“Master Kevin, there's somebody downstairs to see you.”

Kevin looked up from the newspaper he was reading and arched an eyebrow. It had been two days since he took his test at the Magi Guild. When he'd gotten back, the other goblins had been relieved. They’d been worried, and Kevin figured they’d also been glad when he’d made sure they got some food, too.

Later on, Rock told him in confidence that a few of the goblins had worried that he might have abandoned them.

That night, Kevin wondered if all of them might have worried a bit about that. He didn't like how much this group was depending upon him, but at the end of the day, it didn't really matter. He needed to see his obligation to these freed prisoners through if he could. And right now, Clearmine seemed like the best option.

He’d already considered taking his charges all the way to the goblin country, but when he'd asked Rock about it, the older goblin had said that was not an option. Apparently, all of this group were from a clan that had powerful enemies back in Tallridge Hollow, the goblin country. They weren't exactly outcasts, but Rock had told Kevin in no uncertain terms that they all had better options for a decent life if they stayed in Clearmine or the surrounding areas.

The last two days had passed in relative peace and quiet.

Kevin got up from the desk where he'd been studying and followed Rock down the stairs. Some of the other goblins were idling in the common room, which the proprietors had been leery about at first until they seemed to have realized that Kevin's money pouch ran deep. Not only that, despite the diminutive size of the goblins, Kevin had noticed that some humans were intimidated by their mere presence. As a result, the last few days, the front counter of the inn had benefited from extra courteous customers.

When he thought about it, Kevin found it somewhat amusing. The idea of Bilak being intimidating or frightening was just something he couldn't imagine. Granted, she was tough as hell to have survived her ordeal at the hands of the ork cultists, but she wasn't exactly a hard-bitten fighter–as evidenced now, when he came down the stairs and saw her scribbling something on a piece of paper with five different colored crayons.

When the goblin maiden saw Kevin, she gasped, pulled the paper to her bosom and stared with wide, embarrassed eyes.

Kevin ignored her antics.

At the front counter, there was a man dressed in a regal robe and a monocle. When Kevin ambled over to him, the man bowed deeply and loudly proclaimed, "My name is Bartholomew Hightop. I am a runner for the Magi Guild, and it is my honor to present this C-Rank identity card for our new associate, Kevin Brightscales." Then the man bent over and presented a shiny new ID card held in both hands.

Every single eye in the room was on Kevin. And even though he had lived through several lifetimes, he could still be caught unprepared for sudden attention. The scrutiny still made him feel a bit hot underneath the collar.

"Uh, thank you," he said, and accepted the card. He glanced at it quickly, seeing that it was much how he'd expected it to look, and then put it in his pocket.

The runner, Bartholomew, stood at attention and rigidly said, "As a first-time cardholder, I will give you some basic information. You will feel a sting to remind you to retrieve your card or alert you that it has been stolen if it is too far away from you. In addition to this, if you merely think 'guild card,' you will be able to track down where it is with a general sense of direction every five minutes or so. If you lose your guild card or it is destroyed, the cost of replacement is hefty, so keep track of it. Thank you for your patronage, and we look forward to great things."

Then, without any further ado, the man spun around and marched out of the inn.

"What a strange character," said Cassie, the innkeeper's daughter behind the counter. A mystified frown crossed her somewhat heavyset, honest face.

Kevin nodded in agreement, and Cassie’s brief interest in the Magi Guild Runner seemed to evaporate as she noticed Kevin standing in front of her again. Her eyes lit up.

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

"Wow, you are a C-rank already? I didn't know you were a mage."

"I'm not a mage."

She winked at him. "It's okay, honey. You don't need to lie to me. I mean, I guess the other possibility is that you are an extremely advanced goblin scholar, but what are the odds, right?"

Kevin narrowed his eyes and wasn't sure exactly what to say. On one hand, what the woman had just said was bigoted and irritating. On the other hand, he wasn't exactly a normal goblin. He wondered what right he had to get too upset, since he’d lived several lifetimes before this and was raised by dragons. On top of that, he hadn't actually known many goblins or ever lived in Tallridge Hollow. So he wanted to snap at the woman, but she was right, just rude.

He glared at her and just said, "I'm a scholar," before turning on his heel and walking back up to his room.

Although he didn't really need to worry about money, he did need to finish a few tasks through the Magi Guild soon or he might lose his rank. And over the last couple days, as he'd been waiting for his ID card, he'd realized that the idea of raising his rank actually appealed to him. Being a higher rank in the Magi Guild would make life much easier in a number of ways.

Hopefully, over the next week or so, he could work as a representative of the Magi Guild at the same time as he helped Rock and the other goblins start a new life. Killing two birds with one stone sure would be nice, he thought.

