Chapitre 30: City gatehouse

'Dang this city is huge.' Eldrian complained as he arrived at the gatehouse. He had walked the entire way since he had no free mode of transport and he hadn't felt like using a wagon for 15 coppers.

He only had 17 silver and 18 copper left after buying food during the week.

Granted Eldrian had bought what seemed nice, since taste and smell were a thing in the game. Doing that at least two times a week had added up. Still, he felt that since the wagon would take 10 minutes to reach the gate it was not worth the copper.

As Eldrian arrived at the gatehouse he first marveled at this construction. He had seen three gatehouses from atop the magic tower, he presumed they were all in cardinal directions like north and south. He also felt certain there was another gatehouse past the palace, which he believed had blocked his view of it.

But from the magic tower, he had never truly taken into account how large the gatehouses were. The one in front of him was a monster of a building. With the roofs standing 10 meters higher than the rest of the wall, while the entire gatehouse was probably a 100 meters wide. With the main gate in the center and smaller doors to the left and right of this massive building.

Eldrian believed the small doors led to a barracks each. Which probably had rooms to hold people and interrogate them or so. He also felt there would be an armory in these barracks. This belief of his came mostly from anime.

The gate itself was also massive, easily 20 meters wide and 15 meters high, with four separate portcullises which were all currently raised. The portcullises were placed in a manner to separate the gate nicely when lower. Two at the ends of the gate tunnel, on the outside and inside. Then the other two would divide the inside of the gate tunnel into three 5 meter 'rooms' when shut.

Eldrian was quite interested in the design, other than the portcullises there was also a gate door on the city side, where he was currently standing and looking from. Eldrian felt certain there would also be a gate door on the other side.

'This looks like a bitch to fight through.' Eldrian thought to himself. He felt that it would take many losses to break through the gate and that scaling the walls might be the better option. He could not decide so definitively since he would first have to walk on the walls to see.

After having enjoyed the sight Eldrian turned to look for the guards. He was surprised to only find four guards at the gate, two on the left and two on the right. Eldrian felt this was really stupid since the guards would never be able to reliably block and search everyone entering and exiting.

'Maybe there are more on the outside and they don't really care how you exit the city.' Eldrian reasoned and proceeded to head to the soldiers who were standing guard on the right side of the gate.

Eldrian had decided to ask the guards about the procedure of entering and exiting. Since he didn't want to break some laws without his knowledge.

"Hello, can you help me?" Eldrian asked as he approached the guards on the right.

"What do you want?" The guard on the left of the pair asked, while the other just ignored him. They were lightly armored, seemingly only wearing padded armor and each had a single longsword on their hips. Eldrian felt they were under-dressed for guards, but he certainly wasn't going to bring it up.

"I would like to know the rules around entering and exiting the city." Eldrian decided to ask first since he felt some hostility from the guards. He was certain asking to meet their captain first would get him a boot on his ass.

It also seemed to Eldrian that they didn't like being bothered, which he felt was weird. 'Wasn't it a guard's duty to bother others?' Eldrian asked himself before realizing and concluding, 'Of course, they want to do the bothering on their own terms.' Eldrian wanted this smack his palm with a fist for satisfaction's sake, but he felt the guards would like him even less if he did so.

"What? Are you one of those Chosen thingies?" The guard asked as his semi-frown turned into a full-on frown. The guard had taken a few seconds to size Eldrian up. With this and the stupid question, he realized the guy before him had to be a Chosen, since all citizens knew the rules of entry.

Eldrian was surprised by this hostile reaction, but he was certain he wouldn't be able to deny that he was a Chosen. He knew they would be able to see through him with a simple activation of the Observe skill.

"Yes, I am a Chosen. I have been training this week, thus I have never left the city before. I would like to not break any rules on my first time going out." As Eldrian said this, the guard's expression turned from a frown to a look of surprise, the other guard also turned his head and looked at Eldrian.

"What, were you too scared to go out like your friends had been doing?" The first guard asked, to which Eldrian frowned.

'I don't have any friends who play the game yet, so why would they ask it that way? Wait!' Eldrian thought before he realized the key point. The guard believed he was scared to go explore. 'I have to put this right.' Eldrian told himself as he readied to counter back.

"Na, he doesn't seem to be scared. Look, it seems like he would challenge you over that." The other guard, who was on the right side of the pair, said just as Eldrian wanted to go off.

'Oh seems he is more reasonable.' Eldrian thought and looked at the other guard in surprise.

