Wolfblade

"Can we go now?" Bald Bill gave a dry, awkward laugh.

"You certainly know how to bend and stretch, though your judgment leaves much to be desired," Anse said indifferently.

"You are absolutely right, My Lord." Bald Bill kept up the obsequious smile, though he couldn't help but vent his thoughts internally:

Do you guys even own a mirror? You're covered in dirt and rags. The one in the back looks like a savage, the one in front is a laborer, and your weapons look like antiques. The three of you combined couldn't even scrape together a single suit of armor...

Anse had no idea what the man was thinking; he had always felt quite good about himself.

"I have a question for you: have you seen any Magic Initiates from Fabian's Mage Tower who also came from the Brampton District?"

"Uh," Bald Bill pondered for a few seconds before shaking his head. "No impression of them."

"Then from whom did you hear that mages can't perform spellcasting?" It was suspicious that someone would dare provoke a mage.

"It's all over the place. There's a cult recruiting people, claiming the world is changing and a blue storm that will sweep away everything is coming. They say if you join them, you'll receive a legendary blessing: the Divine Scar, and master some kind of magical power..."

"The Blue Flame Cult?"

"That sounds like the name."

"You may go. I hope we don't run into each other again."

"We wouldn't dare, we wouldn't dare..."

Anse swept his gaze around, and the surrounding crowd quickly averted their eyes.

"Let's go. To the Adventurers Guild."

The three of them walked away quickly. People had already started to notice them, and staying any longer would only invite trouble.

Brat's expression was grim. If he hadn't been soft-hearted earlier, letting the others think they were easy targets, the conflict might not have happened.

"It has nothing to do with you." Anse walked a few steps to his side. "Some people have noses sharper than dogs. With us carrying so much gear, conflict is inevitable. It was a good opportunity to intimidate the others."

"Mm," Brat replied.

Now that they were a small team, he couldn't help but consider more things.

"What is the Blue Flame Cult?" he asked, changing the subject.

"A cult that emerged during the Arcane Blight. With the return of the Goddess of Magic, it should have long since vanished into history. It's likely some people with ulterior motives are impersonating them to profit," Anse explained briefly.

"Oh." A strange, mocking smile appeared on Brat's face. "I never thought there would come a day when spellcasters would be considered soft targets."

Anse chuckled and remained silent.

Mages had always been high and mighty, synonymous with status and wealth. Now that they had fallen into the mud, many people wanted to come over and kick them while they were down.

But he knew this was only temporary. The mage community had never lacked geniuses.

Livington District was not particularly large. A main road extended south from the Flying Dragon Bridge, cutting through the entire district and leading straight to the coastal highway outside the city.

This street was the most prosperous in Livington, also known as Middle Street. The buildings on both sides were tall and imposing, and with constant patrols and guards, the public order and sanitation were far better than elsewhere.

Brat led the way, guiding them to the iconic gray-white stone building on the east side of the main thoroughfare.

The stone building was five stories high, occupied over a thousand square meters, and featured a backyard, behind which sat an even larger warehouse.

"I've been here before," Anse recalled.

He was a local, but he had known of this place without ever entering, as those adventurers with swords and blades looked quite dangerous.

"This is a branch of the Watchers Guild. The headquarters is in the Sea Tower District, and it's one of the most famous Adventurers Guilds in Faerûn..." Brat explained.

Toril was vast, and almost all guilds were local organizations. Even the strongest guilds could not cover the entire continent of Faerûn; communication alone was a massive problem.

Baldur's Gate had several Adventurers Guilds, and the Watchers Guild was the largest. It was primarily distributed along the Sword Coast, with dozens of branches radiating out over a thousand kilometers around Baldur's Gate. It ranked in the top ten among all Adventurers Guilds and was considered quite powerful.

Like other Adventurers Guilds, the core business of the Watchers Guild was accepting commissions, including adventuring, exploration, escorting, and procurement. Additionally, they handled intelligence trading, the sale of equipment and materials, lodging, dining, medical services, and skills training.

In essence, it was an adventure service agency driven by profit.

"There are a lot of people," Finn said, looking at the bustling crowd. His face returned to that stiff, expressionless mask—a classic case of a socially anxious youth.

Anse patted Brat on the shoulder. "It's up to you now."

