“What’s a guild?” Safa asked curiously.
“A guild is a place where mages gather under one banner,” Aurora explained. “I think the closest thing in Pagna would be your Clans. But here, guilds are for people like Raze and me, people who know how to use magic.”
She gestured toward the towering building in front of them.
“There are different types of guilds, each with its own focus. Some deal with research, some are mercenary-based, some are political… but the point is, they’re united by purpose. And just like Clans, some guilds are more prestigious than others. That one up there… that’s the Glory Guild. It used to be one of the most well-known and powerful guilds in all of Alterian.”
“Used to be?” Dame caught onto her words, frowning.
“Yeah… that’s because, ” Aurora paused, uncertain.
“Because their leader is gone,” Raze answered for her. “The mage who attacked Pagna during the chaos in Alter… that was their leader. And even though Enaxx was defeated, the rest of his guild wasn’t.”
The others fell silent, letting the truth sink in.
Raze’s thoughts wandered as he stared up at the grand structure. It’s been over a week since Enaxx was sent to Pagna. Are the guilds beginning to worry? What about the Grand Magus?
Most guild members don’t know what their leaders are truly involved in. But the Glory Guild is different. Their high-ranking mages… they’re scum. If I had the power, I’d erase them all. Even with the people I have now, I’m not sure it would be enough.
As the group continued walking, their attention shifted back to the city around them. The technology, the architecture, the sheer presence of magic, it was all like something out of a dream. Compared to Pagna, it was night and day.
That’s when Aurora suddenly perked up.
“Oh! Is anyone else starving? We have to try Alterian food!” she said excitedly. “You guys have never tasted anything like it. And this is one of my favorite chains!”
A chorus of grumbling stomachs followed. They hadn’t even noticed how hungry they were until she said something. Whether it was from the teleportation or just curiosity, the mention of foreign food got everyone’s attention, even if a few were secretly nervous.
Still, they followed Aurora inside a sleek, modern building and took their seats.
“There’s no servers?” Safa asked, looking around the bustling restaurant.
“Nope,” Aurora said with a smile. “You just sit down, and the menu will appear in front of you. It’s easier to show than to explain.”
Sure enough, the moment they settled in, a glowing screen appeared on the table, displaying the full menu.
The restaurant was lively, nearly three-quarters full with about thirty tables. Even though the Pagna crew couldn’t read the Alterian language, they used the photos as a guide. But even then, it was difficult to decide what to order.
Raze leaned over to help Safa and Beatrix navigate the options, while Aurora took charge of explaining to Dame and Liam on the other side.
Eventually, the orders were placed, and in moments, their food arrived, floating gracefully through the air and landing perfectly in front of them.
“I have no idea what I picked, but it smells amazing,” Liam said, already digging in. The others followed without hesitation.
The flavors were extraordinary, enhanced by various magical techniques that made their mouths water from the scent alone. They devoured every bite, unable to resist going back for more.
Using the screen, they continued to order food, and it continued to come to them. It truly was like magic, and there was a disconnect for what was happening as they didn’t even see the chef’s cooking as they would have done in Alterian.
“What… what is this?” Liam gasped, nearly in tears. “Why does it taste this good?!”
“That’s called flavor,” Raze replied, grinning. “You can thank magical researchers and culinary scientists for that. When they combined their knowledge, they created meals like this.”
“I don’t care what happens next,” Liam declared between mouthfuls. “I’m never going back to Pagna after eating this!”
The entire group ate until they were full, enjoying every second. But then came the moment no one had thought about.
The bill.
“Don’t worry, Raze. I’ve got this,” Aurora said confidently, reaching into her pocket. And then she froze. “Oh. Right… I don’t have anything on me. I guess… you’ll have to cover it, Raze.”
“Me?” Raze blinked. “You think I’ve been in Pagna all this time with access to Credits?”
“They don’t take coins?” Safa guessed. “Or Alterian money either?”
“It’s fine,” Beatrix said hopefully. “We’ll just explain what happened. They’ll understand… right?”
They tapped the table to flag an issue on the screen, and for the first time since they entered, an actual staff member came out to speak with them.
“I hope you all enjoyed your meals,” the manager said politely, rubbing his hands together. “Is there a problem I can help with?”
“Yeah,” Raze said calmly. “None of us brought our, uh, bracers. So we don’t have a way to pay with Credits.”
“…None of you?” the manager repeated, raising an eyebrow. “So, you’re telling me that all six of you went out, without the most basic item everyone carries, and ordered food without thinking once about how you’d pay for it?”