"There are no real rules on exiting the city. But on entering you have to pass the gate before sundown. At sundown, we shut the gate." The other guard said matter of factly, as he took over the conversation.

"Also, when entering you will have to pay a fee of 5 coppers and declare your possessions. But you Chosen can just say what you have on you or in bags since we have no way to check your inventory." The guard added and asked, "Anything else?"

"Ah, yes actually. I would like to talk to your captain." Eldrian replied.

"Why?" The guard asked while they both looked at Eldrian with hostility again.

"I just want to ask about an event I heard was going on. Some kind of military expedition. I would like to join." Eldrian said, trying to appease them. He didn't want to be blocked access to the captain as the post had said captains can give players the quest.

"See, he is more sensible. Almost normal." The guard on the right said when he heard it. To which the other nodded.

"Indeed, the others wanted to make such a fuss." The other guard replied.

When Eldrian heard this he shook his head as he asked himself, 'Why are the players so aggressive with NPCs?' He could not understand this standpoint, at least not this early when players were defenseless against them.

"I will go get our captain." The guard said as he rushed into the gatehouse's barracks. Eldrian waited patiently since there was no reason not to.

A few minutes later the guard returned with another person following him. This new person didn't have any distinguishing features. He was wearing brigandine, which looked to Eldrian like the classic depiction of studded leather armor in fantasy shows. Eldrian thought that it was studded leather, since he knew no better.

Other than his armor the new guard had a two-handed sword on his back. Eldrian couldn't see what type the sword was.

"Are you asking for me?" The new guard asked as he neared Eldrian. Hearing this Eldrian realized that this unassuming guy was probably the captain on duty here.

'Wow, not very fancy for a captain.' Eldrian thought before replying, "Yes, I would like to ask about the military expedition which will soon be launched. I want to sign up."

Hearing this the guard captain looked Eldrian up and down, before smirking.

"Really? Do you want to sign up? It doesn't look to me like you have exercised a day in your life." The captain said. Hearing this Eldrian became quite angry, as it was a not at all subtle jab at his belly. Which he had been working on improving. He barely managed to keep himself from launching a verbal counter at the captain.

"Oh, no snappy reply. Seems like you are earnest." The captain replied, while raising his eyebrows from surprise. Every other Chosen who he had insulted had immediately started fighting back verbally or even physically in some cases.

"Well, I can't sign you up, since I am on duty here. But it isn't very difficult." The captain said.

Eldrian was quite happy to hear that it wouldn't be very difficult. Eldrian thus thanked the guard captain, "Thank you, tell me where to go and I will be out of your hair."

"Haha. You are being too polite. If you keep this up you will end up being bullied." The captain said, having had a good chuckle before he had actually started talking.

"You are lucky as the expedition team is forming just outside this gate. As you exit through here, you should then see them on your right. Then just go to one of the booths for registering of adventurers. We have placed your Chosen guys in the same category. Since, well it truly fits to how most of you have been acting." After the captain said this he turned around and headed back to the barracks.

[Quest activation quest received]

[Go to the troop gathering to sign up for the quest: First Expedition]

"Thanks, I will be going then," Eldrian said after he saw the quest trigger quest. 'Why is there a quest for getting a quest?' He asked himself as he headed to the gate.

As Eldrian walked through the gate, he was left stunned at how small he felt. The gate was simply massive. As he looked around he also saw that it was certainly a killing corridor.

'Freaking hell, the enemy would fill it with bodies before they manage to get through here.' Eldrian thought as he saw the kill holes above him. These holes had been evenly spaced, with each section of the gate having 6.

Then there were also all the arrow slits at the sides of the gate, and the fact that it was portcullises and not gates. Thus archers could shoot through the portcullises as the enemy tried to break them. He also felt certain that there would be oil pots or the like above him. Which gave him the shivers as he passed through.

'The only weak point is that it is only one wall.' Eldrian thought as he exited the gate. He felt certain now that there was no way to get through the gate. Thus the wall was the weak point. Eldrian thus turned around to look at the wall.

'That is a dammm big weak point.' Eldrian thought as he looked at the massive wall spanning ahead of him. It certainly looked far more imposing from this view, with no buildings or trees nearby. Just a massive wall in the field with an even bigger gatehouse and towers spaced around on the wall. Splitting the wall into sections.

Eldrian turned his gaze to the right of the gate after a while. He easily spotted the gathering troops there.

'Wow, that is a lot of people.' Eldrian thought as he gazed at the crowd. There were just too many people for a simple expedition.

'I guess it isn't a simple expedition then.' Eldrian joked with himself as he headed to this mass of people.