Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)

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"I wouldn't mind helping… But what are you two even doing?" Dale asked as he took a step inside

"Oh, allow me to elaborate." Edimund said with a smile as he walked closer to the table

Dale also approached it, taking a look at the map above it.

Though that wasn't the exact term for it...

"This is something you and Testros brought from that place… It's the Original blueprint of Resko."

"Really?"

'I don't remember seeing it though…'

As if seeing his confusion, Edimund said:

"We found it hidden inside another book… Although it's heavily outdated, it shows us what Resko actually looked like before it decayed."

"Or at least, most of the central part, as this map doesn't represent how Resko looked like during its final days."

"It's still very informative nonetheless."

Dale took a look at the map, surprised to see just how extensive the village actually was…

For comparison, the map was so old Resko didn't even have walls, or at least, they were nothing but an estimation at the time this blueprint was made.

However, even so, Resko was at least 3 to 4 Km wide.

At the time, Resko had been built on the edge of the forest and a Plateau around 10M high.

In fact, there used to be several roads and entrances to the city through this Plateau, but they were now all buried in the sand.

This surprised Dale, because the amount of sand that had been moved from the North in the last 100 years or so was completely insane.

He didn't even imagine there to be so much sand, he thought that, at most, there were a few meters of sand next to the Village since they were at the edge of the desert, but not an entire mountain of it.

There was so much of it that the Northern part of the city had also been devoured by the golden dunes, and it now lay as a small hill in the distance.

"How come so much got buried in the sand?"

Misgurd replied:

"We technically already told you about it, the sand portion of it."

"As for why the city itself got buried... There's a bit more to it than just a lot of sand pilling up over the years."

"At first, it was nothing but a rumor, words passed down from the generations..."

"We didn't know if it was actually true or not, but these blueprints show that it was…"

"You must know that the Church was deeply tied to the construction of the Village right?"

Dale nodded, he heard this story a few times before.

"They oversaw almost all of its construction together with the Southern Corps, and although they did a good job of overseeing it, they still ended up being a bit biased…"

"Take a closer look at the map, you'll notice the problem. All of the buildings are small, there isn't a single one that goes beyond 3 stories tall."

"With some exceptions, such as the major clocktower in the middle of the city."

And like he said, it was indeed true, the blueprint was a bit faded, but it was clear enough…

All buildings were below 3 floors tall.

"Look, at the South-Center section of the Village, aside from the Church, the tallest building is the City hall, being 4 stories tall…"

"And the clocktower isn't exactly a building per se but"

"Even so, it doesn't even hit the foot of the Church, which is located on top of a hill."

"What they did was make all buildings smaller than it as a way to cement their authority, as a way to say that 'God is above all', or something along those lines…" Edimund said as he shook his head

"However, it's not like there weren't any other tall buildings, it's just that they were further from the City… But we can't see them from here."

"Nor are they depicted in this blueprint."

"An example is the Magic Tower, located somewhere near the Mines... Although it should've been destroyed somewhere after the Corps fell..."

"This leads us to the start of the conversation, since all buildings are low and close to the ground, they got buried in the sand pretty quickly, it may seem exaggerated, but remember, it's been decades of disregard."

"Not only that, but the seasons also contributed to that... We're in the Middle of Summer, so it's not as apparent, but soon enough, the windy, autumn season will come…"

"I see… But now that I know what this is… What are you two looking for?" Dale asked as he took his eyes off the map

"We aren't looking for anything in particular."

"To be honest, we're just trying to see what else could be buried beneath us and to see if there's anything that could aid us right now." Misgurd replied with a smile

"On its own, the blueprint isn't of any help, hence, that's why your presence was necessary, we need to see what is written in those books you acquired, and search for something of value that could be buried in the sand."

"By cross-referencing multiple articles, we could potentially find something useful, but that's to be seen."

He pointed upwards and said:

"The third floor of the Guild used to be a storage, but we're planning on turning it into a temporary library..."

"It's safe and proper due to its location, so if you don't mind, how about we sort this problem first?"

"I wouldn't mind… But don't you think it's going to become quite packed?... There's already a lot of people bellow, and if we have people walking up and down between the floors…"

'Not to say it would be quite an inconvenience.'

'I wanted to reduce the contact of the players with the Villagers as much as possible... But this will increase their interactions massively...'

"Ah! Don't worry about it, there is a back entrance to the Guild so no problem on that side..."

"Besides, it's not like everyone needs to read books here, they can simply borrow them."

Dale thought for a moment and ended up agreeing, it's not like he had anywhere better to use as a Library.

Even if it was risky to leave it in the open, he couldn't hold onto everything forever.

"Aside from that, how's everything going with the newcomers?"

"..."

Misgurd looked at Edimund with a frown…

"You see Dale… It's going oddly well."

"How so?"

This time, Edimund opened his mouth to speak, saying:

"They're… Unusually cooperative."

"They're even willing to do tedious and heavy jobs for us without a word as long as we give them some coins… They're quite reliable in fact."

"Perhaps what you said previously may work… To use them to clear up the fields, they seem capable enough for that."

"Still, it doesn't remove the fact they're quite strange… But as long as they keep themselves on the line I don't care."

"For now, we have separated a small group to work in the buried part of Resko, they're now digging up the sand and I think they should be able to dig up this building over here within a week…" Edimund said as he pointed at the map

"This was once a large tavern used by the Mercenaries that came to Resko, the reason why we're choosing it as our first target is as a form of test."

"We wanted to see if it was even possible to dig these buildings safely."

