"Shit, I'm falling!" I screamed, 'Dammit, why didn't I think this out beforehand!' I felt the air rushing against my skin, whistling in my ears as I fell faster and faster.
"I'm no cat, how can I possibly survive this, ugh! Fuck my life!" I did a backflip and measured my distance from the ground, swinging the scythe in my hands 'NOW!' I screamed in my mind, flipping the scythe and piercing it into the ground. Feeling it sink under the pressure, I leapt from the scythe.
"Ha, that was close," I sighed in relief. I don't think anyone would have expected the legendary 'Reaping Scythe' would have been used to save someone from falling, though I didn't know that at the time, nor did I know the scythe's true origins.
Grabbing the scythe lodged in the ground, I ran off. Where am I supposed to even go? Those guards definitely saw me with the scythe. What am I supposed to do with this thing? At least they didn't see my appearance, though.
I quickly slipped into a dark alley to catch my breath. 'Dammit is this how wanted criminals feel?' I gnashed my teeth in anger. I peeked out the corner of the alley seeing a bunch of men in blue and white guards uniform running down the road, each fully armed with a sword. 'Damn they work fast, I need to get out of here but this damn scythe is too conspicuous,'
I slipped from alley to alley and from eavesdropping on a few conversations I heard that all the city gates had been closed and a mandatory search of all carriages leaving and entering the city. Guards stationed at every nook and cranny, things may not have escalated so quickly on normal occasions but because of the eradication of the famous Weather Clan and that many noblemen who had gone for a night of fun and gotten too drunk to go home that night were slaughtered during the day, that escalated the problem quickly.
Right now I was in a relatively large city called Romia, it was a city that many merchants passed through to reach the capital since it was fairly safe and close to the Capital City of Unisonia; a large trading country and one of the four countries on the Rufus Continent of humans. It's about midday, so a lot of merchants must be leaving the city by now. That would be the only way I could escape.
'You can just recall the scythe,' The voice said as if that was common sense
"Huh?"
'Just like you have a call, you have a return command, just drop some more blood on it, and say the command you like'
"You should have said that earlier! Return whence you came," I bit my finger, sending a drop of blood to the scythe. Immediately the Scythe turned into a whirlwind of blood emitting black fog before disappearing in thin air. There was now a sleek black ring on my middle finger of my left hand.
"Cool," I didn't waste more time and threw off my cloak. Since those men didn't see my appearance I could just play the role of a lone adventurer. First, I should get a guild card so I had identification. Besides, I doubt they would think a small girl would slaughter almost all the people in the Rose House. Plus, no one would recognize my changed appearance, different from when I was a prostitute.
I checked my clothes once more and sauntered out. After asking a few people for directions, it eventually led me to a large grand building with many people filing in and out. I made my way to the front desk, feeling an array of stares coming to me; I had gotten used to being stared at in the prostitute house so I didn't mind and I unconsciously swayed my hips; I guess being a prostitute had more of an effect on me than I thought it did.
There was an old lady at the counter who I smiled politely to. "Hello, I would like to register in the guild?"
"That'll be 100 silver coins," My face froze at her words, not once did she glance at me. It just dawned on me, I was broke, and I didn't grab any money from the Rose House before because I had been in a rush, Dammit!
"Um, can I accept quests without being registered?" I asked a few contemptuous glances were directed at me from the bystanders, which I ignored with a scoff. The old lady finally looked up at me, sizing me up.
"No can do, if you don't even know that then you must be a sheltered girl, but you don't look like any noble lady,"
"Yeah, I came from a rural village and it cost me my life savings to buy these clothes but I would have been more frugal if I knew about that," I threw out lies like candy.
"I see makes sense, Well I feel bad for ya so I can lend ya some money, but you must pay me back with fifty percent interest," I immediately accepted her offer. I guess it would be all right to stay in this city a little longer just until I've paid the debt off and take care of a few pests, I grinned in my heart. "I can explain to ya a few things to ya free, think of it as a favour,"
"Thank you," I smiled, I changed my plans of immediately leaving the city, after all my appearance was unknown and different from before.
