The next morning, I awoke feeling refreshed. While still lumpy compared to my own mattress, the bed felt a great deal better than the sleeping roll I used in my tent. After a quick casting of a cleaning spell, I donned a fresh robe. I chose a plain robe of sky-blue with white clouds and streaks of red lightning stitched into the fabric. This outfit was something I hesitated to wear among the light blue buildings in Sena City. After putting it on, I realized just how heavy my traveling robe must have been, because this one felt as light and airy as the clouds depicted on it.

Downstairs, I joined Walker and Lilly as we ate a breakfast of freshly baked rolls stuffed with slices of cucumber and tomato and thin portions of duck, all served with a weak apple cider. It seemed a simple meal until I tasted the freshness of the vegetables. They reminded me of the garden back at my cottage, although it’s mine no longer. Before leaving, I gave a small pouch of coins, no more than fifty silver really, to Walker with instructions to obtain sundries for his sister. The order left Lilly’s face red with embarrassment and Walkers mixed with confusion, but I doubted the young man even once considered it before we started traveling. I hold extreme confidence in my ability to understand and then ignore the complex nuances of human interaction, and rightly so. One does not go to a powerful wizard for advice when they are sad, we have bartenders for that.

It didn’t take me long to find the adventurers’ guildhall in Eiston, the building being one of the largest in the city. It was two buildings, in truth, built perpendicular to each other and connected by a covered walkway. Unlike the one I was familiar with this guildhall did not espouse any pretentious statues or archways.

Inside the front door, I came to a small foyer that left me facing a wall. There was a door to the left with a sign for customers and another, more weathered, door to the right with a sign for adventurers. I turned towards the door for adventurers almost out of habit, before turning back for the customer’s entrance. Walking through, I found a long counter with six or seven clerks standing behind it, each clerk wearing the same tanned shirt and pants, regardless of gender. Cubes stacked floor-to-ceiling made a wall behind them. I watched as the clerks took the details of the quest from each customer, writing them on a scroll they placed it into one of the cubbies. Based on the movement on the other side, more clerks there used the contents to issue quests. It was interesting that there was such a separation between customers and adventurers.

But not interesting enough for me to inquire about it. Instead, I waited my turn beyond a plump older widow who seemed to have an infestation of giant rats in her cellar. She spoke in such a slow drawl, that it almost hurt my mind to hear it. Even the clerk taking her quest, a plain-faced young woman with blue eyes and brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, could only occasionally glance at me with a helpless look in her eye. I, however, would do nothing to help either. I wasn’t an adventurer—and even if I were, chasing large rodents was beneath me. I also wasn’t about to help the clerk do the job she was paid to do.

When the woman was through, the clerk apologized to me, “I’m sorry for the wait sir, she comes in every Tuesday with the same request. No adventurers can ever find the rats she speaks of, and most of the time they end up stuck listening to her tell stories all day out of politeness. We think she just wants the company.”

I gave the clerk a patronizing smile but didn’t comment on the matter. It wasn’t my business. “I’d like to issue a quest for escort, from here to the City of Lark. We depart two days from now in the morning. I require at least three adventurers to stand night watch and ease the minds of my [Wagoneers].”

Stiffly, she pulled out a blank scroll, and began writing on it with a quill. “Certainly sir, we can do that for you. A protection detail for—”

“No, I don’t need protection,” I interrupted her.

She pauses, “I’m sorry?”

I opened my mouth to speak. I am a fourth-tier mage and retired gold-rank adventurer. I don’t need a team for protection. I need a team that can ease minds and sound the alarm. Off-duty guards or new adventurers would do… is what I wanted to say. But then I recalled my mistake with the bandits earlier and snapped my jaw shut.

“No, never mind me. I’ll be staying at the Horn and Broker. They can meet me there. Also, I may extend the quest for additional pay once we reach our destination. If so, any adventurer should be willing to negotiate that extension reasonably.”

“Sir, how long could this be extended for?” She asked, still scribbling.

