Blearily I open my eyes and have no idea where I am. Everything hurts, but I’m clearly alive, so that’s better than I thought I would be. A single attempt to sit up is all I need to know that I’m not moving. Instead, I carefully look around, every movement causing more pain, and realize I’m in some sort of infirmary. The only other person in the room is an older woman. She has brown hair with a few streaks of gray in it, a white coat that goes down past her knees, and is currently scribbling away at a paper while muttering to herself. I try to speak up but all that leaves my mouth is a small croak, but that’s enough for her to notice and bring me some water. I manage to sit up and greedily drain the water, finally taking a proper look around once I do so. The room is quite small, separated into yet even smaller rooms by hanging sheets, on one side of the wall sits a desk with papers sprawled all over them, and there’s nothing more of note in the blank walled room.
“I’m glad to see that you’re awake, it’s actually much sooner than I expected to see you up, only a couple of hours. I recommend that you take it easy before trying to move around, as well as stay here and wait for Saldir to return from his drink. The reason you were so beat up, beyond Saldir being rough on newbies in general, is that you managed to legitimately terrify the man after pissing him off. He has some questions for you and it's best to just stick around to answer him.” She gives me a look of pity with a hint of wariness as she speaks.
“What do you mean that I terrified him? The last thing I remember was him kicking me when I was on the ground after I tried to use my dagger.” At this point it hit me that I don’t know where my dagger is, so I begin frantically looking around for it before noticing it laying on the table next to my bed. I grab the only memento I have from my family and place it in my lap before turning back to the woman. “Who are you by the way? I’m Liam but I assume you already knew that since you seem to work with the guards.”
“Oh my apologies, I completely forgot about introductions. My name is Mary and while I do work with the guards the only person I’ve had a chance to speak to since you showed up is Saldir and he never gave me your name, I doubt he even knows it himself. That man tends to forget things like names quite easily when training is involved. You saw for yourself how he tends to go a bit, um, overboard at times.” She shoots me an apologetic smile before continuing. “The situation you’re in is a bit different because most new trainees either give up after getting kicked around, or are smart enough to not pull a dagger on a trained veteran. Which was incredibly stupid by the way.”
“Um yeah, I’m in pain all over so I realized. Didn’t know that my first lesson as a trainee was going to be this rough but I certainly won’t forget it.” I respond with a humorless chuckle before pausing. “Wait, am I going to be a trainee or did I completely fail the combat test because of that?” I ask with no small amount of nervousness, which only grows as Mary stares blankly at me.
“You still want to be a guard after what you went through?” She asks bewildered before shaking her head. “You didn’t give up after getting hit a couple of times and considering that you have a skill that managed to terrify Saldir, yes you passed and can be a guard if you want to.” She shoots me another long glance before sighing and shaking her head again.
“Of course I still want to be a guard!” I respond with excitement, before wincing in pain and laying back down. It feels like I got run over by a carriage still, I hope the pain will fade away soon. “You keep saying I terrified him though, how would I do something like that? I don’t think I have any skills and I’ve never been tested or trained for any magic at a church because that’s very expensive.” It just doesn't make sense how I would terrify a man like that, after all I never even got a hit on him, or got close to landing one. Then after I tried a risky move I was beaten senseless then woke up here.
Mary sighs yet again, she's been doing that a lot and I briefly wonder if I’m that tiring to deal with before my attention is brought back to the conversation. “I don’t know all the details but he said that you did something very dangerous. It made healing you up a pain because you took all of the mana out of the surrounding area, including this room. Which… I don’t know how that's possible, you should have been overloaded with mana and best case scenario passed out, worst case, you would have exploded. Violently.” She gives me a stern stare for a moment before continuing. “I don’t know if it's a skill or some innate magic that you were gifted with by God but you have to be careful using magic without training. The results can be unpredictable, like not being able to aim them properly, the inability to choose specific targets, or even miscasting and the spell detonating inside of your body because it wasn’t fully formed. After your conversation with Saldir when he returns the guards will pay the fee to get you tested at the local church and it will all be added to your file. It’ll help with choosing the right type of job within the guards for you as well as the types of missions you’ll be assigned to. You’ll get a proper orientation later so I won’t go into a ton of detail on it right now as it's not all that important currently.” With that she stands up and begins gathering up her papers before turning back to me. “For now, I’m going to go get some sleep because healing you up was incredibly exhausting and I suggest you do the same to give your body more time to heal. Saldir will wake you up if I’m not around to stop him but at this point it's not detrimental to your health, so that’s fine.” After a nod goodbye she walks out of the room, clearly not caring for a response and I take that as my cue to try to get some more rest. Hopefully I’ll feel at least a bit better when I wake up.
