We found a Guild office, relatively close to home. They had their offices spliced around the entire office district, with their main building in the administration oriented city centre.
The office was on the top two floors of one of the skyscrapers. The interior was decorated to have a rustic look, with red brick walls and aged wooden floors and ceilings. The exceptions were the six metal elevator booths in the middle of the wide-open space and the glass wall looking out over the street and the city skyline.
At first, I found the mismatch jarring, but the colourful clients made the vastly different aesthetics match. Regular people in official clothes from all ages of history, milled with adventurers in fantastical armours. The latter were even more exciting, some wearing futuristic-looking enchanted military equipment, others just looked like the most outlandish and skilled cosplayers the world had to offer. Then, of course, there were people dressed in simpler gambesons and robes too.
I chuckled when I noticed kids - in age a little older than Tom - looking in awe at the flashily dressed adventurers and jumping away whenever the adults walked by them.
The more mystical types seemed to be gathering by the wide notice boards at the side walls, while the regular folk queued before the receptionist at the wall opposite the windows. The kids just seemed adorably lost.
"Excuse me..." Came in English from behind me. I looked over my shoulder. There was a head of slightly greasy, brown hair, followed by blue plastic rimmed glasses and an ugly, aggressively green gaming t-shirt. Maybe another transported?
The boy recoiled when his eyes landed on my slit pupils, then he took up a flimsy defensive stance when he noticed my horns. I shrugged and tapped Tom to move aside.
"Which do we go towards, Cate?" I asked the maid, already forgetting about the teenager behind us. I looked from the adventurers to the queues.
"May I recommend the information terminals by the pillars, mistress?" The woman gestured towards the nearest wooden pillar and we walked over to stand behind two dark elves, to wait our turn.
Unlike the pale elves I've seen before, these two were rather easy to tell apart and not androgynous at all. Just ahead of us, stood a dark-haired woman in a victorian dress. In front of her, a male elf - with short white hair and wearing a modern suit - was fighting with the terminal. He was grumbling under his breath, but I couldn't quite tell about what exactly.
I began to hum and looked around. There was some teenager in a green shirt, staring daggers at me. I waved at him and turned away. Some people fell down the stairs - at the side of the counters - and laughed. One of them held a beer bottle. That explained the music coming from upstairs, this place had a bar.
I counted to three on my fingers. Yep, I was too young to go drinking.
The male elf moved away, holding a small slip of paper.
As the woman walked up to the terminal, a group of three teens made their way to us. Well, I wasn't sure about the one on the right, as it seemed to be a humanoid, rainbow-coloured octopus. Just like it's two - probably human - blonde companions, it wore a casual outfit, consisting of a simple t-shirt with some bands logo painted on it, and long jeans pants.
The boy at the front, a dashing young man with a terrible case of early moustache, squared his shoulders and opened his mouth. He closed it again, nodded and looked up to us again. I quite enjoyed the height advantage granted by sitting on my tall kitty.
"Do you also seek to join the Academy?" The youngster asked. Tom, because of his size, didn't have much of a childish voice, so it was quite refreshing, to hear a boy sound like a boy. I poked the cat, he could answer the questions of the trio. I found watching the drunks, to be a far more entertaining pastime.
"Mads?..." The kitten looked towards me, so I nudged him the other way, towards the teens. "Oh, what is it you need?"
"The Academy, we want to do some jobs to earn points... but it's our first time in the Guild." The kid explained. "Oh, I'm Paul by the way." Paul extended his arm for a handshake.
Tom nodded and scratched his chin. "I'm Tom. It's our first time too, but my friend's maid is showing us around... I guess you could just stand in line behind us."
The boy stood with his hand extended, for a couple of seconds, finally shrugged and the trio moved behind us. Tom turned toward them. "Those are Mads and Diada... Maybe we will end up neighbours in the dormitory."
Paul and his friends had slightly conflicted expressions. After looking between each other, they seemed to decide not to get angry over the lack of the handshake and introduced themselves. "This one is Michael, we've been mates since the cradle, and this one here is Natalie, we met on the road." The other kids nodded to us.
"You got some stories? I met both of my friends..." I tuned out of the conversation and focused on the drunks.
Some adventurers left their groups and joined the jolly band in singing some pub song. Everyone took each other by the shoulders and swayed to the rhythm, passing around bottles and flasks of liquors.
After two verses, a Guild employee came over to them and ushered the merry band back up the stairs.
It would be fun, to be big enough to party. Maybe I could go to a bar and order a glass of milk. I chuckled at the image of a toddler bossing around drunk adventurers. I'd never grow up. Then I'd set up a bar, and you could only order milk there.
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The map led me to one skyscraper among many. For a second, I thought I got lost, but there was the sign of sword and wand by the door.
The door slid open, lighting up with some arcane symbols and I walked in. The lobby was sterile, with various creatures and people walking into and from the doors on the sides and the elevators in the back.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Uncertain on how to proceed, I walked up to the black reception desk and showed the bird-person behind it, the flyer. The creature looked it over and turned towards me.
"That would be the top floor." It said in perfect English, in a cheerful voice. I startled and nodded.
I noticed I forgot to pick up the flyer after the elevator door solidified. I couldn't read the numbers on the panel, so I just touched the top and right-most rune.
What would be the best way to stroll out into the offices? It was certainly a place for warriors and mages, so it wouldn't do to seem small. Still, for an office, walking in like I own the place, might backfire. I turned toward the mirror at the back of the elevator and struck a pose.
Shoulders squared, head held high and a slightly raised eyebrow. Yes, here stood the future hero of the land. This was the form of the man who would uncover the mysteries and conspiracies weaved by the Forces of Evil. It just felt so unnatural to look ahead. My head felt heavy and shoulders were straining.
