Rolling my eyes, I close the door behind me and walk down to my office. Hugo is standing in front of my door with a stack of papers as he does every morning. He pushes the door open with one hand while holding the documents with the other. I grab them and sit down at my desk.
Gray.
Quickly skimming through the papers, I see the usual inane requests produced by the people of this backwater town.
"Request to have the Argon Forest sanitized."
Most people here are convinced that destroying the Argon Forest would revitalize the town so it could grow into the metropolis it was supposed to be. They aren't necessarily wrong, but even with the full power of the nation, we still couldn't destroy it. There are other factors at play as well.
"Rejected." I write my verdict at the top of the page.
"Request for construction of Elemental defenses."
While understandable, there is no way to defend against a creature of that size. The best option is to destroy it before it gets here or draw it away from our town.
"Rejected."
"Petition to have 'Goldmark' installed as Guild First Team."
It seems Eric is trying to replace Ironhead as our First Team instead of having them removed directly. After all, Goldmark is the team he's sponsoring. They're a strong up-and-coming team but lack the experience that Ironhead has. The First Team is the one we rely on the most when shit goes down and has a lot of responsibility to keep the town and other adventurers safe.
"Maybe in a few years, they could seriously be considered for the position but, in the meantime, rejected."
I spend the morning dealing with the comings and goings of the guild. Nothing ever seems to change around here—the same boring people with the same boring problems asking the same boring questions.
"Guild Master!"
"Yes?"
"Shelly needs you at the counter."
"That's unusual. What could she need?"
"Apparently, some adventurers came in with three whole Punctastars and the remains of six others."
"What? Nine hides? That's almost as many as we had delivered last year." There's no adventurer group at our guild that would do this. The low-level parties in this town aren't strong enough to go deep into the woods. Ironhead could, but I have better things for them to do.
"That's what I'm being told."
"Let's go." I rush downstairs and find those kids from earlier sitting at a table with Shelly. A sizable pile of Punctastars and their hides are on the table next to them. Their leader, Nick, has a clear red aura even when I look at him.
"Who the hell are those kids?" I hear a group of adventurers gossiping off to the side.
"Isn't that the flower shop girl?" I ignore their muttering and walk up behind Shelly.
"Okay, but don't tell her it was me. I don't think she likes me very much."
"Don't feel bad. I don't think she likes anyone."
"Talking about me behind my back?"
"How can I talk behind your back when you're looking at me? Besides, I knew you could hear me the whole time."
"Whatever. What did you need to speak with me about?"
"The pricing for these Punctastars. We don't get them very often, and they're never in good condition when we do." I walk over to the corpses and inspect them while Shelly chats with the kids. The Punctastars were killed with puncture wounds; the scales remain undamaged, but the hide underneath is littered with holes. The holes can be repaired, so it won't affect the price too much. Looking closer, I can see that the strikes came at an angle. It looks like they figured out how to attack them without worrying about counterattacks.
[All the hides are in similar condition. I'm sure Marshall will be very pleased with these skins.]
We've been working closely with Marshall for years now. He owns the largest armor shop in town and gets a discount on anything he buys from the guild in exchange for giving lower prices to licensed adventurers.
"So, how much is this all worth?" I hear Nick's voice crack as he asks.
"Hmm, a little anxious, aren't we?" I glare at him and watch for his reaction. He just stares back at me without giving anything away. "You're pretty mature for your age. What's your secret?"
Silence.
"Very well, I'll look over the carcasses, and we'll get back to you with a price." I turn to the back rooms and walk away. As I'm leaving, I hear Shelly ask him a question.
"You don't trust her, do you?"
"Idle hands are the devil's tools, and she seems very bored." Shelly giggles lightly. His know-it-all tone pisses me off, and I can feel my teeth clench.
"This is high-quality stuff." I meet with the appraiser for his opinion.
"What's it worth?"
"We could sell it for twenty to twenty-five hundred if we go to Marshall. On the market, this could go for almost thirty."
"Good. Send a message to Marshall."
"Yes, sir."
Walking back to their table, I hear Nick's voice.
"It seems like she thought being a guild master was what she wanted to do, but we often don't know what we have until it's gone."
[Steven.]
"I'm sure the freedom of being an adventurer is much more alluring now that she has to manage so many of them herself."
[Marcus.]
"It may have gone differently in a larger town where there is a lot more going on, but there isn't any room for her to improve or make a name for herself here."
[Jean... We had the world at our fingertips.]
"She's just a figurehead here."
[I could have been anything, and yet I'm stuck here. They trapped me here.]
"This place would probably run just fine with someone far less competent in charge."
[But now, you're all gone. I couldn't save you. I couldn't save anyone.]
"We need to be challenged to feel fulfilled, and I doubt she has any difficulty running a guild that's only ever at about ten percent capacity."
[If only I had listened. If only I'd stayed in my lane.]
"Have you been happier the last few months?" Nick asks the little pink-haired girl.
I find my mind drifting back to my time as an adventurer. We were the fastest-growing party in the capital; people hated us for it. Marcus always warned me that I needed to get along with others better, but I didn't care. We were on our way to our biggest quest yet; a Gigalepus. This giant furry creature is known to terrorize the plains of the kingdom. They tend to live near mountains and use the open prairies as their hunting ground. They are similar to the horned hares but much larger and have a solid layer of scales on their back. Each Gigalepus weighs over a ton and can move at breakneck speeds, but their size prevents them from changing direction easily. These omnivorous creatures can wipe out a caravan and often hunt in packs. We received a quest to kill one that had been harassing a trade route just to the south of the capital. Little did we know, it had friends nearby.
"It's rude to talk about someone behind their back," I add some heat to my voice as I make my presence known.
"I knew you were there the whole time." Nick turns to me with a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Well then, I'm sure you know what I'll do next." My fist tightens into a ball.
"I don't know, but I assume it's going to hurt." He pulls away, which calms me down a bit.
[I hate that he's manipulating me like this, but I'd hate it even more if I just did what he was expecting.]
I walk up, place my hand on his head, and lay the pouch full of money to one side.
"You seem to know a lot about me, considering we've never had a single conversation."
"I get that a lot. Was I close?"
"No."
"Okay. Hopefully, what you have been through is less painful than what I described."
"It's not." Nothing could have prepared us for that fateful day.
"Oh… I'm sorry for your loss." My stomach drops as the words fall from his lips. "I lost someone recently as well."
"Shut up." Anger, fear, and confusion cloud my mind.
"If you want to talk about it–"
"I said, shut up!" The heat flows into my hands, and I struggle to keep myself under control. "Keep your nose out of other people's business."
"I'll try, but I'm not very good at that."
'Crack.'
"AHHH!" My arm moves on its own, and I smash his face down through the table.
"Watch your mouth."
"I deserved that." He doesn't even get upset. Even after I hit him, he still has a smile on his face.
[I hate cowards.]
I walk back to my office and try to cool off. I sit down at my desk and lay my face in my hands.
"He was just trying to help you."
"Shut up."
"You should let other people in."
I raise my head and glare daggers at Hugo for trying to pry.