“Your mother stabbed you on your 14th birthday just because you had a magic she didn’t like?!”
Rose looked aghast as I explained my situation, I had mentioned bits and pieces but apparently the full details have sent her motherly side into overdrive.
I had to dodge out of the way to avoid getting trapped in a hug. Thankfully on the walk back to civilization I managed to complete my thought acceleration spell. Never thought it would see its first use in a terrible game of cat and mouse like this.
Nodding her head the vicemaster makes her own conclusions about my tale.
“Yes, I see. Your golemancy is similar to how necromancy works and some religions can be very critical of such magics.”
I never actually said which of my magics I got stabbed over so I am glad that they were able to rationalize the decision to stab me. It would have been hard to believe I got stabbed over something like fire magic.
“I will send out a message to the guild branches in your kingdom and have them collect evidence of your parents actions. Once that is done it will be taken to the king and we will proceed from there. It should be simple to prove your claims with a guild appointed truth seeker.”
The mention of a truth seeker makes me very glad I made sure to not technically lie about anything when giving my story. It is a rare type of mind magic that is very sought after by nations and other organizations.
Truth Seeker is a title given to those who reached Class 3 and managed to meet the requirements to purchase the Lie Detection skill from the skill shop. Almost every kingdom in the world has a whole family line dedicated to acquiring this skill serving as nobility.
I will have to be very careful to avoid getting asked questions that could reveal information I don’t want anyone to know. Questions like: “Are you the Demon Lord?” for example.
“You were quite lucky that you happened to run into that fairy friend of yours after being dumped in the woods.”
The vice-guildmaster, whose name I learned is Crystal, brings me back to the conversation by mentioning Alice. I ended up having to talk about Alice to keep them from getting suspicious about how I survived. After all you can’t just learn a self regeneration skill without getting quite a few skill points and I was supposed to be a level 1 golemancer with no golem cores.
“Yeah, I never would have survived that forest if it wasn’t for her.”
I wrap my arms around the fairy girl who is sitting in my lap. I can see a faint blush appear on her cheeks at my actions.
“Well, now that that's all settled we should move on to getting you registered with the guild. Please head to the counter to fill out the paperwork.” Crystal says with a warm smile and then turns towards the three adventurers who brought me in. “I assume the Steadfast Shield will be taking up the duty of looking after her?”
“Steadfast Shield?”
I ask, tilting my head in confusion at the mention of me being taken care of by some organization I have not heard of.
Helimos nods to Crystal indicating that she is correct and then turns to me.
“Oh, I guess we never mentioned the Clan we are a part of. The Steadfast Shield is one of the top adventurer clans in the empire. Our duty is to protect those in need, to fight for justice, and make the world a better place!”
I am suddenly getting a really bad feeling. If there is a whole clan of people like these three then I can only see a smothering of “care” in my future.
Clans are a collection of adventurers often led by a high Class individual. These clans are essentially necessary to get any work when starting out. All clans work directly with the adventurers guild to assign jobs to their members and gain them reputation as well as plenty of levels. And considering I don’t know anyone else and need protection it seems I will be left with no choice but to join their clan.
Walking out of the office we make our way back down towards the main hall before making it to the counter once again.
Ending up at the same counter as before we are greeted by the cat-eared girl who seems to have shaken off the dead look in her eyes finally.
“Hello again, I got a message from the vice-guildmaster that your mission was completed successfully. I will need your badges to update your information.”
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After Jen takes over and signs all the paperwork, seemingly not trusting the other two to do so properly, Helimos slaps me on the back and smiles brightly at the clerk.
“Hey, we also need to get this one registered. She will be joining our clan too. Mind helping us out?”
The cat girl turns to me and begins to go through the normal rules and regulations for adventurers while preparing the paperwork.”
“Hi, nice to meet you. My name is Irene. Since you have these lovely folks with you I will just go over the basics as I am sure they plan to teach you themselves.”
