How to Succeed In Business in a New World

New Talent

    When I woke up I checked in Marie’s room quickly to see if had come home at some point after I had gone to bed but it seemed that I would have to go into town to talk to her. Though it’s not like I was just going to spend all day hanging around here, in the city I could at least sit in the guild and look at possible work opportunities. Plus I should really go and talk to the summoner girl even if it was just to tell her no. If I was going to tell her that we’d take her though there would probably be some more chores to do, we’d need to get her properly registered with the guild which may be hard than it was even for me because from the story she had told me last night it sounded like she wasn’t exactly in good standing with them. I can’t imagine that sneaking in like that was her first encounter with them because it didn’t seem like they’d have much reason to be suspicious of her if it was. I had no idea if I was going to have to broker a peace between the two parties, or how I would be able to go about doing it. I don’t think it would be wrong for me to say that I was becoming one of the more respected members, at least of those who had joined recently. I didn’t expect every member and staff person alike to know who I was but that person at the counter the other day did recognize me to give me the letter so I had to be somewhat of a well known figure. I was probably one of the few new guys that was actually doing quests with some consistency even though I hadn’t done any in sort of a while. If she was going to join maybe I’d take her on a quest with just the two of us before she became a full fledged member of the party. It’d be good to get her in something of a controlled environment as sort of a test drive. Besides it’d give us something productive to do while Marie is working on the puppets, though it would feel a bit exclusionary if we went and did something fun while we left her back at home doing menial work. Granted she’d probably only think it was fun because she wasn’t there, in reality it would probably end up being extraordinarily boring or much too stressful to be able to remember any positive emotion about it other than whatever reward we would be collecting. But I really hoped that the girls wouldn’t be getting petty with each other so soon, or really at any point. If I was some trashy light novel protagonist then they would be at each other’s throats within an hour over which one gets to date me but I really felt like I was going to benefit from my total lack of s*x appeal in this case though. There wasn’t much sense deluding myself that they’ll fall for my personality or anything, I had long ago come to accept that my experiences with women were a hole not worth venturing down. It’d surely just end in disappointment if ever I was get to my hopes up, pretty much the only way I would conceivably enter into a romantic relationship was if by some miracle a woman came along that I could actually tolerate and she outright begged me fall in love with her, offering both her complete devotion to me as well as fabulous cash rewards. It was a near impossibility but I would be just peachy if it never did. I’d much rather spend my days in pleasant solitude than deal with mixed messages and dipped hints. If every male in the world disappeared save for me, the human race would most likely not survive. That’s how steadfast I was in my commitment to a simple life free from desire, besides most schools of thought saw it as a noble thing to free yourself from desire so surely I was racking up cosmic score this way. What better desire to rebuke than that to continue your own lineage or even race. Maybe it was thanks to my self denial of romance that I was granted this second chance, either my asceticism impressed whoever was in charge or the thought process was they’d keep giving me more and more chances until I could finally fulfill my evolutionary duty. Made sense enough in a way, if I won’t be adding into the gene pool then taking me out can’t even be a net neutral so it was catch and release until then. I probably shouldn’t become so convinced that was the reason why this all happened but it would add at least a little more reason to not trust the “fairer” s*x. It seemed unlikely that I would ever simply stumble upon my reason for reincarnation by happenstance or following a train of thought, by best bet was to ask a few questions next time I died but at that point it wouldn’t be worth a whole lot. Even reincarnating again probably wouldn’t be any easier, I could be thrust into some space dwelling civilization or other ripped off science fiction setting where neither of my two lives would be of any use. There were really infinite places I could end up and of that uncountably large infinity there were so far two experiences I had under my belt. Maybe it would be so bad to just actually die next time. The after life could be really rather nice for all I knew, after all if you were to believe in a duality of ultimate fates I was decently confident that would end up in the pleasant one. After all if I was liked enough to get a do over then I was probably liked enough to get preferred treatment when it came to the final resting place of my soul. Though there wasn’t much I could do to be positive of that for the time being other than the regular boring stuff like being a good person and treating others fairly, the typical boring old fare spouted to those who were looking to go through the afterlife in style. I’d try to do all that when it came up but going out of my way to do it seemed like a hassle, plus what if there was a case where being a bad person now could potentially lead to the ability to be an even better person later. Like if I stole money, bet it, and cheated at the game card game to make a fortune, half of which I’d give to charity there’s no way that would still reflect badly on me at the end of the day. I’m sure the one responsible for my final judgement would only be so interested in my justifications for every misdeed I’ve done but it wouldn’t exactly be fair if I wasn’t allowed to give my side of the story. How interested they were in being fair I wouldn’t know until I got there but as long as I had sufficient reason I wasn’t going to shy away from doing some less than immaculate deeds. On the topic of morality and free choice how bad would it really be if I just turned down the summoner girl. Really my reasons for wanting her to join were more selfish than my reasons for wanting to exclude her. I suppose I should stay true to my word and actually discuss the matter with the other half of my party so far. It wouldn’t take more than a few minutes to talk it over and I was going to be pretty much passing by anyway. I didn’t have anything else to do today anyway, taking it easy seemed like it would be nice but I really should do something productive before I got used to the routine of being a layabout again.  As nice as it would be I knew I really shouldn’t be resting on my laurels. Sure I had some property now but I guess what older people had always told me was true, if you hate someone tell them to buy a house and then they’ll never know peace. I didn’t even have to worry about maintenance or anything yet and it was still a bit overwhelming, at least I wouldn’t need to worry about actually picking out furniture or anything but that blessing came with the flip side that the one who would be picking everything out didn’t exactly have the most sensible taste it seemed. She would gladly go with whatever made her feel the least lower class. I could empathize with where she was coming from but at the same time I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her around a bit until she got just a little more sensible. Though maybe sensible wouldn’t be a sufficient driving force to worry herself with design. I guess really the best course of action would be to go along with her and apply some ever so gentle pressure to go with options that weren’t made for people with more money than sense, because as little sense as she may have, we didn’t have that kind of money. Of course the number one candidate of an easier said than done solution to this predicament was to just get enough money to burn. If I were to go on a quest with our potential new inductee maybe the way to smooth things over would be to dedicate the profits from the venture to a sort of design/household goods fund. It’d probably be smart to start partitioning our savings anyway but I had no idea what we’d even want to be saving for. It’s not like we had a kid to send to college or anything, and we didn’t need to pay a mortgage. Taxes would probably be a rude awakening whenever they did crop up, especially because I had very little idea how they worked in a place where I had lived through tax season a fair number of times, I couldn’t imagine I’d be too capable at handling them here. You’d always hear about how tyrannical kings and warlords levied massive taxes on the peasantry but I wasn’t sure how much of that was truth and how much was trying to make the past seem worse than it really was. Not to mention there were plenty of points where my historical knowledge differed from the present of this world so maybe everything that taxes would have paid for were all paid out of pocket by the local duke or baron and in return who could draft an army from the populace he supported. Whether something like that economically viable or not seemed like it was out of the scope of my knowledge, if it was the place would probably have to be pretty liberal with its wars to supplement the economy. Or at least that was the conclusion I came to with a few seconds of thought. In any case I should really start buckling down and putting some savings aside in case one of these days the tax collector comes knocking at the door. It was a scary thought but I guess the only way to make it less scary was to prepare. I had never been in trouble with the law or anything and I wasn’t really eager to try, my existence was one that relied on falling into the background so I wasn’t going to come off my toes with regard to matters that involved legal recourse. Going to prison for accidental tax evasion seemed like one of less interesting experiences that a world of magic and knights had to offer. 

