Raksha finished the breakfast wrap before he made it to the guild hall. The building itself was an impressive thing, ornate wood and columns gave it a very distinguished look. All the guild halls in the empire had the same style of build, although his one was much shorter due to the swamp issue. The guild was a quasi-governmental agency that regulated and profited off the dungeon. Its purpose was two-fold, from the government its mandate was to keep the dungeon from overflowing and threatening the city and its citizens. Its other mandate was to make money, keeping the dungeon profitable and sustainable. It was sometimes a tricky balance between the two, but that was what the guild was for.

Which mandate was prioritized was left up for the local guild to decide.

Raksha entered the hall and, despite the morning, it was already busy. Teams were gathering and discussing the plans for the day. A few looked up at the male entering the building, but they didn’t keep their interests on him. The woman in the guild looked tough and had better things to do.

Raksham walked up to the receptionist, an older gentleman who was helping a young lady break up her change.

Raksham waited patiently for his turn, then stepped up.

“How can I help you, young man?” the receptionist said pleasantly, putting aside the change from the previous client.

Rakshaw wondered when he would stop getting called a young man. People have been calling him that for over a decade now and he was getting tired of it.

“I’d like to register here.” Raksha said, putting his bag up on the desk and rummaging through it.

The gentleman gave him a smile and asked, “register for what?”

Raksha rolled his eyes, “Delving, what else?”

The smile quickly disappeared, “You are at the wrong building, the slave corps is on the other side of the city. Where is your officer, how did you get away from her?”

Raksha rolled his eyes yet again and then pointed to his cheeks.

“First of all, I was an imperial slave, not one affiliated with this city. Secondly, do you see this brand on my other cheek? I am a freed slave. Why does everybody only see my right cheek?”

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Frowning, the receptionist inspected the second brand. “I see. Still, you need to be a citizen to be able to register with the guild for delving.”

“What makes you think I am not?” Raksha challenged, rummaging through his bag again.

“Citizens don’t get sent to the slave corps,” He replied blandly.

Raksha fished out two items from the bag and slid them forward. “This one is my identification as a citizen, the second one is my guild registration from the capital. I’m already a registered delver there, you just need to add me to your local records.”

The receptionist stared at the two plates suspiciously. He picked up the citizen badge and looked it over, turning it around and holding it up to the light.

“This is very recently made.” he said accusingly, not looking away from it.

“I just earned it a few months ago,” Raksha replied with gritted teeth. “The hard way.”

The receptionist didn’t reply, but picked up the second badge and looked it over as well. Raksha stood with a scowl as the man took his time. Ultimately the receptionist didn't complain about the delver badge. He put them back down and stared over at Raksha for a few moments.

“Well?” Raksha asked.

“Why do you want to be a delver? Men do not fair well in the depths. How did you even get this delver badge? You wouldn’t pass our tests here, and I expect the capital’s standards are even more strict.”

“They are legitimate,” Raksha said aggressively, “and it's not your job to question this.”

The man stared Raksha down a few more moments as if he could scare him away with his look, but sighed and did his job. Pulling out a large book, he flipped through its pages and said to Raksha, “I assume you are already familiar with guild rules and policies then, I shouldn’t have to go over them with you?”

Raksha nodded, and the man didn’t speak again till he filled in several forms. He closed the book theatrically, and gave Raksha another smile, this one fake. “Anything else you need today?”

Raksha took the new stamped badge back and hesitated, before reaching into the bag again. “Yes actually, one more thing….”

Raksha pulled out a tube from the bag, uncapping the top and beating at the other end of it. A few moments later a rolled up paper fell out and Raksha carefully picked it up and flattened it. It looked old and worn, cheap paper written with cheap ink.

Raksha hesitated again before handing it over. “I am looking for the woman from this request.”

The man looked it over, his eyebrows raised up with every line in the document he read. When he finished he gave Raksha another once over. Raksha, looked away and scratched his cheek.

“So, is there an address or something?”

With an amused snort, the receptionist replied, “Yes, I will get that for you. However, I suggest you clean yourself before you meet her. There are bath houses down the street and to the left that I suggest you visit, they should be able to clean your clothes too, for a fee, of course. If you have the coin, I believe it will be worth it.”

Raksha scowled, but didn’t say anything, memorizing the directions. He had to agree, he probably should take a bath anyway. “Can you write down the address for me? I won’t be going right away.”

“You can read?” the receptionist asked, his eyes incredulous again.

“Yes.”