The adventurer’s guild hall in the imperial capital was an impressive structure to say the least. It was three stories tall and painted with a huge mural of an adventuring party facing off against a massive black dragon.

Voekeer being in the lead, as usual, pushed open the door and walked inside. The rest of the party followed close behind.

Inside was an open space with a counter along the rear wall where guild attendants were helping other adventurers. To the right of the entrance was another wall where multiple boards were hung, each one had different contracts pinned to it. To the left of the entrance was the dining area which was surprisingly empty considering that it was late in the afternoon.

They walked to the rear of the building and waited in line to get to the counter. Anna looked over at the boards trying to make out the kind of quests that were available as they waited, but even her eyes weren’t sharp enough to read the small text on the other side of the room.

It was their turn at the counter a few minutes later, and a tall thin woman walked over and smiled at Voekeer brightly.

“How can I help you today?” she asked.

“The mages found our missing party member, and we’d like to get her off the missing list,” Voekeer replied.

Voekeer put his hand on Anna’s shoulder, and the attendant turned to look at her.

“I’ll need your guild badge, miss,” the attendant said.

Anna took her guild badge out and handed it to the attendant.

“Here,” she said.

The attendant took her badge and went into the back room. She returned after a few minutes and handed Anna back her guild badge.

“All done,” she said.

“Thanks,” Anna replied.

“Anything else?” the attendant asked.

“Not at the moment,” Voekeer replied.

He smiled at the attendant, and she smiled back before biting her lip and looking him over. Lyreen huffed and grabbed Voekeer by the arm, pulling him away from the counter, and heading towards one of the empty tables. Thokri chuckled and winked at the attendant before the rest of the party followed the elves.

They’re the same as always, I see.

They all sat down sat down at the table.

“Now that that’s over with, I suppose we should decide what to do next?” Voekeer said.

“Aren’t we going back to Oldforge?” Anna asked.

“Eventually, but we have two problems. First, it’s the middle of winter, and the roads aren’t passable up north, and second, we don’t have enough money for such a long trip,” Voekeer replied.

“Oh, well, I guess we need to take some jobs then,” Anna said.

“That’s what we were planning on doing until we found out that social status determines what contracts you can take and that commoners like us can only take the worst and lowest-paying jobs,” Voekeer replied.

“That’s bullshit!” Anna said.

“Easy, lass. I agree with you, but arguing with the guild won’t get us anywhere,” Thokri replied.

Anna sighed.

“I’m guessing that Elaine being a noble doesn’t matter?” she asked.

Elaine shook her head no.

“My family is minor nobility, and I’m the fourth daughter. As far as the nobles around here are concerned, I’m barely better than a commoner,” she replied.

“So, we either take shit jobs or leave the imperial capital. Is that about right?” Anna asked.

“Aye,” Thokri replied.

“And I take it the closest city with a guild we could go to is weeks away, right?” Anna asked.

“Months and there’s a good chance they’d have the same rules for contracts as here,” Voekeer replied.

“Welp, I guess we’re killing giant rats,” Anna said.

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Lyreen groaned.

“I feel the same, child, but just remember, the baths are cheap,” Barika said.

“Speaking of washing, did you sell my cleaning ring?” Anna asked.

“No, I got it right here,” Elaine replied.

She pulled the ring from one of her belt pouches and tossed it to Anna who deftly caught it and stuffed it into her own belt pouch.

“Thanks,” Anna said.

“You’re welcome. Honestly, it was the one you used the most, so I just couldn’t bring myself to sell it,” Elaine replied.

“I appreciate it. So, do we have enough to get me a club, or am I going to be killing these critters with my bare hands?” Anna asked.

“No need to buy any weapons. I still have your sword,” Voekeer replied.

“Really? Why didn’t you sell it? I mean, it’s solid adamantine. It’s worth a fortune,” Anna asked.

“We tried to, but as it turned out, everyone was afraid to buy a sword that used to belong to one of the ten dark generals,” Voekeer replied.

“Right, well at least I have a weapon,” Anna said.

Thokri stood up.

“Might as well go and grab a contract,” he said.

The rest of the party got up and followed the sullen dwarf over to the boards where they looked through the contracts commoners were allowed to take. Voekeer snatched one of the contracts from the board, and they walked back over to the attendants.

After waiting for a few minutes, they found themselves standing at the counter once again. The tall attendant walked over, smiling when she saw Voekeer.

“So, what can I do for you now?” she asked.

“We’d like to take this contract,” Voekeer replied.

He slid the contract over to the attendant who took it and looked it over.

