"Welcome, how may I help you?"
Flint was getting quite a lot of stares.
Particularly from the female adventurers.
His body was covered in bright white bandages. All clean, no blood.
But since they were really tightly tied to his body, it showed his outline a bit too much.
He wasn't bulky, he wasn't quite thin either. Somewhere in between, and he'd always been told girls preferred builds like his. And of course, he always took it with a grain of sugar and love. But yeah, given how he was good-looking and had this childish charming face of his- he knew why he was attracting attention.
Did he like it?
Perhaps?
"Yes. I'd like to become an adventurer," Flint said.
Bandage cradled his head like a helmet.
And though he had a shirt on, he didn't really look all that capable.
If anything, he looked homeless.
"Adventurer, you?"
The ones closest to them chuckled.
An injured boy like him, asking to be an adventurer?
Had he gone crazy from the pain?
"HA HAH AH!! Young man, did you drink too much?" A rather big guy approached him, a mug in his hand. "Or did the pain make you go crazy?" Huge face, mostly covered in a beard.
"Daryl- that's enough-" A female adventurer, perhaps the big guy's companion was tugging at his sleeve, trying to stop him. "I'm so sorry-" Long ears- elf.
"Oh, if it isn't the ogre slayer." An attendant said, walking over to Flint.
"Ogre?" The big guy paused. "Him? You-" At first, he thought the attendant was joking but he quickly understood, she wasn't.
A loss for words.
The same went for everyone else.
"Please don't call me that. I nearly died from a single attack."
"Wait, you weren't taking on more than just one, were you?" She chuckled studying the young man's expression. "So, what's with the sudden change of mind?" A big wide smile. "I'm twenty and single by the way."
White shirt, black skirt, and a red necktie.
Petite, plump, and in a way, charming.
Definitely not twenty.
"Got something, I need to do."
"Alright, follow me. We'll first assess you, and I assume you already have the monthly fee and the registration fee ready?"
They climbed down the stairs, into the basement.
Long, dimly lit hallway with no one in sight.
Just the two of them.
"I have the registration fee but I don't have enough money to pay the monthly fee." Flint had waited till they got down. It wasn't something he could just say openly- "If possible, I'd like to skip this month's and pay double next month. Of course, I'm willing to pay extra-"
Flint's voice reverberated.
A musty smell lingered in the air.
Something unsettling-
"Sure. But I expect the payment sooner than later."
"Of course… but are you sure? Just letting me-"
The guild had regulations.
Certain rules, they never broke.
And the monthly fee was one of those.
If an adventurer failed to provide the fee, no matter what rank he was, they always stripped him of his title. At least that's what he heard.
So, allowing him to become one without the fee, yeah- didn't seem normal.
"You scratch mine and I scratch yours," A wink. "Besides, given your talents, you should have enough means to pay by tomorrow."
"What makes you so certain?"
She stared back- "Because it's not often someone survives a hero's full brunt-" She shot a glance at his arm-
A hand on his hilt, he took a defensive stance.
He'd lost virtually everything in the battle against the overlords. But not his sword. After all, that was the only thing he still held onto his dear life for.
"Calm down-" hands at the front- "I just happen to be there-"
"So? You- why…"
"As I said-" She came closer- "You scratch my back and I scratch yours." A wink. "I wouldn't mind if it's more than a scratch too-" She blew at his ear and swiftly took three steps back.
Almost leaking entrails behind.
Fast- but fluid.
"Assassin…" Flint mumbled, eyes always on her.
And though her lips curled, she never said a word.
'I should have known this…' And he should have taken precautions.
Maybe investing in a mask wasn't a bad idea either.
But he did screw up on this one.
"We're here-" Moments later- she unlocked a door and the two went in.
***
"Alright, now I'll begin assessing your level-"
Lit by a candle-
A small room.
There were odd runes on the walls- all four of them.
The door closed-
"Why not a magic lamp?"
Flint of course had his doubts.
But right now, the guild was one of the few places he still trusted.
Guild halls were free.
Adventurers were free.
And that's why he could tell that people here wouldn't sell him out.
Of course, that was wishful thinking and there were always people with different agendas.
And that's why he should have taken up a mask and he knew that.
But wait, the bandages were covering a sizable portion of his face-
'This could still work…'
"Magical artifacts would cause this one to not perform adequately-" she explained.
'This one' being a small crystal ball- cushioned in a fibrous red cloth, fashioned quite ordinarily on the table.
Two minutes went by-
Flint didn't feel a thing-
"How long-"
"Seven-"
"What?"
"You're level seven."
"What does that mean?"
"Means-" She smiled, staring at him. "You have quite the potential."