Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic

After the chat with the headmaster, Gerald left for a short jog. As he was running, a thought hit him, "I haven't seen that guy Adelard recently. I wonder if he finally decided to stop bothering us, or is he just cooking up a new scheme to get Sera?"

In recent days, Gerald came to learn a few things about the Serrell family. As it turned out they, ruled over Geldern for quite a few generations. They were not the best rulers, but they also weren't too tyrannical. It was only recently, when Egott inherited the position of the city Lord, that the problems arose.

He was a weak-minded individual with ambitions far too great for his own good. He had barely any influence outside Geldern and no support whatsoever from the other nearby city Lords. Still, he thought it was a good idea to start acting like he was the king of the world.

His somewhat tyrannical rule ended just as quickly as it has begun. It was unfortunate for him that a few years earlier, Geldern got a new Guild Master. And this guy was no pushover. He tolerated Egott for a few years, but when the taxes suddenly skyrocketed and most of the citizens started to dislike the Lord, it was time to act.

The Guild Master was a powerful warrior with command over the Warrior's Guild. With his influence, he quickly established a counter to Egott Serrell and put a stop to his blind dreams.

With some help from the citizens, Egott's army, if it could even be called that, was quickly crushed as they were greatly outnumbered.

His soldiers gone and his governing power seized, Egott became just a political figure, a shield for the Guild.

The Guild Master knew that if the Serrell family was gone, the weakling of a city Lord would probably get replaced by someone influential and with more connections, possibly a son of some other powerful city Lord. If that happened it would be much harder, if not impossible, to keep the simple casual lifestyle people in Geldern had right now.

With an empty threat of getting eradicated looming over his head, Egott Serrell decided to be a good boy and play by the rules.

This was the extent of what Gerald came to know in recent days. "It seems like they didn't learn much though. This Adelard is a real spoiled brat. I wonder if his 'brave' adventures recently have anything to do with his father. Maybe he didn't quite give up on his dreams of power…"

Gerald's thinking came close to uncovering the truth. The city Lord was, in fact, going crazier after his loss. Although it seemed like he was completely pacified on the outside, inside his head he still had those crazy delusions of grandeur.

He even went so far as to invite foreign forces and provide them shelter in the city, just so he could once again take over.

What he did not expect, however, was that when the Blood Sun Viper sect came, they basically just took over what little power he had left, and he became their puppet. They smelled weakness in the city Lord and quickly had him in a grip, like the power-hungry snakes they were.

Not even his son Adelard knew what was going on behind the scenes. He even thought his father was soon going to become the great city Lord, who had to answer to nobody but the King.

***

A few days passed by as Gerald patiently waited for his new armor. He made good use of his time. Apart from training, he also took time off to chat with warriors in the Warriors Guild.

Most of them were quite nice and friendly, giving a nooby like him a few pointers and guidelines that helped him better understand the life of an adventuring traveling warrior.

He also came to know that most of them did not have a permanent residence and they were constantly on the move, traveling from city to city, searching for better work opportunities.

People were quite open with their personal life, their hopes, and dreams.

When Gerald steered the conversation on the topic of potions and Alchemy, he came to know that Geldern was actually considered quite a backwater city in that regard.

It was not a big city by any means, containing only about ten thousand people, but it was especially poor in terms of quality potion production.

It was the easternmost city on the continent, basically surrounded by wilderness on three sides. No respected Alchemist would decide to seclude himself here.

Alchemists were respected and adored by the masses. They would be treated well no matter where they went and they would be able to live comfortable lives. For that reason alone they would never choose to live in a city like Geldern. It was too far from the center of the Kingdom.

The only Alchemists that lived in Geldern were those that didn't make it in the world. They were not talented enough to live in the capital, or the cities surrounding it.

Alchemists, of course, had strong competition in those places and if they were not up to par, they had to move or face bankruptcy. No skill and connections meant that nobody would buy their lesser products.

Gerald was interested in all that since he was searching for the herb God's Blood for his Mana Elixir. When he heard that the Alchemists in the capital were of much better quality, able to create a greater variety of potions, he figured he had a shot at finding God's Blood there.

The capital also had a merchant guild called Golden Pouch that also ruled over a great Auction House. They were making hundreds if not thousands of trades each day, from the most basic everyday items to the highest grades of weapons and armor.

Herbs, medicine, and potions were also the staple products they handled.

"Okay, I need to check that merchant guild. If I can't get my hands on some God's Blood there, then I really don't know where to look." Gerald decided to take a look around the capital. Unfortunately, his new armor was still not ready, so he had to wait. Also, the road to the capital was quite long, so he decided to check if he could take a mission to do on the way there.

After checking the mission board, though, he came back empty-handed. People usually didn't travel such long distances at once.

Especially merchants who traveled a lot would, more often than not, travel for a day and then rest in a nearby city or village instead of staying on the road. That would make the travel time even longer as they would take many detours and then stay in that particular place for a day or two.

Gerald did not get discouraged, however. He had a few more days to think things through and make a decision. Worst case scenario he could still go on the road by himself.