No Money? Would You Like To Join a Guild?

After being inspected once more herself, Mana left the tall, chain-link enclosure and walked into the large, tiled center of the city. In the center a very large statue of a man fighting an unknown creature stood, forever depicting a never-ending battle. 

She marveled at the clean, cream-colored buildings, as well as the hustle and bustle of everyone doing their part to keep the city safe and prosperous. 

Then she heard the worst sound she had ever heard in her life. 

A door chime. 

Ding, ding, ding, ding. She couldn't tell how much it had gone off, in fact, she was probably echoing it more times in her head than she actually had heard it. 

Then the smell hit her nose. It made her sick and hungry at the same time; The sweet aroma of a fresh baked apple pie. Her stomach let out a deep growl. 

"Hungry are ya?" She heard a relaxing, deep voice chime in next to her. She was so preoccupied by the city and her ongoing starvation that she had forgotten others existed for a moment. 

Mana looked to her left where the man's voice had come from, only to be met by a handsome man that had towered over her small frame like she was an ant. He was dressed in black and red attire, indicating he was a guard of the capital, Vindimini, and not just the city she had arrived in. 

She nodded shyly at him. 

"Welcome to Chayie, one of the biggest cities in the country," he gave her a large, toothy smile, while outstretching his hand for a shake. She hesitantly grabbed it, and as her soft palm entered his rough one, he instantly closed his hand around hers and began to shake it perhaps a bit too vigorously. 

After a second too long, he finally let go, releasing Mana's now sweat covered hand. She instantly dried it on her shirt while Fluffy chuckled to himself inside her backpack. 

"My name is Nobu Amano, official guard of the capital. You must be Mana?" He introduced himself. She looked up at his face, squinting to try and get a good look because of the sun blinding her from having to look up so far. 

He had short, spiked up hair that was such a faint blue that it was almost white. His eyes were a beautiful dark brown, but she couldn't quite make out where his pupils began; That was until she noticed him trigger his stat mode causing a white ring to illuminate around them. "I had a feeling you were," he said, turning it back off. 

"I can introduce myself you know," she snarked, a bit annoyed he read her instead of asked. 

"My apologies, ma'am," he said, suddenly becoming extremely formal. "We had a prior notification that you were crossing the bridge, so I was sent to retrieve you." 

She tried not to smile, but the sense of importance made her giddy. 

"Most stores around here, despite being a hub for travelers, are actually quite inexpensive. How much do you have? I'll show you some good places to visit," he began before being interrupted by Mana's stomach. 

"I'm sorry, I've been living off some rations the last village I was in had given me, and I ran out yesterday....." 

Grrrrrrrr 

.... "and I don't have any money." she finished. 

"No money!?" He burst out laughing, "how can you go on this grand adventure without any money?" Mana scowled at him. "Would you like to join a guild then?" He asked as he attempted to catch his breath from his uncontrollable laughter. 

"But I don't-" 

"You have plenty of time," he finished for her, already anticipating what she was going to say. "Rot has been around for centuries. It won't wait to be destroyed, but when you're truly ready, it's going to regret giving you those," he pointed to her weapons. "Now follow me, I'll treat you to a nice meal first and then I'll take you to the fighter's guild here in town." 

He began to lead her towards a decent-sized restaurant opposite the gate she came from, labeled as one of the best burger joints in the state of Mistrich. On one side of the amazing smelling place, was a potion shop and the other was a salon. Odd combination but fitting for the location. 

As the two got closer to the restaurant, the sounds of juicy food hitting a hot stove before sizzling danced into her ears, making her even more hungry. The smell of greasy, delicious burgers made her mouth water, and she wanted to run to it so badly. She had put the apple pie behind her; she still didn't want to taste anything sweet. 

"Earning money through a guild is somewhat easy, but the money itself is hard to accept sometimes," he began to inform her as he opened a single, glass door for her once they finally reached the BBQ restaurant. 

"It's what we call Dead Man's Money. You pay a monthly fee to be a part of a guild, and in turn you get an emblem that allows you an enhanced version of Stat Mode. The monthly fee is also what becomes a portion of the reward money after a quest or contract is done. So of course, the giant bank of guild fees piling up to be paid out, also includes fees from those that will never see another day again." Nobu guided them to a table in the far back, away from the rest of the patrons before pulling out a jingling sack of coins and tossing it onto the table. "Dead Man's Money." 

She did not want to be tied up again on her journey, but he was right. Sure, she had enough strength to get herself to Karkello, but did she have enough to keep going without being nearly killed? Probably not. 

She sighed. 

"Alright, I'll join, but it won't keep me from going to Wugrayl, Winden in Midflora will it?" 

"The world's capital; such a lovely place," he softly whispered to himself, almost reminiscing in its name. Then he refocused, "no, not at all. Once they feel you're strong enough to survive the entire journey, they'll send word to them that you'll be heading that way..... 

It's been only a couple days for you, no? Some people who have been training their entire lives aren't even ready for that type of journey yet."