Guild Exam
Surprisingly, we do actually get an appointment at the exact time we were told we’d get one with the same woman as yesterday.
“I’ve talked to the Vice Guild Master about your request and she said she would like to evaluate both Miss Scarlet and Miss Thoma Ahad personally.”
A bit confused, I ask, “Huh? Why me?”
“Because she wants to know if you should be counted as a child or not.”
“Ah…That should be fine then. When will we meet her?”
“Now. There will be an examination of your physical capabilities followed by an evaluation of character. Please follow me outside.”
We are then led to the back of the guild where we find a small arena-like building and in front of it a small squirrel Beastkin about a head taller than Scarlet, wearing wide robes and a big pointy hat. She has gray hair, a big tail and overall looks very friendly. She seems like she’s in her late twenties.
“Hi there, you must be Scarlet and you must be Thoma Ahad. My name is Sue of the Puschel tribe, I’ll be conducting this examination today. Who would like to go first?”
Scarlet raises her hand, “Let’s get this over with quickly.”
“Quickly huh…The quickest way to assess you would probably be a sparring match, are you okay with that?”
Scarlet grins, “Of course. Do I get to be Vice Guild Master if I beat you?”
“No but if you beat me I’ll gladly award you the A-Rank.”
With a grin, Scarlet cracks her knuckles, “Let’s do it then.”
We all go inside the arena and sit down on the viewing benches while Scarlet and Sue stand in the middle of the combat area, “Alright, I’ll slowly ramp up my attacks to match your attacks. Since you’re trying to hide being a Dragon I will consider a full draconic transformation to be a loss for you. Any questions?”
“Nope, let’s go.”
“Alright. 3, 2, 1, Go!”
Scarlet then charges at Sue who pulls out a small crossbow from her robes and shoots at her. Scarlet doesn’t even dodge them because the bolts all break on her body without leaving a mark. Running at full speed, she gets into melee range and strikes quickly at Sue but no matter what she tries, Sue just keeps dodging every attack.
“Very smart, going into melee range as quickly as possible against a ranged fighter, you even knew the bolts wouldn’t pierce. I guess I need to step up my game a little.”
“Shut up.”
“Moderate boost speed.”
Sue’s speed quickly increases as she starts to glow for a bit and gains a lot of distance to Scarlet. She drops the crossbow she was holding and pulls out two more from under her robes. She shoots one of them into the sky where it explodes and sprinkles water down into the arena like rain while Scarlet charges at her. She then shoots her other crossbow at Scarlet and the bolt turns into a lightning lance mid-flight. Unable to dodge to the side, Scarlet decides to use the wet ground to her advantage and slide under it. But even though she managed to avoid the full brunt of the attack, the lightning still shocks her thanks to the water beneath her, seemingly causing a decent amount of damage to her but not stopping her charge.
“Good, you managed to dodge that. I was worried for a second.”
“Shut up!”
Scarlet’s neck starts to glow and she lets out a stream of fire directed at Sue who seems to barely be able to outrun it without getting hit.
“Hmm…All power, no skill. What a waste…Alright, we’re done. If we continue any further you’ll get seriously hurt.”
“What are you talking about!? I nearly fried you there, are you scared or something?”
“I’ll put you at C-Rank, almost entirely because of your physical capabilities. Otherwise you have the skills of an E-Ranked adventurer. Try learning some fighting skills without relying on your strength. Next, Miss Thoma Ahad could you please come down here? As for you Miss Scarlet please go to the viewing area.
“Tsk Fine.”
Scarlet and I then swap places and I ask, “Uhm…Do I have to fight you too?”
She gives me a smile, “Only if you want to.”
“Not really…”
“In that case could you just show me something that you would use on your adventures? So I can judge if you have the fighting capabilities worthy of a D-Rank?”
“Sure! Am I allowed to prepare?”
“Of course, also take this.” She hands me a small rectangular thing covered in paper.
“What is it?”
She smiles, “It’s chocolate. You seemed a little nervous so I thought this might help.”
“Oh! Thanks!”
I eat it and am pleasantly surprised, “This tastes great!”
