Chapter 20: You Don't Mess with the Adventurer Guild

“You haven’t been to the General Store yet?” Chloe asks.

“No. I haven’t needed to buy anything.”

“You’re missing out.”

“Missing out?”

“Listen, Sage. The Adventurer Guild’s General Store is one of the few places where you can buy Adventurer Jerky, the best jerky in the Empire.”

“Never heard of it.”

“How can you never have heard of Adventurer Jerky?

“It’s the Empire’s premier jerky brand. No other jerky brand comes close to matching it in taste and texture.

“Tell you what. I’ll buy you some as thanks for helping me out. You’re in for a real treat.”

The two of us are on our way to the Adventurer Guild’s General Store. Since I helped carry her books, Chloe decided to show me how to get there so I wouldn’t get lost again.

I know, real men don’t ask for directions. But, I’d rather get to where I want to go than starve to death in some cramped corridor in the bowels of the Guild.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question about your title?”

I shake my head.

“I’ve been wondering about this for a while. What exactly are your skills?”

That’s right. At the measuring ceremony they tell everyone what your title is, but not your skills.

“Right now, I only have one skill. It’s called Quick Tie and allows me to tie any shoelace instantly. For whatever reason, any shoelace that I tie with this skill can only be untied by me.”

“Fascinating,” Chloe says, her eyes sparkling. “You’ll have to show me how it works sometime.”

“We’ve arrived,” Chloe says, gesturing towards the entrance to the General Store. “Shall we?”

The inside of the store is like a different world.

No, I wasn’t isekai’d again, but it sure feels like I was.

The Adventurer Guild’s General Store is the medieval version of a big box store. It contains products from a wide range of categories, giving it the same vibe as Ogres or MalWart.

The store is divided into dozens of different departments.

Near the front of the store is the outdoors section containing tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and other camping necessities. Next to that, is a section filled with barrels and crates containing different types of non-perishable foods. A little farther back are the clothing, shoes, and toiletries sections, and at the back of the store is a blacksmith area and weapon shop.

Even though the array of products is vast, none of it is as high tech as in my previous life. There’s no plastic in this world, so everything except the food is made out of fabric, wood, or metal.

Standing on the edge of the food section are several refrigerated cases with the red ‘M’ logo displayed prominently on the front. However, unlike in my previous world, these cases have a rope barricade in front of them, making it impossible to browse through their contents without asking for permission. In addition, several guild employees are stationed nearby to keep an eye on them.

“What are you going to buy?” Chloe asks.

“I want to pick up a couple extra pairs of shoelaces to use for practice.”

“Oh, did Samantha give you the idea?”

“Yeah, during our conversation yesterday.”

“I’m glad, it sounds like she’s finally starting to mature a bit.

“Make sure you listen to her. She might be a muscle brain, but her advice is sound.

“The shoelaces are over here,” Chloe says, taking me by the hand.

Making our way towards the back of the store, we weave our way through shelves filled with camping gear and various other items. On the way, we pass through the clothing department which is filled with tunics and trousers dyed in a rainbow of colors.

As we approach the back of the store, a dazzling sight catches my eye.

Shelves filled with glittering armor. Racks filled with weapons of all types. Cases filled with jewelry and precious gems. And in the center of it all, a magnificent forge complete with red hot furnaces and muscled dwarves.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” Chloe asks, pointing at a rack filled with different types of shoelaces.

I nod.

“Great. I’ll leave you to it. I heard they just received a new shipment of Adventurer Jerky, so I’m off to grab a box of the new limited edition flavor before they sell out.”

I never realized how many different types of shoelaces there are.

Long, medium, short. Leather, cotton, wool. Flat, round. Thick, thin. There are way too many to choose from.

On top of that, each set of laces comes in half a dozen variations, each with different end caps. These end caps, or aglets, are forged from a variety of different metals from bronze and iron, all the way up to mithril.

Faced with this multitude of choices, my brain locks up.

Which ones should I buy? Which materials are best?

Do I want iron or mithril aglets? Do I want black, white, or brown?