When I came in Marie was working diligently at the puppets in the basement, probably because it was the only room with furniture in it at the moment. I wasn’t too familiar with what the workflow pipeline was like for this type of project but it seemed like she had finished a few of them and the rest had outfits hanging off and there were a few alternate outfits that had been cut from the cloth but still had been altered at all. If I had to guess I would say that she would be done with them tomorrow or the next day at the latest. It seemed like some sort of miracle that the plan had actually come together so easily. For how much of a scheme this was I was astounded that really any progress had been made. Just considering my own track record of working on my grand projects it must have a product of all the stars aligning to actually get something done. Most times they barely made it past the idea phase and a few scribbles in a notebook right before I was about to fall asleep, but this had results now. Even if the show was a complete failure I felt I could still be proud that I accomplished what I did even if it did largely amount to plagiarism and some bits of fan fiction where I couldn’t remember exactly what happened. Maybe it was because I didn’t have as much to distract me or maybe it was because I told other people and I’d be letting them down if I didn’t follow through. Though it seemed like the other two that I had roped into my racket didn’t particularly care but maybe that meant that since they were actually doing it despite that they trusted me. Either they trusted me or they didn’t want to let me down. I couldn’t help but think if this was what it felt like to have real friends who would do you favors because they wanted to make you happy. Of course I didn’t have an answer to that question and that’s why I was wondering.

“Can I talk to you for a quick second?” I didn’t want to come across as urgent or anything but I also didn’t want to be overly casual about this whole matter.

“Sure.” She set aside her work and looked up at me with almost deadly serious eyes, I could assuredly say that it was not a fitting look for her.

“How would you feel about taking someone new into our little party?” With fears that might be too general and that I would be accused of jumping to conclusions I continued before she could even answer. “Yesterday I met this summoner who wants to join our party. I told them that I would discuss it with you before I could give a definite answer.” From the look on her face she seemed to have more of a reaction to me thinking of her than the actual meat of the question.

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you!” She clapped her hands together and made a face that absolutely befuddled me as to its meaning, had she been a statue in a museum with that expression I could come to the museum every day for a decade, in the door as soon as they opened and only out the door when they closed, and still not have been able to say for sure. If I had to pick one of my theories at the moment I supposed it would be that she felt touched? Even that guess was more shaped by the general context than the actual emoting. Maybe I was just extremely emotionally ignorant, which I most assuredly was, but I really don’t think it would make too much sense to anyone.

