The Heart of the North
The road to the Adventurer Guild headquarters in the Libertas Grand Duchy was smooth. That was because our group numbered a full three hundred people—scholars attending the academic festival, guild staff, merchants and travelers with various purposes, plus the security forces and adventurers escorting them. When that many people moved together, even the most ferocious monsters tended to think twice. Besides, the roads used by travelers were regularly cleared by subjugation teams, so monster encounters were practically nonexistent.
"Uwoooooor!"
Every now and then, some clueless wild animal like a silver gorilla would wander too close.
"Another silver gorilla?"
"I seriously don't understand why those things haven't gone extinct."
"Escorts, please stand down. We're getting free passage here, so the least we can do is handle these small fry ourselves."
Unfortunately for the escorts, the creatures were dealt with by the travelers before they could even step forward. A middle-aged man among the civilians, carrying an unusually large bow, drew back the string and infused the arrow with mana. The shot flew in an instant, piercing both of the silver gorilla's eyes. Before the beast could even scream, a second arrow plunged into its gaping mouth and tore through its throat. The silver gorilla collapsed without managing a single counterattack.
The surrounding crowd burst into applause and admiration. The middle-aged man shrugged with a proud grin and turned to his wide-eyed son.
"How about that? Your dad's skills haven't gotten rusty, right?"
"Wow! Dad, you're amazing! I still have trouble putting mana into my arrows!"
"Hahaha! It's not easy, I'll tell you that! I'll teach you the tricks on the way!"
Seeing his son's excited reaction, the middle-aged man puffed out his chest with satisfaction. The other fathers watching this display had fire ignite in their eyes. If catching a single mediocre animal could monopolize a child's affection, then not doing it would be downright foolish.
From then on, whenever an animal approached the group without fear, the fathers immediately reached for their bows. But they weren't the only competitors.
"Hehe. Sweetie, Mommy will teach you her personal axe techniques for self-defense."
"Yeah! Mommy's the best!"
Once the mothers joined the fray, it became impossible to tell whether these people were here for the festival or for monster hunting. Thankfully, after the atmosphere shifted, no more animals appeared, and things calmed down on their own. Otherwise, the escorts would have had to intervene.
After several days of peaceful travel, we finally caught sight of the massive city walls in the distance and let out gasps of awe.
"It's Libertas!"
"Still as magnificent as ever."
"Well, it does hold a thousand years of history. That's only natural."
The walls were enormous. And vast. Compared to Edenberg, Libertas was several times larger, and those walls alone overwhelmed everyone who saw them. The towers and buildings visible beyond the towering ramparts sparked curiosity about what kind of paradise might lie inside. At the same time, everyone thought the same thing.
This was the heart of the North.
The home of the Libertas Grand Duchy.
The pride of the North, carrying a thousand years of history.
With pride swelling in their chests, the people walked toward the city gates with light, excited steps.
A short while later.
Verification complete. Welcome to Libertas. This includes 31 scholars from Edenberg, 25 branch staff members, and 315 civilians including escorts.
The security officer who had finished checking us at the gate gave a crisp salute, thumping his chest with disciplined precision. The sharp aura he gave off made it clear just how powerful the Grand Duchy truly was. We returned his greeting and stepped inside, only to let out more gasps at the spectacular sight before us.
"So this is Libertas."
"Truly impressive."
"It lives up to its reputation."
What greeted us upon entering the city was an incredibly wide main avenue. The road was so massive that ten carriages could pass side by side without issue, and it was packed with people. Perhaps it was because of the festival period, but even considering the city's size, the crowd was enormous.
Once we arrived, we decided to split up according to our individual goals. With about a week left until the academic festival, we planned to spend the time exploring the city at our leisure.
"The academic festival is important, but so is the ancient civilization you witnessed!"
"We have a week until the festival, but we can't just sit around waiting until then."
"Come! Let us drown ourselves in the ocean of knowledge together!"
A group of overly passionate scholars tried to drag me along, but—
"The academic festival is equally important."
"Haven't you spent years preparing for this year's festival, Sir Delian? You need to use this week to prepare your presentation."
"Lord Veil Edenberg will be attending too. We can't let him see anything unseemly, can we?"
Thanks to the help of the guild staff I was close with, I managed to escape. Delian reached out with a pitiful expression, but Anel casually lifted him up with one hand and kept him from approaching. I glanced back and gave him a look that said run while you can. He returned a grateful glance, and I quickly made my getaway.
"Argo! Argooooo!"
"We'll definitely meet in a week! Definitely!"
"We'll be waiting right here for youuuuuu!!!"