The leather ones are nice, but they’re pretty expensive, and when paired with mithril aglets they’re almost ten silver each.

The cotton ones are cheaper, but they don’t seem like they’ll last as long. However, the flat ones seem pretty nice, so I’m not sure.

What to do? What to do?

I know, I’ll just buy one of each type.

No, I don’t mean one of every single type on the rack, I’m not that rich. I’ll buy one pair of leather shoelaces and one pair of cotton ones.

As for the aglets, I’ll settle for brass. Copper seems a little too cheap, and mithril is definitely overkill.

After picking out my shoelaces, I head back to the clothing section. There, I pick up a light gray tunic and dark gray trousers, along with a pair of underwear.

The tunic and trousers cost 25 silver each, which isn’t cheap, but they’re both made out of high quality wool, so I don’t mind spending a little extra.

As a reward for subjugating the Blade Claw, the Adventurer Guild gave me and Bridget 150 silver each. On top of that, one of the guild advisers retrieved the Snowbound leaves I collected, so I have a little extra money to throw around.

Stashing my clothes under my arm, I head off to find Chloe in the food department.

Here, the shelves are packed to bursting with barrels and crates, each of them meticulously labeled and sorted by contents.

As I saunter down the aisle, I glance at the labels on each crate. Dried bear, dried blade claw, dried deer, dried octopus, dried poison fang, dried rabbit, dried squid, dried squirrel…etc.

If it is dried and some kind of meat, you can definitely find it somewhere in this aisle.

In this world, meat is super popular. It’s cheap and plentiful, due to the abundance of monsters.

At the end of the aisle is a display case with the ‘M’ logo etched into the upper right hand corner of the glass front.

An MSPD anti-theft case? I wonder what’s inside.

In the center of the case sits a long flat see through box. Inside is an ancient looking piece of meat that looks more like a piece of leather than food.

The sign in front of the box is faded and covered with dirt and mold. The words “Dried Dragon,” are printed in the center of the sign in big bold letters.

Glued to the top of the sign are two labels, “Well Aged” and “1000-Years-Old”. It appears that the latter has been revised more than a few times, because it’s placed on the top of a stack of old labels nearly a centimeter thick.

At the bottom of the sign, printed in small letters, are the words, “Please consult an associate for details and pricing”.

I spot Chloe in the next aisle over. She’s standing near the far end, staring intently at something on the shelves.

Right as I’m about to call out to her, Crew Cut and his cronies enter the aisle between us, through a gap in the shelves. When I see who it is, I bite my tongue and hide behind the case of “Well Age 1000-Year-Old Dried Dragon”, then I watch the unfolding scene in silence, waiting for them to leave.

One of Crew Cut’s cronies is in the middle of an argument with a male guild employee. “Sir,” the employee says, “Please refrain from eating the merchandise before paying for it.”

“You talking to me?” the thug asks, taking another bite from an apple like fruit.

Fruit is one of the most expensive products in the Empire. It’s a luxury good that can cost as much as 5 silver per gram, because of its limited availability due to its short growing season.

In my previous life, opinions on whether eating in grocery stores is okay was mixed. However, in this world, because everything is sold by weight, eating store merchandise before paying for it is considered stealing and carries a harsh penalty.

“Yes, I am talking to you.” I’m impressed at how calm and controlled he is. If I was in his position, I would be seething.

Although, it’s not like I could do anything if I was in his position. There are eight of them and one of him. Plus they’re all at least ‘C’ rank adventurers.

If it came to a fight, I would be toast. No, I would be nothing more than a stain on the pavement.

The thug ignores the employee and takes yet another bite of the apple.

The employee sighs and says, “Sir, I’ll need you to hand me your guild card so I can file an incident report.”

At his words, the thugs shows fear for the first time. “No way,” he says, taking a step back. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

Crew Cut and his thugs turn to leave. In an instant, the guild employee is standing in front of them.

To me it looked like he jumped over their heads, but he moved so fast I’m not entirely sure.

“I’m sorry,” the employee says, “but I can’t let you go until you’ve handed me your guild card.”

