Chapter Fifty
A day later we arrived in Johatsu, returned to the guild, and found Sami right where we left her, reading a book at her desk while the smell of alcohol and sweat permeated the guild hall.
She saw us enter, and our serious expressions that said, ‘We need to do this in private’ without uttering a word, and from there, I let Loysa do the talking.
It was hard to believe it all, hearing it out loud, hearing the things I…I had done. The golems, the swindling thing that almost killed Dwarguy, the undead city, and the discovery of sabotage.
“...So that’s everything, Sami.” Loysa said as she made her report. “The undead city is taken care of, the gate repaired, and I’m sure you got the notice about the ‘emergency quest’ as well, saving perhaps two dozen lives or more. In my estimation, Aiko Tsuniki is more than adequately prepared for the life of an adventurer.”
“That’s what I figured.” Sami said with a quirky little smile on her face as she logged the whole story.
“I’ll make sure to get word to the royal authorities about the sabotage attempt, but you’d all do well to forget about that and let the Guild handle any questions.” She was looking squarely at myself and Tess, until we both gave nods of acceptance, however reluctant. “And will you also submit the same evaluation for Tes’alay Nika?” She asked, “Just for the record, of course.” The little gnome woman flashed a confident smile in the direction of the elf woman and our human cleric.
“Yes. Appointment to one tooth is justified for her under the circumstances.” Loysa confirmed, and then gestured toward the door that would put us in the common area of the guild.
No sooner had the door clicked shut and separated the four of us from her again than she went straight to her register again, took my slate, did her job, then announced clear as a bell for all to hear…
“Alright then. It’s done.” Sami’s voice was loud enough to draw a few distracted eyes as she handed my slate back. “Between the quest you undertook and the emergency action you were involved in at the arena, you’ve actually not only gained certification for your first tooth, but enough to make you a third tooth ranked adventurer. And at my discretion,” she said with a cocky look up at me, “I will authorize you to go on quests calling for sixth tooth or lower. Your skills and your earnings are out of alignment, this will help you match them up faster.”
“Thank you!” I cried out with disbelief at the unexpected offer. My hands clapped together like an excited little kid finding birthday presents on the table, and Sami Smain simply kept that cocky smirk on her face while she went on.
“Don’t thank me, you earned it.” She pointed at my slate, “Check your status, the first tooth has a rank of a single cred, gathering ingredients or doing a quick repair is usually worth a few hundred. It’s kind of a gimmie, just do one quest and that rank is yours. To get the second tooth you need five thousand creds earned for the guild, not for yourself. To get a third tooth you need to bring the guild twenty thousand creds. That takes years of work, and you did it in a comparatively short period of time, what’s it been, two weeks?” She snorted and shook her head, drumming her fingers on her book while she appraised our work, “I daresay you’ll have quite a reputation around this and many other guilds in very short order when word of that gets out.” Sami chuckled, “I don’t know if I envy you for that or not.”
“I also understand that you wanted to form your own party.” She said, and tapped her slate. “Now that you’re a certified adventurer, and I’ve already taken the liberty, after your ‘emergency quest’ to register you as the lead member of the group ‘Wandering Time’. I trust there are no problems with that?” Sami asked rhetorically as the designation slowly faded into view on my slate.
“No!” I said with a joyful smile on my face.
“Good. Now with that out of the way, I know I don't envy you for this.” She said, and slid a contract over to me. “This came from Yorgim Schnee. It’s for your party and you. I read over it, and it is hard as iron. You could refuse to sign it, but I understand, based on the letter that went with it, that he already undertook actions in good faith toward your signature. If that’s true, it would be a horrible black mark on the Guild and on you to refuse to sign it now. He could make it a lot harder for us to operate if he wanted to.”
Sami’s face darkened, “But if he’s lying, just say so and I’ll burn that paper right now.”
I felt their eyes all fall on me. “It’s…true. Unfortunately.” I admitted.
She held out a quill, and I signed it a moment later. She then laid it face down on her slate to record it. How the machinery of bureaucracy worked in this world, I didn’t know, but I got the feeling it wouldn’t be long before he knew he had my signature.
“There’s also the matter of the golems.” Sami said, and my mouth dropped open.
“Already?!” My voice went a few octaves higher.
“Official bird messages can get notices most places in a day. You did a lot of damage, and because you weren’t a certified guild member, I’m afraid you’ll have to pay for it. They’d locked themselves away from the world, you opened them back up to it. The liability is on you, I’m afraid.” Sami explained, “Unless you have some mitigating evidence we can use to fight this…please sign for the cost of repairs.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat as she slid a piece of paper over to me. I signed, and when it was placed on top of her slate, then mine, the white plate flashed, and I reflexively went to check my cred balance.
‘...And now I’m poor. Marvelous job, Aiko. Marvelous job.’ I held back the groan as a taste of the old world invaded the new, and then tried to focus on the positives.
But it was hard, because now came the inevitable goodbyes.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
I turned to face the trio, I couldn’t look at them without thinking of everything we’d gone through in this brief time we’d known one another.
Would I ever see Dwarguy’s mech take up a combat posture and hear the courage in his voice?
Could I ever properly thank Loysa for saving my life, or for looking after my ignorant self when I first started this new life?
Would I ever get to do a sing along at a bar with a happy and drunken Tes’alay, or see her crazy inventions continue to get crazier?
I hated goodbyes in the old world, so much so that in a way I ordered my life so that I didn’t have to say them.
Now it was one of the first things I had to do in the new world? My heart ached enough that I closed my fist over my chest as if that could make it feel better, my ears and tails both drooped, and I addressed my team. Sami, I could see out of the corner of my eye, was busy scribbling on her ledger, no help there…
I gathered what courage I had, and tried to rip the bandaid off, give them their excuse to go when I couldn’t ask them to stay, and to show what thankfulness I could.
