Byulla ticked down her checklist before stepping out the door, as she did every morning before leaving the house. Clothes were laid out, breakfast and lunch were prepared, and she’d left a few notes for her husband to find as he went about getting the kids ready. Some of them more fun than others. Unlike every other morning, however, there’d been a meeting called so she was leaving even earlier than usual to attend it.

She thought about it as she walked through the dark and quiet alleys towards the center of town. There really was no good time to have the entire staff come in, but sometimes it was necessary. Not that she knew what had triggered this particular meeting, but she had a suspicion she wouldn’t be surprised by the contents either. There was an early morning breeze that brought a soft spring to her step as she made the short trip across the main square to the guild building. The employee entrance down the alley next to it opened at a tap of her card to reveal a small gathering of groggy employees who were split by beverage choice between those who were barely staying awake, and those who were ready to start the day.

It was plain that the night half of the staff was either short on sleep, or had just decided to stay awake, victims of scheduling. Since day shift was composed of those who had families, they got preferential treatment in things like that, Byulla included. Even though she felt a little bad about it while looking at their exhausted faces, she certainly wasn’t about to give up that privilege either. Perhaps it wasn’t fair, but it was the best that could be done. She received a few waves from the sleepy crowd and a couple good mornings from her more awake compatriots as she stepped inside and closed the door.

“Hey, morning,” one particularly excited coworker said as she rushed over.

“Good morning, miss Thylgma,” Byulla said. They weren’t particularly close, but she could guess what the younger woman wanted to talk about. Byulla led them to sit down a little away from the drink area to achieve some privacy.

“So, the meeting, um, you think…” the much smaller woman trailed off in a clumsy attempt to lead into the topic.

“That it is about the report I submitted?” She finished the thought. “I do believe that is likely, however I suspect there will be more to it. That alone was noteworthy, but not quite enough to drag everyone here.” Thyl collapsed hard against the wall with an exaggerated sigh.

“You’re sucking all the fun out of this,” she said in a lifeless monotone. “I know it’s going to just be another boring meeting,” she gestured around vaguely, “but I wanted to at least pretend it was something exciting.” Her arms collapsed heavily, her mood having apparently turned sour. Byulla sympathized, since one of her own reasons for joining the staff was to stay close to the thrilling life of adventure. The younger woman’s career had ended far too soon and, with injuries like hers being by far the most common cause for retirement, it had not been at all by choice.

A few of her other work friends came over to chat as everyone else trickled in, until finally the guildmaster Roykrr showed up with a tired looking desk clerk in tow. Byulla knew there’d be a sign up explaining the absence, but still didn’t like leaving the reception desk unattended. From the glances some of the others were giving towards the hall, they didn’t either. It gave her a strange feeling of appreciation, that she wasn’t alone in taking her job seriously and with a measure of pride. But such thoughts evaporated when, with a signal from master Roy, the guild secretary activated a soundproofing spell and the meeting began.

“Right. No doubt you’ve all heard the rumors, ‘cause not a one of you knows how to keep a juicy story quiet. Top thing to know right now is that the black city elves are real, and they’re back. Yes, those ones, the fairy tale lost people. Brought their whole country back in fact, up top of the mountain.” There was a round of murmuring at that, which Roy let die down before he continued.

“Kingdom’s talking to them still, so if we see any I want no muss, no fuss. King’s personal orders, that. We treat ‘em nice, like we would anyone else; not that you fine folks would do different.” He laughed that gruff basso laugh of his that Byulla had always found unexpectedly charming for such a massive and grizzled man. She hadn’t expected the matter to become political, or for the kingdom to be steps ahead of them like that already. Usually it was a challenge to get anything done when it came to escalating matters with authorities outside the guild.

“In fact, Byulla, where are you? Stand up for me,” she blinked when he called her out by name and double checked if she was using her Skill again. She’d been caught up in her own thoughts, but it wasn’t completely unexpected either.

“Yes, guildmaster?” Like most of the beastfolk names, Roykrr’s was one she didn’t trust her tongue to manage, and so avoided saying.

