Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn

This book is dedicated to you,

the one who continues to join Smoke on his adventures.
 

Chapter 01 - Stranger in a Strange Land

Chapter 02 - Forced Circumstances Forcibly Shape Us

Chapter 03 - The Truth Always Reveals Itself

Chapter 04 - The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn

Chapter 05 - The Will of the Flames

Chapter 06 – The 999th Magi Gagnant Tournament

Chapter 07 - A Prize In The End

Chapter 08 - The Journeyman of Florissant Seminary

Chapter 09 - The Vitzytl King's Harebrained Request

Chapter 10 - A Sea of Green Giants

Side Story – News of the Ork Invasion

Smoke and Sierra's Status Windows

Appendix

After reading the information, Smoke closed it, and took in the breathtaking view of the new land. The sun had barely rose from the shore, as he stood on the harbor of Vona City. This was the gateway city of Vitzytl Kingdom. He had just gotten off the Naufrage, the junk ship which Venal arranged for him to sail across the south Wysterian seas.
From the boat, Vona City appeared to be a bustling place, filled with tall buildings. There were several docks in Havre Village that were filled with large ships, but this place had ten times more. The numerous vessels simultaneously docking and leaving were often filled with travelers and merchandise. The porters on the docks were busy carrying cargo, or escorting passengers to their respective ships.
The voyage took over two weeks. They suffered through troublesome waves, and other mishaps along the way. It was as expected, when traveling through the seas of Zectas.
During this time, Smoke had bonded with the crew members. Yet, they knew him as Faux, the Earth Elementalist from Centza City.
The crew would have invited him to stay with them during his stay in Vona City, but they were contracted by a group of High Wizard Sonstwelters to take them to the continent of Wysteria.
So, Smoke braved the Sawtorn Continent alone. Equipped with his modified hooded cloak, brown wizard pants, and full-faced earth mask, his tattered look gave him the appearance of a low-level Earth Elementalist.
There were a few other Sonstwelters in the docks, but all of them ignored him. They were focused on acquiring vessels to Wysteria.
Apparently, it was cheaper to use than the continental teleportation circles in the city.
"Looks like we'll fit right in, Bud," whispered Smoke to Igniz, who was hidden inside a metallic orb on his armor.
Despite his full-faced earth mask, a distinct sweet smell he had never experienced before filled his senses.
"Excuse me, what is that smell?" he asked one of the porters carrying a crate of bananas.
The porter looked at him with a dubious expression. "That's probably fish oil, almost everyone here sells those."
"No, I don't think so," he replied, shaking his head.
The porter guffed at Smoke, and carried on his crate of bananas.
Then, he saw a pomegranate stand next to the fish oil vendors.
'Could that be it? But it's just one stall?' he wondered, and walked closer to the stand.
"How much is this?" he asked, grabbing one and smelling it.
'Yeah, this is it. I didn't know pomegranates could let out such a sweet smell,' he thought, surprised.
"Just two zecs, Sir," answered a young girl's voice.
Smoke stared at her with astonishment, as he just realized that she was a thickly clothed OrkElf of about nineteen years of age. Despite her clothing, her muscles were still clearly visible.
'Is she trying to disguise herself being an OrkElf?' pondered Smoke.
"If you buy three, I'll give them to you for just five zecs," quickly added the girl.
"What? Five zecs?" asked Smoke in surprise. He couldn't believe how affordable it was, but he was more shocked at finding the young OrkElf.
"Alright, alright, I'll let you have one for one zec, but that is my bottom price," said the girl with a quivering voice.
'I guess the stories about Vona City having OrkElves were true after all,' thought Smoke to himself as he half-paid attention to what she was saying.
Suddenly, a large male OrkElf came by pulling a cart filled with pomegranate crates. He took one of the crates out, and placed it right next to her.
Smoke was taken aback. Not one, but two OrkElves as soon as he arrived.
The burly OrkElf caught Smoke eying him. He immediately grabbed Smoke's collar and raised him from the ground.
"You have a problem with me?" asked the OrkElf brute.
"Put him down, Colere," ordered the OrkElf girl.
"But, Esper, he was giving me that look," argued Colere.
