"So," Curt began once they were settled in their small base of operations back in Endyre. As usual, it being daytime, Otto was nowhere to be seen. "Bauph and I have some things we want to ask you first. Think of it like a screening or an interview for a guild position."
Xujen's eyes scanned the room, a dubious expression on his face. Curt understood. When he was first brought here by Otto months ago, he also wondered if he'd been brought here to be shanked and left for dead.
Bauph sat down on his small bed. "Yeah, first thing I want to ask is if you could kill that ice dragon so easily, why'd you want us to come along?"
"I wanted to make sure my future guild members weren't cowards," Xujen answered. "In any case, that slash was not as impressive as it may have seemed. The ice dragon was still greatly weakened from our last confrontation, while I had plenty of time to rest. But the opening you two gave me helped give it a swift death. For that, I thank you both."
"Is that sword magical? I'm honestly surprised it didn't break when it struck the dragon." Curt asked.
"This Shrieking Vapor I wield was bequeathed to me by my teacher. I am unfamiliar with its making, but it's a beautiful blade, is it not?"
Ignoring the obviously rhetorical question, Curt pressed, "No normal blade could cut through a dragon like that. Hell, the bullets I fired at it bounced right off. Didn't even seem to leave a dent. Also, how the hell does your sword freeze an ice dragon?"
Unexpectedly, Bauph was the one to answer Curt. "His sword acts as a magical conduit for Xujen. You saw it glow for a bit right? That's fairly typical when channeling magical energy into your weapon. But still." Bauph turned to Xujen with a guarded expression. "To be able to freeze over an ice dragon is no small feat."
Compared to freezing over a whole dragon, creating fire bullets suddenly seemed much, much less cool. He really had to step up his game.
"How come we've never heard of you before? A guy strong enough to take down an ice dragon sounds like he'd be in a guild already or something. And how come you were up in those mountains anyways?"
Xujen leaned against the wall and and began his story.
"I am a foreigner to these lands. I actually hail from a small village in the far north — it lies in a different continent. My teacher told me that in order to truly grow strong, I had to leave and see the vast world. He pointed me toward Sanora where he said it was a country full of strong warriors. I began my journey some months ago, and as I traveled through the mountains, I came across an ice dragon terrorizing a village bravely fighting against it. Of course, I had to lend them my aid, and that is how I ended up in the Tu'ban's village."
Curt furrowed his brow. "Why didn't you just finish it off then? Clearly, after seeing you slay it just the other day, you probably could've killed it then and there. Why leave it frozen?"
Xujen faltered for a moment before answering, "Well, that was my plan initially. I wanted to see if I could freeze an ice dragon, and I did. Before I could finish it off, the Tu'bans began to congratulate me for stopping the menace. Before I knew it, they had dragged me to Bunta's yurt, and there was a feast laid before me."
"And it took us hauling our asses up that mountain a month later for you to go back and finish the job?"
Xujen shrugged at that. "The food was good and the weather comfortable. I came to Sanora with nothing but the clothes on my back and Shrieking Vapor. It was nice to have a hot meal and a bed for a change."
Curt leaned back, letting his back hit the wall behind him. Another dirt poor guy to the dirt poor guild.
"The arrival of you two was fortunate though," Xujen said. "While peace was enjoyable, I had begun to crave the thrill of fighting once more. As if in answer to my spirit's call for battle, the two of you showed up. My teacher talked highly of the guilds of Sanora — he said the strongest fighters, even on par with himself, were part of guilds, and that they took on noble causes around the continent."
The door slammed open, and Otto stumbled inside. Curt caught a whiff of alcohol as Otto staggered up to him, grinning all the way.
"Hey! Y'guys are already back," Otto said, his speech slightly slurred. He glanced at Xujen, and began nodding to himself. "Knew y'guys could do it. That's him ain't it?"
Before anyone could confirm that, Otto grabbed Curt's arm and began dragging him back out the door. "Gotta have a quick word with Curt here. Be back in just a sec."
"Aight." Otto stopped pulling on Curt's arm and let him go. They stood only a few feet from their base, and the door was still open. Curt saw Bauph raise an eyebrow at them from his bed. Otto lowered his voice. "Glad you guys brought back the sword guy — I'm guessin' that's him 'cause he's got a sword — but I wanna touch base with you first. Like I said before Curt, you're my second-in-command and a guy I can trust. So, did he actually slay an ice dragon?"
Curt didn't bother to hide the shock in his expression or lower his voice. "You're confirming this now?"
Otto smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, well, 'a lone swordsman beats up an ice dragon' was just a rumor floatin' around the tavern that day. No one believed it too, but I had a good feelin' about it. And I only got this far by trustin' my instincts." Curt couldn't help but glance back over at the dingy building they called their base. In Curt's opinion, Otto's instincts didn't really take him all that far.
Otto began to light up a cigarette, but he didn't stop staring at Curt's face. Otto appeared a bit more sober after inhaling a long drag. "He did beat it, didn't he? I can tell. You do gotta pretty good poker face Curt, but I know my masks, and I can see right through your's."
