Arthur took a breath of air into his lungs and exhaled. He decided it was best to rest for now and settled back into bed.
***
He had been very bored lately. The only thing that had amused him during his time in this world was the massacre in Kaplan. And it pissed him off that he ended up running away from it.
Quintus longed for carnage, but also for him to win. One day he came up to Rupert with this question:
- 'Hey, I'm bored. Where I can fight and make a lot of money, preferably with followers like you.
That question frightened Rupert:
- Mr Quintus... Do I not suit you? - Rupert asked, small tears starting to form in his eyes.
- No, you must have misunderstood me. I asked you a definite question: 'Where can you fight and earn a lot, preferably also to gather followers around you?', and you do not answer my question. - said Quintus.
Hearing the gentleman's answer, Rupert took it to mean that he was right and that Quintus just didn't want to offend him:
- Mr Quintus, what have I done wrong? - Shouted Rupert, falling to his knees and sobbing.
This kind of behaviour from Rupert pissed Quint off:
- Damn it, don't whine. I'm fine with you, but if there were a hundred like you, wouldn't it be cooler? - said Quint. Rupert had calmed down a bit, but he was still crying. - Now, don't dodge the answer.
Rupert thought for a moment. All of Quintus's demands were hard to combine, especially with the third one. More specifically, finding followers. In the end he decided to give this answer:
- How about adventurism? - said Rupert.
- Hmm... I don't know what that is, but as long as you advise it, fine. Take me where I need to go. - ordered Quintus.
Rupert, thanks to his work in the capital, knows the area well.
- Follow me. - Rupert, who had calmed down, said, his eyes still red.
They went down to the ground floor of the tavern. A lot of shouting had been heard during the night. Right now, the sources of those very screams were apparently lying on the tables:
- If the birds are flying low, it means they're full, not sensing rain.
- I agree!
- You're so right!
- You're a bastard, but a decent one!
- I agree. Wait, you're talking about me!
- I've never been more right!
At night, they found out that all the women were going to-- never mind who, so what else, right, Count Ollet's a complete moo-- never mind. In short, lots of all sorts of unnecessary information.
They walked out into the street. Rupert looked around and tried to remember where the Adventurer's Guild was. When he remembered, he led Quintus in the right direction. When they reached it, they saw a large building made of stone. The roof, however, was wooden.
- Is it some kind of style that buildings in many cities are similar? - Quintus thought.
As they walked in, they saw many desks, and in front of them was a desk for registration, taking assignments, etc.
Quint walked forward. It was very quiet, probably because it was early morning, guild workers were nowhere to be seen.
Quintus walked over to a table that had a green carpet leading to it and shouted to the entire guild. After a couple of seconds, a girl with bright blue hair and green eyes comes out of the door labelled 'no trespassers allowed', anger evident on her face.
The panting girl approaches and after looking at Quintus, the anger on her face disappears:
- Hello, do you need something sir?
Quint looked at Rupert and he replied:
- Sir wanted to become an adventurer. He needs to register.
- Yeah, alright. - The girl replied and ran back to the room that was behind the 'no outsiders allowed' door.
She came back quite quickly. In her hands were various papers. She handed over a form and asked him to fill it out.
Taking a closer look, Quintus muttered:
- Name - easy, age - easy, place of residence - hard to answer, speciality - don't know what it is, height - don't know, weight - don't know... Ugh...
- I also need your papers. - said the girl.
- And some documents... How difficult it is... - muttered Quintus.
Quintus decided to fill in his name and age right away.
- So... Quintus, yeah. 23 years old. Yeah, I honestly don't know the rest... - thought Quintus and looked at Rupert, tilting the form so that he could see the questions. - What's my speciality?
Rupert sighed and answered:
- Warrior. - He said.
Quintus wrote it down.
- Well, what follows is dark... I'm going with random, then. Hmm. Height 356, weight 123. - Quint mumbled and tilted the form so Rupert could see the questions.
Seeing Quintus' answers, Rupert sighed and said:
- It will look more plausible if you write down your height as 180 and your weight as 67.
Quintus waved his head in understanding and corrected his answers. After writing everything down, Quintus handed the form to the girl.
- So... Quintus... 23 years...? - said the girl. Warrior - yep, crossed out 356 in height and 123 in weight and wrote 180 and 67...? M-m-m.... - said the girl with a kind of sadness in her voice. - So, your papers?
- ID? - said Quintus, not knowing what it was.
- Yes. You need papers to register. - replied the girl.
Quint averts his eyes and replies:
- No. - Said Quint with a weak fake smile.
- You can't do it without papers. - said the girl.
Quint is infuriated by this. Inhale, exhale, inhale exhale....
- Why the fuck can't you get an ID? Don't you value your life, woman?!
- Woman? - she said. - I'm only 19, I'm a girl, but I'm not a woman! - she thought.
Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.
Her eye began to twitch with anger:
- If you don't have papers, go away! - she shouted and slammed her fist on the table.
Quintus, without hesitation, pulled out his katana in a flash and severed her head:
- You don't know who you're talking to at all, old woman. - Quintus said and walked towards the guild exit.
At the girl's scream, other guild workers came running. Seeing the decapitated body, the worker screamed in fear. More people gathered at this. Quintus had already left.
***
- Anyway, I guess I don't want to be an adventurer anymore. What else is there? - Quint asked.
- What else is there? - Rupert wondered.