The newcomer walked straight towards Kevin and didn't play coy about his intention to talk. As soon as Gesel got up, the stranger sat down and said, "Kevin Brightscales, I presume?"

"That's me. Who are you?"

"My name is Siami. I have been dispatched to discuss your first outing with the Guild."

"Just Siami? No title or last name?" asked Kevin.

"Just so," said the man, inclining his head. "I have discarded my old name, and Siami is the name I have chosen for myself. It is, admittedly, not a common practice, but this suits me, and those who know me have accepted it."

"Okay," said Kevin with a shrug. "Names aside, don't you think talking in the middle of the common area here is a little strange? I mean, some of what you talk to me about might be sensitive, right?"

"That is not a problem," said Siami with a smile. He gestured around them, and Kevin realized for the first time he could not hear the sounds of the common room. He said, "I have blocked our conversation from any ears but our own. Additionally, anyone trying to read lips would merely see nonsense, our mouths opening and closing like a fish."

"Oh, you have magic," said Kevin. He considered the spells that the man had just used. "You must be a light mage with a minor in sound."

"Close. I am a sound mage with a minor in light. Your reputation of being a truly learned individual does you justice," he gestured at the paper folder that he set down on the table at his elbow.

"Rare, your magical focus is," said Kevin.

"This may be true, but I am not particularly powerful," said Siami. "Instead, my gifts offer me a certain…versatility that lends well to my current role. On top of that, I rather enjoy learning about all of the other members of our guild."

"So you like to snoop through everybody's information, huh?" Kevin teased.

Siami belly laughed. "There is perhaps a bit of uncomfortable truth to that, but we are not here to talk about me; we are here to talk about you."

"Oh yes, the bizarre goblin with the skills of a scholar," Kevin made a face. "I have become aware that there are politics around my position that I'd rather not be a part of, but I don't think I really get a choice, do I?"

"Just so," said Siami with a nod. "In fact, I have learned of your station as well, which you did not originally disclose to the Magi Guild.”

“My station?”

“An ambassador.”

“Ah.”

“In truth, the city mayor would likely not have met with you before, but now that you have joined the Magi Guild, and as such an interesting existence, I suspect he will be summoning you for a meeting very soon."

"Well, at least I'll probably get free food out of it," Kevin joked.

Siamique laughed, the first genuine laugh he'd given so far. "That is one way of looking at it, I suppose.”

Kevin brought the conversation back to the beginning. "So how are you going to help me find a job?"

"Now that is a good question. For most new members, my main focus would be on their rank and what type of work is currently being offered. But you're a bit special."

"Special in what way? Other than, I mean, being green."

Siami coughed delicately into his hand. "What I mean is your broad array of knowledge and your skill at solving or deactivating arcane traps. If you were a mage, your options would be even greater, but perhaps not as much as you might imagine. As rare as mages are, scholars that can handle adventures are even rarer. So instead of trying to match a job to you, I think it would be more beneficial to match you to a job."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Kevin.

"If you tell me what sort of job interests you, or what you think would be a good first foray into the world as a Magi Guild member, then by all means, please tell me, and perhaps it will help narrow down your options."

"Oh, I see." Kevin gave it some thought, but eventually circled back to the first answer that had popped into his head. He said, "I want something that either lets me get close to or participate in a hunt for a named, unique, or rare monster. That is my number one choice. But I also want to work on something that will help give me information on rare forms of magic, or a way to develop skills that might help me with learning new forms of magic in the future. The more rare, the better."

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"Both requests are quite curious," said Siami, "but as I am a mage myself, I must ask, why the interest in rare forms of magic?"

"I want to learn magic, but I haven’t had any luck so far with the kinds I’ve explored."

"Well, that should be fixed by a trip to the library, or perhaps we could even go to the restricted area of the city library, and that might—"

Kevin cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I'm sorry to stop you, and I apologize if this comes across as rude, but there is very little chance that a provincial library will have higher-tier information or any books more rare than those I was able to study for the last ten years."

"May I ask where you were studying?" asked Siami, his eyes glinting with curiosity.

"Sorry, no," said Kevin. "It's a secret."

"Ah, but now I'm even more interested." Siami gave a half-smile but let it drop. "One moment as I look through my paperwork." He opened up the folder and took out several sheets of high quality paper, much finer than most that Kevin had seen in this world before. Instead of lines of text like Kevin would have imagined, each page was filled with strange-looking symbols, different from any writing he’d ever seen before.

"What is that?" asked Kevin.

"Ah, it's a shorthand way of writing that triggers my memory magically. It's actually one of the ways I was able to secure this job several years ago."

"I see," said Kevin.

"It is quite helpful when the job postings change daily, sometimes hourly." He traced a finger down the seemingly random symbols on the page. Finally, he tapped a finger. "I might have actually been able to find postings that would satisfy both of your requirements. However, neither is soon. The first is two weeks away; that is for a scholar to accompany a group of adventurers into ruins. Main reason listed is the threat of trap spell formations and potentially automatically closing doors attached to ancient spell scripts. There is a line about a dangerous, rare monster. This group is asking for a scholar to travel with them for danger of magic arrays, though. Interesting. This group has been waiting patiently, but their patience is running thin. The timing is great. I think if they had to wait much longer, they would have left on their own."