"He did. And he made it look easy."
"That's what I like to hear, Curt. Now let's head back inside. We should get 'im registered right away."
Once back inside, Otto motioned for Curt, Bauph, and Xujen to sit or stand around him as he sat on his own bed like it was a throne and not just a dirty pallet on the floor.
"Welcome to Point Blank, Xujen," Otto said, fixing the newcomer with a broad smile. "Is what I'd like to say, but we first gotta get you officially registered as a guild member. Anyways, the name's Otto and I'm the guild leader."
"Your the guild leader?" Xujen asked incredulously.
Otto narrowed his eyes at Xujen. He was wearing the same cheap looking clothes he wore when Curt and Bauph first left, except there appeared to be a new alcohol stain down the front. Curt wouldn't be surprised if Otto hadn't changed since. He also had a considerable amount of stubble, and his ponytail hung low with numerous strands loose. "Gotta problem with that?"
Xujen cleared his throat and shook his head. "My apologies. It's just that… you weren't what I expected. My teacher told me not to judge people by their appearances. However," Xujen said, looking at the cramped room around him. "Is this really the guild headquarters? I was led to believe that guilds lived in more… extravagant establishments than this."
To Curt's surprise, Otto laughed. "Y'think we'd take a new recruit straight to our headquarters? Nah, this here's just a temporary. Good for gettin' away from the spotlight. In any case, I should be the one askin' you a question."
Otto leaned forward as his face turned more serious. "Do you wanna know why there's only three of us in this guild, Xujen?"
Xujen's normally calm and collected demeanor actually faltered a bit, but he recovered and answered, "I did, actually. My teacher said guilds could hold a hundred members, or even more."
"Pfft," Otto smirked briefly and flicked some ash off the end of his cigarette. "Those guilds go for quantity not quality like we do. Our guild only accepts the cream of the crop. Curt says you pass, and I trust him. That means we think you're strong enough to be in an ultra-exclusive guild like this one. The real question is do y'think you've got what it takes to be a Point Blank member?"
Xujen returned the serious expression and replied gravely, "I do."
"Excellent! Come along then, we'll get you on the books right away."
Curt watched the pair leave the room and head for the Guild District. Bauph appeared to have mostly ignored the exchange, and instead seemed to be carefully calculating out if he could turn the pittance they earned from their first job into enough meals for the week. The guild of idiots gets another idiot, Curt thought, but I'm as much as an idiot as they are for still being a part of it.
---
Otto returned in high spirits not long after, with a more despondent Xujen trailing behind him.
"Everyone, welcome your newest guild member, Xujen Suraiza! Let's set up a bed for him where Kirina used to be."
Despite his words, Otto went straight for his own bed while gesturing at Bauph and Curt to move the furniture around.
"What's up with Xujen?" Curt asked Otto as he shoved a few crates out of the way to make some room.
"He found out we're a D-rank guild and that this is where we're sleeping," Otto replied nonchalantly. "Not like I told any straight lies to him, so it's his fault. Our current accommodations are temporary, 'cause we'll be moving way up after that tournament."
Curt glanced at Xujen who was humbly preparing a bed in the corner less than a meter away.
"And he still joined?"
"I honor my word," Xujen spoke up. "You and Bauph have helped me retrieve my sword, and I said I'd join your guild."
"I'm surprised you didn't leave us for another guild," Curt said. "I'm sure a guy with your skills would easily join up with a big one."
"Too late for that," Otto said. "There's a two month period after leavin' a guild where you can't join any others. Not only that, after joining a guild you can't officially leave until at least a week has passed. By then, the deadline'll have passed and the tournament will be on its way. If he wants to participate, stickin' with our guild is his best bet. I'm sure that'll serve as good motivation for him to help with recruitin' the rest of our members too."
Curt wondered how wise it was for Otto to form a guild of conned, but powerful fighters. Except for him. Curt looked down at the two revolvers by his side, thinking about the feeble looking fire bullets against the dragon. Was that the best he could do down here? Otto boasted highly about showing off gunplay to Sanorans, but Curt had witnessed some of that magic first hand. As it was, if they did manage to actually participate in the tournament, Curt was going to just be dead weight.
As if sensing Curt's apprehension, Xujen said, "You and Bauph don't deserve to be in a D-rank guild. Both of your skills should place you much higher. Otto told me how recently this guild was created, so I don't doubt this guild will one day grow to become quite powerful."
"How'd you come to that conclusion?" Curt said, forcing himself to sound more normal rather than bitter.
"I may have spent most of my life in my isolated village, but my master taught me that technique that tripped you. It's not something most people could react to, and you even managed to bring it to a stalemate. You have good instincts."
Good instincts. Then how did he end up in a shabby hovel like this with three other guys?
"Bauph seems rather talented as well," Xujen continued. "Being able to solidify magic enough to pierce through an ice dragon is more difficult than simply enchanting an already existing weapon."
