Chapter 37 - Girls Can't Fight

Mana was given a sack of coins from Nobu, just enough to enter the guild and start a side-mission she accepted for herself. 

30 Gold Coins, 5 Silver coins, and 5 Bronze coins; 330 a month! 

--------------- 

"Took you long enough!" A short, grouchy, green-haired girl snapped at Mana while ripping a novel of papers from her hand. She sat on the opposite side of a large wooden desk and was the face of the fighter's guild. The one that accepted or denied applicants, and the one that accepted contracts for them; the secretary. 

Mana looked at the stack of papers the girl had just snatched from her hand. She thought she had filled them out extremely fast considering the amount she was given. 

The secretary's hair was pulled into a tight, green bun, and resting on the tip of her nose in front of her big blue eyes, sat tiny, wire-framed glasses. 

She was wearing a black pant suit with a white shirt underneath; the guild's small, 3 by 3 inch, emblem creating an indent in the middle of her chest. 

She then stood up to lean across her desk to hand one over to Mana, "here you go. Before you can enter the rest of the building, you must put this on your body," her voice was monotone, "you can't put it anywhere that could otherwise kill or maim you, like your eye." Mana took it from her hands and examined it. "And for the love of all things not rotted, don't put it on your ass." She then sat back down in her chair and went back to pretending Mana didn't exist. 

Mana walked a few steps away from her desk as she inspected it. It was small and silver and had a pair of clashing swords in front of a shield engraved into it. At the bottom of it, it read 'Mistrich.' 

She then put it up to the left side of her chest, and as soon as it touched her skin, it embedded a few hooks into her, making it impossible to remove. Then she felt a surge of pleasant feeling power flow into her head and dissipate. 

She immediately triggered her stat mode and looked around the room, specifically at the secretary since it would easily get overwhelming being a new user. 

The secretary peered up briefly and gave Mana an annoyed look. She was used to it; she just didn't like being the main target to always be inspected. 

Mana could see her Hp, Sp, and Mp. She could see her levels, as well as any buffs or debuffs she may have; though she only had her guild buff currently. 

"This is awesome!" She silently squealed to Fluffy, who was trying his hardest not to smile at her happiness. 

"Shall we go inside and check it out now?" He urged her. 

As Mana made her way through the crowded lobby of numerous different people attempting to apply, she came upon a set of double wooden doors off to the right of the lobby with 2 Mistrich guards standing outside of it. Their colors being blue and brown. 

They watched her intently as she approached, but as she came within a few feet, the doors automatically swung inwards, allowing her to enter. 

As she walked through the doors, she heard the guards yell, "halt!" And her heart sank, she still hated getting into trouble. She turned around slowly to face them again, but instead of her, they had tackled a skinny man who was trying to sneak his way in behind her. 

She let out a soft chuckle as she turned back around to continue on her way. 

There was only one way to go, and that was left down a short hall before it opened up into a bit of a larger one that led to the right. 

After reaching the end of the hall, they turned right, which immediately opened into a more spacious area after only a couple feet. She was met with a large almost-library like area with a bunch of fighter's guild members talking amongst each other. She watched as most of the groups had a piece of paper they were looking at while talking. 

Then it hit her, this was the room where contracts were posted, and being in the library, they would be able to research things if needed before they headed out. 

She had never seen a more beautiful thing in her life. 

She stood like a statue at the entrance unblinking with a drop of drool beginning to fall from the corner of her mouth. She wanted to cry with happiness. 

"Who are you?" A man nearly commanded of her. She snapped back to reality and realized she had made a fool of herself. 

Every person in the room was staring at her, standing there like a mesmerized idiot with a fat cat on her back. She assumed they now thought she was an insane, pink-haired wannabe fighter. 

"I'm Mana, and you?" She quickly said, trying to save face as she wiped away her drool. 

"You really think you belong here? Level 40 and just now starting in a guild?" He started to berate her, ignoring her question. 

Then she finally laid eyes upon who was talking to her. 

A younger man, no more than 25 approached her from a small group of 3 other men. As she should look around the room, she noticed there were only a handful of women, and they seemed to be in their own group, staying away from the others. About 8 women in total, and obviously more than double that of men. 

The man who was talking down to her was about 5'9 tall, compared to her 5'4 stature. He had dual daggers at his hip and was wearing a black hoodie with an abstract, colorful design on the front. He also had red gym shorts and a pair of very worn tennis shoes on. His hair was black and covering most of his eyes, so she couldn't make out the color. 

"How can you see?" she accidentally blurted out as she studied him. The other women chuckled to themselves while trying not to anger the men. 

The man was taken aback, it was obvious women weren't talked to like an equal in the guild; whether known or not by the superiors. "You have no business here. Fighting is for men, and as you can see, most of the women are gone now." 

"I know a thing or two about fighting," Mana corrected him. "I'm no expert, but I try," she shrugged. 

"Right, then if you really feel the same way, we will do a mock fight in the basement arena. We will each be level 100 and hold nothing back." Then he looked back to his small group who began to smile with ill intent. As he looked back to Mana, he gave her a smirk, "Though if you want, I can hold back. Girls can't fight."