Syl

Chapter 81: Moonsong

Lisa's office was well-furnished but cluttered. Loose parchment and paper were scattered on every available surface. I looked around in shock and horror and wondered how she could find anything in this shamble. Seeing my reaction, she chuckled.

"Word of advice, Syl. Never become a Guild Master."

"I wonder if I should warn Roderick," I replied, earning a good laugh from Lisa.

"So what can I do for you two? I'd heard you cleared out the silver mine. Thanks for that."

"No problem. I gained a lot of experience and apparently earned a fortune, according to Thern."

"Oh?" Lisa asked inquisitively.

Luke cleared his throat before responding, looking somewhat embarrassed and unsure of how to breech the subject, "The salamander evolved into an inferno salamander, and Syl dealt with it and harvested its flame organ perfectly intact, as well as its lesser draconic scales."

"It evolved, and you still took it on? I didn't expect you to be so reckless."

"I thought the quest description was generic, like my other quest, which just said to kill spiders. I didn't know the original quest was for a regular salamander."

Lisa and Luke groaned in unison before Lisa said, "You're not exactly wrong. That generally applies to mass kill quests, but the quest description is supposed to be precise if it's for a solo monster."

"I'll keep that in mind in the future, but I dealt with it, I'm unharmed, and the miners get to continue their work. I don't see a problem."

"For you, maybe, but this is going to be a paperwork nightmare when we tell the city their quest was severely out of date or they lied about the submission," Lisa answered, rubbing her temples.

"Not to throw more on your plate, but Syl accepts the noble's dining request," Luke added.

Lisa shrugged, "That's actually not too bad. Johnathan is decent as far as nobles go. I'll let him know, as I expect he will want to take you to dinner tomorrow evening."

She looked me over and paused before asking, "Please tell me that's not your only outfit."

"I had another robe, but it was destroyed in the dungeon, and then I have leather armor."

"Nope! No way! I'm lending you an outfit. You will not be representing the guild dressed like that," Lisa said, gesturing at me.

Luke also seemed flabbergasted at my answer but lightly defended me, "Not that it would be appropriate for dinner, but she is getting a set of armor made from the draconic scales."

"Good! If you approached me looking like that, I'd refuse your promotion even if you slayed a dragon. You look like a fresh Iron-ranker when you're a Silver shooting for Gold." Lisa said, exasperated, before continuing, "Where's your femininity, Syl? I know you're friends with Whitney, who's quite the tomboy, but even she likes a good outfit."

I could only shrug at the accusations. Maybe I was doing Sylthaeryn's elven form a disservice, but I was a slime and felt very indifferent about it. At least the armor would potentially protect me, so it had a purpose.

"I'll send a dress to your room at the inn tomorrow morning; I have a few enchanted with size-altering, so it won't matter. I would have invited you to pick one, but I think it would be better left in my hands..." Lisa said, to which I hastily agreed.

"Also, I did the golems damage test."

"I was wondering what the commotion downstairs was; that explains it. I'm assuming you passed?"

"I did. But it also handed me this." I replied, pulling out the square token and placing it on her desk.

"Oh, looks like you've been invited to the Keld Kingdom. That's a rare opportunity. You must have really impressed his golem."

"I can't even [Identify] it. How is anyone supposed to know it's an invitation?"

"I don't think anyone but Keldenar himself can. It's a sound system against forgeries, as everyone wants to make a connection with the man who is capable of running an entire city single-handedly. You better keep that very safe."

"I will, although I'm not going to rush over. I had other plans."

"From what I heard, it's an open invitation, so there's no expiration date. You're certainly not the first to be invited, and many promising adventurers have received such a token. Although I'm surprised our golem even had one, considering we bought the cheapest available."

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I nodded and deposited the token in my storage this time since there was likely no safer place. We chatted briefly, during which I shared some details of my quest before Lisa had to excuse herself and get back to work. I thanked them for their time and returned to the inn since I had nothing else on my agenda.

With a swipe of my guild tag, I paid for my room and holed up until dinner, continuing to tinker with my spell. I was half expecting to run into someone from Roderick's party, but when I asked one of the inn staff, she said they were still in Kaerlin. They must have been out on a quest, so I hastily ate and returned to my room.

When I woke up, I spent the morning idly tinkering away at my spell until there was a knock at my door. One of the staff members handed me a package from Lisa. Inside was a dark blue dress made out of a high-quality fabric. I could see it was faintly glowing with magic, and [Identify] told me it had size-altering and self-repair. I threw the entire outfit into storage, assigned it an equipment profile, and swapped to it briefly to confirm everything was in place before swapping back to my regular attire.

