5. Lets have a look at that A.S.S.

Alex walked again from store to store, and after having managed to commission her blade, she made her way slowly to the A.S.S. building here in Nordhutten. It was at a square where the Craft District met up with the lower-priced living spaces, at least so she was told. She made some smaller purchases along the way, like a quill and ink, an empty book for notices, some standard daggers, and some tools she did not already have.

After a while, she noticed that Kagami hadn't said anything for a while and looked at her kind of funny. So, she asked in Aril,

Is something?

Well, yes. Kagami answers.

You act erratically and strangely! Not just with the smith, when you talk with people. Sometimes you are calm and act thoughtfully and with structure, then you are suddenly over the top and manic.

I mean, I know you wanted to draw attention, but you seemed to run away with the horses from time to time. Is everything okay?

Alex stopped and thought about it, reflecting her behavior.

You know, now, as you tell me, I seem to show not much self-control and give in to spontaneous ideas and impulses. I do not know; it is as if I don't think before acting and don't think through the situation I am in.

Situational awareness, which is the word I´m looking for, not as I would have behaved before.

Like standing in the middle of the street, speaking with your “Imaginary Friend”?

Kagami asked and pointed out the people looking at her.

Oh,shit! Alex shrieked in shock and walked on fast.

Okay! Yes, I don’t behave normally.

I was a total introvert. I never acted like this. Well, not never. I was very much a clown in my teen years and did a lot of dumb, scatterbrained, …….. Oh, fuck!

He looked at Kagami with horror.

Could it be Hormones?

Please tell me I´m not still in the elf puberty!

Well, it would make sense! Kagami said.

Fuuuuuuck! She signed and buried her face in her palms.

Well, it fits. No wonder I´m horny all the time.

Well, at least you told me fast enough; I do not think there is any harm done to the objective.

Which is what again?

Kagami followed up.

Just the attention thing.

I mean, I'm pretty sure, that by tomorrow most people will have heard about me. So, there will always be eyes on me, simply because of human curiosity, and no one will be able to just grab me or whatever. At least not in the city.

And the people who may think they get useful information out of me, will hopefully soon be convinced, that I do not know shit.

I mean, they will send people that can sense a lie, and I told, and will tell, everybody my story, and that I know nothing. And if it is true that the Geas ensures that no mortal can sense me lying about where I come from, then I should be safe soon.

Well, it sounds logical, at least.

Yes, so please just stop me when I act crazy. She said, pleading to Kagami,

Please, just shout puberty or something like that.

As she finally reached the square, she looked around curiously. It was not excessively big, as squares go. A thirty-meter rectangle with three streets leaving it. In its middle was a statue of some heroic figure slaying some beast; she could not see it from her point of view, and the only side with no street coming in had the A.S.S. building on it. It was a big house, three stories high, and had a length of about twenty meters; the rest occupied a high wall with a big gate. It looked like there was a courtyard behind the house.

The house itself had a first floor built of stone, with neither doors nor windows, and was half-timber for the rest of it. Wooden stairs led to the entrance, which was on the second floor. Above the entrance was the same kind of shield as she had as a badge. Overall, it had a very defensible feeling to it. Sturdy, with narrow windows and oriels that could be used for archers.

Alex took a little walk around the square and noticed, that the other houses were mostly Pubs, some cheap inns and something like a general store.

As she got around it a bit, she looked at the Statue and laughed. Some guy in heavy plate, that killed, Saint George style, a bunny the size of a big dog.

Sooner or later, she really wanted to know what it was with the bunnies here, but for now, she simply walked by it and to the A.S.S. hall.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

As she walked up the stairs and into the hall, she couldn´t stop to compare it to the adventurer guilds as they were described in her books. And it was quite similar.

She stepped into a big room, as wide as the whole building and perhaps half its depth. To the left was a counter with a bored-looking clerk; to the right was a bar, and the wall in between had a lot of papers nailed to it. Most of the room was occupied by tables and chairs, but sadly, they were not occupied by a colorful mass of adventurers; it was quite empty. Just a trio of old men sitting in a corner, drinking, and speaking.

First, she walked up to the wall and had a look at the papers, but they were not Quests. At least not like she would have imagined them. Yes, there were some bounties for criminals and one or two beasts, but most of them were just prices for varied materials and such. Most was what you get selling to the Association, but there were also postings from craftsmen that needed special materials. Even if Alex had read into the books she had, she did not know most of those that were searched for.

After browsing for a while, she walked to the counter, putting her badge on it, and spoke to the clerk.

Hello, I am Alexandra Bloodthorn Willows Daughter, and before you ask, I am a Nymph; that is a kind of Halfelf. I am new around here and would like to register myself with the Association, and I am interested in your trainingsprogramm for Coppersentinels. If I heard it correctly, you have a trainingsfacility in the town of Ephemersfurt.

The clerk, a bland-looking man with receding hairlines, put her badge on an enchanted board on the counter and answered,

Yes, the Copperhouse in Ephemersfurt!

There is a group of Coppers that will make their way there in a little less than two weeks.

