ALL NOVEL Chapter 4 – Crimson Steel Lux
After what felt like an eternity, one of the attendants at the registration counter waved us over. It was finally our turn to register.
“Welcome to Solara’s Adventurer’s Guild Branch! My name is Neko, and I would be more than happy to assist you. What may I get started for you today?”
The attendant spoke carefully with a gentle, soft female voice, almost like they were trying to focus on their articulation, speaking correctly in formal Solarian tongue. Appearance wise, our attendant happened to be one of the demi-human folk often employed by the various adventurer guild branches across several kingdoms. Small, brown, cat like ears, whiskers, and a tail flicking around, confirmed their race to be one of the cat demi-humans. She wore an unnaturally cheery facial expression as she awaited our reply.
“Hi, we’re looking to register and form an adventurer party with the guild. My name’s Jake, and beside me are Drogan, Kael, and Lyra.”
I motioned to my friends beside me and awaited her reply.
“Purrrfect, nah, I mean, perfect! I can certainly advise your party on the registration process! Have either of you registered with the guild before? Are you with any other branches?”
“No, this will be my first time registering, same with Drogan.”
“Lyra and I are already registered with this branch… And was that beastkin speech I perhaps heard? … Namo, was it? Quite frankly, I’m insulted you didn’t recognize the adventurer’s plate I so graciously had on display during your introduction. I would hate to have to share a negative review with the guild branch owner, not to mention speaking to us in a banned language in Solara. You are aware of the penalties of this, aren’t you, cat?”
What Kael said was right, speaking any other language in Solara besides solarian was outlawed, punishable by fine, imprisonment, or slavery for serious, repeat offenders. While I personally thought he came across a little too rude in his retort, I did agree that everyone needed to do their best to speak the legal language. It was law after all.
I could see Neko was startled by Kael’s reaction, and her cheerful demeanor quickly turned into a blank, despair like expression. Then, she bowed formally towards Kael.
“I am incredibly sorry for this grievous inconvenience and humbly apologise for souring your ears with my abhorrent use of a banned language in the Great Kingdom of Solara.”
“Good enough beast, I shall ignore the aforementioned inconvenience to myself, please carry on with your explanations.”
Formal Solarian tongue, although I wasn’t well versed in it, was listed as the official and proper language for the kingdom. Nobles and royalty alike would only speak to one another in this dialect. However, recognizing the difficulties commoners had in mastering its intricacies, a less formal version, Common Solarian was also permitted to be used in the kingdom. This was the language usually used by visitors to Solara and the common working class due to it’s ease and convenience.
Unique to Solara, all government branches of operation required their employees to speak in Formal Solarian first. They could then continue in common if the other party requested it to make communication easier for the less sophisticated. The reason the adventurer’s guild branch required Formal Solarian of its employees was because it was deemed to be working under the government, and thus, had to follow their legislation as it resided in the heart of the city. Other kingdoms were more liberal in their ruling and allowed whatever language was most convenient.
“Neko, if you don’t mind, could you please speak to us in Common Solarian? I’m not as well versed in Formal as my friend and would be able to follow your explanations easier if you did.”
“Well of course, I will do my best to exceed your expectations Jake.”
Raising her head, Neko gave a slight bow, then continued.
“If you would like to register with the Solara Adventurer’s Guild, you will need to fill out this form. Please indicate your name, age, combat class, and any other references the guild would find useful in validating your application. Also, we will require you to visit one of our appraisal attendants to fill in your general combat parameters. They will also let you know of any skills you’ve acquired.
Once your individual details are complete, I will then need all four of you to sign the official party form. Please indicate the name of the party and the leader for communication purposes with the guild. As a note, all new parties must begin at G rank, even if members inside the party are of a higher rank. This is a precaution to limit the risk of new adventurers joining veterans on more dangerous requests.”
Neko produced three forms and two quills with magic ink and handed them to me. I quickly noted two of the forms said “Individual Registration” and passed one to Drogan, along with a quill. The last form said “Party Registration”, so I held onto it. Now, looking at the form, I started filling in the information:
---Individual Registration – Solara Adventurer’s Branch---
Name: Jake Valkin
Age: 18
Combat Class: Swordsman
Experience? Personal training, 5 years, no formal instructor
Reference: Harold Patrol – City Entrance Guard Captain
Emergency Contact / Next of Kin: Grace Valkin – Mother – 88 Farming District
---
Easy enough, it was a bit of a pain putting an emergency contact down in case I got injured or killed, but whatever. I had to follow the guild’s rules, and completing the form accurately was part of the process.
Next, I looked over at the “Party Registration” form.
---Party Registration – Solara Adventurer’s Branch---
Party Name: __________________________
Party Member 1: ________________
Party Member 2: ________________
Party Member 3: ________________
Party Member 4: ________________
Party Member 5: ________________
Party Member 6: ________________
Party Member 7: ________________
Party Member 8: ________________
Party Leader: ___________________
Designated Contact (If Different From Leader): _______________
---
Shoot.
I forgot to decide on a party name!!!!!!!!! Ugghhh! How could I have been so stupid! I was so excited to finally become an adventurer that I totally forgot to think of a cool, kickass name for us!!!!!!
I looked around the guild hall for some inspiration, I noticed Drogan was almost finished filling out his individual registration form so I had to think fast! Ummmm, Armor! No, what the heck Jake, that’s what you wear, not something to name your party! I looked down at my shirt and remembered I had put on my lucky red shirt today; it was below my leather breastplate. That’s it, Red! But Red doesn’t sound cool...
Ummm, Red in Formal Solarian, I think that was… Crimson? Alright, Crimson sounds cool! We will be the Crimson Party! I hurriedly scribbled it on the form, then noticed the letters immediately turned dark red then disappeared.
“Oh, I see you’re filling out the Party Registration form Jake. Just so you’re aware, the magic ink allows for only a unique party name to be entered, otherwise the contents will be erased. This is to eliminate confusion when contacting adventuring parties.”
Crap, so that means there’s already another adventurer’s party registered as Crimson.
“Neko, how long can a party’s name be on the form?”
“There is no limit to the length of a party’s name. The only criteria being it fit on the registration form.”
Hmmm, so if Crimson is taken and I think it sounds cool, lets try adding some words to get a unique name then! While thinking about this, I noticed I had subconsciously rested my hand on the steel-short blade attached to my waist. Thinking about our potential name more, if we’re going to be famous adventurers in Solara, I think it would be pretty cool to include something from the Kingdom in the party’s name. That way, when we travel all over Terra, others will know where we started from!
“Everyone, I think I decided on a name for us!”
Kael, Lyra, and Drogan all looked at me, then silently nodded in agreement with the party name I wrote on the form. As I finished scribbling our name down, the ink glowed a brilliant gold colour, then solidified into regular black ink.
---Party Registration – Solara Adventurer’s Branch---
Party Name: Crimson Steel Lux
Party Member 1: Jake Valkin
Party Member 2: Drogan Wicks
Party Member 3: Kael Sai
Party Member 4: Lyra Sai
Party Member 5: ________________
Party Member 6: ________________
Party Member 7: ________________
Party Member 8: ________________
Party Leader: Jake Valkin
Designated Contact (If Different From Leader): _______________
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