Mister, where are we? I don't think this is the Zidden dungeon!"

"Hahaha, you've fallen into my trap you ignorant young adventurer. Just give us all your money and we won't kill you, we'll just sell you as a slave hahaha! I'm sure your pretty face will get us quite a lot of money."

This disgusting human trash. I was thinking about just turning them in but. Should I just kill them?

My acing mask disappears for a second as my facial expression becomes that of insanity.

"W-what do you mean we?"

Figures began to emerge from the forest.

One, five, eight. Ten including the ones in the carriage seats. This should be easy, none of them seem to be above advanced rank. There's no need for me to use magic or aura that'll scare them off.

"S-stay back!"

I slowly pull out my sword while shaking heavily.

There is no better actor than me.

Soon, the bandits loosely surround me in a circle.

Looks like they won't come any closer, they're pretty smart, but clearly not smart enough since they are bandits.

One of them speaks up.

"Ooooh- he has a nice sword, I call his sword his sword after we kill him!"

They begin to argue.

"What do you mean? I'm taking his sword!"

"No I am!"

The coachman speaks up.

"Calm down, whoever kills him can take his sword."

No one argues with him and they become silent and hold their swords steady, pointed at me.

Seems like he was the boss after all. The boss acting as the coachman? How surprising.

Lets just use a mana blade.

I coat my blade in my sun mana, making my sword glow red.

Some of the bandits start to shake.

"U-um boss, maybe we shouldn't fight him, he's an Advanced rank swordsman."

The boss screams towards all of them.

"Shut up! I'm an advanced rank swordsman as well and did you not see how scared he was? He's clearly an inexperienced swordsman, he's just a kid. Plus, we outnumber him so stop acting like a coward and attack!"

Wow, he came up with several great points. Does he actually have a brain? What is he doing here playing bandit then?

I charge at the weakest looking one, as the rest of the bandits charge toward me. I slice his head off of the bandit while swiftly dodging the rest of the bandit's swings.

The bandits in the carriage, they still aren't moving.

I cut off the head of every single one of them until it was just the coachman left. He angrily yells at me while out of breath.

"You bastard, you were acting weak this whole time! How dare you trick me! You're an expert rank swordsman!"

Wrong again, but I'll play along.

"I never said that I was an advanced rank, you just came up with that by yourself, that's not my fault. I also never told you to be a bandit but here you are. You must know that being a bandit is dangerous right? You must be prepared to die then."

I begin to approach him with my sword in hand.

He charges at me with the strength he has left.

I easily deflect his attack, and knock his sword out of his hand.

He moves slowly backward, away from me, trying to retreat.

"Wait- let's talk about this young master you should know, I'm not like the rest of the bandits, I'm smart! I can be of use to you, so please- don't kill me."

Hm what he says is true, he might be useful.

"You might be useful."

"Then-"

He tries to speak, but he suddenly sees the world upside down as his head falls off his standing body.

"If you were really smart, then you wouldn't have become a bandit."

AAAAAAHHHHH THAT WAS SO COOL!!!

I glance at his corpse.

Hmm, he has a pretty big money bag and a decent sword. That'll be useful, Dustin's sword is too flashy anyway.

I grab the sword and money bag, opening it up.

Five gold coins huh? He must've robbed a merchant not too long ago. I'll put this money to good use.

I walk up to the carriage. Stopping just before I enter, and stab the bandit leader's sword into the ground.

"Come out the two of you and leave your weapons, unless you wish to die in that uncomfortable position."

No movement.

"If I repeat myself again, both your heads will roll off."

Immediately afterwards, there is loud movement as the two scramble to get out. When they get out, I see that they are two young boys about twelve years old. They are both blonde and look exactly the same. And they immediately kneel down on both legs and plant their face down in the dirt.

They must be twins.

They chant in unison.

"Please don't kill us sir, we're just young children who were forced to work under the bandits!"

There's only one way to tell if they're lying or not, Eyes of Truth!

The symbol of Pyro appears and I see that the one sitting on my left is red, while the one on my right is green.

Looks like I will have to ask more questions.

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

They chant in unison again.

"No."

The result of the eyes of truth is the same.

"Final question. Are you evil?"

They look at each other before answering.

"No."

I immediately cut the head off of the twin on my left side.

Red again. The child on my right, on the other hand, seems to not be naturally evil.

"Kid, do you know how to drive a carriage?"

The kid is extremely afraid.

"Ye- yes sir I can drive!"

"Do you know where the Zidden Dungeon is?"

"Ye- yes sir!"

"Alright, take me there."

He immediately gets up and opens the carriage door for me.

Hoh, it seems this kid has a brain. Only time will tell, if that is a good or a bad thing.

I walk in and take a seat as the boy begins to drive. In the carriage, I look out the window but don't pay attention as I am left alone with my thoughts.

I just killed a man for the first time, then multiple men, and even a child. So why do I not feel sad or any discomfort about it?

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