Fairy Tale Games (2)

I spend the rest of the day doing some light exercises and eventually fall asleep. Sampson wakes us up early the next morning and hurries us out of the cell.

"It seems Jacques had a change of heart as he was adamant that you both be released as quickly as possible."

"Really? That's odd." I couldn't imagine him being the reflective type so his behavior seemed odd.

"It probably had something to do with all the bruises on his face. He looked a lot worse than how we left him last night." Sampson shrugs.

A chill runs down my spine as I recall the expression on Sakura's face when we were hauled off yesterday.

Note to self, don't piss off Sakura.

We scurry out of the guard house and head directly to the guild for our first class. Sakura is waiting outside the building for us; or at least one of us.

"Josh! I was so worried about you! Are you okay?" Sakura literally runs right past me and grabs his clothes to look him over. I pretend not to notice the skin missing from her knuckles.

"I'm okay." Josh frowns as he tries to shake her off.

"We just slept the whole time so it wasn't even that big of a deal."

Sakura glares at me before turning back to Josh.

"Alright, as long as you're okay." She says as she adjusts he is clothes.

Josh again waves her off but she remains glued to his side.

"Anyway, let's head to class. I don't want to be late on our first day." We walk swiftly through the double doors to the guild building and follow a staff member through the back room door to a smallish classroom. It seems we're the last to arrive; only one table at the front still has seats.

"If it isn't the criminals." Tyrion jeers from the back of the class as we sit down. I don't bother responding but Sakura is clearly annoyed by his comment.

"Just ignore him."

"Shut up, I know." She shoots back as she scoots closer to Josh. I have to give her credit for her persistence; the woman knows what she wants.

I shake my head and turn towards the head of the class. There, a bright white smile greets me.

"Welcome to the class, we were just waiting for you to start." Travis opens his arms invitingly as he speaks. "Today we're going to talk about how to get started as an adventurer. Raise your hand if you've done a quest.

Only about twenty percent of the class raises their hand. Notably, Tyrion isn't one of them.

"That's fine, but your homework for next class is to complete one quest. It doesn't have to be difficult and the guild provides plenty of maintenance related quests if you'd like to stay in town."

"Do we get a higher grade for completing a more difficult quest?" Someone asks from the back of the class.

"No grades in this class, you're just here to learn how to survive. If you don't want to do the work, I won't make you." The room goes silent as everyone contemplates his words. "Alright then, let's talk about finding the right quest for your skill level and needs."

Travis went on to talk about all the different types of quests you might see such as elimination, collection, and exploration; as well as how to gauge their difficulty.

While the guild grades the quest based into ranks, lower ranked quests are cheaper to commission so clients are incentivized to lie about the challenges involved.

"That's it for today. Remember, the most important thing is to come back alive. Dead people can't collect rewards." Travis flashes a smile made all the brighter by his contrasting complexion.

"What are we gonna do, Nick?" Josh asks me as we file out of the room.

"What do you mean? We're going to do a quest of course. I originally signed up for the guild to help my family pay rent so our library doesn't close down so this was always part of the plan." A few books had already gone missing from the bookshelves in our room so the clock is ticking.

"That's sad." Sakura says as she looks down.

"It costs money to live, I'm sure your families have financial concerns as well. This might be a good opportunity to give them a hand."

"Daddy is always complaining about money." Sakura sighs.

Josh nods as if to affirm that he has the same problems.

"Well, let's ask Ashley about what quest we should take."

We all head out into the guild hall and I quickly wave down the dog-eared woman working behind the counter. She smiles when she sees me and walks over to us.

"How was your first class?"

"Informative."

"I thought you already knew everything." She chides.

"I don't who you got that from but I don't know anything. I especially don't know what quest we should do for our first time."

"Oh, you're going to pop your cherry?"

"I really wish you wouldn't phase it like that. I prefer if nothing popped on my first quest, cherry or otherwise." I know she's just teasing me but I still feel my face getting hot.

"Ashley, are you okay?" An unfamiliar guild staff member smiles as she gently lays a hand on her colleague's shoulder. Ashley recoils at her touch but hurriedly composes herself.

"I'm fine Shelly." Ashley responds as she places her hand over Shelly's.

"Are you sure you don't need help dealing with this scoundrel?"

"Excuse me, ladies, but scoundrel? Must I remind you I'm only ten? Hooligan? Maybe. Rascal? Perhaps. But scoundrel? You've gone too far." I cross my arms and pout in mock anger. A grin threatens to climb up my face as I hear the two women giggling.

"Oof!" A sharp elbow lands directly on my kidney.

"Can you stop flirting and pick a quest already?" Sakura glowers.

"Hey, they started it." I complain as I rub my side. Sakura just rolls her eyes at me.

"What kind of quest were you thinking of?" Shelly steps away leaving Ashely to take care of us.

"I was hoping to ask you the same question. I don't really know what quests are best to take for your first time."

"Well, that depends on your stats."

I feel like that's a pretty personal question but I trust Ashley enough to tell her.

"All my physical stats are at about thirty and I think theirs are too." I glance over at the kids and they nod.

"Nick, I can't help you pick the right quest unless your honest with me." Ashley scolds me with a wag of her finger.

"I know, I'm not lying."

"…" Ashley stares at me with a puzzled expression before collecting herself. "Very well, then let's go look at the board."

We all walk over to a big bulletin board covered with papers.

"Many of these are long term commissions for ingredients that no one has the abilities to gather so there aren't as many options as you might think." She points towards the bottom right of the board where three pieces of paper are grouped together. "These are the maintenance requests offered by the guild. One is for moving stones from the nearby river to the town square, another is for cleaning the sewers and the last one is for gathering wood to repair the palisade."

"Well, I don't want to go near the sewer or the forest so let's go with that first one. Sound good?" The kids nod and Ashley explains the details of the quest.

"Oof." I drop two melon sized stones on the ground near the fountain at the town square.

"Those aren't big enough." The person managing the quest explains as he looks down his nose at me. I know he's lying as I compared mine with the sample stone left by the riverbank.

"I checked." My voice is ragged after lugging the stones this far.

"You should have double checked." He says dismissively. I feel a hot rage boil up in my stomach at the man attempting to take advantage of us.

"That's funny. I'm surprised the guild would try to scam little kids like this, unless of course they don't know what you're doing."

He frowns at my accusation but remains silent.

"Maybe we should grab a guild staff member to double check for us, I wouldn't want you to incorrectly pay us for brining undersized stones." I grin maliciously.

He clicks his tongue and looks away.

"It's fine, just don't let it happen again."

I roll my eyes and walk back toward the river.

"Nick, why didn't you report him? He's lying." Josh asks with a serious expression on his face.

"I know, that's why I threatened to consult the guild."

"But liars should be punished. If he doesn't get punished then he'll just do it again; that's what my mom says."

I can't help but grimace at his words. He's right. He may not harass us in the future but he'll likely try to pull the same stunt with the next group of kids.

"You're right. Why don't we tell them after we finish the quest today. That should at least prevent him from trying it again."

Josh stares at me before nodding and looking away.

My heart grows heavy as I feel like I let Josh down. I sigh and walk back to the river.