Entering the building I was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of alcohol. It reeked so immensely I was convinced I had walked into a brewery by mistake. The interior of the building did not do much in comparison to its exterior; the walls were the same stone but cracked and caked in a variety of substances. The floor was wooden and seemed to have holes throughout various places and the furnishings comprised of a bar in the far corner of the large entry room which was then surrounded by several large wooden tables and chairs. An impressive amount of men and woman sat around these tables, all clad in wildly varying armor and weapons. Everyone seemed to be talking excitedly in their groups, enjoying their drinks and playing some games. The atmosphere in here was far superior to the one hosted at the doors.
Ralph opened a door near the back and beckoned us inside, flashing his smile once more. Upon entering we were found to be in a considerably smaller room, but still respectably large. There was a desk at the back of the room in which a woman sat, surrounded by papers. Her hair was a dark brown and even though it was tied back it was still evidently frizzy. Her eyes were a light brown and her skin was of an olive complexion. She was wearing a button shirt and a long black skirt, and she seemed very annoyed at something.
“Hiya Liz,” Ralph once more offered his smile, Liz simply leaned back in her chair, looking at all of us as if we had disturbed something important.
“What is it?” She snapped, making Ralph drop his smile briefly, before putting an even bigger one back on.
“I found these three outside the doors, seems they want to earn some money,” he gestured at us three before opening the door once again.
“I do hope you can find them some work,” with that he shut the door behind him and the three of us were left alone with Liz, who seemed to be frantically shuffling through some papers.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Liz, we were-,” Serah once again got cut off, a recurrence that was clearly pissing her off.
“Elizabeth, do not be acting all friendly with me just to try and get the good ones,” Elizabeth snapped angrily, producing three similar looking documents and extending them towards us.
“Fill these out, then we can talk,” as we took the papers she gestured towards the corner of the room behind us, which a small desk and a couple of stools were placed. The desk was also covered in papers, save for a small space in which a quill and inkwell sat. We each proceeded to fill in our papers, which seemed to be application forms, detailing most of our personal information. Name, age, religion, medical concern, height, weight, experiences and more, the list was incredibly detailed and took several minutes to complete. After a considerable amount of time had passed we were all able to return the forms. Elizabeth read over each of them and seemed to grow more annoyed.
“So, none of you have actual experience in the field?” She audibly groaned.
“I’m sorry? We were hoping we’d get that here,” Serah answered.
“I can’t send you out into the field if you haven’t even received your formal combat training, even if I could I wouldn’t want to anyway, these forms are so hilariously bad I don’t think there’s a single job available to you,” Elizabeth let her head drop back against her chair and sighed deeply; to her this entire meeting was becoming a huge waste of time.
“Please, we won’t even be able to eat tonight much less have a place to sleep without work!” I pleaded, to which Elizabeth waved one of her hands lazily in the air.
“Oh, how unfortunate, you have no idea how many people say that same line to me every week,” she responded in a near monotone voice.
“Damn it! Is there nothing you can do for us?” I pleaded once again, to which she lifted her head to look at us all again before once more shuffling through her mountains of paper.
“These are all I have, you either take them or leave them, no more whining and begging, I’m a busy woman,” our eyes lit up as she handed us these new documents. We eagerly took them and read them over but were once again overwhelmed by that hollow sensation that is disappointment. We looked at each other a few times before sighing in defeat and agreeing to the jobs. Elizabeth gave her first genuine smile, before quickly arranging all the new documents and placing them onto one of the piles.
“Glad you can all be so understanding, come back at sunrise tomorrow and you’ll have your new bosses ready to meet you,” she stated, looking at us expectantly to leave.
“Tomorrow? But we need the money today! I just-,” this time John found himself being cut off.
“No more whining or begging, now get out, I’ll see you all tomorrow,” Elizabeth gave a stern and frustrated tone to John, who seemed to take a visible step back from sheer intimidation. We all reluctantly stepped out the office, closing the door behind us and once more being surrounded by the stench of alcohol.
“Want to leave?” I looked to John and Serah, who simply nodded as we headed for the doors.
Once we were back onto the street, the cool air and bright sun was a welcome sensation compared to the stuffiness of that building, we all walked a fair few meters before we began to speak.
“So, what did you get?” John looked expectantly at me.
“I’ll be working the stables, at a pay rate that I’m not even sure is legal,”
“Oh! So we will be working together then! That’s something at least,”
“Does this mean you’re in the stables too, Serah?” I asked, but she simply shook her head in response, before sighing and made a loud dissatisfied groan.
“I’ll be serving drinks to all our ‘brave’ adventurers in that stupid building,” she ran her hand down her face as she said this.
“I mean, at least you’ll get tips, right?” John tried to reassure her, but she shot him a deathly glare.
“I will not whore out just so you can afford an extra ale,” she said through gritted teeth.
“N-no, that’s not what I meant!”
“Of course you didn’t! That’s so typical of you!”
“Serah look I-,” John gestured his hands wildly as he tried to articulate what he meant.
“Serah you know he didn’t mean it,” I tried offering what I could to help John out.
“I know, I’m just so angry! Why do they get to treat us like filth? So what if we don’t have any training? Then just train us! This job is far too humiliating!” Her voice grew louder as she became more exasperated.
“Perhaps they just don’t want us to get hurt?” Honestly, I don’t think this was true, but I just wanted Serah to calm down.
“Anyway, the smell of all these baked goods are making me hungry, we have work tomorrow, so why not enjoy some fresh food and see what else this town has to offer?” I smiled and pointed towards a few carts that had a variety of buns and sweets sat atop them.
“Very well,” Serah sighed once again, putting one of her hands to her temples. Another silver lost to some fresh buns, but it felt very worth it at the time. Serah’s mood seemed to have greatly improved too, as she was delicately enjoying her food, seeming more conscious of her manners while we walked the streets. John on the other hand had happily scoffed his food down, leaving little evidence behind.
“Hey Daniel?” Serah called with concern in her voice.
“What’s up?” I replied; Serah seemed to be deep in thought.
“Did we sign out when we left the inn this morning?”
“No, I don’t think so, why?”
“The paper we signed, did it not say we’d be fined if we didn’t follow the rules?” Her saying this made me slow to an almost stop. I tried to think back to last night but I was so tired I don’t think I actually read anything, just placed my signature where I was told.
“I don’t know… how much did it say we’d have to pay?” I nervously queried.
“I think it was double the room price, so four copper pieces each, or two silver pieces total,”
“I only have one silver piece and one copper piece left, what about you two?”
“I only have three copper pieces, what about you, John?”
“I’ve a silver piece left, me and Daniel can cover the fine for tonight,” he answered, holding his last piece out to me.
“Very well, I’ll return the favor when I’m able,” Serah promised.
“For now we should probably go pay this blasted thing,” John added, to which we all nodded in agreement. So far Dormenthus was proving to be a handful in of itself.
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