The ceremony concluded shortly after the incident and everyone was shown to the beginner barracks. It was a long and narrow hallway with rows of bunks on each side. There were doors that led to privy rooms on each end of the hall. It was a far cry from the comforts at our home, but there was something nostalgic about the place. It took me back to the caves I grew up in, with our crowded sleeping room and hard, rocky beds. All the teams were assigned to bunks adjacent to each other, as we would inevitably be spending time together outdoors or at inns more than we’d be here. Reggie quickly claimed the top of his bunk while Gus went below. Being closer to the ground was always more comfortable for me, but I knew that there was no way Katherine was sleeping that high up. I scurried to the top bunk and Katherine gave me a thankful nod. “Please tell me you're not going to… mark your territory?” Reggie asked condescendingly. Katherine turned to him, and it looked like things would turn violent again. It was time for me to speak for myself. “Well I was considering it, but I didn’t want to intimidate you any more than you already have been today,” I said in the most innocent voice I could muster. Reggie flipped me off before turning to unpack his things as Katherine started laughing. Even Gus had to stifle a chuckle. Krimsun, as unexpressive as ever, simply relayed to us our instructions. “I would encourage you to rest well tonight. At dawn, you will wake and join me in the main hall where you will be assigned your first task. I wish you a pleasant repose.” Krimsun then began to walk towards the exit but stopped at the door and added, “Please try not to kill each other before the morning.”
We were, in fact, successful in that regard. Exhausted from the day’s events, we slept quite soundly. My rest was interrupted by the sound of a trumpet and a loud BANG from beneath me that almost sent me flying. “Ouch!” yelled Katherine angrily. Peaking down from my bunk I saw her rubbing her heading, cursing under her breath. “You sure you don’t want the top bu-” before I could finish my sentence, she cut me off, “Don’t. Even. Say it.” She said sternly. Reggie had already gotten up and was organizing his pack. Gus rolled out of bed and let out a yawn as he stretched. As the rest of us rushed to get ready, Reggie tapped his foot impatiently. “Am I the only one who takes this seriously!” he complained. Despite our relative lack of readiness compared to Reggie, we were still the first group to get to the main hall. Krimsun was chatting with Gretchen at the front desk when we arrived. The boards were full of job postings ranging from as simple as an escort through the woods to slaying a troll. One of them was asking for a group to handle a Nequese “infestation.” My stomach churned as I read the title and I quickly averted my gaze. There was no way they would send me on a mission like that, at least, that is what I told myself. And if I didn’t have to do it, then I could just ignore it.
Gretchen spotted us as we got closer to the desk. She gave us an apathetic look which caused Krimsun to turn around. “Ah, there you are. I’ll see you later Gretchen” Krimsun said before approaching us. “I have set up the first mission, but before that, I want to know more about you four. Tell me something you like, something you dislike, and why you want to be an adventurer,” she said. This wasn’t something I had really considered. I became an adventurer because I trained with Katherine to be one, I trained with Katherine to earn my keep with her family, and I needed to earn my keep because my own family had died. Everything stemmed from my need for survival, there was never any higher goal. “I like to fight, I dislike rodents,” Reggie said, looking at me out of the corner of his eye as he spoke, “And I am in adventuring for the money.” Katherine scoffed at his motives, but Krimsun remained expressionless. I wanted to judge it, but at least he had a motivation. “I like writing, though I’m not good at it,” said Gus, “I don’t like spiders, and I want to be an adventurer to find a long-lost heirloom that my grandmother told me about when I was little,” Gus spoke with a timid enthusiasm that put a smile on my face. “I like to draw, dislike pompous fools,” Katherine said looking directly at Reggie, “And I am an adventurer because I want to see all the strange and amazing things the world has to offer.” It was my turn, Krimsun looked at me with her ever impassive expression. “Well… I like to read, I don’t like storms, and I don’t know why I want to be an adventurer… I guess I just want to be able to decide what I want to do. Sorry.” Reggie rolled his eyes, but Krimsun spoke up, “There’s nothing wrong with that, I don’t expect anyone to have their life planned out at this stage.” She then held out a piece of paper in front of her face, “Now then, let’s discuss your first mission.”
Well, it wasn’t killing my own people, so that was good. Though this thought didn’t give me much comfort as I stood outside a cobbler’s store, watching people give me dirty looks as they passed by. The other day, the words “Cobbler Kyle makes sub-standard footwear” was painted on the storefront. We were hired to investigate who the vandal was. “I tell you it was Cobbler Kent!” shouted the elderly shoemaker. He waved his cane in the air as he told Krimsun what had happened. “He has been jealous of my work for 50 years! Substandard my foot!” he proclaimed. “Good to see you admit it! You old hack!” said an equally ancient shoemaker from across the street. The two men got into a shouting match while Krimsun stood between them with a blank expression. Gus was watching the argument intently with an uncomfortable expression on his face. It was the same kind of expression he had when Katherine and Reggie were fighting. “Hey, Gus?” I whispered to him. Gus whispered back, “Yeah?” eyes still glued to the angry cobblers. “You said that you wanted to find some kind of treasure? What was it?” I asked him, hoping to get his mind off the conflict. Before I even had a chance to finish my sentence, Gus turned to face me and crouched down. I held back a smile, it worked better than I had expected.
