Our meeting with the clerk was short. When they heard what job Deacon and Elayne were reporting, they guided us behind the counter and into some offices in the back. After a few minutes, a person covered in tawny brown feathers and beak for a mouth entered the room. They were dressed in a fancy suit, and greeted Deacon with a handshake that showed rather humanlike hands.

  “Been a while, Deacon.” The birdman’s voice was deep, but didn’t match the mouth motions of the beak. I decided not to focus on it and ask later. After he took a seat behind a desk, he clasped his hands on top of the desk and looked at us all, “So, Justin’s report was a load of shit, I take it.”

  Deacon nodded, “Did you get Paige’s?” When the bird man shook his head, Deacon sighed, “I guess I’ll go from the start, then.”

  I had to give Deacon credit, he was good at breaking down the effort of more than a week quickly. He mentioned Jason ditching us in his hometown. We all were asked clarifying questions about the numbers we fought, and I quoted out the one from the quest. Upon mentioning it, the others did as well and the official let out a trilling whistle.

  “A good start, though if your report is to be believed you are the cause of this cycle starting early. A troublesome revelation, since the nest is in a troublesome spot.” The man shook his head.

  “Are you going to use this to put pressure on the earth movers?” Zaion asked.

  “Hm?” The man looked up and stared at the elf like he’d just noticed him. “Oh, no. When the swarm started and the Duke saw the location it was coming from he enacted the emergency projects clause in all of their organization registration contracts. We’ve got twenty or so smaller companies getting involved as well, with a number of earth mages being recruited from all over.”

  I blinked in surprise, “So… they’re being forced to do the job at a lower cost now that the swarm has come early?”

  The man hooted in amusement, “I suppose you’re right. Which is a relief, because the guild has been mediating arguments about the issue for years.”

  “What’s been the major issue?” I asked out of curiosity.

  “PEC. The XGC was raising a stink about their public works projects not getting paid enough. The UMA has only taken an interest recently, once the price went into the millions per year. The other companies were asked to not express interest… politely, of course.” The way he rolled his eyes made what he thought about that clear. “If the swarm hadn’t started, we’d actually been in talks with the city about posting quests for repairing the sink hole damage. It was going to be something like 1000 Pec per square kilometer, plus 5000 Guild Credit.”

  “Wouldn’t the guild be taking a loss with that?” Deacon asked, leaning forward.

  The bird man shook his head, “The guildmaster was going to cover it personally.”

  “Probably out of spite.” Elayne muttered, though everyone heard her.

  “Regardless, now it’s about preventing new breeding grounds so it’s an adventurer matter. Which means if XGC and UMA want to take the jobs, they’ll have to go through us.” The bird pulled a few files from a drawer in his desk and started to flip through some paperwork. “You said Jason and Paige were not to be promoted, but nothing about Zaion and Lady Danielle.” He looked at me, “I don’t even have a level for you.”

  I looked at Deacon who motioned for me to proceed. “Level 8 Outdoorsman.” I didn’t really see the point.

  “And do you two judge her capable enough for a Tier 1 Adventurer?” The man looked at Elayne and Deacon.

  They both nodded. Elayne looked over at me, “Capable for a Tier 2, honestly.”

  “Agreed, but I don’t think…” Deacon started.

  “Well, if you both agree, there’s only a character and written test that need to be taken. I can get that scheduled within the hour.” He wrote something out on another paper, “And Zaion, I assume you both approve of his advancement as well?” They both nodded.

  “Very well.” He rips the bottom half of the page and hands it to Zaion, “Give this Agnes at the shop. She’ll get you a new identification card and your bonus for advancement.”

  Zaion took the paper and bowed, “Thank you, Guild Officer Pathos.”

  Pathos, waves him off, “None of that. It should be enough for a spatial bag, get it and store your foci in there from now on. There’s an alchemist bag that has a sorting feature and keeps liquids stable.” He flicked his wrist at him a few times, “Now, go. Unless you want to get sucked into politics.”

  Zaion looked between me and Pathos for a moment, before bowing politely, “I shall take my leave then.” To me he said, “I hope we can work together again.”

  “Make sure to visit.” I responded as he left the office, closing the door behind him.

  When it was closed for a few minutes, Pathos sighed, “We are going to have to get the guard involved in this, you understand that.”

  “I expected you to bring it up sooner.” Deacon replied. “Thanks for getting Zaion out of this.”

  “Oh, don’t thank me.” Pathos snorted in an impressive manner with a beak. “With the IDs you brought back, I’ll be able to figure out who sent them, which I’m guessing is the real reason you bothered reporting them.”

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  My brow furrowed as I listened to him speak. I felt like I just saw a mask slip. Deacon just replied, “You know me so well. But we also need to get the claims against Paige dropped.”

  “They were never officially leveled at her, so I can’t do anything. Idiot probably pawned his ring to pay for something.” Pathos leaned back in his chair, “Find the ring and you can call him out on it yourselves. No, the guards are because the three who got away from the party you wiped out came back and reported you. I’ll write out a report while Danielle takes the tests.”

  “I owe you one Pathos.” Deacon said, standing and holding out his hand to the birdman.

  “No, you owe me around a dozen now. Respond to my son’s messages and I’ll call this one even.” Pathos said while standing and shaking Deacon’s hand. Deacon froze, but the eye contact Pathos was giving him showed he wasn’t joking.

