S17, Consequences

I woke up to see an unknown ceiling. Normally I would be looking at the slats that supported Terence’s mattress in our bunk bed, but now I was lying in a bed partially surrounded by yellowed curtains.

‘Uh, where am I? This isn’t our room…’

Then I remembered last night’s tavern fight and the punch that knocked me out.

“Ugh…” I groaned. I wanted to get up but everything began spinning as I tried to raise my head. At the same time I also started feeling all the bruises of last night.

“Oh! Simon is awake!” Falnid exclaimed from somewhere nearby.

Turning my head to the side I inspected my surroundings. I was staying in a long room filled with beds arranged in two rows. All my companions, as well as Stroud and his mates, were there.

“How are you feeling?” Terence said, looking a bit worried about me.

“I’m fine, I think. My body is aching quite a bit, but my head is the worst.” I told him holding my head.

“No wonder, yesterday that adventurer from the Gray Hounds knocked you out cold, and when you fell your head hit the quite hard.”

“And your face is quite the sight!” Falnid pointed with a smile.

“Anyway, Marcus brought all of us here after the fight,” Terence continued. “We are in the healing ward of the guild.”

It was my first time here, up until now we had been lucky enough to avoid any serious injuries that would need the herbalist intervention. Even after our fight with the dungeon dogs we had only needed a few bandages and some ointment.

“We passed the night here, right now it should be soon in the morning. We were discussing who should go for breakfast first while we wait for the herbalist.”

“By the way, your uncle came to see you during the night, but he left without saying anything.” Falnid chimed in again.

“Damn! I doubt he is happy I was involved in a tavern brawl and ended up unconscious.”

Hearing Uncle already knew about the incident got me quite worried. If possible I wanted to tell him in person about last night’s events myself, but it was no surprising someone had already informed the guildmaster since it was a fight between members of the two adventurer guilds in town.

‘What happened yesterday… Was there a way to avoid the confrontation? I tried being polite but it didn’t work at all… maybe I should have tried to get everyone out of the tavern.’

“Are you worried about the brawl? You shouldn’t,” Terence said. My troubled thoughts surely had shown on my face for him to say that. “There was no way those bastards would let us go.”

“Yeah, they were looking for it! Those shitheads!”

‘They are right, those bastards were just having fun.’ I thought remembering the mocking remarks of last night’s adventurer. ‘So, what should I do now? I need to explain things to Uncle Ather.’

While talking with Terence and Falnid everyone had come closer to my bed and I saw all but Falnid had some bruises on them.

“I don’t know if we will get in trouble, but it was quite a fight wasn’t it? I hit one of those jerks with a chair and broke it, the chair! I’m sure his back is killing him right now.” Bert, the boy with the mischievous smile, started commenting on yesterday’s happenings.

“I doubt it, you managed to hit two tables and one of the lamps before striking him, the chair was almost busted before it landed on his back.” Rupert, Stroud’s group vanguard rebutted Bert. Those two where always bickering with each other, but they had shown quite a good coordination while fighting together the previous night.

“Ignore them. They came from the same village and have always been like that since our first meeting,” Stroud said while the other two kept arguing about whom did a better job during the fight. “But they are right, it was quite a good brawl, I’m sure those scummy brutes will think twice before messing with us from now on.” He added with a smug grin.

Stroud had a blacked eye and a bandaged nose, as well as two fingers tied together and supported with a splint. I wondered if my face looked worse than his.

“I also hit them in the head with a dozen mugs or so! Oh, and was able to make one of them trip and fall when he was about to punch Bolton.” Falnid proudly remarked making wide gestures with his arms.

Bolton had been fighting a small man the past night. He was quite nimble and fast on his feet. Judging by Bolton’s bandaged right hand and bruised face his opponent wasn’t a good match for him. Unlike everyone’s cheerfulness attitude the big boy looked rather troubled. He was probably worried by the upcoming scolding, same as me.

“I was quite wasted yesterday, but all in all I think I did rather well,” Terence said. With only a small scratch on his cheek he seemed to be the one with the least injuries after Falnid. “Anyway Marcus came right in time.”

“Yeah, he was really impressive. He moved so fast! You should have seen how he kicked their asses after after you got knocked out, Simon. Those assholes got scared shit-less! They tried to escape from the tavern, but he got all of them before they reached the door.” Falnid excitedly explained.