“So, there it is. Now I’m ‘officially’ owing Yorgim Schnee…Utu knows what. And on top of that, even after dividing the rewards, I’m poor.” I said and clutched my slate all the harder. “Of course, now that my first quest is finished, if you all want to go, you can go. You’ve done everything I asked of you, and more.” I said, and Loysa put her hand out on my shoulder.
My first ‘cleric’ was quiet, almost gentle when she spoke, “Yes, you’re free to form your own party, your way. How you want, and to dismiss us if you want.” She paused, then said, “Whatever you do, you’ll do great. I know it.” Her encouragement meant a great deal to me right then. More than I’m sure even she could have known, perhaps that was why I gained the confidence to keep talking, to make one desperate attempt at the unlikely.
“I like to think so. I’ll certainly try. However, it will be hard to bring people into a party with me. The novices will hesitate because of…everything, from the debt with Yorgim to even the idea of doing higher ranked quests. The higher rankers might hesitate with someone so new, even if I didn’t owe that guy.” I said, and it was hard not to just throw my hands up in the air at the sheer monumental weight of that task.
“Yer right, lassy, they’d ‘ave to be quite daft or reckless.” Dwarguy agreed.
“Or desperately short of money. And have very difficult tasks on hand that they’ll need help with.” Tess agreed.
“Or with literally nothing else to do.” Loysa added.
I was reticent, I recalled the words of Kuduru when Loysa guided me to the altar. Her words, cautioning me to treat her followers with care, it felt like they were referring to this exact moment.
In my old life I had no religion, no faith, and not really any ‘friends’ to speak of to place faith in. But if I was right, if that was what I had now? If ever you’re going to take a leap of faith, it should be with friends. So…I took it.
I rubbed the back of my head and began to wag my tail. “Of course. I’m not going to be picky, I can’t really afford to be.” I said, and stepped backward from them, over to the counter, “I don’t know how much luck I’ll have finding a reckless cleric willing to take risks on a foolish dreamer eager to see the world.” I turned toward Sami and said, “Please put up the notice that Aiko Tsuniki, third tooth ranked adventurer is looking for members to form the party ‘Wandering Time’. Deep in debt with a brutal industrialist of not at all dubious reputation, the reckless leader promises shenanigans extraordinaire and… not really much else. Prerequisites are an experienced mech pilot, must be a dwarf with adventuring experience. A human cleric who follows Kuduru. And a mad genius who can’t get a spell right to literally save her life. Also she has to be deep in debt to Undercity dwarves.”
Sami, it seemed, had already prepared the paper, probably from the day she got the record of my ‘emergency quest’ and the notice from Yorgim.
She slapped the paper down with audible force.
“Oh, what’s this, a new party?” Dwarguy asked, “Ah been thinkin about get’n back into the game again. ‘Bout time ah started see’n sites other’n sand.” He approached and yanking up the quill before Sami could even set it down, he scrawled his name across the second line from the top.
“Ye saved me life, lassy, ah figure that’s worth a few quests’n one. Besides, I can still go handle business in the arenas when ah need to.” He said with a huff and slapped my back hard enough to stagger me a few steps from the window where Sami sat with a smug look seemingly still painted on her face.
I grunted, grinned, and rubbed the spot that would likely be sore later.
“I’m broke. I can do my experiments on the go, and there’s a good chance I’ll find new things in these shenanigans you’re promising. Besides, I’m a registered one tooth now, it’s only sensible that I use my genius to raise my status and gain new knowledge. That’s just practical. Plus, it seems I do fit the requirements.” Tess said and stepped up after Dwarguy to scribble her name just below his own. Her pride on clear display, she nonetheless winked at me while she said it, before getting out of the way.
Loysa looked at me, and I could only hope that I understood her Goddess’s words the way I thought I did. I almost choked on my own breath before I got out what I wanted to say. “You don’t have to. You’ve done plenty for me, but… I can’t imagine any priestess replacing you. But if I’m too much of a burden, I understand. I can’t ask you to share my-”
Loysa reached out and put one finger over my lips. “Aiko,” she said, “hush.”
She then snatched the quill away as Sami Smain held it out and shook it like she was wagging a knowing finger and saying, ‘I told you so.’
The priestess of Kuduru scrawled her name across the top line, just below my own, then dropped the quill back in its inkwell again.
She then said with a serious and stern expression, “With an agent of chaos and a battle junkie dwarf, along with a reckless kitsune tinker who will make Goddess knows kind of trouble if left unsupervised, there’s only one kind of priestess that is fit to keep an eye on all of you. One of thievery and mischief.” She crossed her arms as if daring anyone to argue.
“It looks like the registration is complete.” I said to the receptionist and slid the sheet back to her. But Sami didn’t take it up right way.
When she didn’t, Loysa demanded, “Aren’t you going to put it in the ledger?”
Sami looked up from her seat, “I did that while I was writing down the record of your actions. ‘Wandering Time’ and its fellowship of four has been ‘official’ for the last hour and a half ‘ish’.” She rested her chin in her hand and propped her head up with elbow on the countertop. Her other hand pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, “By now, you should know better than to even ask, Loysa.”
“Y-” Loysa’s eyes briefly widened as she started to speak, then stopped. The silence lingered for only a few seconds before she said a quiet. “Thank you.”
“Naturally.” Sami answered, and then after putting away the registration form listing our party members, she went back to reading her book.
“So,” Loysa turned her attention back to me, “what next, boss?”
I went straight to the board and set my party at my back. “Now? Now we go on an adventure!”
And that’s how it began. How I got my team, my friends, my debt, my new life in a new world. I didn’t know what lay ahead, which was a whole lot different than my old life, and I thought, a whole lot better.