  Deacon gulped, and nodded, “Sure.” Letting, he cleared his through, “So, who are you going to get to do Danielle’s test?”

  Pathos drummed his fingers on his desk, “I’ll Maximus to do it. For now, let’s get her set up with the written test.”

  I was led to another room that had rows of small desks facing a blackboard. I was handed a small booklet and a pen that had a tiny crystal put into a holder one one end, and the writing tip on the other. It took a little practice, but I got the hang of it easy enough. The test was pretty easy too, though I was cheating for a lot of it. Most of the questions revolved around using the menus that I had access to innately.

  A few things I had to adjust, such as listing my stats as 145, 159, and 51 for Physical, Mental, and Magic stats. They wanted my relevant skills and traits, so I left out most of my traits and skills, focusing more on combat skills and the few traits like Spatial Closet, Second Wind, and Flight or Fight that probably wouldn’t raise any concerns.

  It took around half an hour for me to finish the written test, and by then a short man wearing a cloak covered in patches and boots that looked like something shredded them had taken a seat at the desk. He’d leaned back without so much as a greeting and put his feet up on the desk before promptly closing his eyes.

  When I set the page on his desk, he cracked an eye open, “Done already?” He sat up and flipped through the pages. “Brainy type, so makes sense though you are surprisingly even between mental and physical.” He looked up at me, “So, why do you want to be an adventurer?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him, “An excuse to explore and to find places to fight monsters.”

  “But why, though?” He leaned forward, standing up and putting both of his hands on the top of the desk. “You’re obviously from wealth. You don’t even have a combat class.” He looked down at the pages again, “Though you do have a lot of fighting skills…”

  “Are you Maximus?” I asked, wondering if this was the character portion of the test.

  “Hm? Oh, yes.” He held his hand out and I shook it, “Maximus Knock. Friends and students call me Max”

  “Alright then.” I considered his question. “To challenge myself.”

  “That’s a load of shit.” He said, returning to reviewing the written test. “If that was true, you’d be at the Flame Flower Fields.”

  “Maybe I’d like to not just jump into a dungeon?” I provided.

  He bobbed his head from one side to the other, considering my response. “I’ll allow that. Shows sound judgement at least.” He looked up, “You’re low on mana and two of your party is injured. One will be fine, but immobile until healed, but the other will die without any treatment. If you don’t leave within ten minutes you’ll all die. Who do you cast Heal on and why?”

  I blinked at the sudden question and thought about it. Feeling like speed was also important, I shrugged, “Get the first one healed and do our best to keep the other person alive.”

  “So, you’ll maybe throw one person’s life away?” He asked.

  “What? No. I can cast my spell again when I’ve recovered a bit and there are plenty of ways to bandage or help someone without magic.” I responded. “Magic isn’t the only solution.”

  Max grinned and nodded, “Alright, I can get behind that." He moved around and leaned against the side of the desk. “A teammate has been making advances on you, despite you telling him you aren’t interested. You find him in your room when you go to get some rest. He won’t leave until you give him what he wants. If you don’t, he’ll refuse to do his part of the mission. What do you do?”

  “Send him out of my room by the window.” I said, staring right into Max’s eyes. “If he pushes it, he starts losing bits.”

  “Noted.” Max said, unphased. “And if he was the client for a security detail?”

  “Doesn’t change my answer.” I said.

  “Even if that would fail your job?” Max pushed.

  “If I didn’t check the client out before taking the job, I deserve to fail it.” I responded.

  Max pulled a circular piece of metal from his cloak and started playing with it in his fingers. “And how did it feel when you killed your first person?”

  The question made me pause. Images flashed through my head, a forest I didn’t recognize and fires spilling out plumes of black smoke into the air. A person in a uniform that had a hole in his head.

  It wasn’t the alley, where Deacon and I had been ambushed. Still, it felt appropriate. “Disgust. They’d tried to kill me for… crystals.” I’d almost said credits, though I didn’t know why.

  His expression grew solemn. “Any guilt?”

  I considered it, “If I have to kill someone for attacking me… they brought it on themselves. Choices have consequences.”

  The way he suddenly slapped the desk caused me to jump, “Well said.” He went back to the seat at the desk, but instead of sitting down gathered all the papers. “I’ve no other questions. You got a nearly perfect score on the test and while you’re a little direct you should be able to handle the responsibilities of a Tier 2.” He leaned closer, “Though maybe get some anger management before Tier 3?”

  I was taken aback, but just nodded, “Sure. So I pass?”

  “Yeap. Do you want to go by your name? Considering who you are, I’d recommend an alias.” He said, looking me up and down. “Could go by your highest skill, though Sense doesn’t really fit you. Neither does Mana.”

  “Uh…” I considered it. I did also need an alias for that Moderator Panel… “What about Thorn?”

  Max bobbed his head a little, considering it, “I could see it with the Rosecrest angle. I’ll put it down.”

  So will I. I thought as I pulled up the moderation panel, making the change to my name there. And getting rid of an alert that had been irritating me since I first found that panel.

  “Okay, unless you have any questions, I’ll go deliver this to Pathos and get your ID. So long as it is physically on you, it’ll let the guild track you in case of emergencies. We’ll show you how to activate the emergency signal too.” Max said, standing up to look at me. “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

  He left and I watched him go, confused about him. What a weird guy. I thought as I headed for the lobby where Deacon and Elayne were supposed to be waiting for me.