“Yes, the part when he kicked one of them over the table and sent him crashing against his pal was quite a sight.” Linwood, another of Stroud’s companions, was the most hurt person in the room. His right forearm was resting against his chest and fixed with a splint. The boy was a quiet one and rarely talked during our joint training sessions.

“By the way, Simon, did you know Marcus lives next door to the tavern? And Old Winthrop is his father!” Falnid exclaimed with an astonished expression.

“No, I had no idea.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“No one knew! I wonder why Old Winthrop never mentioned it, and he never goes to the tavern. We were discussing if we should ask some of the tavern folks about it.”

While chatting we heard the sound of a door opening in the other side of the room.

“Why are you being so noisy in the morning?” Someone complained. “You should be resting after the mess you did last night.” It was the guild’s herbalist that had entered the room wearing some night clothes. I had only talked with the man once while he was treating everyone’s wounds after the dungeon dog’s incident.

“Morning, Gardner! Sorry if we woke you up, again.” Stroud casually greeted the man.

The old herbalist looked at him for a moment and then sighted. “You should know better by now. I already lost count of how many times I had to patch you up.” He seemed more resigned than annoyed. “Here I thought you were doing better in the dungeon and then you manage to get injured out of it.”

“Hey, it wasn’t so bad! You should have seen how the grey hounds ended up,” Stroud said laughing loudly.

“Sure, Stroud, but do me a favor and try not to get into trouble. Anyway, I see this boy has finally woken up.” Gardner looked at me lying on the bed and approached. “Can you sit up?”

I tried to get up again. The dizziness had lessened a bit, but raising my head still made me wobbly.

“If you are unable don’t force yourself. You got a contusion in the back of your head, probably from falling down.”

“It’s alright.” I sat and slowly moved to the side of the bed.

The herbalist began examining my pained head and I couldn’t suppress a groan when he touched the bruised areas. “Try to stand up,” he said after examining it for a while.

I got on my feet and walked around. The room moved a bit and I felt like I might puke, it remembered me about my nasty boat trip to Benslinn.

“I see, it looks like you got lucky. I gave you a potion when you arrived, just in case. This kind of wounds can be nasty some times. You should get better in a few days. Until then, don’t try to do any intensive activities, no training and no dungeon expeditions, alright?” Gardner got up and fetched a pouch from a nearby table. “I will give you some medicine for the pain and the swelling. If you keep feeling dizzy or feel that something is wrong come back here immediately.”

“It seems we will take a some free days, Bolton also needs some time to heal his hand,” Terence commented.

“Oh, and the guildmaster wants to see you all in his office, he told me to send you his way as soon as you were able to walk. You should go talk to him before breakfast.”

“Uh, before breakfast?” Falnid said with an annoyed expression.

…

“Gardner is a bit grumpy, but you can count on him if you need something healed, and if you ask he will share some tricks with you.” Stroud told us.

We had arrived in front of the guild’s main building, most people in the group were having small talk, but I couldn’t help being nervous. I didn’t know Uncle would react, but if it was something like Father’s scolding it wouldn’t be pretty.

Once inside, Stanley, one of the guild’s receptionists promptly approached us. “Hey, you are finally here. The guildmaster is waiting for you, follow me.” In a casual way the man guided us upstairs and into one of the rooms in the first floor. It wasn’t my uncle’s office, but a big room with a rectangular table occupying most of it.

“Wait here, the guildmaster will attend you soon,” Stanley said before leaving.

“Uh… There are some cups over there, maybe this is going to be some kind of formal reunion.” Stroud pointed at some tableware on the table.

“Maybe it’s a reward for kicking those shithead’s asses!” Falnid exclaimed excitedly.

“I doubt it, we will probably get an earful before being dismissed.” Terence replied calmly.

“Perhaps he just wants to have a relaxed discussion. After all Simon is his nephew.” Bolton said unconvinced.

“I don’t think so.” I couldn’t picture Uncle giving me any special treatment, at least not in front of other trainees.

“If he is going to have us drink some tea then this is not ending with just a scolding.” Said Terence, making a nervous silence fall over the room.

Moments later Uncle entered the room. The expression on his face immediately told me he wasn’t amused by yesterday’s events. He briefly looked at each of us in silence. Once his gaze went past me I kept my head down. He had the same stern look that Father used when he was really mad at me.

“Do any of you understand the seriousness of yesterday’s incident? Do you understand that such fights can end with people seriously injured, or even dead?” Uncle began speaking in a serious tone, his anger was clear to everyone in the room. “You are lucky no one was hot headed enough to pull out a dagger.”