I sighed and leaned my forehead against the cold glass. That old god called me a hero, right? I was special, unique and extraordinary. I pushed myself away from the wall and scowled at my reflection. It was a bit of a shame he didn't provide me with a heroic body, but it was just a matter of time before some cheat power would make me incredible.
I heard a ding, the elevator reached the top floor. I fixed my shoulders and walked out. To seem mysterious, I kept my head down until I was outside, then lifted it with a flourish.
It didn't seem like anyone noticed, as I walked into the back of a giant. The man in some sort of medieval peasants outfit stretched high up. Finally, as I craned my head as high as I could, I saw the back of a helmet made out of the head of some beast. On the shoulders of the man, sat two little girls, one dressed in white and with white hair, the other a blonde in a black coat.
The girls' clothes seemed expensive, maybe it was a father with daughters and to give them a good life, he skimped on his own clothes.
I cleared my throat. "Excuse me..." I said confidently. The blonde girl turned around to look down on me. Green, slit eyes pierced into my soul. Above them, two small black horns jutted out of her forehead.
She was the devil!! The creature guided... it wasn't their father! The man must have been an adventurer enslaved by the Demon Lord, to work as a steed for the monsters daughters!
Ahead of the trio, was an unassuming woman in a modern-looking black suit. Was she the guard of the little monsters?
I looked around. With relief I sighed, the place didn't look like a demon's lair. None of the regular people or adventurers paid attention to the monsters among them. I must have seen through the illusion on the little girl, thanks to some sort of heroic power. I nodded to myself and decided to enlighten the adventurers about the threat among them.
My legs didn't move. I was frozen in place and my body didn't listen to me! Was I so afraid?
I struggled with my unresponsive limbs until I saw another monster. A colourful, eldritch abomination, guarded by two mind-controlled kids, walked up to its friend. After a short greeting, the monsters left their slaves to discuss their nefarious plans.
The devil looked over to me and waved, mocking me. It wasn't fear keeping me in place, she must have cursed me! I felt my heartbeat and breathing quicken. Was the curse going to kill me? Would I just fall dead, among all these people, unable to call for help?
As darkness took me, my final thought was, "At least they will realise what creatures had sneaked among them."
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This was going to be a mess. An outworlder decked out in non-magical devices and synthetic clothes, just under the Dragon Mountain. They always appeared here and there, without rhyme or reason, but the dragons still complained and demanded extensive reports on why we permitted the technology to get into their territory.
I heaved a sigh and rummaged through the teen's pockets. Hopefully, he wouldn't make a fuss about missing phone or wallet. I also hoped he wasn't too attached to his clothes, as he would need to change into whatever the interns managed to find.
The kid seemed to already have a credit card and carried no change. So there went one bribe for the dragons. Unique metal currencies usually mollified them at least a little. I threw away the useless plastic ID's but left the paper high-school ID at the night table. After removing the photo on it, of course.
Since the boy wasn't waking up, I pulled out my tablet and got back to leafing through today's files. Why couldn't the boy be guided to a different office? He just had to appear when I got swamped with paperwork.
After a while, Rose came by with a neat pile of causal clothes, approximately the boy's size. She quickly ran back out, grumbling about some adventurers bringing a party into the office space. I thought, at least it was a break from the tedium of explaining to noble brats, why their overpriced gear would not earn them a higher ranking badge.
What I would give for a transfer to an office in the field. I waved my head. I made plans to transfer a couple of times a month, but I just couldn't give up access to the Academy or shopping centres.
A few budget forms later, the boy stirred. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He began to smell of fear with the tiniest whiff of hope. Sadly, the teen didn't seem to have any appreciation for our state of the art break room. Outworlders.
Finally, the kid noticed me... and shut his eyes, clearly intending to pretend he was still sleeping. I chuckled and cleared my throat. At least the one blessing came from the boy's belongings, I wouldn't need to spend the next hour, trying to figure out if he came from a country the language of which I learned.
"I know you are awake," I said in a calming tone. "I would love to let you rest a little longer, but we have some papers to fill Adam."
At the mention of his name, the boy shot up and fixated his eyes on me. "How do you know my name?"
I motioned to the ID. "That and from reading your status."
"Oh, of course." Adam straightened up and - I think - tried to look intimidating. "What does one such as you, require from me?"
I scratched my jaw. A Cave Bearkin, might not have been the best person to talk with someone that collapsed from a panic attack.
"I'm a simple Guild official, I simply need to get you through some paperwork." I reminded myself not to smile and continued, "Then we could talk a bit, on how you may get acclimatised in our world, where you can find psychologists to help you after the transfer and other such matters."
"Psychologist?!" Some spit flew out of the boy's mouth. "You mean a brain... washer! You won't turn me into the Demon Lords servant!"
"We hadn't had a Demon Lord around these parts in ages, don't worry." Ah, he must have been a fan of fantasy literature. Half of the Transported looked to become a hero who would defeat the great Demon ruling the world. I shook my head.
"I saw his daughter!! She rode on an enslaved adventurer and cursed me!" Adam continued to yell.
It was going to be a long evening.
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Tom made friends with the trio and we invited them to come over to the mansion whenever they had time. The cat and Paul exchanged their e-mails and immediately, the human kid asked Natalie to let him borrow her mPhone.
"Mistress?" I heard from below and turned to Cate. She was smiling sweetly at me and gestured towards the terminal. Right, we came to look for jobs.
"As I was explaining, under this tab, you will find simple errand tasks for fledgeling adventurers." Her voice was much too sweet. I was certain she'd request to train me once we got back home.
I tapped with mana on some offers to take care of animals. Anything exciting was reserved for high powered individuals. Walking some dogs would be at least, more fun than standing around with add-flyers or food delivery.
Even pest control required double my stats... Silly advanced societies and their high standards.