Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination."
– Immanuel Kant
Intrigued by them I stepped just a little closer to get a better look. A male in robes stood at the center, a staff grasped loosely in his hand, and a small girl stood beside him, lithe and lanky, her ears pointed and carrying a bow with a quiver strapped to her back. Behind them stood a great big bear-like man, decked out in heavy-duty armor and a hammer placed against his knee. Another girl stood beside the male in robes, with a sword strapped to her waist and a scowl on her face, looking entirely human. Behind her stood a male with a slightly mischievous grin on his face, his hand a flame, a wolf with wings sat at the feet of the robed figure a dragon curled around them all. They were made of what looked to be pure crystal, their features much more distinguishable than should have been reasonably possible. I stepped past them, making a mental note to research that one when I had time. It was peaceful within the building. Sure there was a crowd but they were silent apart from those at a bar-like place above on the second floor. There were several receptionists scattered across the room, each of them having a small plate above them that gave information on what they did. I walked towards recruitments, the boy behind the counter looked no older than 12, yet had an air about him that made him seem grown up. He had cat-like ears on top of his head and his eyes almost looked like those of a cat's.
"Good morning, sir. How may I be of assistance?" He asked not looking up from the papers on his desk.
"I'd like to join the guild, if I may," I asked politely. The Neko looked up scanning me from head to toe, though I had a feeling he was just checking my clothes out and not how I looked, considering I was still under my hood and robes.
"Very well, I am Adventurer Guide Shi, and you are?" He asked leaning back to grab papers from underneath his desk.
" I am Elias, Adventurer Guide Shi," I said politely. He waved me off.
"Just Shi. Well Elias you missed the testing by five minutes. So you would have to wait until next week the same day but much earlier. For now, you will receive a guest tattoo that would allow you to bring in any monsters you kill or even to do low-level quests. This will allow you to enter and leave the city until you have received the more permanent tattoo and your ranking along with the library's pass. Now then, where are you from originally?" Shi asked.
"The Kingdom of Stars. But I've been traveling for a while now and since I run into monsters quite constantly I think it would be more productive to join the guild. " I said, lying through my teeth with a small nib of guilt biting my stomach like frostbite.
" I see. Well then, here you go. Place it anywhere you like but where it is easily accessible and visible." Shi said handing over a stamp. I let my hood drop and stamped the tattoo just below my right eye before giving the stamp back.
"Low-level quests are over there. Please hand the quest paper in before you try to do it, otherwise, it wouldn't count. By doing quests you earn points that could further your rank when you finally go through your test and once you had received your rank you'll earn special privileges and rewards. Have a nice day." I blinked at the sudden curt tone but nodded.
"Thank you, you as well,Shi." I turned wanting to go to the board before I remembered something," you wouldn't perhaps know who those people were?" I ask him, after twirling on the spot and pointing to the crystal figures. Shi blinked and stared at me as if I was stupid.
" .....Those are The Figure 5. Go look them up in the library." The unhelpful guide said. I pouted but walked towards the board in any way. Some people are really mean. I glanced over the pinned parchments and blinked as the painting of myself and Arian came into sight. Are you kidding me? This job was placed on the low-level board yet no one had been able to find either me or Arian. Damn it, why can't people think for themselves? This was obviously a higher-ranked mission since nobody was able to find us within the seven years we had been missing. I flickered my eyes away and to the rest of the board, five quests stood out and looked like they provide some excitement at least until I got my magic right.....not to mention the fact that I still need to sort out what had happened within the last 24 hours or so.
Quests:
Help the Smith with gathering materials.
Help the librarian with delivering to another city.
Help the farmers behind the East Gate
Gather information on the Siren of Casiad
Bring in some of the exotic fruits from within the forest.
*
They didn't seem as difficult as the others were. Only a few problems with most of them. For instance, all of them require me to do research on them. And that requires the librarian...I wonder. I pulled all five of them down and carried them to the small line of adventurers who had their own quests within their hands. Finally, I glanced around at the impressive interior in curiosity. It almost looked like someone had taken a Gryffindor from Harry Potter and had forced them to decorate the place and in retaliation, they had covered everything in varying hues of gold, red, and brown. But somehow it looked comfy and inviting. The designs of different battles stood out with such starkness that it was a surprise, usually, the designs would be like a part of the decoration and building itself that you would have to be inspecting the walls and ceiling to be able to see them, yet these looked like they were their own life. I guess that was how they meant it to be. A slight clearing of the throat had me turning back and blushing furiously when I noticed the empty space in front of me. Right. I placed the parchment down and grinned at the look of disbelief on her face.
"May I do these quests, please? I'm still waiting to be ranked but they seem easy enough." I explained watching as the lady nodded numbly.
"Do...do you have the guess tattoo?" She asked sounding slightly high pitched but that could just be me, women always seem to have high-pitched voices to me. I moved my cheek slightly since I hadn't pulled my hood up again. She nodded and began to work.
" All of these quests apart from the Librarian one can be done within five days. The librarian one needs an entire week to fulfill since you need to travel to the City of Morte. Since you are new I will give you the mandatory explanation of what to do on quests:
First, meet up with those who had posted the quest.
Second, make sure that you do not do any damage while performing the deed, any and all damage done to a property will be taken out of your privilege points.
Third any injury sustained during the quest needs to be reported, whether they had healed or not.
Fourth give a complete written report of every action and every event within the performing of the quest. Not even a detail may be left out. Fifth the report must be unbiased. Here you go. Lower-rank quests are allowed to be done at the same time as long as they are manageable. Have a good day. Sir Elias." I blinked before moving out of the way, the parchment quests had been stamped and clutched in my hand as shock slowly seeped out of my system. She spoke like a bloody river.