Lucinda was not very happy about the development, but when I actually made her come down and watch our next day of training all she had to say was that she could see why the goblin was worth so much. She did not complain about my potentially housing goblins in the basement for sale and training but only said that I would eventually have to buy a neighboring property or one in the area to use as a kennel. If I had a kennel, I could catch, break, and trade multiple goblins or various low-tier creatures at once.
By the time the goblin could anticipate and breeze through the combination set much faster than the video, I was faced with a number of issues. First, should I continue teaching it more of this martial art to give it a more advanced grade or should I move on to something else while there was still room in his brain? Second, Poniard had not even been with me for a full two weeks and was already at this level will full-time training so what should I do when he runs out of learning room?
Lastly, Poniard had been with me for almost two weeks and the next month would be starting soon. I needed to go on another assignment to keep my numbers up before the next month starts and ruins everything I worked for. Was Poniard ready to bring along or was Lucinda ready to babysit?
Deciding that same day to start Poniard's knife handling and fencing training, I first let the goblin hold and admire the real steel weapon and power of the long and slender bladed dagger that was almost sword-size in his hand. The poniard had a gridded basket guard and a knuckle bar that did not connect to the pommel while the entire thing was made of the same D grade scrap.
Not just because of the stiletto styling of the slender and sharp weapon but also because of its grade and stats, that poniard could probably slip with through a standard issue proto-suit with little trouble. If it hit a space between pads and ivory, it could probably slide through my new bone guard poncho with enough force behind it. This dagger was really dangerous.
As soon as the goblin started to get a feel for flicking or stabbing the weapon, I stepped in and firmly but not roughly grabbed its arm. Now that it had a taste for using a proper weapon, it would want to explore the experience. However, that was just to give him motivation.
Motivated and interested in the weapon, the goblin seems to pout as it follows me and does this oddly whining hiss through its nose. I simply ignored it and sheathed the weapon in its polymer case to hang on the wall over where the treadmill was stored. Then, from the treadmill itself I picked up a naked wooden dagger with a blade the same style and length as the poniard.
Giving this dummy blade to the goblin, I set up the goblin's tablet on the treadmill and started playing a twenty-minute basics video for fencing footwork, wrist exercises, and a few basic strokes. Fencing with a full sword and fighting with a poniard had a few big differences, but in the goblin's hands the differences were not that great. The poniard was just to defend itself in an emergency, my mule would always be at the back of the group with the ranged fighters any way.
As expected, the goblin really had no idea what it was doing at first. Luckily, I had prepared for this when I named it. The video I was using was slowed down by a couple of frames, allowing the goblin to take in more details early on so that he could learn to shuffle, bob, weave, and circle about more easily. It also helped him to comprehend the proper wrist exercise motions and avoid potential setbacks.
I still had to get off my ass now and then after the first view to correct some its its movements to improve its overall balance, but the unarmed training from before helped it not only learn faster by experience but also to be more physically able to pick up these basics.
When it finally came time for the goblin to practice the basic flicks from the wrist and elbow and a simple uncommitted thrust, the goblin had only been practicing for a few hours when its sloppiness began to fade. The shape and size of its hand was a cause for some awkwardness, but that could be fixed by giving him a weapon with a larger grip size. However, after ignoring the video for several minutes to play with his grip on the wooden dagger Poniard soon started compensating for the grip issue in different functional ways.
It even did the fancy thing by simply holding his pinkie out while gripping the dagger. He was pretty humorous to watch but I knew it would only come back to bite him in the ass later. So, I went and found some cloth grip tape to enlarge the handle of the training knife with. Then I contacted Johnathan to see how much it would cost for him to break down and print the poniard back out with some extras and a better fitting hilt.
Two days later, the goblin was watching an extended version of the original video edited to contain the next video's parrying counters when my phone went off with a Bureau notification and a message from my friend in portal registry. They needed to meet with me, today, about the portal I had just been reviewed for. The very last word in the message was 'favor'.
