Present – Shadow Wolf Guild.

Inside an office, seated at his desk, was a man who carried the title—one so heavy not many would shoulder its weight—of guild leader. The window behind him shone hard light in, engulfing him in solid shadow that hid his expression.

Trisha, the guild receptionist, felt uneasy as she stood before him.

‘Do you know why I summoned you here?’ he asked, voice echoed throughout, pressuring Trisha from all around.

She glanced down. ‘I could only assume that your summoning is because of the incident the other day. One that I believe I have handled correctly.’

‘You have. If that was a normal incident.’

‘That was a normal incident. Someone came in and picked a fight with one of the members. It’s not the first time that has happened.’

‘You fail to see that the person who picked the fight was a manaless.’

‘Why is a manaless such a big deal? That’s what I fail to see.’

And then silence followed. A deafening one.

She glanced up. Looked at his face, tried to get a read on him, but there was no point. All she could see was a void, a sight that she doubted would change without the shadow. Trisha felt regret.

The leader stood up.

‘Latla Altaveli is the key for expanding my guild.’ His steps made solid knocks on the floor as he approached her. ‘A manaless with a grand aspiration. She’s a hero material that everyone can root for.

‘Her presence can bring Shadow Wolf into the spotlight, gaining me valuable recognition that can bring my guild to the top.’ He extended his hand and took her chin. His fingers were gentle, but cold to the touch. ‘Do you understand?’

Despite being this close, she still couldn’t see his face. Trisha’s eyes welled with tears.

She brushed his hand aside.

‘No, I don’t understand,’ she answered. ‘Latla Altaveli picked a fight and defeated one of us. Yet, you want to invite her as our member. How would people feel about that? Inviting an enemy to join us for your goal? Are you so heartless that you don’t even care about your own guild members?’

‘Members can always be replaced, Trisha.’ No hesitation in his response. ‘The next time you see Latla Altaveli, I expect you to invite her into Shadow Wolf. Give her an offer that she can’t refuse. Is that clear?’

‘Yes.’ Trisha gave a rebellious stare. ‘But I refuse.’

Having said that, she turned and left the office, closing the door with a violent slam. Outside, in the hallway, she rested her back on a wall and slid down to a crouch. There, she sobbed.

***

The Leader.

Having been left by her, he stood still in the darkness.

For a moment he was unmoving, and after another moment he returned to his desk. His belief remained firm: members could be replaced, she could too.

However, instead of focusing on a trivial matter, he shifted his attention back to the manaless. According to the written report on his desk, Latla Altaveli, having been rejected by Shadow Wolf, was creating her own guild. From that knowledge, he could tell that she was serious about chasing what she wanted.

‘A manaless who wants to become the greatest mage in all existence…’

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

***

Latla.

‘It’s you!’

Latla blinked. She had opened the café’s front door with her shoulder—for her hands were occupied from carrying stack of papers—and saw a boy pointing his finger at her. She found his presence unexpected and his familiarity confusing. Had she met him before? Also, was that a cat on his head?

‘Syr,’ Scarlet called. ‘You shouldn’t point at other people and call them “you”.’ She put down her cleaning rag on the rim of a bucket and walked toward them. ‘Sorry about my brother.’

‘It’s alright. I was just surprised to see someone else here. I didn’t know you were bringing your brother along.’

‘Sorry about that too. I didn’t realize that he had followed me here. All because he can’t believe that his sister has gotten a job.’

‘I have to check if you’ve gotten a proper job!’ he said. ‘Even Noir agrees that it’s suspicious that someone would give you a job. Right, Noir?’

‘Meow.’

‘See?’

The exchange between him and the cat was another surprise for Latla. One that made her chuckle.

‘He does that. Noir speaks whatever Syr wants her to.’

‘That’s convenient,’ Latla remarked. She closed the door with her heel and finally took a good look at the café. The dust which had plagued the place was mostly gone and every spot—save for a few that were difficult to reach—were clean.