He stopped and looked at the ledger for a moment.

Yes, they leave Nordhutten the day after Temple Day; that would be eight days from now.

Well, how does this Copperhouse work? Does the training cost something? And if it is called a house, do I have to live there, or can I look for other acomendations?

Well, it depends, the cost is only 5 silver each week, but you can get it lowered or on the basis of a loan, if you can't pay it. It's highly substituted by the Association anyway.

Food and a place in the barracks are inclusive, but I do not think they are mandatory. But that's a question you had better ask the people there.

Oh, good. Then please note that I want to join!

Alex said cheerfully.

By the way, are there any quests or tasks for a Copper like me here in the city? Or is there some way I could train here?

All I saw on the wall were requests for materials and so.

Yes, of course there are tasks for the Copper Sentinels, but we do not put them on the wall. We are more of a transshipping point for materials from the outlying towns. But there are still all those pesky vermin extermination tasks you find in every city and surrounding area; however, tame they are. Mostly the normal stuff, rats and slime in the sewage and the big warehouses of the harbor, and all those pests that make it difficult for the farmers.

But we don't give those jobs to a lone Copper, you need a team of three at the minimum. Too much can go wrong, and we don't want to lose our Coppers through such neglect.

Damn, I don't know anyone here; there is no chance to find a team on short notice, and it would not really worth it, if I left again in eight days.

Well, there is one thing, but it's not a very nice job.

The clerk said and looked at her clothes.

In three days, they start the annual cleaning and servicing of the big sewage cleaning ritual enchantments. For that, we need everyone we can get to clear the spaces, and an additional healer would be welcome. But it's mostly in the sewers, and the stink and filth are a thing.

It pays three silvers a day, and it's normally work for three to four days.

By the way, you would meet some of the other Coppers, who would also go to the Copperhouse with you, there too.

Hey, I don't run away from a dirty job. Alex said.

Where and when should I be?

At sunrise in three days here. Do you need a room?

If you do, we have an understanding with the Inns outside, and a little barracks in the back.

No, I'm good! She started walking away and said.

Goodbye, and thanks for the information.

If something comes up or chances, I reside at the Gilded Rose for now.

With that, she left fast, before the clerk could say anything else.

It was early evening, and Alex was back at the Gilded Rose. After she left the A.S.S. she made her way back in a manner, that had given her the chance to see more of the city and a good meal in a nice little restaurant. Now, after a long bath, she sat together with Virvian in the big salon. She had left the gambeson in her bag, and only wore her underwear under the thin mantle.

Along with her and Virvian there were two other patrons and their companions of the evening, in the booth. At the moment, they tried to teach her the game, shield, sword and staff. The game was mostly a card game, but it also needed a little board with three figurines. In short, you moved your figure and attacked with the cards in your hand. If you make a successful attack, you get a card from the person you attacked; if your attack was unsuccessful, you had to give him one of your cards. The difficulty was that the worth of your cards would vary by the position of the figurines. If you were playing as the sword, your attacks were better the closer you were to your opponent; as the Staff you needed to be as far away as possible. And the shield player got a bonus for how long he didn't move. The game was won if one player had all the cards or if the shield player was able to not move for five rounds.

As for the two patrons, one was an elderly man who was not very at ease with the attention the young woman next to him was giving him; the other was perhaps thirty years old and was so forgettable, it was just suspicious.

That they were more interested in her than what should have gotten them into a house like the Gilded Rose, was suspicious, too. As Alex had the hunch that they were here to investigate her and to sense if her story is true, she had not resisted their curious questions about the fantastic empire she came from. Even if they were simply curious without an agenda, it didn't hurt to get more of her story out.

You see, I have really no idea what they were up to with the formation project. I was just a newly awakened in the outer sect.

I have heard some rumors in the camp, but you know how it is with rumors: they were all over the place and made up by people that knew not more than I did.

Alex answered a question from the elderly.

And I was still at a point where I needed to learn how the sect and all the other stuff worked. I grew up at my mother's place, a dryad grove deep in the wilderness, and the people there were not your typical society of the Province or the Empire. So, as I decided to go to the sect, I had so much to learn myself, and I was not yet very long there. As it is, there is a lot I can't tell you about and a lot that I might have misunderstood.

What do you mean? The younger one asked.

What kind of people were living in this Dryad grove?

Well, there were, of course, some Elf and Human, I think you could call them misfits, who had turned their backs to life in the sects and cities, but most of them were sapient Beasts.

What? Beasts that are sapient?

What kind of fairy tale do you try to spin here? The elder flared up.

Alexandra looked at him innocently,

Why a fairy tale? Don't you have sapient beasts here?

I will not say they are that common where I'm from, but they are commonly known of.

Of course, they are not all friendly, just like humans or Elf, but those living at my mother's grove did live there under the same rules as everybody else.

As the others in the booth looked at her with disbelief, she simply drank from her glass and cuddled nearer to Virvian.

It was an evening well spent, she thought, but she wanted to leave here soon and get her into the bed upstairs.