I called them without even checking the case file and was given the F-U button in the middle of the first ring. Obviously, this was an in person type of situation. I could only send a message to Lucinda at work saying I was going out and got the shock leash for Poniard. Then I tried to call us a ride but after the taxi service refused 'pets' of any kind I could only message the portal registry guy saying I needed a ride.
Only an hour-and-a-half later I was riding up an elevator in a large and somewhat fancy government office building. I had been here before after leaving the academy to fill out my basic paperwork, do an interview, receive a physical, and general examination stuff like that. However, this usually took place on the first few floors. I was currently going up to floor seven.
The elevator hallway on the seventh floor was a different color of white walls than the lobby had been but most everything else was the same. The furnishings. Decorations, and fixtures, though, were all steel instead of black so this part of the building had a different kind of monochrome feel to it. Luckily, I did not have to travel far before finding a simple glass door with the enamel letters 'Portal Registration, Director Carlyle'.
DIRECTOR Carlyle? Who the hell did my old demon instructor introduce me to?! I am an F rank sixteen-year-old, you introduce me to a middle manager with time on their hands! Not one of the heads of their floor!
Gulping dryly as I nervously approach the door, I simply knock twice before pushing the foggy glass door open. Inside the glass walled office blinded with thick black plastic blinds, there was a large window at the back of the office that emphasized the fact that this was the office of somebody important. The office was not small by any means but the large red oaken desk in the middle of the room made it seem a little tight.
In either back corner of the office were two tall orchids enjoying ambient sunlight from the big window. In front of the large desk were two simple but large metal chairs with thick cushions. Behind the desk sat a large and somewhat round man with meaty hands that could easily cover half of a basketball.
Director Carlyle was about two meters tall with dark brown skin and a shiny shaven head. He looked like somebody who probably held the front lines in early territories but had probably retired in the last year or so and started developing a belly. The man had small eyes despite the size of his head but they did not look like they would ever miss any details from how sharp his brief glances in my and then Poniard's directions were.
Somehow, though, when I sat down and Poniard followed suit in the chair beside mine he did not even bat and eyelash.
After I had shut the door behind us to sit down, he started talking with, "Malcolm, F rank, around four months of active service and seven successful assignments with only one having any incidents. The last four assignments have all been E rank, that looks good on you, and your mana rating itself has shown more growth in the last month-and-a-half than it ever did in two years at the academy."
"Am I being interviewed for a job?" I ask as politely as I can while trying to seem cool, feigning confusion. "I'm still not sure why you called me here, but if there's something you need help with I do not mind seeing what I can do."
Pretty much ignoring everything I just said, Director Carlyle carries on with, "Currently measuring at six-two, two hundred pounds, and F sixty-eight. Your last physical evaluation after the incidental assignment gave you very high marks for someone with an MP in the lower forties. Now, almost thirty points higher, I'm sure you've made some improvements. Right?"
The way he asked that without any inflection or interest made me just not answer it, allowing him to quickly continue maintaining the conversation with, "Right, indeed. Improving already, I see. The reason why I called you here today was to talk about returning favors with favors and just generally improving ourselves and the world around us. You know, the kind of thing that makes the world a better place.
"If you've looked at the case file for the assignment you were flagged for, you see its a mid F dungeon with an
E grade team of three swordsmen leading the mission," he goes on to explain. "They're only looking for a single other person to help them deal with a combination of slimes and goblins. The dungeon is a small underground area with the surface right behind the portal, only a single long tunnel leading to a single small cavern.
"I can tell by the look on your face that you're asking yourself questions," the director says suddenly, almost sounding satisfied. With himself or with me, though, I could not tell. "Maybe you're wondering why three E grades are running F dungeons, maybe you're wondering why they would even need a fourth person. If you were smart, you'd be wondering why they pulled an F rank from E dungeons to be their fourth person."