Bauph shrugged from where he was. "You said it was weakened from the fight you had earlier. You don't need to flatter us."
Otto however was gazing at Curt with a piercing look. Remembering what Otto said earlier about being able to see right through his mask, Curt quickly turned away to hide his face.
"I'm going out for some fresh air," Curt said to no in particular as he left the stuffy room. He didn't really care about proving himself in that tournament. So what if a guy could make a magical spear out of nothing or kill a fucking dragon? He should just quit the guild, wish Otto luck, and head back to Gold Glade and become an apprentice blacksmith or something.
"Hey."
Curt spun around. Otto was stood in front of him, the cigarette in the corner of his mouth wafting thin trail of smoke into the air.
"Let's go for a walk together and have a nice chat, hm?" Otto didn't wait for an answer and began to wander off.
They walked for a bit in silence before Curt couldn't take it. "Not going to ask him what's wrong? Or do you already think you know?"
Otto didn't smile like Curt expected him to. Instead, Otto's tone was serious as he said, "Look, Curt, I get it. I felt the same way. These folks down here with their magic and monster slayin' feats really make us Dusters look dull. And we're used to feelin' dull cause of the Yulians — and they don't even got magic."
"'Felt'? What changed?"
This time Otto did smile. "Follow me. I'll show you something."
Otto led Curt along side the city walls, and stopped in an empty clearing. "Used to come here for shootin' practice," Otto explained, pointing at some broken bottles and several posts were hammered to the ground a decent distance away. "This place is mostly empty so I don't gotta worry so much about accidentally shootin' someone, and it's the only place big enough to actually give it some distance."
Otto picked up a few of the unbroken bottles and set them up on the posts. Moving back to where Curt stood, he gestured at the bottles. "Go on, take a shot."
Curt sighed, but drew and shot the first bottle in a single breath. The bullet burst into flames upon contact, melting the glass as it shattered. Otto clapped his hands. "You're quick on the draw I see — a Duster staple, of course. I also see you already know how to use those guns. Now watch this."
Otto stepped up, drew one of his revolvers, and fired. Curt saw what looked like a mostly normal bullet leave the chamber, and watched as it grazed one of the bottles. The bullet exploded, engulfing the remaining bottles in an inferno before disappearing as quickly as it came. Even at a distance, Curt could feel the wave of heat.
"Dy'a think that dragon would've stood a chance against several of those?" Otto said, spinning a revolver around his finger.
"How'd you do that?"
A sheen of sweat was now over Otto's brow as he replied, "For one, I got better guns. Upgraded versions of your's in fact. Guns apparently work pretty well as magical conduits cause they're made mostly of metal. Second, I didn't spend thirteen years down here learnin' nothin'. You just arrived Curt, and you didn't get much time to learn, but magic takes some practice down here. You're gonna need it for the tourney too. But don't worry, I know of a place that'll whip you up into shape."
"I thought you said that magic took years to learn and stuff. What happened to guns beating out magic?"
"That's if you want to be caster, like a wizard or something. Or like Bauph with all that prayer chanting. Those types are kinda rare though. You and me probably could say all the magic words we want and nothing'll happen. Anyways, most fighters in Sanora use magic in some way to enhance how they fight. Apparently anyone can use magic in some way, provided you've got something that can serve as a magical conduit. Might be better to say you're tappin' into a reservoir of energy you've always had. So as gunslingers, we should be allowed to use magic as well. S'only fair."
Curt didn't bother to argue with Otto, and the two headed back to their base, where Otto announced the guild's next mission.
"I already gotta lead on our next recruit," he declared. "It'll also be a good opportunity for you guys to polish up your skills, 'cause you three will be headin' east to the dojo in Sahnju. The strongest disciple there has been refusin' all guild invites directed to her, and I want you guys to get her in our's. You'll be posin' as trainees to get close and convince her."
"Any reason why you're not coming along again?" Bauph asked.
"I'm gonna be busy. I gotta lot to handle y'know. But trust me, when you're back I'll have a nice surprise for y'all."
"I admit, you pique my interest," Xujen said. "The dojo of Sahnju I heard is quite famous. Those that go there, no matter how brief the stay, are said to become stronger."
Curt stayed silent. So this is what Otto was talking about. Except apparently the next recruit was also going to be there. He wondered whether Otto picked the recruit so Curt could go to the dojo, or if he happened to spy an opportunity and already had this planned out. Not like it'd matter which case it was.
"By the way," Otto went on. "Trainees get food and boarding for free, so at least you won't have to worry about that. Almost makes me jealous, but I've got my duties and you guys have your's."
"Beats staying here," Bauph said, now invested. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow. Kirina's letting you guys hitchhike on a merchant wagon she rented out for herself. It'll take you guys half a week to get to Sahnju. Don't take too long recruiting, cause we ain't even halfway done with the member count."
"Maybe you could recruit some while we're away," Bauph pointed out.
"I might," Otto said. "Now get packing. Oh, and my advice when you see her? Don't tell her you're in a guild."