First Day on the Job

“It’s always the same…”

Richard had finished his business with the Guild on that first assignment, received four times the promised reward and a formal apology from the Guild Master regarding the request he’d been given and how it was something they’d discuss in detail in the near future. But what struck him as frustrating was that there were nobles in this country who were looking to diminish the Guild’s strength in order to take lordship and management of its operations. 

When he shot the third stalker and took him away for questioning, he got his information and recalled that this sort of thing was happening everywhere else in every other world he’d ever visited.

So, basically it was business as usual.

After putting down a few drinks with some of the local adventurers and earning a bit of fame, he decided to finally rest after an eventful first day in this new world. He retreated to the inn managed by Mr. Ador, got himself a simple room and shut himself inside asking that no one disturb him. Inside his simple room, he ran his usual maintenance of his weapons, took stock of his current supplies, ammunition and tools for the job, and took note to request the MOGOs to resupply. He’d gotten some resources from this world for the MOGOs to study and breakdown, so he might have incurred a bit of credit with them along with his already outstanding record with them.

After he took all of his stock into account, he finally removed most of his effects and just laid down on the bed with a serious expression. He lit a cigarette again and began to take a long pull from it, letting out a heavy sigh along with the smoke.

“Are you there Darlin’?” Richard spoke out loud in the air.

“Have I ever left you alone, Lover?” The voice of a woman that carried all the mischief and girly charm of a young woman came to him. The voice of the Goddess of Fortune herself.

“This’ll be the final bounty, isn’t it? By my record, I’ve taken down nine hundred and ninety-nine Demon Lords up to now. If I take down this last one… job’s finally done. Right?” Richard opened his eyes and saw before him a small, yet very bright ball of light that seemed to dance around the plumes of smoke from his cigarette.

“Of course! A promise is a promise! And I, The Goddess of Fortune, have promised you that once the job is done, you’ll have only but to ask whatever your heart desires and it’s yours! So what’ll it be? Wanna finally meet me in person and get all lovey-dovey, Lover Boy?” The playful sound of her voice mingled with the kissing sounds made Richard chuckle as he shook his head.

“I wouldn’t know what to do with you, Darlin’. You’re a Goddess and I’m just an old and tired Bounty Hunter. To tell you the truth, I don’t even know what I’d ask anymore… It's been a long ride.” Richard closed his eyes again as he took another puff from his cigarette before putting it out and removing his boots, trying his best to relax in this new environment.

“You still don’t want to admit what you really want… Do you, Lover?” The Goddess’ voice carried some concern in it as the bright sphere came to rest on his chest. “Won’t you just let me in on the secret? I could help out, you know. Luck is my specialty!”

“I’ve told you before, Darlin’. This isn’t something a Goddess or a Demon Lord could hope to give me. It’s something that’ll have to happen by itself. But never mind that…” The Goddess could tell that Richard was still holding on to that old wish of his but also to his firm decision to not influence the free will of people. She’d let it go for now. “From what I learned from the Guild Master and the other rookies, the Demon Lord won’t be making an appearance for a while. Probably hasn’t matured yet. Pity though. It would’ve made my job a lot easier if I could find out where it was so I could finish this quickly.”

“I’m not sensing the Demon Lord’s presence either. You’re probably right in thinking his lackeys are keeping low to avoid the appearance of other heroes who’ll try to slay their master. Still, I figure it won’t take too long, not like that one time it took him twenty years to appear! I was about to cause a ruckus in the Heavenly Plane!” Memory of that time made the Goddess growl with frustration, which made Richard laugh.

“It took a while. But I managed to track that bastard and send him back to hell. I’m hoping this one won’t take that long. But, since this will be my last bounty, I’m ready to wait a little while longer. Don’t want to be too hasty.” Richard sat up on his bed and looked at the sphere of light.

“Something on your mind, Lover?”

“It’s been over a thousand years since I started this request. Suddenly it feels a bit unreal. I’ve done things and seen things no man alive in my world would ever dream about. And once it’s all over…” Richard’s face showed a frown of uncertainty. The sphere floated towards his chest again as the light dimmed a little. For a moment, he could feel like someone was sitting right beside him and placing a hand over his chest.

“There’s no use in keeping your mind focused on the past or the future, Richard. We’ve been together in this quest for a very long time, so I believe I know what you’re feeling. No matter what happens, I will be here with you, even when all this is over, I’ll still be looking after you.” This gesture from the Goddess made the World Travelling Bounty Hunter smile and ease a bit.

“So, Darlin’, wanna fool around a lil’ bit? Get some steamy-lovey-dovey-humpy-wumpy goin’ on?” Richard smirked at the sphere which prompted a sudden scream of shock and surprise from the Goddess.

“WHAT!? H-H-How dare you say such v-vulgar things to a Goddess! Oh! You’re just a dirty OLD MAN!” The overreaction from the Goddess made Richard laugh loudly which prompted the sudden indignant grumbling from the Goddess as the sphere of light vanished. “Richard, you idiot! Don’t ruin my attempts to act like a wifey!”

Richard couldn’t help but keep chuckling to himself long after the Goddess had returned to the Heavenly Planes. Taking into consideration all that had happened on that first day, he was expecting things to get just a bit more complicated again. The King and his people will more than likely try to get to him or force him to work with them, the nobles that made that ridiculous request would more than likely make inquiries on who cleared their request and why they didn’t have any information from their spy, some of the rookie adventurers will more than likely try to get his advice or try to put him down since most veteran adventurers (even those who can’t even shave yet) don’t like newcomers stealing their thunder.

But he’d been through these sorts of things thousands of times before. He’d been through worse storms than this and prevailed. Maybe not unscathed, but certainly on top.

“Yeah… it’s always the same.”

Putting out the light in his room, Richard placed one of his pistols under the pillow, got comfortable and fell asleep for his first night on his one-thousand world. 

His Golden Bounty.