"Put him down, now!" she yelled at the much larger Colere. "He is wearing a mask, how can you possibly tell what look he was giving you?"
"It was his eyes," argued Colere. "Just look at them."
The female OrkElf looked up, and stared intently at Smoke's eyes. "They look normal to me."
"Now, go bring in more crates," ordered Esper. "I think we can probably sell ten today."
"But we haven't even sold one," countered Colere. "Let's just give up and go back home."
"No! We need to eat something else other than pomegranates," said a determined Esper.
"I'll buy three," interjected Smoke. He got out zecs from his bag, and handed them to the girl. Five zecs, right?"
"Thank you, Sir," excitedly said Esper.
She raised the zecs up for the brutish OrkElf to see. "See, Colere, and you were about to attack him."
Colere gave Smoke an awkward smile and a bow. "Thank you for your patronage, Sir."
"Don't mention it," answered Smoke, and took a bite from one of the pomegranates.
"Mm. This is really juicy," he said while munching on the fruit. "Say, why aren't there any other buyers? You're the only pomegranate stand I see here, you should be swarming with customers."
"By any chance, did you just arrive in Vitzytl, today?" asked Esper.
"Yup, it hasn't been even an hour since I got here," happily replied Smoke.
"Ugh!" Esper groaned. "No wonder you bought our fruits."
She then turned to Colere. "I think you're right. Maybe we should go back home."
"Hey, don't give up. You said it yourself, even if there are thousands of pomegranate trees outside the city, people will still buy stuff that's handed to them," encourage Colere.
"Wait, what? You're telling me that there are plenty of these wild pomegranates just outside? And everyone can freely take them?" asked an intrigued Smoke.
'Hm. Maybe, it was the pomegranate trees that I smelled all along,' he wondered to himself.
"Yeah, they almost grow like grass here," answered Colere. "Legend has it that thousands of years ago, before Vitzytl Kingdom was created, this place was a barren desert. Until one day, a small group of powerful Magicians planted these special trees."
Colere grabbed one of the pomegranates. "These things were the ones said to have brought more creatures into these lands, and supposedly created Vitzytl Kingdom itself."
"That's a pretty tall tale, but why are you selling these fruits anyway?" asked Smoke.
Esper raised her eyebrow. "Don't you have OrkElves where you're from?"
Smoke shook his head. "Not really. I just know of two, and they're close friends of mine."
"Really? You? You're close friends with OrkElves?" asked a skeptical Esper. "Well, it's a different scenario here in Vitzytl or even in Thanotl Kingdom for that matter."
"OrkElves are treated like the plague," began Esper. "No one wants to do anything with us. We're even treated worse than lepers."
Colere patted Esper's head. "Now, now, you don't have to get too emotional about it," said the brutish OrkElf, soothing the angry Esper.
Smoke then saw Colere face him. "Because of this, there have been many OrkElf Settlements sprouting everywhere. Unfortunately, we're mostly composed of teenagers or children, and no one there knows how to farm or fish. We just feed off the pomegranates to survive."
"But we need more than just these wild fruits to live," interjected Esper. "We need clothes, a proper home, medicine... And hunting stone deers with our bare hands is tiring. Those damn monsters run so fast when they're almost dead."
Esper's eyes were tearing up as she spoke. "Not to mention security. How many times have vicious monsters entered our homes and taken one of the OrkElf children?"
Colere did not add on to what she said, but he only gave out a deep sigh. He then turned to Smoke. "Esper had a younger sister, but then a group of sand cheetahs came and ran off with the two of them... I did my best to fight them, but I could only save her."
Smoke's heart ached for the two OrkElves. He thought about giving them some of his jewels, but realized that it would only temporarily fix their problem. He needed a long term solution for them, but he still had no idea how to help them.
A few minutes of awkward silence passed. Suddenly, Smoke spoke out. "Well, my name is Faux, and I'm actually looking for a guide. Perhaps you, two, could work for me for a while?"
"A hundred zecs per day, for each one of us. And, you pay for our food and lodgings," haggled Esper.
Smoke smiled and nodded without hesitation. He offered his hand to both of them, the OrkElves eagerly shook it.
Then, a notification window popped up.
 