"Let's go. First, let's get the latest intelligence." Brat stepped onto the stairs and headed straight for the hall, with Anse and the others following closely behind.

The first-floor hall was two stories high, and its three walls were covered with various commissions, divided into five areas by color.

Facing the entrance was a row of windows specifically designed to provide various services to adventurers.

Brat scanned the room, familiar memories surfacing in his mind, his eyes filled with a touch of nostalgia.

He led the two of them straight to a row of bulletin boards in the center of the hall. "This is the announcement area. It contains public information, which is a quick way to understand recent events..."

Anse scanned the boards and found that most were major events around Baldur's Gate, arranged chronologically. There were headlines from the past three years, though the content was far too brief.

"It's about the same as the Baldur's Gate Gazette," he shook his head.

"Haha, most of it is just copied from the Gazette," Brat laughed. "You don't think you'd get the truly valuable intelligence for free, do you?"

Anse twitched his mouth. He hadn't expected such a tactic; he wondered if they had paid any copyright fees.

He followed the posting dates forward, finding the most recent notices.

[Dalereckoning 1699, Month of Summer Tides: The Weave is in turmoil, triggering constant natural disasters. The city of Baldur's Gate has fallen, connecting to the Underdark...]

[Gray Dwarves invade Baldur's Gate; the Flaming Fist suffers a crushing defeat...]

"Nothing useful here." He shook his head, feeling somewhat disappointed.

He wanted to know the reactions of the other parties within the Lords' Alliance—was there any aid? Were there other disasters across Faerun, or perhaps blue-flame ribbon storms?

Information in this world was too restricted. One could only grasp a general understanding of their immediate area; other regions were like a dense fog, accessible only through hearsay, which he found difficult to adapt to.

"You can buy intelligence, but it's expensive," Brat laughed. "Come, let's get settled first."

"Alright."

He led the two of them toward the north window area, following a side corridor into another small hall. A banner was mounted horizontally on the wall, inscribed with the words "Adventurers Home."

The small hall featured a counter where a Halfling sat, fiddling with a few dice.

Brat pulled a small, silver, shield-shaped badge from his tunic and placed it on the counter. "We need a large room."

The Halfling looked up at them, picked up the badge, and began to register them: "Wolfblade, ID number 0071-02-05-237529, Intermediate Adventurer. One large room, 5 silver coins per night. Only room and water provided. How many nights?"

"Just one night for now." Ignoring Anse's strange look, Brat pulled a large money pouch from his bundle and counted out 60 copper coins onto the counter.

Seeing only copper coins, the Halfling looked somewhat dissatisfied. He leaned over the counter, stretched out his hairy little hands to count for a long time, and upon confirming there were 10 extra copper coins, his face immediately blossomed with joy.

"Right, right..."

He muttered as he tucked the 10 copper coins into his own money pouch, swept the remaining coins into a drawer, and grabbed a key from under the counter, tossing it to Brat.

"You're lucky; only two rooms left. Go to room 28 on the third floor. It's sun-facing, clean, and has a washroom. Rest easy—if anything goes missing, we'll compensate you."

"Many thanks, many thanks." Brat retrieved his adventurer's badge, waved at Anse and the other, and stepped onto the staircase in the corner of the hall.

Anse watched the entire process without speaking, leaving everything to Brat.

Once they reached the third floor and saw the corridor was empty, he couldn't help but ask, "Wolfblade? Is that even a species?"

He had nearly lost his composure upon hearing the name; if he hadn't transmigrated, he would have thought Brat was a fan of Dao Lang.

Brat gave an awkward laugh. "It is. Because I have green eyes and my canine teeth were prominent when I was a kid, my companions said I looked like a wolfblade, so... haha..."

"Haha..." Anse smiled amusedly; Brat's canine teeth were indeed quite distinctive. "I'm surprised there are still empty rooms here. I thought it would be packed."

"The Adventurers Guild only provides lodging and food for Intermediate Adventurers and above. Each person can open at most one room, but they can bring two people along," Brat explained.

"Hmm, if there weren't a threshold, I'm afraid we wouldn't have had a chance to stay here," Anse thought, feeling secretly relieved. "How are adventurers ranked?"

"Adventurers and adventurer parties are both divided into levels 1 through 5," Brat replied. "Though people are accustomed to calling them Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Master, and Legendary.

Some guilds also name them by the material of the badge: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Arcana..."