Ajax was led by the receptionist from the main office with a lot to think about. The situation he just found out about from his family about their village as well as the intervention of the nobles in his own affairs were presenting two very distinct and almost opposite views.
Thinking about it he came to realize that while the world view he had from his previous life would apply to commoners, if a lot more desensitized to violence as compared to the US, nobles were different. His only brief one encounter with the nobles that led the skirmish as well as the one with the noble who caused the downfall of his village painted a new picture for him.
In large part because of the way landed nobles were chosen almost all nobles in this kingdom would place a large emphasis on treating their subjects well and providing opportunities for growth. The oversight came with how their system dealt with titles, only the eldest child would take over the family lands and as such all of their siblings could be overlooked.
Jealousy over something like a birthright was something he had been exposed to in both entertainment and education back in his old life and as such could understand how this power dynamic could cause antagonistic relations between siblings. More so, such antagonistic attitudes resulted in the younger siblings taking on traits opposite to their older sibling most likely causing second born and later nobles to take an anti-commoner view.
Now this is not to say that the landed nobles thought well of commoners, just that they understood the need for them. Not only that but younger siblings who accepted the way of succession would likely also choose to support their older sibling and even bond closer to commoner, Cadmael being a great example of this.
Ajax came to the realization that he had taken an overly antagonistic view of the nobles. He also knew that it had kept him safe, but now that he had gained a bit of power and agency through the Adventurer’s Guild it should be fine to interact with nobles and look at each as an individual and not a group.
For now though he needed to focus on his entrance to the guild. He had been led into one of the rooms he passed by on the way to the branch manager's office. Inside he found a rather rotund older man who was busy writing things down.
“Take a seat, applicant.” he said in a monotone voice without lifting his eyes from the paper he was writing on.
Ajax sat in the only open seat in the room, in front of him was a small pedestal with a large crystal orb placed in on it. He also noticed the receptionist closing the door but remaining inside this time. It took another couple of minutes before the man finished writing, pulled out a new piece of paper and after a glance at it looked towards him.
“You’re applicant Ajax, correct?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ajax answered.
“My name is Roger, I am the records keeper for the Lessis branch of the Adventurer’s guild, present as a witness will be Sophie, one of our receptionists. We will now conduct your official interrogation.” he said with an official tone that told Ajax he had repeated the same words more times than he could remember.
“First of all, could you please place an arm on the orb in front of you.” Ajax followed the instructions. “Now, please answer me, what is my name?”
“Your name is Roger.” Ajax said and the orb briefly flashed white.
“Good now answer this next question with a lie. What is two plus two?”
“Five.” Ajax obliged and the orb flashed a bright red.
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“Good. First question, have you ever used another name?”
The first question and already Ajax had to skirt the rules.
“Not since I was born.” The orb glowed white.
With that a rapid fire questioning began:
“Are you above ten years of age?”
“Yes”
“Are you being charged or have you been convicted of a crime?”
“No.” Ajax answered but he did note the question didn’t ask if he ever committed a crime, only if he was being charged or had been convicted.
“Are you joining the guild under the instructions of anyone?”
“No.”
“Are your total stats above seven hundred?”
At this Ajax didn’t answer. Giving out his stats was not something he wanted to do and had hoped he wouldn’t have to.
“Do not worry about us recording your stats.” Roger had dealt with this hesitation multiple times, so much so that it surprised him when people answered this question without hesitating. “The Adventurer’s Guild requires that all its members have at least seven hundred total stats, nothing about your total or spread is being recorded, just this minimum.”
“Yes my stats total above seven hundred.”
“Sophie, you can take Mr Ajax to take his written test.” Roger dismissed them and moved on to the next paper before they even left the room.
The next part of the assessment was split into two parts. The first was a basic knowledge test on commonly known information on monsters. This is something he blew out of the water after all the information Hatchet crammed into his head over the five years he trained him.
The second part was different. While it was in question form it wasn’t really a test. All of the questions had very obvious answers, where they didn’t the question was multiple choice with only one answer even making sense. All of the questions pertained to the authority the Adventurer’s Guild had in the kingdom.
Ajax had to admit that instead of having each participant read the rules, making them answer obvious questions as a way for them to read all the rules regarding legality and authority was rather ingenious. This forced even the most arrogant of applicants to take in and give a written response that they are fully aware of the status they have. Getting even one question wrong was grounds for rejection and the document would probably be kept in case the guild had to keep itself out of trouble with members breaking laws while using the guilds name.
Questions were also really obvious like : “Should you disagree with a punishment meted out by an officer of the law you will :
1. Kill all the officials
2. Ignore it and move on regardless of circumstances.
3. Intervine without relying on your identity as a member.”
The tests took about an hour to complete and another ten minutes to grade before being delivered to Roger. Afterwards the receptionist pulled out a small sheath about the size of a credit card and handed it to Ajax.
“Inside you will find your adventurer’s card. The guild asks that you take it out and keep it in hand for at least an hour.” Sophie said.
Ajax pulled out the card and read the information on it.
“ Adventurer’s Guild member : Ajax.
Rank : Iron
Stars : one
Missions completed :
Iron : 0
Bronze : 0
Silver : 0
Gold : 0
Platinum : 0
Dimond: 0”
After reading the information he also noticed that the card was pulling in small amounts of mana from him. He quickly realized what it was doing, getting attuned to his mana so it could not be stolen and used to impersonate him at any guild branch. With that he pushed a bit more mana into it and noticed that the white crystalline card changed to match the color of iron after about one hundred mana was inserted.
Sophie raised her eyebrows at the change but didn’t say anything and just led him back towards the front of the building. As they walked he noticed a small amount of mana pulse and converged onto the earring the receptionist was wearing. It was very similar to the pulse he felt when the branch manager called her in before.
“You’re not just a receptionist are you?” he asked, knowing that such direct message items couldn’t be used by just anyone even if only to receive messages and not send them.
Sophie startled a little and stopped before turning to him. “ How did you …” her eyes dropped down to the card he still had in his hand and her hand instinctively reached for her earring, only managing to stop herself halfway there. “Ah.”
“No, I am a bit higher up” she chose to answer him before leading him towards the door. “If you would like to downplay or just not mention your mana abilities while looking for a team I suggest you keep the card out of view for a little while.”
Ajax realized what she meant, one didn’t even need to be able to use mana as long as they knew how the card worked. Coming out with one already attuned to his mana would give away that he could infuse it to anyone who saw it. This would then lead to an awkward moment when choosing one of the teams eager to grab him if he decided not to mention his mana skills.
He nodded his thanks and placed his hand with the card inside his pocket before. As Sophie opened the door for them to rejoin the tavern part of the guild hall, Ajax prepared himself to evaluate some of the adventurer’s team who were about to mob him.