“Is that a yes or…” I really just wanted to wrap up this conversation. “I promised I would be over with a decision first thing in the morning so I really should get going as soon as possible.” Perhaps it was my swell of appreciating friends moments prior but I didn’t feel as strongly about any of the reasons I wouldn’t want the girl to come and join us, besides trying to accurately communicate how… standoffish she was would be a fool’s errand. Standoffish might not have been the best word but it was at least more polite of a choice than psychotic. It seemed like we would be adding one more to our little troop, this could be a historic moment for us, or we could end up kicking her out within the week. It did put me a bit at ease to realize that we could always just let her go if things proved to be too much of a hassle.

“Of course! Now go run along and tell your little friend.” Was that one small act of asking for permission all that she needed to feel like she was my mom now? I really hoped that this wouldn’t become a trend or else we might have to kick her out of the party. I can only imagine how much our new hire would detest being babied like that after what I had seen last night. I wasn’t exactly up to date on all my psychology terms but she definitely had some sort of complex whatever it would be called. Either way the clash of personalities between all three of us would be a difficult line to walk. I felt somewhat confident in my ability to remain a neutral party but either side could very easily discourage me from joining enough that I go with the other. What I’d really hate is to end up as some great arbitrator who has to get both sides to come to the table all the while being demonized by both. In short, women would most likely make my life something of a hell.

It was still before nine in the morning I would guess, so maybe it wasn’t exactly the first thing but I was still carrying out my promise. Besides what are a few extra hours to wait in the grand scale of things. Even if we were to become the most legendary of friends and companions or something the hour or two that I dawdled wouldn’t have made any grand difference. We were planning for a long term relationship, being a stickler over a few minutes would matter a year from now. All that to say that I felt totally justified in bending the definition of first thing in the morning. Besides she shouldn’t be in a bad mood after I give her the news that we would “gladly” take her in. Though as I approached the shop where I had met her a little over twelve hours ago I saw that she was sitting out on the curb looking down at the ground in the most forlorn and bored way possible. I felt like I should call out to her but I realized I didn’t even know her name. I knew I could get a reaction out her if I just shouted “Hey! Little girl!” But that seemed like it would ensure a sour start to the interaction, though there were those superstitions like if a wedding goes wrong then the marriage will be a success but I’d prefer not to think of this as in any way similar to a marriage. There was some part of me that couldn’t get over how young she looked that stopped me from viewing her in such a context. That’s not to say there weren’t other equally vocal parts of my body saying widely differing things. There wasn’t much I could do to act on any of these for the moment, at least until I could learn her name. It wasn’t until I was casting a shadow over her that she noticed my presence, she looked up towards what was obstructing the morning sun and as soon as she saw me her whole face lit up.

“You came! You came! You came!” She was leaning into my body and even trying to hug me but the wild flailing of my arms as an instinctual response to human contact seemed to prevent that. “So what’s the verdict?” She looked at me with the greatest of anticipation, the sadistic part of me wanted to play a joke on her but the only bit I could think of was saying that we chose to move forward with other candidates at this time and the audience at hand wouldn’t understand that one. 

“You’re in.” She leaned in with all of her admittedly meager body weight and this time I had to focus more on not losing my balance than avoiding the act of affection. Once it was over though I figured it would be my responsibility to be the one to enforce social rigidity. “Now that you’re part of our party, we should really learn each other’s names. My name is Katsuo and the friend I told you about‘ snake is Marie. She’s a cleric.” It was a largely banal piece of information but she might as well learn it now. That didn’t mean I was eager to tell her about my own class standing, she could find that out the hard way if it ever came to that.

“My name is Angeline, but only my dad calls me that, I prefer Anne. Nice to meet you Katsuo!” She seemed rather well mannered, at least when viewed in this specific vacuum. In fact I would have believed she was really a little girl greeting one her father’s senior business partners or something all while he nudged her in the back to be good. 

“I don’t know if I had mentioned it to you, but we have a house not too far from the town square, you’re welcome to come and stay with us.” It was really only now that I realized that I had never cleared that part with Marie so hopefully this would be a smooth move in process. Considering that I had theorized that the girls would be sharing a room that may not be the best of introductions for the two. 

