The Guild

Asher looked at the oak doors with a forlorn expression. He was about to walk away when he heard a voice behind him. "Are you going inside? I've been trying to work up the nerve to join, myself. Would you mind joining me?"

Asher looked behind him and found a petite woman with a mop of wheat blonde hair and blue eyes. "And why would I do that?" he asked with no small amount of sarcasm.

"You looked like you were heading in. I guess you're too chicken to go in, I guess," the girl said with a mischievous grin.

Asher sighed deeply as he felt his hard headed nature kicking in. "Follow me and don't get in my way," he ordered. The girl did just that.

Asher came face to face with a burly man with a shaved head who appeared to have no sense of humor.

"Name and reason for being here," the man said gruffly.

"Asher Smith," he replied quickly. "I am here to join the guild and make an honest living."

Asher had taken on Matilda's name over the years as he never really knew his parents. He had small flashes of memories of living in the manor, but nothing concrete enough for him to know that his father owned a large estate at one point.

The burly man nodded in response and pulled out a piece of paper. "Sign here if you know how," he growled at Asher. Asher took the ink quill and spelled out his name quickly. "There's an initiation for newcomers to show what you can do," the burly man said. "My guess is you're in for a lot of pest control jobs," the man chuckled almost to himself.

The girl behind Asher quickly ran up to the counter and excitedly said, "I want to join, too! My name is Willow Thorn!"

"Sign here," the man said once again. "You already heard the drill. We'll test you to see what you're worth, if anything. Everyone has a place here, even your friend there."

Asher roller his eyes and pushed through a set of double doors into a long hallway. His gaze wandered into every open door, assessing the area. He was tempted to steal everything he could, but he was tired of running. He had been on the run his entire life. He didn't want to do it anymore.

Asher was less focused on the morality of stealing, he had long since given up any real sense of morals regarding that. He didn't kill for no reason, but that was as far as it went. He couldn't care less about stealing someone's last coin in order to put himself ahead.

In the end, he just kept walking. Despite all the temptation past the open doors, he didn't give in. He just wanted to live a somewhat normal life. Even if he was reduced to just killing rats and coyotes. If he was able to prove himself, the guild might bring him on more lucrative missions and he could make a real name for himself.

If he could make enough money he could pay off his bounties in nearly every province across the empire since most of his crimes were petty. Nobody even knew who had killed the Lord of the estate where he had been practically enslaved at. Not to mention it had happened nearly two decades prior to him joining the guild.

As Asher came to the end of the hallway there was a man in flashy armor, possibly mythril. Mythril was one of the stronger substances on the continent, far surpassing steel. Asher could almost feel a bit of drool dripping down his chin imagining how much that set of armor itself would cost.

"My name is Edgar. I will not sugarcoat this for you, we are going to test you to your absolute limits here today. I am your instructor and this is where you will discover your worth. This is not the end of your potential, as you can work your way farther up the ranks from here, but I will assign you to a bracket based on your performance today. Most people start off as an F class adventurer. If that happens to you, we will assign you to pest control. Do you understand me completely?"

Asher nodded in response. "Then we will begin with your physical prowess," Edgar stated. From there, Edgar had Asher go through a whole range of physical exercises to see how well he performed compared to an average person. Asher barely performed as well as the average, placing him at a rating of 1 out of 10.

From there, they tested his skills. Asher did poorly in all combat areas, performing worse than the average person by far. His skills as a thief didn't help to bring his rating up from there. He had no magical abilities so he wasn't even tested on that. In the end, Edgar had placed him at the bottom rank possible following the final test where Asher had to face him one on one.

For the final test, Asher followed Edgar into a round room that looked like a dojo with weapons in racks across the room. Edgar instructed him to choose a weapon from the many available.

Asher chose a short sword and could feel his heart thumping in his throat as he walked into the center, per the instructions of Edgar. Edgar had removed his mythril armor and donned leather armor to match the armor provided to all initiates to the guild. They were on completely equal ground as far as their equipment.

Edgar signalled for the match to begin and Asher took a swing at him. Edgar easily blocked the strike and countered just slow enough for Asher to dodge the downward blow. Edgar chuckled and smirked at Asher and remarked, "You have a long way to go before you're any match for me."

The blows went back and forth with Asher scrambling just to not get hit, yet Asher had a feeling his life would have already been ended in a real fight with this monstrous warrior in front of him. With sweat dripping down Asher's back, he admitted defeat whilst Edgar appeared as refreshed as if they'd never even fought.

As Edgar put away the equipment he stated, "You have potential, like all new recruits. How far you can rise is up to you. Work hard for fame and riches, that is the goal I suggest to you. If you need a more concrete and attainable goal, focus on becoming better than me. If you succeed at that task, I assure you, you will know riches beyond your imagination."

Asher thought his words through, as he walked back to receive his rating with the secretary of the guild. As he walked up to the desk, he knew his rank was not going to be very high, but he was hoping for at least an E rank. His heart dropped as he heard the secretary state his rank.