42 Chapter 41 (1/2)

h, princess!” Devon did a half stand as I approached. ”Are you okay… you kind of took a while.”

”That… err… delicate stomach…” I said.

”Ah, I'm sorry, do you need to sit down?”

”No. Let's get going, shall we?”

”I guess I picked a bad place…” He scratched his chin.

”Actually, I really like this place, we should come again. But right now…”

”Is that so…” he nodded after a second, accepting my words.

I just wasn't in the mood to sit down. It wasn't just because I recently had some guy in my ass. I also didn't want to stick around and find out if he was going to leave the bathroom and look for me. What's the point if you knew who the person was? It was just a dick I stuck in my ass for some levels and that was as far as it needed to go. However, I would make the hole a regular visiting spot if it worked.

As we left the shop, Devon had recovered from my previous teasing and was now a very respectable date. He showed me several places around town including the gem shrine, a place that housed a magical gem of some sort, a real weapon shop, and the guild.

”The adventurer's guild?” I said in awe, seeing the massive double doors leading into every fantasy world's most important stop.

”Well… adventurer classes do tend to go to the guild… but it's not called the adventurer's guild.” Devon explained.

”Eh? What does that mean?”

”Well, the guild is a place that handles most commerce in a city. Most cities are built up of two major divisions, the nobility who set the laws, and the guild that sets the commerce. Although nobles will have you believe we're in charge, the guild controls a city almost as much.”

”I'm still lost…” I muttered.

”Ah… well… think of it this way. If something needs to be done in this city, it's done through a division of the guild. There is a merchant's guild for selling, an alchemist's guild for making potions, a farmer's guild for farming, and Dungeon Running Guild for challenging dungeons. Each of these guilds gets swallowed up by the identity of ”the guild”. Although every city has its own divisions. You wouldn't find a farmer's division in the capital city… but if you were a farmer visiting the capital city, you could still get work done by visiting the guild. Does that make sense?”

”I guess…” I said, scratching my head.

I wondered why it had to be so complex. It was the same with skills. Like, did you get better because you got a skill or did you get better, and the skill increased as a result? Nothing in this world seemed clean cut. Two people at wildly different levels with wildly different stats could fight each other. In this world, a tier 1 could kill a tier 3, with the right luck. It was almost like whoever created the leveling system tried to bring order to something without order. Life turned out to be too messy, and it resulted in a convoluted system where skills were infinite.

”I wonder why the skills system ended up like this, anyway.”

”Eh? You don't know?”

I grimaced, realizing I likely just revealed another one of those common-sense things I seemed to be lacking.

”I uh… forgot? Can you remind me?”

”Oh, well… I mean, this is just the story. But it's said some millennia ago there was an all-powerful god named Savior.”

”Savior?”

”Mm… yes. They supposedly discovered the human race in another world, a world where magic didn't exist, if you can imagine that.”

I gave a wry smile. ”How strange…”

”Right, well, Savior brought us to this world, but human beings had problems absorbing mana, that is, natural free-flowing magic. This was not a problem for the animals of this world. And the animals absorbed mana until they became monsters. The monsters began to attack and ravage the human population. Since they possessed magic, and we did not, they became obsessed with conquering humans, and ultimately lead to the creation of demons.

”Desperate to save the human race, Savior worked to modify humans to become better mana channels. He first created beastmen by mixing the animals that could absorb mana with the human bloodline. It failed no matter what Beastman he created. They were stronger, sure, but no mana. Then he created dwarves by mixing our blood with the earth, the source of the mana veins. However, it severely stunted their growth. Finally, it came to the elves by mixing our blood directly with the ether. He had succeeded, but the elves were practically infertile. Even now, elves are very difficult to impregnate.”

This explained a bit about why Min hadn't become knocked up with the goblins. In many ways, she was like me.

”So? How does the story end?”

”Ah… well… he found out that the thing humans needed most was time. We would absorb mana, but it took generations. We passed the abilities along in our blood. To buy us that time, he created the skill system to aid us. They're there to help us build ourselves, improve, and eventually conquer. But we weren't made with them, which is why they can sometimes be so wonky. That's also why so many humans are xenophobic. In a way, they see themselves as God's chosen. The demihumans are just god's accidents, and we were what God wanted all along.”

I was frowning, so he suddenly raised his hands. ”I'm not saying that's what I believe. It's just a story, anyway. Besides, Savior died 5 millennia ago against the first demon lord, so who cares what he wanted or didn't want.”

I nodded, but I was deep in thought considering the new information he had given me. That's how we ended up finding ourselves in front of my final destination, the enchanting craftsman. I entered the shop looking around as I did. There was a man in the front. He had short cropped hair and sharp looking eyes. He had kind of an intense look about him.

”Good Afternoon, I am Craftsman Pratter, how may I help you?”

”Ah… good afternoon, I am actually a princess from the castle. I came here to put in an order with you. Err… with a bit of privacy.”

Devon looked at me questioningly, but I quickly crossed the room and put my face close to Pratter's. He seemed to lean back a bit but otherwise lent me an ear.

”Can you make a small item for me? It needs to be smooth, and it needs to be enchanted to vibrate when you put magic into it.”

”Eh? Ah… I mean, you need an enchanted item? Right… I'm a craftsman, b-but it's my husband who handles the enchantments, so we'd need to consult him.”

”Sorry,” a voice came from the door, ”You'll have to excuse my cute lover here, he's a little shy around strangers. I'm usually the one who man's the lobby.”

The voice came from the door as a slightly heavyset man with a small pair of spectacles on his face stumbled in. He was holding a dozen rolled up parchments, and as he made it to the desk dumped them all on the desk right in front of Pratter, immediately making a mess.

”Ah, right, you're the enchanter?”

”That's right, are you here for something custom? It sounds like you might need the both of us. Shall I get some tea started and we have a consultation?”

That's how I ended up in the back of the shop sitting and drinking tea with these two men. They sat close to each other while the enchanter fretted over Pratter's clothing. I left Devon in the lobby. I took the shop in. In a few words, it was an absolute cluttered mess. Parchments, half-built knickknacks, and raw supplies seemed to fill up almost every corner of the room. After they finally settled down, the enchanter turned to me with a smile, while Pratter looked off in another direction seeming awkward.

”Let me introduce myself. I am the enchanter Sandor and this is my life partner and knickknack builder Pratter. If you need anything built using magic, we're your men. We don't do jewelry requests, and we don't make weapons. Mostly at home appliances. Cool boxes, Ovens. The basics for any woman on the go… or man for that matter.”