Zectas Book II: Heraldic City of Coatl (23 page)

 

 

Smoke also unequipped his upper Knight armor, and revealed his single stoned Beggar belt. With an open palm on his left hand and a fist on his right, he made both his hands meet in front of his heart. Smoke bowed down and greeted the higher ranked Beggar in the manner that Darius taught him.

 

 

"May harmony and balance be kept in a perpetual state. My name is Beggar Smoke, but I'm currently using the name Ilad here in Coatl."

 

 

The boss did the same gesture with his hands and bowed down as well.

 

 

"And may the divine essence and eternal truth protect us all. Hello, I am Beggar Evocati Caid, but people around here call me boss."

 

 

"You're a Beggar Evocati! What's that?"

 

 

"You don't know what a Beggar Evocati is? How can a Beggar not know the ranks within our brotherhood? Who made you into a Beggar anyway?"

 

 

Caid examined Smoke's belt and just noticed that he only had one stone.

 

 

"You're a one stoned Beggar? There hasn't been a one stoned Beggar since... Well, since the last Imperator."

 

 

"Oh, you mean Kumbaba right?"

 

 

Caid's voice raised when he heard Smoke casually use the great Imperator's name.

 

 

"Don't you dare say his name without using honorifics. You should know your place, boy. When you speak about the greatest leader of the Verum de Mendicantibus, you should use his proper title. Validus Imperator Kumbaba."

 

 

Smoke was taken aback. He didn't mean to be disrespectful.

 

 

"I'm really sorry if I've offended you. It's just that Darius talked about Validus Imperator Kumbaba in a very casual manner and I..."

 

 

"Legati Darius? You don't mean Aeternus Legati Darius do you? How can you be so discourteous?"

 

 

"Darius had that kind of a title? I meant Aeternus Legati Darius never once told me to call him by that name. Don't worry from now on I will use the proper honorifics. Umm... If you don't mind, Beggar Evocati Caid. Can you possibly teach me how to address our brothers?"

 

 

While Smoke asked Caid to teach him about the secret society of Beggars, the Beggar Evocati was busy searching through his books.

 

 

"Even if you didn't ask, I was already going to. There are very strict and uptight Beggars out there who would punish you for being so... Ignorant and disrespectful. Here, read these books."

 

 

+Received Book: Verum de Mendicantibus Volume I.

 

+Received Book: Verum de Mendicantibus Volume II.

 

 

Smoke hastily checked the progress bars of the first two volumes. Both progress bars indicated that it would take five minutes to acquire the knowledge.

 

 

The DarkElf had heavily invested on his hidden basic stat called Wisdom. He is reminded to appreciate this decision whenever he was to acquire knowledge from a book.

 

 

Most books used to require him hours upon hours, but now the progress bars would only indicate minutes.

 

 

"Please excuse my speed of acquiring knowledge. My Wisdom stat isn't quite there yet. If you can just spare me a couple of minutes."

 

 

"Minutes? How many minutes do you need to have before you finish those two books?"

 

 

"Less than five minutes."

 

 

"Impressive. Please take a seat while we are waiting for you to finish the books."

 

 

"Thank you."

 

 

Smoke wanted to ask Caid about Coatl's Mounted Race event but was afraid to offend him once again.

 

 

"Well, you haven't told me, who made you into a Beggar? Who was it?"

 

 

"Oh, it was Aeternus Legati Darius. However, he gave me no other information at all. He told me that I should explore the possibilities of what being a Beggar is myself."

 

 

Caid rubbed his chin with his fingers as he listened to Smoke's answer.

 

 

"Aeternus Legati Darius was the one that sired you, huh? That does sound like him. He has always been fond of Self-reflection as a method of teaching. He has been gone for quite some time. There has been many changes since his absence from the Beggar council. The eight Beggar Legati left are the ones who makes the decisions for us. How is Aeternus Legati Darius?"

 

 

"He is doing fine. His power had been reduced to a third, but he is slowly recovering some of it."

 

 

"That must be why he has stayed hidden for this long. Oh, about your single stoned belt. You should know this, it has been decreed that only a Beggar Legati can make a new Beggar. For those below that rank, we are given an option to pass our knowledge and abilities to our chosen successor. If we choose not too, then our rank and power will disappear together with our death."

 

 

"Why was it changed? Wouldn't this new process reduce the numbers of the secret society of Beggars?"

 

 

"Yes. That is precisely one of the reasons why this new system was implemented. It isn't just the knowledge and the power that gets transferred. The process also melds the consciousness and the morality of the ancestor. This would safeguard the future Beggar generations from making the same mistakes of the traitor Giro."

 

 

Caid examines Smoke closely before he resumed to speak.

 

 

"Aeternus Legati Darius must have complete faith in you. True that being a one stoned beggar is really difficult but it also gives you complete freedom. Trust me when I tell you that my decisions and mannerisms are not all my own. When I talk, my melded mind from my four ancestors converge to tell me what to say. It may seem like an unfathomable task to you but it becomes more natural over time."

 

 

"You're right. That's really mind boggling. Can you excuse me for a second. I'm about to finish reading the books."

 

            

 

 

Smoke couldn't believe that he had four more ranks to go through before he could become Imperator. Nevertheless, he was greatly impressed with the Beggar Imperator.

