I awoke with a jolt and my eyes shot open. I groaned in annoyance at the disturbance to my peace.
“Who is it?” I called out to the incessant knocking at my door.
“Serah. It’s almost noon, we should head out and look around the town,” she called through the door; she was far too polite to enter without permission.
“Is John up?” I slurred, too tired to enunciate my words.
“He is. He’s already downstairs waiting for you,”
“Alright. Go tell him I’ll be there shortly,” I heard her footsteps trail off down the hallway and slowly dragged myself upright. The pain in the back of my head was nominal but still apparent. My throat however, seemed to have recovered well. I stretched my body and let out a satisfied moan before leaving the comfort of the warm sheets. Picking up my bag from the stool I looked around once more at the quaint room; even this is better than sleeping out in the cold. With a heavy sigh I pulled open the door and stepped out into the hall before making my way down the stairs. When I reached John and Serah, they seemed to be finishing up a conversation with one of the staff members.
“-can be a little… rude toward outsiders,” one of the staff members, a younger girl seemingly much politer than the woman from the night before, was talking.
“I’m sure they’ll come around once they see what we have to offer, eh Serah?” John was apparently in a good mood today as he wore a broad smile on his face.
“Who can be what?” I asked, feeling a little ashamed for intruding on a conversation.
“The Adventurer’s Guild. Apparently, we can find ourselves some work there, but the regulars alone can be a bit of a handful, if what the lady here says is true,” John gestured toward the woman who gave me a courteous smile.
“No need to be so polite, you can call me Susanne,” the lady giggled and lightly nudged John, whose smile seemed to grow a little wider. I think I figured out why he was so happy.
“Thank you for your aid, but we best be heading off now,” Serah said somewhat sternly; I think she was directing that more towards John than Susanne.
“I understand, thank you for your patronage, I hope you all come back soon!” Susanne gave a beaming smile but didn’t break her eyes from John.
“You can count on it Suzy!” John waved as Serah shoveled him out of the door. I gave a polite nod and exited with them, out into the bright and bustling streets.
Seeing the town in the busy hours of the day felt completely surreal compared to seeing it in the dead of the night. People filled the streets and chatter filled the air. Laughter, playful screams and arguments could be heard battling for dominance in the heat of the day. The trotting of horses and wheeling of carts could be heard in a variety of directions. People were going about their day-to-day lives here. I couldn’t help but smile once more, growing up in a small village to find yourself in a town is a fairly sudden and mildly overwhelming change. To say I wasn’t excited would be to lie through my teeth.
“That wench said it should be this way,” Serah said, taking lead of the group. John looked confused for a moment.
“Wench? You can’t be talking about Suzy, can you?” His voice clearly carried his befuddlement.
“Obviously, could she be trying any harder to scam you for every piece you have?”
“Just cause a lady is being nice don’t mean she trying to trick me any,”
“You really think a lady would swoon over a man asking where to find some work? Not even you could be so stupid,”
“She was swooning? Really?” A grin emerged once more upon John’s face, the rest of Serah’s words quickly pushed aside.
“Trust me, any woman willing to lie with you would most certainly not do it for free,” Serah stated, this time the words seemed to resonate a bit more.
“Oi! What are you trying to say exactly?” John piped up. Once more they engaged in verbal warfare. Ever since they were kids they seemed to communicate through fighting. Honestly, I couldn’t say I wasn’t jealous of their bond and their closeness. We were all good friends, but I didn’t have what John and Serah had.
“Oh! Er, Daniel, thank you for, you know, paying for our rooms, that was very kind,” Serah’s voice was a lot softer when she spoke to me and her smile seemed sincere, the green of her eyes intensified by the light of the sun.
“It’s nothing, you can both treat me to a drink when we get some work though,” I returned her smile and John returned another frown.
“Like hell I’m buying you a drink, you still owe me from my birthday!” He grumbled.
“I said I was sorry I made fun of you because you couldn’t handle your beer, you can’t really still be mad can you?” I laced a mocking tone into my words.