“Haha, I’m glad. Now then, the stage is yours.”
Trying my best, I take a deep breath and do the darkness ritual, followed by the fire ritual while Sue watches me intrigued, seemingly taking notes along the way. I then take my bow and shoot at a target on the other side of the arena, the impact of the arrow completely destroying the target and leaving a big indent in the wall behind it.
Seemingly satisfied, Sue says, “Alright, thank you that’s enough. You are certainly capable.”
“Wait, that's it?”
“Yep! You did a great job!” she says while brushing through my hair.
“Thank you!”
“Now then, would you come with me Miss Thoma Ahad? It’s mostly a formality but I need to evaluate your character as well. I’m sure it will go over smoothly though.”
“Sure.”
Looking at her giant fluffy tail swaying behind her her I follow her back inside where we go up to her office on the fourth floor. It looks quite nice, like a more homely version of Uli’s office with more decorations, potted plants and those sorts of things.
“Please sit down, would you like some coffee, tea or hot chocolate?”
“I’d like some hot chocolate please.”
“Sure!”
She then fills a cup and hands it to me but the second I pick it up the handle falls off and the hot chocolate ends up all over the floor, “I’m so sorry! I’ll help clean it-”
“No! That was my favorite cup, look at what you did!”
“Sorry! Let me help clean it up at least.”
“No! You have done enough, go sit in the corner and think about what you did!”
“Okay…Sorry.”
A bit ashamed I follow her order and sit down in the corner while she cleans the floor.
Shortly after cleaning up, she says in a very kind voice, “You can sit back down here now.”
“Okay…Sorry about your favorite cup.”
She brushes through my hair again and says, “It’s fine, it wasn’t that important.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Could you tell me why you became an adventurer and why you kept going?”
“Uhm, well originally I became an adventurer because my guardian at the time told me to earn some money.”
Raising an eyebrow, she answers, “Adventuring is quite the dangerous task, can you tell me a bit about the type of person that guardian was and why they decided to send you to the guild?”
“Sure, his name is Rhaast. He took me in when he found me with no memories and despite him not having much himself, he fed me and gave me a job. Then, when I ate more than I was worth, he sent me to the guild because it was the only place that someone with no past or skills could get a job. I wasn’t even literate back then.”
“Could you describe your living situation during that time?”
“Sure, I lived in the slums and during the day I would help clean out fish and sell it later at the market. We mostly ate fish bone soup with some old fish that didn’t sell.”
Taking on a slightly saddened expression, she writes down some thing, “I see…So, what made you decide to stay being an adventurer? I saw in your file that you nearly died on your first quest.”
“Ah, well that was mostly because of the kind people I met there. I’m very grateful for the guild, without it I would have never met my sister, my friends or Scarlet.”
“Oh? I thought Scarlet was your sister.”
“It’s a bit complicated…But yes, I think she’s also my sister. When I said my sister, I meant Rayla though. She really is what made my life enjoyable for the first time…And thanks to her and the guild I now live a better life than before with so many great people around me.”
“So your reason for working with the guild is that you wish to stay with your friends and sisters?”
“Yeah and because it’s a good way for us to finance our travels and make our dreams come true!”
She gives me a kind smile, “Oh? What dreams?”
“Rayla wants to be rich and famous and have a harem of husbands, John wants to find a place that accepts him and Sher Aka wants to get strong enough to stop the slave trade for good. I’m not really sure what Scarlet’s dream is though but I do think she wants to prove herself to her parents.”
“I see…And what is your dream?”
“My dream is to make their dreams come true!”
She looks concerned, “Do you not have anything that you want for yourself?”
“Well…I’d like for my curse to be removed but that’s already something we’re working on. As for my deepest wish…It’s already been given to me.”
“Oh? And what is that?”
Smiling at her, I answer, “To have a family that loves me and a home to come back to. We’re still working on the home part but I have definitely found a family that truly loves me.”
Sue gives me a compassionate look and makes me a fresh cup of hot chocolate, “Your sister should be done with her character evaluation now. Please stay here and enjoy the hot chocolate while I go get them. Oh and don’t worry this cup won’t break.”
“Alright, see you soon.”