After a couple of days following Master Kaius's departure, we set out early for Klearon. It still took half a day on the horse carriage to make it into the city. That could have been shortened if we had flown the entire way, but we had Diana and her mother joining us on Mum's insistence.

Waygates had made travel around the world effortless; unfortunately, they also prevented any proper transport system from growing beyond horse carriages. For most of the journey, I kept myself amused with a book or by writing down important things—like making a list of potential names for my sibling. Most of them were girls' names, and only a meagre few sounded good on the lips.

The first thing we did upon reaching the city was look for a house. We were going to stay for as long as a whole month, and even the grandest of inns did not make the cut for Mum when it came to longer stays. So we went looking—one house after another—until settling on one at the periphery of the inner city. It was a two-storeyed building with an empty basement that could be repurposed for some artificing work.

There were a few things I needed to get done in Klearon. By order of magnitude, the tournament came first. I planned to earn as many honours there as I could, though I believed we were restricted to joining no more than two contests. Then came the apprenticeship under Master Kaius. Neither of the two was getting done any time soon. At least a date had been announced for the former, while the elder man might just wind up on our doorstep someday without notice.

The only thing I could get done early was make a trip to the Artisan Guild and grab my Journeyman artisan badge. So while my parents went to shop for some essentials, I made my way to the guildhouse. Diana decided to tag along, if only to slow me down.

The inner city housed the wealthiest and most noble families. The architecture did not differ greatly from the outer ring, however, it was a great deal cleaner while still being just as crowded. People came and went all the time, especially since the waygate picked and vomited out a number of people at short intervals of only a few minutes.

Diana walked beside me, barely keeping pace with my strides, her eyes wandering everywhere.

"There are so many people here. Look!" She pointed at a group of people in heavy armour and weapons, strolling along as if their family owned the road. All the people on the street gave them a wide berth. "Are they from the adventurer guild?"

I pulled her away before they noticed, because that lot felt like the type to take offence at the littlest of things.

"Don't point fingers at strangers," I advised.

We had not even quite made it to the guild when a wave of Influence flooded my surroundings.

"Mum, I'll be fine," I said. "I'm not a child anymore."

The domain of Influence brushed against my skin as though it very much doubted what I'd just said, but she withdrew it nonetheless. I exhaled.

Can't catch a break from her, can I? It was a city brimming with people. What was she even worried about?

"Was that Auntie?" Diana looked around, as though she couldn't quite figure out what had just happened.

I nodded. "Let's go. I figure it's going to take a while at the guild."

Many of the guilds and pavilions were located in the same region, divided either by a wide street or a block or two. Even among them, the Artisan Guildhouse stood out—a lavish four-storey building with plastered white walls and neat runic decoration, as befitted the artisans' guild. The interior, however, lacked compared to other opulent establishments I had been to. Well, it was a public guild, not a private business venture like Dragonforge.

A couple of dozen folks milled about the guild hall, keeping all four receptionists busy at all times, though the hall was wide enough to accommodate a hundred. After a thorough inspection, I deduced that most people here were only patrons, while only a handful were artisans themselves or employees. Before lining up in the queue, I led Diana to the large commission board that covered almost half a wall. Dozens of leaflets were pinned there, containing information pertaining to commissions as well as an approximation of the pay.

There were only three classes of commissions, each divided further into three stars, though there were more of the Noble Class than there were of the Common and Prestigious classes put together. For anything above, I presumed nobody was obtuse enough to post them out here.

"NO!" A loud, crashing voice pulled my attention to it. "I'm not paying you for this stupid shaft!"

It was a boy, only a little older than I, with curly brown hair and slight facial hair growing on his chin and both sides. He wasn't particularly tall but held a rather impressive-looking spear.

"I'm not sure where your complaining's coming from," said a bored voice. It was a bland-looking young woman with hair even shorter than mine. The most impressive thing about her was likely the black robe she wore and the silver token latched onto her waist, signifying her role as a Journeyman artisan. "The spear is Prestigious grade, and it has all the features you specified."

"I didn't ask you to make it uneven," the boy growled.

The woman snorted derisively. "You get what you pay for, kid. Now stop wasting my damn time and pay up."

"Oh no, I'm not paying for this."

Their conversation was already drawing more eyes than the woman liked, but she did not seem the kind to fold. "Either way, you aren't walking away with the spear." She gestured towards the guards, who stood straighter, waiting for their presence to be required. "Either pay up the rest of the Leafs or have your spear confiscated. It's your choice."

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The two guards edged a couple of steps forward. The boy was not impressed. He was Noble Class, as the guards were. With a firm hand on the spear, he glared at them before cutting the queue to make his way to a receptionist. Some people complained, but a single fuming glare from him convinced them to give him a wide berth.

"I want to file a complaint against one of your artisans," he said, dropping the heavy spear over the table.

"Seriously?" The artisan's expression twitched. Her gaze darted to the receptionist. "Ana, don't give the kid any clout. I've already fulfilled the commission. You can check it in the appraiser's note."

The receptionist looked between the boy and the woman, unsure what to do.

"I want to file a complaint against one of your appraisers," the boy said.

Ana shook her head. "Listen, kid, you won't get anywhere with this. How about you—"

"I want to file a complaint against an artisan and an appraiser." His tone was as even as it could be, though he looked like he might lose his composure any minute and break into a fight.

The receptionist narrowed her eyes, and when she opened her mouth again, the tone had become utterly businesslike. "Sir, you may lodge a complaint, but if we come to see that you fabricated it all to put blame on our members, you may be banned not only from this compoundment but from all the other branches as well."