"What rank is the group?" asked Kevin.

"Siami frowned at the piece of paper and said, "It says here that most are ranked 'C', but the leader is a 'B' rank adventurer. That information might not be correct, though. Or it may change."

"Oh really?" Kevin raised his eyebrows in surprise. Each rank of adventurer is exponentially rarer than the last. So even though Rank 'C' adventurers weren't exactly growing on trees, Rank 'B' were much less common. Rank 'A' were practically unheard of in a backwater like Clearmine. Rank 'S' amounted to less than ten on the entire continent. "Is it really that dangerous of a monster?" he asked.

Siami shook his head. "I don’t know off the top of my head, and I cannot give you many particulars about the job until you take it, and no, that that is not normal. There are some extenuating circumstances around this one, but I can tell you the group is very confident in their ability to raid this particular set of ruins, and again, there is a threat of Elite or a named monster there."

“What is the projected danger of the mission compared to the adventuring group now?”

“Lower.”

“So the traps really are a big enough deal for this group to wait for a scholar.”

Siami nodded and said, "It is highly likely. That is one reason why no group before this one was willing to take up the request. Adventuring scholars are not cheap. But I suspect their thought process now is, after spending so much time and money preparing for the mission, not paying for a scholar would be foolish."

"Okay," said Kevin. "What's the other job?"

"That one is in about a month, and the job is to help Master Addison, our local alchemist."

“How is that going to help me learn about magic?”

“Alchemy and magic are adjacent disciplines. It could offer some insight. But Addison is also an alchemist. He is likely to have a great number of references and other books that you might get access to. I will admit that the logic behind taking this job is shakier than the other, but the job can last a few weeks at least. That would give you more time to learn.”

"So there's no guarantee I'll actually get any information from this Addison then, huh?" asked Kevin.

"No, not at all. In fact, based on previous experiences among our members, a lot of it depends on how well you do your job or even what kind of mood he might be in."

"Great," said Kevin.

Siami gave him a shrewd look. “I made my choices based on the fact you wish to find a magic you can learn.”

“Am I that transparent?”

"I'm afraid so, yes," said Siami.

"How long will the first request take, the one that is going to the ruins?"

Siami looked at his notes again. "One to two weeks."

"All right," said Kevin decisively. "How about you put me down for both then?"

"Both? Are you sure?"

"Yes. After all, if the Magi Guild wants to use me as a show pony so badly, I suppose my first month of actually working should be a good one."

Siami gently closed his folders and gave Kevin a searching look. "Are you sure about that? I thought you didn't want the attention."

"I'm not allergic to attention," said Kevin. "And although I don't want the attention right now, I figure I'm going to get it one way or another, so I might as well do it properly. Especially if I'm going to be having dinner with the city mayor. So…since I don't get a choice in the matter, if I do it properly, it might open some doors for me." As he spoke, he was thinking about the original mission his parents had given him. The more accolades or titles that Kevin could pick up before reaching Tallridge Hollow, the easier his job could theoretically be.

"Ah, I see," said Siam. "And you're sure about this?"

"Very sure," said Kevin.

"All right then. This was relatively painless." Siami stood and held out a hand. "Thank you for your willingness to meet with me."

"I have one more question," said Kevin as he shook.

"Yes?"

"I'm assuming that the Magi Guild also screened everybody that I could be working with in these potential job postings to not be too antagonistic towards goblins, right?"

"Are you worried?" asked Siami with a frown. "I assure you it shouldn't be a problem."

"No, I'm actually just curious how far this unspoken PR effort goes," said Kevin. "I'm not naive, and I've seen the looks that I get sometimes on the street. Not everybody is happy about orks or goblins being in town. I'd rather not show up to this potion brewer Addison’s place and immediately experience him putting a hole through my chest."

Siami laughed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh at your fears. It's just the mental image of Addison doing such a thing is so ridiculous I couldn't help myself." He abruptly sobered. "But your question isn't without merit or wisdom. I will tell you, yes, some screening was done. However, there's a limit to how much anyone, even the Guild, can screen for these sorts of things. So I apologize, but your first few months as a Magi Guild member might be rough."

"I kind of figured as much," said Kevin. He stood too and shook Siami's hand again. "Thank you for your help. Can I get a reminder a day or two before I'm supposed to show up for this…ruins job? I'll also need to know where it is."

"Of course," said Siami. "I'll handle it personally. He paused. “I do not know–" He paused again and said, "I do not know how this will make you feel, but my capacity in the Clearmine Magi Guild is to meet with either the more notable or more powerful members of the Guild. I have perhaps a bit more standing than the average request handler."

"I kind of figured that much," said Kevin. "After all, you're a mage with gifts that perfectly align with your job. There can't be many other light and sound mages running around Clearmine doing consultations with Magi Guild members about jobs coming up. I'm sure the odds aren't zero, but whatever they are, I wouldn't take them."

Siami laughed, his second genuine belly laugh of the conversation. "There is much truth in what you said. It was very interesting to meet you, Kevin. I am truly glad that you joined our guild."

"Thanks. I hope I will be too. Glad, that is."