He felt his arms and sure enough, there were scars. This time, he knew he was back. But where was he exactly? The room wasn’t extravagant by any means but it certainly wasn’t anything he was used to seeing and what was he wearing? A soft cotton tunic that was several sizes too big. What was supposed to be short sleeves looked long on him.

George stood up, stumbling a bit as he felt a little light headed. He walked over to the window and peered outside. Instead of the greenery he was used to, tall, cobbled structures greeted his eyes. Some, more colourful than others while some bland and dreadful looking. This was a city wasn’t it? Curious, he unlatched the window sill and lifted it up only to be bombarded with all sorts of awful smells. Smoke, piss, and other unpleasant things. This wasn’t what he imagined at all. He thought the cities’ would be cleaner, more organized but it clearly wasn’t. Curiosity satiated and unable to withstand it, he immediately slammed it close. There was a sudden click behind him and the door creaked open. It was the two siblings who saved him last night. The girl immediately walked up to him. Too close for comfort.

“Oh, you’re up. I was getting worried there for a second. I thought you were.” She paused, making a slicing motion across her neck. “But thank goodness you weren’t. You’re okay right? You don’t look so good. Are you okay?”

“Amy, what did I tell you about boundaries? You can’t just bombard the guy. He just woke up.” The older brother said, while setting a huge cloth bag on the wooden table. He had bandages all across his body, covering half of his face. “I’m Ben and this is Amy. What’s your name kid?” He asked, rummaging around the sack.

“George.”
“Just George?”

“Just George.”

“Alright, just George. Mind telling us what you were thinking being all by yourself in the forest at night? I mean I’ve seen stupid but that takes the cake. I mean look at you. You're as skinny as can be.” Ben went on.

“Hey! A man being skinny isn’t bad!” Amy interjected.

“Yeah? That only applies for those shut ups born with a silver spoon. Common folk like us don’t have that luxury. You can’t go wrong with brawns. I would know. Saved me from many close calls with death.”

“But still, muscles aren’t the only thing that defines a man.”

The two siblings continued bickering whether or not muscles made the man.

George meanwhile stood there awkwardly, unsure of whether to interrupt them or just stay silent. In the end he decided to stay silent until their arguing settled with both siblings agreeing to disagree.

“Thank you, both of you. For saving me.” George said, bowing his head.

“Woah, woah, woah. You don’t have to do that.”

“I don’t?” George looked at them puzzled. He was sure one of the knights that frequently visited the village told him that this was how people in the city showed respect. Unless he was lying…

“You’re strange, you know that?” Amy said, slapping his back. “Relax a little. No one's worth bowing down to. Not here at least.”

“But you saved my life.” George added.

“We just happened to be at the right place at the right time that’s all.” Amy reassured him.

George looked at them even more puzzled than before. “Geez, look. You recognize this at least, right?” Amy said, holding up a badge he was all too familiar with. A triangle emblem with the symbols of an eye, a heart, and a fist engraved upon it. 

“You’re adventurers?” His eyes widened in excitement.

Amy was taken aback. It was the first time in her life that someone looked at the adventurers’ badge with such admiration. Taking full advantage of his naivety, Amy proudly brandished her badge in its full glory. “Ho, ho. That’s right. We are adventurers.” She said, her eyes closed while smirking for all to see. To no one’s surprise, George was eating it up. Practically hero worshipping her.

“Alright that’s enough, both of you.” Ben interrupted, began to pull things out of the cloth bag and before he knew it, there was bread, sliced smoked sausages and cheese. The good kind, glistening seductively in the sun, taunting him, teasing him.
The two siblings sat down and immediately started digging into the food. Devouring the delectables in front of him without savouring it.

Treats that George would rarely get to eat if he’s lucky. They were inhaling them in one sitting. His mouth watered and his stomach growled uncontrollably. Ben noticed this and said. “What are you doing? Sit down, pull up a chair, eat. There’s more than enough for all of us.”

He didn’t have to tell George twice. The bumpkin immediately went to town, eating a bit of everything. ‘Life can’t get any better than this.’ He thought to himself as he stuffed himself. 

