Ray seems excited as she leads me down the busy streets towards the guild branch stationed in Fring. Just like most of the houses here it is built from steel cy but generally has the same shape as our guild.
As we enter the guild a lot of the talks go silent as they stare at us. We didn’t have many non-humans in the lower ranks but there were a lot of them in the staff, here though I don’t see a single non-human.
Coming up to the counter a brunette woman greets us, “Hello, how can I help you?”
“My name is Ray of the blue fox tribe and this is Thoma Ahad. We’re here to announce that we completed the quest to escort Mr.Kara to this city from Rostock and have arrived safely. We’ll probably be coming back in the afternoon to collect our rewards after getting a room. Here are our guild cards.”
“Alright, these look both in order. I’ll be writing you down as safe, Mr. Kara has not arrived yet to confirm your quest completion but he should get here soon. Have you had any problems on your trip?”
“We faced one forest Orc who blocked the road with a tree stump but after wounding him he retreated back to the forest.”
“Hmm, thank you for this information. It is a bit concerning that they are learning to build roadblocks now. Perhaps we need to start setting up eradication quests after all. Anyways, it says here you are going to accompany a different merchant group back to Rostock in two days, so until then please enjoy your stay.”
“Thanks, we will! Come on Thoma, let's go get our room and do some sight seeing!”
Ray then leads me to an inn full of people of different races. Many different types of Beastkin, a few Losta and regur Orcs that unlike forest Orcs aren’t very hairy, have pink skin and dress in normal clothes.
We then walk up to the reception, “Hi there, could we get two rooms for the next two days please?”
An older looking wolf beastkin answers, “Sure, do you want breakfast too?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“That will be four Big Bronze then for the two of you.”
“Is there a reason you’re getting two rooms instead of one?”
“Yeah, I’ll tell you ter.”
She pays for the rooms and the innkeep hands us both a key. Afterwards we both go up to the same room and put down our luggage.
“So? What’s the second room for?”
“Well…I have decided that now that we’re here I’m going to gain some new experiences by losing my xxx!”
“Okay? I don’t know what that means.”
“It means that I’m going to share the same bed with some men today and tomorrow.”
“Okay, are they guys you know?”
“Nope.”
“Isn’t that going to be a bit dangerous then? What if they’re bad guys?”
“Hmm…Good point, how about this, you stay outside my door when I invite them over and only when you specifically hear me call your name and nothing else do you come in and help me.”
“Why specifically my name? Am I not supposed to go in when I hear you scream?”
“No, you absolutely must only come in when you hear me scream your name and your name only.”
“Hmm, okay. Where are you going to find the men?”
“I’m going to a bar this evening and I’m taking you with me for safety reasons but you’re not allowed to drink any alcohol!”
“Okay.”
“Good. Until then though, let’s do some sight seeing!”
Walking around the giant city Ray leads me around. Our first stop are the sculpture houses.
They are a row of houses painted in different colors and shaped into interesting forms like a giant tree, the face of a woman with the eyes being made of windows or an exotic animal called an elephant.
“These were all made out of the same material as the white houses around here. Apparently the artist wanted to prove that the city doesn’t have to be white and identical and could instead be colorful and full of houses that represent the individuals living in them. But even though his idea was really cool, people didn’t really see it as more than just art.”
“Oh, I see. I think my favorite one is the tree.”
“Yeah I like that one too. It looks the closest to the actual thing it’s supposed to be out of the houses.”
“I’m a bit surprised though, ane. If you can be this creative with the steel cy why is everyone just building the same thing?”
“Hmm…Probably because it’s cheaper and because many people don’t want to stand out. You might get bullied or made fun of if your house is the only in the street that is different.”
“I see.”
Next, Ray leads me to the center of the town where a beautiful fountain stands in the middle. It is made of many statues of different beautiful human men and women of different jobs holding hands. Beneath them is a small replica of the city of Fring.
“Oooh this one is pretty.”
“Yep! The history behind it sucks but it’s definitely pretty.”
“What’s the story behind it?”
“Well…It was made as a sign of humanity standing above all. Apparently until fifty years ago it had non-human races cower in front of it but that part was removed for obvious reasons.”
“Huh…It definitely looks nicer this way then.”
“I agree. Come on, let's go somewhere else. I'm suddenly in a sour mood.”
“Sure, just one sec, there are a lot of water spirits here. I’m gonna ask them if they want to come with me.”
After trying to convince them for ten minutes I come back to Ray.
“Did you get one?”
“Nope, they said they prefer the fountain.”