“That’s perfect! Geoffery! Come along now!” From the shop emerged a hulking golem, at least eight feet tall and twice as broad as me carrying no small number of pieces of luggage. It was a good thing we had our new place or she would have been trying to move into the farmhouse with us. Wait! How presumptuous was this girl? Not only did she pack all of her things counting on being accepted, but she planned on moving in the same day to boot? If I could go back in time and kick my own ass for having faith in this girl I would. I could scarcely be impressed by the monstrous moving statue, I was so distraught with seeming regret. It was probably the closest thing I would be getting to giant robots in this world so I guess I should really count my blessing that I’d get to see one up close and in action like this. Though I guess the increased distance from giant robots was more than made up for by the indisputable reality of giant kaiju. I hadn’t really seen any of them first hand yet but I knew they existed, just from the sorting I did at the library I remembered there were a few titles that made not so subtle reference to the stories about them contained within. Plus if all went according to plan soon enough I may even be killing one. I had gotten atrociously sidetracked in all my other attempts to learn a new skill so it seemed like fate wanted me to take a different course of action for now, though considering one distraction had left me with a new house and the other with a new party member maybe it was worth it to try even if I wouldn’t actually get my skill. Maybe I’d spontaneously be elected mayor or something, it seemed like anything could happen when I just wanted to read that stupid book. 

“So I figure that we’ll get your stuff moved in and then you and I can see about getting a quest done? Marie is a little busy today so you’ll have to wait for another day to go on a mission with her.”

“If me and you are going on a quest what about Geoffery?” Was she really going to have separation anxiety for this thing she controlled? All this girl needed was one more not so minor idiosyncrasy.

“He’ll be coming with us I suppose.” I didn’t really think it needed to be said but there was no harm in clarifying. If it started to become a pattern then I may need to start thinking of how to kick her to the curb in the politest way possible.

“Okay good!” She rubbed the clay being on the back as far as her hand could reach as if to comfort him that they wouldn’t need to be apart. Maybe this was all just one great big bad idea, was it too late to turn the other way and run until I was in another city? With any luck this was just a string of misunderstandings or uncharacteristic behavior or something, maybe it was the stress of such a major life change. Whatever the case may be I only hoped it stopped as quickly as it started. 

When we got back to the house I started to give something of a tour, not that I was much good at it.

“Here we are, this is the outside… and then we’ll take a look at the inside.” Real estate was probably not my true calling but she had already agreed so there wasn’t much to be done in terms of selling. The big reveal would really just be when Anne would get to meet Marie for the first time and vice-versa. I wasn’t really expecting them to get along swimmingly right off the bat but as long as there was some positivity between them then the relationship could always be improved on later. There wasn’t all that much that I could really do to get them off to a better start but I could very well prepare for the worst. 

I knocked on the door with a bit of a rhythm before opening the door myself, it was more as a sort of warning to Marie than actually seeking permission. I opened it slowly, I didn’t really think that anything too embarrassing would be going on inside but I wasn’t going to risk anything when this meeting would probably determine the course of my life for the next few weeks. 

“We’re back!” One final announcement as I came in first to make sure that there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. Now it was really out of my hands what would happen. 

“Oh I can’t wait to meet your little friend!” It was disappointing to know that this phase was still going on. This made for something of a powder keg situation, how long would it take for this overly maternal attitude rubbed the overly childish guest the absolute wrong way. In came the one or two others depending on who you ask I suppose, would I be expected to introduce them to each other or would it be better to just stand back and let the sparks fly that may. My view was darting between them millisecond by millisecond trying to perceive their reaction as soon as it was formed. It seemed that Marie was going to be the first to c***k, her face twisted into not quite as unrecognizable an expression as before but one that could really only be summed up by when your mom got angry at you while company was over and she couldn’t let them see that she was shouting out you in her mind.

“May I speak to you in private for a moment Katsuo?” I wanted rather badly to pretend I didn’t hear her, or to just stand stock still and let the whole world crumble around me if it may like the golem that was still standing in our entranceway. He did have a bit of a slouch so as to not be doing any damage to our ceiling but other than that he was the definition of the word statuesque. As nice as it sounded it seemed like I should do as I was told and meet Marie for her requested aside. She gestured for me to lean in when I was still a pace or two away and I just did as I was told.

“What’s up?” I was whispering even with no specific direction, I figured there was going to be some reason that this had to be done in the relative private of the corner of the room. 

“You didn’t tell me that she was a girl!” Hissing was really the most accurate word for what she was doing, her teeth were staying gritted and she was speaking forcefully but trying very hard to stay quiet. I suppose in all of my expectations of this encounter I guess I never factored in that this would be the major sticking point of the whole situation, or at least the first sticking point. 

“Should I have?” I honestly felt like I was in the right here, the only real reason that I could conceive that she would have a problem with bringing another girl into the operation was if she was interested in me romantically and she thought that she would have more competition or something. I didn’t really think that was a possibility, and I didn’t even want to think about that possibility. It was probably quicker than it should have been but I had started to feel like she was something of a sister to me. Maybe not. I didn’t really see myself falling for her in any way anytime soon. It seemed like she had something of a similar reaction about now because her face seemed to loosen and her eyes unclenched as she relaxed.

