I walked up the main street of Crible with my light armor on and the living metal around my right wrist and listened for the sound of booze and laughter. I don’t know what booze sounds like, but I can recognize laughter, at least. Walking through the crowded main street, I watched people go about their daily lives. Some people worked on their crafts, some sold things, while others bought stuff from the assorted stores. I ignored them and did my best to block them out as I walked, and before long, I heard laughter.
Drawing closer to the source of the sound, it soon became visible to my senses. The med drank from wooden mugs and boisterously laughed and talked. Getting closer to the building, it slowly became clearer for me to see. The building had a massive reinforced wooden door with a smaller door built into it for convenience. The metal studs and bars on the door looked weak in some places and brand new in others, and luckily, the door wasn’t locked either.
Opening the smaller door, the sound of everyone inside boomed out and into the street. I covered my ears to withstand the sound, but it was very difficult to block out. Inside the guild hall, were many tables, and people sitting at them, drinking, laughing, and telling stories. Three sides of the hall had workstations. On the left sat massive barrels of booze and a couple of young, pretty women serving the men in the hall great mugs of booze and an engraved sign that read ‘bar’ on it. On the right side of the hall were several tables with beasts in differing states of dismemberment. Three men worked on the corpses, taking them apart piece by piece and a sign hanging over it with the engraved words, ‘monster processing.’
Finally, at the far end of the hall, three men and two women worked at desks, going through papers and counting coins. The sign above that section read ‘Guild registration and assignment.’ Next to the counter was a wall filled with pinned papers and an engraved sign that read, ‘job board.’ After taking it all in, I walked into the guild and wove my way through the people and chairs. As I walked, I was surprised by how few women adventurers were here. I could see only four of them among the twenty or so men. I have a terrible feeling I won’t be taken seriously because of my gender more than my disabilities. But I have to try anyway.
I made it up to the registration counter and waited patiently for someone to greet me. I waited a little longer. And waited some more. I don’t think anybody even knows I’m here. I looked down at the counter and saw a little metal object with a ball inside and a little button on top. I pushed the button, and a sharp ring filled the hall. As the sound faded, so did the sound of people talking, and I not only saw everyone’s eyes turn toward me but felt their stairs as well.
The whispers soon came, “Who’s that?”
“Looks like someone trying to be an adventurer.”
“What’s a toothpick like them doing that for?”
“I bet they won’t last five seconds in orientation.”
A big, muscled man with worts on his face and more than a few missing teeth came up to the counter and asked, “What you want?”
I gestured with my hands that I wanted to write something.
“What? You want to register to be an advent—” his words died in his mouth as he looked into my white eyes. Then he started laughing, “AH HAHAHA! You’re blind! HAHAHA!! A little blind girl wants to be an adventurer!” the rest of the guild hall began laughing at me after that.
I felt my anger growing and pulled out one of my bags of coins and dropped it onto the countertop with a loud clang. This only made everyone laugh harder.
The man behind the counter pushed the coins back to me and laughed, “I’m not taking your money, child! Haha! I’m sure the registration fee is there, but I won’t let you join.”
Scowling, I picked up the money again and dropped it onto the counter again.
The man scowled back at me and pushed the money back again, “Look, kid, no is a no. So get lost.”
I picked the money up and dropped it again.
The man looked as angry as I felt now and pushed the money toward me again, “I said—” I didn’t let him finish his sentence. I grabbed his wrist, channeling my mana through my body, and pulled, dragging him over the counter and throwing him across the guild hall. He hit the massive reinforced door, shattering it on impact and rolling across the ground outside. Everyone within the guild went silent again.
I turned to look at a young, skinny guy who was shaking uncontrollably. Ignoring that, I picked up my bag of coins and dropped it on the counter again. The young man approached the counter and spoke in a trembling voice, “H-Hello, I-I’m Sam. Nice to meet you. So, you want to be an adventurer?”
Nodding, I gesture that I want to write something.
Noticing my action, Sam nods, “Right, umm, just one moment,” he says as he looks through drawers and pulls out a sheet of paper and a quill and ink. “If you just fill out this form, I can get you registered,” he says, handing me the sheet of paper.
I look down at the paper, then back up at him, then back to the paper, and back to him with a curious and amused look as I wonder how long it will take him to realize.
