It was painful, waiting. Maybe Kassa was a bit too conscious of keeping herself hidden, as she didn’t say a word, while Patir and I merely throw a word back and forth every once in a while. People are coming and going constantly, but it seems many people are waiting at any given time. Waiting in queue, waiting to be called or waiting for their companions to get something sorted it seems.

Then, a person comes over to us. “We can take one now.” She says politely.”

“I’ll go ahead first. If they come for one more before I am back, send Kassa.” Patir says as he joins the lady. I wonder why he wanted Kassa to go first?

Almost an hour was spent waiting in silence. It was actually nerve-wracking, since I didn’t know what was going on. Could Patir be in trouble? What should I do if he was? Start a fight right here? I try to take my mind off of it by talking to Kassa, but she is very silent, replying only with few words that do not allow the conversation to progress.

But after that hour, Patir comes back. He looks exhausted and sighs upon sitting down. “That was excruciating.” He complains.

“Did you pass?” He looks a little confused.

“I don’t think you can pass. I got my hunter’s… requisition officer’s license, though it has me placed at rank 5” He lifts a matte metal plate up, that hangs in a chain around his neck. It says “Patir Merchant” and has the big circle denoting 5.

“Merchant?” I ask.

“Ah, seems they have instituted a weird rule of everyone taking a second name, even if they’re not noble. I didn’t know what to pick, so they suggested taking an earlier profession, my father’s name, my father’s profession and so on, so I just ended up going with this.” He lets the plate fall down.

“Anyway, you should be relatively in the clear. They will ask about your gift. Tell them you have one, but neglect to tell them of any specifics. Tell them it has an obvious weakness if people know its nature or something. After that, you should probably just let loose and get the highest assessment. Oh, and just agree to any promises they want you to make them.”

Ah, he went ahead to scout for me. I get the feeling that he doesn’t trust me to make the decisions on my own. It smarts a little, but I guess I can’t really blame him, given how many opportunities I have given for him to be disappointed in me as of late.

Another two painfully boring hours pass, before the same lady comes back. They are not wasted this time, as Patir told me all about the tests and questions he had experienced beyond the doors. “Who’s next?” She asks. I was about to direct Kassa up as per Patir’s instruction, but he gives me a nudge and sends me off. I am a bit confused, but follow his instruction.

I follow the lady through a door in the corner of the room, which leads to a hallway and into one of the rooms connected there. The room is very small and the only furniture is a table with two chairs and the room is practically full. The table is filled with a lot of yellow papers, many of them being forms.

“Let’s get started with the interview. Name?”

“Yian.”

“Surname?”

“Don’t have one.”

“Right, you should take this opportunity to take one. It was mandated four years ago that all citizens of the republic should take a surname, and we only register people who give one. It can be anything, but most choose an earlier profession, the profession-“

“I’ll choose hunter.” I said, cutting her off.

She sighs. “It’s not that you can’t, but I recommend you don’t. Almost a fifth of the population has chosen hunter and it is frankly a pain, as it makes the chance of your full name being unique much smaller.”

I had spent the time to think of a name outside of the room, but didn’t consider it would be rejected. Even if it is a soft rejection. I start to think a little if there are any other good ones.

“What is the name of your father?” She asks. I thought about it, but I wasn’t close to my father. If anything, I’d feel more comfortable taking Jorgen’s name. But then I had a feeling I would be leaving out my other mentor figures. It’s not like they are around to be insulted, but I feel a little bummed if I don’t consider Kamas and Bosir for the same position. In the end, I choose a different name.

“Runner, then.” I say. She lifts an eyebrow.

“Did you or your father once work as a courier?” She asks. I can’t be bothered to hang up on this anymore, so I simply agree.

Then the questions started pouring in.

“How long since you started delving into dungeons?”

“What’s the deepest floor you have slain a monster on?”

“Have you lead a hunting party before? If yes, how large a party have you led?”

“Do you have a gift? If yes, what manner of gift is it?”

“Are you capable of using any magic? If so, what kind?”

The questions continued for what felt like an eternity, but I had prepared answers for most of them together with Patir. It was really nice, since I think I would have had some inconsistencies along the way, had I just answered off the top of my head. Patir really is much smarter than me, even though I should have lived way longer. Patir helped me screw together a set of answers that appear to be impressive, but not impossible.

Maybe that is why the interviewing lady looks a little suspicious of me.

“Right then, this was it for the information. Now, please pledge to serve only the republic, its interests and your fellow citizenry.” She says. It suddenly sounded a little militarily, but I just remembered Patir’s words and swore as she requested.

“That’s it for now. Let us move to the physical assessment.” Right, finally the boring interview was over. I followed her out to the hallway, down it for a bit and into a small courtyard, where some ten people appeared to be practicing.