“You met a pair of them the other day. Figures they’d get here before the orders did, but you handled it fine, no complaints. Why don’t you give us a firsthand account, but keep it brief. Just want a little familiarity in case they’re tetchy.” The way he’d captured the potential volatility of the situation in a single word was something she found vaguely humorous, and she did her utmost to oblige with a recounting of the strange pair’s most obvious features. Once she finished, he waved her off and reiterated a few relevant guild policies about staff interactions.

“Next order of business, I’ve been getting reports of trouble from every monster tribe on this side of the mountain. I want it crystal clear here and now, no more Hunter contracts until we’ve got a grip on what’s going on out there. We’ll not be losing our people to this. If you run across anyone that you know has an outstanding contract, tell them it’s on hold until notice, even the high rankers. We’ll be moving assets immediately, so when they ask tell them it’ll be resolved as soon as possible.”

Byulla wasn’t personally surprised or outraged by the embargo, as she’d been warned by a friend only the other day about strange activity, but others were less sanguine. Thyl was keeping busy in the next seat over by being audibly indignant, and the materials teams seemed to be actively livid, as they had every right to be since they wouldn’t have anything to do for the next little while.

For her part, Byulla wondered if the guild would formally ask her to join in, since her talents as a scout had ranked her at B. She hoped not, and certainly wouldn’t choose to volunteer, but she had no doubt in her mind that her dear Nullim would join a subjugation team when the time came. So, if they needed her out there working to improve his odds, she’d do it.

The guildmaster was taking feedback on the proposed mission to check on the first of the monster tribes, the goblins, when the unnaturally clear ting of a bell cut across the meeting. Tillua, who’d been the overnight clerk, shot Byulla a pleading look from her place slumped in an overstuffed chair, apparently reluctant to get up. Byulla didn’t mind and gave her a wave as she hopped up and left to take care of whoever had shown up at such an early hour. The sounds of the meeting ended abruptly as she passed out of the zone that the magic covered and trotted down the corridor to the desk, only to stop dead when she saw who was there.

The twins from before, with unexpectedly topical guests.

There’d been nothing from the two of them after they’d taken the contracts the other day, which was a little unusual for absolute beginners. But given their apparent international importance she was glad to see them, though very puzzled over the fact that the adventurers accompanying them were the ones she’d seen in the missing persons reports. She blinked away the confusion and finished her walk to the desk to take down the sign that simply read: Ring bell for service.

“Miss Byulla! Good to see you this morning. Is yours the early shift, then?” The silver one said, the stiff and frigid tone strangely at odds with the friendly words.

“It is,” she said as evenly as possible. She was unsure how to handle things, but wanted to respond to the minor miracle she was seeing first. “I’m very glad to see you here,” she said to the admittedly ragged looking group of people that was supposed to have vanished. Byulla absolutely was glad as they were familiar faces, though she couldn’t quite remember any names except for Mougein, who was a regular and well known for his sociability besides. “There has been much talk of putting together a plan to investigate the goblin tribe and see how you all fared, and what might be done to free you. I hope you are unharmed?” They nodded, but seemed to be deferring to the scary one with long hair whose name escaped her.

“How might I assist you?” She asked, turning back to the one who seemed to be in charge of things.

“Good question, I’m new at this so I’m not entirely sure if there’s a protocol for how to deal with these things so do forgive me if I get anything wrong. I’ve got a list here.” She paused for a moment, as though debating something but continued with a shrug. “I suppose I’ll just start at the top: we’ve got loot to turn in for quest completion,” Byulla blinked at that, as she thought it was a strange turn of phrase, but she still understood what was meant. “And stuff for the, what did you call it, materials team?” She said, turning briefly toward something out of Byulla’s line of sight below the desk, but kept going without waiting for response. “Stuff to sell anyway. We also rescued these three, though that bit’s obvious, then they wanted to report on all that being captured business.”

“Tell her about the camp, Mea,” said a tired voice from below. Byulla leaned over to see Anise sitting slumped against the counter, whose name she could only remember due to being one of the very few culai adventurers around. The scary twin’s name clicked into place too, once it had been said out loud. Fortunately, it was easy on the tongue.

“What about the camp?” Mea said with a great deal of apparent hostility, but the small woman just slapped a hand over her eyes and sighed.

“Yeah, yeah. Like you don’t know? Please. What you did is a really big deal.” Byulla was a little impressed at how blasé Anise was being. “Let’s start with the fact that there isn’t one anymore.”