I considered that. I didn’t know how long it would take once I arrived in Lark. I assumed there was an adventurers’ guild there as well, but who knew the quality of people I would find. At least in a city this big, I was certain to hire second-tier adventurers. “No more than a week or two.”

“Yessir. For a merchant caravan to Lark travel normally takes four to five days. We can put on the notice a silver a day plus they keep any monster corpses and have them meet you by the gate. Will that work?” She asked as she wrote.

Did she think I was a merchant? I looked down at my robe again. It was very fashionable, in my opinion. “No, I only need three no more than five. I have four wagons transporting my personal belongings. They would, however, need to supply their own horses or whatever mounts they use.” There was a time when it was a trend among silver-ranked adventurers to own large felines instead of horses. There’s a reason that it didn’t last long. It’s hard enough to train a housecat, let alone a greater mountain lion. I had one myself, until it tried to eat me. I understand adventurers in the south use large lizards as mounts there. How can I judge different types of transportation before I tried one? We are close to the hinterlands, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see an adventurer on an elk or moose or even a bear, though I don’t imagine a bear would travel too quickly.

“Yes sir. Three to five adventurers, three days with a possible extension of two weeks. It’ll be a minimum deposit of fifteen silver, with additional days costing a silver per adventurer a day. That leads to… five silver for the team… times seventeen silver for the maximum days, with the guild fee of ten silver for first-time customers… ninety-five silvers.”

That was, fine. Really, fine. I gave her a solid gold piece and walked away. I certainly didn’t give her a death stare that made her shake.

While I knew I should go to the City Hall, I ended up wandering the marketplace for a few hours and looking at the various magical books and scrolls. Sometimes, I could find rare magical items that merchants didn’t realize were magical, but no such luck today. I did find a very sporting monster fur coat. It was a creamy eggshell color with hairs gradually changing to a dark, dark red at the tips. Yes, it’s spring and I won’t need it until winter, but it’s best to be prepared, right? I also found a compendium of Western Monsters and Dungeons that I was eager to look through. I didn’t plan on going adventuring to find one, but who would stop me from paying adventurers to catch one that needed experimenting on?

When I finally arrived at the counter for the clerk for land management, a building that looked as boring inside as it sounded, I didn’t even need to speak. Just presenting the scroll had me ushered into an expensive office with a high-level administrator who was just pleased I’d stopped by. He immediately had me seated on a very comfortable couch with floral patterned fabric. He took his place in a chair angled towards me, but with full view of a large painting of himself, his wife, and three children on the wall behind him. Servants rushed to bring in tea and pastries.

My mind, though, was still on the coat I purchased. Not on the coat itself, but on why I felt the need to get it. When I founded the Arcanum, the competition for students was fierce. A wizard attracted students based on how nicely he was dressed, because for plebians, nice clothes meant success. Success meant that I was a good wizard that would offer them the best learning. The more students that attended, the more money the school brought in. The more money it brought in, the more money the school had on hand, the better supplies I could obtain for my research. It was a vicious cycle that I just accepted as the way things were. Clothing became just an avenue of competition that I needed to succeed with in order to grow in my field. Now, though, did I really need to be fashionable? Did I like it? Did I even care? I hadn’t considered my feelings on the subject in a long while.

The man in front of me was just watching me with a smile as the servants were serving a midday snack, and he appeared to know about fashion. He wore a dark blue silk shirt, the kind that buttoned in the front, a dark brown vest that matched his slacks, and a pair of loafers with little metal buckles that shined with polish. Perhaps, I could ask him his opinion?

“Mister…?”

“Edwards. Lonnie Edwards, third of his name. You are?” He ran his hand through his hair, trying to give the appearance of nonchalance.

