Adventurer 3

Win is led by the guild receptionist, Melissa, up into the second floor of the guild hall. There’s a set of doors at the end of the hallway, the words “Branch Chief” on a placard above it. Melissa knocks on the doors once, then opens it without waiting for anything. Inside is a man who looks much like the adventurers outside, bald, bushy beard, muscular, and wearing an eyepatch over his right eye. Win assumes that he’s a former adventurer himself, and braces himself for the worst.

“Chief Ago, I need you to meet with somebody.” He glances over at Win for just a moment when she says that.

“And this is him, Mel? He’s a scary one, ain’t he?”

“Scary, sir?”

“I want to speak to him myself, so can you return to your duties for now, Mel?” She nods her head.

“Very well, sir.” Melissa leaves the unadorned office, leaving Win alone with this man, Ago. Ago approaches and reaches out a hand to Win.

“I’m Ago, the chief of the guild operations around these parts.”

“My name is Win, Sir Ago.” Ago smirks behind his beard.

“A polite one too. You’re hiding something, aren’t you? Not quite malice, but something close.”

“I don’t know what that could mean, sir.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter much. Doesn’t matter what sort of people roll into this line of work. Not as long as they get the job done. And on that note, I assume Mel brought you up here because she thinks you’re too strong.”

“Too strong?”

“You’re the one who put a stop to that stupid little fight of theirs outside, right?”

“Yes sir, that’s correct.”

“Even just one of those guys is plenty powerful on their own. For you to deal with all of them at once is absurd. I don’t give those girls downstairs enough praise, she must’ve thought you could blow her apart without much effort.”

“Of course it wouldn’t be very difficult to beat a civilian, but why does that matter?”

“You’re scary. She wanted me to see if you were really that strong, and if she would be safe dealing with you.”

“Unlike the brutes outside, I have control of myself.”

“Yeah, you seem to. I’d say yes on both counts. But that’s not the sort of strength I would expect of some orphan fleeing a destroyed village. Who’s your master?”

“I refuse to answer.”

“I see. Well, I can’t force you. I’m sure the truth will come to light.”

“Am I done here?”

“Oh, sure, sure. Go on, then. But if you could do me a favor, could you accept the request to investigate the Witch of the Woods?”

“Witch of the Woods?”

“If you’re so interested, why don’t you go and accept the request.”

“I’ll take my leave now, sir.”

Win leaves the office. Chief Ago irritates him, though he can’t quite place why. The way he was prodding might be it, or it might be the way he acted as though he saw right through Win. Either one is enough on its own to irritate Win. Alone in the hallway he starts muttering aloud to himself.

“How foolish. It’s folly to presume you understand another. It’s folly to think the truth will one day be clear. And how dare he try to play with me like that.”

Win returns to the ground level of the guild hall. There are a couple people around the desks now. It seems that in the short time Win was with Ago, several of the adventurers had woken up. He makes a note to himself that he needs to put more force behind the spell next time. Win returns to Melissa’s desk. She smiles politely at him.

“So you’ve returned already, Win.”

“And if I was a threat, he would’ve killed me there, is it?” Melissa flinches back slightly. Although Win himself brought it up, he doesn’t care that somebody would try to kill him. It’s not outside of his conception of the world.

“What are you talking about?” She tries to just laugh it off, and Win has no desire to prolong their conversation any further.

“Are there any interesting requests I could take?” Melissa shifts back into professionalism.

“Interesting?”

“Is the Witch of the Woods interesting?” One of the other adventurers, seemingly eavesdropping, bursts out into laughter.

“Witch of the Woods!? Are you a child!? What sort of fool would take a job about fairy tales, and all for no pay!?” Win points a finger at the man. A powerful gust of air shoots out, taking away the man’s breath for just a moment.

“You’re noisy. And I don’t listen to the gripes of weaklings anyway.” Win turns back to Melissa calmly, as though nothing happened. Melissa is clearly still perturbed and anxious about dealing with him.

“Did Chief Ago mention the Witch of the Woods?”

“He asked me to handle it.”

“Then… I’ll explain the case to you. The Witch of the Woods is an entity that seems to live in the woods surrounding this village. It seems that for the longest time, the villagers assumed it was just a legend, and had been using it to make their children behave. Recently, however, it seems that villagers are actually disappearing when they go out into the woods. Nobody knows why, and nobody wants to take the job.”

“Are they disappearing like what the legend says?”

“Pardon? Ah, or rather, they aren’t at all. The legend says that the Witch spirits away naughty children in the night, but all of the disappearances have occurred in the forest.”

“Then why call it the doing of the Witch?”

“It seems to be pride. They don’t want to believe that their hunters might be messing up on their own.”

“How foolish.”

Win says it halfheartedly as he slips into thought. He, as the guild itself has, assumes that this creature has nothing to do with the Witch of the Woods. However, its sudden appearance is quite a bad sign for the territory. Win finds himself intrigued by something that might slip by his father like this. And if it really did happen to be a witch, the beings that serve as the precursor to human magic, there’s even more for him to learn. Win decides that the Witch of the Woods is sufficiently interesting for him, and he doesn’t know what he’ll do next anyway.

“I’ll accept the request.”