"..."

'I see, so this is the backstory for the Quest.'

'It's fun to listen to it all like this.'

After talking for a little while longer, Misgurd led Dale to the third floor where they quickly stored all of the books.

Now that the books are here, the Villagers will be able to start their studies and hopefully grow.

How much? He didn't know.

…

/A bit later.../

"Dale, before you go. Here, take it." Misgurd said as he gave Dale another badge

"Also, give me your old badge back."

"This is?..." Dale asked as he inspected the badge

"It's your new Mercenary Badge."

"What?! So soon? I got mine yesterday…"

Misgurd shrugged.

"I'm also surprised, I didn't expect to hand it over to you so soon, but your actions have proven to me that you're deserving of it."

"If it weren't for some restrictions, I might've even given you a Rank 4 badge instead of a Rank 3 one, but uh... I wanted to say for us to take it slow, but I already said that before..."

"So... I'll say... Keep up the good work!"

Although it is true Resko is mostly isolated, Misgurd was still very proud of being a Mercenary, and he takes it very seriously, even if the inspection team only comes to visit every few years…

Due to that, he was very strict when it came to handling Dale his badges.

"So what's my Rank now?"

"You're now a Polished Mercenary, the last Rank of the 'introductory levels'."

"This name has quite the story behind it, but I'll save you from it, if you have any interest in hearing it, I'll be more than happy in sharing it."

"Beyond this Rank lies the true face of the Mercenary Guild, and also what it's famous for, the Gemstone Ranks, Agate, Spinel, Emerald, and Diamond."

"I'm actually Emerald Rank, but personally, I don't think I'm strong enough for it anymore... Nor have I ever..." He said with some melancholy

"I was given this Rank at my Prime by the previous Guild head because he saw potential in me but… Well..."

Misgurd seemed very emotional.

"I got hurt pretty badly due to a mistake… A mistake that cost the previous head's life."

"And… In the end, I got married… All of that led to me getting rusty and even though I refined some of my knowledge, I don't actually think I'm anywhere near what I once was."

"..."

"Despite me training every day, it's not the same…"

The mood was starting to get pretty heavy, so Dale asked:

"I didn't know you were married."

Misgurd's expression slowly changed as he started to smile slightly.

"Heh, sometimes neither I can believe it..."

"Can you believe it? Me? Having a wife? BUWAHAHAHA!..."

He then stopped laughing, looking at the window of the room with a distant gaze.

"Life is sometimes… Unpredictable."

"..."

I fucked up, it seems his wife…

"Oh! No no no, no need to look at me like that, my wife lived a very long life and died peacefully, leaving both me and our daughter to carry on with her will."

"I'm happy she lived a happy life, that was everything I could've asked for…"

He then looked at Dale with a thin smile.

"You have a child?"

"You didn't know? You met her several times!"

"I… I did?"

"Of course, she takes care of the Inn!"

"?!"

Dale was shell-shocked.

"Are you talking about Illia? Are you sure she is your daughter?" Dale asked suspiciously as he raised an eyebrow

"Hehe… She didn't take anything from me, she resembles her mother down to a T…"

"A shame she's such a blockhead, she's over 30 and still single..."

Misgurd seemed very disappointed.

"She always speaks in a way that seems to indicate…" Dale pointed out

'That she didn't have a father, I saw her spending time with her family once, but it was another man and woman...'

But he was interrupted by Misgurd.

"Yup, she finds me annoying since I always asked her about her future plans..."

"So she always introduces her uncle as her father instead of me!" He said annoyed as he kicked the ground

"You have a brother?!"

"Not really... He's an old friend of mine from when we were younger, he helped me take care of her from time to time when she was younger..."

"Anyway, I'm surprised she even introduced him in the first place as, just like me, he has also started to pull her feet in regards to marriage… BUWAHAHAHA!"

"After all, she's pretty, some of the boys of Village have shown interest in her for years…"

Noticing this conversation had gone for a tad too much, Misgurd coughed slightly, grabbing Dale's shoulders.

"Enough about me for now, take your badge and leave this place!"

"I need to finish some things and I know you have a lot to do elsewhere." He said as he pushed Dale out of the room

"Sheesh, calm down, there's no need to push me aside." Dale said as he rolled his eyes

He crossed the door and said:

"See you around, I'll visit Barme now if you need me, there are some things I need to give him…"

"Sure thing."

With a silent nod, they parted ways…

…

"Two done… Several more to go…"

'I have to talk with Barme and give him the pieces of equipment I got from the Wall, to see if he can fix it…'

'Even if he can't fix them all, even a few sets would already make the world of a difference.'

Dale almost drooled at the prospect of having one of these sets for himself...

'There's also the pieces of equipment I got from the Catacombs, they're almost the same as the ones I got from the Wall, it's just that they're from different times…'

'Yet, the ones I got from the Catacombs were pretty beaten and corroded, so most likely, they can't be fixed, but their materials might be reusable…'

'Speaking of this, I also need to see Rodi for the quests I gave him…'

Dale left the Guild and made his way to an old house nearby…

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Notes

Sorry for the delay, this chapter was a bit hard to update.

My keyboard has started to die it seems, my E key keeps duplicating or worse, so writing has been a pain in the ass.

I successfully reduced this duplication from once every time I wrote to 2 out of 10 times, buts it's still a pain every time it happens.

It kind of breaks my mood...

Anyway, that was all from me. I hope you enjoyed this slightly lazy chapter.

There is still one more bonus chapter, the Golden Tickets chapter.

See ya then!