"Hmmmmmmmmm," mumbles Riku
"What are you hmmming about, Riku?" asks Ellis
"Well. . ." begins Riku, turning to look at Ellis, "A clan needs someone to be the leader, so who should it be?"
Alluen replies, "I probably couldn't since we're doing this to buff up our appearance and make us less targetable, and I'm a lamia, which would make things much worse."
"I'll..." goes Ellis before backtracking and saying, "or wait, I probably wouldn't really wanna do that either."
They then turn to Finor, who stares at them back incredulously and makes an X. All of them then turn back on Riku, who answers, "Sorry to tell ya guys now but I'm not really good with ya know paperwork and such," says Riku.
"Nah, man," replies Alluen, "You don't actually need to do the paperwork to register the clan. And paperwork for organization isn't needed either, since this isn't gonna be an actual working clan, just a cover for us."
"Well, but–" begins Riku before Ellis also interrupts, saying, "Yeah ma,n we just need you to pose for a drawing and slap your name on as leader, that's it, man."
Riku avoids their gaze and looks at Finor, who pleads to him, eyes shining with trust and hope. Riku sighs and throws his hands up, relenting and saying, "Fine, fine, I'll be the face of the clan then, now let's get going before I change my mind."
The group cheers, and Riku briefly grins before turning around and gesturing for everyone to come along. Ellis and Alluen quickly get to the front and cut a path through the forest till they reach the river and head downstream into the town. After a short detour looking through a few shops, they turn around the town hall and enter the guild.
"Aight, buddies," says Ellis, twirling around to face the group, "Anyone here besides me registered as an adventurer and has a card?"
Alluen rummages around his bag before triumphantly pulling out his guild card. Riku slowly claps for Alluen, causing him to blush and tuck his card away.
Ellis sighs and then mumbles, "Alright, at least one of us is signed up," before straightening up and shouting, "Let's go down to the town boys!"
A chorus of whoops and cheers comes from the group before Ellis races off and they follow out of their camp. Eventually, they burst from the forest and go past the fields of wheat before slowing down and rounding the town's small inn to come face to face with the adventurers' guild.
Finor, out of breath, reaches forward and yanks open the door, letting the others file inside before entering the small, cozy room adorned with boards and plants, as well as a counter on the far side where the receptionist worked. The boys also spotted three doors respectively labeled "Clinic", "Dining", and "Blacksmith". As they approached the counter, Ellis was uncharacteristically quiet, and Riku seemed to shrink into the shadows.
Alluen takes the initiative and greets the receptionist before waving at Finor and Riku to hurry up and come over. Finor takes a second to catch his breath before straightening up and walking over with Riku shadowing him, and as Ellis shifts to get behind Alluen.
"So, um." says Finor hesitantly as he stops in front of the desk, "I'd like to register as an adventurer and also form a clan with these three." Finor glances back to Alluen and the rest as he says that.
The receptionist replies, "Alright, just fill out this form here..." as she pulls out a paper beside her, "And then fill out this one, then we'll take a little blood." She then says before grabbing a paper form beneath the counter.
Finor scans over the paper quickly in case the gaps in his memories necessitate him to lie, but breathes a sigh of relief when the information for each one rises to his mind. He then takes the quill from the inkpot and carefully inks his words before glancing at the second as Alluen interrupts, saying, "Ah, wait on that one for a second. Ellis says we need Riku to complete his before you enter who you want to be in the guild."
Finor stares at Ellis and replies, "Dude. Why didn't you tell me when we were getting here? I mean, I guess it doesn't matter too much. Yo come up Riku."
Riku hesitantly shuffles up and accepts the form from the receptionist and quickly fills it out before handing it back. The receptionist scans it over before looking back at Riku and saying, "Thank you, now we'll just need a little bit of blood from those registering."
Riku's face blanches as he shakingly turns away and motioning for Finor to go first. Finor looks over at him, concerned, but stretches out his arm as the receptionist pricks his thumb and presses a sheet of parchment. Riku loudly coughs, momentarily startling her before she regains her composure and quickly hands off the paper to another worker coming down the stairs.