“No, it’s still there. It’ll probably start repopulating by the end of the day, too.” Byulla was a little confused so she shot Mougein a look, and he took the hint.

“These two,” he gestured at the pair of black city elves, “walked straight into the heart o’ the goblin tribe an’ killed every last one o’ them.” He didn’t even let her object to that patent absurdity before continuing, but the story he told about their imprisonment and rescue was even more unbelievable. She thought it was just some sort of poor joke until, under the dwarven man’s encouragement, bag after bag full of unusually messy goblin horns and stones were set on the counter, coming from seemingly nowhere in particular.

She rang the bell to alert those still in the meeting that she needed some assistance and pulled out the form to begin writing yet another report. Paperwork was the least interesting part of her job, but Byulla had to admit that the structure of it helped keep things organized and consistent. It made sure she didn’t forget any important questions, either.

“You mentioned that the goblins were repopulating?” Byulla’s gut clenched involuntarily as she felt the weight of Mea’s attention shift back onto her. She had to take a deep breath and remind herself that the woman had never done anything but be polite. She just looked a little mean, was all.

“Might I ask you to clarify what was meant by that?” Byulla said, not managing to meet the woman’s eyes.

“Mm,” Mea shook some of the hair from her face and stood silent with a gloved knuckle to her lips for a long moment. “Let me ask you something instead. How is it you think the monsters maintain their numbers?” It seemed tangential to her own question at best, but Byulla chose to humor it.

“Forgive me, I am no scholar and cannot claim to know for certain,” she hesitated to go further on the topic, and so picked her words carefully. “But by the common wisdom of adventurers I am given to understand that monsters reproduce in the same manner as everything else.” She left it at that, not wanting to be crude.

“Mia wants to hear about tha—” The silver one whipped around to put a hand on her sister’s mouth so fast Byulla didn’t even register the motion. No mean feat in itself due to Byulla’s level and experience.

“Not right now,” Mea said in a tone that was aggravated and yet attempting sweetness. A very motherly tone by Byulla’s estimation, as she’d used the same one on her daughters the evening prior, when they had embroiled themselves in a fight for their father’s attention.

“She means they bump uglies, lass.” The utterance earned Mougein a glare so vicious he simply sat down on the spot.

“Wrong,” Mea said, slowly lifting her hand away from her sister’s mouth. “We killed about five hundred goblins while we were out there, and I extracted as many sets of horns and those stones.” Byulla felt certain her ears were playing tricks.

“You are certain of that number, are you?” The elven man finally spoke up to express what they were all thinking. That was a rather large number in any context, let alone number of kills in the span of two days by level one newcomers.

“Count the loot, if you like. Not the point. I got curious while I was doing it. Wanted to see if there was anything interesting going on inside them, since they’re monsters and all. I processed more than enough to be certain that goblins, at least, aren’t gendered. Had no organs to do that kind of thing at all, in fact.” That was news to everyone present, to judge by the reactions. The unpleasant task of extracting a monster’s heart stone and useful parts was a necessity, but what the woman had described wasn’t only chillingly gruesome: it was butchery. Somehow, looking at her, Byulla felt that ‘butcher’ was a title that fit the woman well. That aside, it did leave the fundamental question unanswered, though not for long.

“I used the term ‘repopulate’ on purpose, because that’s what happens. They appear, fully formed, inside their huts. Magically. I watched it happen, and I’m sure that’s how it has always worked. While I did seal every single one of those huts before we left, it won’t stop them forever. Sometime today or tonight they’ll dig their way through,” she said with a certain touch of listlessness, gaze wandeing as though it were someone else’s problem and didn’t concern her in the slightest.

“Does that answer your question?” She asked, gaze falling on Byulla once again.

“Yes,” she said after a pause to digest all that information. “Though we will need to confirm much of what you have said. That responsibility lies with the guild, however, so do not be concerned.”

“Wasn’t planning on it. By the way, maybe you’d know: do monsters train themselves to use weapons and tactics? I was curious about that, since the ones I saw spawn in just came charging at me without a drop of caution.” Byulla paused in her writing to think about that.