Goodness. They're genuinely nice people, but that scholarly passion of theirs is something else. They're not Romeo and Juliet—why are a bunch of old men calling my name so desperately?
Thanks to them, the people passing nearby all turned to look, but once they saw the scholars' attire, they simply continued on with familiar expressions. Northerners were well acquainted with the eccentricities of scholars and treated it as just another everyday occurrence.
Only after we'd put enough distance between us and the scholars did I finally let out a sigh of relief.
"They're great in every way, but I wish they'd dial back the passion just a little."
"I feel drained every single time."
"Still, they seem like good people."
"I just found it annoying."
Honestly, if it weren't for their overwhelming academic zeal, they'd be perfect. Back when I was a newbie, they bought me snacks, gave me allowance money, taught me the ropes of guild work, and even helped with tasks during the guild's busiest periods. If not for that, I would've run away long ago. Even after becoming an adventurer, the information and knowledge they uncovered about monster behavior, weaknesses, and ecosystems had made hunting much easier. So I couldn't possibly treat scholars poorly.
Anyway, now that I'd shaken off the scholars, I was finally free.
"Where should we go first?"
"We can visit the academy in a week."
"How about the Magic Tower? I've been curious about the Northern Magic Tower for a while."
"Kiiit!"
"You want to go to a restaurant? It's still too early for dinner, so no."
I had to reject Ratatoskr's suggestion. The little guy on my shoulder looked visibly disappointed, but there was nothing I could do. Still, he didn't seem opposed to sightseeing in Libertas. He kept turning his head this way and that, completely absorbed in the sights.
As I watched him with a fond smile, Adela, who had been quiet until now, spoke up.
"How about the Adventurer Guild?"
"The Adventurer Guild?"
"Yeah. The headquarters is here, isn't it?"
I nodded at Adela's words. That's right—the main headquarters of the Adventurer Guild was indeed located in Libertas.
"As an adventurer, it would be weird not to visit the guild headquarters at least once."
"Then our first destination is the Adventurer Guild?"
"The branch was already huge. I wonder how big the headquarters must be."
The Libertas Grand Duchy carried a thousand years of history. After the death of the First Great Warrior, when the North began to fall into chaos, they appeared and united the fractured region. The actions of the Libertas founder—known as the First Great Warrior's right hand—naturally brought the North together as one. Among his great achievements was supporting the newly established Adventurer Guild and elevating it into an official organization of the North.
In addition, he carried on the will of the First Great Warrior by establishing systems and traditions to honor glory and prestige, correcting morals and norms, and laying the foundation that allowed the once haphazard North to grow into what it was today. He was practically a hero who could be said to have created the current North.
That was why it was only natural for the Adventurer Guild headquarters to be located in Libertas. And its scale far exceeded anything we had imagined.
"Oh my god. Is this even a building?"
"To own this much land... as expected of the Adventurer Guild."
"This is practically the size of a village."
As if to demonstrate the status the Adventurer Guild held in the North, we stepped into the enormous headquarters. The interior was decorated similarly to the Edenberg branch, yet even with mostly bare bones on display, the sense of intimidation was palpable. Vividly preserved monster taxidermy added a sense of life to the space. They even had materials from high-ranking monsters on exhibit—ones whose names alone were enough to recognize.
Overwhelmed by the interior that couldn't be fully expressed with words like "impressive," we headed to the reception desk. When we sat at the open counter, the receptionist across from us smiled warmly and greeted us.
"Welcome to the Adventurer Guild. From your attire, I assume you're adventurers. What brings you here today?"
"This is actually our first time at the guild headquarters, so we came to take a look around. We wanted to ask for permission to use the headquarters facilities."
"There's no need to worry about that."
At my words, the receptionist pulled out a pamphlet from below the counter. The cover read: Guide for Visitors to the Adventurer Guild Headquarters.
"As you'll see in the pamphlet, the headquarters is divided into zones accessible by civilians, adventurers, and staff. Please check the markings on the map carefully and use the facilities accordingly."
"Thank you."
I answered with a bright face and stood up from my seat. I had been curious what facilities the headquarters had, and now I planned to make full use of this opportunity.
Once we were up, we huddled together and debated where to start.
"Shall we get going?"
"How about the sparring grounds first? I'm really looking forward to what kind of training equipment the headquarters has!"
"The library! Let's go to the guild library! I heard they keep magic tomes from every school here!"
"The adventurer headquarters cafeteria...! It looks delicious!"
"Kiiit!"
I couldn't help but chuckle at their overflowing enthusiasm. I was planning to visit all of them anyway, even if they hadn't said anything.