The Ultimate Devourer

The mage guild

Somehow I wasn't impeded at all when I left the training grounds and started taking a stroll through the city.

Maybe they didn't monitor us as harshly as I thought? Or maybe they didn't care at all, considering the thing that was currently residing within me.

I walked around, however, most of the people in the city were rushing in and out, going to shops to buy things, or straight going up to rest at inns. None of them wanted to chat with me at all.

I wanted to find a place where I could get some help regarding the slithering thing inside of me, but where could I go?

The city was rather big, so I wandered around.

The Church was the second biggest building and one of the most important landmarks in the city, so according to this, I decided to go to the biggest building in the city and find out if there was anything important there.

The biggest building was a long tower that stretched up into the sky.

The entrance of the tower wasn't guarded at all, and I entered it quite easily.

The lobby had a few chairs and tables where you could wait, and at the welcoming desk sat a blonde-haired woman that had her hair done in a short ponytail, the most peculiar thing about her was her baby blue eyes and her relatively long ears.

She wore a loose leather robe that hid her body underneath, and she seemed to be reading a scroll of some sort as she didn't even notice me yet.

I took one step forward and knocked on the desk, which she stood behind before coughing.

The woman took her eyes up from the scroll and looked at me up and down before narrowing her eyes and asking:

"Anything you need of our mage's guild?"

The mage guild? This wasn't a new term for me. The bandits used to tell tall stories about mages, their high intellect, and their ability to control the elements, but they were all rather too fantastical to be believed.

I decided to be truthful with them and said:

"I felt something wrong with my body, and I think it's magical in nature."

The woman nodded before saying:

"5 silver coins for a check-up, and depending on the disease you are afflicted with, it might cost up to 2-3 gold coins to heal you up or perform surgery."

I scratched my head and looked at the satchel tied around my waist. I had gotten quite a few things from the stash of the bandits, but I wasn't sure what their worth was, plus we couldn't get that much money from raiding villages, so at most, I think I had 4 silver coins.

I took out some items that I couldn't value out of my satchel and asked:

"Does this thing have any worth?"

It is a small trinket, a golden ring that may or may not be made out of gold.

The long-eared woman took the ring in her hands before analyzing it with a critical eye. However, she shook her head and said:

"We are not a pawn shop, but I think your ring might be worth 1 gold coin. However, we won't give you service if you intend to exchange it with us, we only take cash."

"There is a pawn shop nearby if you want to exchange your treasures for money. Come back when you think you have enough."

I nodded and left for the pawn shop, which was pretty easy to find.

After talking with the man behind the counter inside the shop, I sold the ring, a necklace, and a few other small trinkets that got me 5 gold coins in total.

That should be enough according to the receptionist's guess.

I went back to the mage guild and paid the 5 silver quota for a check-up.

The woman then pointed toward one of the many doors that led further into the tower, where I entered alone.

The room was white, and there was an average-sized white table in the middle of it. According to the woman's instructions, I was supposed to sit on the table and wait for one of their healers to come and make the check-up.

I made my way there and waited for a few minutes before a man wearing clothes as white as the room we were in entered and looked at me up and down.

He came a little closer and put his hand forward before saying:

"Let me check your pulse first."

I put my hand forward, and he started tracing his hands up my arm along my veins before he narrowed his eyes as he inserted some energy from his body into mine.

The slithering feeling from before appeared once again, running through my body at quick speeds as the hot energy that the healer inserted into my body chased slowly after it before retreating.

He looked at my eyes and hair before asking:

"You live at the Fire God's Church?"

I nodded slowly before he continued:

"It looks like you have been branded with one of their Obedience seals. We can remove it, but it will be tricky and costly, which means around 10 gold coins."

I didn't have that many, seeing that I didn't say anything made the man chuckle and say:

"I know this price would be too much for someone who had the obedience seal put on him. Why don't we strike a deal instead?"

I looked toward the man and narrowed my eyes. He didn't have a very trustworthy appearance or vibe.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. You know, if we want to remove the seal from your body, and keep it active, so the person who put it on you doesn't realize it has been removed, it would take quite the effort."

The world move around money, that's what bandits said, but it looked like this philosophy most likely existed and was followed by every sentient and intelligent creature.

If you didn't have money, use something else that the other party wanted.

I glanced towards the healer's smile before asking:

"What do you need me to do?"

I was rather desperate considering I would be in Aratas's hands the moment he activated the seal. If I got it removed, I could just act the part just like I saw in the vision.

"Well, our head doctor always wanted to get some notes on a living cannibals' body, and don't worry, our head doctor can stitch you right back up after he is done studying, at the same time, he would also be able to remove the seal within your body."

I scratched my chin for a few seconds, the 'studying' would most likely be painful. But would it be more painful than having your whole body melt and tear itself apart due to an energy imbalance?

Most likely not, unless the head doctor would torture me on purpose. It was quite a good deal, so I decided to take it. After all, it wasn't like I was the only cannibal in existence, there was nothing to hide, especially with the recognizable features that I had as a cannibal...