After a brief pause he continued his scolding, “Not only you got yourselves in danger. You attacked another guild’s adventurers and broke the property of a town’s resident. Other people could have been involved in your fight. You have tarnished not only your reputation, but the guild’s reputation.”

“We weren’t the ones that began the brawl…” Stroud weakly voiced his objections.

My uncle gave him a harsh stare. “I heard that one of them was the first to start trouble, but you gave in to his provocations.”

“They were unreasonable! We couldn’t let them do whatever they wanted…” Bert protested.

“Enough!” Uncle raised his voice for the first time. “In the past trainees have been expelled for similar reasons, but since none of you have caused problems until now I will let this matter go with a smaller punishment. You will pay for the damages to the tavern as well as a fine for starting a brawl in town. I will also add the fees for your injuries’ treatment.”

“Wait, we weren’t the only ones that broke stuff!” This time it was Falnid complaining.

“I have already arranged things with the Grey Hound Guild. The damages will be split between all the people involved.”

“What about Marcus?” Stroud asked.

“Marcus was only involved to stop the fight. In his father’s tavern, nonetheless. You should thank him for arriving so fast.”

“He was the one that kicked the most ass…” I heard Falnid mutter.

If Uncle also heard him he ignored it and took out a small note. “The damages to the tavern were three broken tables, two oil lamps, four benches, several tables, stools, cups and other tableware. Adding the fine and the medical fees the quantity each of you must pay comes to… Ten tiny silvers and seventy copper coins.”

“What? That’s more than we have earned since the start of the training!” Stroud protested again.

“Then you better focus on working hard instead of making trouble in town. None of you will get your iron plates until the money is paid. Now get going, I have other matters to attend. If you need some clarifications about the payments ask the guild employees.” Uncle angrily dismissed us.

We left the room and went down to the guild hall. It was breakfast time and only Anne was there. She looked at us with pity as we began discussing which task would be the most profitable.

“Ugh, how are going to make so much money.” Rupert, the big boy acting as the vanguard of Stroud’s group asked with a concerned expression.

“Don’t worry, we will manage.” Stroud reassured him patting his shoulder. “We only need to pick up a few tasks.”

“Other than doing quests, hunting varans is the easier way to make money. But with our injuries we can’t go into the dungeon.” Terence commented looking at the bulletin board.

“We can go into the woods to pick medicinal herbs.” Stroud suggested.

“Right now they are only asking for heelen herbs. I heard those got quite difficult to find close to town.” Terence told him.

“It doesn’t matter, Gardner always buys a few other herbs, even if they aren’t listed here. If we want to pay that sum every coin counts.”

While Terence and Stroud discussed about how to pay the debt a group of people entered the building. They were adventurers I hadn’t seen before and their equipment was clearly better than anyone in town. They were heavily armed with all kinds of weapons, but only the blades of their spears were visible. They had a blue hue.

“Mana blades!”

Those were weapons made of blue iron. Their edges were a lot sharper than steel ones, but according to Father only skilled warriors and adventurers were capable of handling such weapons. He had told me one needed to master the control of his own mana before using them.

“So this is the Calpavaros’ Bears place? It looks like one of those third rate guilds back home.” One of the adventurers said in an arrogant tone.

“Shut up Janyl! Show some respect. They are Perendin’s royal guild.” One of his companions, a female adventurer, admonished him.

The arrogant looking adventurer ignored us and moved close to the bulletin board. “Oh! Look at this. They have a lesser drake here. Pity it isn’t a lesser earth drake. We could make a fortune if we caught one of those.”

“If it was an earth one they wouldn’t even need to post it. Adventurers from Mesdale would be coming here like a flock of vultures.” A third adventurer, a man with slightly long golden hair commented in a calm tone.

“I guess you are right. No one is going to ignore such a pile of gold roaming in the Outer Dungeon.” The adventurer called Janyl said. “Anyway, look at the reward for this one. Fifty gold coins. That’s not worth the trouble!”

“You talk like you could handle it.” The female adventure said in a skeptic tone.

“I could. If I assembled a couple dozen guys. But I doubt there is anyone skilled enough in this town.”

“Someone seems a bit full of himself.” The girl mocked him.

“Stop it, guys. We have things to do.” Said the blonde man that seemed to act as the group’s leader. Before turning to look at Anne who had been calmly waiting for an opportunity to greet them.

“Welcome to the Calpavaros Bears’ Guild.” She politely welcomed the group. “Please, follow me. The guildmaster will receive you right now.”