When I open my eyes again I notice two things immediately. First of all, it's dark now, so I’ve managed to sleep through the entire rest of the day and will have to go home after nightfall which is never preferred because that’s when the drunks, thieves, and other unsavory types roam the streets. Secondly, I don’t hurt anymore. I expected every movement to be agony like it was the last time I awoke but that isn’t the case. I’ve always healed faster than most but this time I healed up far faster than I expected to, I guess the doctor from earlier must have finished healing me up while I was unconscious. I’ll have to make sure to thank her tomorrow when I come back. After a quick check to make sure I was truly healed, and a moment to locate the refilled glass of water on my nightstand I started making my way outside. This was a bit difficult in the dark but I managed to fumble my way out of the building without running into too many walls. Three isn’t too many right? Surely not, anyway, now I just have to get across town without attracting the attention of the local nightlife. With a posture full of confidence I don’t feel I set out towards home. I manage to pass by a few shops that are closed up for the night before I hear voices coming from the alley next to me. Looks like I made it the whole of one block before running into trouble. While it's about what I expected, I’d still rather not deal with this.
“I told you that if you didn’t get us our money this would happen. Now lay down and take your beating like a good dog.” A burly, and most likely drunk man, sneers at a smaller form curled up at his feet as he delivers two rib shattering kicks. The figure isn’t even trying to defend themselves so this has either been going on for a while now or this is a common occurrence. Either way I can’t just walk by and ignore it, I’m about to start working as a guard soon and no self respecting guard would ignore this scene.
“I-I told you that I would get your money. I just need a couple of days.” The figure manages to rasp out in between kicks before the goon's friend joins in, delivering a couple of swift kicks to their side before spitting on them.
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“You think we don’t hear that every day? We’ve given you more than enough time so now, we need to be a bit more.. Persuasive.”
At this point I’ve made it halfway down the alley and I’m able to get a better look, and unfortunately, smell. As I suspected they’re both drunk to the point I’m surprised that they’re able to kick the poor guy without falling over themselves. Seeing as they’re both well acquainted with liquor I doubt I’ll be able to resolve this peacefully but there’s no harm in trying.
“You know, it’ll probably be harder for him to get your money with multiple broken ribs.” I call out as I continue walking forward at a sedate pace. “Unless of course, you think that him being all beat up will give him more sympathy as a beggar but… I’ve seen the beggars around here. He’ll have some tough competition.” Stopping around fifteen feet away from them I hold my dagger in my hand while crossing my arms.
“Who the hell do you think you are? Some little buddy of his?” The larger of the two asks, sneering down his nose at me while taking a couple of steps forward. “How about you either pay up for him, or scamper along like a good little kid.” With this him and his friend let out an unnecessarily loud laugh before turning back around.
I dislike being called a kid, I understand I’m vertically challenged but it still pisses me off. So I naturally take the diplomatic option instead of doing anything reckless that would escalate the situation… Which is what I would like to say. Instead, I picked up a nearby bottle and threw it at the fat man's head. It made contact and immediately shattered, causing him to stumble in a very satisfying manner. He grabs his head and drops to the ground, moaning in pain while his lanky friend draws a cheap looking knife and points it at me.
“You’re going to pay for what you did to Sally, you hear me!” Drunk with anger as well as alcohol he begins advancing on me, but I’m too caught off guard to be nervous. Sally? Really? No wonder he went into a life of crime.. His parents must have really hated him.
“I figured the oh so strong Sally would be able to handle a little prank like that. I mean, you have to be tough with a name like that.” I respond in a mocking tone while settling into the basic fighting stance I learned from watching the guards. Carefully watching his approach I notice a few things. First of all, while he’s mad, he clearly doesn’t see me as a threat. He’s just walking up to me like he’s out buying bread for his sandwich later. Secondly, I don’t think this guy has had many fights where he didn’t hold the number advantage. Goons like him generally travel in packs and, like they were doing earlier, gang up on individual targets.
“I’m going to gut you like a pig and string you up in the streets as a warning to not mess with the wolf’s tooth gang!” With this elegant threat he charges right at me, knife held at his side as he clearly plans to ram into me. Such an obvious attack won’t work against anyone expecting a fight unless they panic. I step to the side as he nears me and grab his knife wielding arm while taking a swipe at him with my dagger. I only manage to land a glancing blow before he wrenches his arm free from my grasp and swipes at me, forcing me to dance back out of his range. Grasping his arm he eyes me with a hit of wariness in his eyes, understanding I have some level of skill as he approaches me more cautiously this time.
