Chapter 399: Arriving

"You’re the Adventurer Guildmaster."

For several seconds after Orwin said those words, the people standing around Sage simply stared.

The reaction spread quickly because half the caravan had already gathered near the dead Ironback Direwolves, and it only took one merchant loudly asking whether Orwin was serious before everyone nearby began listening.

Sage had considered denying it, but there wasn’t much point now. Between his name, the way he had identified the monsters, Mina’s disastrous attempt to hide her laughter the previous night and the fact that he was traveling with two people from Evergreen, the merchant had already assembled enough pieces.

Sage gave a small sigh and nodded. "Sage Alistair. Guildmaster of the Adventurer Guild."

The response wasn’t nearly as dramatic as Boren seemed to expect.

Nobody dropped to their knees, and nobody started shouting. Instead, Sage watched suspicion turn into surprise, then curiosity.

Several merchants immediately began whispering among themselves, while the mercenary captain looked between Sage and the dead B-Rank Alpha as though the revelation explained several things at once.

Orwin was the first to recover. "You sat beside us last night while we spent an hour talking about you."

"I noticed."

"And you didn’t think to say anything?"

Sage glanced toward Mina, whose lips were already twitching. "I was enjoying the theories."

That broke some of the tension. Several merchants laughed, while the thin man who had confidently claimed Sage could smell dungeons suddenly became very interested in examining one of the dead Direwolves.

Mina finally lost whatever restraint she had maintained since the previous evening. "I told you the dungeon nose would follow you outside Evergreen."

Sage slowly turned toward her. Mina immediately stepped behind Boren, although

Boren raised both hands and moved away. "Don’t involve me. I have enough problems. My coat was damaged while protecting this caravan, and I still need to discuss reimbursement."

Sage stared at the torn sleeve. "A monster barely scratched it."

Boren placed a hand over the tear as if Sage had insulted him personally. "Damage is damage. If this happened while performing Guild-related activities, then logically..."

Sage walked away before the explanation could become more expensive.

The caravan remained in the pass long enough to treat the wounded and harvest useful materials from the monsters.

During that time, Sage found himself answering far more questions than he expected. Most weren’t about him personally.

The merchants wanted to know whether the Guild truly planned to expand beyond Evergreen, whether branches could be established without a local noble’s permission, how merchants could work with Guild branches, whether mission registration was available to ordinary civilians and, most commonly, whether the stories about Evergreen’s adventurer population were exaggerated.

Sage answered what he could without promising things he hadn’t yet built.

The Adventurer Guild intended to expand throughout the Kingdom, but the Kingdom Headquarters needed to be established first. Merchant cooperation would be welcomed. Ordinary people could register legitimate requests.

Branches would eventually operate under standardized rules rather than changing their entire structure every time they crossed into another territory.

One merchant remained skeptical. "And the nobles simply allow this? You’re talking about an organization that can gather thousands of armed people inside their lands."

"They don’t all like it," Sage replied. "Some never will. But a Guild branch also means monster requests are handled faster, merchants gain access to registered escorts, dungeons become organized resources instead of uncontrolled death traps, and local businesses gain thousands of customers. Once people become accustomed to those benefits, removing the Guild becomes much harder than allowing it."

Orwin nodded immediately. "That’s what I saw in Riverdale. I don’t care about the politics of it. I care that adventurers need boots, food, weapons, potions, rooms and practically everything else they can spend money on."

Boren, who had returned at exactly the wrong moment, pointed approvingly at him. "A sensible man."

Sage looked at Boren. "You heard the word money from thirty feet away, didn’t you?"

"I heard opportunity."

The caravan resumed its journey shortly afterward, leaving the bodies of the uselessly damaged monsters behind once everything valuable had been taken.

The atmosphere around Sage changed slightly after his identity became known, but not enough to ruin the journey.

People greeted him more carefully, and a few travelers initially started calling him Guildmaster every time they spoke, but two days of watching Mina annoy him and Boren argue over food expenses removed most of the distance.

By the following evening, Orwin was comfortably complaining to Sage about merchant taxes again, while the mercenary captain had begun asking serious questions about the Guild’s monster classification system.

Sage explained the basic principle without giving him an entire lesson. Monsters were categorized by threat based on known abilities, physical strength, intelligence, behavior and the kind of force normally required to deal with them safely.

The captain listened closely, especially after nearly losing men because of one incorrect identification, and Sage found himself thinking that the Guild’s greatest advertisement outside Evergreen might not be its buildings or wealth.

Sometimes it was simply showing people how much easier their lives became when reliable information existed.

The Royal Road changed as the days passed. At first the differences were subtle.

Sections of damaged road became less common, milestones appeared more regularly and bridges were wider and better maintained.

Then traffic began increasing. Their caravan passed wagons almost every hour, followed by groups of mounted travelers, military supply carts, couriers and merchants moving in both directions.

At major junctions, entire roads merged into the one leading toward the Capital, adding more people to the constant flow.

Roadside inns became larger and appeared more frequently.

Small markets had formed around some crossroads entirely to serve travelers, selling horse feed, prepared food, replacement wheels and basic supplies.

Even Boren eventually stopped complaining about the journey because there was now somewhere to purchase food almost every day.

Noble carriages became common as well.

Some passed with only four mounted guards, while others traveled like miniature processions, with polished coaches surrounded by Knights, servants, luggage wagons and banners displaying family crests Sage didn’t recognize.

Whenever one approached , ordinary wagons moved aside where possible, though the Royal Road was broad enough across most stretches for traffic to continue in both directions.

Knight patrols appeared regularly, usually traveling in disciplined groups of ten or twenty, and on two occasions Sage saw larger formations moving between fortified posts along the route.

The closer they came to the center of the Kingdom, the more obvious the presence of the Crown became.

Mina spent much of that time near the carriage window. "How many nobles live in the Capital?"

"Too many," Boren answered before Sage could.

Mina looked toward him. "How many is too many?"

"Enough that food becomes expensive."

Sage lowered the document he had been reading. "Is there anything you don’t measure using food?"

Boren thought seriously about the question. "Land. Usually."

Sage waited.

"Unless it’s farmland."

Mina laughed, and Sage returned to his report. Pax’s first intelligence packages had already given him some idea of what awaited them, but reading names and factions on paper was different from seeing the Kingdom change around him.

Noble estates began appearing beyond the road, some surrounded by long stone walls and cultivated land stretching farther than Sage could easily judge.