The trio of Lyle, Ascalon and Sylvana sat in the back of the cart taking them to the capital of Lisbea.
"Is everything ok back there?" The merchant asked his passengers.
"Yes, everything ok back there" Ascalon responded, he was the only one to do so, Sylvana was sleeping and Lyle was just looking down.
Ascalon noticed the bad mood of his friend and asked him why he was so turned down, after all, they had just saved a village! Lyle looked up at his friend with an empty look.
"No. You two saved the village, I basically did nothing." Lyle said to his friend with a depressed voice.
The axeman started to think of something he could say to comfort his friend.
"Without you we wouldn't have beaten them?" He said to himself in his thoughts, but after a bit of consideration he dismissed the idea, Lyle wouldn't believe that.
After brainstorming for a possible counter argument to his friend's statement, the only thing that could come out of his mouth was, "That's not true".
He felt like an idiot.
Lyle looked down again, Ascalon tried to come up with something that could comfort his friend, but this kind of stuff was not his strength, so at the end, the best he could do was to keep his mouth shut and not make him feel worse than he already does.
During the travel towards the capital not much happened, sometimes Ascalon and Stella talked about mundane stuff with the merchant, even though he asked their reasons for going to the capital, they kept their answers simple and made it sound like it wasn't a big deal. The entire trip, Lyle was turned down, a thing that Sylvana couldn't notice.
The trip towards the capital lasted 3 days, after waking up on the third day, Ascalon noticed that Lyle was not looking down, but looking at the horizon contemplating the outsides of the capital. The axeman thought this was an advance and that definitely the best thing he could do to help Lyle is to do nothing, because he really sucks at comforting people.
Lyle, Ascalon and Syl… Lyle and Ascalon looked amazed at the capital of Lisbea, a big city with enormous walls surrounding it, the blonde was the most amazed out of the two, he had never seen such a big city, so many buildings, this was all new to him, the amazement distracted him for a moment from his own depressive thoughts, which Ascalon almost mentions but stopped himself at the last moment upon noticing how stupid it would be for him to do that.
They entered the city, the capital of Lisbea was a enormous city, the streets filled with tons of people doing their own lives parallel to each other, every inch of the city felt like it was crowded to the top with people, the air was filled with essence of the food prepared by the restaurants of the place, of the fresh bread coming out of the bakeries, the melted iron from the blacksmiths and yet somehow the smell of the nature that surrounded the city could still be perceived on the air. Tons of whispers could be heard, the voices of all the people minding their own stuff, acting as if hundreds if not thousands of other people were living their own lives completely separated from theirs.
Upon the merchant had reached his destination, the trio descended from his cart and even helped him to take some of his stuff out of the cart. They walked away and began walking down the streets, Lyle and Ascalon couldn't help but to watch in amazement how big the city looked from the inside, it was really impressive to them.
The trio approached a merchant with an apple selling stand and asked for directions for both the castle and guild of the city, the man was kind to give them the directions despite not buying anything. Following the directions, they got to a division where they should split their paths in order to reach their destinies.
"Lyle, Ascalon, it was a pleasure to have your company during our journey, but I think it is time for our paths to separate", Sylvana said.
"Are you gonna be ok?" Lyle asked "You know, since you are blind and, well…"
The elf assured that there was no reason for them to worry about her and that she is a completely capable and trained guardian that can function on her own even in a place foreign to her. The friends said goodbye to the elf, who turned back and began walking towards the castle, only to immediately collide against a wood pole.
"Oh god, are you ok?" Lyle asked while Ascalon was trying to not laugh.
"Yes, yes I am" The elf said, trying to not look stupid. "On a second thought… I would appreciate it if you could accompany me to the castle, if it doesn't bother you two" Sylvana told them, swallowing the little, yet existing pride she had.
The pair had no problem accompanying the elf towards the castle, who after colliding against the pole a second time, decided that it would be better to walk behind the pair. It didn't take long for them to reach one of the bridges that leads to the castle that was surrounded by an enormous pit of water. They walked through the bridge and reached the doors of the castle. It was an enormous castle, with 8 towers standing imposingly, and those were only the ones in their field of vision.
The guards at the entrance of the castle asked for their purpose there. Sylvana told them that she had something important to talk about with the king of Lisbea and needed to see him as soon as possible.
"Alright, we'll escort you to him" One of the guards responded.
"You don't understand, it's… Wait, you said yes?" Sylvana asked very confusedly, she was not expecting them to just let her in so easily.
"Well, the king's guard is very competent, we don't have to worry too much with that part, besides for an elf to come here in person, it must be something important." The same guard answered.
The elf was surprised by the kindness and understanding of the guards, the guard that hadn't talked to her called another two guards to guard while they escorted Sylvana. Before getting into the castle, the elf and the friends said goodbye, this time for real.
Lyle and Ascalon walked back into the city, they followed some signs that would guide them to the guild of the city, they were amazed by the city, Lyle mostly, he felt like just in that street there were more people than there ever was in his village. Thinking about that turned him down again. Something that the axeman didn't notice because he was looking at all of the stalls that were on that street, but he also looked at something else, their clothing, they were still wearing their ashy and slightly burned clothes, and they stinked.