"This skill is probably one of my favorites from a utility perspective. Messing with clothes is such a bother. Thanks again, Yuzz..." I murmured. I hoped she had survived.

I continued tinkering the rest of the day since I had nothing else to do until the evening. I had hoped to run into Whitney or Dewi, but they had yet to return from their quest. When dusk approached, I left my room and waited for my escort to arrive at the inn's common area. A guard eventually arrived, wearing armor significantly different from the gate guards in both embellishments and giving off a weak magic aura. He looked at me questioningly, and I could feel his disapproval of my casual outfit. Before he could complain, I triggered [Equipment Swap] and, in a flash of light, was instantly in the outfit prepared for me.

He nodded approvingly at my attire and escorted me to the inner city gate. I tried conversing, but he was strictly all business and stoically silent. Before entering the gate, he warned me that I would be held accountable if I caused a scene, elf, adventurer, or otherwise. We entered without issue other than a lot of attention from onlookers, and I could immediately see the difference in quality between the inner city and the outer city. The road wasn't just paved but tiled, and the buildings were all of much higher quality, each having more resources also put towards aesthetics rather than just their function. The outer city wasn't necessarily dirty, and compared to Stantondale, it was spotless, but you could effortlessly tell the difference compared to the inner city.

People gawked and stared at me as I was escorted along, openly gossiping and showing no shame or effort to hide it. I could only mentally grumble at Lisa for not picking a more subtle attire. I ensured I had [Elven Glamour] equipped, as I knew I'd be talking this evening and needed all the tools available.

Moonsong was a smaller building than I expected, considering its location in the inner city. I thanked my guard escort and walked to the entrance, and before I could even reach for the door, a friendly-looking staff member opened it.

"Greetings, Miss Syl, we've been expecting you. I shall escort you to your table."

The occupants were startled at my appearance and also made no attempts to hide their whispering. Johnathan was certainly getting his money's worth if he wanted the attention of inviting me here, and the dress Lisa loaned me only added fuel to the fire. I just kept thinking of the slime core I'd be getting and the possibilities it would unlock for me.

The ambiance of Moonsong was a sight to behold, as the entire establishment was darkened and illuminated by artificial starlight and a sizeable ornamental moon in the center of the building. Unfortunately, [Mana Sight] broke the illusion set up by the establishment, revealing it all as objects with minor enchantments inscribed. I thanked the staff and was led to a table where a well-dressed man was seated. Seeing me, he stood up and gave a short half-bow to greet me.

"Miss Syl, thank you ever so much for accepting my request. I must say, the rumors do not do your appearance justice at all."

"Thank you, Mister Green. I'm glad to have the opportunity to see the inner city and make your acquaintance." I replied, leaning heavily on [Acting] and [Elven Glamour].

"Please, please. Call me Johnathan; the only Mister Green is my father, and until I succeed him, I'm not worthy of it."

"Very well, Johnathan, but please just call me Syl."

"Gladly." He said with a charming smile.

He offered me a seat, and the waiter brought some water before Johnathan ordered proper drinks, which I left up to him since my knowledge of food and drink was limited to consumption only.

"If you don't mind me asking, what brings you out of the forest? We very rarely see elves."

"Adventure, mostly. I want to travel the world, and my current goal is to reach Gold rank."

"Ah yes, the wanderlust and fame of adventure. Sometimes, I regret choosing the merchant life."

"It seems to be doing well for you. You're the highest non-combat job I've ever seen."

"Thank you for the compliment. I can return it by saying you're both the first elf and Shadowcaster I've ever seen, and judging by your purchasing power, you must be extremely successful."

"Purchasing power?"

"Ah, do forgive me. One of my merchant skills gives me an impression of the wealth someone owns and another of how much their potential to earn is, and you are quite frankly off the charts. I'm truly grateful that my instincts told me to part with our magical tool and meet you."

"That's very interesting. I've heard very little about non-combat classes and only met a Chef and Crafter. How do you even level up?"

"Quite a common question, actually. I definitely can't attack monsters with my bank account, not directly anyway." Johnathan replied with a light chuckle, "Depending on the job, we earn experience by partaking in its natural activities. So, as a merchant, I gain experience by earning money, buying or selling goods, establishing trade deals, and even providing customer satisfaction."

"That actually sounds fascinating. If I didn't have to give up my current class, I'd want to try it."

"Well, you could always swap back and forth, but..." In a hushed voice, he leaned forward and said, "Now, you didn't hear this from me, but I've heard it is possible to get a second job, although the details of which seem to be a closely guarded secret."

"That's... Wow," I replied, baffled, as I couldn't sense that he was lying, at least not directly. This was going to be a fascinating evening.