I raise my head and glare daggers at Hugo for trying to pry.
"I understand, sir."
"No, you don't."
"You're right. I don't." With that, he leaves the room and closes the door behind him. I sit with my thoughts for a moment and focus on my breathing. The whole room is tinted red. A wave of anxiety rains down on me, so I close my eyes. A clash here, a fight there; the intense excitement of my past still haunts me. I open my eyes, and the room has returned to gray—cold gray. Comfortable gray.
[I'm not that person anymore, and I need to accept that.]
I look down at the papers on my desk and get back to work.
[This shell of an organization isn't going to run itself.]
"GooooOOOD MMORNING!" Natalie's shrill voice wakes me from my pleasant slumber. I took yesterday off to give myself a break. Sometimes, I forget how much this job takes out of me. It's worse when I have to deal with someone like Nick in the way that I did the day before yesterday. "Time to get… are those tears? Have you been crying?"
She jumps on the bed and moves her face mere inches from mine.
"No, and I haven't been crying." I wipe my face and feel the wetness spread across my cheeks. A concerned expression meets my eyes when I turn back to Natalie.
"I told you, I'm fine."
Silence.
"Stop it. Let's eat breakfast."
I leave the kitchen and find the table filled with food, as always. Most of the food has been made into heart shapes. I sit at the table and disturb the display by filling up my plate. I take a bite and wait for Natalie to say something. Normally, she would have said something stupid by now.
Silence.
I look around and see her peeking out from behind the door to my room.
"Natalie."
Silence.
"Natalie!" I slam my fork onto the table, making it crack on impact. She pulls back in fear at the loud noise. Only the very top of her eyes and head are visible now. The room is growing red again. "Natalie. Come to the table and eat."
[I never have problems keeping my emotions under control. That damned brat is getting to me. I'll have to give it to him next time we meet.]
Natalie slowly moves out from behind the doors and sits at the table. Her behavior is really pissing me off. I'm stuck trying to calm down while she keeps pissing me off.
"Eat." I give her an order before returning to my breakfast. She nibbles at her meal while watching me. I try to ignore her and just eat as fast as I can. When I'm done, I throw on my Guild Master uniform and grab my bag.
"Have a good day."
I hear her quiet farewell as I close the door. She doesn't even give me time to respond.
[Goddammit. Why does she keep doing that? None of this is her business. Why does she keep looking at me like that? I can't go back in there, or she'll just ask more questions.]
I stand at my door with my hand on the doorknob for a moment as I debate what I should do before walking down to my office. I'm still fuming by the time I see Hugo. He holds the door open with a stack of papers in one hand. I grab the stack and sit down at my desk. I can tell Hugo wants to say something but is hesitant to ask, so I just ignore him. I quickly work through the minor issues that had arisen while I was gone.
'Knock, knock.'
"Come in." The appraiser walks in the door.
"Sir, we have an issue with the Punctastar pricing."
"What do you mean?"
"The kid brought in three yesterday and just brought in two more today."
"What?"
"Marshall says he isn't willing to give as much for the Punctastar hides if they're in such high supply."
"How much did everything sell for last time?"
"Eighteen hundred."
"I thought you said it would sell for two thousand or more?"
"Marshall said he wouldn't take the typical price if we are selling in bulk as there isn't enough of a market in this town."
"How much is he willing to take?"
"Two hundred per body."
"That's what we're buying them for. We'll have to lower the price."
"We could sell them on the market."
"In all likelihood, Marshall has lowered his price because he's already done the same. I also don't want to risk souring our relationship with him over this."
"I'll explain the circumstances to the child."
"No, I'll do it. They're clearly upcoming adventurers. I don't want them getting upset with the guild over this." I get up from my seat and head down to the main floor. I see the kids sitting at a corner table with two Punctastars.
[I haven't eaten Punctastar meat in a while. I should have Natalie get some for dinner tonight now that the supply is so high.]
"Hello," Nick calls out to me as I walk up to their table.
"I knew you would cause me more problems." His usual smug smile adorns his face, and I can already feel myself getting pissed off. I hardly notice the bright red glow hanging around him.
"I just got here."
"So you want four hundred for these?" I ask.
"I think so."
"So now you're not sure?"
"I-are you trying to start a fight?"
"What if I am?" He seems to have picked up on my anger, but I keep pushing.
"Then I surrender."
"...You're no fun." All the tension drops from my shoulders, but I'm somehow even more pissed by his response.