“Yes, I have seen as much myself on rare occasion, and heard much the same from other scouts.” As she was speaking and jotting that into the report, she heard steps coming up from behind announcing the arrival of her reinforcements.

“You needed help?” Byulla’s sleepy coworker called out.

“Yes,” she said, half turning to address Tillua while quickly scratching out a little note. “Please take this to the guildmaster,” she said, handing over the little scrap of paper, “and task several people from materials to assist,” she said, gesturing at the sacks of goblin parts.

“Meeting?” A dry voice said as Byulla’s call for help retreated down the back corridor with Tillua. She looked up to see the butcher staring towards the back room, eyes glimmering as though she could see it. It was unsettling.

“Ah...” she trailed off, uncertain what to say as she wasn’t supposed to talk about such things. Fortunately, Mea didn’t press and waved it off.

“Doesn’t matter. I have some questions for you,” she said, leaning her arms on the counter. The gesture seemed casual, but the way the woman positively loomed came across as rather intimidating instead. “Didn’t imagine killing a few goblins would be all that interesting, but I’ve been wrong before, so I imagine you’ve got a few questions for me too. Yeah?” Byulla nodded. Incidents of such magnitude had to be documented, after all.

“Right. Good. You’d be lousy at your job if you didn’t have any.” Byulla wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or an insult, but decided to let it go. “We’re not about to skulk off and pretend like we’re less than we clearly are, Mia and I. Which means we’ll be causing you more incidents in future. I noticed you’ve been writing everything down, a report of some kind I’d imagine?” Byulla opened her mouth to answer, but Mea kept going. “I don’t like the fuss, I have no interest in being buried in bureaucracy, and I don’t imagine you’re keen on filling out paperwork all the time. So. What can be done to simplify the process?” Byulla was again impressed, as there was an unusually canny observation behind that question.

Fortunately, there was a solution already in place.

“Well, the guild needs to be properly informed in order to make decisions, which does make incident reports mandatory. I hope you can appreciate the necessity.” There was an unhappy sigh from underneath that long hair, so Byulla hurried to complete the thought. “That said, our higher ranked adventurers do receive a certain degree of trust. The word of a B rank is taken as fact, and an A rank’s testimony is virtually unimpeachable.”

“Mm. Not quite what I was hoping for, but whatever. Guess it’s better that you guys care enough to know what people are dealing with out there.”

“I could always explain what things are important to us. That way you know what I need to know to complete the process. Here,” she said, handing over the partially completed form. She shouldn’t have, but it wasn’t exactly confidential either. Byulla felt certain the two girls were destined for the upper ranks, and those at the top were offered a short course in the guild’s paperwork anyway. On the surface it was so that they could expedite the process, just as Mea had asked about, but in truth it was a way to entice them into, and prepare them for, retirement as guild staff.

“Ah?” Mea took the paper and traced over the entries quickly with an elegant finger. “Yeah, alright. Didn’t expect I’d be doing office work again, but this is pretty simple.” Byulla felt a surge of curiosity about how and why such a young woman had done office work before, and for whom, but set it aside. Confidentiality was a heavily protected courtesy among adventurers, after all.

“Anyway, since you brought up higher ranks, that leads me into my next question. The contracts. Those are gated by rank, yeah?” They weren’t, or rather that was not an accurate framing, but Byulla nodded vaguely anyway. It was up to the receptionist’s discretion as to whether they thought the contract could be fulfilled by that adventurer or not, rather than there being a set of hard rules. That was only possible because all front personnel were former rank C if not better.

Female adventurers almost always retired to start families, though there were famous cases – like the Thirty-Second Princess – who chose not to, but even in retirement the talents of an adventurer could fetch money. So the guild hired them. Most of those who were brought in that way had achieved great things, and such renown helped them corral the otherwise rowdy adventurers.

Not that it worked on everyone.

“Then let’s see where we stand, please,” Mea said, fishing her card out of a pocket before offering it up. It was such an unexpected shade that they both stood staring at it for a moment before Byulla remembered herself and took it.

“Well that’s strange,” Mea muttered, and Byulla agreed.