Before making it to the guild, Ascalon dragged his friend into a clothing shop for some new clothes. They were received by the dependent of the shop, Margaret, a mature looking woman with an ample bust that greeted the friends.
"Welcome to my shop, how may I serve you?" She said with kindness, but she quickly noticed something, that Lyle and Ascalon smelled pretty bad.
"Oh for Eternal… what a smell" She said covering her nose.
"Sorry for that, we spent the past few days traveling to this city…" Ascalon said apologetically.
"Don't worry, I'm prepared for situations like this" The dependent said, after which she casted a spell that covered both Lyle and Ascalon, a spell that cleaned them up. "If there is something I hate that is bad smells, so I have a spell for it, just in case" She said.
"Wow, that's an impressive spell" Ascalon said "Is it water magic based?".
The dependent smiled "Yes, it is!".
Margaret guided the friends through her small shop, showing them some of the clothes she had to offer. Ascalon looked around with her while Lyle was amazed by the shop. It was like watching his dreams come true, like, this is the kind of shop he had dreamed of to have. But his thoughts were interrupted by Margaret, who showed them some clothes that could be of their interest.
At the end, Ascalon bought a white shirt with dark pants while Lyle went with a yellow shirt with brown pants, they didn't went for something too flashy, they used a part of the gold they had obtained in Flower town to pay, and upon leaving the clothing shop they noticed that there was a blacksmith in front of it, so they used almost everything of what was left of the gold they got from Flower town for iron chest plates and iron boots.
Now, with decent clothes and the new pieces of armor, they headed straight to the guild. It took them a while to be able to locate it, neither of them were used to walking through a place as big as the capital was, but they eventually managed to get to the guild.
The guild was a big building made out of stone, inside, there were many tables all over the place, some stairs that guided to the upper floors of the building, at the back of the room there were two boards, one in the middle that was really big, and another to its left that was not as big, the place seemed oddly empty, not a single person in sight. They looked around a bit until they were called out by a mature looking woman behind a counter.
"Are you two new around here?" She asked.
"Yes, we are", Ascalon responded as he and Lyle approached her.
"Well, it's nice to meet some new faces, my name is Ladia, you may call me Lady Ladia, I attend the guild of this city. Let me explain how things work around here" The woman said, Lyle and Ascalon listened with attention.
"In the big board over there missions will be put for anyone to take them at any time, the only thing you have to do is come with me to request the mission, I maintain a register with every mission ongoing and if they have been taken already so I can tell you if someone is already working on it, a mission will not be retired off the board until someone completes it or the one who requested it decides to retire the mission, was I clear?".
Both Ascalon and Lyle nodded.
"Great" Lady Ladia said "Also, if you don't have where to stay, the guild also offers rooms for anyone to stay during night, for a small price of course, but since you are clearly new at all of this I'll be kind and let you stay for free this night" The woman told them with a smile. Lyle and Ascalon were more than pleased to hear that and thanked her for the offer, they were not gonna miss it.
"By the way, what is the little board next to the big one for? You said the big one is for the missions, but what about the other one? Or is it just an extension?" Lyle asked.
Lady Ladia leaded one of her hands to her mouth. "Oh, my bad, I forgot to mention it, but that board is for people looking to recruit new members into their parties, if you want to join someone you can check the recruitment poster or if you want someone to join you, you can put a recruitment poster of your own!". She mentioned.
Ascalon didn't really seem to care about that, but Lyle did, he told Ascalon that they should try looking for someone else to join them. Ascalon tried to dismiss that, claiming that they did not need anyone else, but Lyle argued that if they were more, not only would missions be easier but also it meant they could have another training partner. The axeman couldn't really give any counter arguments to his friend's statements, so he accepted, but that they would only accept one person to join them. That was fine by Lyle.
The lady attending the guild gave them a feather and a piece of paper to write their recruitment poster, it was done without much effort put on from Ascalon, who put it on the recruitment board. Lyle questioned that in the poster it said that they would be recruiting the next day, to which Ascalon told his friend that they should spend the day getting to know the city better.
And so they did, Lyle and Ascalon spent the rest of the day walking around the city, familiarizing with the environment and memorizing points of interest that they could visit whenever necessary, such as some restaurants and both the clothing shop and blacksmith they had already visited.
Night arrived, and it was much of a surprise for them both how alive the city still was at such hours, not only that but also how those poles on the streets began to shine, illuminating the darkness that loomed over the city. Lyle wondered what kind of magic they used for that. Ascalon thought it had to be some enchanted rock or something like that.
They headed back to the guild, this time there were some people at the place, sitting on the tables minding their own stuff. They asked Lady Ladia about the room she had offered and she guided them upstairs to a room with two beds that they could use for free that night only. Ascalon and Lyle finally had a night of proper sleep after many days, well… at least Ascalon did, the beds were comfy, they weren't something incredible but it sure was better than a cart.
