Strena Quester Part Five

 The Official License 

Strena and the rest were walking for hours and hours until the sun had come down when they arrived at a modest building. It had two floors and was painted in purple and gold. It had a small set of double doors. Chashathrophogh looked up and around the building as Strena looked at the windows. She noticed that there were some that were bricked up but others were not. She looked up at the upper window and looked at the bottom ones.

At the top was one rectangle horizontally, one square, another rectangle. There was a diamond after. Then one rectangle, one square, diamond. Three rectangles, diamond, rectangle, square, rectangle, square, diamond, rectangle, square, rectangle end. The ground floor windows were; square, square, rectangle, square, diamond, three rectangles, diamond, two squares, diamond, square, rectangle, square end.

She circled the building to see that it was like that all around.

“Urm, Master Chashathrophogh, is that normal?” She asked.

He looked up at the window formation.

“No! Good girl!” He commented as he walked up to the doors and knocked on the door four times and the doors opened.

“What?”

“The windows are Morse code for ‘Knock four’.”

She nodded as they walked in to see several old men and women, looking closely at each artifact that was in their hands. There were women walking to and fro. There were scrolls of papyrus in their arms. They put them beside some men and women that were examining the artifacts. Some put them in the bin and looked at the papyrus. They picked out one and ripped it and put it in the bin. They went on to placing artifacts, carefully, in a protective box, their hands and arms shaking when they retracted. Then sifted through the papyrus and read what was on it with glasses. Then placed it in the box. They picked out several gold and Ruby coins and put them in a bag made of thick strands of a plant. Then they gave it to the one at the door.

“Who are they?”

“Authenticators. They are old Questers that are too old to go out on quests, or have been crippled so they can not. So they use all their skills to authenticate the artifacts so if they prove to be paid. If they find it fake, they ignore you until you leave.” Chashathrophogh explained.

Cerpheres let out a sigh of dismay. There was a look of pity in his eyes. Almost like he had seen an ancient relic of his own had been destroyed beyond all recognition.

“Anyway!”

Strena walked up to one and gave him the chest. He looked at it.

“They are here for a license.” He said to him.

He nodded as he looked at Strena and raised his eyebrow. Then up at the rest of the group.

“Alright just as soon as I have authenticated this.” He said as he looked at each and every part of the chest. He soon had it open and looked at the beetles. He looked at each and every one of them and put them all, carefully back in the chest. He then gave them a leaf of papyrus each.

“Write down your report while I make the preparations.” He said as he walked to a carbonate of many bags.

“Shiba, tell Nebu, we need more money bags.”

“Alright.” She said, with a yawn and jaded eyes.

Chashathrophogh ushered the group to a room opposite to the left. Inside were a sea of people at a desk, some were furiously scribbling on them, some were doing it slowly and others were talking too long thinking. The group sat down at a desk.

“Just write down what you did and that is it.”

Strena beamed as she wrote down everything that she did as fast as she could. Cerpheres hummed as he wrote down everything he did. Bash was writing the same as her uncle was, which was neatly. Zaryb wrote down everything simply. Yet Leonardo did the same as Strena but in his own language.

“Now, you can use your magic to dry it.”

They did and they walked back to the old man and handed it back to him. He looked down at it and cocked his eyebrow. Then he looked at Strena again. His eyes narrowed. He put them in with the beetles. He walked up to a box and gave it to her.

“Ope this, please.” He said, sternly.

She nodded.

She looked down. She saw that it was a light wooden box. It appeared to be a normal box but she knew better. She looked carefully at the edges of the box. She looked for small gaps thinner than a hair. She soon found it to the left of the corner. She rubbed it up. This did nothing. She rubbed it down and it slotted down then something flicked out. She looked up to see a needle. She pulled it down and it slipped back up and she heard a click. Then the edges expanded. To the left she saw a square hole. She looked at the needle and pulled it out and pushed it in the hole and she twisted and the lid came up. She looked in and her eyes lit up to see a bag of dried fruit inside. She looked up at the man who was beaming at her.

“Keep it. You might need it one day!”

“Thank you!”

He chuckled.

“May the presence of the Great Being be with you.”

He then pulled out a silver necklace with a gold gemstone at the end.

“Here. Congratulations! Try not to lose them. After all, if you do, you will never get them back, nor can you get another.” He said as he put them around their necks. “And Strena, I must apologize, I thought that you were lying as you’re still just a child. So take this as my apology.”

He put an extra gem coin in her bag. She put them both in her box and she put it in her bag then they left.