“You know you were lucky we came when we did. A minute later and you would have been…” Amy started, smacking her lips and licking her fingers between words.

“Amy!”

“Sorry.”

They talked and ate for a while. Apparently, the two of them were tasked with handling the wolf that was seen by the villagers. He also learned the wolf was called a mana beast. From what they told him. Mana beasts come in all shapes and sizes. They aren’t restricted to a species but at the same time they don’t appear every often, especially not around human settlements. Which made it even weirder that it was running around in the forest in the first place. 

“Anyways, I’m heading to the adventurers’ guild. I need to inform them that we’ve completed the quest.” Ben said, his chair made a scrapping sound against the wooden floor as he got up. 

“Alright. Good luck then.” Amy said, waving cheerfully at her brother.

“The Adventurers’ Guild?” George abruptly stood up. 

“Yeah? What about it?” Ben asked, his eyebrow raised.

“Can I come with?” 

“Sure — but it’ll be boring.” Ben was just about to say when George interrupted him with.

“Great. Let’s go.”

“But George. Don’t you need rest? Are you sure you can even walk?” Amy asked.

“Yup.” He replied without hesitation. There was no way George would miss this chance to see the adventurers’ guild. No chance, whether they liked it or not. He was coming with.

A little later, all three of them left the house. 

“You can’t go out like that. They’ll all laugh at you.” Amy told him and then convinced him to let her style him, to her taste of course, which was odd to say the least but to George, a bumpkin, it was the coolest thing he had ever worn. He had no sense of fashion at all. The streets were littered with all sorts of bizarre things he had never seen before. There were so many stalls, so many vendors selling knives, weird relics, knives again. 

“You’ve really never been to the city huh?” Amy said, watching George be curious about everything. 

“Hey Curious George. This is us.” Ben called out to him as they stood before a massive building made out of cobbled stone. George’s jaws were practically on the floor, marvelling at it. The structure was nothing to scoff at. The adventurer’s guild emblem was sewn onto a large banner that was hung at the entrance.

Inside, there were all sorts of people that came from different backgrounds. There were crowds of people standing before a huge wooden board with parchment of different sizes pinned to it. One group was composed entirely of shady looking people while another had a barbarian and an aristocrat laughing together, not bothered by the fact that they were of different social standings. There were people laughing, people getting into a brawl over something, people having a meal while enjoying the ensuing chaos.

“Is that a friend of yours?” The receptionist asked, watching George go up to the group of shady people and then to the barbarian and aristocrat and then to a party composed solely of girls while saying what an honor it was for him to be in the presence of adventurers. It almost made him forget about Fafnir.

“Yeah, he’s new in town.”

“I can tell.” The receptionist replied, absentmindedly nodding while she cringed from George’s actions.

“Oh right, you’re here for the payment, correct? Here you go. 50 gold for the mana crystal of a grade 5 mana beast.”

“Woah. That’s more gold than I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Both the receptionist and Ben were startled by George’s sudden comment.

“Well, dealing with mana beasts is risky so naturally the rewards have to reflect that.” She added, feeling weirded out by George’s overeagerness. 

“So you’re saying that if I become an adventurer I’d also make that much?”

“Not quite, you’d have to take the evaluation test and if you’re not deemed field ready you would be prohibited from taking on any quests regarding mana beasts.”

“Evaluation test?” 

“Yes, an evaluation test to pull out your hidden potential or… so they say.”

“Can I try? I’ll do it. Please?”

“Well… you do have Ben and Amy vouching for you.. Alright I’ll see if we can’t have you get evaluated today, but the evaluation isn’t purely physical there’s still the written test… Nevermind, follow me if you would please.” The receptionist said as she came around the counter, motioning him to follow her.

George glanced over his shoulders. Amy cheered him on while Ben made hand gestures that instinctively said, get going.

George swallowed hard. This was it. This was the moment, the first step towards becoming an adventurer. His hands sweating profusely and stomach churning uncontrollably, George walked over to where the receptionist was waiting for him.