As soon as the skill tree was locked in, Akemi tried the spell. “Knife fingers,” she whispered impatiently, already clawing at the net with her useless, unsharpened flesh. Seconds passed with no transformation. She tried the spell again, and a notification appeared.

Class choice processing… Class Accountant requires manual approval. Please wait.

“I’m sorry, manual approval? This thing can’t be serious,” she growled, gripping the rope and tugging at it like a caged animal. “This world has literal magic and some guy still needs to manually sort through job applications?”

“Keep it down, villain,” her captor said gruffly. “We’re about to enter the Great Hall of Kyndra. Disrespect will be met with fierce and immediate punishment.”

“Worse punishment than being your personal backpack? I doubt it.”

They were close enough now to the Great Hall that Akemi had a full view of the yard they had just crossed over. It was a full field, the size of multiple tennis courts, blooming with green grass and wildflowers, and crowded with obnoxious hero types. They were sitting around campfires, playing flutes and violins and dancing the polka, practicing spells and swordplay. Guild members, Akemi guessed. They were all wearing the same color: muddy, heroic brown.

Gio pushed open the door to the hall and they walked inside. The interior was as bright as the surrounding yard, light streaming in through stained glass windows. The halls bustled with leather clad archers, mages with thick robes that dragged along the floor behind them.

They carried Akemi down a central hallway, then splintered off into a smaller, more intimate chamber. The chamber was circular and dim, lit by torchlight. Akemi squirmed in her net, trying to get a good view of who was in the room, but all she got was a view of her captor’s boring backside.

“Hm. It seems the mutt managed to drag in some prey after all,” came a low, mocking voice. A new voice. “Gio, did your pet manage to scrounge up something good? A villainous rabbit, maybe?”

Akemi’s captor snarled and rushed the mocking man. As a side effect, Akemi was jostled around like groceries in the trunk of a car.

“I’m no one’s pet,” the man grunted.

“Gio, please get a hold of your yowling dog before he hurts someone.”

“He is not my dog, Achilles, sir,” Gio said, visibly uncomfortable. “Volo is a capable villain hunter of his own merit, just like you and the rest of the heroes present here.”

Achilles. That made sense. That had to be the hero her captor – err, Volo – was so set on impressing. Akemi had assumed it was either a spurned lover or a rival. Rival it was.

“Children, settle,” another stern voice commanded. It was an older woman. Maybe. Akemi was getting really tired of having to rely solely on her ears to discern these types of things. “I will have no such violence occur in Kyndra’s holy chambers. Either get to your post, or risk being thrown into the wolf pen. It’s been a dry season, and they lack good feed.”

Volo huffed, but backed off. He went to stand in a corner of the room, giving Akemi even less of a view than before. All she could see now was the ornamental decoration that bordered the chamber. The wall was carved into several deposits, golden vases and old books sitting inside each concave section.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Seeing little else to do, she read the spine of each book. Walking the Path of the Divine; Kyndra’s Doctrines and How To Live By Them; Surviving a Holy Existence In Days of Strife and Sin. Akemi had to stop reading. The amount of self-righteousness was making her nauseous.

“Now then. Welcome to the Bounty Round, Kyndra’s children,” the female voice spoke again. “For the new recruits among us, I will recite the rules. All presented bounties must be registered in the System. This means you cannot simply capture your rude aunt or perverted uncle and present her or him here for final judgment. The villains you capture must be recognized as villains, and come with an attached System-awarded number.”

Akemi scoffed. How noble. You can only capture people who’ve been numbered. Good to see the Dewey Decimal System never went out of use.

As the woman in charge recited the remaining guidelines, Akemi searched for a doorway. Craning her neck to the left, she spotted one just a few feet away. It wasn’t far from her position by the bookshelves. If she could get Knife Fingers to work, getting out of here would be no issue.

“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, onto the ceremony,” the woman said. Akemi heard her close a hefty book, and set it aside. “Guild members with the highest reputation will go first. That means you, Achilles.”

“Thank you, High Cleric.”

Class Choice Approved. The Accountant Clan has deemed your application acceptable. However, this Class requires completing a compulsory quest in order to proceed to the next rank. You may view the quest details in your log.

Her eyebrows furrowed, Akemi opened her log.

New Quest Acquired! Accountant Training

Requirements:

* Kill a hero [0/1]

Akemi reread the notification several times, balking. Kill a hero..? She couldn’t fathom what murder had to do with accounting. The lack of further information was haunting. It took several seconds before she even realized what this meant.

I can use Knife Fingers now!

As Akemi hastily closed out her notifications, Achilles spoke again. “I present to you, under Kyndra’s cleansing light,” he began, strolling to the center of the chamber. A loud thump echoed as something heavy hit the floor. “The villain Nocturne. Devil of the Deadly Shadows. Killer of the Rose Moon. He has been incapacitated, but not yet felled. I pray to exchange him for a plentiful bounty of fifty thousand silvers.”

Fifty thousand silvers? Akemi’s eyes snapped wide open. That Nocturne guy must be a friggin’ legend. My bounty was only one thousand last time I checked.

“Liar,” Volo shouted, interjecting. “There is no way that is the genuine Nocturne. He would be able to escape a sack of flour like that with ease.”

“Quiet,” the Holy Cleric said, shushing him. “It is not your place to intervene, Volo. Only the holy light of Kyndra can illuminate sin.”

“I – I’m sorry, High One.”

Enough of this, Akemi thought, growing impatient. They were distracted. Good. This was the perfect time for her to break away without notice. “[Knife Fingers],” she whispered at the lowest decibel she could manage. Razorblades immediately sprung from her fingertips. They protruded from her nail beds like wolverine claws, glimmering under the torchlight.

Wow. She marveled at them for a moment.

If this was a level one Accountant skill, she was already feverishly excited about what the rest of the skill tree had to offer. And to think all she had to do was kill one measly hero. Her fingers itched with adrenaline.

As the heroes began to chant, she started clawing at the net. Exposed to her blades, the netting sprung loose in an instant. What was first a small hole became a steadily larger one, until she could fit a foot through, then a leg, then an entire arm…

“Kyndra, Goddess of Heroes, Great Keeper of the Heavenly Spoils, please bless us with your cleansing light!” the Holy Cleric bellowed. “Exchange this villainous soul for reputation and glory!”

The torchlight blew out. An unnatural golden aura began to cover the ceiling. Silence enveloped the heroes, and they began to take a knee just as Akemi fit the last of her extremities through the hole. She was almost there, when…

Rip.

Akemi came tumbling out of the netting.