We walked into the Guild, the goblins proudly displaying their full bags, flung across their muscular but thankfully clothed backs. Dob and Lob did their wave which appeared to have become a necessary ritual. Melissa smiled brightly at the goblins' antics, waving back excitedly.
I wonder why Melissa treats Dob and Lob so well? Maybe because they're rather stout and look kind of cute when you can't see their green skin. Although some people might like that... eww get that out of my head.
We got up to the smooth polished wooden counter, still sporting the floating sign, as arrogant as ever.
Stupid floating sign looking down on us Grounders.
Melissa smiled even wider at our proximity.
"Hello, James and Bobs. It's so nice to see you guys!"
Dob and Lob started jumping up and down excitedly, causing some eyes to glance over in our direction and some lips to be upturned at the wholesome scene.
Melissa giggled at the Bobs.
"So did you guys complete your missions?"
The goblins stopped their jumping and eager to get more praise they quickly swung the bags off their backs and presented them to Melissa proudly. They seemed to be competing over Melissa's praise however I had a feeling Melissa had calculated that having two cute tiny things was better than having one cute tiny thing be annoyed and another happier than before.
"Yay! You guys did it!", Melissa said, taking care to equally split the praise between the two goblins.
I wonder what Melissa would think if she knew they were goblins? Ah, I can't ruin her joy like that. I'll just keep it a secret.
"So Melissa. How do the rewards and stuff get distributed?"
Melissa stopped her praising of Dob and Lob for a second to look over at me.
"What do you mean? They completed the mission so obviously, they get the rewards. It's not like you're in a Party or something", Melissa chortled.
My face scrunched up.
"A Party?"
"Yes, a Party. Do you not know what a Party is?"
"Of course not! You didn't tell me!"
Melissa blushed in embarrassment.
"Oh. Well, there was a line at the time and I was pressured. It must've just slipped my mind due to that."
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Very obvious deflection Melissa but I'll let it slide...
"Well can you tell me about it now?"
Melissa looked behind me at the nonexistent line with hopeful eyes.
I guess she doesn't like explaining stuff that much. I get that but I mean it's her job.
Melissa sighed as no one entered to give her an escape.
"Fine. The Party system is when you and some other Guild members form a group. A Party can have as many people as you want. The way it works is that the leader of the Party gets all the mission credits and money from the missions but has to pay a salary to the Party members. The leader can choose the salary but if you make it too low no one will join your party. The Party members can go on missions that are at the leader's Guild rank since they don't earn as many Mission credits since in most cases the leader takes all the credits and in return gives the Party members a higher monetary salary."
My eyes lit up.
Couldn't I send my goblins on missions and get the credits as well as the money and then I can just set the salary as nothing? That would be fantastic!
"Hey, Melissa could I theoretically set the salary to nothing?"
Melissa frowned.
"Well I mean technically but who's going to join your party if they get nothing out of it?"
I glanced at the Bobs' not so subtly and Melissa noticed my pointed gaze and the greed in my eyes.
"Don't tell me you're gonna use these cute things as your slaves?", Melissa said, aghast.
"They're not cute and yes I am. I'd like to form a party with them if you don't mind."
"Are you guys okay with this? You'll get literally nothing from being in a party with James here.", Melissa asked the goblins, hoping they'd say no.
Dob and Lob, being as friendly as always just smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
"Fineeee you dictator".
Melissa pointed an annoyed gaze at me as she begrudgingly took out the same device she'd used to make our Guild cards.
My face stiffened as I saw her take out her needle, I wasn't scared of the needle but rather what she might do this time.
Is she gonna ask to marry me this time?
Subverting my expectations Melissa didn't do any tomfoolery this time around and just pricked me and the goblins' fingers before letting it drip onto the device. The device made a beeping noise and Melissa started pressing lots of the buttons that were on the device. She finished typing a bit later and I felt my Guild card vibrate in my pocket.
When I took it out to investigate the untimely vibration I noticed that it now showed I was the leader of a party that included two people named Bob. I chuckled to myself at there being two Bobs in my party. I looked at Melissa somewhat expectantly.
"So can we turn in our missions now?"
"Yeah yeah calm down. Fine."
Melissa took the bags the goblins had placed on the counter and gazed at my two minions happily.
"Congratulations on completing your first mission, you two!"
Dob and Lob cheered in celebration, high-fiving each other once more.
"So that'll be 12 Copper and 10 Mission credits."
Melissa handed me 12 Copper as a notification appeared in my vision.
[Gained 10 Guild Credits]
[Credits: 15/100]
"Woo! I'm almost to the next rank!"
"Yeah keep telling yourself that", Melissa snorted.
I decided that I should leave as it was getting closer to the time that I usually went to sleep and I didn't want to mess up my circadian rhythm.
Stupid Life Education classes still annoying me here. That class was informative in some ways but I feel like I could've just been given a list of bullet points or something. Most of it seemed like common sense. I mean don't do drugs, is not exactly a hard rule to follow.
Stopping my thought process before I spiraled into a self-run therapy session I said bye to Melissa and walked out the Guild door. Dob and Lob trailed behind me like usual. I got back to the Big Keg Inn in time for dinner and I was ravenous so I had a big meal before heading off to bed, I almost took down an entire chicken.