“I’ll just need the name of the party and the guild badge of the party leader,” she said.

Voekeer took out his badge and handed it to her.

“I’m the closest thing we have to a leader, but we don’t have a name,” he replied.

“Well, I need to put something down, so can you think of anything?” the attendant asked.

They looked at each other for a moment. It was clear that no one could think of anything until Anna snapped her fingers.

“Deoraithe,” Anna replied.

“Aye, that’s perfect!” Thokri said.

“What does that mean?” Lyreen asked.

“It’s an old dwarvish word that means wanderers,” Anna replied.

“That is rather fitting, isn’t it?” Barika asked.

“It really is,” Elaine replied.

“I guess we’ll go with it then,” Voekeer said.

“Great! So, uh, how do you spell that?” the attendant replied.

Thokri chuckled and then told the attendant the proper spelling in common. She wrote the information down in a ledger and then stamped the contract and handed it to Voekeer.

“Just remember, there’s a minimum number of vermin you have to exterminate to consider the contract complete, and you’ll need to bring back proof of each kill. Not the whole corpse of course, just a piece will do like a tail, an antenna, or a slime core, that sort of thing. Oh, and if you kill more than the required amount, just bring proof of those back as well, and you’ll get a bounty,” she added.

“Thanks, we’ll see you tomorrow then,” Voekeer replied.

“Sounds good. Be careful though. The sewers can be dangerous,” the attendant said.

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Voekeer replied.

They left the guild hall and walked back to the inn. It took them over an hour to get there, and when they arrived, they found that dinner was being served, so they sat down at a table.

The moment they were settled, the server zipped over and took their orders before buzzing away to get their drinks.

“You know, the ale here is pretty good,” Anna said.

“Bah! It’s horse piss, lass,” Thokri replied.

“You think so? Maybe it just tastes good to me because it’s been so long since I’ve had any ale,” Anna said.

“Can’t you remember everything perfectly, though? Lyreen asked.

“Yeah, but just because I know what something tastes like doesn’t mean I never want to eat it again,” Anna replied.

“I get that. I just don’t get how cheap ale could taste good to you all of a sudden. I mean, you’re practically a dwarf, so it’s kind of strange,” Lyreen said.

Anna just shrugged. She wasn’t entirely sure why the ale tasted so good to her, or the salad she’d had earlier that day, but she wasn’t going to complain about it either.

It’s like I get to try everything for the first time again, and it all tastes better now!

She took another drink of the ale and smiled.

I can’t wait to have a mug of black ale!

The food arrived soon after, and she happily devoured the steaming bowl of stew. Just as it had been with the salad and the ale, the stew tasted wonderful. As soon as she finished, she waved the server over and ordered another bowl.

“Easy, child. No one’s going to take it from you,” Barika said.

“I know,” Anna replied.

She sipped her ale as she waited for her next bowl of stew. The server arrived with another bowl, and she dug in. She ate this one slowly, savoring each bite. The stew was filled with a generous amount of beef along with several root vegetables and a few greens she’d never had before. It was seasoned with salt and dragon pepper along with a few spices and herbs that she was unfamiliar with. By the time she finished her second bowl, her friends had finished their first. The server walked over and started to collect their bowls.

“Excuse me, miss, but we are going to need another room,” Voekeer said.

“Sure thing. I’ll bring you back a key after I drop these off in the kitchen,” she replied.

“Thanks,” Voekeer said.

“You’re welcome,” the server replied.

She finished collecting the bowls and walked away from the table. Her friends each took a few copper coins and tossed them on the table. The server returned and scooped up the coins, stuffing them into her apron before fishing out an iron key and holding it out. Anna took the key and thanked the woman before putting it in one of her belt pouches. The server walked away, and they finished up their ales before heading up the stairs.

She followed Elaine into her room and retrieved her packs before heading out and finding her own room which happened to be on the other end of the hallway from her friends. She unlocked the room with the key and went inside. Unsurprisingly, it was nearly identical to the room Elaine was staying in. She walked over to the bed and unpacked both packs, laying her belongings out across its surface.

Okay, so I have three extra adventuring dresses and my yellow dress as well as my cleaning ring and, according to Voekeer, my sword. I also have all the supplies I bought in the Trade City, so I’m not really that bad off.

She folded everything back up and stashed it in her old pack before setting it aside. She looked at the new pack she’d just bought in the trade city and sighed.

It’s not as good as my old pack, but I guess it’s worth keeping as a spare.

She rolled the pack up and placed it next to her old one before she undressed and got into bed.