“Don’t worry you’ll find one someday. Now come on, let's go eat something nice, then get our rewards from the guild and go to a bathhouse and have our clothes cleaned.”
“Sure! Let’s go.”
Next, we go to a pce that the innkeeper recommended to us. It’s full of non-humans. We order meatballs in cream sauce and fries. The food is delicious.
“This stuff is soooooooooo good! Right, oki?”
“Yeah! By the way ane, I have a question.”
“Sure! Ask away.”
“Is there a reason why we always go to pces without any humans around?”
“Oh…Well, it’s not because I don’t like humans if you were thinking that. It’s just…A little safer for me to go to pces where I know people will accept me as a non-human. But I guess you’d feel excluded if you’re the only Human all the time…”
“Oh, no it’s not that. I don’t mind it, I was just confused why it seems like most people are Human here but we always end up in pces without any of them there.”
“I see…Let’s go to a bar that’s a bit more mixed than this pce today.”
“Alright.”
We then finish eating and return to the guild. Ray is leading the way but then falls face first as if she tripped over something.
“Can’t even walk like a person can you? Go on and crawl if you prefer that, just don’t stink up the pce with your musk, dog.” One of the adventurers at the tables scoffs. He looks quite handsome and well off. He has long blonde curly hair and is wearing clothing partially made from silk.
I help Ray up to her feet again and say to him, “She's a Fox-Beastkin not a dog. You must not be very well informed. Maybe take some more quests outside the walls, you’ll see a lot of different animals that way.”
“Are you calling me stupid!?”
“Not necessarily stupid but not very well educated.”
I’m not sure why but my comment seems to amuse a lot of the other adventurers in the guild
“You wanna go bro?”
“Go where? I already went sightseeing. So, unless you got a good recommendation as a local, I don't really want to go anywhere with you.”
“You fucking whatever you are! Don’t py with me!”
He then stands up and walks up to me, while Ray tries to quietly get our quest money.
“I have connections you know!?” He scoffs and puts his hand on his sword hilt.
“I could literally have you-Ouch!”
Seeing as he threatened me with his weapon I quickly sweep his legs, pull out my dagger and hold it against his neck while staring him down.
“Ray get a guard or the guildmaster. This man just tried to kill me.”
“Are you crazy Thoma!? Just let him go, it’s best if you ignore people like this!”
“No, once you put your hand on your weapon when approaching someone you are trying to kill them. I’ve seen this py out in the docks multiple times. He was prepared to kill when he reached for his weapon which means he was prepared to die. You there, secretary, get the guildmaster.”
“Uhm, y-yes right away.”
A short time ter a jacked up man in his fifties comes down the stairs, he looks furious.
“Now what the hell is going on here!?”
“This person here just tried to kill me. I’m restraining him so the authorities can take him away.”
“And who the fuck are you!?”
“Thoma Ahad, I’m an adventurer from the branch in Rostock. My sister can give you my guild card.”
“Alright, first of all let Dan go!”
“Okay.” I stand up and put my dagger away.
“Now, to my office! All three of you!”
Ray lets out a sigh and follows the guildmaster, the adventurer and I following suit.
“Now then, who the fuck are you two to come into my branch and cause trouble?”
“You already know who we are; it says so on our Guild Cards.”
“Oy, are you trying to cause a fight with me boy!?”
“Okay hold up. Guildmaster, this is a misunderstanding. Thoma doesn’t understand a lot of xxx, he answers things pretty literally so he’s not trying to be a nuisance. As for this whole situation, Thoma is from the slums. This person approached him with his hand on his weapon and he overreacted because he expected to be killed.”
“Dan, is this true?”
“I mean, I might have had my hand there but only because this guy was insulting me and looks all intimidating. It was just for self defense.”
“Did you approach him?”
“Yeah, he was insulting me in front of the guild so I wanted to talk to him and then he suddenly attacked me!”
“Boy there is no such thing as approaching someone with their hand on their weapon in self defense! And you there, don’t go around to other branches and start insulting people!”
“I wasn’t insulting him.”
“You called me uneducated!”
“Yeah, you obviously are if you can’t tell that Ray is a Fox-Beastkin and not a Dog-Beastkin.”
“Don’t tell me you called her a dog, Dan…”
“I didn’t.”
“Sigh I’m going to be investigating this further. Until I’m done, neither of you leave the city.”
“Uhm, how long do you think this investigation is going to take? We have a quest to accompany merchants back to Rostock in two days.”
“It will take as long as it takes. I’ll also be talking to your guildmaster about this, so don’t think you’re getting away unscathed. You’re dismissed.”