“Actually, I guess not.” We’ll it was nice to have solved one problem so easily, hopefully the rest of the issues could be straightened out this well. Most of my experience with girls living together was only through how they were depicted as overly catty and always at each other’s throats. Of course there was probably a good dose of hyperbole in those plot lines but it was probably based on facts. This was entirely just conjecture and hearsay on my part but it was really hard to see it going too well. Who knows maybe they’d become such good friends that I ended up being the outsider here. It wouldn’t really be a good eventuality for me but it would be at least a little funny at least in theory. If that were to really happen I’d probably be more frustrated than anything, but I didn’t really see that happening. I guess I was now just trying to think of every possible little thing now that my original theories had been so thoroughly debunked. Whatever was going to happen, it wasn’t going to happen until we entered back into a dialogue that the whole room could be privy to. With whatever concern Marie had thought herself into resolved as well as I could we stepped back into the presence of our company/new friend(s). 

“So… Marie, this is Anne and Anne this is Marie.” As the one who knew both names I suppose it was my responsibility to fill in all the other participants.

“And this is Geoffery!” She seemed like she was waiting for the nearest opportunity to introduce him. I guess in a way she was like his mother or at least creator so being proud of him would be relatively natural I suppose, but surely she has to realize that it makes her look like something of a freak to everyone else. Granted I typically assumed everyone looked at me like a freak, whether it was true or not. All those years of being a recluse did that to you I suppose, maybe it was more mental than anything and thinking you looked like a freak made you look like a freak. Though obviously it wasn’t exclusively that, or else this girl with no self awareness would be just fine.

“Nice to meet you both!” She did a sort of a courtesy/bow type thing, I didn’t know exactly what to call it but it seemed like she didn’t exactly know what she was doing, just mimicking what other people had done and she saw them do in an attempt to be fancy. I guess it was one of the more benign quirks to have so I couldn’t really hold it against her.

“You too!” The two smiled at each other. Try as I might I couldn’t see much ulterior motive in the smiles so maybe everything would go off without a hitch after all. Though now there would be a real trial by fire of the waters.

“Marie, Anne and I were thinking that we could go out and do a quest, I know you have some work to finish up here but we can handle ourselves on our own.” I had gotten my main message across in however maladroit of a fashion it might have been, she didn’t seem to be enraged at the concept. An inkling of a pout did creep across her face but it may have well been a figment of my imagination, or even my mind lessened the intensity. For whatever reason I felt like I couldn't properly trust my senses on this one, I would have to try and feel things out just a little more. I wanted to have this come to a head with some sort of a question but something a bit more lampshaded than “would that be okay?” Something to show that I was open to her input but that still across the point that we were going to go. “Do you want us to bring you back anything?” We weren’t going to the convenience store to pick up a few things but that was the best I could come up with. 

“Neh…” While the answer may not have been in any dictionary it did have plenty of meaning to me, it was an answer of complete malevolent apathy. She wasn’t happy about it one bit but she didn’t think we deserved for her to get involved. The rest of us left the room largely in silence after bidding some halfhearted awkward goodbyes. Things didn’t get too much more comfortable until we had put a good distance between us and the house. 

“So we have to get you registered with the guild right?”

“That’s right…” She was looking down and away almost bashfully.

“Is something wrong?” It seemed I wasn’t going to learn any lesson about meddling today.

“My father is good friends with one of the supervisors of the Adventurer’s Guild. Remember how I told you that he didn’t want me to do any adventuring unless I could get in on the fast track, after all I was already good at what I was doing so it would be foolish of me to start at the beginning on some other path. The way he manifested that was by having his friend deny me membership unless I was joining an established party… I’d managed to find a few groups that would take me over the years but I’d usually end up getting kicked out or voted out. I know my personality can be a bit abrasive at times but it’s usually a combination of that and my father putting pressure on them.” It was a lot to take in and it had been so heartfelt that I hadn’t even noticed that she had somehow transitioned to being princess carried by Geoffrey. If I was to be totally honest I didn’t like the sound of this, of course I was more than happy to help her fulfill a dream of hers and what not and I could probably put up with her being difficult to live with but that external pressure sounded like it may be a deal breaker. After all he sounded like a decently powerful man, at least among adventurers in this town. He sounded like the type that would be a good man to make a positive impression on and this certainly seemed like a negative start to our history together. Maybe I’d be able to prove to him that I was taking good care of his daughter then he would be willing to invest some of his influence in helping us out. I didn’t really know how he could do that specifically but it seemed like the truth was the same here as before, it’ll always be useful to have friends in high places and classic run around of back scratching. Getting into that cycle seemed like it would be good for furthering whatever ambition I might have but there was a hard barrier to entry there. Not to mention the types that would engage in such behavior seemed like they would see through any façade I could construct and see straight through to my lay about core, that was illustrating the polar opposite of their hungry for more, work focused lifestyles. But however much they would be repulsed by that I’d probably be equally repulsed by them I suppose. Except their approval means a lot more to me than my approval means to them. Namely that they could get their friends in high places to get things done either in my favor or against it and I couldn’t do much but mutter to myself and fantasize about plots to take them down or expose them or whatever else might knock them from their high horse. It didn’t do much to worry about it now but I suppose it would be good to be prepared for when the pressure started to come on. 

