After bringing all of the Weynsoo's parts back and preserving them in a giant ice bath in the river, Paley, Bacha, and Teerom prepared to go out to sell it the next day. Firstly, they went to the dwarves' shack to get help hauling it to the town hall. The dwarves provided a carriage and two horses to carry it and also came along since they had to talk to the council.
Paley and Bacha sat atop the horses as they carried the carriage. Teerom and the dwarves walked alongside it, making sure the flimsy wooden frame didn't tip over. It could only carry twenty bags, so they were going to make about ten return trips to the orphanage.
During their first haul to the town hall, the dwarves asked Teerom: "Hey, how'd you get your hands on a Weynsoo? Isn't it a tier II monster?" Battdur asked, rubbing his beard with his fingers.
"Uh..." Teerom scrambled for an excuse. Madella had a very strict rule regarding Paley; to not let anyone know of his power, let alone him being a Quimnia.
"One of mom's friends asked us to sell it for him." Paley lied.
"A monster hunter, eh?" Aleisar smiled regretfully, "I used to dream of being one." He said.
"What stopped you?" Teerom asked.
"Family. Building's in our blood, so- don't get me wrong, I love building as much as I love taking a good shit. It was just a stupid dream; I was young and a good-looking fellow. But, sometimes, I wonder where that path would've taken me."
"It'd have taken you to Helheim," Battdur laughed.
"Oi, shut up, you numpty," Aleisar laughed along. He regretted never trying to be a monster hunter, but never for a second did he regret being a builder. It truly did run in his blood.
A dozen minutes later, they arrived at the town hall, where the dwarves went in by themselves. Paley, Bacha, and Teerom waited patiently on the carriage, Teerom throwing pebbles to pass the forty minutes it took for the dwarves to be escorted out of the town hall. They were yelling dwarven slurs and kicking at the air.
"Why, you!" Aleisar struggled. The guards kicking them out, clad in silver armor, dropped them onto the ground, "You're all a bunch of racists, you are!" Aleisar and Battdur shouted.
"Racists!" Wallas and Gilray repeated one after the other.
"What happened?" Teerom rushed over, worried.
"Bloody bastards have been spreading rumours about us." Aleisar rubbed his nose and walked back to the carriage with the dwarves.
"Who?" Teerom followed.
"Our competitors. They've been spreading hogwash about us getting drunk and attacking a woman at night. The drinking part is true, of course, but we'd never even think about laying our hands on a woman! Bloody bastards, they are." Aleisar explained and tapped the horses, "Come on, we better get to the Guild." The horses began drawing the carriage again.
"I thought we were going to sell these at the town hall?" Paley asked.
"The town hall is where you go to sort out your life. The Guild is where you go as a monster hunter." Candul explained patronizingly.
"I see," Paley sighed, dreading having to come back multiple times to sell the rest of the Weynsoo. 'I'll hunt smaller monsters until I can bring everything here with Air magic.' He thought to himself and dozed off while the horses walked, waking up to their slow halt once they reached the Guild.
"Alright, we're here," Aleisar said. Paley sat up, rubbed his eyes, and stretched. He looked to his left to see the Guild, a large building with big circular windows and stone walls framed in thick wood. It was a tall building, about two storeys tall, but it only had one floor.
They entered the building, finding that it was mostly deserted. There were only a few people inside, all workers, sorting papers on large desks or cleaning. Five sets of long tables were lined up in the middle of the room; these were conference tables where a team of hunters would go over plans or chat before a hunt.
Clearly, the Guild used to be very active just recently, but these days there are barely any monster hunters left in Gouon. All of them either moved someplace else or died.
Paley walked with the others to the end of the room, where a short, frail old man sat slouched over the desk.
"What do you want?" He asked grumpily, retreating slightly under the shadow of the wall (the Guild wasn't lit by flames, it was lit by the natural light coming in through the windows).
"I'm here to sell some monster parts. A Weynsoo." Paley got straight to the point.
"A Weynsoo, eh?" The old guild master seemed amused, "You got a license on you?"
"You need a license?"
"Yes, unfortunate, isn't it?"
"Why? Can't I just show you the parts, and you buy them?" He argued.
"Have you ever heard of Illusion Magic, kid? Besides, because of that flying bastard, monster hunting licenses are mandatory now." The old guild master retorted.
"Flying bastard?" Teerom asked, double-checking if he was talking about Paley.
"You know, the one who stole the three most valuable books in the library, all worth seven diamond coins, from the city library? The one who rendered Lord Dersohn braindead? It turns out he's part of our city, so the Lord wants to find him, therefore he made sure that everyone has a monster-hunting license if they want to sell parts.
