The kingdom of Valrn, one of the few around the continent, "The Holy Nation" as some folks call it. Majorly populated by humans, but has its share of nonhumans, such as elves and dwarves. The chains and collars on their necks? Just a decoration. Slavery you say? No, just prisoners doing public work to redeem for their sins. That's what the church claims to dodge any accusations of breaking the peace treaty that was formed after the "Flood of the blood moon". Everyone knows about their hand in it.
Besides our beautiful church, there is also the "honorable" loyalty that always assures the collar around your neck will be just tight enough for you to swallow dust. "Humble" people are dying unnecessary deaths either from the common cold or being ravaged by the local monstrosities hiding in the forests or lurking in the darkest alleys of the cities. Why don't the church or nobles react you ask? The population is nothing more than hares locked in the box. Give them enough time, and they will restore to the original number. What's the point of spending money on a resource that replenishes itself, after all?
But it's not all bad, some people started to capitalize on the current situation and created their own ways of dealing with it. On one hand, we have the jolly boys, the "adventures", the pest control. Drop enough coins and they will take care of the monsters- most of the time. On the other hand, we have the "Cleaners". A group that is nothing more than glorified bounty hunting locale with the exception that they will do anything as long as it pays the taxes. Both organizations have at least one major building bought off for their businesses in every major town. At least, the ones that are worth travelling there for. Ones like the lovely border town of Krime. It's the first town anybody will cross from the south to either restock or sell their valuables. The catch is that there are no railroads reaching here. The convoys come and go the old fashioned way- the good old horse-powered carts, often guarded by measly men who call themselves warriors or sellswords. Couldn't count how many times the so-called "guards" ran away or got eaten alive by the monsters. "Fools" are the only things they should be called. Why did they invent those behemoths of machines called "Trains" to protect their goods and aristocracy from the beasts of the wild? No matter, today came another convoy. Beaten and shredded to pieces. They lost their two carts after they got attacked in the middle of the night by a group of roaming Kvassi monsters. Terrible things to face against, the size of the small child, and nimble as a cat. The owner appeared as if the soul left his body, completely white and shivering; a dreadful sight to behold. Nonetheless, he seemed grateful to be alive as he thanked a man who came from the back of the cart, wearing nothing but blood-soaked rags, a cloth cloak, and an all-around cracked ceramic mask with one eyehole being covered by a rag that was wrapped around it. He took a small bag of coin from the trader, and left on his own, heading deeper inside the town after grabbing his own small bag.
He noticed one of many water troughs left for the poorer folk to get a quick wash, or let their animals drink from if they felt like carrying a diseased meat bag around. Clearly, he wasn't a local, not even from the same country as his accent gave away with ease when he asked a young woman some questions who was passing by as he was waiting for his rags to dry. She wasn't very keen to answer, but coin can quickly change the attitude of a man. After being given 10 copper coins, she told everything she knew about the town. The pubs, the lodging, the smith, anything that might come in handy for someone like him. Through the entire conversation, she stared weirdly at the bandages that covered his body. There wasn't a spot where bandages didn't cover a mere centimeter of his skin, but when he commented on her rude behavior, she backed off and started defending herself saying "That it was just his imagination". Well, it seems like it didn't matter in the slightest since she departed shortly afterward, saying she was in a hurry. Unphased, he grabbed his clothes and headed towards the place that the woman described as "The cleaners hub". If they let him in, they might find some work for a vagabond such as himself.
It really boggled his mind, but he tried not to pay heed as every human being that passed him down the streets intensely glared at him like he stole their kid or something. He simply sighed and marched on as he didn't see a reason to dwell on it. After all, he is here for a reason of his own. It took him some time but he did indeed find it; a two-story wooden building with a sign that reads "The cleaners" with smaller text under it saying "No problem is too big for an even bigger sack of silver". He stared at it for a moment, letting a small chuckle before heading inside. The bottom layer of the building consisted of a gathering hub, a small bar, and a board with varying amounts of bounties pinned down on different sections of it, varying in the rewards and types. It was no different than the ones from outside, but he felt like every eye inside the room was glued to his back. He sighed yet again, and made his way to a young girl with hair as red as roaring charcoal. Before he could even move his lips she said,
"Ah, it must be you! The infamous 'ragman'!" she chuckled.
"Ragman?" He replied, confused. He took a look at his current outfit and said, "I can see how the nickname got around"
"Yup, a mysterious outlander covered in blood and rags with a sinister-looking mask, towering over people, and terrorizing local folk" she humorously nodded. "Quite a character coming through the door"
A comment to which he quickly stepped back to. "You are the one to speak."
"Rude comments aside, I suppose you came here to get yourself enrolled into our business, right?" the girl said. "The boss is already holding a meeting upstairs regarding the recruitment of another person, so you'd have to spend some time here until he is done."
"Well at least it's better than nothing, thanks for the help, miss." he nodded to her as he made his way towards the bar.
"It's Elen!" She shouted, "Get used to it . I will be the one handling your bounties!" She smiled smuggingly.
He turned around and said "I will be-", but before he could finish, she interrupted him mid-sentence and exclaimed, "If you get in that is!"
At a loss for words, he simply turned his back on her and went his way. In his mind, he didn't lose to her, he just didn't want to make a big deal out of it. He placed his bag near himself as he sat on the barstool. Soon, a well-built man with quite a big beard approached him on the opposite side of the counter. He simply asked, "What will it be?" without any remark about his clothing. "What a refreshing experience," he thought to himself. He ordered mead and the "chef sandwich" paying 50 copper pieces for a mug of it. Kind of expensive for his current situation, but you never know when you will have another mug of belly-warming mead. He lifted his mask slightly upwards to go in for a massive chug, but as soon as he tried to do so, a man jumped to a barstool near him and made him spill some of that mead on top of the counter.
