The sun had long since gone down when I found myself trudging to the Inn and back to my room within it. The Inn building itself was quiet with a few windows lit by oil lamp or candle. I made my way to the rear entrance as I'd been told to and pulled out the shiny silver key Maude gave to me. A single horse was currently being kept in stables off to the right; I could hear soft whinnies and the dry crackle of hay.

Crap. I forgot about that promise. A date? With Torri?! Why me?

When I'd seen her that morning, she'd shot eye-daggers at me, so I didn't dare even say hello to her. How does anyone even date someone like that? I turned to leave for work and Torri brushed past me, looking like she had somewhere to be and it was anywhere other than here. "Excuse me, Gravy Face."

I am never living that down, am I?

I made myself a mental note to ask Maude about yet another thing - this date - when I saw her next. And about how to handle Torri's coldness. At this rate, I was going to need a wheelbarrow just to get all my questions to her at once.

The lock clicked open easily and I pushed the door open on silent hinges. This place was still brand new in many ways. It was dim inside, and smelled faintly of wood polish and fresh wildflowers. I closed the door behind me and locked it from the inside, as it was before I'd unlocked it. The soft sounds of hay disappeared with the closing of the door.

My room was on the second floor, so I turned left and approached the western staircase. I wanted to be as quiet as possible, so I tiptoed up the stairs, hoping to remain unseen. I managed to ascend without a single creak, thankfully. If I wake Torri up, she will murder me and she won't wait for me to be asleep.

The hallway up here was a bit brighter thanks to a series of oil wall lamps letting off a homey, orange glow that danced along the walls and carpeted floor. My room was the last one, all the way down on the left, facing the outside. The room across from mine was storage, and no one lived next to me, so it was quiet and and the air felt still as I let myself in. Torri also lived in one of these rooms, but hers was the first door on the right. In-between us sat 5 other rooms that were earmarked for rental by customers of the Inn. Two of them had occupants. Just not the one next to me.

Thanking whatever god would listen that my door swung open without so much as a peep, as well, I scurried into the only place in the world I could call mine. And it's not even mine; I'm just renting the damn thing.

I kicked off my old black boots - they had been returned to me when my onboarding finished up, along with my clothing - and sat heavily down on the bed. It flounced a bit, and only creaked a little. It was a lot softer than I'd expected. Then again, I've expected a lot of things, and I don't think I've been right, yet.

Setting my pack down on the floor by the bed, I reached down and pulled out a large piece of warm yellow parchment. It was folded over and over again until it sat neatly in the palm of my hand, square, like 6-sided dice. Now, what the hell do I do with this?

The final part of my onboarding was to learn the process of registering an adventurer to the Guild. That was where Teak came in. At least he has a legit use... Teak's job was to use faerie magic to tap into an adventurer's core, "read" their traits and skills, and copy the attributes down on a parchment for the adventurer to carry with them. As their traits changed, the paper and the library would update automatically.

Frankly, I had no idea how it worked and I wasn't going to bother trying to figure it out. It didn't matter how it worked, just that it works. And conversation with Teak wasn't exactly my favorite pastime. Eventually, I'll find someone who knows what all this means. I just need to be patient and play the long game.

The parchment, though thick and sturdy, still folded down into a tiny box and I was worried for a moment that I would rip it if I opened it back up. After a few tense moments, I managed to unfold it without tearing. Whew. I could get a new one whenever I wanted, but Teak notwithstanding, I didn't want many people to see this. ANY people, if I could help it.

Zachary King

LVL 1 Human Villager Age: 19

Location: Waterfalls Inn, Stillwater Village

Occupation: Receptionist, Adventurer's Guild EXP: 1 / 100% to LVL 2

HP: 100% | MP: 100% Error: Status cannot be displayed.

I stared again at what looked like a printout of a tabletop RPG character sheet, but on this very real parchment. My name was at the top, along with the words LVL 1 and HUMAN VILLAGER. Somewhere, I had picked up some XP but I had no idea where or when. I had known I wasn't hot stuff before but seeing it in writing stung in a whole new way. And that was on top of the fact that his character sheet was busted.

Where the best parts of a character sheet should have been, like possessions and spells known, this one - mine - was blank. There were only the words Error: Status cannot be displayed. The letters glitched and shifted under my gaze, actively trying to hide from me. No matter how hard I tried to focus on them, the words just kept slipping past me, somehow. I still knew what it said by heart, but had no clue what it meant.

Error? There aren't any computers in this world - their tech level is pretty far behind what I had expected - so what, exactly, is returning an error? And why? Neither Laerell nor Teak had known what it was about, but she did say she would look into it for me, so I guess I just have to wait and see. At least I still got the job.

After my sheet had come out so badly, first Laerell had blamed Teak, asking him point-blank if he was sabotaging me on purpose.

> "No! NO! I have no idea what the hell that is, this has never happened before!" Teak squawked, his feathers clearly ruffled.

>

> If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

>

> Laerell huffed and said quietly, "Isn't that just what they all say?" She shook her head and handed me back my glitchy parchment. "I have not seen this, either, I'm afraid. I will have to ask at Guild HQ. This method is still very new, so I was warned there might be some knots to work out of the yarn..."

Then, as if to reassure me, she showed me her own "character sheet." At a glance, I could see how different it was from my own. Not only did it have much more on it, but there were even small drawings of artifacts and such that Laerell must own. I tried not to look very much at her "sheet" because, honestly, it felt kind of invasive. It had stuff on it that a stranger shouldn't know, like her age, weight, and height. I didn't want to know any of that and I especially didn't want to know any of that about my boss, stranger or not.