The day before, after a knowledge and background check—followed by a long discussion of what the job demanded and possible issues, Latla had hired Scarlet for the job. Formally, her position was as a guild receptionist, but since the café had yet to become a guild, she was more of a helper for now. Hence, why she was cleaning the place.

‘I see that you’ve made good progress,’ Latla said.

‘The cleaning equipment from the storage room is really good.’ There was a hint of excitement in her tone. ‘Not to mention, Syr has been helping me. Syr, you should introduce yourself to her.’

‘Cirrus Solis!’ he said. ‘You can call me Syr! Nice to know you, miss!’

‘Latla Altaveli. You can call me Latla. Likewise, Syr.’ Latla stepped further into the café. ‘Syr, did you help with cleaning?’

‘A little!’

‘A lot,’ Scarlet corrected. ‘He cleaned the cellar until it was sparkling clean somehow. So quickly too.’

‘The cellar was Noir’s work!’

‘Yes, yes.’ Scarlet smiled. ‘The cat cleaned the cellar with her paws. Surely.’

Him helping around shouldn’t count as child labor, I hope, Latla worried as she placed the stack of paper on a table. It’s more of a chore than a job. Latla glanced at Cirrus. Would be unfair if I don’t acknowledge his help. She picked out her wallet and pulled out a single note. ‘Syr,’ she called, he approached. ‘Here,’ she handed him 5 krestling, ‘for your efforts. It’s a one-time thing and more of a reward than transaction, understand?’ She made sure that last part was clear because she wouldn’t want people to misunderstand that she encouraged child labor.

The boy, Cirrus, beamed as he saw the note in his hand. He was very happy about it. ‘Thanks a lot, Latla!’

‘It’s a one-time thing, understand?’ Latla repeated.

‘Look, Noir, look!’ He was jumping around, so happy that he didn’t hear her.

For Latla, 5 krestling was an amount that she could easily let go; but, for Cirrus, 5 krestling seemed to be an amount that overjoyed him. Good for him.

‘I’ll make sure that he understands,’ Scarlet assured with a smile. ‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t mention it; it’s only fair. Anyway, I recall there’s a wide standing board here? The one where menus are pinned.’

‘It’s near the counter. Do you need it?’

‘Yes. Can you bring it here? Along with the pins?’

‘I’ll be right back.’ Off Scarlet went.

Whilst waiting, Latla glanced at the stack of paper she had placed on the table. It was one of the four requirements needed for guild creation: Quests.

***

Latla, Scarlet, and Cirrus, having pinned all the paper on the board, stepped back and looked at them in full view.

‘These are the quests?’ Scarlet asked.

‘Yes,’ Latla answered. On the board were wanted posters, arranged left to right from lowest to highest bounty. While herb collection and monster extermination quests were difficult to attain due to regulations, bounty hunting quests were as easy to attain as buying a cheap catalogue. Not to mention, aside from the difficulty of the quest: tracking; hunting; and capturing, the reward for bounty hunting was easy to process. As simple as handing the criminals over and getting the money and achievement. ‘This will suffice for now.’

Place and Quests are already handled, Latla thought. What’s left of the requirements are Members and Approval. But before I can get to that, there’s something I have to address.

‘Ideally, Scarlet, I’ll work on gaining Approval and you work on gaining Members. But that would be unrealistic.’

‘Why is it unrealistic?’

‘Because I’m running thin on money. Progressing further would be impossible if that doesn’t change.’ Without money, she wouldn’t be able to pay for guild advertisement nor registration fee. The former important for Members, the latter important for Approval.

‘Does this mean you’re not getting paid?’ Cirrus asked Scarlet.

‘No. My wage was paid upfront yesterday. Latla, are you going to bounty hunt for money?’

‘I’d like to. But bounty hunting relies a great deal on luck when I can’t buy information, so I can’t depend on that.’

‘How are you going to get money then?’ asked Cirrus, curious.

‘Khiva has an annual bazaar that starts tomorrow,’ Latla answered. It was a trade event where lots of things would be sold and bought. ‘There, I’ll make money with a method I like most: I’ll buy 10 krestling for 1 krestling.’