Chereads / The Good Knights Burden / Chapter 10 - Options

Chapter 10 - Options

After walking for about twenty minutes Aron reached the guild's front doors.

The front doors were about twice the height of Aron but had a normal width. They were open allowing Aron to go in. Once inside Aron was hit with a faint smell of leather. Looking around, he could see that on the far-left wall there were many bulletins stuck a board of tree. Another layer of wood framed the board.

The room was filled with quit voices speaking amongst themselves. Most of the people present were surrounding the bulletins, pointing, and walking towards some. At the opposite side of where Aron came through was a receptionist behind a wide desk. The desk was wide enough to accompany at least three more receptionists.

'I hope they are better than the one before', Aron thought to himself as he approached the desk.

"Good afternoon, sir."

'Afternoon? Time had flown by.'

Aron replied.

"Good afternoon to you, my lady."

The female receptionist gasped in delight.

"To meet someone with manners here?! What a rare and delightful surprise."

Aron noticed how the receptionist glanced at some people near the bulletins.

Then she focused on Aron again.

"What can I help you with, sir?", she said with a smile.

She was a head smaller than Aron and wore a fine white shirt surrounded by various leather belts and straps, making her female features highlighted.

"Is it possible for me to sign up as an adventurer?"

"Yes. All I need from you is for you to fill out this paper asking some information about yourself."

With practice, she the took out a piece of paper and a pen from under the desk and placed them in front of Aron in an elegant motion.

Aron takes the pen and begins to write down what was needed.

The paper asked for name, age, and race. It also asked about what kind of occupation would suit him best. There were many occupations like mage, assassin, thief, archer, and so on, but Aron chose warrior. The paper described these occupations as classes.

When he had filled out the paper, he slid it over to the receptionist who was picking her nails at the moment.

"Is this sufficient?", Aron asked whilst sliding the rough paper on the hard wooden desk.

She looked up from her nail picking and quickly changed her posture.

"Let me see."

She lifted the paper and scanned what was written.

She smiled and looked at Aron again.

"You have lovely handwriting, not like some around these parts."

She again looked over at a someone over at the bulletins.

"All is well here, sir."

She then went on to inform Aron of the contract he would be under if he worked for the guild.

The guild would take forty-nine percent of what would be offered in the quests. The other fifty-one would be given to the concerned adventurer. If the quest was done by a party, then the coins would be distributed equally to each member. Whilst adventuring you will not be persecuted by officials, since the guild is acknowledged by the crown.

"How come the guild takes such a large portion of the coin earned?"

"Well, all the quest are provided by us and you have the crowns protection, so if anyone were to target you, then the crown would get involved."

"I see."

Aron pondered out loud.

'It is clearly a scam by some greedy noble. A forty-nine percent cut is brutal!'

"Does the contract have any effect on my work outside the guild?"

"No, sir. We only take our cut and offer our protection when you work for us."

She smiled slightly.

"I will come back another day." Aron said.

"Of course, sir. Do you want us to save your information here?"

"Please do."

Aron thought it to be easier if he left it here. Then he would not have the trouble of searching for it.

Aron nodded politely and started to make his way out.

'What can I do? It would take ages to get a staple income from adventuring when the cut from the guild was so big.'

Out of curiosity Aron turned over to the bulletins. He wanted to see how much a quest would give him. When he was in front of the board, he looked at some requests. There was one for harvesting some poisonous mushrooms. It gave five silvers on the condition that all mushrooms collected were not damaged.

Another one was a protection job. It offered one gold coin, which meant you would get fifty-one silvers.

'As I thought, the amount the guild takes is to much.'

The protection job for one gold had a duration of three days.

Aron thought that it was not worth it. For one the guild's cut was to big and also the good paying jobs usually took more than one day. If the pay was good, then Aron would not mind the time it took but it paled in comparison to what he got from serving the order. There he had a staple income.

'I should probably stop with the notion of finding a staple income. It is not something I will find.'

Aron's choices were limited. He either worked at the docks for minimal wage or he worked as an adventure for an unstable income.

Aron sighed in frustration.

*Sigh*

There was also the third option.

'I could turn to the mercenaries. They are not a honest bunch, but you get paid fairly for your work'

The coin Aron would get paid with as a mercenary, would not always have been acquired by lawful means.

'Could I really turn to a life of crime? Not long ago I fought for justice and now I am thinking of going against that justice.'

'Well, it is not like my work was appreciated. I was disposed of the moment I had no use for them.'

Aron then suddenly remembered what priest Jacob had said.

He had told Aron to go the ministry if he had any questions about what to do.

'I was to seek out a priest. What was his name again?'

Going to the ministry would not with certainty give Aron a solution to his problems, it might even give him more, like the episode at the job center.

Thinking of the job center Aron smiled.

'That moron deserved what was coming. He should have shown more respect towards the person he was serving.'

Aron writes a mental note to wear something that doesn't show who he is to the world, in case a situation where he needs to speak with his fists were to arise.

Aron turned towards the exit and walked out. The sun was still out, albeit with considerably less presence. He decided to go home and think upon what happened today.

Whilst walking home, Aron noticed that there were fewer people on the street. Many stalls were packed away of left abandoned. Shadows began to expand from the street corners. Aron was feeling the fatigue of walking all day. His legs were begging to relax for just a moment, but Aron knew that if he gave them just a moment, they would take the whole hour. So, he kept walking.

He felt his clothes stick to his back and behind, but he had been through worse discomforts.

Aron had finally reached his abode and walked inside immediately. It was dark inside. The candles had been blown out. He activated his sight, and everything turned to shadow. But unlike before where the shadow was misty, now the shadows had firm forms. He could see the dinner table and the three stools around it and all their imperfections.

On the table was some broth and bread. Aron put his hands over the bowl of broth and could feel its heat. He sad down and ate the food like a beast. He had not eaten anything after morning, so he was starving. Occasionally he dipped the bread into the broth making it soak up its flavours and then devoured it like before.

When he was finished, he put the bowl on the kitchen counter, too tired to wash it. He then walked into the bedroom to sleep. Before going into bed, he washed his most important areas with a wet piece of cloth.

'I need to take a bath tomorrow.'

Commoners in the capital did not have their own baths so bathing was done in public baths. There were also private baths but those were costly. Aron laid down besides his wife, avoiding taking the blanket over himself. The heat of the day had yet to leave his body.

Looking up at the wooden celling Aron thought of what to do. Every choice he could make had a noticeable downside.

If he went to the ministry to ask for help, he could risk not getting any. If he chooses adventuring, he had no guarantees. If he chose some work at the docks, it would be hard work for little coin. He could lastly join some mercenaries' group.

His options weren't looking too bright.

Aron closed his eyes slowly and he fell asleep almost immediately.

Tomorrow he was going to get a job. No matter the cost.