That stopped the youth for a moment. But soon he shook his head. "Doesn't matter if I get banned," he said. "It'll be a couple of years before I have enough coins to commission anything new either way."

"You can be banned for life."

An irritated look surfaced on his face. "Why do you think the blame lies on me?"

For a moment, I really wanted to see how this would play out—or even pick up the spear to see on whose shoulders the blame lay—but it wasn't a situation for me to stick my nose in. Besides, the receptionist confiscated the article and gave the youth a form to fill.

I waited no longer. Taking Diana, I pushed my way to a desk.

"Good evening," the receptionist's voice was melodic as she smiled. "How may I help you?"

"I'd like to go through the Journeyman assessment."

The receptionist looked at me closely, as though checking she'd heard correctly. "You're an artisan?" she asked. "Of the Journeyman rank, no less?"

"Is it that hard to believe?"

Her expression alone indicated so, but she slipped into a businesslike demeanour. "The Journeyman assessment will require a deposit of sixteen silver Leafs, and you'll need to fill in this form."

I blinked as she handed me a paper and a pen. There wasn't much to fill in, though the fee surprised me. I paid up without a fuss and filled in the form, having wasted enough time already. Using the blessed stone to fish out the coins out of thin air would have helped convince her, but she was not my test proctor, and I was to keep the relic a secret.

"Thank you," the woman said, counting the coins. "Your assessment will be…" She checked a few papers. "The day after tomorrow, at two o'clock."

That disappointed me. I'd hoped to grab the badge today, but it couldn't be done. This is what bureaucracy gets you, I guessed.

"Can I take any commissions in the meantime?" I asked.

"Of the Journeyman rank?" the woman said with a polite smile. "No. Not before you get your badge."

Which meant I would have to restrict myself to Noble Class commissions. Fine by me. It wasn't like I had too much free time to work on Prestigious projects—not after I'd decided to turn Eran's set of armour into something a little more ambitious. I wished he had come along to Klearon. Thankfully, he would not lack any training under his father before the tournament.

There were a few on the commission board that caught my fancy; even so, I chose the ones that would take the least time to complete while earning the highest number of coins. I had recovered all the gold Leafs I'd spent for the levitation boots with the first issue of pay for the Stormguard, but my pockets were still far from warm, not when I was still short on a few projects I wanted to craft.

Most of the commissions on the wall paid decently—better than what I could get in Karmel—despite all the guild fees and taxation, which shaved off as much as a third of the pay. Some of them varied depending on what the patron asked and how early. There were also guild contribution points to note, which could be expended to receive various benefits from the guild.

I picked a few well-paid ones I believed I could finish within a few hours. Surprisingly, there were some high-paying ones going as far as twenty gold Leafs, though those were mostly about refurbishing building formations and the like. Those would take a lot of time, and I'd have to go on-site to fix them. It could have been a teaching moment, but I wasn't looking for that right now.

With half a dozen Noble Class commissions—which would put my profit at almost fifty gold Leafs and fifteen contribution points—I returned to the receptionist and handed them over. She gave me back more paperwork.

Each of the commissions required me to fill out one form with my name, current location, and approximate time frame of delivery. I handed half of them to Diana, asking her to copy me.

"Please give me your Novice badge," the receptionist asked once we returned the filled forms.

Now I did need to access my relic to get it out of the blessed stone, since I had never got to flaunt the Novice Artisan badge since I'd received it. Thankfully, I still had a way to hide it.

I tucked my coat aside, pushed my palm towards its inner pocket, and accessed the blessed stone. The badge was not important enough for me to keep it at speed-recall, so it took a bit of time for me to find it and pull it out.

"Is there something wrong?" The woman cocked her head in my direction.

Even Diana looked at me, wondering what it was about.

"Here you go." I handed over the bronze token Mum had gifted me once I made it into Novice Artisan. It had my name carved in runic letters, along with a signature from Mum.

"This does not seem like it's issued by our guild," the receptionist said, looking over the badge. "You got it from some other branch?"

"No. My mum made it for me."

As soon as I said that, her expression darkened.

"Well, she's kind of like a mentor to me," I added quickly.

"Sir," she said with a level of condescending politeness I'd only seen in some nobles or patricians, "only Master Artisans and above can issue a Novice-rank badge without notifying the guild."

Perhaps it really was a bad idea to come here on my own, I sighed.

"She's a Master Artisan. The badge should have an enchantment in it to prove it," I said, keeping my tone level.

The woman still looked as though she didn't believe me. Perhaps she knew all the local Master Artisans by repute, and my mum was not exactly local.

"Please run it by someone of higher rank," I said. "I believe it will all come to light once they check it."

She looked me over from head to toe, her gaze lingering on my levitation boots. "Fine. I might get yelled at for this, but I'm only doing it because you look like you're from a well-reputed house. Wait here a moment."

With that, she strode away with my badge in hand.

"Cities are complicated, I guess," I said, turning to Diana.

In Karmel, we didn't even have to worry about paperwork, haggling, or commission fees and taxes—at least not if we didn't want to. I supposed it could be done here as well, but I was led to believe that being a member of the guild came with certain benefits.

But after minutes passed and there was no sign of the woman, I began to wonder if the benefits outweighed the boredom of standing there like a fool.

Another receptionist came to take her place some time after. I asked if she knew about my situation, to which she pointed towards a bench and asked me to sit politely.

Mum's domain of Influence prodded once more as we waited. Then, almost half an hour later, the receptionist returned. Thankfully, her face was graced with a smile as she made her way towards us. It seemed all had gone well.