Finor turns and says, "Alright, Riku, you're up. It only tingles a little, so c'mon and stop hiding over there," as he slides off to the side.
Riku slinks over and stretches out his arm. The procedure goes smoothly, and Finor goes back to work on the guild form as the rest begin pacing around waiting for Finor and Riku's cards to be issued.
Riku leans in close to Alluen and asks, "Hey, do you know what they do with the blood they take from us?"
Alluen shrugs, but Ellis pops in saying, "Oh, I learned about this shit! Light magic users have this magicy shit they can do to trace blood back to its origin. Usually, it's just to identify some adventurer at the guild, but it can track a guy given enough time and mana. Heard some weird guilds far out that use vampires instead for cheaper."
Riku perks up at this and questions, "H-huh. Th- *cough* *cough*, sorry. That sounds interesting. What do you guys think about those guilds replacing light magicians with vampires instead?"
Ellis frowns a bit and replies, "Eh, not the best since I'm also a light magician but then again, I can't really see myself working at a guild."
Alluen stretches before offering a different opinion, "Hey light magicians aren't too common so whatever works, works. And I mean might help those light magicians be a little less entitled all the time so that's fun."
Riku nods along to Alluens statement before Finor strides over and answers "I don't know how comfortable I'd be with a vampire messing around with my blood to be honest. Anyways though they managed to get out our cards pretty quick so come over and finish this crap already."
The boys shuffle over to the front desk where Finor and Riku are handed their new guild cards. Finor only takes a quick glance at it before resuming his work on the guild forms and quickly finishing it. He's then whisked away to be sketched with a promise from the receptionist that it would be done in only a couple minutes.
"So" begins Ellis as he faces toward the two boys " While he's being painted, wanna ditch him and go look around town?
Alluen raises an eyebrow but Riku readily agrees to the proposal and Ellis replies "Alrighty let's see what this town has to offer then" and flings open the doors, beckoning Alluen and Riku outside.
Stepping across the doorframe, Alluen stretches out and basks in the sun as simultaneously Riku seems to retreat into himself, Ellis skips forwards around the guild and hospital behind straight into the bustling marketplace of the town.
"Alright time to try out some food! I see something grilling a little farther in so lets get over there first before checking out other stuff." Spouts Ellis excitedly before running off
Alluen follows behind trying his best not to topple anything with his tail through the tight throngs of people and the merchants' stands. Riku tails farther behind and has to dodge the variety of people dancing around Alluen's writhing tail. In the wake of this commotion the vendors quickly switch tactics and begin hawking all sorts of snake items from snake oil, snake skin boots, to curved blades that many lamia used. As they walk along Ellis suddenly stops at one of the stalls and Alluen and Riku both halt next to him.
"Ah the snake boy and his fellows I see. Business with all these snake products has been slow since lamias seem to get rarer by the generation but we'll make a nice profit with you sauntering through town. Now what wares have you come to me for? I've got quite a few blades that may suit you."
Alluen shakes his head but Ellis speaks up pointing to a longsword laying on the shelf behind the stall "Hey how much would one of those spathas cost?
The merchant's grin widens and he leans closer before replying "Normally a nice sword like this would cost a gold but seeing your little friend there liven up the market I'll give you it for 10 silver"
Ellis's eyes light up and he turns to the rest of the group to see Alluen slap his head.
"Hell you doing that for?" asks Ellis
Alluen groans and says "I forgot to bring the deer pelt to sell. The legs of it are a bit messy but it probably would have sold for a decent bit. I got 2 silver and a few copper. What about you Riku."
Riku shuffles through his robe and replies "Uh around 3 silver worth of coins I believe."
Ellis now faces Finor and does his best pleading expression. Finor looks away but still decides to ruffle through his cloak but ends up empty handed. The merchant now frowns and begins to turn to hawk his wares to others.
Ellis desperately offers to pay him in full later but the man denies his pleas and shoes him away.
Tearfully Ellis looks towards his friends and gathering himself for a moment , says "We need to start questing."
