Bureaucracy
When I wake up again, we’re already back on the road. Rayla is taking a nap and Scarlet is sitting in the corner while Sher Aka and John are at the reins.
Trying to avoid talking to Scarlet, I pretend I’m still asleep.
“I know you’re awake Rose…I just wanted to tell you that what happened with Rayla’s family will not happen again.”
Keeping my eyes closed, I answer, “You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do. Our parents will love you, I’m sure of it.”
Letting out a sigh, I sit up, “Look, I’m sure your parents are good people. But that doesn’t mean they’ll see me as their family, like me or even talk to me. All they know is that I’m some ugly, creepy guy hanging around their daughter, taking advantage of her kindness.”
Scarlet looks at me with pity, “Rose…Is that how you see yourself?”
“I-I don’t know. It’s at least not a wrong description of me.”
Coming closer, she answers, “Of course it’s wrong! Rose, you are none of these things!”
“Really!?” I angrily rip my mask off and get close to her, “Look at me, Scarlet. Really look at me. Then try to tell me again that I’m not some ugly, disfigured creep.”
Scarlet gently puts her hands on my cheeks, compassionately looks me in the eyes and answers, “You are my cute little sister. You’re neither ugly, nor disfigured nor a creep. You are cute, you’re strong, you’re smart, you’re kind and I love you. I’m also sure that our parents will love you too.”
I feel a sting in my heart as sadness fills me up inside and I answer, “Then you’re delusional, Scarlet.”
I look away from her, close my eyes again and ignore her. Over the next week, Scarlet tries to broach the subject a few times but I just ignore her each time it happens.
After nine days, we finally reach a bustling city full of brick houses and commerce. The streets are full with people of all kinds of different races, even some that I have never seen before. There are dwarf sized white lizard people with glowing noses and shovel-like hands and huge people almost twice the size of humans with cow like horns.
“Woah! Sher Aka, what kind of people are those?”
Looking outside, she answers, “The short ones are Albini, they originate from Tartarus and live together with the Neris. They have bad eyesight but they can emit light from their noses in different colors. The big ones are Frigants, despite how strong and intimidating they appear, they are a mostly pacifist race that focuses on the arts and medicine. I believe they have their own territory somewhere in the mountains of Frieden.”
“So cool!”
Rayla then pulls over and asks one of the Frigants who is wearing a suit, “Excuse me, Sir? Do you know where the Adventurers Guild is?”
“Haha, you have to be more precise, miss.”
“Uhm, this is Old Kroy right?”
“That’s correct, to be precise you’re in the suburbs of Horton. This city is more like multiple cities in one, each with their own guild, so you have to be a bit more detailed.”
“I see…Uhm…Is there like a main branch of the city?”
“Yeah, that would be in York Square. You’ll have to go over the lower Browning Bridge then keep going straight until you see the three giant bell towers. The main guild branch should be pretty much in the middle of them.”
“Alright, thank you Sir.”
He tips his hat, “You’re welcome, Miss.”
As we travel further into the city, we watch as the brick houses get bigger and bigger on the way.
Looking outside in awe, I say, “This is amazing, ane. There are so many different races here all living together.”
“You’re right, oki. This is amazing.”
John adds, “The architecture is immensely impressive as well, just look at all those multi-family houses so close together.”
Sher Aka nods, “Also there is no smell of feces in the air, which means this entire city must somehow be able to maintain a functioning sewer system despite this many people living here.”
“It does stink of pee and horsepoo, though” I answer.
“Yeah, really badly…” Scarlet adds.
Rayla, while holding her nose closed, adds, “Those sorta things, unfortunately can’t be avoided in large cities. But trust me you’ll get used to it…Eventually.”
John chuckles, “This is one of the times I’m glad I don’t have an enhanced smell. Even I find it unpleasant, so you guys must be in absolute agony, haha.”
Ralya gives him an angry look, “This isn’t funny.”
“You’re right, it’s hilarious, haha.”
She then slaps him with all six of her tails one by one.
“You know what. I deserve that one.”
“Ya think?”
As we travel further into the city, we have our first experience with inner city traffic. It’s extremely unpleasant. We are just constantly moving at snails pace and it would probably faster if we just walked there. About three hours later, we make it over the Browning Bridge that hangs magnificently over a giant river with multiple boats carrying both people and cargo. On the other side, there are even more people and the houses are three times as tall as the ones before. And despite the buildings being this tall, we can still see three bell towers piercing through all of them in the distance. Following those landmarks, we come to what looks like both a banking and entertainment district in the middle of the three clock towers. In it is a huge five story guild building. Thankfully, there is an empty guild parking space so we park our wagon in the stables and go inside.