“What, what? Tell Mia!” The pure-hearted curiosity and excitement the girl carried with her was so like her own precious daughters that Byulla wondered at her age. Her own were both six, and just Likely she was just at the cusp of adulthood

“Ah, yeah, would you take out your card? Mine changed color, maybe yours did too.” When retrieved, Byulla noted that the card had indeed shifted to green, but that wasn’t as much of a surprise as Mea’s purple. “Hm, [Status]. Ah. Guessing the cards change to reflect level, huh miss receptionist?”

“Yes,” she knew they weren’t local, but hadn’t considered all the repercussions of that. Everyone knew about the color gradient, so she hadn’t even considered explaining it before. “They start out white but change to reflect your growth. The cards are an older institution than the guild, and so we’ve chosen to base our ranking system on the way they work, though contributions are incorporated as well. You are still rank F for guild purposes until this gets tallied,” she said, gesturing at the waiting bags. The waiting, slightly gooey, bags. She did not envy the materials teams.

“That color indicates you are equivalent to a rank B, which should afford you some measure of respect. Do please ensure you show this,” she said, tapping the card, “should you find yourself in a situation where you are not being given your due.”

She meant to warn that there would be some ruffians who might choose to harass seemingly sweet young ladies, not knowing their actual ability. It was an unfortunate reality of adventuring, but she had a duty of care to intervene insofar as that was possible for the sake of those on both sides. She just wasn’t able to say as much directly, due to policy and politics. Mea tipped her hand slightly where it rested on the counter, which Byulla took as indication she understood. The woman seemed like the perceptive sort.

That point was proven when Mea’s attention moved behind Byulla just before she heard the footsteps of the small troop from the materials team that came out to handle things. They were followed by the guildmaster himself, though if she had to guess it seemed like he was there only to observe since he was mingling with the others. As one of the very few individuals who had ever ascended his class and achieved rank A, it was reassuring to have him around. It was also somewhat nerve-wracking to have her boss watching her every move.

“Mia, after goblins what was the next one?” The golden twin stared in wide-eyed surprise, clearly not prepared for the question.

“Are you to really going to wipe out some other tribe?” Anise’s voice floated up, sounding exasperated.

“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t we?” Mea sounded so genuinely puzzled that no one had anything to say in response. The materials team, those still near the desk at least, and the guildmaster had all stopped in stunned silence.

“Good point,” Anise said after a seemingly endless moment. “In that case, mind waiting a day or two? I’d love to join you.”

“Hm. Sure, that won’t be a problem. I need to resupply, network a bit, and you’re pretty knowledgeable so I was wanting to keep in touch anyway. We should find rooms at the same place, if that works out with Mister Mougein here?”

“Eh?” He seemed to snap out of a trance at the mention of his name. “Yer askin me tae find somewhere fer all o’ ye, then?” He considered a moment before nodding to himself. “I can arrange that, aye. Were the two of ye booked anywhere?” The elven man, too generic for Byulla to remember his name, only that he was never seen far from Anise, shook his head.

“I am the owner of a small residence in the north of the city that the two of us share,” he gestured towards Anise while Mougein whistled. North put it in the reserved aristocratic area. That along with his mild accent made him likely the direct son of a noble, likely just too far down the line of succession. Byulla felt like whistling herself, as it was rare to find someone like that among adventurers.

“I would offer accommodation to my saviors,” he continued, “but I am pained to admit that it is indeed a small residence. I am willing to cede it, but I fear it would cause complications and entanglements for you.” Mea waved him off.

“Nah. I’ll just aim for somewhere within easy walking distance then.” She turned towards the merchant who, if Byulla could guess, was showing his gratitude by finding them a place to stay. “That work?”

“Aye, me shop is up that way, so all the better.”

“Good, good. Did you remember which one, Mia?”

“Cow balds!” She beamed. Everyone else blinked. Even Mea seemed a bit thrown off as an out of character giggle came from behind the slightly shaking mass of hair.

“You wouldn’t happen to mean kobolds, would you dear?” Byulla supplied while fighting to hide her own amusement.

“That’s what Mia said!”

“Of course it is,” the usually dour sister said with an unmistakable laugh in her voice.

“Why is Mea laughing?” The long hair shook harder, though the woman kept her face hidden. “Sister? Don’t laugh at Mia!” Gold questioned silver, accompanied by some frankly savage poking to the latter’s ribs. The scene reminded Byulla of her daughters, but it was in all a little much for so early in the morning having dragged so many people out of their work.

