Taking care of Business

After Mr. Wolf had disclosed his requests to the Guild Master, Alana was ordered to keep quiet about the conversation they had just had with the World Traveler. His request for the custom-made guild card was easily accomplished and it displayed almost all information she had seen when the divination had been done with the exception of his race - which was changed to Human, and his age - which was displayed as 35+ (this couldn’t be helped). With his requests covered and the details of his “Bounty” being explained in detail, he requested to be given a quest of high ranking so he could test the difficulty of this world and to see if he “still got it”.

Mr. Wolf had explained that he would be spending about a month in this city to get some resources, information and experience with this world before moving on in search for more difficult assignments and information regarding the return of the Demon Lord. Alana was assigned to act as the Bounty Hunter’s handler in the Guild and would assist him in finding the best requests for him in order to get the resources he needed.

His first request, given to him by the Guild Master, had a few conditions given that they couldn’t assign him a high rank in the Guild without testing his abilities. Although his information showed that he was a SSS ranked Bounty Hunter, they couldn’t be sure this would reflect how good he really was without a test. He was to subjugate an orc band that had been spotted recently and bring proof of their complete annihilation in order to consider starting him off with a good rank in the Guild. For the time being, he would be considered a temporary Rank - C under evaluation. Mr. Wolf took the request and temporary rank in stride and said he’d be done by the end of the day once he got their general direction.

Alana took Mr. Wolf to the main reception again where the details of the request would be explained in full, along with directions and estimates. She had noticed throughout the conversation with the Guild Master and his assessment of Alana’s explanation that the magic circle on his right ear was still active while he listened and spoke about the request. She couldn’t help but ask…

“Umm… Mr. Wolf? What is that magic circle over your ear? I couldn’t help but notice that your magical capabilities are minimal at best. And yet, that circle over your ear looks quite complex…” Alana tried to look at the circle in question, to which Wolf smirked and showed it to her.

“This is a little magical artifact implanted to my ear that allows me to keep a record of conversations, talk to others with similar items and other useful things for the job. I know it’s pretty complex, because it’s not supposed to exist.” Mr. Wolf explained things with such a carefree attitude that Alana was taken aback by it. She was in the presence of a World Traveler who has lived for over a thousand years, had a record of traveling to one thousand worlds and killed 999 Demon Lords, and yet he acted like another one of those veteran adventurers who took such outlandish things in stride. It almost felt like he was just brushing aside all the excitement that came with such incredible things!

But having seen his dislike of the long road he’d taken up until now, she began to understand why he was no longer impressed or moved by the enormity of his presence in this world. It was all mundane for him at this point in his long life.

“I’ll have to ask you more about these artifacts of yours at a later time, Mr. Wolf. For now, let’s focus on the task the Guild Master gave you. Are you ready?” Alana took comfort in her usual professional manner whenever she needed to focus on the job. But when she noticed that he was moving closer to her with his rugged face inching closer to hers, she suddenly felt bashful! Was this World Traveler going to steal her first kiss right there and now!? Had he always done this in every world he visited where he took the cute receptionist as his first woman and took her around the world to experience love, adventure and glory!?

“Miss Alana… you’re doing it again…” Mr. Wolf’s voice woke her up from her sudden daydream and realized that he had just moved closer to help her fix her hair.

“I-I-I’m sorry!!” Exploding with embarrassment, Alana had to smack her cheeks a few times to recompose herself. When she turned around to face Mr. Wolf again, he was now showing a serious look while looking at the map she had been showing him where the last known location of the Orc warband. To her growing surprise, his face showed that he was all business now.

“How many were there?” Mr. Wolf’s voice was now sharp and poignant.

Alana, now understanding that playtime was over, adopted an attitude of absolute serious business. “According to the last reports, there were at least 20 confirmed targets. However, in my personal experience with Orcs, I believe there might be more than that, so expect at least 30+ Orcs in this warband.”

Wolf nodded at this information while he tapped his ear where the magic circle was slowly spinning. “Do we know the ranks of their leaders at this time?”

“I’m afraid not, Mr. Wolf. But, if they are moving such a large warband this close to a civilized area, then there might be at least 2 high ranking Orcs among them. Extreme caution should be exercised.” Alana noticed that he turned his eyes towards the magic circle over his ear and began to speak towards it as if he were talking to someone else.