The next day, both Lyle and Ascalon were sitting at one of the tables in the first floor of the guild, waiting for anyone who had readed their recruitment poster and was interested in joining them, there were like three other people at the moment, but their presence was completely irrelevant for the pair. Ascalon didn't have any hopes, nor wanted, for someone to show up, their poster was shitty and he expected that it would make people automatically not interested, but unexpectedly, someone actually showed up.
Around 10 AM, a girl that seemed around their age entered the guild, she seemed to be about half a head shorter than Lyle standing, her hair, tied up in a ponytail, as well as her eyes were of a light brown color, her skin was radiant and her attire was one that really caught the attention and caused her curves to be pretty highlighting, a white sleeveless top and a white skirt that wasn't really long. The girl looked at them and smiled as she approached them, swaying her hips in a sensual manner that made Lyle get nervous.
The girl stood before them and leaned in, supporting her hands against the table as she pressed her arms against her chest.
"Hello there, are you Lyle and Ascalon?" She asked in a sensual tone.
Lyle was blushing hard, Ascalon was not, but he sure was confused that someone actually got interested by their poster.
"Yes, that's us", Ascalon said.
The girl stood straight and put one of her arms under her chest to lift it slightly.
"In that case, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Stella, and yesterday I couldn't evade but to get my attention caught by your poster" She said with her sensual tone.
"That shit we made in 1 minute?" Ascalon asked.
"Why? Like, seriously, why?" He added.
Stella giggled. "Yes, it might look weird, but my instincts told me, 'you should give them a shot'". She replied with a smile.
Ascalon was not convinced by her words while Lyle was looking down all nervous, he had never seen a girl like her in his life. Stella leaned into Lyle, causing her chest to be close to the blonde's face, which just increased his blushing and nervousness.
"Are you ok?" She asked in a playful tone "I know one thing or two about medicine, I could treat any disease you may have".
Lyle tried to tell her that he was not ill, but he could barely make up any words with the sight in front of his eyes, then there was Ascalon who got a bit curious about what she had said.
"Medicine?" He asked.
The girl stood straight once again and walked closer to Ascalon, Lyle was relieved. "Correct, I have some knowledge in medicines, I know what herbs are useful for and can even make potions to treat different illnesses!" She said with confidence.
"Well, that sounds good, but I don't see how that could help us during a mission." He told her. Stella smiled.
"That is correct, but what could be useful during missions is my ability to use healing magic!"
She exclaimed, Lyle looked a bit confused, he knew some types of magic but he really hadn't ever heard of the healing magic.
"That's a thing? I had never heard of it" He said, still with a slight blush in his face.
The girl looked back at Lyle.
"Oh, you must be from a small town, don't you? Healing magic isn't really known outside of cities like this because of how rare it is" She said. "Unlike other magics, healing magic can't be learned, you actually have to be born with the capacity to use it".
Lyle looked surprised by what Stella told him, Ascalon not much.
"Well, I do have heard of healing magic before" The axeman said.
"And aside from what you told us, I think you forgot to mention two things, the first is that you can't use magic in an offensive way, or learn other magics for that matter, and two, healers are very fragile, and we can't maintain on focus on making sure you don't get killed at all times!" He added.
Stella grinned. "Well, yes, that may be true, especially the part of me only being to be a support for you, but the part of being fragile, let me tell you that I'm not like those other healers made out of glass. I'm actually pretty durable" She declared
"In more than one sense may I say" She added in her sensual tone, causing Lyle to blush again.
"Uh huh" Ascalon said, not really buying what she was saying.
"Lyle, can I talk to you for a second? In private" He said. Ascalon dragged Lyle not too far from Stella.
Ascalon whispered to his friend "I don't think we should accept her"
"Huh? I mean, yes, she makes me really nervous, but I think that at bare minimum we should let her show us her skills" Lyle whispered.
"Come on, Lyle, just look at her, do you really have high hopes for someone who looks like that?" Ascalon asked. They both looked back at her for a moment, Stella waved at them.
"I don't think we should judge her for her clothes, but rather how she does on a mission. Although, I have a question, can healers regenerate limbs?" Lyle whispered to his friend.
"Yes I can!" The healer exclaimed from a distance, the friends weren't whispering that low.
"If that's true, that means she can be very useful!" Lyle declared.
"I thought you wanted someone you could train with", Ascalon argued.
"I said it could be, not that I wanted one" Lyle replied.
"Lyle… I know who you are, we've known each other for a long time, but think a bit!" Ascalon exclaimed. "Her instinct told her to respond to our poster? Bullshit! I bet she's only trying to join us because everyone else has rejected her!"
Stella looked away.
"Even if that's true" Lyle responded "I still think we should give her a chance. My dad always told me that I shouldn't judge someone from what other people said, and instead I should try knowing them myself before making an opinion of them myself" He said with a hint of nostalgia. "We don't lose anything".
Ascalon sighed and reluctantly decided to give Stella a chance to prove herself. They both walk back near Stella and tell them that they'll give her the chance to prove that she is worthy as a team member. The healer clapped and thanked them for the chance.
The three of them walked into the mission board, where they would choose a mission that would not only be a test for Stella, but also their first mission ever as adventurers.