Chapter 980: Astarto Town
Chapter 980: Astarto Town
Astarto Town, within a neatly decorated office.
“Do you think he’ll come?” As this question left her mouth, Alfaera looked at Tristan with slight uncertainty. “After all, the last time we asked him to come to help defend against a monster tide, he ignored it.”
“More like the messages we sent him around that time weren’t received,” replied Tristan back, letting out a slight sigh after that. “Fortunately, we found out later on that the Blacksmith Guild had given him a special mission around that time.”
“Then again, if I were to find out that he…” Just as the man arrived at this train of thought, Tristan stopped himself for a bit before deciding not to continue it any further.
Shaking his head, he then gave Alfaera a reassuring smile, though he was unsure whether the target of that reassurance was really her.
“In any case, don’t worry too much,” said Tristan to Alfaera, wanting to uplift the current mood of their conversation. “After all, the last time we asked him to help us out on the monster tide, he did come and visit us.”
“In fact, he even did most of the defending that time.”
“Then again, he did message us earlier that he’d come to town within the day,” he continued, only to gaze out of the window near him after that.
“Though, I do admit I’m starting to wonder what his definition of ‘within the day’ means.” Coincidentally, just as Alfaera let out a sigh in response to Tristan’s words, a knock echoed from the other side of the office door, prompting the two to smoothen their expression out. After that, Alfaera allowed the person knocking to come in, revealing a man in his late teens that wore clothing made for forging.
“Emil?” Seeing the young man appear in the office, Tristan’s eyes slightly widened in surprise. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be back at the guild forging equipment for the monster tide?”
Hearing those words, Emil politely bowed to the two. “I apologize for disturbing you, Guild Master Melphon, Mayor Astarto.”
After that, it was only did the young man respond to the question, only opening his mouth once Alfaera gave him a nod. “I’ve received a message from the one managing the guild’s Teleportation Hall that needed to be relayed to the guild master as soon as possible.”
“A message?” Tristan briefly glanced at Alfaera for a bit before looking back at the young man. “Does it perhaps have something to do with the war up in the north?”
“We haven’t any updates on that as of yet, Guild Master.” Emil shook his head in response. “However, a man wearing a full suit of armor appeared within the guild’s Teleportation Hall, asking for your presence.”
At those words, Alfaera and Tristan looked at each other with widened eyes, their expressions gradually turning into that of excitement. “Could you lead us there? Did he tell you his name?”
Though he was somewhat nervous to guide the two most important personages within Astarto Town, Emil reined in his nervousness with a calming breath before nodding. “I would be glad to.”
“As for his name…”
“He mentioned it was Ylvar.”
…
“I wonder whether Tristan and the others are?”
Muttering these words to himself, Valyr continued to wait by the entrance of Astarto Town’s Blacksmith Guild, deciding to take a look at the sight that was given to him now that the village had turned into town.
Of course, it went without saying that Astarto becoming a town made it look more prosperous than before, with all of the buildings lining up the streets he could see made with better materials.
Aside from that, he could see that the walls lining the town were further fortified, reminding him of the walls he’d passed through Anadhar Town back when he went to that town’s Blacksmith Guild with Tristan.
‘In just 9 months, they were able to expand Astarto to a town, and even have the Blacksmith Guild establish a branch here,’ inwardly muttered Valyr to himself, still somewhat in disbelief after hearing those words come out of Julian’s mouth.
After arriving at the Blacksmith Guild back in Algerie Kingdom, Valyr immediately sent a message to Julian on what he wanted to do, asking if he could use some of his merit points to pay for the items he needed to repair his armor.
At the same time, he asked the man if he could use the Teleportation Hall to teleport to Astarto Village, considering his position as a Honorary Lesser Elder of the guild.
With Julian being Julian, it did not take long for the young man to get a response back on both of his requests, with the materials he needed to repair his armor quickly being sent to the workshop he was occupying for the meantime.
While making his way to the workshop after getting that message, Valyr then received a message from Julian on his inquiry to head to Astarto Village through the Teleportation Hall, telling him that as an Honorary Lesser Elder, he was more than eligible to use it.
Though, when he found out from the man that the place he once knew as Astarto Village had actually become a town while he was in the inheritance, the young man was undoubtedly left at a loss for words.
‘I guess I’ll probably be able to see Tristan and the others tomorrow. After all, I was only able to come here later in the afternoon.’ Briefly glancing at the sun to see how close it was to setting, Valyr eventually let out a sigh as he looked at the set of armor he was wearing. Because of how much he’d pushed himself against the Myth-level Void Rabbits within the Void World, his set of True Wyvern Armor was eventually reduced to a shell of its former self, only being barely held together with the patchwork repairs he made along the way.
With that, it took him a lot of time to repair the overall frame of the True Wyvern Armor, only being able to repair it fully once he had restored its foundations somewhat.
‘Seeing as the others aren’t coming any time soon, I guess I’ll use this time to look around town first.’
Feeling that his earlier thoughts were becoming more and more likely to happen, Valyr eventually decided to leave the Blacksmith Guild as the thought of sightseeing came to mind.
‘I wonder what the guard barracks look like now that it’s a town?’ Just as this question spurred the young man to move his feet, a pair of familiar individuals appeared before him, being led by a young man wearing clothes meant for forging.
“Ah.” At the moment the two individuals appeared in front of his vision, Valyr paused in his tracks, looking at them with slightly widened eyes before a smile soon erupted on his face. “Ah.” Unsurprisingly, the sight of Valyr before their very eyes made them pause in their tracks as well, their mouths slightly opening in surprise before they donned a smile similar to the
young man.
“I’ll… take my leave now.” Understanding then and there that he successfully accomplished his task, Emil immediately excused himself in front of the three, causing them all to snap back to reality as they began laughing not long after.
“I’m glad you finally came, Valyr.” Being the first to make a move, Tristan immediately made
a move to embrace the young man, prompting the latter to reciprocate it back. “It doesn’t look like it, but I have missed you.”
“I’ve missed you as well, Tristan,” replied Valyr, letting out a slight chuckle as he removed himself from the man’s embrace.
After that, he looked at Alfaera with a smile before nodding, which the woman responded to by giving the same gesture. “It’s been a long time since we’ve last met.”
“It has been.” Alfaera nodded in agreement, continuing to adorn the same smile. “Speaking of which, welcome to Astarto Town.”
“Yeah, welcome to Astarto Town,” said Tristan to Valyr not long after her. “To think that you clearing the dungeon would allow the village to expand to this extent.”
“I’m surprised that it expanded by this much, actually,” said Valyr in response, only now getting a good idea of how much of a difference there was between the current Astarto Town and the village he once knew.
In terms of prosperity, Astarto Town reminded him of Anadhar Town, making Valyr wonder whether the reason why a branch of the Blacksmith Guild was established here was because Astarto decided to focus more on forging.
As for the overall layout of the town, Valyr was reminded of Clossbay City, considering how the entire town seemed to be separated into various districts with specific purposes, with the current one the three were in all had buildings related to production.
In terms of how much territory the former village now occupied, Valyr felt that it was around
a third to a half of Clossbay City’s territory, considering that it hadn’t been long since it had become a town.
Though he didn’t mind having Valyr look around the town in a slight daze, Tristan’s expression soon turned serious as he reminded himself of the reason why he’d asked the
young man to come to town.
“I know you want to take a look around town right now, and I’d be glad to act as your tour guide if I could…” said Tristan.
“But how about we get down to business for the meantime and discuss the upcoming monster
tide?”
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