Morcster Chef - B3 Chapter 5 (Patreon)

They wandered down the streets until they reached a tall, four story building. Brilliant white marble columns and a granite nameplate identified it as the local adventurer’s guild branch.

The group stepped through the huge doors, which towered over even Arek, and made their way toward the receptionists at a desk at the back of the room.

A bespectacled man working the desk glanced up in their direction as they approached. His gaze lingered on Arek, but he didn’t so much as miss a beat.

“Hello,” Ming said cheerfully. Her head didn’t quite reach the top of the counter, so she pulled herself up to poke her nose over it. “I’m trying to find my teacher.”

“The school is at the east of Seaside,” the man said, his quill scratching across the paper.

“I’m a fully fledged mage!” Ming protested. “My teacher is Magus. We can reach him from here, right?”

The receptionist finally put his quill down. He pulled the glasses down to squint at them. “Magus? The B rank mage?”

“That’s correct,” Malissa said. “We don’t want to take too much of your time up, so we’ll be out of your hair as soon as we can speak with him. You can request that he teleport over or something, right?”

“You think we ask B rank mages to teleport around whenever any random group comes looking for them?” the receptionist asked with a snort. “What are you, the circus?”

Ming hopped back down and grabbed the bundle of staves from her bag, rooting around it for a few minutes before pulling out a plain wooden one that looked strikingly familiar to Arek.

“Wait, isn’t that…” Belmont started.

A faint blue glow lit up at the end of the staff. Ming poked it over the desk in the direction of the receptionist.

“This is pure magic,” she said. “And I’m not very good at controlling it yet. That means this might go boom. If you know anything about Magus, you would know that he’s a pure magic user, so his apprentice would be too. Right?”

The receptionist narrowed his eyes. “That could just be a light. You can’t prove–”

Ming flicked the staff down, tapping the paper he was working on. It vaporized with a puff, turning into a few trails of cyan smoke that curled into the air around them. The receptionist leapt to his feet.

“I’m under attack! Help! Someone help!”

The door behind the counter swung open and a man that looked identical strode out, annoyance creasing his features. He snapped his fingers and the receptionist folded in on himself like a piece of origami, vanishing within moments.

“I’m sorry about that,” the man said. “My name is Valen, and I’m the leader of the adventurer’s guild in Seaside.”

“Did you just kill yourself?” Belmont asked, eyeing him warily.

“No,” Valen said with a bassy laugh. “That was a simulacrum. I’ve been trying my hand at adding a few more to my employees, but I’ve been struggling with keeping their personalities straightened out. The more you’ve got at once, the harder it is to keep them from losing it a bit. I really am sorry.”

“No harm done,” Malissa said. “We were just hoping to speak with one of our party’s mentors.”

“Yes, I heard,” Valen said. “Magus, yes? I can send a request and see if he’s available. Magus has been very busy as of late. He’s gotten caught up in some serious business.”

“Like what?” Arek asked.

Valen’s eyebrows crept up, but he didn’t address Arek’s abnormalities. “It looks like there may be a pretty large guild war brewing. A fair number of guilds have been getting drawn into conflict as of late, but I’m not at liberty to say any more. With all due respect, I do not believe any of you are B rank mages, and this information is confidential.”

He gestured for them to follow and headed back through the door that he’d come through. They followed Valen through the adventurer’s guild’s pristine halls, turning down several doors and catching glimpses of other people – all of whom looked identical to Valen – until they reached a small bronze door.

Valen pushed it open and led them into a circular room with a large rune covered platform in the center. It was made of tarnished bronze and had a large fence running around it. The only other thing in the room was a small pedestal with several buttons on its top.

“Can’t you just mentally contact him or something?” Malissa asked.

“Of course not,” Valen replied, offering no further explanation. His fingers danced across the pedestal and a low hum ran through the room.

The runes on the platform started to light with faint white energy. Valen pressed several more buttons in rapid succession. The humming grew louder with every passing second and the light increased in intensity until the Happy Sunflowers had to cover their eyes.

Then, with a brilliant flash and a pop, it was over. The hum cut and the light returned to normal. A string of curses filled the room. Arek moved his hand away from his eyes just in time to see Magus, clad in a fluffy pink bath robe and matching pointy hat, storm down from the platform.

“Blasted simulacrums,” Magus snarled, flicking Valen in the head as he passed. Valen folded in on himself, cackling until he was gone.

“He was a simulacrum too?” Malissa asked, thoroughly baffled.

“This is the Seaside adventurer’s guild,” Magus said. “Everyone is. No matter, I had been meaning to speak with you all as soon as you had gotten somewhere safe. This might not be the ideal timing, but I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”

“Likewise,” Belmont said. “We’ve got a lot of information to share, and a lot of it is worrisome.”

“As do I,” Magus admitted, adjusting his pointy hat. “But I think that would be best done over a meal. It’s been some time since I’ve last eaten, and Seaside has no shortage of passable diners that will suit our needs.”

He swept out of the room and the Happy Sunflowers followed, the confusion only growing on their faces.

“Am I having a fever dream?” Arek wondered. “I have no idea what’s going on. Since the moment we saw this place, everything has been weird.”

“Maybe Magus will explain,” Malissa said, but as they both watched his fuzzy pink hat bob up and down with every step, Arek was pretty sure none of them believed that for a second.