“This… this is just… highway robbery!” Diane exclaimed to Thistleman.
She was furious. The registration fee was an absolute outrage. Thirty-five silver coins. Thirty-five!
“Everything we just made, poof, gone! Just like that, and I might not even get an adventurer’s card? And… AND! Another five silver to register you as my porter? I wish I asked Hal more about his time as an adventurer. If it seemed like I was going to get scammed, he would definitely have known what to do!”
Furious? Understatement. The way her whole body was shaking, you would think her blood was boiling.
“ I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS INJUSTICE! JUST YOU WAIT!!!”
My lips were sealed! Just nod and agree. It was all those damn assholes’ fault that she was so angry. If only I was allowed to, I would have burned them alive, resurrected them, crucified them, and then burned them again for making me suffer through this indignity.
The doors to the examination room opened and a tall, slender man with brown hair, glasses, and a checkered vest entered the waiting room. He pushed his glasses back up his nose with his finger, before announcing, “Diane Culaine, you may enter now.”
“About time! Thistleman, wait for me here. I will come get you when I get my guild card.”
What was appropriate to say here? Surely it would be fine to go with an old daemonic line from back in the day.
“May you feast on the hearts of your enemies before their swords pierce you in the back!”
Perfectly delivered! And with a massive smile to boot!
The color drained from the proctor’s face and Diane’s back stiffened for a moment.
“Ahem, ah, right this way Diane.”
The proctor looked between Diane and myself again. A strange feeling overcame him that today would certainly be an unusual day, and probably not in a good way.
The inside of the exam room was mostly empty except for three seats, two of which were occupied by a man and a woman. The man had a greying beard and bald head. A complete set of black full-plate armor with golden trimmings covering most of his body and a golden plate hung from a necklace. He projected a fierce attitude. The woman beside him was no less impressive, in spite of wearing only furs, as she held a massive battle-axe in one hand. She was clearly quite young, though her physique was impressive.
In the center of the room was a pedestal with eight small mana stones surrounding a blue rune tablet in the middle. Numerous circles, glyphs, and inscriptions covered the pedestal.
“Diane, please approach the pedestal. First, a small drop of your blood onto the tablet. Then, you will concentrate your mana on the array.”
The proctor produced a small knife for Diane. She approached the pedestal, and enjoyed the shocked look of the proctor when she snatched the knife out of his hand without missing a beat.
“You want to see what I am made of? Well then, let us take a look!”
She flashed a grin as she made a larger-than-necessary cut across her hand, slightly suppressing a wince as she did so. Her blood dripped onto the rune and the inscriptions began to glow. She placed her hand on the side of the pedestal and started to focus her mana.
A mix of red and black auras began to fill the crystals, followed by an almost imperceptible flash of gold. Then, the glyphs began rearranging themselves with a fervor that enraptured her audience.
In the other room, Thistleman blinked. He had just felt something… strange.
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Diane tapped her feet impatiently as the proctor stared at the rune plate.
“Well, what does it say? Do I have the potential or not?”
“Well… it appears like there is no issue with your potential,” the armored man said.
“Certainly seems that way to me. So, which of us will observe the aptitude exam?” The woman asked.
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“Neither of you, since I am the assigned proctor and you only came to observe. I’ve humored you this far because of your rank, but if you insist any further, I will kick you out. You do understand I can easily do that, right Sven? Right, Terra? I will not have you wreck the room again arguing over who will observe the test.” As he turned away from them, the glint of a mythril plate shone out from under his vest.
“This is not fair, you always get the interesting ones!” Sven cried. “Come on Ye, at least let one of us watch!”
With surprising speed, he struck them both on the back of the head, knocking them unconscious.
“Alright Diane, this way to the aptitude exam. I have arranged for an iron plate adventurer to be your sparring opponent. I will be examining your abilities so feel free to go all out in this portion. I will intervene before you can get seriously hurt.”
After they left the room, a pair of hooded individuals entered and removed the rune tablet, one glancing around furtively as much as the other strode assertively.
“Have you seen potential and abilities like these before?” The furtive man asked.
“Only for some of them, Eric.” The other man replied simply.
“Are you sure she was a cripple?” Eric continued.
“I don’t doubt our information network. She is indeed the daughter of the Culaine family. Plus, we watched the entire time. She clearly did not manipulate the exam.”