 

 

When he saw the increased 125% of true potential description, he immediately wanted to become an Imperator. He knew that it was a long shot, but this knowledge would fuel his determination and set him focused on his goal.

 

            

 

 

The young DarkElf was dismayed when he saw the acquired knowledge from the second volume. He thought that if he contributed once his rank would increase.

 

 

"I can't believe how difficult it is to increase to the next level."

 

 

"I know, and it only gets harder when you rank up. I'm still two recommendations short to turn into a Beggar Quaestor myself."

 

 

"Thank you for sharing these books with me. I only saw the Legati and Imperator titles, I didn't see the Validus or the Aeternus titles."

 

 

"You get a title unique to you, when you become a Legati. Of course the titles of the Legati are shared to all the members of our brotherhood. Do you have a Beggar's tablet?"

 

 

"What's that? Dar... I mean Aeternus Legati Darius didn't give me one of those."

 

 

"That's understandable, these things have only been made recently. I'll give you one, I have five Beggar tablets here."

 

 

"Can you maybe give me two tablets, please? I'd like to give one to Aeternus Legati Darius."

 

 

"Of course, of course. Let me just go get them."

 

 

Caid disappeared into thin air. He promptly returned after a few seconds. He brought two stone marble tablets. It had a length of ten inches, a width of seven inches, and a thickness of one fourth of an inch.

 

 

"As you can see, it's currently a blank marble slab. But when you place your hand on it and recite these words 'Mendicus Nuntius Exsto' a screen will appear. Here you can check on the latest news from our brothers scattered all throughout Zectas."

 

 

Caid handed the stone marble tablets to Smoke. Right away, he got the impression of a modern day tablet when he saw the demonstration.

 

 

He followed Caid's example and tried to activate the Beggar tablet. He recited the words and at once the stone marble changed into a screen.

 

 

"The news displayed depends on the Beggar's level. As I mentioned before, there hasn't been a single stoned Beggar for quite sometime. I doubt if you can get any useful information at your current level."

 

 

Despite what Caid said, Smoke was still excited to explore his new tablet.

 

 

"I can see all the names of the nine Beggar Legati."

 

 

"If you can put that away for now, I'd really appreciate it."

 

 

"Oh, right, right. That reminds me. I completely forgot to mention why I was here in the first place. I was hoping to ask you about Coatl's Mounted Race event."

 

 

"Hmm... That Duke may have called it a race but it's really a survival game with a finish line. The event allows for anyone who meets the requirement to enter. You only need a mount and the zecs to pay their overpriced entrance fee. Guilds would send five if not more members to participate. There are only two rules in the Mounted Race event. Those rules are; 'Your mount must be restricted to a ground type' and 'You cannot switch mounts'. I've gathered information about this year's racecourse. I could share them with you if you like?"

 

 

"Please do! That would be a great help."

 

 

Caid proceeded to tell Smoke about the Mounted Race's course. He told him what monsters to expect and other useful information that could help him finish the race.

 

 

The Beggar Evocati cleared his table and placed a map of the racecourse. The two Beggars stood beside the map as they spent the next hours in a strategic discussion.

 

 

Smoke learned each section of the race, he gave his initial thoughts and Caid would either agree or refute them.

 

 

Caid also told him about the other implications involved in the Mounted Race event. It clearly wasn't a simple race.

 

 

Both of them sat down when Caid finished sharing his information on the Mounted Race.

 

 

"Thank you so much for sharing all that info. If there's anything I can help you with, please tell me and if it's within my power I'll do it right away."

 

 

Caid rubbed his chin with his fingers once more. He had been doing this mannerism whenever he was deep in thought.

 

 

"Well, if things workout as we expected in this event. I think there is one thing you can help me with."

 

 

            

 

 

Smoke was shocked to see Caid's quest from out of the blue. He never once mentioned his son.

 

 

"Can you tell me more about Espion? What he looks like? How old he is? Where you last saw him?"

 

 

"I think you misunderstood. Espion isn't some missing child. He's already grown up. In fact, his job is that of a Spy. An advance hidden variation of the Thief job. He wanted to help me investigate the corruption within Coatl. I fear that he was captured and is kept as a prisoner somewhere or... I don't want to think the worst...”

 

 

Caid stopped his sentence, and changed the subject.

 

 

”So, will you help me find my son? My men are already looking for him as well but no one has found him anywhere. My Beggar instinct's tells me that you have the highest chance of finding my son."

 

 

Smoke was set on raising his intimacy with Caid. After all he needed the recommendations of two Beggar Evocati. 

 

 

"I'm honored to accept this quest. I swear that I'll find your son and bring him back to you."

 

 

Caid shook Smoke's hand and thanked him for accepting his quest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smoke started his preparations to join the Mounted Race. He needed a trusty creature to ride on. He asked Laernea to help him pick out his steed.

 

 

Laernea got curious gazes from onlookers as she walked beside Smoke. The DarkElf disguised as Ilad, equipped in his flaming Knight armor was now known as the Estranged Flame Knight.

 

 

His nonchalant response to the people after he won the Swordsman to Knight tournament was the main reason for his newly earned nickname.

 

 

Smoke wasn't bothered by the crowd and he told his Lioumerean companion to do the same. She was told to forget the crowd's whispers, and to focus in their search for his mount instead.