Neither of us said anything and the silence seemed to bring a small satisfied smile to the man's face. Resting his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together in a tired manner to rest his chin on, he says, "I'll get to the point, then. In their last three assignments, this trio has brought in single outside members to handle these small dungeons with them after moving down to F after the loss of their personal tanker. This, at the time, was normal.
"What's not normal is that, after the first two F missions their teammates started dying," he says bluntly before reaching into a part of his desk to take out three old school paper folders. Dropping them on the desk, he says, "The first time it happened, it was understandable. They overestimated a new teammate who was under equipped and got speared in the back by a spider. Funny thing was, the puncture wound on his back was about half the size of the tips of any spider's leg in the dungeon.
"In the next assignment, the archer they brought in went ahead to scout the boss while the others dealt with a single light leg wound," he seems to drone on, sounding bored with his oration. "The archer of all people seemed to feel the need to buy time for the injury and engaged the boss's underlings alone from a high ground position. They took a rock to the face and fell, being torn apart before the others could arrive. Funny thing, most of his equipment was in good repair and some pieces did not even have blood on it as if the archer was not wearing them when they died.
"Finally, we have the case file that actually caught somebody's attention," he goes on, gesturing toward the final case file on his desk by uncurling a few fingers. "A young ice mage died in a dungeon with them. Not only are ice mages unique, but they're one of the two natural enemies to slime creatures. So, how was it that this nice young lady died while in a slime dungeon with them?
"Supposedly, she died getting split up from the swordsmen after entering the boss area to find an overwhelming number of small slimes," he explains with a narrowing of his eyes. "Divided, the swordsmen could not get to the mage before the slime boss and she was supposedly swarmed by all of the 'starving' slimes once injured. Funny thing is…" he says and trails off meaningfully.
Knowing he had my full attention, he calmly continued by saying, "Even though it takes at least D grade slime to dissolve the average proto-suit in less than an hour and slimes in general would not leave behind any biological waste, there were some pieces of proto-suit and what looks like two small blood splatters, the congealed stain of where somebody spit blood, and these strange pieces of proto-suit that were in long but skinny triangles and mismatched layers. You look like a smart kid, what does that sound like to you?"
I had already seen it before on an early assignment when the tanker got some broken wood in their ribs. Proto-suits are not weak by any means and were as tough to cut through as most lesser monster skins. "Trimmings," I say softly and darkly, unable to take my gaze away from the unmarked third case file on the desk. "From rushing through cutting open a proto-suit with a knife and passing over the edges of previous cuts."
Director Carlyle did not say anything at first but simply sighed tiredly while leaning back in his chair. "That's my side of things I need to improve. Here's your side. There's an extremely expensive and dangerous magic-surgical procedure that is little different from genetic engineering. You're an F rank with very limited growth potential but you're a rare type with a heightened MP focus on what people call 'agility' rather than the strength or defense of your body who could solo a freshly evolved ogre without taking any lasting injury. If you can help me improve the world by picking up some trash, I can help you improve yourself. Your thoughts?"
"How did they get my profile when I was placed in the E registry?" I ask curiously even though I could barely even blink with the heat that was slowly building up inside of me while looking at the third case file.
"I put you first on their list and tweaked your profile," he replies shamelessly. "Your MP level is just over fifty, as far as they're concerned, and your weapons are only the big sword and standard issue pair of saber and revolver. They know about the coat but not the ogre skin you got recently. You can always say no to the assignment and the favor, or go on the assignment without doing any cleaning, but just know they flagged you because they want to kill and rob you."
"Do I do it as soon as we're in the dungeon or do I wait for them to make the first move?" I ask while finally closing my eyes and taking a deep breath to steady myself. Monsters were one thing. This was a group of people we were talking about! Even if they killed other people, that just makes me a better kind of killer!
"I could not care less how you do it, just make sure the trash is in bags when it comes back out of the dungeon," he replies stiffly.
*