'Someone who can use that level of magic would definitely try and make some money with it. I'd say by hunting a large monster.' He said in one of his drawn-out speeches.
Since you have no license, I'm suspicious that you're that flying bastard." The guild master sneered.
"If I could fly, I wouldn't be in Lusitra, would I?" Paley asked, putting on a joking air. Bacha got bored of the conversation and took Teerom off to look around at the Guild.
"That's a valid point." The guild master, "But rules are rules. I'm legally not allowed to let you sell monster parts without a Monster Hunter's license." He said and began writing short notes on some papers.
"How would I go about getting a license?"
The guild master sighed, frustrated, and looked at Paley, "Firstly, you have to be fifteen years old and definitely not a Twiglet." Paley took offense to that, "Secondly, you have to be either a relatively strong mage or fighter." He explained, "Got it? Now buzz off," He shooed them all away with his hand.
As Paley and the others made their way out of the Guild, a young man - who clearly had no fashion sense - about seventeen years old, approached them from the corner of one of the tables. He had long dark brown hair and blonde stripes at the sides.
He stood up and walked over to them. He was slightly shorter than Teerom, standing at about 5'10.
"Hello," He greeted awkwardly.
"Hello," Paley replied, crossing his arms to make a point that he was in a rush.
"I think I can help you with your problem."
"How?"
"W-Well," The young man fidgeted, "You needed a monster hunter license, right?" He asked.
"That's right."
"I come from a family of hunters, but I haven't managed to get one yet. When I do, would you be okay with using my license to sell your monster parts?" He wasn't very confident in the way he spoke. He was almost submissive.
"You want a cut?" Paley expected to hear a ridiculous request like 75% of all earnings.
"No, actually, I- Can I come along on your hunts? You know, help you out. I heard you talking with the guild master over there. You beat a Weynsoo?"
"How do you know it was me?"
"Well, everyone here is following you, so I'm assuming you're the leader of this party."
Paley laughed slightly, "They're not my party. I hunted it alone," He said pridefully, interrupted by Bacha pouting and tugging at his sleeve, "With her help, of course." He added.
"Wow... You must be crazy strong." The young man had stars in his eyes. 'Crap. I said too much.' Paley gritted his teeth.
"It'd be great if you could do that. But since you don't have a license, there's nothing much we can do about it." Paley tried to get away from the conversation, but the young man held on.
"How about this?" He began whispering, "I sign up for a test, and you pass it for me. Since you're really strong, you should be able to get me a license easily."
"I can do that myself."
"But you're not fifteen."
Paley squinted his eyes, "Right. Good point. Alright, I'm in. What do you want me to do?" Paley sat down next to him, "You guys head back, I'll come later." He told the others, and they left after bidding him goodbye.
"So, was it Paley who slew the Weynsoo?" Battdur asked Teerom on the road. Teerom opened his mouth to speak but decided against it. Unlike Paley - a master of deception - he was not only terrible at lying but extremely gullible too.
Back in the guild, the young man had finished explaining his plan to Paley. They would come back to the guild tomorrow (since the Guild doesn't work on weekends apart from buying monster part deliveries), and he'd sign up for a license examination, which took place at the back of the guild, in a large garden.
He'd wear a large jacket in which Paley would hide. During the examination, Paley would help him pass by performing spells from inside the jacket.
"Sounds like an amazing plan," Paley said sarcastically, "But what're you going to do if the examiner sees me do the spells?" He asked.
Luckily, the young man seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Paley took down a Weynsoo at the age of twelve. A normal person would've concluded that he was an extremely talented mage or just not believed that he beat the monster himself.
"Both of our arms are gonna be in the same sleeves. So, it'll look like I'm doing the spells."
When he said that, Paley suddenly began doubting him, "Why don't you just do it yourself? Why do you need me?"
The young man paused, hesitant to answer the question. "I'm not very lucky... My magic type is Air, but I barely have any mana to do anything." He said gloomily.
"I see."
After a short, awkward silence, he stood up and held his hand out for a handshake. "My name is Hig. Hig Reish."
Paley took his hand and shook it wearily, "Paley. Just Paley." He stood up as well and prepared to get back to the orphanage, "Well, I need to go home now. I'll come back here tomorrow at five, okay?" He said and made his way.
"Got it. I'll walk with you." Hig followed him outside into the bright streets. As they walked, it suddenly dawned on Paley. Hig Reish. The name was familiar to him.
"Are you Libon Reish's grandson?" He asked as they walked.