Tonight, the guild hall was quieter than usual. There were a couple of groups of adventurers sitting around some tables, making plans for the following day, but the vast majority of adventurers had packed up and left for the mercenary quests, with only the stragglers who couldn’t get on any of the caravans or ships remaining in town.
Mr. Franz Falkiore was running the front desk tonight. He was a man of average height and a particularly slender build, known mostly for his… eccentricities. He wore white face paint, with a pair of small red triangles under each of his eyes. He also liked to wear funny-looking, frilly clothes and oversized red shoes. As to why he looked like that, he always said it was an old habit from a job in his previous life. Most people just took it as a joke, and treated it as another one of his eccentricities, along with his talk of magicless self-driving carriages and handheld communication blocks.
Since he had so much free time at the moment, he was working on another one of his odd pet projects. He was trying to create an odd, stretchy substance with which to make animal shapes after filling it with air. However, despite claiming it was a real thing, he had never learned the appropriate skills or knowledge to make it, since, according to him, he was “a high school dropout.” Not that anyone had ever heard of one of those schools either. This never stopped him though; he relished his role as the madman.
He was so focused on his work, he didn’t notice the main doors open, nor did he notice the kids walking up to the desk until they were just a few feet away. Seeing Diane covered in blood and guts, his immediate reaction was a little… extreme.
“Hmm, so if we try and adjust the formation here, and here, maybe I can repli—AHHHHH! IT’S A GHOUL, A ZOMBIE, A CREATURE BACK FROM THE DEAD! DON’T EAT ME, BABY ZOMBIE, I AM ONLY A CLOWN AND MY BRAINS DON’T TASTE THAT GOOD! Wait... ah? You aren’t a zombie here to eat my brains? OH MY GOODNESS, you are a true to life real child! Well, I’ll be, that is quite the amount of blood on ya! Gave this ossan a good old heart attack, you did! Now how can good old Mr. Franz help you?”
He pulled a tiny horn out of one of his pocket and blew into it twice.
Diane, who was covered in two types of blood and chunks of flying insects, was temporarily frozen in a look of shock, revulsion and… fascination at this strange display.
Thistle responded with a quizzical head-tilt. “You are a strange one, aren’t you? So… what kind of monster person are you supposed to be? I have never seen this… clown-type humanoid before.”
“What? Me? A--m-m-monster person? What could you possibly be getting at, good sir? Why, I bid you a good day!”
“It’s night.”
“Oh, so it is. You are quite right. Oh well! So then, corpse disposal fee is ten silvers, burial is another five, and… three gold in bribes to the city guard.”
“This guy isn’t dead.”
“Oh, he isn’t? A shame. You sure? He could be, for an additional ten silver.”
“You… you aren’t serious, are you? Because I can’t afford that.”
“The moon is quite pretty tonight, huh? I wonder, I heard it was made of cheese.”
Diane definitely wasn’t in the mood to handle this exchange. “This kid isn’t dead. He is part of another adventuring group. The rest… didn’t make it. Can you please take care of him? And not in the killing way? Also, Thistle, turn in the rest of the goods. I just want to get this over with and go back to the inn”
“Right away. Here you go!”
Thistle unceremoniously tossed Haraldr at Mr. Franz, glad he wasn’t their problem anymore. Mr. Franz looked a little shocked, not only at having an injured, unconscious man literally thrown onto him, but at the ease with which the small boy did it. Then, he also noticed the overstuffed packs the boy was carrying. Something… was definitely off.
Then, the dump. A half-dozen giant hornet cores, thirty ounces of crow grass, thirty ounces of tuffle weed, and twenty-five ounces of tonba berries.
Mr. Franz looked carefully at the monster cores, before looking at the kids’ plates.
“Where… did you get these?”
So Diane told him their story, although she conveniently left out the part about the demon she’d seen. She could hardly believe what had happened herself, so instead she focused on the slaughter of the hornets, making it sound more like the nest was cleared between her and the dire wolves.
She also said to give half the money from their reward to the unconscious Haraldr, since he would need it more than them. All in all, they had made one gold, twenty-eight silver, and fifty coppers from the quest.
Mr. Franz made a mental note to verify as much of the story as he could with Haraldr when he woke up. If true, he would need to have a very serious discussion with the branch manager or the assistant manager.
Back at the inn, Ryme was pacing back and forth with two plates of food long since cold.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Jotuun, on the other hand, was sitting down at one of the empty tables, his eyes locked on the door.
“Jotuun, its getting late. It is getting really late. They should have been back by now, right?”
“Mmm.”
“They really did say they were going on a quest, right? But kids can’t take quests. But if they did, they should have been back by now. So why aren’t they back yet?”
“Mmm.”
“You don’t think they got hurt, do you? If they did, what should we do? Do you think the guard will look for them?”
“Mmm.”
“They wouldn’t listen to us anyways. They should have been here by now. I even made all this food for them. You don’t think they aren’t coming back, do you?”
“Mmm.”
“They have to come back. They paid for a week, you agreed to a week right? Who pays for a week and then doesn’t come back? Its rude! I will have to scold them for being rude guests!”
“Mmm?”
Jotuun’s ears perked up and he rose from the table so quickly that Ryme squeaked and jumped in surprise. Jotuun rushed to the door when he saw the handle start to turn, grabbing the door and flinging it open.
Diane, surprised, fell through the entrance.
