Core of Knowledge

He woke up tired and stood in front of a mirror, seeing a short stocky dwarf staring back at him with eye bags below bleary, red eyes. The dwarf had a toothbrush in his mouth, and Pos remembered he was in the midst of brushing his teeth.

He gargled some water and spat out of the window. Anyone stupid enough to walk below the windows of an inn in the early morning deserved to be spat on. Pos stood up straight, stretched his body and groaned as it protested. Pos ignored the pain; he was used to it and did a couple more stretches. It was just another morning in the life of an adventurer.

That’s what the stories do not tell you. They tell you of the fame, glory and fortune an adventurer could gain delving into a dungeon, but they did not tell of the pain and death that came along with adventurer. They did not tell you that even if you were a prodigy that could kill anything that the dungeon core could conjure up, you would still lose friends and see that death of other adventurers who went down with you.

Being an adventurer was a hard life.

Pos always thought he was a good one. He knew he was not the best and did not have the talent to be the best, but he thought he was more than passable. He was good with an axe, trained hard, and had a good head on his shoulders. That was why he had no hesitation in leaving the tunnels and come up to the land above. It was a clean beginning. No ties, no bad memories, and no bad kings. He could leave his troubles behind, disappear and have a new life. It was a new opportunity, and Pos knew he would make a good adventurer.

Now, he wondered if he had been too good.

Pos sighed, knowing he was just trying to delay the inevitable. He looked at the face in the mirror and saw him smiled. The dwarf in the mirror gently combed his hair, before doing the same for his beard. No respectable dwarf wants his beard to look like an overgrown hedge and a dwarf needed to make sure his beard looked good, especially when he would be seeing someone he hated. Once he was satisfied, Pos tied the end of his beard in a braid.

The dwarf in the mirror smiled and walked out of his room with a fresh determination welling in his chest. If there were any doubts in his mind, or pain in his body, no one would be able to see it.

Pos walked down the stairs to the first floor of the Blooming Jug and the air changed. The smell of breakfast assaulted Pos and an eruption of laughter surprised him as Pos took his first steps down the stairs. It was as if the laughter was timed to him walking down, but Pos immediately saw that it was not. A group of adventurers were laughing and joking about their latest run in the local dungeon. As one of the better cheap inns in the town of Viaggia, a lot of adventurers stayed at the Blooming Jug and Innkeeper Sandro, owner of the inn, had seen his fortunes boosted due to the discovery of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Techniques. There were no empty seats, nor was any table free of plates or mugs. Unfortunately, Innkeeper Sandro was not the only one whom life had changed due to the dungeon.

“Discoverer!”

One of the adventurers saw Pos walking down the stairs and jumped up while pointing at the dwarf. Pos successfully killed the groan in his throat as the cheer was immediately picked up by the rest of the adventurers. Some were pounding on the tables and others started laughing while cheering at the top of their voices. As the one who discovered the dungeon, Pos was a local celebrity and gained an epithet for the trouble. Pos wished to know who came up with the epithet, his death will be neither quick nor painless.

Once again, Pos killed his instinct of murdering all the cheering fools and ignored them. The motley crew of adventurers were not deterred by the grumpy dwarf and went back to their meals. The cheer died and the sounds of numerous cheerful voices soon filled the air once again as Pos headed towards his usual table. Maglor Stonekeeper, agent of King Maglor Goldenaxe, was already there waiting for him.

However, today was a little different. There was another dwarf beside him, someone Pos knew. Bran Steelmaker of The Forevers was a Level 19 [Shield Warrior] and one of the most respected adventurers in Viaggia. However, Pos knew him mainly because Bran was a Greybeard, a dwarf so old he had grey in his hair. In dwarven society, that meant Pos had no choice but to listen to him. He could not ignore Maglor like usual. A dwarf could not ignore a dwarf with grey in his beard and still call himself a dwarf.

Pos was surprised to see the old adventurer here but kept his face neutral. He sat down opposite the two dwarfs and ordered a hearty breakfast when the barmaid came along. There was no such thing as a light breakfast for a dwarf, which was why innkeepers loved dwarven customers.

“Warrior Pos, I believed you know Greybeard Bran Steelmaker?” Maglor said, trying to ease into a start in the conversation as Pos waited for his breakfast to arrive.

“We’ve met. Surprised to see you here, Bran?” Pos said.

“Well, when the agent of the king asked something from you, a dwarf has no choice but to listen.” Bran replied as he dug into his own breakfast.

Pos scoffed. “Thought we all left that life behind the moment we came up to the world above.”

“That we did,” Bran said. “But we are dwarves. Unlike those humans and elves, we only have one kingdom, only have one [King]. Despite any grievances we have, dwarves need to listen to our [King].”

“So, you are a King’s Dwarf,” Pos leaned back into his seat as he realized the Greybeard was a patriot. “Good to know. Doesn’t change a thing for me though. Why are you here?”

“The food. Free food at that.” Bran chuckled as he raised his plate slightly before pointing at the third dwarf at the table. “He’s paying.”

Maglor had been keeping silent, but his frown was visible. “You really should show more respect to your betters, Warrior Pos.”

“I don’t see my betters here, and the day an innkeeper is my better is the day we all die.” Pos could not help but laugh.

“I heard that dwarf!” Innkeeper Sandro shouted from the bar.

“You’re supposed to!” Pos shouted back.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” Maglor growled, which did nothing but encourage Pos.

“I know, but I meant what I said. I don’t see any of my betters here.” Pos laughed. “And if I did, I can assure you that an agent of the king is not one of them.”

Bran laughed along with Pos before passing a piece of paper to him. “Take a look at this. The Adventurer Guild just issued it.”