“Oh well I’m sure it can’t be too bad…” I was sure of no such thing at this time. “Whatever happens I’m sure you’ll be a great member of the team after all you’ve got more experience than the rest of us put together. Oh by the way I’ve been meaning to ask you, if you aren’t part of the guild how do you level up and learn new spells and such?” I wasn’t entirely sure if she leveled up or not but there had to be some reason why spells were gated behind levels for us. It was one thing if they were just suggestions and if you really applied yourself you could learn it early but to my knowledge that wasn’t the case.

“I’m part of a mage’s guild, the one I’m in is specifically suited for up and coming young magic users. It isn’t really based in any one city though so we’d have to travel around for my lessons sometimes. I don’t think the levels convert too neatly between the two experience systems but I’m a level 19 in my current guild. The experience gain is sort of different too, as an adventurer you gain experience from doing anything even minute things like lifting a box or talking to friends will increase your experience and your experience in strength and charisma respectively. Obviously more minor things result in more minor gains. For me the only thing that counts is magic, and it only increases my magic. I think it works out that after the conversions and everything you get fewer experience points per action as an adventurer but you can get them for everything. That’s one of the reasons why my dad has been so against me getting into adventuring, I won’t be achieving my highest potential or whatever. But if I enjoy what I’m doing more then I’ll do it more and it’ll be better for me in the long run! Don’t you think?” She had thrown her head back over the thick clay forearm of her noble steed so as to be staring directly at my face, maybe a few inches away.

“I guess that’s true, it’s all about how motivated you are.” I agreed to some extent but I mostly just said that because I knew it was what she wanted to hear, and I was a bit uncomfortable with the intense eye contact. Were this a game I’d entirely be for the maximization of returns but since this was real life I'd be damned if I was going to do anything I didn’t want to do. Though it was somewhat demoralizing to hear that in a way Adventurers were the Generalists of the whole system and here I was getting doubly screwed over. I don’t think I could really enjoy anything enough to merit putting in that much work into it. Switching careers seemed like a hassle but it would only get harder to start something else the more time I invested in this. I could really only see myself doing this, I didn’t know what other guilds were out there, I imagine there were the typical types like for merchants and artisans but what skills were you allowed to train in those? Checking them out seemed like a hassle too. I could probably assume a few of them but even if I knew for sure then it would just bring me to the point where I don’t know what I want to do again. I still wasn’t particularly excelling at any trait so it wouldn’t be worth it to make a decision now. It seems that I was just cursed with being mediocre at anything I do. Well not even mediocre, if I worked hard and didn’t give up, then I could be mediocre. I suppose there was only so much I could do to address that but if I found a way then by jove I would take any chance I could get short of signing my life away. The easy way out was the way for me. One it was easy, and two it was out. For now though I had to continue marching along the path that was laid out for me, and for now that meant that we had to go get Anne signed up at the guild. 

There wasn’t much trouble getting her to forms filled out, it seems that the staff recognized her, though I guess it would be hard not to with the giant hulking mass that was carrying her in, but when they found that she was joining a party with two other members they let her aboard no problem. It took her a little while to fill out the application, I seem to remember something about being in other guilds and you needed to supply your identification number or something so they could cancel out your membership with them. It seemed a little weird to only allow membership to one at a time, it made some sense so as to eliminate conflicts of interests or whatever that may come up but did that mean that there were directories of all guilds and their members? What was really stopping you from signing up with different names, sure it would probably be against some code of ethics but really if you wanted to get the prime rates for every attribute possible then it seemed super doable. After all I could sign up without having a birth certificate or anything so just an alias would be good enough to fool the system. Though it seemed like there had to be some sort of greater force at work here if it meant that you’d get stronger from lifting the same amount of weight, maybe here were some patron deities of sorts at play in these situations. Every guild member would be blessed by that god or goddess such that their experience would help more. I guess it made sense that there was some sort of higher force at play to keep track of your experience points and to grant you new powers when you leveled up and chose a skill. As much as this was just a fan theory it seemed remarkably possible that this was the set up, it did explain most of the little quirks of the system and how gamey it was. Though I feel like there would have been a statue of the the benevolent benefactor somewhere around the guild but I hadn’t looked particularly hard. Maybe the ways of this world had been getting more secular over the last few centuries and that’s why people weren’t as good at magic generally, they had lost their way and lost the favor of the pantheon in the process. As an outsider it seemed like no society would have let that happen had people been achieving what were effectively miracles on the daily, animating the inorganic and mending bones seemed like things you’d believe people about if they told you that they were doing it on behalf of a demigod or whatever the case may be. Should I be praying to someone so that my magic could be better? That seems like the kind of thing that it would be best to learn about now. Speaking of, I did half promise myself that I would find a church or temple to something and put some time in praying just so that I could get on the good side of the big guy(s) like I did last time. Not that I ever made any specific attempts in my previous life to be even that great of a person, from all the times I had been called a leech and a freeloader and everything else you’d think i was one of the lowest scum in history and I’d be burning in only the hottest of flames for the rest of my afterlife. Proving them wrong made me feel a strange sense of superiority, maybe because it was one of the first times it was an actually deserved sense of superiority. Though it was debatable whether it really was or not, the debate wouldn’t be swaying my opinion any. Before my train of thought could derail much further it seemed that Anne had finished applying for her Guild Card, maybe it was because she already had a file here or because she had experience towards a class already but the whole process didn’t take long at all and we were ready to roll within ten minutes or so. Not that we were rolling very far, just over to the bulletin board to see what the crop had in store for us today. I was really in the mood for something memorable, sure I could remember all of the quests I had done so far but who knows for how long that would last, I wasn’t even out of the single digits yet and already I was beginning to grow fuzzy on some of the more specific details. Not to mention all of the extreme lows and parts where time seemed to drag on, those were maybe better forgotten though. I wanted something that would be a joy to recount from start to finish, even the time getting ready should be engraved in my head from the sheer anticipation that would be coursing through every millimeter of my being. It should be decently tough too, I wasn’t much of a tenderfoot anymore, I could handle something where the monsters eat Level Ones for breakfast. Not to mention this would be breaking in my new companion, I would like a chance to maybe show off a bit throughout the journey. Even if I couldn’t show off as much as I would like to in theory due a lack of healer induced fear then I would at least be able to put the brawn of magically bonded stone and rock to the test against some of the more gruesome terrors this area had to offer. Frankly having more than a single target would be nice too, but the monotony of the giant rats wasn’t the right balance either, a real sampler was what I was in the mood for. 

