They all seem to be around their forties and good friends. But pretty quickly after I start staring at them, they start to stare back. Whoops, was that impolite? I guess I will just turn and look at the table. With nothing else to do, I just pick up on their conversation, which seems to be a mix of rumours and personal lives.

By the end of it, I have learned of one having a troublesome apprentice who wants to go solo already, but he won't let him because he isn't ready yet. Some mutual acquaintance has apparently gotten his fourth wife, which they all laugh about. The local noble has apparently trouble acquiring a tamed monster, something relatively new and rare by the looks of it. I am also surprised if it is true, but never hold too much stock in rumours.

Soon the guy from before calls out to me

"Come to the counter now and I'll settle this quickly"

The other two men continue talking while we settle into our respective positions around the counter. I take a look at the man guiding me. He is relatively thin and tall, seems to be constantly narrowing his eyes and has a bit of a long face. His brown hair has a weird bowl-cut that ends far to early on his head.

"I assume you are here to sign up for apprenticeship?"

"Apprenticeship? I assumed one could just join and start earning money?"

The man behind the counter sighs and mutters "every goddamn year" in a low voice, though probably a little louder than intended since I heard it.

"No, we don't just hire people off the street. What keeps the association going is trust that the contracts will be completed in a timely manner, so only those judged to be appropriately strong and responsible can take contracts. We have three ranks of hunters here, and you start at the third rank, apprentice. If you want to advance to second rank you need at least 1 year of service, 25 requests completed and a recommendation from a mentor. You can only fulfill requests by accompanying your mentor on requests he selects. The mentor is expected to teach you about the trade, how to handle communication with the contracts, how to assess your own abilities against what information has been provided and so on. Now, do you wanna sign up?"

Everything but the last part was spoken in a horribly monotone voice, as if it had been said hundreds of times before. Wait, I did kind of serve as an apprentice under Jorgen? I fetch the letter of recommendation from the sack.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I learned to fight from a man who wrote this" I say as I hand it over.

He nonchalantly takes the letter and reads it. But a few moments later he seems to be a little more engagsed.

"Sorry, since it is not from an active adventurer and you haven't completed requests, I can't admit you to second tier right away, I can however set you up with an apprenticeship with one of the guild's own hunters!"

"Hold on" A voice interfers from the table, as one of the men walks up to the counter. He is rather wide, and has a hell of a nose on him and gives off a somewhat savage feel. "THE Yirgol is taking on extra work voluntarily? What kind of gem have you found here?" He says while trying to snatch the letter, but the man called Yirgol protects it by holding it far away.

Was the letter a great influence, what did Jorgen write?

"Behave, Bosir, go mind your own business"

Bosir just emits a grunt and turns to me.

"Well, if Yirgil wants you, that's good enough. Listen kid, you shouldn't apprentice unter the association, they'll just end up hiring you and you will be stuck doing all the jobs noone wants"

"Not true" Yirgil states "You will also get a premium position and large cut of the loot for any major operations!"

"But those happen once a year at best, it's better to join a clan so you can hunt on your own terms, boy!"

Ugh, I feel like I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The last man joins in. He is rather small both in height and width, at least compared to the two others.

"Now now gentlemen, don't crowd the boy."

""Stay out of this"" the two men say at the same time.

"What, I am not even a member of the association anymore, I am not going to hire him" He states. "And can't you see how uncomfortable you are making him?"

Well, he said that, but then immediately proceeds to put his hands on my shoulders which make me very uncomfortable too.

"First, Yirgil, why don't you tell us why you want him this bad"

"First off, he has a gift. Scratch that, THE gift"

"Self-healing" boris mutters while nodding.

"Next, he is raised by Jorgen"

"Jorgen Sure-Foot?" the man behind me asks, to which Yirgil nods. "Now that's name I haven't heard in a long time. How is he, kid?"

"He is doing fine, but his age is catching up to him." I state, glad to finally being spoken to into of being accosted. "Is he famous?"

The man behind me laughs. "Well, not really, but he has a bit of a reputation here among the old-timers. Have you heard his famous deed?"

I simply shake my head.

"Well, the story goes some fierce monsters had crawled up multiple floors and posed a risk to the normal hunters here in the city. The association organized an emergency response with whatever hunters they could get their hands on to minimize casualties, some 10 guys or so. That hunter party, however, was completely outdone, so they try to escape. The monsters had poison though, and the men started falling one by one as they escaped, but Jorgen picked them up and carried them one by one as well. And what the reinforcements saw, as Jorgen booked it out of the dungeon was him carrying 6 hunters on his back while running up the stairs. He became a bit of a local hero after that, though the story has faded from the young ones these past 25 years."

So Jorgen did such a feat, huh? Sounds impressive