“The boulder crusher…” Gus began, he moved his arms in sweeping motions for effect. “Held by the giant side of my family for centuries, it was an enchanted weapon that bound itself to its wielder. It is said that it manifested in a way that reflected its owner. Usually a giant spiked club. But one day, my great uncle Gordan took it into a battle against an evil dragon…” Gus continued to describe in great detail the battle between his uncle and the dragon. While his story was interesting and I was glad that he wasn’t focused on the argument anymore, I had not prepared for such a long story. “Tragically…” Gus held his hand to his heart and looked upwards, “Gordan perished that day, and the vile dragon Volantum made off with the weapon.” Gus took in a deep breath as he finished the story. It was clear that he had rehearsed this. He looked at me expectantly, but before I could comment we were interrupted by Reggie. “We are here to do a job, not tell bedtime stories!” he nagged. “Why are you taking this so seriously?” asked Katherine in an exasperated tone. “It is literally just two old guys yelling at each other, it's not like we’re fighting a dragon!” she mocked. As Reggie opened his mouth, I could see the stress return to Gus’ face. That didn’t last long.
“Every job should be taken seriously, otherwise we won’t advance in the guild,” Reggie retorted indignantly. Katherine rolled her eyes, “But the job is over, it was clearly the other cobbler.” Reggie gave a smug grin, “Oh was it?” he said while motioning to the side of the building. He gestured to an old shoe on the ground, “What do you think of that?” Gus gave a quizzical look, “Well, um… that sure is a lovely shoe, Reggie.” Reggie’s hand met his forehead and he let out an exaggerated sigh. Katherine and I walked up to the shoe and gave it a closer look, “I see. It has paint marks on it that are the same colour as the vandalism,” Katherine noted. “The shoe is too is in far too poor condition to belong to a cobbler,” added Reggie. I looked over at the two arguing men and noted their quality footwear. My eyes darted around, from my… unique point of view, I was able to get a good look at people’s shoes. Then I saw something that made speak say “You’ve got to be kidding me!” out loud.
A man wearing a shabby coat and a single shoe was lurking in the alley, watching the argument. I pointed him out to Katherine and we walked over to the alley, not even trying to be subtle. The man was so focused on the argument that he didn’t even notice us walking right towards him. “Excuse me, sir?” Katherine said politely. The man must have just 10 feet in the air, “Ahh!” he screamed and tried to run. With a quick gesture, I fired the enchanted threads from my glove at the fleeing suspect. The threads wrapped around his shoeless foot and he fell flat on his face. “Agh!” he shouted in pain. Krimsun and the cobblers turned to face the commotion. “Does this guy look familiar to either of you?” asked Katherine, pulling the man up from the ground and pulling off his hood. Both men gave a look of utter shock, “Butcher Brent!” they shouted in unison. “That’s right! I vandalized Cobbler Kyle’s shop, I figured he’d blame Cobber Keith and get his store shut down, then I wouldn’t have to deal with the horrid smell of shoes next door every day!” he explained. All of this was just because a butcher of all people was bothered by a smell? The two elderly cobblers shook their heads sadly at the bound butcher. With the culprit found and captured the guards were called and butcher Brent was forced to clean up his vandalism and give both cobblers a discount on his meats.
“I must say, I am very surprised at your cooperation today,” Krimsun said as we walked back to the guildhall. “I must confess that I thought you were going to just argue all day,” her face was still nearly expressionless, but I caught a glint of relief in her eye. This did not last long, as Reggie opened his mouth. “Well, they were all slacking off, I’m the one who actually investigated and found the shoe,” he bragged, “that little runt just attacked the first person he saw that was missing one!” The mood instantly soured. “He was lurking behind a building and was watching the argument!” Katherine rebutted. “Oh? And that’s a crime!?” Reggie replied. Krimsun intervened, “Your investigative work was well done Reggie, but your social skills leave much to be desired.” Then turning to me she said, “Mak, in the future, do not engage with a suspect without consulting me. If it happens again, you will be disciplined.” Katherine was outraged, “Hey! I was there too! And Mak caught the criminal!” she yelled in my defense. “That is enough for today, please return to your barracks and meet me for your next mission tomorrow,” Krimsun replied coolly. As she finished speaking we arrived at the guildhall and she left without another word.
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