"Oh, you spilled your beverage, how foolish of me!" The man exclaimed sarcastically. "Lemme order you another round will you? After all, it must have cost a fortune for a man of your standing to acquire one."
"No need."
"Roland, you are making a fuss again." the bartender called out.
"Ah, my ignorance does not know the boundaries, does it now?" Roland remarked as he placed his hand atop his forehead. "I just couldn't help myself when I saw vermin walking all over my place, you see."
The man in the rags said nothing. He just enjoyed his drink as if the lousy man beside him didn't exist.
"Oi, pay attention when someone is speaking to you!" He shouted, slamming the counter with his hand so hard, it made the mug jump and spill completely and all over the table.
The ragman, slightly annoyed at this point, reached towards his sandwich and pulled a slice of cheese from the center. He proceeded to smack the living soul out of Roland, making him stumble onto his own feet.
"H-How dare you?!" He screamed, when he recollected his thoughts, reaching for the sword on his hip.
"Getting scared of a big poor man who can hardly afford his drink? How brave of you mister Schmoland" a female voice crawled from behind them.
Roland quickly turned his back to face the one who threw the insult, but his anger was quickly submerged when he found that the one who threw such words was none other than Elen herself. "Hahaha" he laughed nervously as he quickly took his hands off the sword grip. "You know me, Elen! Just joking around as always!"
"Just remember that with another joke like that, you might get fined again in the same season." she threatened, pressing her finger on his nose. "As for you mister "Ragman", the boss is waiting for you upstairs."
The man stood up and left towards the stairs, but before he did so, he stopped before the girl and whispered, "I owe you one" then went straight upstairs.
"What a mess of a day." he thought as he searched for the correct door until he stumbled upon one with a label saying "recruitment". He knocked and went inside. The decor was very rich for a room inside a wooden building in the middle of nowhere. There were 2 people sitting near the table. One man had a monocle and a mustache, while the second one was wearing elegant black clothing, holding a book and feather, seemingly writing down everything was spoken inside the room.
"Sit down." the man with the monocle gestured. As he did, the man continued "Can you write?" to which the man in the masked nodded. "Excellent, that means we don't deal with another complete village buffoon" the man passed over the papers and inked feather then continued, "Fill those out and we will see what comes next."
The paper consisted of various tables. Each asking anything from name and place of birth, to the current state of wealth. It took him a good few minutes, but as soon as he was done, he handed back the recruitment sheet and feather. The man in the monocle gave the paper a quick glance and said,
"My fellow man," he laughed "You can't just write a simple letter into the 'name' table, but whatever fits you." he continued to look through, "So, you were a former noble guard? Care to explain how a guard ended up in rags in a different part of the continent?"
"The nobleman got assassinated and the house was burned down," he explained.
"Not much of guard then. Well, maybe you'll make good cleaner since I doubt you guys do your duty without basic training, correct?" He asked as he continued the scan down the paper.
"I do have a few years of training behind my back, so I hope I will do my job properly." he continued trying to keep his cool.
"Well then, mister 'V', welcome aboard!" The monocle man gushed as he stamped the paper. "Take this to Elen, she will know what to do with you next, now shoo." The man said as he swatted his hands back and forth. V nodded and left the room.
As he closed the door behind him, Elen was already waiting for him outside. "Took you a while." she shook her head.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"We have closed already and you are the last one I need to instruct today, so let's get going," she exclaimed.
"It's that late already, huh?" He whispered.
To which the girl responded,"What did you say? Couldn't hear you."
"Nothing important, let's go." he started heading downstairs.
"He-hey! Wait for me!" the girl shouted as she ran after him.
They met up downstairs, and she took him behind the receptionist counter where it is normally off limits for other people. After reading his paper, she said under her breath, "V, huh?" and started poking around the chest placed in the way back of the room. She took out a few items and placed them on the table.
"Now listen," she declared. "This is your personal tag." she said as she lifted a small metal plate fixed to a thin chain, "you will take it to the blacksmith tomorrow where he will engrave your name and rank."
"What rank?" He asked.
"Every cleaner is sorted by rank, you just started so you start at 1st rank until you progress high enough to get to another." she explained, "If you manage to snatch one from a different cleaner, you will get a cash bonus and points for your rank progression."
"Why is that?"
"To remind people that they must always have their tags with them. Without them, we can't pay for your work, got it?"
"Yes," he nodded
"Now, here is the key to your room in the local lodging. It will expire after a day of use so you better get some work going." she continued, "Now take this." she dropped a small, yet heavy sack on the table.
V took the sack and took a look inside. It was a bunch of copper coins probably worth some silver.
"It's a welcome gift. Though, if you try to drop out 7 nights after you join, you will get your very own bounty." she explained, "Now get out of here. I still have plenty of work to do." she started to push him outside.
"What about the job?!" He yelled as she continued persistently pushing.
"Come back tomorrow after the sun rises. I will get you something!" She shouted as she pushed him out. "Now, have a good night!" She said as she slammed the outside door shut.
"Damn, what's her deal?" he thought as he went on his way, but soon after he realized that he left his bag inside. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal but he left something in there that would make his night at least bearable. Knowing Elen for about a quarter a day, he felt like she wouldn't let him inside no matter what he said. At least he has his coin and key for the room. The key came with a piece of paper that was a small drawn map, showing where the building is located. Without further hesitation, V went towards the building. Though, he ended up asking a few people for directions since the map wasn't that accurate. After all, it was just a doodle in a small piece of paper.
It felt like ages, but he finally reached his destination. The person who tended to these rooms was polite and checked him in for the day.
He went straight to the bed and plopped himself into a slumber.
"What a lousy and uneventful day."