He stared at me while I did nothing, then looked down at the paper and made an ‘oh’ shape with his mouth as he realized what he had just asked a blind person to do. “Umm, do you want me to write for you or not?” he asked, and I rolled my eyes.
I pick up the quill with my right hand and point with my left at the top left corner of the page. Sam looked at the spot I was pointing and said, “Oh, okay, I’ll point to where you need to write if that’ll help?”
I nod.
“Right then, write your name and age there…” Sam began as he pointed at various spots on the page. The form covered all my basic information.
Name: Rose
Age: 16
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 68 kg
Job: Mage/scout
Special information: Blind and mute.
Once I finished filling everything out, Sam took the sheet of paper and said, “Excellent, the fee to join the guild is one-hundred silver, and once that is paid up, I will get the guild master, and he’ll give you the orientation.”
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Opening the bag of coins already on the counter, I counted out five gold coins and gave them to Sam, who took them happily and ran off to fetch the guild master. Leaving me alone, with a bunch of eyes boring into my back. Yep, I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long before Sam returned with the guild master.
The guild master was tall, broad-shouldered, with an unkempt beard and long, messy hair. He wore a leather jacket and boots and had a long sword hanging from his waist. He walked up to me and looked down, disappointment evident on his face. “Are you the one who threw James through the door?” he asked.
I nodded, unashamed by my actions.
The guild master humphed and said, “I’m Corval. I’m the guild master and will be the one who issues you a guild card if you pass orientation. Do you understand?”
I straighten my back and nod again.
“Good, now follow me,” Corval ordered. I did as I was told and followed. He led me behind the registration counter and through the back door to a training yard where several people had gathered. One was a tall woman with long hair, pointy ears, and she smelled of lavender. She had a curved sword on her waist and wore light leather armor. Next to her were two young men with bows and quivers of arrows on their backs. And the final guy was old and held a long staff with a gemstone at the end of it. He wore a long robe and cloak and had a pointy hat on his head.
“These four here will be helping me carry out the orientation. The elf here is Silty. She will see how you are in a fight. The two behind her are Hikaru and Sakaru. They will test your skills with ranged attacks and knowledge of the wild. And finally, we have Thornbold. He will test your magic capacity, abilities, affinities, and skills with magic. You follow what I’m saying, kid?” Corval asked after introducing everyone.
I nod.
“Good. Silty, you’re first!” Corval announces, and everyone but Silty and I leaves the area, stopping a safe distance away.
Silty draws her sword and commands, “Draw your weapon, and we may begin when you are ready.”
I nod and concentrate on the living metal around my wrist. I willed the metal into the form of a metal fist. Silty blinks in surprise but quickly composes herself with her sword at the ready. I wait a split second longer as I channel my mana through my body, increasing my speed and strength before I charge forward.
While Silty was still out of my range, she slashed at me with her sword, and I dropped so the blade went over my head before taking another step forward and punching at her stomach. She stepped back, and my fist missed her by several centimeters. As she stepped back, she swung up with her sword, and I had too much forward momentum to stop the attack, so I jumped forward and rolled across the ground, landing on my feet and getting back into my fighting stance.
Silty smiled and waited for me to attack again. She was out of my range again, so this was troublesome. Then I got an idea. I charged forward again and again. Silty swung her blade at me, but instead of dodging the attack, I raised my fist, caught the blade with the living metal, and pulled hard on the blade. Silty’s expression turned from amusement to shock as I swung my other fist at her face.
“STOP!” Corval commanded, and I stopped my movement. My bare left fist a few centimeters from Silty’s left eye. I then let go of her blade and nodded to her. She sighed in relief and nodded back to me before sheathing her blade.
“Silty, come talk with me. Hikaru, start the ranged portion of the testing,” Corval ordered. Silty nodded and jogged off the field while Hikaru walked onto the field.
He walked up next to me and pointed to my right, “Do you see those targets over there?”
I willed my metal hand to return to the bracelet form and looked Hikaru dead in the eyes as I shook my head.
He grimaced, “Right, Corval told us about that. Sorry, I forgot.”
I waved him off, focused on the location he pointed at, and whistled. A split second later, I saw three black circles on wooden posts before the sight was gone. Then I pointed three fingers at the spot.
Hikaru nodded, “Yes, they’re right there. I’m going to assume you can’t use a bow?”
