“This… this is just… highway robbery!” Diane exclaimed to Thistleman.

She was furious. The registration fee was an absolute outrage! 35 silver coins! 35!

“Everything we just made, poof, gone! Just like that, and I might not even get an adventurers card? And… AND! Another 5 silver to register you as my porter? I wish I asked Hal more about his time as an adventurer, if it seemed like I was going to get scammed, he would definitely have known what to do!”

Furious? Understatement. I think her blood is boiling. All the laughter at us earlier definitely didn’t set the tone well, and now that we have to wait while the exam is being prepared is just letting her stew on it more. Should I say something?

*THUMP!*

Diane hit Thistleman squarely on the top of his head before grabbing his shoulders and shaking him violently.

“I will absolutely stand at the top of everything, you hear me?! I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS INJUSTICE! JUST YOU WAIT!!!”

No. Absolutely not. I will definitely not say anything. This girl is scary. A tyrant! A small, devilish tyrant! It doesn’t hurt, but if I say the wrong thing she will definitely get madder and hit me more. My lips are sealed!! It is all those damn assholes fault she is so angry right now! If only I was allowed to, I would burn them all alive, force a Saintess to resurrect them, crucify them, and then burn them again for making me suffer through this indignity! I only allow this because you’re my mas… my best friend!

The doors to the first examination room open, and a tall, slender man with brown hair, glasses, and a checkered vest enters the waiting room.

He pushes his glasses back up with his finger, before announcing: “Diane Culaine, your potential exam is ready. You may enter now.”

“About time! Thistleman, wait for me here. I will come get you when I get my guild card.”

Ah, now it is safe to say something! What is appropriate to say here? I haven’t picked up any sayings from what I have watched yet… well, it should be fine to go with an old Daemonic line from back in the day.

“May you feast on the hearts of your enemies lest their swords pierce you in the back!”

Classic well wishes, perfectly delivered! And a massive smile to boot!

A little bit of the color drains from the proctors face, and Diane’s back stiffens for a moment. If I could see her face… well, it is an expression of horror mixed with thanks and confusion? Unfortunately, I couldn’t, and I can only assume things are going swimmingly.

“Ahem, ah, right this way Diane.”

The proctor looks between Diane and myself again. A strange feeling overcomes him that today will certainly be an unusual day, and probably not in a good way.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The inside of the first exam room was mostly empty, except for three seats, two of which were occupied by a man and woman. The man was clearly older, with a greying beard and bald head. He had a fairly sizable set of black full-plate armor with golden trimmings covering most of his body, and a golden plate hanging on a necklace off of his neck. He projected a fierce attitude, on par with the woman beside him. She was no less impressive, in spite of wearing only fur armor, as she did hold a massive battle-axe in her other hand. In spite of her height and massive amount of muscle, she was also clearly quite young. The full width of both sides of the axe were slightly larger than that of your average man, indicative of the strength necessary to wield it.

Diane looked to compare it to the man’s weapon when she noticed, oddly enough, that he was unarmed.

In the center of the room was a small pedestal, with 8 small mana stones surrounding a blue rune tablet in the middle of the pedestal. Numerous circles, glyphs and inscriptions covered the pedestal, focusing on the rune tablet.

“Diane, please approach the pedestal. First, a small drop of your blood on to the tablet. Then, you will concentrate your mana on the array.”

The proctor spoke methodically, regaining his composure on a procedure he knew well. He also produced a small knife for Diane. As adventuring is a dangerous business, they would not accept just anybody. The individual must meet a base standard of aptitude and potential, regardless of rank or connections. This absolutism in fairness is part of what enables the adventurer’s guild to operate amongst so many nations as an independent institution. However, the guild fees are another matter. Elsie should have charged more than the bounty reward for the fee, even if that would be more than quadruple the usual 10 silver price. Kids should not be taking this exam.

The proctor furrowed his brow. Too late now. Hopefully, her entry stats will be too low as she is a child and can be turned around before the aptitude exam. Maybe she will give up at the blood requirement?

Diane approached the pedestal, and enjoyed the shocked look of the proctor when she snatched the knife out of his hand without missing a beat. She was a little nervous, but she absolutely would not show it!

She was especially curious what her aptitude would be. Did she make a mistake doing this? She was marked a failure and a cripple when examined at birth… but she was just able to use a fireball spell. It was the first time she could remember using magic. This time… it will be different!

“You want to see what I am made of? Well then, let us take a look!”

She flashes a grin as she makes a larger-than-necessary cut across her hand, slightly suppressing a wince as she did so. Her blood drips on to the rune tablet, causing the inscriptions to begin lighting up. Then she places her hand on the side of the pedestal, and starts focusing her mana in to it.

