After the bandit attack, they did not face any more major blocks. Though a few monsters did try to attack them because of the scent the lotus fruits made, shyam was strong enough to deal with them fast.
The carriage driver was still unaware of the bandit attack, so he still saw shyam as a strong-but-not-enough kinda adventurer.
Shyam didn't care as much, and their journey thus ended at the gates of one of the biggest aquatic item export cities. The Taralaya capital city, one of the two export hubs of Rājarka. "Well, here we are, shyam," the carriage driver said as he gave the gatekeepers a card. Probably a business token or a grant pass by the guild master, the guard let them through and that's all that matters.
Shyam could feel the difference between those villages and this city just by entering it. Big buildings, stone tiles that looked expensive, people wore fancy clothes here and there, and unlike Kamalgram which was a village, this Taralaya city had thousands of people walking around the streets. Shyam had already spotted quite a few adventurers, though afar shyam could feel their strength. It was way more than him. Even with his dash plus fireball combo attack, he wouldn't be able to take any of them down.
That's how weak he was here. The carriage driver drove the carriage until they reached a fancy-looking house away from all others, a lot different. There stood a man, his posture as of a noble, expressions sharp and wide. He wore a white choga and brown boots made purely with expensive leather.
And the most shocking part — he had a storage ring that looked similar to shyam's but different by design.
The carriage driver walked towards that man after parking his horses. "My greetings to the mayor of Taralaya, here is the delivery, sir," he said as he handed Taralaya Chandrapal; the mayor of Taralaya a document. Probably the details of the delivery and such. Shyam just needed to get a sign of his quest completion, after that, he would go straight to the adventurers guild.
Chandrapal read the document and gave a sign on it and returned it to the carriage driver. The carriage driver then gave it to shyam saying it was his quest completion paper. Shyam took both the paper and the reward with it — a solid one gold coin. Seeing that reminded him of the eighty gold coins he just spent a few days ago on a storage ring.
After that, both the carriage driver and shyam left for their own works as the unpacking would take quite the time. Though it didn't matter much how much time it takes for the carriage to be unpacked because his next destination is the Vyomsetu city, that is after getting his D-rank card.
After completing the quest, he had arrived at the adventurers guild of Taralaya city. For some reason, it was required to wear the adventurer's card on the chest if an adventurer is near the guild hall.
There were many adventurers walking in and out of the guild. Some made parties with others and some just got back from their missions. Though one common thing that shyam noticed here was the attitude of the adventurers here.
E-rankers were looked down upon here, though maybe he knew exactly why they were looked down upon as the E-rankers were just so weak. People talked loudly here as if their loudness showed authority. Shyam didn't quite like the atmosphere around here, but he tried to ignore them all and entered the guild.
He had read it in the rulebook of the adventurers guild. It was noted there that their city branches were all automatic, and so if a person wants to accept a quest or receive a reward, they would need to use the automated receptions which were operated by magic.
Taralaya was indeed a big city, and it had hundreds of thousands of adventurers. The receptionists would faint if they wanted to check each adventurer one by one. For that, the adventurers guild came up with this idea that took years to build but was now commonly used in almost all the big branches of the adventurers guild.
Because of the Kamalgram guild master's personal request, shyam now needed to do half the required tasks in order to become a D-rank adventurer. After which, he could enter any city or kingdom with only his guild card without giving fees.
That was one of the many privileges of being a higher-ranked adventurer.
Shyam scanned through the quests available on the quest board trying to find his first-ever E-rank quest, when suddenly the doors of the adventurers guild kicked up, then entered some police-type people who screamed, "IS SHYAM HERE?!" Hearing his own name, shyam looked behind and saw a few people wearing aqua blue uniform with [ TARA POLICE FORCE ] written on their chest.
Shyam flinched, his eyes widened with both shock and confusion. What had he done after coming here? Nothing! Then why was the police of Taralaya—
A little bit confused and a little bit afraid, shyam showed honesty and turned himself in. "That would be me, what's the problem?"
The police force looked at him, and the leader of their team ordered the others to capture shyam and take him with them. Shyam didn't resist.
Moments later, he found himself standing right in front of the same house where he and the carriage driver left off their delivery. Surprisingly, the carriage driver too stood there in the same position as shyam.
This all could have meant only one thing: there was something wrong with the delivery.
"Do you know what happened?" shyam whispered to the carriage driver. "I wish I knew, they haven't told you either?" he replied. "No," shyam said.
Moments later, Mayor T. Chandrapal came in the room, fast, angry. The moment he laid eyes upon the two, his face turned red from bare anger as he sat down on the chair. One of his assistants gave him a medicine. After eating the medicine, he took a deep breath and said, "So, where are the lotus fruits?" he asked calmly, staring into the souls of both shyam and the carriage driver.
Both were confused and looked at each other with the same confusion. Shyam had made sure that no one could reach the carriage. He didn't even let Raitha sleep even a little for extra security, and for that reason, she now slept like a drunk man.
So how could the lotus have gone missing?
"What do you mean?" the carriage driver said. The fear could be seen deep in his eyes.
He had made countless deliveries across cities, even Kamalgram once before, but never did his packages go missing. Then what was the mayor saying?
"Don't you understand?! The lotus fruits I paid so much for, where is it?!" the mayor said, his voice louder and colder with each word. As if loudness could make them spit the truth. The truth never existed, they had double-checked each morning before continuing their journey and not even a single lotus fruit had been missing. Then how did the entire carriage full of it go missing right after reaching Taralaya?
Shyam had already started to suspect things, but he said nothing about it. "We know nothing about your package, sir. We had made sure every single one of it got delivered safely to this city!" the carriage driver said, trying his best to make the mayor understand that the fault wasn't on their part.
But the mayor did not listen to him and ordered the guards to put them in the jail below his home. Though instead of thinking how to get out, shyam's thought went directly to, "Why was there a jail below the mayor's home?" he murmured as the guards took him to the basement.
There wasn't anyone down below, yet it was big enough to fit in all the people of Nilgram in it.
It too seemed a little suspicious, but shyam yet again said nothing of it.
After walking past a few bars, the guards put both of them behind the same jail bar.
The carriage driver almost cried, but shyam sat down and closed his eyes as if he was in a deep thinking state. "Now stay here until we find the lotus fruits!" the guards said and left.
Shyam did nothing but stayed in that position for a few moments and went to the corner. The carriage driver stared at him, thinking he is about to do something about their situation. Shyam did the most brilliant thing a human being could possibly do. HE SLEPT!
The carriage driver now cried for real. He had never thought he would face a situation like this in his career ever!
---
Behind shyam's back →
"Now no one can stop me from summoning it!"
Said an old man swiping his hands across his beard as he took a sip of tea.
"Congratulations on your success, master!" said a man suited in black coat.
"Not yet, congrats me once I gain the ultimate weapon!" said the man again, and both of them then started laughing.
---
Ch-17