Placing a document in front of me and pointing a pen at the first paragraph Irene goes on to explain how adventures work.
“Now, for starters you will be registering as a Copper Rank. On a guild shield you will find your Name, Class, Magic, and Reputation. This information is to help clients and the guild judge you and see what kind of work you are fit for. The most important part of that is your Reputation. Reputation is measured out of 5 stars and will go up and down depending on job completion, guild discretion, and client feedback.
You just need to fill out your basic information in these locations as well as have one of the three behind you sign for your application to their clan. Please read over this list of guild regulations and then sign on the line below.”
I nod along to the whole explanation as I already know most of it from my studying as a kid. After reading over the rules just to make sure I am not missing anything or anything has changed I try to get some clarification about my rank.
“You said that I would start as Copper Rank but would it be possible to get a Silver Rank instead?”
Smiling politely, the girl starts to explain.
“Sorry but to start as a Silver Rank you would have to be- Wait you are Class 2?! But you are like 15?!”
I am starting to see a pattern happening here. Now the whole guild hall is staring holes into my back.
“A little louder, I don’t think everyone heard you…”
“M-My apologies! Yes you may start as a Silver Rank since you are Class 2.”
Straightening herself out and trying to keep the ball rolling like nothing happened she has me sign the paperwork. While it is being processed I am taken to one of the smaller training facilities deeper inside the guild for an examination. It seems I have to prove my magic type for the guid records and apparently even they have never heard of golemancy before.
As we enter the reinforced metal room I find several training dummies staked into the packed dirt floor. More than that though, I find the vice-guildmaster already waiting in the room for me. I guess she wanted to see my unique magic in action.
Taking a Class 1 core out of my pocket under five watchful gazes I toss it into the dirt and have it form my usual monkey golem figure. The dirt gets sucked in and compresses around the core which then takes shape to the oohs and ahs from all but the vice-guildmaster who just looks on with moderate interest.
Finally I have the golem charge at the nearest training dummy and punch it as hard as it can. I notice the dummy changes color to dark green from its force detecting enchantments. Interesting.
I turn back towards the group as my golem walks up to me then collapses into a pile of dirt again.
“Wow, that is incredible! I never saw you make any new golems when you were with us so that was really interesting to see.”
“It is so cute! I want one!”
“I would rather have the horse.”
“Amazing! and you have such control over them, no wonder you reached Class 2 at your age!”
Getting plenty of praise from the peanut gallery I keep my eyes focused on the only Class 4 in the room. Her opinion of my magic matters far more to me.
“Interesting, and I assume you can choose the form the golem takes judging from Ms Jeniveve’s comment about a horse? What other materials can you use?”
“Yes, I can choose the form, though size and strength are limited based on the Class of the core I use. As for materials, I have only been able to make things out of dirt, stone, and wood.”
That has her raising an eyebrow.
“Wood? If you were in The Sea of Trees you must be talking about Spirit Wood. Interesting, you could make some powerful fighters out of that material. Well, I suppose this is sufficient to confirm your magic. Irene, please get Lua her badge as soon as possible.”
The clerk stops fawning over me and stutters while dashing out of the room.
“Y-Yes ma’am! I will have it ready immediately!”
Turning back towards me the vice-guildmaster smiles warmly.
“Now I think that is all for today. Once you get your badge I suggest you head to your clan's headquarters and settle in. I will contact you once we have more information on your parents. Have a nice day.”
After seeing her off the others and I make our way out of the training hall to the desk to pick up my badge.
Looking over the shiny silver shield I do as the clerk instructs and pour my mana into it, binding it so that I can use it to verify my identity.
I grin a bit as I see the magically floating words appear above the badge
Lua Knight, Class 2, Golemancy, -/- Stars
I guess I will need to complete some actual requests before I can get any reputation.
Tucking the shield into my belt I follow the adventurers out of the guild, under the still interested gazes of many of the people in the hall, and head to the clan headquarters where I will be staying from now on.