A mix of red and black aura begins to fill the crystals, followed by an almost imperceptible flash of gold. Then, the glyphs start rearranging themselves furiously within the formation.

In the other room, Thistleman blinks for a moment. He just felt something… strange. Was it my imagination? My senses still are nowhere near back up to par… he tilts his head at the closed door to the examination room. Ah well, nothing else to do but wait.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Diane is tapping her feet impatiently as the proctor and two observers stare the rune plate.

“Well, what does it say? Do I have the potential or not?!” Some of her nervousness is starting to show through.

“Well… it appears like there is no issue with your potential.” The older man replies.

“Certainly seems that way to me. So, which of us will observe the aptitude exam?” The woman asks the armored man, while slapping her hand on his shoulder hard enough to cause his feet to sink in to the ground. A large, brutal smile spreading across her face.

“Neither of you, since I am the assigned proctor of the day, and you only came to observe today because you were curious about the bold child. I humored you this far because of your rank, but if you insist any further, I will kick you out again. You do understand I can easily do that, right Sven? Right Terra? I will not have you wreck the room again arguing over who will observe the test.” The proctor spoke with almost an exasperated expression, as if this was a far too regular occurrence. As he turned away from them, the glint of a mythril plate shone out from under his vest.

The man and the woman stopped arguing immediately, and instead pouted in unison. “This is not fair, you always get the interesting ones! Come on Ye, let one of us watch!”

With surprising speed, he chopped both of them on the back of the head, knocking them unconscious. To knock gold ranks out in one hit, maybe I can qualify to make Quicksilver rank next? The thought made Mr. Ye smile to himself.

“Alright Diane, this way to the aptitude exam. I have arranged for an iron plate adventurer to be your sparring opponent. During this period, I will examine your abilities. Feel free to go all out in this portion. I will intervene before you can get seriously hurt. If your skills are too far lacking, you will fail the exam and have to wait a year before you can retake the exam.”

“Hmph!” Diane scoffed at the insinuation that she will be the one getting hurt. She will prove herself one way or another!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

After they left the room, another pair of hooded individuals entered and removed the rune tablet.

“Have you seen potential and abilities like these before?” [A]

“Some of them, no, but these other ones are pretty good.” [B]

“Are you sure she was a cripple?” [A]

“I don’t doubt our information network. She is indeed the daughter of the Culaine family. Plus, we watched the entire time. She clearly did not manipulate the exam.” [B]

“Some of this information… it is in a language I have not seen before. It feels ominous.” [A]

“It is probably an error for the potential examination. I have heard it happens on very rare occasions.” [B]

“Well, what should we do about it?” [A]

“Clear it off, only include relevant information for our records and the letter grade for her guild card.” [B]

“Her guild card? But she hasn’t…” [A]

“I am certain she will pass the exam. I look forward to watching it. Have Elsie prepare the welcome information as well. Our receptionists and attendants need to learn to have better attentiveness and insight for any of our current and potential members.” [B]

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Diane followed Mr. Ye through various hallways before they entered the courtyard behind the guild hall. In the courtyard was a large open pavilion, with a flat wooden floor built almost as an arena. Surrounding the pavilion were various small gardens and fountains, as well as training dummies and small quarters for the various serving staff of the hall.

Numerous talismans were attached around the outer rim of the Pavilion.

Mr. Ye began speaking as if he knew what Diane was about to ask.

“These talismans are for reinforcement and repair of the pavilion. Due to the nature of testing new adventurers, and the sometimes… explosive confrontations when higher tier adventurers challenge each other to sparring matches and duels, we found it much more cost effective to invest in a fully enchanted pavilion than the number of times we have had to rebuild it over the years. It is a miracle we are even able to keep the accounting books from going in the red, in spite of the sizable income.”

Mr. Ye let out another long sigh. Clearly, managing reckless, violent adventurers was taking its toll on him.

“Oi, Mr. Ye, did you bring your kid here to watch the exam? Wasn’t my opponent supposed to be with you?”

A tall, lanky man with short black hair, brown eyes, and red bandana around his head yelled out to them. He was wearing decent chain armor with leather pants, fur boots, and a halberd. Despite the eclectic mix of equipment, it was all well maintained and he had an iron plate hanging off his neck.

“I’m right here! You… your attitude is terrible. You are definitely not worthy to serve me!”

“Yup, she is right. You are definitely terrible.”

“You tell him, Thistleman!”

…

…

…

“Wait, what are you doing there?!”