“Nemon Fargus. Mr. Edwards, when you retire from your current position, do you believe that you will continue to wear the same style of clothes? Or will you relax your attire?” I took a sip of the tea after I asked. It was a decent blend but nothing special.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Oh, I think that fashion is just the height of society. It’s what separates us from goblins, you know? Can you imagine a goblin in a—”

I tuned him out as he began blathering on inanely. It was obvious his opinion wouldn’t be helpful. I wish I knew someone better to ask, but I think I’d already made up my mind. I would keep the robes I had now, saving the fashionable ones should I have a need, but pick up some more comfortable ones to wear on a normal basis. Comfort was more important to me now than fashion. I nodded along as he spoke, more to confirm my own decision than to acknowledge his words.

“—and that’s why, when the Duchess asked me if her handkerchief looked appropriate for the—”

“I believe you’ve answered my question. Thank you. Perhaps we can discuss why I am here?”

“Oh, of course!” He unrolled a map of the Duchy, with lines and names drawn. I recognized some, and others weren’t familiar at all. One, in particular, stood out. “We have some lands available that might suit your needs and settlers interested in new opportunities. Will you be looking to establish a village or town?”

I pointed at the barony in Southwestern corner, “Does that say Froom?”

“Ah, a good eye there Mr. Fargus. Baroness Nix, Baron Lall and Baron Froom are all recent additions to the duchy. Gold-rank adventurers that retired for a new life here. They’ve taken Duke Eiston’s offer, the same one presented to you, to expand the western borders.”

“Does the Froom marked here stand for an Alred Froom?”

“Indeed, it does. Do you know him? Are you already familiar with the nobility in the area? That could make your ascension to title easier.”

Oh, I knew him. Alred was a former student of mine, and an assistant. One of two I’d personally helped to obtain the class of [Elementalist]. That ass somehow decided that after all the help I’d given him, that I was his greatest rival in magic. The pretension! He was a hundred years too young to even compete with me in basic magic. While I never planned on accepting the offer, I knew right then and there the kingdom would fall before I willingly took a title. If I took one now, close to his own lands even, it would give credibility to his words.

Luckily, the [Administrator] must have realized I was a little angry and kept his mouth shut while I fumed. I closed my eyes and centered myself, before looking back at the man.

“Lonnie, right? I’ll tell you honestly, I have no intention of purchasing hinterlands at the moment. Noble title or not. I am interested in two things. The rights to build a Wizard’s tower here in the duchy, and information on a Wizard’s tower that stood near Lark some two to three hundred years ago.”

“I-I see.” The man showed disappointment, but only briefly. “While I can certainly help you with your first item, I’m afraid that I can’t help you with the second.” He raised his hands quickly as my eyebrows shot up.

“It’s not that I don’t want to Mr. Fargus. It’s that our duchy was hit hard with a beast wave about eighty years ago, and we barely have any records of even the noble estates from that time period. I can say that the only standing wizard tower in the duchy right now is Baron Froom’s. If you are seeking the ruins of a tower, perhaps the Ranger’s Guild has taken note of them. There are many ruins throughout Eistoni.”

“The Ranger’s Guild?” I repeated, more because I should have thought of it myself, than as a question. He took it as one though.

“Yes, the Ranger’s Guild has a headquarters in Lark. They even have their own dungeon they use to train there. That your missing tower is nearby could only be serendipitous.” He smiled cautiously.

I nodded. “I will check there, then.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll have the papers drawn up for your tower shortly. Tomorrow at the latest. The Duke’s authority to build would be creditable anywhere in the duchy, but you will need to confirm the location and limits on size with local nobility beforehand if you aren’t building in unclaimed territory.”

Another attempt to push me towards taking a Barony? Well, he certainly does his best for the Duke. “No, I will return tomorrow for the permit? Writ?”

“Warrant, Mr. Fargus. A ducal warrant. Did you want to discuss payment now?”

I waved my hand. “No, I’ll pay tomorrow.” I gave him a warning glare, “But fleecing me is not a good idea.”

“Of course, Mr. Fargus, of course.” He bowed from his chair.

It occurred to me as I left, that if all goes well, tomorrow may be the last time I’d need to deal with an [Administrator] of any sort. [Clerks] and [Scribes], I could handle. [Administrators] tended to need reminders to stay honest.