“Order: I need ammunition for a 70+ target hunt. Split them by weapon usage - Repeater Rifle: Primary weapon, make sure it’s calibrated for Orc targets above rank B, add 20 rounds for SS rank targets as a precaution. Shotgun: Secondary weapon, incendiary shells, add 20 rounds of slug shot for armor penetration. Usual stash of explosives, arson weaponry and revolver ammo. Send in twenty minutes, I’ll pay upon delivery.” He finally turned his attention away from the magic circle which in turn disappeared from his ear. Alana was staring intently at what Mr. Wolf had done. “I’ll explain this when the job’s done. For now, let’s focus on the bounty. Could you point me in the right direction to leave the city?”

Alana guided Mr. Wolf outside of the Guild and gave him general directions to leave the city through the northern gate which would lead him to the fastest route to the quest area. “Will you be alright on your own, Mr. Wolf? I figured since you were new to this country you might need some assistance on this.”

“Don’t worry about it, Missy. Until I find a good posse, I’ll just work on my own for now. Besides, this ain’t my first rodeo.” He raised his left arm as if he were reaching out for something and spoke firmly: “Avenger!” A large magic circle similar to the one he used before suddenly appeared from his outstretched hand. From within the circle the neighing of a horse was heard and a majestic black stallion with a white mane of hair and tail appeared trotting around the Outlander, fully bridled and with a matching black with white saddle.

Alana was amazed by the appearance of this horse named Avenger, which moved over to Mr. Wolf nuzzling itself against his chest. She could see that the World Traveler was talking to the horse as if it were an old friend, to which the horse reacted with visible excitement. “Mr. Wolf, where did you find this magnificent horse!?” The elven receptionist approached the horse which looked at her with some reservation. But noticing that the girl was actually staring with amazement, the horse seemed to pose before her in a proud fashion.

“Avenger and I go way back. He’s been with me for a long time, and we’ve worked together on many bounties. So it’s only fitting that we start off our journey together as we usually do: with a bang.” Mr. Wolf mounted on the horse in a simple fluid motion and checked to make sure he had everything he needed. Alana could see that along with the saddle and bridle, were travel bags and assorted weapons on it. Mr. Wolf was clearly ready for everything. “I’ll be going on, Miss Alana. I’ll be back by the end of the day if all goes well. Let’s go, Avenger!”

The horse neighed loudly and dashed away towards the northern gate as Alana had instructed. The elven girl was suddenly anxious about what would happen. The World Traveler, Mr. Richard Wolf had been given this task by the Guild Master to measure his abilities. No doubt he would send some adventurers to keep an eye on Mr. Wolf and gauge his skills with eye witnesses. But she also knew that some adventurers don’t like it when new upstarts are given privileges over the locals. She’d have to wait at the end of the day to see if the Arda-randir was as skilled as his guild card would suggest.

The day went on with business as usual with the Guild. Adventurers came in, asked for jobs, went out, returned a bit later either successfully or otherwise. Some came back a bit injured, some didn’t come back at all… The end of the day was fast arriving and Alana hadn’t heard from Mr. Wolf since he left earlier in the day. With a heavy sigh, she looked at the papers related to the special request made by the Guild Master and was simply waiting to confirm that the World Traveler had failed the request or had been killed in action. The doors of the Guild opened up and, to Alana’s surprise, Mr. Wolf had returned.

He did look much less clean than when he left: there were a few smudges of mud on his face and clothes, a few green blood stains on his duster, his beard also looked matted with dust and grime, and had an angered look in his eyes. Over his right shoulder, he was carrying a heavy looking bag which he set down on the counter. The foul scent of blood and orcs was emanating from it. Alana was surprised, but also troubled by the reappearance of the Bounty Hunter. The man took out a cigarette, lit it and took a long drag from it as he let out a heavy, angry grumble.

“Welcome back, Mr. Wolf! I’m glad to see you’ve made it back safe! Umm… how did it go?” The flash of anger in the eyes of the Bounty Hunter made Alana feel a bit threatened.

“87 Orcs in total. 7 of them were warband leader-level. 3 warlocks who could summon demons. 1 Warchief slain.” Wolf tapped the bag and looked at Alana with distrust. “Did you know about this, Alana?”

