The Tales of Draconic Warlock

The mission that I decided to take is a delivery mission.

It was issued by the academy itself. A package has to be delivered to someone in the capital. The mission page on the mission board didn't specify the details; it was just a package delivery to the capital.

More than two years near the capital, yet I have to take a proper tour of the capital. It is high time that I take some time touring the capital city.

Even during my mission about burglaries, I didn't spend much time in the city. The time I spent back then was in a single district and that too to catch a thief.

This time, I will spend some quality time in the capital.

I could reach the target location in minutes but there is no need. Moreover, it will recorded by the academy when I take this mission. If I appear too quickly it would be problematic. So, first I intend to waste some time after I reach the capital.

Technically it's not a waste of time, as I am going to improve my knowledge of the capital. It would be embarrassing if I didn't know the general layout of the capital before graduation. The capital was near the academy and it would come in the path of the journey from or to the academy, no matter what the end or the start point of the journey is.

If I want to establish a shop and have a good business, I need to learn what to sell and what not to sell. the items that were sold are as important as where and when they were sold.

For example, let's consider Water.

In most of the kingdoms, water is not a commodity. It is available for free, similar to the air we breathe. You would only be charged for bringing that water to the comforts of your home. If you go and pick the water yourself from a lake or a river there would be no charges.

Much like what it is like on Earth, Water is free unless it is delivered or purified.

This is not the same when it comes to a Desert nation.

There the water sources are controlled and will charged if anyone wants to use the water. The charges may not be gold or some resource that offsets the price of water, rather it would be servitude most of the time.

The rich may afford the water but the poor can't. So they either become slaves, soldiers, mine workers etc.. based on the nation and its lords.

The thing was that no matter how good the lords were, they couldn't give up water, which is the lifeblood of their nation for free. So the people who couldn't pay would usually become soldiers or cheap workers if the lord was a good one.

In deserts, food and water may be low but there are other resources like metal ores, gems etc... which would fetch a lot in other nations. They needed to be mined and guarded by these soldiers when they were in transit.

First, it would be from the mines to the lord's treasury and from there to the buyers who come to the desert nations to buy some exotic items that are available in large in these nations. These buyers are merchants from faraway nations. They bring food and water resources to sell here and buy the gems, metal ores etc... which are available here.

The merchants would sell the food and water resources for steep high prices but buy the items from the desert at low value.

Merchants buy items for cheap at one place and sell high at a different place where these items are rare but are in high demand. Only by this can they make huge profits.

They may appear greedy but these items that they transport are quite in demand. It means that there would be a lot of bandits always eyeing them. The merchants have to hire guards and they don't come cheap to places like these.

Anyway, this is to say that opening a mining business might not be profitable but selling water or food in desert nations would be profitable but these often attract bandits and any other forces that are envious of your wealth.

There are many issues that needed to be identified and properly planned before settling on an idea.

---

"Hello, I like to register this mission", I said to the receptionist.

This was not my first time here. So I handed her my student ID and the mission pamphlet.

She quickly registered it. A few minutes later, she handed me a package to deliver along with a form.

"This form needs a signature from the person to whom this package was to be delivered", the receptionist said to me.

I nodded and left after I got the mission.

I went straight to the capital but didn't fulfil my mission as soon as I entered the city. It can be done later and should be. if it was done quickly, someone would definitely find the anomaly.

I decided to enjoy the streets of the capital. There is so much to see and enjoy in the city and I have nothing to do except to deliver the package for today.

---

It didn't take much time for me to find the house I was looking for.

The house door was closed, so I rang the doorbell. The people of this area are rich, not unlike the nobles or some elites who have heaps of gold coins and various resources sitting in their home treasury. Though these people aren't quite at the top of the rich circle, the people here touched the rich circle.

It made it easy for me to find the right address quite quickly.

If the people are poor, their houses would be switched together and it would be a mess. Where the street starts and where it ends no one can find out.

The problem would be the same for the ones who are too rich. Their houses would be too vast and have to go long distances to find the right address.

This might not be a problem for me but, what I want to do is to live quite normally, a decision I came to a month ago.

If not for the waste of gold, which is quite low at this point in my reserves, I would have taken a carriage to the capital, enjoying the scenery of the path.

Life has to be enjoyed. Rushing means many good things would be skipped along the line.

An elderly man opened the door, answering my doorbell.

"Hello, is this the house of James Vert?" I asked the man who opened the door.

"Yes, I am James Vert. Who are you?" the man asked me.

"Hello, my name is Magnus. I am from the Royal Academy. There is a package here for you from the academy", I said as I pulled out the package that I secured in my space ring.

"Ah, yes. I have been waiting for you", the man said.

"Sir, can I see your ID?" I asked the man.

Though he identified himself as the recipient, I don't want to make the mistake of delivering it to the wrong person. It could bite me in the ass later.

The man didn't cause any problem and showed me his ID. I verified that it was the same.

"Please sign here sir", I gave the form that the mission hall gave me when I took the mission.

The elderly man signed for the package and then I handed him the package. Once that was done, there was nothing for me to do there. So I left swiftly.

Now that I delivered the package, it's time to return to the academy.

Maybe I should take a walk. It would be one way to time pass and would make my return to the academy slow.

---

It took more than an hour to reach the academy.

This was because I walked. Nowhere on the road, did I jog, sprint or run. I just walked all the way to the academy.

It was said that there would be some rare cases of monsters appearing on the road but I didn't face any.

It may be either luck or those monsters they were very sensitive to danger.

From the academy, one side leads to the capital but the other three sides are vacant. There are only forests covering those three sides. There are a lot of monsters and these would appear on this side, which leads to the academy.

Though there was no road, the academy makes it a point that high-rank monsters don't appear at all near the academy.

This is why I am surprised.

Normally, low-rank monsters don't possess high intelligence and would attack anything as long as they are hungry or the opponents are alone or appear weak. I was alone. So I should be the prime target of these monsters.

Anyway, it has nothing to do with me. If there are any issues, the academy will deal with them.

What I have to do now is to submit the signed form and collect my points from the mission hall.