While half of the guests were still trying to piece together what had just happened, Gilbert rushed to Anastacia. “Anna, what were you thinking?!” He yelled.
The necromancer stared at the ground, ashamed of her outburst. “I don’t know! He was being a dick, and I just got so angry and then there was chicken and… Am I going to get arrested?” She worried and grabbed Gilbert’s hand.
The old adventurer rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Maybe. The guild knows that these guys are assholes and won’t bother listening to him if he tries to report you, but you can’t just attack people because they piss you off.” He scolded the necromancer and dragged her to the counter.
Rosie had been quiet for the entire time but couldn’t hold her laughter anymore. She had to lean on the counter to not fall over before finally calming down a bit, though only to say a few words. “She almost killed a paladin… with chicken!” She said and lost it again.
The rest of the tavern began to slowly realize the hilarity of the situation and the laughter spread among the guests.
Gilbert slammed his hand on the counter. “Damnit, Rosie, get it together! The guards will be here any second now.” He said, trying to get the innkeeper to take the situation seriously. “I’ll go meet them outside, maybe I can talk them out of taking Anna with them. You take her to the kitchen.”
Rosie had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She took Anastacia to the back, sat her down and began to brew some coffee. The necromancer herself had pretty much only registered the words ‘the guards will be here any second now” and started to weep quietly. She feared that her stay in Valor would get cut short by the incident and she would get thrown out.
Soon enough, three guards arrived and met Gilbert outside. He managed to convince them that Anastacia wasn’t dangerous and two of the guards decided that they weren’t needed for the procedure and left to continue patrolling the streets. The third guard entered the inn, took his helmet off and started to take testimonies from the adventurers that had seen what happened. After writing down something, he headed to the kitchen and knocked on the doorframe before entering.
“Good day to you, ladies. As you probably guessed, I’m here about the… incident that happened a few minutes ago. I’d like to hear your side of the story, as the ‘victim’s’ version seemed more than a bit off to say the least.” He explained and put his halberd into the corner of the kitchen, possibly to seem less threatening.
Anastacia recognized the guard as the one who had greeted Gilbert and her by the gates when they first arrived at the city. “You’re not going to take me to jail or throw me out?” She asked and wiped her tears with her sleeve.
The guard looked at the papers in his hands. “I have it on multiple accounts, that the paladin had his weapon drawn and attacked you after you had politely warned him and asked him and his partner to leave. That would make this a pretty clear-cut case of self-defense. Is this true?” He asked, obviously knowing exactly how reliable and biased his witnesses were.
Anastacia was confused. “What? He didn-“ She started but Rosie silenced her before she could say anything stupid by covering her mouth with a fresh cinnamon roll. The innkeeper then forcibly made the necromancer nod before letting go.
The guard laughed. “I see! It appears that there’s no need to take you in then. You were obviously acting with your other guests’ safety in mind and had the situation in control.” He declared and signed the papers he had. “I would like to thank miss tigress for her assistance during this interrogation. I trust there’ll be a cold drink here with my name on it when I come back after my shift?” He hinted and started to strap his helmet back on.
Anastacia had eaten through the pastry and opened her mouth. “I can still become a citizen, right?” She worried.
“But of course you can. If anything, this will make you look resourceful. Now, if you excuse me, I have an asshole paladin to fine for frivolous accusations and threats.” He laughed, picked up his weapon and exchanged a few words with Gilbert before disappearing back outside.
The old adventurer stormed into the kitchen. “Do you have any idea how lucky you are?! Never, and I mean NEVER pull this shit again.” He scolded Anastacia before huffing and puffing his way upstairs to finally get some sleep.
While preparing for the lunch rush, Rosie and Anastacia went over what had happened. The innkeeper still thought it was funny but warned her against attacking anyone in the city again. Anastacia should just let the adventurers and Rosie handle the difficult customers – not that they were too common. Almost as soon as the situation had normalized, some of the more musically gifted guests came up with a song about the mighty chicken-mage of Valor.
As the lunch rush was dying down, Anastacia finally had the time to get some meatloaf for herself. Rosie gave her a clearly increased portion compared to the ones she had served earlier, but the necromancer didn’t mind since she had never had any before. As she was eating, she remembered the registration forms she was supposed fill whenever she got the chance.
The questions were fairly simple and didn’t go into too much detail: name, date of birth, marital status, possible relatives that were already citizens. Rosie pointed out that since there was no real way to check how accurate some of the answers were, she could just come up with a name and age she wanted to have – the tigress herself was registered as 26-year-old but in reality, was a few years older than that. The guild didn’t care about who the new citizens were or where they were from, all that mattered was that they behaved themselves and followed the few simple rules the city had about how the adventurers were supposed to conduct themselves during quests.
Stolen novel; please report.
Anastacia was tempted to change her family name, as it reminded her of the country she had escaped from. The Mournvalley line of necromancers were an ancient family, the first ones to settle the land where the royal castle now stood, and so took it upon themselves to call their tribe and the area with the same name. Even to this day, they held a position as one of the higher-ranking royals; making Anastacia effectively a princess of sorts. Yet after a while, when she couldn’t come up with a better name, she just left that part of the form blank.
While Anastacia was going through her answers one more time, Maximillian came over to the counter and leaned in to whisper. “Say, Anastacia of Mournvalley, you are not an average necromancer, are you? I’ve had dealings with a few of your kind, including some action, and they were frankly pathetic in comparison. I have always thought of necromancy as slow and rather useless in direct combat because of all the preparation it takes, but you have made me rethink this. Not only did you only need a second, you were able to use whatever bones were lying around.”
