"All of you, good job on passing the examination. I look forward to your future accomplishments and hope that the lot of you will fulfil your duties faithfully.
Anyway, come back here tomorrow and you'll receive your garrison placements, that's all,"
Everyone was dismissed, of the sixteen people who made it to the last test, eleven managed to pass the combat requirements.
Eleven may seem like a low number however, considering that Tanz Fort City had a limited population with little to no influx of travellers, and they were being relatively select on the applications, eleven was a fair bit higher than the average recruitments per exam.
Leaving the training grounds, the men no, everyone who passed the examination all gave Jeffrey mean looks, probably because he dropped his opponent pretty badly. She could barely stand after that and was supported by that red haired guy from before, he somehow managed to pass the examinations, somehow.
They both scowled at him. It wasn't Jeffrey's fault though, it was just that he meant to kick her in the waist…
Yeah, it was Jeffrey's fault. There was no use trying to lie to himself, but he didn't mean to kick that hard. He was just used to the resilience of his previous opponents, especially that lizard. That lizard was very resilient indeed. Not to mention that that ghost looking thing seemed pretty tough itself. So it fully justified Jeffrey kicking that hard.
Leaving the training grounds, he walked aimlessly. He could return to his previous accommodation, but that felt boring.
Wandering for a while, and entering an alleyway, he noticed a change in atmosphere. It was relatively dark in there. The alleyway itself was relatively wide, and one could feel the sketchy vibes emanating from it.
"Ay, you got the stuff man?" Another hooded figure was also standing in the alleyway. By their voice, Jeffrey deduced that it was a female, perhaps in her early to late twenties. Though Jeffrey was unsure of how to answer her question. What was this stuff? She was probably referring to money
"No money?" Jeffrey was a bit unsure but he believed that this was the right reply. He probably could've used a bit more confidence when speaking though.
The lady fumbled through her pockets and a barely audible, "Damned it," could be heard.
"Ah damn, just gimme a while, I'll get it next time," What is this lady on about?
"C'mon man,"
She titled her face to look towards Jeffrey as she spoke in a begging tone, she was just slightly shorter by Jeffrey, perhaps by two or three inches.
Her navy blue eyes stared deep into Jeffrey's dark eyes.
That was creepy. She definitely didn't seem normal, in fact, the atmosphere change in this alleyway seemed to be due to her presence.
Deciding it would be best to leave before the situation escalated. Jeffrey swiftly turned around and briskly strode out of the alleyway.
"Hey, wait!" A certain essence in the surroundings started to be pulled towards her. This felt somewhat familiar.
The essence materialised into a semi humanoid form, and it hit him. This was what that girl was doing earlier!
It also seemed that this lady was more experience in it. Alright, no time to dawdle.
Jeffrey bolted towards the exit, moving in an irregular pattern around all the random bits of trash in the alleyway.
Looking back, the semi humanoids who should've looked like a white ghost instead looked like black demons.
There stood seven dark summons, each arm ending in a point instead of a nub, it had a wide 'mouth' that opened way wider than a human's should, where dozens of needle like teeth protruded. It looked like something out of a nightmare.
This lady was definitely some kind of dark witch, good thing that by the time she finished materialising her demons that he was out of there.
That was a close encounter, not even Jeffrey would be sure if he could win a fight against those demonic monsters. Not to mention that it really startled the little white chick. It would be a pain to try to calm it down.
Standing on a rooftop and looking back into the alleyway. The crazy lady withdrew her demons and they dissipated into nothingness. She had to be that so called Dark Artist that the silver knife scout talked about.
Capable of making weird aberrations of human life, devoid of true vitality.
"This city might have a Dark Artist problem," it seemed that the lady mistook him for one of her people, and thus asked him for some item. How odd.
He should probably tell the guards this, it seemed to be their jobs after all. If Jeffrey had to guess, it was probably his job as well, considering that he was now part of city guards. And if he were to guess what their jobs are, then it would most likely be to guard the city, implied by their title.
Well, he'd tell them tomorrow, it's not like there's a need to rush.