I shook my head and then raised a finger for him to wait. I stomped my foot and got into a low crouch. A small pillar of stones rose from the ground before me, and I whistled again, locking the targets in my memory. I jabbed forward with my fist, and a fist-sized stone shot out from the top of the pillar, impacting one of the targets. I followed the strike up with two more fist-sized stones flying at the targets. I saw the targets shatter and crumble as the sound reached my ears.
Turning to Hikaru, I smiled while he left his jaw hanging open. Then he composed himself and cleared his throat, “Yes, perfect aim, but now we need new targets.”
I smiled sheepishly and bowed my head in apology.
“No, no. It’s fine. But now I think it’s Sakaru’s turn,” Hikaru said, waving me off. Hikaru jogged off the field, waving to Sakaru and the others out of my sight. Sakaru soon jogged up to me.
“Hello, I’m Sakaru. Nice to meet you. I’m here to give a sort of oral exam to see what you know about animals, plants, and monsters. I will also see if you can make a fire, set up camp, etc.” Sakaru said as he introduced himself.
I sat down in the dirt and used my finger to write, “I don’t know what animals look like other than rodents, and even then, I couldn’t tell you their names. I don’t know plants or monsters, either. Other than the Spear-bear, which I encountered on my way to this city. As for making fire, I can’t do that either. But,” I stopped writing for a moment and brought my hands down in a diagonal chop, and two small stone walls came up and formed a little tent around me, “I can make a tent.” I finished.
Sakaru sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before asking, “Do you at least know the cardinal directions?”
I shook my head in the negative.
He sighed again and walked back to the others. After several minutes of talking amongst themselves, which I could hear every word of, but decided to ignore them to avoid being rude, Thornbold began walking toward me as fast as his old legs could carry him.
Getting out of my earth tent, Thornbold finally made it to me and said, “I am Thornbold. It is an honor for you to meet me.”
That’s not narcissistic at all.
“I will see your magic capacity, ability, affinities, and skills. Now, I will start with your affinities,” Thornbold said and placed the tip of his staff on my forehead. “Mana Aflita Ashfuund!” he chanted, and after a moment, he said, “You do not possess the fire affinity or the light and dark affinities. But you possess the water, earth, and air affinities, and one more I do not know.”
I already knew that, but I still decided to talk to him. I knelt back to the ground, erased what I had written before, and wrote, “I know. The fourth affinity I call the Force affinity.”
“Force affinity. Interesting,” Thornbold muttered before continuing, “Very well then. Now for the capacity. Mana Kiep’tall Ashfuund!” Thornbold went silent for a moment and stared off into space before saying, “That … that is … impossible.”
I cocked my head quizzically at him and waited for him to say something.
After a few minutes, Thornbold shook his head and said, “Right, moving on.”
TELL ME MY MANA CAPACITY, DAMN IT!!
“We shall now see your ability to use magic. Please create a sphere of water.”
I shook my head and shrugged. I could never make something out of nothing like Snow or Mountain do, so I have to use what is on hand to use magic.
Thornbold scowled, “You don’t know how? How? After all, you can use it.”
I knelt again and wrote, “Can’t use water magic without water. Can’t use air magic without air. Can’t use earth magic without earth.”
Thornbold sighed and said, “Very well, do something with air magic then. I have already seen your skill with earth magic.”
I nod and focus my mana into my hands as I form air around them. I punch to my right and shot out a compressed jet of air.
The old man looked contemplative momentarily and nodded, “Very well, I am finished.” I cocked my head quizzically at the man. Was that really all?! Wouldn’t there be more to do than that? After a moment, Corval walked over to me. I tensed up as he entered my vision and stood with my back straight and my hands clasped behind me.
Once he got within arms reach of me, he said, “Congratulations. I will accept you into the guild.” I nodded happily and did my best to keep the rest of my body under control. “However,” Corval continued, and my excitement dropped, “Since you don’t know how to set up camp, collect food, start a fire, or find your way home after getting lost. You will be put on a team. I will assign you the team and introduce you to them tomorrow.”
I scowled, all my excitement gone for the moment. Then shrugged and nodded. Being on a team with people who can see would make sense.
“Good. Now go home and get some rest, wherever that may be. I want to see you bright and early tomorrow morning,” Corval commanded and walked away. Nodding, I waited for him to leave before jumping into the air in celebration. I made it in! I am an adventurer!
“We can still see you, you know!” Silty called out to me, and I felt my face burn up in a blush as I got myself under control and quickly exited, feeling excited and embarrassed.