“Hey this one to take out that sea monster sure pays a lot! Let’s do this one!” As much as I still wanted to get around to that that wasn’t what my current particularities were prescribing. The real answer to my wish list was of course one of the most iconic of all possible quests and missions in all of sword and sorcery, the dungeon! I so desperately wanted my taste of the literal underside of this place. Venturing deep and far into the long forgotten stone rooms and corridors, traps and horrors in every chamber and around every corner. Treasure awaited those that were willing to face its guardians, and treasures not in the form of modern coinage but in the oldest sense of worth there was, power. Artifacts that could bend reality to the user’s desire, sitting long unused in a hidden room behind hordes of ghouls. Sure I didn’t expect to find anything that rare in this beginner town but it could be a pretty profitable venture nonetheless. We would at least be able to help ourselves to some the spilled riches that other fortune seekers hadn’t been able to keep hold of when they were fleeing for their lives. Frankly that would probably be where we made most of our profit on this trip, dropped money pouches full of allowances saved for weeks and weeks. No greater time artifacts would be waiting for us at the end of a cave that had the entrance worn smooth with foot traffic over the years. Maybe there was the slimmest of chances that we would be able to dwell deeper than most but there were slim odds that we would be able to make it the deepest of all the intrepid explorers, but maybe as the real cream of the crop got further in they got a little choosier with what they would take out, meaning the crumbs would ours for the feasting upon. I wasn’t too worried about how much we could carry either, sure the two people we would be going in with weren’t models of strength but in that department we had something of an eight foot tall ace in the hole. Though bogging him down with every trinket and bauble may reduce his combat ability to an eventually deadly degree. I did need to keep in mind that even if he was nigh invincible, or at least unflinching, he still had a major weak spot in his creator. If a particularly clever ranged fighter spots the c***k in our armor then I may be left with an injured girl and a lifeless statue. Or even if too great a threat is posed to him, a certain someone may get worried for his well being and pull him back from the line of fire, allowing for a total advance on us. Basically if she could keep the fire of the squishier members of the party then we would be pretty much in the clear and it was just a question of how long it would take to get boring for us. Personally as long as we were still making strides in the loot department I’d be willing to stay down there for a week or longer should the need arise. I was overwhelmingly curious as to what the profits would be like an expedition down into the long forgotten, yet heavily trafficked, catacombs of whatever wacky sorcerer or cult had built them would be. It could easily be a better way to make a living than taking freelance jobs from the rubes around town, they were always interested in getting a good deal in addition to their task completed, with no set goal or even employer we may be able to walk out with a good chunk of change, but on the other hand with no guarantee of action or reward it would tragically possible for us to walk out with only the supplies we had bought for the journey. So I guess it really wasn’t going to be indicative of much, really a few data points would need to be collected to form a coherent conclusion, but a big success on the first go would definitely be merit for further research on the subject, whereas coming up empty would only be tolerable for so many goes even in the name of the scientific method. Of course since there was no real benefitting party there wouldn’t be sign up offering a reward for going in, part of the whole point of dungeons was that they were separated from the overworld meaning it was unlikely that any problems would be crawling their way out of there and into a defenseless, lucrative, civilian’s hair. 