The inside of the building looks a lot different from what I’m used to. While there still are questboards there isn’t really any eating or sitting area. This place looks more like some sort of office than a guild.
We then approach one of the many secretaries. She looks like an older human woman in her fifties wearing semi formal clothing.
Rayla asks, “Uhm excuse me, would it be possible for us to talk to the Guild Master?”
Looking up, she asks, “Do you have an appointment?”
“No, but-”
“Then no.”
“Alright…When would it be possible to make an appointment?”
The secretary opens a book full of different scheduling papers, looks through it and answers, “We have a free spot in three months. Do you want me to put you down for March 16th?”
“Do you not have anything within a ‘this week’ time range?”
Rolling her eyes, she sighs loudly and closes her scheduling book, “What is it that you need to talk to the Guild master about? Perhaps it’s something easy a lesser ranked worker can do.”
Scratching behind her ears, ane answers, “Well…The problem is that it’s something that requires xxx for the sake of the safety of one of my party members. If it were to leak it could cause problems.”
“Hmm…Before we discuss further, can I see your guild cards?”
“Of course.”
The secretary then looks at me and says, “Probably Human, huh? Cursed, unknown origins. Guardian: Shara Seleen!? You’re quite the character aren’t you?”
“I didn’t know it said that on my card.”
“Because it doesn’t. This is from your extended Guild Information that I get from this magic item,” she says while pointing at a book. It seems to have a picture of me, Rayla, Sher Aka and John in it together with some additional information.
“I see…So that’s what you guys are always looking at behind the counter!”
Rayla responds, “We’re actually here for that. We need to have someone approve putting fake information on the guild card but having the real information in the extended Guild Information.”
The secretary then taps her fingers on the book and says, “I can get you an appointment with the head secretary for that in two hours. Whether or not she approves it is out of my hands though.”
“That’s fine! Thank you very much.”
“Sure, sure. Please do not leave the premises until then though, there is a chance that an earlier appointment opens up by then.”
“Alright we’ll stay here then.”
“Waiting rooms are on the second floor, here is your number you will be called when she has time.”
She hands us a wooden sheet with the number 36 on it. Following her directions, we go upstairs where we find what I can only describe as a room of despair. There are dozens of adventurers there looking completely dejected as if their soul had left their body. Some of them even seem to be in deep prayer.
“Uhm, ane…This place looks really bad.”
“Yeah but it will only be around two hours, if we’re lucky it will be even less!”
Some people in the room then start laughing as if Rayla told a funny joke and an older lady walks into the room saying in a monotonous voice, “23. Number 23 please.”
An Orc and an Albini then stand up from their chairs with bags under their eyes. They look like they’ve been here a loooong time.
“Are you sure, this is a good idea, ane?”
“It’ll be fine…Just take a nap or something, it probably won’t even take the full two hours.”
“I don’t really think I can just fall asleep here though.”
Ten minutes later I fall asleep leaning on Rayla’s shoulder.
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Two and a half hours later Rayla, walks downstairs and talks to the receptionist, “Uhm, excuse me ma’am it’s been almost three hours now, are we still getting the appointment?”
“Sure, she just has one or two more clients you should be called soon.”
“Alright…”
Another two hours pass and number 36 has not been called yet. John looks like he’s about to pass out, Scarlet has opted to sleep on the floor and Rayla looks like she’s both fighting to stay awake and to keep her composure. The only one that looks completely unaffected by the situation is Sher Aka.
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Finally, at seven pm, three hours after we were originally supposed to be called, Rayla wakes me up. She looks horrible.
“It’s finally time.”
A bit groggy, I stand up and together with everyone go to the office we were told to go to. It is currently empty and looking out the window it’s dark outside already.
Compassionately, Sher Aka puts her hand on Rayla’s shoulder and says, “Don’t worry. I’ll take over now.”
“Thank you…”
Rayla then promptly falls asleep on my shoulder. After another fifteen minutes of waiting, a human woman in her forties enters the room, “Hello, my name is Murial, I hope you didn’t wait long.”
John looks like he’s about to explode, “Five hours! We-”
Sher Aka stops him by putting her finger on his mouth before he can say anything else, “It was about double the time we were told it would take but what’s important is that we did manage to meet.”
“Oh, my apologies. We are quite understaffed.”
“It’s okay. We are here because we need to have something added secretly to Thoma Ahad’s extended Guild Information without having it displayed on his actual card. We would also like to do the same once our companion Scarlet over here joins the guild. Here is his guild card.”