Just as she was thinking about catching their attention to move things along there was a distinct rustling from behind Byulla, where the materials team was working. At that all the humor dropped from the lines of Mea’s body, she straightened up with a pat to her sister’s shoulder, and approached the counter again with the same air of vague hostility she usually had. It was such an instant flip that Byulla found it actively disconcerting and reminded her of just how indefinably frightening she found the tall and alien woman.

She glanced over to where the guildmaster was covertly watching amongst the crew that was handling the goblin parts. He gave her a small nod, which Byulla took some assurance from, but in spite of that her fear was even more justifiable now with the clear evidence of the capabilities of the black city elves. The legends had it that they had ruled everyone from their mountain perch. That they wielded magic and strength that no other could match. That they were only brought low by the hubris of their great golden-haired champion, who slew a god and killed them all.

The form that had been left lying on the counter was snatched up hastily, the noise of it bringing Byulla around and letting her breathe again. It was quickly and silently filled out, then handed over for review. The lettering was somewhat strange, she noted as she looked it over, as though unpracticed or unfamiliar, but ultimately it was legible enough that Byulla had no difficulty understanding it. The contents were another matter, however. In spite of the professionally concise and complete recounting, it still brought a slight frown to her face.

The written account was so dry and technical that it made an impossible achievement boring to read, and therefore questionable in its veracity. Passion and desperation were what drove the people called adventurers, who without exception loved telling stories about themselves and each other. Whether boasting of their exploits, reliving the excitement, or just trying to impress, there were as many reasons to revel in the life of adventure as there were those who chose it. The story related in brief by Mougein, and outlined in front of her, was the sort that would find tellers even long years after the fact. Yet the dispassion she saw made her question why the two would have taken up such a dangerous and wild life. Because adventuring wasn’t just a job, it was a lifestyle. For Byulla, it was the only lifestyle.

“Any questions,” the imposing woman asked in a dull and empty voice, “Miss Byulla?” Hearing her name spoken like that gave her chills, but she set that aside.

“No, not as yet,” she said, and meant it. She had promised that the guild would take up the investigation, and they would even if she had to lead it herself.

“Good,” the woman said before turning to the others. “Mia, stay with these folks while I take care of some things. I’ll catch up later.” Then she whirled about and left, stalking off at impressive speed. Byulla watched her go with a mix of feelings, though shining clearest was her personal relief that the scary butcherous woman had left. That feeling lasted only until the guildmaster leaned against the counter next to her as the rest of them left to find their lodgings.

“Good work,” he said, with all apparent seriousness and clapping a firm hand on her shoulder. “I can see why we were told to stay hands off with them,” he continued, with a tilt of his head towards the evidence of an entire monster tribe being eradicated. “Maybe this’ll settle the tribes down a bit.” He grinned, then it turned a bit sour at the edges. “Though it’ll crash the market on parts, I can say that for sure.”

“We will need to scout them all, the goblins included if the information Mea brought is to be believed.” She responded, not feeling quite so sanguine. She hesitated, but eventually had to ask what was on her mind. “Sir, do you believe the guild could subdue those two, were they to get out of hand?”

“No,” he said immediately. “I’ve no confidence in that at all, even setting the politics aside. We’d need to haul some of the siege weapons out of storage, and they’re not like to sit still while we aim them.” He shook his shaggy head. “Best I can figure would be some kind of internal damage, like a poison. But they’re golems so that won’t work. They seem to have taken a shine to you though, so hopefully it’ll never come to that. Well, you keep ‘em happy and we’ll all stay out of their way. Best we can do.”

“Yes sir, I will do my best,” she said. He nodded and sauntered after the material’s team while Byulla returned to her work. The rest of the morning was far less exciting, and before too long she was joined by Thylgma for the two bells that their shifts overlapped, looking the worse for wear.

“Guildmaster wants us in tomorrow for another meeting,” she said by way of greeting, taking the steps up to the desk with lethargic reluctance.

“Is that so?” Byulla asked, just to be polite. She had already accepted there would be another one soon, just to address everything that had happened. That it was so soon was blessing and burden both, but life was often that way and Byulla just tried to accept it. The rest of the day passed without further incident, as she preferred them to.