His tone had shifted. The warmth in his voice was gone.
“It’s pretty clear you didn’t plan to pay in the first place,” he muttered. “What did you think this was? A free buffet? I’m a hardworking man, and you’re wasting my time. I’m calling the police.”
“The police?” Safa whispered to Raze.
“They’re… like this world’s version of city guards,” Raze muttered. “And this… is not the best situation to be in.”
****
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Chapter 1280: Toruble Already? (Part 1)
“The city guards, that’s not good, right?” Safa asked.
Seeing how advanced and different everything was in Alterian so far, she had no idea just how powerful these city guards would be.
If they were meant to keep the peace in a world filled with magic, they had to have some type of power.
“Hey, Raze, can’t you do something? I mean, if you were in Pagna right now you could just say your name, or they would even give you the whole meal for free. Can’t you do something in this world?” Liam asked.
Raze didn’t say anything. Because even though his name was infamous in Alterian, it was good rather than bad, and just based on looks alone they wouldn’t believe him either way.
“It’s okay, there is always another solution,” Dame said, raising his fists.
“That won’t work,” Raze answered. “If we fight here, we’ll be wanted all across the land, and we won’t be able to walk. The best solution is not to solve this one with our fists.”
“Hey!” Liam shouted. “Don’t you know who this guy is, he’s the Dar, “
Before Liam could finish his sentence, Aurora kicked his shin from behind and then placed her hand over his mouth.
“Ignore my friend here, he’s just tense about the situation. Is there anything we can do at all, any other way we can pay you?” Aurora asked.
“I don’t want any money from you scammers. For not a single one of you to bring any type of device on you to pay, meant that you came in here with no intention to pay in the first place!” the manager shouted. “Look at how some of you are dressed, are you all underground dwellers? It’s no wonder!”
Raze then stepped forward, moving past Aurora. Those words had gotten to him a little, for he was an underground dweller, that was where his family began, and where they lived.
The dark side of Alterian that was rarely shown to those on the surface, and for the people that used those words, it was how they insulted the others.
Raze then placed out his hand fast. So fast it had jolted the manager back.
“I am a new mage who has just come to the city. Due to circumstances I was meant to treat all of these people here, but I ended up forgetting a number of things.” Raze then opened the palm of his hand. “In my hand I have a power stone. It should be more than enough to cover the meal.”
The bright power stone could be seen in Raze’s hand. It had to be around a level 4 stone.
At this stage for Raze, it was quite useless, but it was something that could be sold for a large sum in Pagna and Alterian, and everyone knew this.
However, the manager looked at the stone, and then with a hand, slapped it away. As it left Raze’s hand, Beatrix managed to quickly catch it in the air with her fast reflexes.
The manager had blinked a few times, as he had never seen someone move their arm that fast, and he thought he must have seen things.
However, due to the commotion, quite a few people were looking from their tables and seats at what was happening.
And they had witnessed the fast reflex from Beatrix. She had reached her hand out on instinct.
“Was that some type of magic?”
“No, I think she just moved her hand. Maybe an enchantment she’s using.”
“Are they mages then? But if they were, why would they have trouble paying?”
Seeing how the power stone was slapped out of Raze’s hand, Dame had decided to move in closer.
“I’m just making sure Raze isn’t the one that snaps here,” Dame said. “After all, he said it would be bad news if we were to do anything right now.”
“Get that fake power stone out of here. If you had the type of money to buy the real thing, then you wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place!” the manager shouted. “All of you are trying to make a fool out of me. Wait right here until the police arrive.”
Aurora was getting more nervous by the second.
“It’s okay. We can talk the situation out, right? I’m sure these police will be reasonable people as well,” Safa said with a soft smile. “This is just a simple mistake.”
Aurora was hoping that would be the case because if not…
“Raze, none of the others are registered, and if the police take us in, they’ll find out,” Aurora whispered.
Not being registered meant not being in the Alterian system. Which also meant that they would be treated as underdwellers and sent back down to the ground.
Not that underdwellers couldn’t come up, Raze did, and changed his life due to the magic he had, but when they did, they would be shoved back down fairly quickly.
“Not just that, but if they run me and see I am registered, it’s just going to bring trouble for everyone who’s here,” she said, worried.
Raze let out a big sigh, as he was racking his head about what he was going to do. What he could do.
Smooth talking to people wasn’t his forte, that was for sure, and with the others around them being suspicious, it wasn’t going to be good either.