'Hm. That's new,' observed Smoke while reading the window.
"Now, that we have that settled, please take me to an Appraiser Shop," asked Smoke as he turned his attention back to them. "I need to have these priced." Smoke then took out one of the precious gems from his bag, and showed it to them.
"Faux, you have gemstones?" asked a surprised Esper. "Alright, I know the place. Follow me please."
"What about all these crates of pomegranates?" asked Colere as he prepared his cart.
"Leave them," irritably answered Esper. "No one's going to steal them."
The OrkElf kept muttering to herself. "I should have asked for three-hundred zecs a day..."
After a few minutes, Smoke and his guides arrived in a decent-looking Appraisal shop.
When they got inside, Smoke saw an old stout Gnome sitting behind his counter.
"Hey, Pousser, I brought in a customer. I think you'll be happy with him," said Esper.
Smoke briskly took out two gemstones from his bag and showed them to the old Gnome.
The old Appraiser held one of Smoke's gems under scrutiny with his dichroscope. "Hm. I see several flaws in this one."
His old hairy hands then took another. "Oh, and in this one as well. Okay, I'll give you 80,000 zecs for each of these gems," said Pousser.
'That's more than twice the amount from when I got it appraised in Havre Village,' thought and excited Smoke. Yet, he kept his composure.
"Thanks, but I think I'll go somewhere else," said Smoke and asked for his two gemstones back. He used the old tactic of threatening to leave, to raise the offered price.
"Alright, alright, 90,000 zecs," quickly offered the Gnome. "But I'm barely making any money at that price already."
With his back turned to Pousser, Smoke smirked.
"That sounds rea—" Smoke was suddenly cut off by Esper.
"Cut the crap, old man," she interjected. "You and I both know that those gemstones could easily go for 120,000 zecs."
"Shut it! Stupid, OrkElf. It is so early in the morning, and the nice DarkElf was already going to accept my offer," hissed the old Gnome.
"Now, you listen here, Pousser," began Esper, while angrily pointing her fingers at the old Appraiser. "Out of all the Appraisal shops in the city, I chose to go to you. I expected you to be a decent businessperson, and deal properly with foreigners."
"Fine, fine. Tlalt, Esper! For an OrkElf you sure know your prices in the city," said Pousser. "I'll give you 120,000 zecs for each of them."
A stunned Smoke smiled at his newly acquired guide.
"Great! I'd like to exchange ten of them, please," he said to the Gnome Appraiser.
After Smoke exchange his gems for zecs, the three of them began exploring the city. He saw several pop-up stores scattered in the city streets. Most of them were owned by Sonstwelters, but had Zectian attendants. Apparently, it was an affordable new way for Sonstwelters to own some semblance of property within the city.
However, they could only put up their stores from seven in the morning til four in the afternoon. Whereas, the main stores could be open for twenty-four hours.
In these temporary stores, Smoke bought medicinal herbs, several kilos of meat, a hundred meters of cloth, and other various items.
While filling up Colere's cart, Smoke noticed how scarce Vona's patrolling Knights were. "How come there are so few guards here? Is the crime rate that low?"
"Ha! You'd probably think that, but that isn't the case," answered Esper. "The truth is, being a Warrior or any variation of the kind is expensive here. That's why the Duke relies on magic to protect the city."
She then pointed him to various casting circles painted on the walls. "Those are capture circles, of course only a few authorized Wizards can activate them."
Smoke nodded, but he did not completely understand how they worked. He thought to learn more about that later. For now, he wanted to finish his self implemented task.
Throughout all of their purchases, Esper made sure to get the bargain price out of each one. Colere's cart was quickly filled to the brim with Smoke's purchases.
After one hour of procuring supplies, Smoke thought that he had everything that he needed.
"Well, I think that's it," said Smoke. Suddenly, the OrkElves stomach growled. He realized that they had not eaten breakfast yet. He took out an ancient bison jerky and gave some to his two OrkElf guides. "Eat this," he offered to the two of them.
"Meat!" eagerly yelled Esper and grabbed one of the jerky.
Colere tried to be calm about getting Smoke's offered food, but he stumbled on his cart's handle before he got to him. "Thank you," he said bashfully after getting up on his feet.
While all of them were eating, Smoke thought it was time to go find a temporary location to stay.
"After this, we should head for a place to rest," said Smoke out loud.
"Alright, what kind of inn would you prefer? The overprice kind but the best in the city, or the affordable but comfortable one?" asked Esper.
"None of those. I want you to show me where you two live. I was thinking of spending my days there while I'm still searching for a lead on my quest," replied Smoke cordially.
"What?!" she asked in disbelief. "You have all that money, and you want to stay with us in our dump?"
Smoke kept smiling pleasantly. "Yes. Also, I'd love to see the other OrkElves you were talking about earlier."
"Fine!" muttered Esper. "Colere, let's go." She kept mumbling while leading Smoke to where they were staying. "...Out of all the foreigners looking for a guide, we had to have the one who was such a cheapskate!"