Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

Aldrich woke up again in the real world. Not much time had passed since he first closed his eyes. Seeing that things were just as usual he went to sleep.

The next morning everyone was awake at sunrise then they got back in the carriage and were on their merry way. By noon they finally saw a stone post of a village north of the main road but Ayemon didn't want to waste time.

Many hours later something changed, the road below them became paved stone. The carriage was able to speed up further thanks to that.

"Is this the imperial road? So that's how it feels huh." Aldrich exclaimed.

"No. This is an ordinary paved road and it can't even compare to the real imperial roads." Answered Caldera.

"The imperial roads are made from the Ermitsal. You've heard of the Ermitsal institute of alchemy right? The institute was named after Johnathan Ermistal the man who created it. Right now only half of the empire has a complete road system." Ayemon sounded vexed over the mater.

"Why are you trying to make it sound like that's little? No other nation has been able to do something remotely close to that." Retorted Orven.

"I am fully aware, but think about it, the formula was discovered over a century ago. Why did they only start building roads thirty years later? Instead what do they do? Wage some more useless wars! Incompetent!"

"You can't be talking about the Eastern continent conflict right? do you realize how big the discovery of a new continent is, right? If we invested in roads, the continent would've been snatched up by the republic and the dominion."

"Did I say we should just hand it to them? Is the dynasty such an easy opponent? What we should've done is let them bite each other, meanwhile we finish the world's greatest road and transportation system and then we swallow them all up."

"When you know how everything turned out it's easy to make such condescending remarks."

Aldrich listened attentively for a while although he didn't understand everything he still learned something about the overall situation which could serve to educate him more.

He was surprised that the imperial roads turned out to be quite a big deal. He just wasn't sure as to what that exactly meant.

The road winds through the foothills of the Cretian Mountains just to the south, and there is a bite to the wind as it blows off the peaks.

According to a milestone cracked by repeated freezing and thawing, travelers are arriving at the town of Elet.

It looks like a tumble of stones from a distance, but as they get closer, they see that the ruined appearance is just an illusion caused by the town's uneven, badly weathered wall, and the jumble of slate roofs visible within. Several wooden signs are posted at the battle-scarred city gates.

A small, stone keep atop a low hill overlooks a small village built directly below it. A fast-flowing stream runs nearby, past a wooden waterwheel mill, and a few more farmhouses and barns are visible across the fields.

The houses of the village are mostly half-timber and plaster, with steeply sloped rooftops. One of these buildings is larger than the rest, and has a tavern sign hanging over the door. It was called the drunken fairy.

Elet is a village built around the ancestral castle of Lord Jauntir, whose domain extends approximately eight kilometers in all directions from the castle. There are 15 knightly manor houses in the territory, and two other villages about the same size as Elet: the village of Oton and the village of Cthayr.

The rest of the population is scattered throughout the area in isolated hamlets.

They didn't eat at the drunken fairy instead Caldera went in and brought with her five plates of grilled goose and apples.

During this lunch even Norge, who had been driving the carriage until now left the horses and joined them in the carriage. Apparently the horses were trained to follow paved roads as such they didn't need strict guidance.

"Why did you say that Lord Enthelmyre is not the one behind it?" Aldrich asked Ayemon.

"Well it's not just me. If the question is; does lord Enthelmyre have rebellious thoughts? then the answer is yes. But will Enthelmyre dare to act on these thoughts? Now that's highly unlikely."

"Why? I don't understand isn't he a powerful man in the empire?"

"His tile is just for show, in truth he is a political prisoner. If lord Enthelmyre were ever to rebel it should be in the next emperor's generation not this one. However if we were to entertain the possibility that he might actually be planning a rebellion right now then I would have to admit that he is a braver man than me."

"How so?"

"After all, if he can plan a rebellion while being under the direct watch of the inquisition's extermination chapter then I must admit to underestimating him quite a bit."

Aldrich shivered. The inquisition was known far and wide throughout the world. Even Aldrich who was a faithful believer of Altunan still looked around after hearing the name.

"You said you wanted me to finish five grade two quest what does that mean?"

"Well, there are five grades in which we divide all creatures according to power. Starting from grade zero to four."

"Zero not one?"

"Yes, this is a general estimate. Each grade has three levels within. For monsters it's decided by their combat power. For us humanoids we use the crest and the four symbols as the criteria.

A normal humanoid without the first symbol is is always grade zero. If a veteran soldier has a musket then he is equivalent to a grade zero level two. When you awaken your symbol then you will instantly become a grade one being.

As for quests and missions issued by guilds then they follow the same division but each grade is divided into three levels: common, special and superior."

Aldrich didn't argue, instead he changed the target of his questions to the talkative Orven.

"How big is the difference between grades?"

"Well, it depends. Remember this ranking is not absolute. But generally a grade one being at level one or two creature can be beaten if it was surrounded by twenty or so trained musketeers. At grade one level three you need some canons and a handful of experienced adventurers."

"As for quests, whatever the grade it may be, the common rank means that you should expect a battle with a single monster of the same grade. A special rank means you should be prepared for a few monsters of that grade, or the situation itself may include several complications. Finally, superior rank, means that you might expect an incredible monster of that grade or basically it means that the quest could go up in grade."

? Aldrich was quite taken by this information.

"But remember this is only an estimate, reality does not always conform to our rules."

————————————————

Aldrich awoke in the base. He looked around and decided to check on the study room he found a while back. He might get something valuable from there.

Aldrich picked up his shield and looked between the short and long swords. Eventually he decided on the long sword again.

He walked back to the torture room and back into the study room. The room was massive like everything else in this town.

It had four rows of bookshelves each one almost reached the roof, full of books. Aldrich opened one of the books and coughed due to the dust.

The writing was surprisingly clear and the paper was in decent condition. Unfortunately he couldn't read a word. He turned to the mahogany desk and there was many books and papers on it.

Aldrich looked around some more but that was all he found in this drab room just an endless amount of books and notes that he couldn't read.

Rather than waste anymore time Aldrich departed the base and made his way to the next building on the list. Well, it's a mental list.

Aldrich kicked open the door—now with great familiarity— and stepped back and waited. He heard the husks moaning but none of them was in sight.

Aldrich carefully peered in from behind the door, the hallway was clear. He advanced slowly and carefully. He now heard the moaning and wailing clearly.

He decided to follow the noise and turned right. The darkness in the house was awful, that's why Aldrich was moving so slowly.

Finally in a common room he saw his target, the husk was ramming its head against a wall mindlessly. The green gooey blood already colored the wall green.

Aldrich sneaked up behind the husk and when he was an arms distance away he stabbed it through the back of its skull. The husk fell lifeless. That was... weird.

He collected two orbs and a coin pouch he found laying around in the room.

Until now Aldrich had classified all husks he came across into three types. First, the normal husks, they were reckless, clumsy and fragile. They might or might not have a weapon.

Second was the leather armored husks, they were as tough as humans and weren't as clumsy as the first type. They were swift and deadly.

The third, he had encountered only one husk of this type; the armored husk. It was a foe that Aldrich didn't yet dare face.

But this... the husk actually ignored the noise of the broken door and instead continued banging its head against the door. Perhaps it would have killed itself all on its own.

But the fight was not over yet, there were still quite a few husks within this house.