Just then the door opened, and several men in uniforms wearing black and white blazers had walked in.
By their sides they had crafted items. These were the police force of Alterian.
“All right, we have come here due to a disturbance. So will someone explain what is going on?” the policeman asked.
*****
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Chapter 1281: Toruble Already? (Part 2)
The police had come in and immediately started talking to the manager since he was the one making the report.
Frantically, the manager was telling them how he had been scammed and how they weren’t even offering to pay.
When the police came over to speak to the others, Aurora stood in front of them, doing all of the explaining herself.
“Officer, the situation is a bit strange, but we’re happy to pay, even double, if we can. It’s just that none of us decided to bring our devices today. I know it sounds odd, but we’ve just come back from a very long trip, and we’re tired,” Aurora said. “And then we were so hungry, we just forgot.
“We even offered other forms of payment, such as a power stone.”
“Oh!” one of the officers said, stepping over to take a look at the power stone being shown. “So are there mages among you, then?”
“Three,” Raze answered. “Three of us are mages. We’re escorting these people and showing them around the city. They live in the countryside.”
The policemen looked the others up and down.
“That would explain the clothing then. Let’s have a look at this power stone. Reight, you know more about this stuff than I do, have a look.”
The power stone was tossed over, and Officer Reight held it up in the air. He could tell straight away that it was the real deal, and it was quite a high-ranked one.
“This is the real thing… but you’re just carrying this around, are you, when you don’t even have a credit item?” the officer replied. “That’s a bit strange in itself. And with this level of power stone, you could buy the whole restaurant a meal if you wanted to.”
The manager stumbled back and hit his back against a table.
“It could pay for the whole restaurant?” the manager asked.
“Well, even more so. I meant it would cover your earnings for a week at least, even if this place was packed. If anything, handing over this power stone is a little too generous,” Officer Reight commented.
The manager looked at those who had come in again. He was wondering how it was possible and why they would have done such a thing, but his tone had changed almost immediately.
“Don’t worry about it,” the manager said. “If I take the stone instead as payment, all will be forgiven, yes? So let’s just take the stone and I’ll drop the report.”
The manager was already reaching out for the stone when the police officer pulled it away.
“I’m sorry, but I’m keeping this as part of our investigation,” the officer said. “Now, separate from your dine-and-dash issue, it feels like we have something bigger on our hands.
“Not a single one of you having a payment device, even if you’re from the countryside, makes no sense. Yet you carry a stone like this?
“What would make more sense is if all of you are from the underdwellers and happened to steal this stone, isn’t that correct?”
“Steal?!” Aurora said, stunned. “We would never do such a thing! How could you even come up with an idea like that? Like I said, we’re happy to pay, just let us come back. Or they can keep that stone for now.”
The other officer had been thinking for a while when he came up with a question of his own.
“If you two are mages, why don’t you just call someone from the academy, or someone from the guild you’re in, to help sort this issue out?
“Heck, why didn’t you guys just call anyone? If these are the only group of friends you have around you, then we’re going to have to take you all in for questioning,” the officer said.
There was a lot of back and forth, mainly with Aurora trying to calm the officers down, and there was the manager trying to do whatever he could to get his hands on the crystal.
Still, it didn’t look like they were going to get out of the situation any time soon, and that’s when Raze thought back to what Liam had said not too long ago.
A way to mention my name… so we can get out of this situation. A way to be helped, no matter what the cause?
It was a risky move, and Raze wasn’t sure it would work. The manager, the people in the restaurant, and then three of the officers…
There was a large amount of people there, but the number of people that could actually help them in this situation was far fewer. In the end, he had to go for it.
“You told us to contact the guild?” Raze asked. “There’s a reason why we can’t do that. I assure you it’s an important one, and we will make sure to pay the fee no matter what.”
Then Raze cleared his throat as he grew a little nervous, but he said it out loud anyway.
“Fear the unseen!” Raze called out.
The restaurant customers, the manager, and the rest around Raze were wondering why he would say those words. What meaning could they possibly have? It felt so random.
Then finally, one person spoke up.
“It’s okay,” Reight said. “Here’s the crystal back.” He handed the crystal over to Aurora. “What we’ll do is keep tabs on this place. It’s not a big deal. They said they would pay, so let’s take their word for it for now.
“If they don’t pay within two days, give us a call, and we’ll track them back. And as for the rest of you, feel free to go.”
The situation had completely turned on its head, almost a 180, and then Officer Reight walked in and whispered into Raze’s ear.
“For we are always near.”
***
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