***

Kevin walked into the Magi Guild with purpose in his step. He hurried almost directly there after the spectacle in the common room at the inn. Once he made it to the front counter, he wasn't quite sure whether he was grateful or disappointed that he’d missed Bartholomew on the way.

His irritation about how his new guild card had been delivered has grown.

Even though intellectually he knew the man was just doing his job, it was probably still a good thing that he hadn't run into the low level Magi Guild member before this.

“What can I do for you?” asked the representative behind the counter. Kevin hadn't seen this woman before.

He introduced himself. “I am Kevin Brightscales, a new C-rank member of the Magi Guild.”

She gave him a polite and professional but not super motivated look. Kevin glanced at her eyes, verifying that she either wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed or she didn’t think he rated high enough to get better treatment. Or maybe she just had bad customer service.

This was the first person he’d seen working for the Magi Guild who didn’t seem to take their job very seriously. Kevin said, “There was just a big to-do in the common room of my inn about getting C rank in the guild. "

“Well, that's wonderful,” said the woman. “Now I know where I've heard about you. Kevin, right? The goblin, Kevin? The name did ring a bell before.”

Kevin gave her a withering look. He almost said yes, a goblin, last he checked he wasn’t an ork, but kept his cool. Instead he said, "I understand that having me join the guild is probably some sort of positive thing for public relations or politics. But I don't want undue attention placed on me."

The receptionist, whose name badge read Gerda, steepled her fingers and looked at Kevin without an ounce of sympathy or ire. "Then you need to do something to cement your position."

Kevin was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Well, everybody in the guild knows that Narissa's judgment is beyond reproach, but others do not. And on top of that, there is an antagonistic relationship between the three major guilds. I am sorry to say this, and I apologize if it's rude, but goblins do not have a very good reputation within the realm of disciplines that the Magic Guild encompasses. Goblin scholars are nearly unheard of. Members of the Magi Guild who happen to be goblins tend to be either warlocks or shamans, neither of which have formal training and are generally not very powerful. It is not a flattering thing to say, but over the last few thousand years, goblins have been known to have strength in numbers, not in high ranking guild members…in any guild. However, then you came along, and at a time when our guild needed more goblin representation, you not only managed to secure a C rank right from the beginning, but you also did so on the merits of scholarly excellence.”

Kevin blinked. This woman not knowing who he was had all been a facade. She was obviously very aware of who he was, what was going on, and knew more than him. It seemed nobody working at the Magi Guild was average. He focused his attention and listened carefully.

She continued, "For those of us who are not intimately aware of what happens in our guild or how testing is done, your situation is going to seem rather suspicious. The best way to fight that suspicion is to make a spectacle out of everything. The more famous or accomplished you are, the more your position seems just. The more people talk about you positively, the more likely regular people will hear all about you. And although in the short term the Magi Guild’s reputation might take a hit, the bet has been made. The situation will ultimately benefit our guild by having you be part of us.

“However, if you accumulate merits on your own, or do enough jobs that you raise your reputation on your own, the guild won't have to do anything anymore, at least not actively, to promote you. You will be promoting yourself. Do you understand?"

Kevin felt his emotions rolling in curious waves. Strangely enough, he actually did understand what the woman was saying. He didn't like it, but he understood it. "I think I get it," he said stiffly. "Where are the job notice boards?"

The receptionist gave him the first hint of a genuine smile and said, "Our guild does things a bit differently than the Fighters Guild and the Adventurers Guild. If you request an interview, you can either meet with a guild member here, or one of us can meet with you at a place of your choosing, to discuss jobs that are suitable for your rank and skill set."

"I see," said Kevin. It actually did make sense that a powerful, exclusive guild like the Magi Guild would deal with their requests in a more curated way than the other guilds. The Adventurer Guild was basically run on a first come, first served basis.

The Fighters guild had a more complicated ranking system with more ranks. But that wasn’t possible in the Magi Guild. After all, how could one measure a scholar’s knowledge? How did one measure a mage's aptitude for magic or how skilled they were? A mage who had absolute mastery of a simple spell might be able to handle problems easier than a mage with a wider range of spell knowledge, or a mage whose knowledge was more theoretical than practical. And there were many schools of study for academics, even those that related to adventuring or fieldwork.

Kevin said, "I'm going to go back to the inn I've been staying at. I would definitely like to have an interview to find some work."

"Sounds excellent," said the receptionist. She made a note on her pad and then said, "I will send the message along. Are you free all day today?"

"I believe so, yes."

"Even better. All right, expect somebody to come calling for you within the next several hours."

Kevin nodded and left the Magi Guild.