Back at the guild Finor was about to dismantle the clan and just force another one of them to become the leader regardless of any arguments when the doors burst open and out tumbles Ellis, Alluen, and Riku in a heap against the floor. Ellis quickly worms out and runs to the countertop asking for a quest as Finor glares at them all.
Alluen flashes an apologetic smile before going to assist Ellis and Riku sheepishly approaches Finor, "Sorry Finor, have you been waiting long for us?"
Finor sighs and relaxes from Riku's concern. However Ellis and Alluen rejoin them looking grim.
"So the guild isn't letting us take any decent commissions because we're one: new and literal kids, as well as two: our equipment is shit and they're worried about us." says Ellis.
The group ponder over this question before Riku raises his hand and says "So this might sound crazy but a lot of functional stuff gets dumped because their heretical and stuff. I actually got my staff from a dump because the villagers couldn't burn it. It has given a big boost to my magic so we might get something?"
Riku practically shrivels under the stares of the rest before Alluen shrugs and says "The problem we're facing right now is literally being too damn broke to afford a weapon so why the hell not I suppose. My cousin once came home with a bow that was in the dump and stringed wrong so stupid people with money seem common enough ."
Ellis and Finor sigh but they ask the receptionist for where to dump their trash and end up near the forest farther to the south than the location they were camping at with a modest pile of items. Most seemed to be nothing but broken tableware but they do end up with a round wooden shield, a short length of rope, and Alluen pulls out a pair of glasses with one lens still intact which he puts on.
Ellis looks over and says "Dang man you need help with your eyesight? Ya seemed fine thus far though I suppose we haven't been reading much."
Alluen shakes his head and replies "No just seeing what they are. I- hmmm. Hey Ellis, throw something at me real quick."
Ellis immediately proceeds to fling a plate at him and Alluen smoothly dodges.
Ellis raises an eyebrow as Alluen explains "These are. . . something or another anyways they give a very very slight . . preimage? Basically they let me see a bit into the future it seems. It's a very very slight haze around things that's about a word faster?"
"Huh" replies Finor "Guess they just thought the prescription was too high or something."
Ellis nods along and they manage to find shredded chainmail as well as some leather armor that had been stained with blood.
Ellis then turns to them and says "Welp we need money eventually so wanna go hunt some rabbits? Think the guild board said there was a quest for that."
Finor chimes in and says "Might want to cook those or sell them to the butcher directly. There's also herbs we can gather which is easier and not much we can do with those.
"Aight" chimes in Alluen "But who's gonna do what?"
"Well you got those fortune telling glasses right?" replies Ellis.
"Future sight, though honestly it might as well be fortune telling since all you get is a warning. If you have good instincts it makes you downright invincible."
"Yeah so you could fuck up rabbits with that right?"
"I suppose so."
"Well fucking get going then! I'll take Finor with me since I think he's a gnome. Either way he's shorter than Riku and can probably see more shit on the ground."
Alluen sighs and gestures at Riku to follow him as Finor walks over to Ellis as they begin to argue over what chamomile looks like.
Fwip! Fwip! Fwip! Despite his claims that his glasses didn't do much Alluen was feeling invincible. The rabbits ran straight into his blows and he could see them try to run away when he thrust too early and could easily guide a spear to pierce them. Riku was amazing in somehow consistently leading them to rabbits until Alluen could see their movements with his future sight.
Ellis on the other hand was not having much luck. Neither he nor Finor had much knowledge about what chamomile looked like and before long Ellis stops.
He looks over at Finor and asks "Hey Finor you took this quest yeah? Didn't you ask what Chamomile looks like?"
"Uh I think they look like daisies" replies Finor with an uncertain look.
"What's a daisy?" asks Ellis, visibly confused.
"Oh well a daisy is a flower with a bunch of white petals and a yellow center, it's a pretty common flower. I think?" replies Finor.
*Shit he thinks. I guess daisies just don't exist in this world or something? Where the hell have the memories of this place gone? I-I think I remember some other part of me hidden somewhere. I mean this clearly isn't my body.
As Finor continues to stare off into the distance deep in thought, Ellis sighs and looks at the ground noticing that there were tracks from some wildlife.