"Okay, so here's how it is, Fighters can be swordsmen, they use swords and sometimes shields to fight and defend respectively, then you have the archer who uses bows or an assassin who specializes in stealth and dispelling and setting traps, they often get used for scouting or assassinations, the main weapon usually being daggers,"
"Ah, so what about magic types?" I asked tilting my head, the lady had long shown me a stool to sit on and given me some orange juice, I guess I'm seen as quite young, huh?
"Ahh, you really came from a rural village," She kneaded her temples, 'Is that an insult?' I kept my thoughts to myself and let a smile hang on my lips.
"Ok so there are many magic types, first, we can divide magic into seven types, wind, water, fire, earth, lightning, light and darkness, though there may be some unknown ones from ancient times,"
"Ancient times?"
"Yea, a lot of books on magic were either lost through the throes of time or hoarded by those mages of that reclusive country of Aurora, otherwise known as the Country of magic, Though I heard the magic school Auru in Aurora takes in new students every five years."
"I see, so anyone can go to enroll?" The old lady burst into laughter, slapping the table as she did, her laughing soon turning into violent coughing and wheezing.
"You jest, they have an exam to take, both written and practical, although first I heard they test to see if you even have an aptitude for magic." She continued explaining after she took a sip of water to ease her coughing. "Anyway, firstly mages, they get their power from mana they cultivated from the outside world which the gets stored in their mana core. Mana cores store mana but not everyone has a mana core and even if they did, it may not take in mana, which is why mages are so rare. They turn their mana into the various attributes by using spells. Some mages can take in mana from the outside world directly but there have been only two noted cases of that and their both dead." She kicked her feet up and gulped down an enormous glass of rum. I couldn't help thinking, although this woman was rude, she was very comical.
"Why is it so rare,"
"Cause it's hard to control the power since it's so rich and you didn't get it familiarized with your body first and if you fail you might explode into tiny pieces." She enunciated tiny pieces, her voice rising in pitch. "Enough of that, next are Elementists, they cast magic by using contracted spirits as a medium the downside is that although magic becomes easier and faster to control and cast, you might not able to contract spirits of opposing elements like fire and water since they might weaken each other or cancel each other out completely. Third, there are enchanters. They put curses or buffs on objects and people by using special hand motions or magic circles. Then there're tamers by using magic circles and hand motions they contract magical beasts; who also have their respective attributes, they can then use these beasts in battle. Finally healers, they obviously heal people with most priests and priestesses from the Muse the religious kingdom in the west are healers, though they're all hermits because they basically never leave their country," The old lady finished her long narration but I happily listened soaking up the info eagerly.
"Thanks, one more thing I want to ask though, what are some basic knowledge of the guild?"
"Sigh, There's the guild card with your name, gender, profession, age, merit and rank, that also serves as identification from country to country or city to city. Distinct types of cards show different levels within the guild from the bottom up it's Rank E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS. E is bronze, D is iron, B is Silver, S is gold, SS is diamond and SSS is obsidian. One can only accept quests that are one rank higher than their current rank. You go up levels by earning enough merit from any of the guild branches. You earn merit from various quests, each quest has a set amount of merit that can be placed on your guild card but to go from B to A and any rank higher you need to take a test."
"So can I-" just as I was about to ask if I could skip ranks, she cut me off
"No,"
"I didn't even say anything yet?"
"You can't skip ranks by taking a test, so give up,"
"..." There was nothing else I could say, "Thanks um..."
"Just call me Liz,"
'What a soft name for someone so..... forth-right.' Getting all the info I needed, she handed me a form to fill out. I put in my name in which I used my actual name, Indigo, then I put in my age and gender, but when I came to the profession, it stumped me.
I used daggers and I also fight hand to hand combat and focus mainly on agility. Does that make me an assassin? But I can't lay traps. Then again, there's the scythe I should try to learn. Can that count as a sword? I ticked Swordsman since I would I most likely have to buy a sword and some daggers to use since I won't be able to use my scythe lest I reveal my identity. I ended up borrowing more money from Liz to stay in a cheap inn, putting me in even more debt. 'I guess I'll accept a quest tomorrow to earn some money.
Just like that, I finished registering and got my bronze guild card. 'I need to ask that voice some questions and figure out just what it was but more than that when should I get my revenge on those pests. I tapped my chin thinking about it, not realizing the evil aura filled with wisps of blood-lust seeping out me.