“Hey you’re kind of bleeding all over this nice alley. Why not get your friend and call it a night?” I give him a jeering smile before taking a step forward and kicking at his knee, which he unfortunately avoids with ease. It seems like this isn’t the first back alley fight he’s been in and now that he’s taking me more seriously it might actually be a difficult fight. Settling back into my stance I watch him carefully, looking for a weakness in his guard but not seeing much of one. I’m sure he's full of flaws but you can only learn so much by watching training at a distance.
“Why would I run from a snot nosed brat like you?” Taking a step forward he swipes at me again, and as I duck under his blow he delivers a sharp punch to my mask. Pain flares up as my head snaps back but after the beating I took earlier today, and the adrenaline coursing through my veins, I hardly even notice it. Instead of retreating I take a step forward and stab at his exposed gut, hoping to end this fight quickly, but he manages to twist out of the way so I get a deep, but overall inconsequential cut on his side. Taking advantage of him being off balance I move in close yet again and deliver a kick to whatever I can reach. Unfortunately for him, this happens to land right in between his legs and he immediately drops to the ground in agony. Even I feel kind of bad about that one, but whatever wins the fight I suppose.
“You cheap son of a bitch.” He manages to gasp out while clutching his nether region. “We won’t forget this, we’ll find you and bring more of our men. You’ll wish you were never born.” He rasps as he stumbles to his feet and moves slowly towards his friend, who is just now groggily getting up, blood still trickling from his head. I let them go. I don’t want to kill anyone if I have a choice in the matter, and there’s still the injured man that I need to help. It might come back to bite me later but I’ll have more training then and will hopefully be able to deal with it. Either way, it's future me’s problem. After watching the lanky man help his friend up and hobble off I head over to check on the beaten man, hoping that he’s at least still conscious.
“Hey are you alive down there? I’d hate to go through the work of fighting just to find you already dead.” I lean down and check to see if they’re breathing as well as to get a better look at them. The man seems to be in his mid to late twenties, but it's hard to tell with all the bruising and blood coating his face. While it doesn’t look like he’s ever been starving, he’s certainly not fat. Dark hair kept trimmed short and clothes that looked to be nice at one point, but are worn down due to age. All in all, he seems like an average shopkeep. Most likely fell behind on protection payments or something similar. It's something that’s all too common in the poorer parts of town. After helping him sit up against the wall he lets out a few wet coughs and looks up at me, his eyes taking a moment to focus before frantically looking around for the two men that put him in this state.
“It's okay, I managed to drive them off. What were you doing out this late at night? Especially with no guards or even weapons on you?” I ask him in a careful tone, trying to make sure he doesn’t panic.
“I-I was working late at my shop, trying to get it set up for tomorrow when they showed up and made me follow them here. They would have stabbed me if I didn’t do what they said!” He begins blubbering, letting the words spill out rapidly before breaking down into sobs at the end.
“Hey, hey, it's okay. Is your shop near here? I can help you get back there so you can clean yourself up and be out of this dirty alley. If you stay you’ll probably just run into more trouble.” I help the man to his feet, holding onto him as he sways unsteadily for a moment before regaining his footing. Looks like he’s going to be able to walk on his own at least.
“It’s just around the corner, I own a bakery but lately people haven’t been stopping by as much so I fell behind on my loan. I paid them all that I could but they said it wasn’t enough.” The man begins limping in the direction of his shop as he speaks, letting me know that he made the mistake of taking out a loan from a local gang. He’s probably going to be under their thumb for a while. Does it even matter that I helped him today or will what happened tonight just make things worse for him? Maybe I can talk to some of the guards later and have them patrol around his shop more? I’ll have to figure something out for the poor guy.
“Times have been tough for everyone lately, how much do you owe the gang? Do you know how many members they have? I pissed them off quite a bit today and would rather know what I got myself into.” I sigh and shake my head, thinking about what mess I’ve gotten myself into. At least soon I’ll have the backing of the guard so they’ll have to be careful with how they retaliate. Most gangs try to either pay off the guard or avoid them entirely after all.
“I’m sorry but I don’t know. I only ever see those guys but I’ve heard from other shopkeeps that they assign different people to different stores. We’re almost to my shop, if you stop by tomorrow I can thank you properly but I feel like I’m going to fall over at any minute now.” The shopkeep gives me a small smile before staggering into his shop, locking the door with an audible click. Looking up at the sign I notice that it's the bakery I passed by on my way to the guard entrance exam earlier today. With a small sigh I shake my head and continue my journey home. Thankfully I’m able to make it back without any further incident and happily collapse into my bed. It’s been a long day, even if I was unconscious for most of it, and I quickly pass out, ready to start tomorrow.