The next morning, both of them awoke unusually early. The mood was still a bit awkward so they swallowed their rations in silence.

“I am going to head to town,” Soral announced, breaking the silence, “Where do I find the jobs place you were talking about.”

Ruena jumped on the topic and pulled out a map to the location. “It’s nearby. If you leave the forest to the west that is the city that has the guild I told you about,” she explained, “The guild is near the edge of the forest so you won’t even have to go far into the city.”

According to the map she provided the city cut into the forest, leaving about a third of it overgrown with trees. The building was at the border between the busy commercial district and the forested residential. The old castle was also on the map in the opposite direction. As he studied the map he made a sudden realization.

“You’re not coming with me?” he asked, “Don’t you need to keep an eye on me?”

“I believe in your word,” she told him, resolutely staring him dead in the eyes.

Something about that made him shy away with unease. “I’ll get going then,” he said, pocketing the map out of habit. Her eyes followed the movement but she made no comment, only making him more nervous. How did normal, good and righteous people act again? He was starting to feel he was in over his head.

Just as the map showed, the town was fairly close by. It didn’t take him long before he was slipping past houses dotted here and there between the trees. As the trees slowly thinned out he could see the rest of the town, as well as a particularly large building looming over the last few treetops. Could that be it? He stopped and pulled out the map to confirm.

There was no doubt about it. That building was exactly where he needed to be. He just hadn’t expected it to be quite so imposing. Now to find out what these legal jobs were.

As he got closer he noticed a stream of people coming and going from the building. There were locals, but there were also those who were clearly travelers. The reason for the building’s enormous size must have been to accommodate all the traffic.

He slipped into the flow and entered the building. A few people shot him odd looks as he entered, and it didn’t take him long to realize why. Everyone there was taller than him. He had a bad feeling about this.

A lady wearing some kind of uniform approached him. “Hello there. Are you lost? I’m afraid children aren’t allowed to take jobs here.”

Soral grimaced. He knew it. Just because he was vertically challenged he was constantly mistaken as a child.

“I’m sixteen,” he told her.

She was a bit surprised. “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you mind if I use magic to authenticate your age?”

“There is magic for that?” he asked, surprised.

“Of course. It was invented by our wonderful founder, SIbel Toll. He has a rare talent for inventing magic. It is only one of many he has created.”

She seemed to be filled with pride as she explained, and Soral couldn’t help but be pulled in as well. He had never heard of anyone being able to invent magic before. Unfortunately, he doubted he would ever have a chance to meet someone as important as a founder without taking drastic measures.

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Instead he just gave the lady permission to verify his age.

“Your age has been verified. Would you like to sign up? I can help you right over there.” She gestured to a table with two chairs and a stack of papers sitting atop it.

“What happens if I sign up?” Soral asked. It never hurt to cover his bases, and he had no intention of entering into some kind of magic contract.

“Signing up allows you to take jobs and sell things to us,” she replied, “We do not take any materials from those who are not members, nor will they be paid if they complete jobs. The questions on our forms help us find jobs that best suit your skill set. Also, if you officially become a member our guild can step in if something should go wrong on a job site.”

It all sounded suspiciously good. “What’s the catch?’ he demanded.

She smiled knowingly. “Well, if you are caught using our name and information to sell materials to other businesses or persons you will be fined twice the value of the materials and immediately banned. Banned members are public information and can be used in legal cases against you if you are later accused of crimes such as theft.”

Soral flinched. So that was how this whole place worked. Still… So long as he didn’t slight them it didn’t seem to matter what he did otherwise. If the reputation of members here was so important, it might even make life easier for him if he kept it up.

“We also keep track of activity. If you sign up and disappear, your membership will be revoked. Regaining your membership will require a series of competency and character tests.”

That also sounded like a pain. Why would anyone sign up if they were just going to leave?

The lady seemed to guess his unasked question. “There are those who try to use their membership to boost their reputation without doing any work. We frown upon such foolish exploitation. This may be more of a guild, but this is still a branch of the Belleas Company and we hold high standards.”

High standards… Soral didn’t like the sounds of that, but he wouldn’t get anywhere if he didn’t sign up. One more thing he had to check, though.

“If I move on to something else, I can cancel the membership, right?” he checked.

“Of course. Membership can be canceled or suspended whenever you wish. We do warn that we only allow a total of four suspensions per membership.”

Four suspensions? He decided to ignore whatever that meant, since he doubted he would bother with it.

The questions weren’t that difficult. It asked him to choose categories of jobs he was interested in, things he would like to train, and where he believed his current skills were. Everything was multiple choice so he didn’t have to worry about choosing an answer that wasn’t allowed. Based on the descriptions he chose his current skills to be in line with those of a scout.

“Can I choose multiple things to learn?” Soral asked.

“You can take as many courses as you would like, but only the first is free,” she replied.

Of course. This is why Soral hated dealing with money. He would have to manage somehow or another or it would be right back to those tough rations for dinner. He could just nab something quick, but he doubted Ruena would let it slide and he wasn’t ready to ditch his earlier resolve just yet.

Once he finished the paperwork she looked it over and offered him a few jobs she thought fit. Most of them were for information gathering, but one in particular caught his eye.

“There are jobs to steal things?’ he asked, “Isn’t that illegal?”

“Not if the being you are stealing from is not protected by law,” she replied and pointed out the description, “Mine snakes are nasty little creatures. They steal all kinds of valuables, and even people if they take a liking to them. We also have extermination quests but it is almost impossible to find the stolen goods after they die.”

“Why is that?” Soral asked.

“They explode when killed,” she replied, “It’s part of why they were named mine snakes. There are offshoot species like gimme snakes that are much easier to deal with. They are smaller and faster, but that means they can’t take as much. They also don’t explode.”

“I will give that one a try,” Soral decided, excited for the challenge.

She gave him more paperwork describing all the details he needed to know to find the snakes, and some details on how to deal with them.

“If you don’t return in two days, we will send a rescue team for you,” she promised.

==========

Sibel Toll watched a young lad leave the building with his hands full of papers. Mine snakes were tricky and usually never something you would give to a beginner. However, sometimes a rare talented individual would arrive and Sibel couldn’t help but test their mettle. It was a bad habit of his, but he loved the game.

A scout who was all too interested in a stealing mission. It was no secret that many ‘reformed’ criminals came here to find more legal work. Sibel was perfectly fine with that. That was why he had set up so many precautions. Many of his finest talents had grown from living with the riffraff on the streets.

What was more impressive about this particular lad was his magical aura, which he seemed completely unaware of. Wouldn’t it be so much fun if he succeeds? The time limit was two days, and depending on the results, Sibel might have to set a little trap. After all, destined meetings were all about the mood.

“Sibel, are you doing it again?” his adorable younger sister asked with a pout. She was still a child so she had yet to earn the ‘Bell’ on her name.

“Don’t worry,” he assured her, “This one is going to be different. I can feel it. He might just be the heir I have been looking for.”

She tilted her head. “But he isn’t a dragon,” she pointed out, “We always choose dragons.”

“He can’t be a Toll,” Sibel admitted, “but he can still inherit my dream.”