The mention of 87 orcs with such a variety of dangerous sub-species made her realize that the information they might’ve gathered about this request was vastly different from what Mr. Wolf had encountered on the field. Under these circumstances, the Guild could be heavily penalized since they were sending adventurers to fulfill orders that were far more difficult to deal with than what was being displayed, increasing the difficulty of the request exponentially to what is being stated by the Guild and therefore more adventurers would be killed in action in greater numbers.

“Mr. Wolf, I can assure you, this is the information as stated on the request! If you encountered something more challenging than what was mentioned, then someone else might be at fault!” Alana could see that Wolf wasn’t very happy with the situation. He let out an exasperated sigh and nodded.

“I can tell you’re not lying to me, Alana. But this is something that needs to be reported to the Guild Master immediately. The job is complete, and the evidence is in the bag. There’s one more thing I’d like to report.” Alana took her clipboard and waited for Wolf to speak. “There were three people spying on me… one of them wasn’t from the Guild. I could tell by his smell. The others, more than likely, were sent by the Guild Master. I will say this only once: I don’t like to be followed. If they hadn’t identified themselves, I would’ve killed them.”

Alana took note and noticed the anger Mr. Wolf had displayed over these events. It was clear to her that the request must’ve been purposefully made to look less threatening than it was to lure strong adventurers to their deaths thinking it would’ve been a challenging but rewarding request. By the number of orcs killed by Mr. Wolf, it was clear that it would’ve required several high ranking adventurers to complete the task incurring some casualties. And yet, the World Traveler had succeeded on his own! How did he do it?

“I-I’ll report this to the Guild Master right away, Mr. Wolf. For now, you should rest up and recover your strength. Please, wait in the common floor while I speak to him. Umm… you mentioned a third person not from the Guild. What happened to that person?”

“He won’t be following anyone, anymore.” Mr. Wolf walked heavily towards an empty table, sat down with a groan and set his hat aside. Everyone that looked at him was trying their best to stay away from him. He looked like he’d been through a hell of a fight.

Mr. Wolf’s comment froze her blood! He actually killed the third person simply for interfering with his job and had nearly killed the scouts sent by the Guild had they not spoken to him first. Alana hurried off to report to the Guild Master who was in his office, speaking with two people who looked a little roughed up as well. They were talking about the Outlander, how he took down every single orc that they could find, killed someone who was interfering with the request and tracked down the orc’s main camp, burning it to the ground. When the Guild Master noticed Alana, he dismissed the two scouts he had sent to watch over Wolf and then turned to Alana.

“Guild Master? Mr. Wolf has returned and it seems-” The Guild Master sat down and sighed heavily with regret, which made Alana fall silent.

“I know… the scouts told me about the whole thing.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------

~Techno-Magical Explanations by the head of the Makers Of Guns & Ordnance (MOGOs) Brotok!~

“‘Ello, lads an’ lasses! The name's Brotok! Ya haven't seen me yet an' ya don' know the MOGOs that much. But don' worry 'bout it! Ya will soon 'nuff!

Ya’ll be hearin’ from me from time ta time ta ‘ave me teamsters explain to ya what kinda interestin’ gizmos an’ weapons our ol’ boy Richard will be usin’ from time ta time! So look forward to ‘em ta learn what the MOGOs an’ I are cookin’ up!”

- Magical Communication Circle:

These communication devices are very handy devices that are implanted in the ears of the user to help them stay in touch with the MOGOs Sales Department and allow the user to make instant purchases of weapons, ammo, medical supplies as well as the retrieval of sample technologies. Additional services such as item storage, instant transportation, vocal recording, note taking and custom orders are subject to approval by the head of the MOGOs Warehouse Operations, Orders and Parcels (WOOPs) department.

“Think of ‘em as yer trusty ‘thinkin’phones’ yer so eager ta change every year or so. Ya tap on ‘em, get a direct line ta us an’ yer gonna be able ta order just ‘bout everything from us. Richard is one o’ our best clients and he buys stuff by the boat load! Maybe he could try orderin’ himself a girlfriend, but we don’t make ‘em in the factory ‘ere. Hah!”

This advertisement was brought to you by the MOGOs Marketing Department and is not subject to any political parties, Godly interventions, Demonic possessions nor any being of any authority in the entire Multiverse.

“We’ll see ya next time. An’ remember! If it needs removin’, MOGOs get ya the boomin’! Cheers!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~