“Eeeeeeeeeeiiiiiii!!!! I knew it. You really did take on a quest, didn’t you? Reckless! Reckless little girl! And look at you, you’re all hurt and covered in blood!”
Before she knew it, Diane was pounced on by the small skeever who immediately started fussing all over her.
“Jotuun, heat up their food! You, Missy, need to get cleaned up first! You are such a mess, ugh, and I just washed your dress last night! You need to stop treating such a nice piece of clothing so roughly. Reckless! You’re reckless! And you… what are you carrying in that bag?”
Ryme finally noticed Thistleman standing near the door, clearly enjoying the show.
“Oh, this? It is our quest reward.”
“Yeah, we got it for killing some giant hornets and gathering some stuff. Hey, Auntie! I have a new job for you! Since you’re taking care of us, can you also handle the money too? I don’t have anywhere else to keep it, and a good auntie would definitely help us out with it, right?”
Ryme looked into the bag and squeaked again when she saw the large sum of money in there. They would take months to earn a gold coin here, especially after taking out living expenses from their daily earnings. Her entire body stiffened and the shock and stress caused her to faint.
Jotuun let out a loud, hearty laugh as he secures the door for the night.
“Niece and nephew do good! Finally, Ryme stop worry so much!” He reached down and picked her up, before setting her gently into one of the chairs around a well cleaned table.
“Hurry, get cleaned before Ryme wakes and gets mad. I heat up big, good meal!”
At the sound of all the noise downstairs, some of the other patrons come down the stairs.
“Hey hey, what’s going on down here? It’s getting a little noisy!” an elf chimed in.
“Niece and nephew finished first quest! We having party! They tell story after bath!”
“A party! Count us in. Woof!” A floppy-eared canian leading a small pack of his friends descended the stairs
“Hum? Did I hear you say your niece and nephew finished a quest? I would like to hear what kind of feat the family of the Mighty Jotuun accomplished! Let’s get us a strong ale to go with it!” Even the solitary orcs had come down to join them.
“Aye Aye!” the rest of the patrons chanted in unison, and soon the dining hall was very lively indeed.
As Diane came down the stairs after her bath, she was shocked to be received by such a large, warm group. She did her best to tell the story again, with everyone listening attentively. It fulfilled their desire for a sense of adventure to hear the story coming from such a young girl. It also filled them with a sense of awe and pride, as she was able to accomplish things that even they could not.
Diane and Thistleman did not get to sleep until very late that night.
Mr. Franz was desperately trying to hunt down the branch manager. Shortly after the kids left, Haraldr woke up. He confirmed Diane’s story. But it should have been impossible! An ten year old child, escaping from dire wolves and luring them into a giant hornet nest, slaughtering them, and getting away after? Such a thing had never been heard of before! The youngest noble to clear a giant hornet nest had been sixteen years old at the time, and he had a healer with him!
Mr. Franz had checked everywhere. Neither the branch manager nor the assistant manager were in their rooms, the lounge, the training area, or the pavilion, nor in any of the various offices off the hall. Finally, Franz found them on the highest patio in the building, looking out to the wilderness in the north.
“Ah, Mr. Franz, I was wondering when you would show up.”
“S-sir, were you waiting for me?”
“Hmmm? Yes, I believe you have a report for me.”
“How did you…?”
“It is of no concern. Please, continue.”
“Well, it is about Diane. I have confirmation that she may well have cleared an entire giant hornet nest, and also lured dire wolves into helping her do so, and subsequently escaped from them.”
“Hmmm, yes, and there is there something else you would like to ask?”
The branch manager’s apparent disinterest was really throwing Franz off.
“Well, I believe proper procedure would be to send someone to verify the report, no?”
“There is no need for that. Actually, that area has become exceedingly dangerous since she left. Diane is quite the lucky girl. Raise the threat category of Brownrock Mountain to Orichalium. Post it as a guild announcement. Ah, and about Diane, we will submit the final report to the guild file. There is no need for you to worry anymore about this.”
“Yes, you’re right. There is no more need for me to worry any more about this. Thank you for your time.”
Mr. Franz felt calm wash over him and he lost interest in pursuing the matter any further. He decided it would be best to continue to treat Diane and Thistleman as perfectly normal guild members.
“Was that the right thing to do?” The hooded assistant manager asked the branch manager after Franz had left.
“Undoubtedly. If she were to make such a huge wave upon first arriving here, it would bring the wrong kind of attention to Njord, don’t you agree?”
“Well, it is possible. Particularly in the higher ranked adventurers. They may try and seize an opportunity to claim Diane for themselves or their teams. But would that be wrong?”
“I believe that girl deserves some privacy, don’t you? We wouldn’t want her to be snatched away from our guild, now would we? You do want to make it to branch manager, right?”
“Well, true. Do you think she is the key to do it? I mean, I never expected you to make branch manager before me, but I am still too far from being qualified. Also, why did you place a restriction on Brownrock Mountain?”
“I always fulfill my end of the deal. As for Brownrock… well, let’s just say my intuition tells me something really nasty is moving in there. Ah, one last thing, since it would be too strange for us to do nothing here, we should upgrade Diane with the Special tag. It is usually given to individuals with notable potential, although lets avoid making a public declaration. We will also wait until she reaches an… appropriate age before allowing her to rank up.”
“I suppose you are right, as usual.”
The two hooded figures turned and went back into the guild. A powerful gust of wind snuffed out the torch as they walked through the doors into the guild hall.