[I hate cowards.]
"Yes, well, I like not being dead."
"Three fifty."
"Why the price change, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Last year, we received a total of twenty Punctastar hides. In the last three days, you have delivered fourteen."
"That makes sense. I'll just take the three-fifty." He nods his head knowingly as if he predicted this situation—anger burgeons from within me.
"Just like that?"
"Yeah, I mean if the supply goes up, the demand goes down. I didn't realize how elastic the market was."
"You piss me off." I don't know what he's saying, but it seems like he's talking down to me. It's as if this situation was obvious, and he's making fun of me for worrying about it.
"I piss me off too, so I'm glad we can agree on something."
"Here's your money; try not to choke on it," I say as I begin walking away.
"Is your life so pathetic that you feel the need to start a fight with a child?"
[That's it!]
I can feel all the rage built up over the last few days explode from within me. I don't care how much potential this kid has; someone needs to teach him a lesson.
"You don't know anything about my life," I say, turning back around. My right hand slowly moves towards the scabbard at my side.
"True, and I assume no one else around here does either. You may find some modicum of satisfaction in clinging to your trauma, but that doesn't make you better than us. You act like you're the only person who has ever suffered loss. That doesn't make you superior. That doesn't make you strong."
"Big words coming from a child." I grip the hilt of my sword.
"I may be a child, but I don't make it a point of acting like one."
'Swoosh.'
I push the edge of my sword into his neck. Health Points prevent fatal damage when high enough, slowly allowing for more severe damage as they deplete. It's hard to decapitate someone if they have a little HP and impossible if they have a lot of it. Based on how deeply my blade enters his neck, I can assume he has around thirty HP, much too little to be wandering around the Argon Forest.
"You're only proving my point. You understand that, right?" Jezabel doesn't move; her bloodshot eyes are trying to pierce through me. I ignore the blade at my neck and keep pressing. "Let me guess, you don't like doing what you're told? You want to forge your own path? I'd like to see how murdering the child of a noble will fit into that plan. Better yet, why don't you just quit? You clearly hate it here."
His words dig deep. The only reason I haven't quit is because of fear. I've grown comfortable with this life as much as I hate it, and I don't want to lose that sense of security, especially considering how I've lost everything once before.
[I'm the coward.]
The sudden realization of my predicament causes me to push the blade slightly deeper into Nick's neck. As I'm about to pull the blade away, I hear another voice.
"Stop it!" The village idiot pulls his sword from its scabbard. It's a fairly well-made sword, all considering. Despite his best efforts, I can see his knees wobbling and tears forming at the edges of his eyes.
[He's terrified, but he's still standing up to me.]
I sheath my blade and turn to the kid who pulled a sword on me.
"Come to class an hour early tomorrow. You're the first to pull a blade on me in years."
"If you are trying to hurt my friends, I won't hold back." He's glowing a comforting green color. I walk towards him as tears pour down his face. His bravery brings me back to when I first started as an adventurer.
"I've always hated cowards. I'll start training you tomorrow; maybe some of your bravery will rub off on your friend there." I push his blade down with the tip of my finger. He strains as he tries to resist, but he's no match for me. "Understand?"
"Don't touch him!" Sakura's voice erupts from behind Josh. "If you lay one finger on him, I'll rip you to shreds!"
The whole room is lit up. A warm brown color replaces the gray color of the tables, and I can see the many different shades of color on the skin of the people around me. The suns' shine draws my eyes up to the beautiful blue sky at the windows. I feel the spring of motivation rise from within me; I thought it had died so many years ago. A broad smile spreads across my face, and I can't hold back my laughter.
"Ha, haha, Haahaha, HA, HAHAHA, AAHAHAHAHHAAHA!"
I can't contain myself.
"AHAHAHHHAA, AHAh, haha."
I wipe away joyous tears from my eyes.
"Wow, I haven't laughed that hard in years. You're quite the rambunctious little shits. Unfortunately for you, I like rambunctious. Things have been too quiet around here. All three of you, meet me at the guildhall an hour before class. We'll have a short training session."
"If you're going to kill us, you can just do it now," Nick says with a smug grin.
"You, you're gonna get it the worst. If you don't show up, then I'll kick all of you out of the guild."
"You can't do that!" Sakura shouts.
"Who's gonna stop me? I'm the guild master." I turn and head to the backrooms without saying anything else. A low murmur fills the hall as I close the door behind me.
[Things just got interesting.]