“Like hell I’ll give it to you,” the thug says, throwing the apple to the ground and grabbing the employee by the collar with both hands. “Now, let us pass.”

If he was a normal human being, the guild employee would have cried out in pain. Heck, if it was me, I would have probably wet my pants and started bawling like a baby.

Instead, the guild employee grasps the thug by the wrists and presses down with his thumbs until the thug lets go.

“C’mon,” Crew Cut says, speaking up for the first time. “Let him go, he didn’t do anything wrong.”

“He stole from the Adventurer Guild and assaulted an employee, it is part of my job to report him.”

Crew Cut gives his thugs a signal and they move to surround the employee.

Are they stupid? Even I can tell that they’re no match for him.

“What’s going on?” Chloe asks, coming up behind the group.

One of the thugs, clearly not the brightest member of the bunch, grabs Chloe with one arm and presses the tip of a knife to her neck.

When Crew Cut sees who it is, he panics. “You idiot,” he shouts, “let go of her.”

“No way,” the thug says, then turning to the guild employee, “You’d better let us walk or the lady will get it.”

Yes, definitely not the brightest of the bunch.

“Oh dear,” Chloe says, “and here I thought we could resolve this peacefully.”

“Run,” Crew Cut shouts, but it’s too late. Chloe’s eyes flash purple, and a gust of wind blasts the thugs off their feet.

Shelves topple. Crates crash to the floor.

In an instant, the once peaceful aisle is turned into a sea of broken crates and dried meat.

“Oh my,” Chloe says, glancing around at the wreckage. “It seems like they really made a mess of things, didn’t they.”

“It appears so,” the guild employee says, “I’ll make sure to add it to their bill.”

“What do you mean?” Crew Cut howls. “None of this was our fault?”

“I see,” Chloe says, “So, you would rather I press assault charges, I understand.”

“No. Fine. I’ll pay for it,” Crew Cut shouts, throwing a gold coin at the employee.

“I’m sorry, but this isn’t enough,” the employee says, surveying the damage.

“Take it all,” Crew Cut shouts, throwing his money pouch at the guild employee, then he and his gang sprint down the aisle towards me.

Wait, towards me? No, why are they coming towards me?

Oh, right. I’m standing between them and the door.

Curse my luck.

I attempt to dive into the next aisle over, but my foot catches a piece of broken crate, and I end up face planting onto the floor with a crash.

“You,” Crew Cut says, his voice cold. “All of this is your fault.”

I glance over my shoulder and see Crew Cut standing there, fists clenched at his sides and a vein throbbing in his temple.

Wait, are you insane?

You must be insane. There’s no other way to explain it.

You acted like scumbags in front of the wrong people. How is any of that my fault?

“I’ll make you pay for this,” Crew Cut says, storming out of the store.

Argh. Why me?

“You handled that well,” Chloe says, approaching the store employee. “I’m proud of you. You held yourself back, even though you could have easily beaten them to a pulp.”

“Thank you, Lady Chloe,” the clerk says, giving her a deep bow. “Your praise means the world to me.”

Lady Chloe? What’s going on?

“Sage,” Chloe says, “Come over here and meet my nephew, Leaf.”

Clutching my shoelaces and clothes to my chest, I make my way over to where the two of them are standing.

“Who is this, Lady Chloe?”, Leaf asks.

“This is Sage, a new adventurer. He’ll be coming here from time to time, so make sure you treat him well.”

“Yes ma’am,” Leaf says, then turning to me he offers me his hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

I take his outstretched hand and give it a tentative shake.

“Don’t worry,” Leaf says, grinning. “I don’t bite as long as you don’t harm Lady Chloe.”

“Leaf,” Chloe says, changing the subject, “I hear you received a new shipment of Adventurer Jerky, but I can’t find any of the new limited edition flavor. Do you have some in the back?”

“I set some aside just for you,” Leaf says. “I’ll be right back.”

“He’s such a dear,” Chloe says, as Leaf disappears into the back of the store. “I can’t wait to try the new Spicy Lime Crown Boar Jerky. I hear it’s supposed to be super good.”