The entire group reacts in unison, in complete surprise. Sitting on the branch of one of the trees, with a particularly nice view of the pavilion, is a boy who looks like quite the peasant. How he wound up there, in a members only area, quite surprised Mr. Ye. Kids… they seem to always have their ways to sneak around. He would have to have a word with the security about being too lax.

“Me? Can’t you tell? I. am. Sitting.”

Mr. Ye facepalms, before waving it off.

“Don’t worry about it, Percival. He is signed up to become Diane’s porter if she passes, so there is no need to worry if he watches.”

“Yeah, but Thistleman. I. Told. You. To. Wait.”

Uh oh… he was getting bored, and wanted to watch. He forgot she ordered him to wait.

*bzzt!*

Thistleman sat up extremely straight. Diane didn’t do it intentionally, but it felt like his body just got painfully shocked! Is this what it feels like for breaching the contract?!

*BZZT!*

THAT TIME FELT WORSE!

Diane looked at Thistleman’s shocked face, before sighing.

“It’s fine. You can sit there. But make sure you cheer your best for me, got it?”

Even if it was accidental, and even if Diane didn’t do it herself, Thistleman wouldn’t mess up and breach the contract again.

“YOU GOT IT MISS DIANE! YOU’RE THE BEST! CRUSH HIM GOOD!” Thistleman started cheering and waving a small branch like a little flag.

Percival stood in the center of the pavilion, his eyebrow twitching violently.

Diane climbed up the edge on to the pavilion, before dusting herself and drawing her rapier.

“The exam is about to begin. You are to fight to your maximum ability. The match will continue until I feel I have fully assessed your abilities, or if you are knocked unconscious. Ready, begin!”

A swift bolt of energy flies from Mr. Ye’s fingertips, and strikes a bell hidden in the roof of the pavilion.

Diane feels a surge of energy filling her chest, her earlier exhaustion fading for the moment. For some reason, she is feeling far more motivated now that Thistleman is watching her. However, she is also overcome with the intent to crush her opponent. She is too tired to fight off the desire, and launches herself towards Percival, a ball of fire simultaneously beginning to form in her left hand and a smile breaking out on her face.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Percival was watching Diane closely the moment he found out she was his opponent. Something about her aura is uncanny, and something is clearly off with a child being able to make it this far. Not only that, but Mr. Ye is being far less strict with her than with other newcomers. Something is definitely up. Wait… her aura? It was initially mostly red, and a lot smaller, but now it is flooding with black?

Damnit! “Fireball!”

Percival followed his instincts and jumped to the side as quickly as he could, an orb of flames surging past him. The fight would have ended immediately if absorbed that.

“What a foolish move, burning your trump card like tha…”

“Fireball!”

Percival couldn’t finish his taunt. He rolled out of the way of a second fireball. What the hell was going on? With her amount of aura, all her energy should have been spent on the first fireball! Even after two, she still doesn’t have any less mana! With a rapier, I didn’t expect her to actually be a sorcerer!

He didn’t have any time to think about it. Diane was already upon him, and he quickly realized that she wasn’t a sorcerer. However, he was extremely confident in his martial skills. Percival dodged and deflected the rapid strikes of her rapier, although the bloodlust she was starting to emanate unnerved him greatly. Is she actually trying to kill me?

Percival swung low with his halberd to force her to jump back, giving him more room to unleash a combo.

“Gravity Strike!”

The front of his blade accelerated as it hit the ground, causing a heavy impact and a small shockwave. However, Diane had dodged out of the way, and that girl was nimble enough to sprint up the shaft of his halberd!

SHIT! She lunged, her rapier aiming straight for my neck. I let go of my halberd, and threw my right fist as hard as I could, activating another reinforcement spell.

“Goron Strike!” Red hot energy emanated from his fist, as he aimed for Diane’s belly. At least, that was what he planned, before him and Diane were blown away from each other. In their place stood Mr. Ye, suddenly wearing black gloves, and his open palms pointing at each of them.

“That is enough, this fight is over. Diane, you qualify to become an adventurer. Please go see Elsie up in the front. Percival, come with me. Now.”

The serious tone and expression on his face kept Percival from objecting, and Diane from saying another word. Not that she really could, at the official end of the fight, she felt the fresh burst of energy quickly leave her and she was far more exhausted than before.

“Woohoo! Go Diane! You did it! Way to qualify! You’re the best!!”

She couldn’t wait for the day to be over, but she still had to finish up business here and find a place to stay. Diane felt that this is way too much to keep asking of her, but its not like she really had any other choice. At the very least, she figured she could close her eyes for a moment before finishing up business.