Anastacia was a bit uncomfortable that someone had realized her potential. She was supposed to avoid causing rumors about a strong necromancer appearing in Valor, just in case someone from Mournvalley wanted to come and get her back. “Then you haven’t seen anything. Do the others know?” She asked.
Maximillian smiled. “Ah, so that is how you would prefer things. Worry not, your secret is safe with me. I doubt anyone else has figured it out, it is rare to see necromancy in the first place, so I would not be surprised if most people thought of you as a mage.” He said and turned away to return to his table. “Oh, and Xamiliere sends her love.”
Anastacia looked over at the table Maximillian’s party was staying at. The spriggan was already staring at her and blew out a flying kiss as their eyes met briefly. The necromancer quickly looked down at her papers and acted like she didn’t notice.
As Anastacia finished her meal and took a quick break before starting to collect some of the empty dishes from the tables, Gilbert came back downstairs from his nap. Though it had only been a couple of hours, he didn’t want to mess up his sleeping cycle while he had to get Anastacia started on her new life as an adventurer. The nap had also helped with his mood a bit, and after briefly speaking with Rosie, he sat down next to the counter with two fresh coffees from the kitchen.
“Here, Anna. I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier. It’s just that you burned a lot of my favors for the guards with that stunt, but I have to admit, it was pretty funny now that I think about it.” He smiled and handed Anastacia one of the drinks. “Rosie tells me you’ve got your forms filled. We could head over to the offices to submit them now? She said she can handle the serving alone for a while now that the lunch crowd have been dealt with.”
Anastacia took the first sip of coffee in her life and immediately fell in love with the taste. It didn’t take long for her to gulp down the entire cup and get a refill from the kitchen, along with a couple of cookies. “This stuff is great.” She muttered and emptied the second cupful.
Anastacia was still confused about how Rosie managed to run the inn alone and checked on her again just to be sure that she could leave. After getting the all clear, she folded the forms into her pocket and made sure that she had the pearl with her when they left the inn.
The guild office of northern Valor wasn’t that far off from the inn, only about a five-minute walk along the main road from the market. On the way there, Gilbert made sure to point out any shops that sold gear that might fit Anastacia. She wasn’t the only small adventurer in the city, and so getting things like clothes wouldn’t require ordering and getting them made specifically to her, but armor would often have to be at the very least adjusted for the wearer, no matter the size.
The guild office itself was more like a castle, surrounded by a smaller wall and a moat, and only accessible by a drawbridge. Inside its walls were what seemed like hundreds of adventurers, looking for a party to tag along with, leaving for or returning from a quest, or some other official business that couldn’t be done with the guards. The lobby was equally full of people, though forming orderly lines that ended at counters labeled based on the specific service they provided. Luckily the one that had an ‘Applications’ sign over it was free at the time.
Behind a large pane of glass was a man wearing a neat purple uniform, slightly similar to the ones guards wore under their armor though much more fancy and with the golden crest of the guild sewn on the both shoulders. The most noteworthy thing about the clerk however, was the red crystalline horn on his forehead. He noticed the necromancer folding out her forms and spoke up. “Young lady, are you here to apply for a citizenship, if so, could I see your paperwork?” He asked politely, though in a weirdly monotone manner.
Anastacia handed over the papers though a slot in the glass.
The clerk straightened them and began going through the questions. “Thank you. Let’s see… Anastacia… fifteen years old…” He muttered and took a glance at the necromancer. “Could be, I suppose. No relatives in Valor… If I may pry slightly, have you come here to be an adventurer?” He asked.
Anastacia worried that she had filled out something incorrectly. “Yes… Is there a problem with the answers?”
“No no, I was simply curious of your abilities. Clearly you are not a warrior of any kind, but perhaps a mage or a scholar?” The clerk asked and placed the forms into a folder next to him.
“I’m a necromancer.” Anastacia admitted.
The clerk squinted and took a better look at her. “Is that so… That would make you the only one we currently have in our employ. Your kind gathered to Mournvalley ages ago and never returned. I trust the guards have explained the rules specific to necromancers to you?” He asked.
Anastacia nodded.
“Very good. All we need now is for you to place the pearl you were given into this stand here.” the guild official explained and gestured towards a small stone cylinder on the counter.
The necromancer took out the glass ball and slotted it into the small hole on top of the stand. Suddenly the pearl began to glow red, as if it was being heated, and then dimmed down. This repeated three times before it began glowing white instead.
“There we are. Anastacia of Valor, you are now a citizen of our city. Serve it well and it will serve you likewise.” The clerk said and bowed grandly. “The gentleman behind you can no doubt fill you in on the details of accepting quests, so please remove your pearl from the stand and move away from the counter.”
They thanked the clerk and moved along to allow the people behind them to submit their forms. Gilbert grabbed Anastacia’s hand and pulled her through the crowd to a large board with hundreds of notices on it.
“Are these quests?! Can we pick one?! I want to hunt a troll or clear a bandit hideout or something!” The necromancer asked excitedly and began going through the notices.
“These are just the simple ones, for people who are just starting out or don’t have a party yet.” Gilbert explained. “I’m not going to take you anywhere near bandits or trolls before you get some gear and I get to see what you can do.” After a bit of searching, he took one of the notices. “This seems fine. ‘Find and hunt down the deer that are trampling my fields.’ It pays pretty well and is nearby, so how about we give it a shot tomorrow?”
Anastacia stared at the old adventurer with an expression that could only be described as bored enough to be disgusted. “Sure. Fine. Whatever.” She sighed and rolled her eyes.