Laerell had eventually sent me home with a warning, "Just, don't show this to anyone until we get an answer from HQ, alright?" I nodded wordlessly and she continued, "See you in the morning, bright and early!"

That's right, I need to get up early, which means I should be sleeping soonish. With a tired sigh, I folded my "character sheet" back up into a small block and stashed it away in the drawer of my nightstand. My room would be locked anyway, but at least this way it wasn't just sitting out in plain view.

The last thing on my mind as I drifted off to sleep that night was, "Can Teak even fly with those excuses he calls wings...?"

*  *  *  *

Laerell did not, in fact, make me work an all-nighter on the day I was hired, and instead, we planned to open in 3 days, which was when the bulk of the town would be finished. The next couple of days flew by - there wasn't much to do since the Guild Hall was already set-up and ready to go, so Laerell took the opportunity to show me more of the Guild's special warehouse. It was still rather empty, understandably, mostly of its boxed things intended to be given out as rewards to adventurers. There were drawers and drawers full of basic potion ingredients, various cloth and leather for making into armor, and even a decent selection of gemstones. There were even a few rare pelts, coffee beans, and exotic teas.

Laerell explained more about the job, too, for which I was glad.

"There will be three quest archetypes: Collection, Subjugation, and Political. Collection quests are where request that x number of an item be brought back to the Guild Hall, but how they obtain the items isn't something we care about, so long as it's legal." I nodded, unfortunately well acquainted with that kind of quest already. Mmmm, delicious, delicious grinding. "Subjugation quests are missions to slay either a certain number of monsters or animals of a given species in a given area, or to slay a single, very specific named monster." I nodded again. "With this type, though, they must have a hand in the slaying themselves or they get no credit."

That's peculiar. How will we know if the adventurer assigned to it killed the target or if someone else did? Then I realized there had been a spot on Laerell's sheet labeled Quest Status. Hm. I bet we can verify it that way. If their sheet doesn't say they participated, then they didn't.

"The third type are Political. These quests are easily the most dangerous of these first three as they will require brains and brawn both to carry them out."

I felt my forehead crinkle in thought. That has some implications. I'll mull them over later. "I see. These first three? Are there others?"

Laerell nodded her head, her brown braid swaying behind her neck. "Once an adventurer achieves LVL 10, two new types will be open to them: Raids and Bounties. Raids are where large groups of able fighters are needed take down a particularly powerful enemy or explore a new dungeon. Bounties are...well, bounties. Someone did something bad and we need them brought in - alive - to face judgement. So you see, those are more difficult tasks, which is why they are restricted to LVL 10 and up."

"That makes sense," I nodded, pretending like I had never heard of these concepts before, but in reality, this was eerily similar to games I'd played before. I don't know if that made more or less sense, but it's not like I could change it. At least, not with the information I had. So I just accepted it.

Soon, a lack of information would no longer be a problem I had. Hopefully.

Finally, we were on the eve before opening day, and I had been given leave to take that afternoon off. "Rest up so you don't keel over tomorrow!" Laerell had advised. So rest I would, after I tracked Maude down to ask her a few of those questions I'd been holding onto.

I had only been here a few days, but the Waterfalls Inn was already becoming familiar to me, like a new pair of sneakers that only took one or two times wearing them before they were nice and broken-in. I could hear Maude's voice emanating from the front area, where the bar was, and made for that direction.

The lunch rush had just died down, I realized. Most of the tables had been cleaned up already, but there were still a couple that needed attention. Waving to Maude as I entered the spacious room, I trotted over to the nearest dirty table and gathered up the plates and steins. "Maude! I got the rest of the day off, so I-" But I was interrupted by a white blur named Torri who neatly relieved me of my dirty dishes and vanished back into the kitchens. "-Oh. Uh, okay, I guess I'll just stand here like an idiot..."

Maude and I traded a grin and she rolled her eyes teasingly at me. "Now, boy, yer gonna be workin' your 'tocks off plenty. Opening day is tomorruh, innit?" I nodded and looked around as the grumpy white blur handled the remaining tables.

"Yeah, I gotta get there early tomorrow morning, so Lae sent me home early to rest."

"Well, then, cleanin' my tables ain't bloody fuckin' resting, now issit?" She chuckled warmly, her cheeks flushed from hard work and good banter.

"I suppose you're right, Maude." I really couldn't argue.

"'Course I am, boy, and don't you go forgettin't it."

"Oh, don't worry, I doubt Torri would let me forget." I turned to head up to the second floor and my room for a nap but stopped and asked, "Hey, Maude?"

"Yeah, boy? Whatchergot?" She paused wiping down the wooden bar top and looked at me with a tilted head.

"What did you mean when you said I had to take Torri on a date?"

Maude blinked for a moment and then let out a massive belly-laugh that shook the wine glasses and made the tiny fish in the decorative ponds scatter. "Oh, is that what's got yer all eaten up, eh?" She must have seen me blush even in the low light because she laughed again, "Oh, boy, no, t'ain't like that. Dem bitc...err, bigwigs up at the capital are having them a Charity Ball next week 'er so and each border town wot got a Guild gotta send two delegates, all nice and propuh. They wanna show yer off ter gets more money."

I sighed in relief, "Okay, it's not a real date."

"Not a real date? I suppose yer could lookat it that way. But, the favor is begin' her escort an' bodyguard for the evening so I don't gotta find a dress that fits my big ass in time. Certainly, I ain't gonna be able to get one made by then. So. You have a Guild uny-form now, so you can withs her go." She leveled a look at me and made the final point, "And besides. We cen't spare nobody else who looks like they can fight. You ain't gotta actually fight, Torri can handle herself, but you bein' there will make her less likely ter hafta throw down. You get me?"

"I get you, Maude." A nap never sounded so damn good as it did right then.