Accept It

Now we’ve reached the final chapter of this prologue. Some would call it the prologue’s epilogue, but I’d rather not. That implies an ending of sorts, and I’m not prepared for that. I plan on continuing for as long as I can. Besides, this is just the prologue. This intro might end, but I won’t. Whether it’s life or death, I’ll keep on living, and I’ll keep on dying. Not as the person I used to be, or even the person I admired, but as myself. Whoever that is. Let’s look forward to finding out together.

Through a series of events much more entertaining than the ones I’ve been describing, we did manage to escape the soul reaver and make our way to the city of Ah’Ruh. Well, in reality, I’m sure the soul reaver just realized that we weren’t worth the trouble. And that’s fine with me. I had no issue leaving it out there reaving souls, living its best life. A real role model, that guy. We could all learn a thing or two from that big murder cat. I suppose all the humans it sucks the souls out of might not see it that way, but that’s hardly my problem. Maybe the humans should pray to their favorite deity, that harlot goddess of the harvest, for some help. The way I see it, this whole situation is her fault. Besides, I’ll end up killing it one day anyway, trust me. But that encounter will be even more anticlimactic than this one, so don’t bother looking forward to it.

Anyway, seeing as it was my first time in a human settlement bigger than the village, it was a lot to take in.

There was food everywhere, the smell was almost overpowering with so many of them jammed in such a small place. I almost lost control more than a couple times.

I was curious about the city, but Sanson insisted we give a report on the quests he accepted and register Rakki and I as members of his party. Eris had no interest in that, having abandoned us shortly after entering the city’s main gate.

Ah, I should mention, despite Eris’s unjustified protests, I decided to follow through on my deal with Sanson and become a mercenary, I mean, an adventurer. I guess I didn’t really need to become an adventurer, but I figured if I was going to help him kill some monsters, I might as well.

And if I joined his party, I’d be entitled to a share of the reward. If I had to do the job anyway, I might as well get paid for it.

I should also mention, despite my justified protests, with nothing better to do, Rakki decided to tag along. Without yours truly that old forest just wasn’t interesting enough to keep him around. I wanted to complain about it some more, but after thinking things through, Rakki is actually pretty useful. More useful than me at least. Having him around would definitely make my job easier.

And he was already wealthy enough that he probably wouldn’t notice me taking his share of the reward money we earned.

Now anyone expecting Sanson to take us to some fancy looking guild hall for adventurers will only be disappointed. I know I was. It turns out, there’s no such thing as an adventurers’ guild. Even the term ‘adventurer’ is little more than a made up label. All it took to be an adventurer was the courage to actually call yourself something so ridiculous in public.

I mean, now that I think about it, that all makes sense. Some massive continent spanning organization that accepts and gives out work couldn’t possibly exist outside of fantasy. There’s no kingdom out there that would allow such a powerful group to operate within their borders. Instead, jobs the government didn’t want to get involved with or jobs that people thought wouldn’t get solved through traditional channels were brought to one of the various groups of ‘adventurers’ throughout the area.

The group that Sanson and Eris belonged to was called the Gilden Lions Mercenary Club. At least, that’s what he assured me the faded signpost above the door of the dilapidated building used to say. And while I initially felt reassured to know I was right to call them mercenaries this whole time, my mood soured when I realized this whole organization was only on the level of a ‘club.’

The clubhouse was in what I assumed was a rather low end part of town, which is saying a lot considering I used to live in the woods. Either way, Sanson confidently pushed the doors open and approached the main counter, ignoring the talk and jeers as he walked past.

“Sanson, what is it now?”

A young woman spoke to him from behind the counter, not even trying to hide her displeasure. It was easy to understand why. Sanson is almost certainly famous in his own right.

“I’d like to report the status of one of the quests I accepted.”

“We give out jobs, not quests, but let me guess, you failed?”

“Haha, I haven’t even told you the quest I’d like to turn in. It’s the undead elimination quest.”

“Let’s see.” The woman started filing through the papers on her desk while talking. “Hmm. Well, I’m not sure what to tell you. From what I heard, a proper mercenary from a bigger group went to complete that job as well, but I haven’t heard anything from his organization, or from the village that made the request. So I can’t yet confirm the status of the job. With your track record we can’t accept that the job was completed without some kind of evidence.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t be receiving any word. That adventurer is dead and the village was destroyed. Oh, and do tell his next of kin to not bother looking for his body, we ended up sacrificing it to perform a magical ritual. Although if they need someone to perform his funeral rights, I’d be more than willing. And as for the quest, in the end the undead was removed, but with no one left it’s safe to say it was a failed quest. I’ll accept the penalty.”

“I see. Another failure. Excuse me for a moment.” She pulled out a small bell from underneath the counter and started ringing it. “Anyone who bet on ‘gets the whole village massacred,’ come collect your payout.”

“All right!”

“Again?”

“Ah, I knew I should have taken the safe bet.”

I heard a few cheers and even more complaints coming from the patrons behind us. Like I said, he’s certainly famous in his own way.

“My apologies for the delay. Now would you like to hand in your club membership?”

After putting the bell back under the counter she addressed Sanson once again.

“Haha, Rachel, your jokes are always so full of life. Rather than handing in my membership, I’m here to get membership for these two. They’re going to join my party.”

The woman, Rachel, gave me a look of pity. Now, under normal circumstances I could understand someone being offended by something like that, but honestly, I was already pitying her myself. No one was bringing it up, so I remained silent as well, but I noticed that Rachel was wearing the exact same outfit as another woman only a few meters from her at a different counter.

How embarrassing.

“I’m not sure how he tricked you, but walk away now. You look a bit young, still, I’m not going to tell you two that mercenary work isn’t an option to consider, just put more thought into who you work with. If you hitch your wagon to this helpless paladin whose only skill is undressing and the ranger that can’t even string a bow you’ll regret it. Besides, no one comes to work here unless they’ve been rejected by every other mercenary band in the Empire.”

Her ability to insult someone who was standing across from her was impressive, but she was wrong. Well, actually, she’s probably right. Still, I can accept that regret. People like Eris and Sanson, completely true to themselves, even to their own detriment, those are the kind of people I could learn from.

“Don’t worry sir, I’ll get us on the right track.” Rakki spoke with his natural unwarranted confidence.

“How do you keep messing that up? I won’t accept it. I honestly don’t understand how you still can’t see it. That lunch is clearly a woman.”

Rachel stayed silent for a moment before presenting a face I can only describe as strained professionalism.

“Alright, there should be no problems with getting you two registered as Gilden Lions, and I’ll add you to Sanson’s party immediately. Please enjoy your time with us.”