"Hey Finor!" he calls.
"Yeah Ellils?" Finor responds
Ellis points to the ground and asks "Since you seem to know soooo much about nature whats this track form?"
Finor kneels down and answers "Uh since they look like two semicircles I think it might be a pig maybe? Deer look similar but it differs from what I remember my dad showed me."
Ellis lifts an eyebrow in surprise before composing himself and saying "Ok bro let's go chase that shit down for dinner then." before running off in the direction of the tracks with Finor trailing behind him.
Over on Alluen's side he suddenly hears a scream.
Riku jumps and Alluen swings around to where the sound came from.
"A-Alluen I think that's where Ellis and Finor are!" stammers Riku and they charge through the woods to find a giant wild boar charging at Ellis as he just barely sidesteps and lands a swipe on its thick fur. Finor is frantically looking around for something to throw at the boar. The boar gears up for another run and misses Ellis for a tree as Alluen barrels at it with his spear. It goes in and the pig squeals but spins around and rams into the shield Alluen manages to bring up.
Its tusk pierces the wooden shield and tosses it aside. Ellis jumps on and buries his sword in the boar's eyes as Alluen recovers and whips his tail at the boar's head. It takes a step, then another, before collapsing besides its exhausted killers.
"Think that's worth something at the guild?" asks Ellis
Alluen stares back incredulously and shrugs.
Finor answers for him and says "Yeah? I'm sure I saw a quest to exterminate a wild boar that got corrupted by mana."
Ellis cheers and begins cutting into the boar after taking out his sword as Riku digs in and retrieves Alluens spear.
Alluen takes a look at his shield and sighs "Man. Wooden shields are cheap but they sure can't take on damage huh. Couldn't even catch someone's weapon in it and rip it out of their hands cuz I got a bloody boar in it."
Sniff. Alluen turns to Finor whose tears begin to drip down his face.
"Oh! Ah" stammers Alluen before deciding to reach in for a hug. Finor flinches at the touch before relaxing and letting his tears flow. Riku joins in and Ellis pauses his dissection to wipe off a bit of the meat on him and embraces them all.
After a minute Finor calms down and mumbles "Sorry. All I could do while you guys fought was stand there scared."
After muttering this Finor begins to tear up again and Ellis slaps him on his back saying "Ah its nothing man cheer up. We've been forcing you to do enough stuff already and we'd probably just get in each other's way."
Finor wipes off his tears and meekly replies "Ok."
"Anyways" says Alluen pointing at the boar with his spear "How much do you think this will net us? I don't need a replacement for my shield since the one that was obliterated was from the dump."
They all shrug and decide to just haul it back either way to have the guild appraise it.
"Oh." says the receptionist as Alluen and Finor come in with the boar in tow and the other two pushing it.
"Yo!" says Ellis coming around to the front "Is there any quest that's related to this boar here?"
The receptionist nods and grabs a sheet of paper off the board and recites "Boar monster in nearby Catherian woods. Ten silver reward."
"YEAH!" Ellis screams and runs around the room.
Ellis then sprints outside as Alluen sighs and grabs the money, thanks the receptionist and slithers out after him and the other two follow suit.
As they get to the annoyed merchant they hand over the ten silver which he meticulously inspects before giving a "Hmph!" and tossing the sword to Ellis.
"YEAHHHH!!!" he yells and the merchant shoes them away.
Once they regroup in the dining hall of the guild Ellis runs off to the reception desk and returns with another quest for goblin extermination. Shows receptionist map and talk about the quest much more.
Finor looks over at him and asks "Are we sure about this? We struggled against that boar. I don't know if we're ready for something with weapons."
Ellis shakes his head and replies "Nah we'll be fine! That boar ambushed us but this time we'll be the one ambushing them! Plus we weren't all together against the boar but this time we'll be prepared!"
The rest of them glance at each other and shrug. Alluen leans forwards and says "Alright I'm in. Still got my original buckler after that wooden shield broke. Just need to be more careful."
Riku agrees "same woods as well" and Finor quickly then agrees as well and they set off back into the woods heading southwards.