Sitting down behind her desk, she gets some paper and a pen out, “Hmm I see, what would you like added and why would you like it to be hidden?”
“We would like his race to be secretly updated to Dragon without displaying it on his card so he won’t be in danger of being hunted. If possible, I would also like to have his sex entry changed to unknown in the same manner.”
Pushing up her glasses, she takes a good look at me, “Why have you kept this information hidden until now?”
“I haven’t, I wasn’t a Dragon when I joined.”
“Excuse me?”
Sher Aka interrupts, “What he is trying to say is, that he didn’t know at the time due to his curse.”
“Hmm, I see. So you have discovered that you are a Dragon recently I assume. Please enlighten me though on why you wish the sex entry to be changed.”
“That’s simply because we don’t know his sex. I refer to him as a man partially due to habit and because he asked me to but his Dragon sister Scarlet over here claims adamantly that he’s female in his draconic form. Depending on how you look at it, he might be both male and female. Ultimately, we can not verify this though because he is still affected by a curse that changes his appearance and makes him unable to remember his life prior.”
“Uhuh…Could you please provide proof of you being a Dragon Thoma Ahad?”
“Yes, but I won’t be able to speak anymore for the rest of this interview afterwards, Sher Aka can answer for me though I trust her.”
“Alright, that will be fine. Please demonstrate now.”
Sher Aka then puts her hand on my back, “This is the spot, correct?”
“Yeah.”
She presses on it and I find myself blind on the chair surrounded by my own clothes being picked up by Sher Aka shortly after and put on a wooden surface.
The secretary seems to get angry when she sees me and says, “You are aware that child labor is not allowed in this country, correct?”
“Quite. The thing with Thoma Ahad is that his age is also a bit of an enigma. While this might be the form he takes as a dragon, we have no idea if this is actual age or not. What we do know is that he’s capable of working in the guild and needs the income.”
“Sigh So his age is unknown as well?”
“Correct.”
“Alright and what about her? Is she also cursed?”
Scarlet answers, “No, I’m not. Would transforming my head suffice for verification? I don’t think I fit in here.”
“Sure.”
“...”
“Alright, that seems right, you can transform back now. I assume you would also like the race on the card to show something less conspicuous like ‘Mixed’?”
“That would be helpful, yes.”
“Well…I’ll have to talk with my superiors about this. I’d also like to have a blood test done with Thoma Ahad. Both in this form and his polymorphed form. By drawing blood our higher ranking medical mages will be able to determine his sex and race.”
“Really?”
“Yes, though I have no idea how his curse will affect the results which is why I’d like to have his blood drawn in both forms. Please follow me.”
I can feel myself being picked up by Sher Aka and hear Rayla saying, “Huh? Are we finally done?”
“Almost, Thoma Ahad’s blood is being drawn to potentially figure out his race and sex.”
“What? That’s a thing?”
“Apparently, I am the only one here who doesn’t know any magic so I’m the wrong person to ask.”
“John?”
“It’s possible to do. Though I doubt it’s done often since people generally know their sex and race or are at least able to figure it out without magic. I doubt it will be able to detect anything from Thoma’s cursed form though. The body he inhabits isn’t made of flesh and blood, it's more of a crude mass of dark magic imitating its form and function. Also, Miss secretary?”
“Yes?”
“His body rejects light magic, I recommend you do not have the test done using it or it might falsify results.”
In response I hear the scratching of a pen, “Thank you for informing me.”
We then walk for a bit longer until we reach a cool room and I hear a man's voice, “Hi, how can I help you?”
“I need you to do a 27-FA twice, no light magic.”
I can hear some papers being exchanged before the man says, “Alright, Thoma Ahad, you’re going to feel a little prick.”
I feel my tail being picked up and stabbed into, “Gaaaaooo~”
“It’s alright, we’re almost done. There you go... I hope this will be enough blood for the lab…”
I then feel Scarlet pick me up and say, “Stay still for a bit, I’ll clean you up,” before feeling her lick the base of my tail where the doctor stabbed me. She then takes my tail, puts it in front of my face and tickles my mouth with it, causing me to bite down and suckle on it until I fall asleep.
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Scarlet asks, “Hey doc, if I give you some of my blood could you also do a test to see if we’re blood related?”
“I can, but that will cost you.”
“How much?”
“Two big silver.”
Without hesitation she hands him two big silver, “Please give me the results for that privately. Ultimately it doesn’t matter to me if we’re blood related or not but I’m sure it would make Rose feel bad if we weren’t.”
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