“Hey you wouldn’t know where we could find a dungeon do you? I feel like it would be a lot of fun to go and clear out a dungeon together.” That may have sounded like I was asking her on a date or something but it really just flowed out of my mouth I guess that was the result of thinking through every aspect that I would enjoy to the point where I couldn’t help myself but share with the class. 

“Hmm, I wouldn’t know. Maybe we can ask the staff member at the counter for help.” Calling anything that they did help was always a bit of stretch but sure they would probably have a pamphlet to hand out or something. I went up, asked them about dungeons, and sure enough I was handed a slip of paper that had a short list of known dungeons, where they could be found, what monsters they had, approximate difficulty, amount of traffic, known depth, and a few other things. Again the pamphlet seemed rather helpful but that just made it hard to believe that it was updated any time recently considering how unhelpful everyone was in the present day it made it hard to believe that they were the same crew that had compiled this information. Though a decent amount of this information had now real expiry date so it would certainly still prove handy. The locations were the biggest things to know really, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack otherwise. This way we at least knew where to find them and we could see the quality of the needles for ourselves. Still probably the biggest thing to change about these dungeons in the past century was this flier being printed so there probably wouldn’t be all too much difference. If we went for one of the more ambitious dungeons as far as levels were concerned then the traffic should be minimal, after all most of the culprits of congesting the guild wouldn’t be available to ruin the dungeon diving experience today and they probably didn’t get much of a chance to at any point really, after all it would likely be a multiday affair and if they were only available on weekends that would severely limit their chances to do one. Though that did still ring true for us as well, this likely wouldn’t be a quick jaunt in and out, if we really wanted to be thorough then we really shouldn’t be expecting to spend any less than a whole 24 hours in there. 

“Would you be interested in purchasing our dungeon diver’s starter kit?” I felt my heart rate skyrocket from how shocked I was that the employee actually spoke of his own volition. I wasn’t so surprised that it was only to up sell me on something, I’m sure if getting a membership here wasn’t the main point then they would have been trying to get you to sign up for their rewards programs and everything else under the sun in an instant. As much as being asked to do something made me deliberately not want to do it we certainly wouldn’t be getting far without it. 

“Oh alright, how much is it for two of them?” 

“It’ll be 100 ducats for the two of them, they come with sleeping rolls, torches, food for five meals and medical supplies to treat all manner of injury and even a few other items you’ll find handy down there..” I handed him the requisite cash with a large dose of regret for agreeing to this. We get some pretty hefty packs and sling them over our shoulders. Or at least I do with mine, somewhat predictably Geoffrey ended up being saddled with the other pack and we were on our way. I tried to rationalize the sizable expense to myself that we would have needed food and such anyway and that we were sure to make our money back somehow. We probably wouldn’t be finding dollar bills on the corpses of anything we kill but we really just needed one big score to justify the whole trip, whether it be some artifact or some precious metals or something of use. Worst case scenario I’m sure we could scavenge the equipment off of whatever goblins we can find or whatever else. There shouldn’t be too much trouble turning a profit on this venture with the multitude of routes there were but I really would have preferred a buy in that wasn’t quite so pocket lightening. With most of the details sorted out it was time to actually decide which dungeon to go to, none of them were exactly in convenient walking distance from the center of town but in the grand scheme of things, on a multi day journey there wasn’t much difference between an hour and a half walk and two hour walk. But still I wanted to come across as fair and get some input from everyone who would be affected by this decision.

“So which one do you think we should go to?” I held the pamphlet down low to let her get a look at the options we had. “I’m thinking this one over here, it’s rated as pretty difficult and long too, that’ll let us really sink our teeth into it and get a good amount of experience too. Plus we’ll be going past the house on the way there so we can let Marie know what we’re doing.” Frankly I wouldn’t have minded getting her to come too if it weren’t for the price of these packs. Maybe I wasn’t as ready for a quest without a dedicated healer as I previously thought. Especially in an instance where we would be going through a number of combat encounters, every wound would be affecting us for the rest of the trip and make us more likely to get hurt more. At least this would be better than going in alone, this way I would have someone to drg me back in the scenario that I get totally clobbered and can’t get up. I wasn’t too optimistic on the petite girl being able to drag me back to town but she had her ways. Of course there was the very significant possibility that something happens to both of us and we’re left to rot down there, which is why I would feel a lot better having a third person along, especially one that could heal. 

“Well if long and hard is what you’re looking for…” Please don’t say it like that… “Then why don’t we do this one, it has a higher difficulty rating and it has more floors. I think it could be a lot more fun.” She was entirely right about that as much as I disliked her phrasing. 

“Okay, if you think we can handle it.” I wasn’t entirely convinced but she was the one who’s supposed to a level 19 or whatever, maybe it would be nice to get carried on a mission. Though it would be at least somewhat ironic to be carried by the girl that had been carried everywhere all day.

“Then let’s get going!” She mounted her steed in her customary fashion and we were on our way to the dungeon she had selected.