22

👍︎♒︎♋︎◻︎⧫︎♏︎❒︎ 📄︎📄︎🖳︎ 🏱︎❒︎♏︎⬧︎♏︎■︎⧫︎ 👎︎♋︎⍓︎

"Well that's that," Thor said to himself before turning to The Puppeteer, "Puppeteer, the mission's over!"

"I can see that, but doesn't the mission call for us to basically capture her?"

"Yes it does," He turned towards Scarlet who was lying on the floor, "Can you stand?"

"Does it look like I can stand?"

"Yes it does, but because you said that I'm assuming you can't. Puppeteer! I'm going to need your help carrying her back to the Guild Hall."

"Um… alright." He walked up to Scarlet and lifted her onto his back, "Wow you're heavy."

She tried to hit him, but she couldn't move her arms, "N-never call a woman heavy." she managed to mumble out.

"Do you at least have my contact lenses? I'm going to need them back."

"They burned."

"What?"

"They burned. Do you really think something like that would survive something that destroyed this many trees?"

The Puppeteer sighed, "I guess that means I'm stuck with these glasses. Do you have any of the other stuff you stole?"

"Nope, I was in need of money and it wasn't like they were worth much either. There was only around 15 gold, and 5 silver worth of items there."

"That's weird. The mission said that you stole 350 gold worth of things."

"Let me look at that," Thor said, snatching the paper out of The Puppeteer's hands. He stared intensely at the paper before coming to a realization. "The mission was requested by Cab Gism which is an anagram of Big Scam, an organization who requests missions that require you to submit money in order to complete. They take their share of money from the pot and then give you your part of the reward. Shady business if I do say so myself."

"Is there anything we can do about it?" The Puppeteer asked.

"Oh there is. And it's not going to be pretty for them."

* * * * * *

"B-boss." a cultist said as he approached the throne, "He's really scary! He destroyed nearly a quarter of the Urak Forest!"

"A quarter of the Urak Forest… that's pretty big." Angela responded from the shadows in the boss voice.

"Shall I go see them?" Hunter asked, "It'll be much easier to gauge their power if I'm near them."

"Hunter… it's dangerous even for you." The cultist responded, "they're really powerful."

"Do not worry. I'm someone who is able to go behind the scenes." He looked up, "especially if it's him we're dealing with."

* * * * * *

"We're back!" Thor yelled as he burst open the doors of the Guild Hall. Everyone turned to look at the tattered Thor and the girl on The Puppeteer's back.

"Welcome… Thor. Is there any reason you're barging straight in here?" Sorben asked.

"We finished our mission, and I'd like to speak to the person who put up the request."

"Here let me have a look… Cab Gism… I'll find him in our database… He's not there."

"As I thought. Pretty sure this whole mission was a big scam."

"Big scam you say?" a snobby aristocratic person said walking in, "I'm Cab Gism. Is there a reason you would consider this a scam?"

"Cab Gism, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Thor Stroganoff." Once he had said his name a look of panic appeared on Cab's face.

"I-it's a pleasure to meet you too." he said trying to hide his nervousness, "now would you like to explain why you think this is a scam?"

"First things first, your name isn't in the database of the Guild Hall. All requests are put in for security reasons and so the client can easily pick up any requested items. Two, you come strolling in just at the time I come back, which is quite convenient isn't it? Three, Big Scam, an anagram of your name is a well known Scam organization. And finally, four," Thor proceeded to say something in a foreign language. Only Cab responded and fell to his knees.

"I-I-I."

"Give me my reward and we'll be done with this." Thor said coldly.

"H-here! 150 gold!"

"You're forgetting something."

"Wh-wh-what?"

"The Guild Hall has a penalty for false information on the flyer, 50 gold. 100 gold for a false rank type, and 20 for each rank letter. That totals to 170 gold."

"That's absurd! There's no way that mission was anything near a Gold A!"

"Would you like to see the damage to the Urak Forest?" Thor asked while his hands began to crackle, "If you hadn't noticed already, I'm Thor Stroganoff, the name ring's a bell doesn't it?'"

"T-take it!" Cab said as he stumbled out of the Guild Hall.

"And never come back!"

"D-dang you're really scary," The Puppeteer said.

"Years and years of hardship my friend. Anyway, here's your share."

"But I didn't do anything!"

"You chose the mission, and you carried her here. It's good enough for me because I specifically told you to keep out." He turned to Ben, "and yours little guy, but remember things aren't going to be like this again."

"So what do we do about Scarlet?"

"Leave her here. Sorben can take care of it."

"Um alright." He set Scarlet down at a nearby table and they left.

"So what do we do now?" The Puppeteer asked as they left the Guild Hall.

"We talk. Just hang around. One mission a day is plenty, especially one like that."

"So what do we talk about?"

"I don't know."

"C-can I ask a question?" Ben interrupted, "If we can, can you continue teaching me how to play, Sensei?"

"How about tomorrow, we'll have fun today and tomorrow we can be productive?"

"Yes sir!"

"Hey Puppeteer?" Thor called.

"Yeah?"

"Is there a better name to call you? Puppeteer's a bit long.

"✠︎✈︎✡︎☼︎✞︎⬧︎ said my name didn't he? If he didn't it's ✈︎✡︎☼︎✞︎⬧︎♎︎♏︎❄︎."

"There's a slight problem with that. Your name is spoken entirely in Ancient which for some reason I can't understand."

"Hm… here, let me try. Miracle?"

"Miracle?"

"Nope that's wrong it's…"

"Micahael." a voice said from behind them.

"Yeah that's right." The Puppeteer confirmed before realizing something was wrong. "Who's there?"

"Relax. It's just me." a brown haired man said as he waved his hand towards them.

"💣︎︎︎☠︎︎︎🕆︎︎︎♌︎︎︎♐︎︎︎♒︎︎︎! You're here too?"

"You two know each other?"

"Yeah he's another summoned. He's the one known as The Hunter!"

"It's a shame really," The Hunter said, "could've been called strategist, or archer or something else, but no, it had to end up with a title the same as my name."

"So your name is Hunter?" Thor asked, "It's a decent sounding name."

"I'm fine with my name, just not my title," Hunter said, shrugging his shoulders, "Your parents give you a name before they know who you are and the people give you your title after the fact. It just disappoints me to know my parents were right."

"How so?"

"I always liked proving them wrong one way or another and for them to be correct about the first thing they told me… oh and by the way it's not like I hated my parents because they were just a bit... extra."

"Anyway," The Puppeteer interrupted, "You're able to translate our names into the language we speak now right? Can you teach me?"

"I would, but the thing is... nothing in the world is free. How about this? If you can beat me in a duel, I'll tell you. A simple friendly duel with a reward for you if you win."

"You're on Hinto."

Chapter 22: Present Day END