Adventurer 2

Win wakes up. He gets out of the cot and tries to stretch, only to be reminded that he’s still bound by ropes. Ward is asleep at the table. Win takes several steps towards him. Ward jumps up, shocked away by Win’s presence. Ward shakes himself awake as he stands, clearly still tired. He’s no longer afraid, perhaps because he’s too tired for it, or perhaps because of something else.

“Alright, I’ll bring you to the adventurers.”

“I’m sorry that you’re going to all this trouble just for me.” Ward yawns.

“Somebody has to keep the order around here.”

“Then I’m sorry you’re stuck with the most worthless brutes in the world.”

The two of them step outside to find a rowdy scene unfolding. The adventurers, for some reason or another, have begun to brawl in the middle of the village. The rest of the villagers shy away from their fight, scared to approach. Nobody can do anything because nobody intends to do anything. Ward looks at the raging mass of people pensively.

“Ohhh, I guess I’ll have to be the one to do it…” He seems to remember Win as he starts to walk. “You can just wait here.”

Win watches Ward walk over to the adventurers’ brawl. He stops and seems to say something to one of the adventurers, a burly man with a bald head and thick beard. The man’s laugh reaches Win, as does his jovial voice.

“It’s a celebration! A celebration!”

Win watches as the adventurer punches Ward in the face, knocking him over in a single blow. The adventurer laughs once more. Win looks on coldly, then begins to muse aloud to himself.

“How pathetic. Should I just try and find another village at this point? No reason for me to stay, and it’s not like I need or want to become an adventurer.”

Win continues to turn the idea over in his head, carefully weighing the pros and cons, and all the while the brawl expands out further. In the corner of Win’s eye, he sees an adventurer straying too close to a villager, namely a little girl too scared of them to move. The adventurer misses a strike and follows all the way through in his stupor. Win dashes forward, enhancing his speed with magic. The fist, rather than striking the little girl, slams against Win’s back. The adventurer laughs.

“What are you doing, man! Running into me like that!” Win turns and glares at the man. The man seems to sober up. “Ah, s-sorry.” Win snaps the ropes, freeing himself at last. The pieces of rope fall to his feet.

“Worthless wretch!”

The adventurer barely even sees Win move. Win quickly strikes the man on the chin, rattling his brain around, and knocking him out simply. Win’s yell seems to catch everyone’s attention, with most of the adventurers now focused on him. Win waves an arm in front of him and casts a spell. Small bullets of dirt shoot out from the ground beneath the adventurers, pelting them until they’re knocked out. Once all the adventurers have fallen, Win claps his hands together, then begins to walk towards the base of the adventurer’s guild in the village. The dirt begins to drag all the passed out adventurers towards each other. Once they’re close enough, the ground begins to tilt upwards beneath them, sliding them all into one pile in the center of the village.

Win walks inside the guild hall. It’s practically silent inside. It really does seem that every adventurer in the village had decided to join that fight. The only people he can see are the three receptionists standing at their desks. Two of them seem to be chatting with each other, while the third seems focused on some paperwork. Win quickly walks over to the one who seems to be working. She seems somewhat surprised to see him at her desk. She quickly moves the papers away.

“Has the fight stopped?”

“Yes, it ended.”

“Are you here for a quest, then?” She starts to open a drawer on her side of the desk.

“No, I’m here to register as an adventurer.” She seems even more surprised.

“I beg your pardon? You saw a fight like that and still decided to join?”

“Explaining myself every time is irritating.”

“Oh, my apologies. I’ll give you the form right away.” She opens a different drawer, then hands Win a piece of paper. “Fill that out, then I can register you as an adventurer.”

Win starts filling out the sheet. He puts only “Win” as his name, rather than his full name. He sees no need to lie about his age. The same goes for skills, and so he answers with swordsmanship, hand to hand combat, and magic. However, he stops when he needs to put down his hometown. Win presumes that this is asked so that his remains could be returned to his family should he die in the field. However, Win does not want to return, even in death. He can’t even face them like that. He struggles to give a place. He would get found out if he put the capital, or any other nearby city at that. He can’t just make up a village either, he can’t imagine that that wouldn’t get found out as well. After deliberating for a moment, he simply puts “none.” The receptionist sighs with sympathy when she takes the paper back from him.

The receptionist quickly hands a small flat metal trinket back to Win. On the back is his name and age. Win quickly pockets it, and the receptionist continues on.

“It’s a pleasure to have you join the guild, Win. My name is Melissa. Could you please wait for a senior adventurer to return so we can evaluate your skills?”

“They’re all piled up outside at the moment.”

“What?”

Win and Melissa take a step outside. The villagers have gathered around to see the spectacle Win left there. Melissa is shocked, mouth agape, when she sees it. Win realizes that it must be frightening to have something capable of defeating every fighter in the village on its own like this.

“What did this?”

“I did.”

“You!? In that case, please come with me to see the branch chief.”

Win obliges her. He sighs as he rubs his temples, irritated that he’s still not yet free to go on his way.