“Some of this information… it is in a language I have not seen before. It feels ominous.” Eric peered closely at the rune tablet, lifting his hood slightly to take a better look, the glow slightly illuminating his thin cheeks.
“It is probably an error. I have heard that can happen on very rare occasions.” The other man assured him.
“Well, what should we do about it?”
“Clear it off. Only include relevant information for our records and the letter grade for her guild card.”
“Her guild card? But she hasn’t—”
“I am certain she will pass the exam. I look forward to watching it. Have Elsie prepare the welcome information as well. Our receptionists and attendants need to learn to have better attentiveness and insight for any of our current and potential members.”
The man paused as he turned to leave. “And Eric, we will need to work quite a bit harder very soon here. The world you know…” He trailed off for a moment, then continued. “No, it’s not of import yet.”
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Diane followed Ye as they entered the courtyard behind the guild hall. In the center was a large open pavilion with a wooden floor. Surrounding the pavilion were various small gardens and fountains, as well as training dummies and the staff quarters.
Numerous talismans had been hung around the pavilion.
“These talismans are for reinforcement and repair of the pavilion. Due to the nature of testing new adventurers, and the sometimes… explosive confrontations, we found it much more cost effective to invest in a fully enchanted pavilion rather than having it rebuilt every time.”
“Oi, Ye, did you bring your kid here to watch the exam? Wasn’t my opponent supposed to be with you instead?”
A tall, lanky man with short black hair, brown eyes, and a red bandana around his head yelled out to them. He was wearing decent chain armor with leather pants, fur boots, and he wielded a halberd.
A blood vessel throbbed slightly on Diane’s forehead. “I’m right here! You… your attitude is terrible. You are definitely not worthy to face me!”
“Yup, she is right. You are definitely terrible.”
“You tell him, Thistleman!” Diane did a double take. “Wait, what are you doing there?!”
Sitting on the branch of a tree with a particularly nice view of the pavilion, Thistleman grinned as he waved at them
“Me? Can’t you tell? I am sitting.”
Ye sighed before turning to the armored man. “Don’t worry about it, Percival. He is signed up to become Diane’s porter if she passes, so there is no need to worry if he watches.”
“It’s fine,” Diane said. “He can sit there. But make sure you cheer your best for me, got it?”
“YOU GOT IT MISS DIANE! YOU’RE THE BEST! CRUSH HIM GOOD!” Thistleman started cheering and waving a small branch like a little flag.
Percival stood in the center of the pavilion, his eyebrow twitching violently.
Diane entered the pavilion and drew her rapier.
“You are to fight to your maximum ability,” the proctor said. “The match will continue until I feel I have fully assessed your abilities, or if you are knocked unconscious. Ready? Begin!”
Diane felt a surge of energy filling her chest. She was feeling far more motivated now that Thistleman was watching. She launched herself at Percival, a fireball beginning to form in her left hand and a smile breaking out on her face.
Percival watched her come at him, noticing that her red aura was shot through with black. He jumped to the side as an orb of flames surging past him.
“What a foolish move, burning your trump card like tha—”
“Fireball!”
He rolled out of the way of a second fireball. What the hell was going on? All her energy should have been spent on the first fireball. Even after two, he could see that her mana wasn’t diminished. But he didn’t have time to think about what any of this meant as Diane was already upon him. Percival dodged and deflected the rapid strikes of her rapier. He swung low with his halberd to force her to jump back, giving him more room to unleash a combo.
“Gravity Strike!”
His blade hit the ground and a shockwave erupted. However, Diane dodged out of the way and sprinted up the shaft of his halberd.
“Shit!”
She lunged, her rapier aiming straight for his neck. Percival let go of his halberd and threw his right fist as hard as he could.
“Goron Strike!”
Red hot energy emanated from his fist as he aimed for Diane’s belly. At least, that was what he planned before he and Diane were flung away from each other. In their midst stood Ye, wearing black gloves, his open palms facing each of them.
“That is enough. This fight is over. Diane, you qualify to become an adventurer. Please go see Elsie up in the front. Percival, come with me. Now.”
“Woohoo! Go Diane! You did it! Way to qualify! You’re the best!”
She couldn’t wait for the day to be over, but she still had to finish up business here and they still had to find a place to stay. But at the very least, she figured she could close her eyes for a moment before finishing up business.