“That ain’t true! I could have out drunk you no problem! I was just, er, sick that day is all,” John was getting loud and defensive. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You should know better than to lie to us by now, John,” Serah was also mocking him. John huffed and took lead of the group, as he often liked to do when he sulked.
“We’re nearly there, you two better not make me look bad,” his words were bitter, but it was clear he didn’t mean them.
Changing a single district was such a strange sensation; the roads here looked so much cleaner and sturdier. The buildings were larger and more appealing and there were stalls full of various goods, which merchants were trying to sell. The air itself smelt less like the many passing by and more like a variety of baked goods. It made me mildly hungry once more. Looking ahead there was a particularly prominent building; it sat at the end of the street, appearing to be made of a well-polished stone and standing around three stories high. Its roof tapered off to a point and the doors were large and clearly reinforced. This was a building designed to look as powerful as possible. This was the Adventurer’s Guild. I caught myself allowing my jaw to hang down and quickly corrected myself.
“Sure looks bigger than I thought it would,” I noted.
“Yeah, it does,” Serah seemed to be amazed by the sheer stature of the building too.
“Do you really think we’ll be able to do any of the jobs?”
“I don’t think we’ve much choice; nobody here knows us and I’m down to my last few coppers, the faster we get some coin the better,”
“What if they don’t let us in?” My voice seemed to carry my concern as I spoke in a more hushed manner upon asking that. Neither of the other two seemed prepared to answer. As we approached the intimidating building, I noticed that a guard stood by the doors. The guard wore a thick leather tunic and trousers of a similar quality. He held a spear in one of his hands and his belt held three small knives. He watched our approach and moved to directly block the entrance.
“What do ye want?” He asked in such a manner that offered no room for pleasantries.
“We are here for the Adventurer’s Guild, we were hoping to find some work while-” Serah began, but the guard briskly cut her off.
“Sorry love, we’ve closed for the day,” he flashed a grin at all of us as he said this.
“Closed? Why? Surely that doesn’t make sense!”
“I said we’re closed, now bugger off!” This guard clearly didn’t want to deal with us.
“You listen here you little prick, there isn’t nobody allowed to be talking like that to us unless they want a beating,” John added in, to which the guard raised his spear pointedly at him and scoffed.
“Are you threatening me? I can have you arrested or killed quicker than you could turn to run!” The guard barked, to which Serah held her arm in front of John as a way to make him stand down.
“We apologize. Will you be open as normal tomorrow?” Serah’s voice made evident her feeling of being defeated. The guard scratched his chin for a moment and looked to the sky, clearly pretending to consider the question.
“Sorry love, I don’t think we’ll be open for a long time now,” he glared at John as he said so.
“This is ridiculous! Surely you shouldn’t be allowed to do this to us!” I exclaimed, I was getting angrier by the second, especially because he still had his spear raised.
“Listen here kid, I can do whatever the f-” he stopped himself short as the large doors began to open from the inside. A very tall and sleek man stepped out, he wore tight-fitting clothes made of some kind of wool, his eyes were small but sharp. He gave a sense of presence and authority that made me feel uneasy and he carried a short sword at his side.
“Is there some kind of problem here, Rob?” the man spoke to the guard while looking us all over.
“Ralph, Sir, no! just a few brats treading where they shouldn’t be,” Rob replied, as he lowered his spear and his voice clearly became much politer.
“Oh? And who are you three, exactly?” Ralph asked us.
“I’m Serah, this is John and Daniel, we came here hoping to find some work,”
“I see,” Ralph seemed to ponder something for a moment before turning his attention back to Rob.
“Robert! What is this building called?”
“The, uh, Adventurer’s Guild, Sir,”
“Are these not three hopeful adventurers you have standing before you?”
“It would seem so, Sir,”
“That’s what I thought, Daniel, Serah, John, if you would be so kind as to follow me,” Ralph gave a courteous smile as he turned to enter the building once again. We followed behind, each flashing a victorious smile to Rob, who seemed to have lost a lot of the confidence he had previously carried.
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