14 Emergency Quest

After tying up our horses, we rush into the guild hall.

A throng of people crowd the lobby.

"Is everyone here responding to the emergency quest?"

"Yes. It's usually like this when they send one out."

"Kairo!"

Hearing my name called out, I turn in the direction the voice came from.

"Matt!"

We grip each other's hands and hug. Stepping back, I look him up and down, surprised at at the amount of change he's gone through.

Instead of his khakis and cardigan, he's wearing blue pants with a white shirt. A dark blue cloak sits on his shoulders.

His hair cut is the exact same, and his new pair of glasses look almost identical to his old pair.

He switches a pine staff, that I assume is for spell casting, over to his other hand.

(He's almost exactly the same! He might have grown a couple inches, but I'm only a little shorter than him now!)

"How are you doing?"

His question brings me back to our meeting.

"I mean, the last few months were hell, but other than that pretty good."

He throws his head into the air, giving a big laugh.

"That goes for me as well! Do you know what this emergency quest is about?"

"No clue. I just know that it's gotta be urgent since all these people showed up."

"As perceptive as ever. How are you Master Burch?"

He says this with a bow. Burch takes this in stride, bowing back, but not nearly as much.

"Other than having to deal with this lazy, annoying, piece of shit for the past six months, I'm pretty good."

Burch says this with no expression on his face, even going so far as looking bored.

Matt's jaw drops to the floor, but I just go up to Burch and put my arm around his back.

"But in the end, I managed to learn how to deal with this grouchy old man. Get him anywhere near a house cat, and he'll act like the cat is a god or something."

Now it looks like Matt's eyes are going to pop out of his head. Burch glares at me, then smoothly moves out from under my arm.

Rolling my eyes, I turn my attention back to Matt.

"So where's your...uh...teacher?"

"You mean my Master? He went to see what the quest was about. Speaking of which, where did Master Burch go?"

I look behind me and find that Burch is, indeed, gone.

'Seriously?! He's like a five year old in a supermarket!'

"What's up losers."

I groan and curse my luck. Sauntering up to the two of us is Alcon.

He still has the same buzz cut and cocky sneer on his face. However, there's a scar on his eyebrow now, making him look even more like a punk.

"Hello Alcon. How are you?"

"I was doing a lot better before I saw your ugly, four-eyed mug."

(And he's still an asshole.)

"Man, that's uncalled for."

Alcon turns to me now.

"What're you gonna do about it?"

With a sneer, he grabs my collar and pulls me towards him. Instead of fighting against it, I use the momentum to headbutt him.

From the outside, it looked like he pulled too hard and I was too weak to resist, I perfected this with some hood trash in the slums.

He grabs his face and reels back, almost running into Matt.

"You son of a...what did you do that for?!"

"Sorry, guess you're just too strong for your own good."

"Woah, maybe I am…"

He looks at his hands as if he had just gained some almighty power.

I can't tell if he's making fun of me or is just an idiot.

(I mean, last he heard, my strength stat was at 98.)

Either way, it seems like he forgot about the whole headbutt thing.

"Attention! We're about to get started! Please listen closely as we will not be repeating anything."

Looking around, I still don't see Burch.

(How could he get so lost when he works here?!)

Matt bends over to whisper in my ear.

"Hey, did you hear anyone mention anything about the second test?"

Now that I thought about it, Burch hadn't mentioned it after telling me about the emergency quest.

The speaker is starting, so we focus our attention back to the front.

"Our scouts spotted a large group of goblins approaching from the southern woods. We need you all to intercept them and make sure none of them make it into the city."

Goblins, regarded as one of the weakest monsters, have a nasty reputation. They live in uninhabited forests and caves, occasionally pillaging small villages.

They kill all the men, rape the women, and keep the children as livestock. No one wants to even think what would happen if they got into the city.

"And why should we help you guys?"

Of course Alcon is the one that spoke up. Instinctively, Matt steps away from him, almost like in effort to escape the scrutinizing gazes of the whole room.

With an exasperated sigh, the speaker continues.

"Of course we will reward you. Everybody that participates will automatically get 50 copper. Every goblin you kill is 5 copper. Killing a goblin general is an additional 50 copper, and the goblin chief will be worth 2 silver."

At this last part, the whole hall filled with hoots and cheers.

'Guess most people will be going for the chief then. Although, if you look at the numbers, that's still not a lot of money. You can get a small loaf of day old bread for 2 copper, so essentially each goblin is two loaves of bread.'

100 copper is 1 silver, 100 silver is one gold, and 100 gold is one platinum. Only the extremely wealthy have platinum, so it's everyone's dream to own that kind of money.

(The fact that these people are getting excited over 50 copper shows how little they know about the money system. Or that they're excited about making money. With a rough head count there's about 30 people in the room. Why do so many of them look familiar.)

As the pieces connect, I slowly raise my hand. It takes a second for him to notice me, but the speaker eventually gives me permission to speak.

I take a deep breath and clear my throat.

"I was just wondering, how many people in this room are full fledged adventures?"

At this, the speaker chuckles.

"You're a smart one. Excluding me, there's five."

Everyone in the room jolts in surprise. Well, 23 of the people to be exact.

He continues talking over the rising voices.

"You weren't supposed to know this yet, but 24 of you have been training for six months. Now it's time for your second test. If you make it through this battle, you pass and will become a full fledged member of the Guild. While you should try your best to not let any Goblins through, a team of higher level adventurers will serve as a last line of defense. You know, in case you all die or let goblins through."

A group of five adventurers waves at us.

"To be able to participate in the battle, you all need to get into parties. There are 24 of you, so parties of six will do. Well? What are you waiting for?! Get to it!"