Reason watched as the other two moved away from him, his attention was then attracted towards a conversation at the reception desk.

It was the gray-haired half-elf Angeline talking to Maxine rather frantically.

“Where are they?” Angeline said panicked.

“Who?” Maxine asked confused.

“Those adventurers that wanted to take that goblin quest!” Angeline exclaimed.

“Keep your voice down.” Maxine cautioned before whispering, “Another receptionist gave it to them.”

Lowering her voice Angeline said, “They are not ready for this! That nest is huge!” Her voice still filled with worry.

Maxine gave a small sigh and raised her hand, gesturing for Angeline to settle down, “Look they’re adventurers they take jobs, they fight. The goblin quest is a level one quest.”

“What if its to much? There was only three of them, it was recommended to have a four-person party participate!”

“Then they might be dead, or, worse” Maxine admitted.

“We have to bring them back!” Angeline panicked.

“How? They left ninety minutes ago.”

“Ninety minutes!” She said in disbelief. “Can we send someone?”

“Who? The only people available would be an adventurer and all the people available are either way to high level or already finished a quest.” Maxine challenged.

“Well…” Angeline voice trailed off, looking ever more frantic.

“Calm down.” Maxine told her. “Breath.”

Angeline took a deep breath.

“Look, I know it’s bad, but they are adventurers, it’s their job. The have to get experience somehow, even if it means that their lives are at risk. Don’t forget if nobody accepts these sorts of quests then the village is doomed.” Maxine calmly lectured her.

“Why can’t an experienced adventurer accept?”

“Because it doesn’t pay well, nor does it give much experience. For a veteran it may be relatively easy but time consuming and unpleasant, so why would they spend their time on this with all their expensive equipment when they can take a higher paying job that takes less time?” Maxine explained.

“Then... what should we do?” Angeline asked defeated.

“We do our job, hope they succeed and who knows, someone might also accept this quest.” Maxine said trying to comfort her.

“Alight, then who’s going to take the quest?” Angeline asked.

“I’ll do it.” Reason interrupted.

Both receptionists looked at him in surprise, completely unaware of his presence.

“How long have you been here?” Angeline asked.

“Long enough to know what the job is, I’ll take it.” Reason replied.

“Are you sure?” Angeline asked in concern. “You’re still a newbie.”

“I’m sure. I can do this. Besides no one else available right now.” Reason argued.

Angeline looked to Maxine for advice, Maxine seemed to think.

“Well, you did handle that weird wolf quite well. But you just came back from a quest.” Maxine said, trying to access Reason.

“I’m plenty rested.” Reason said confidently, as Maxine continued study him in silence.

“The longer it takes for someone to join them, the further away they will be.” Reason pushed.

“Maxine, we should allow him.” Angeline said.

“Well, as long as you allow it, I can’t say no.” Maxine said, she opened up a drawer and pulled out a small sheet of paper.

“This is the basic information of the quest.” She said passing the paper to him, “Do you accept?”

“Yes!” He exclaimed.

“Alright then, we wish you luck.” Maxine said with a kind smile. Angeline quickly gave a bow of thanks and Reason headed out of the door, going after the group of adventurers.

***

After Shawn had dried himself of a bit, he and Oskar entered a private room in the guild, inside sat Charron and Blake. Along with a massive looking adventurer wearing full plate armour, save for a helmet.

“What’s with the special location?” Shawn asked, “And who’s the giant?”

“Heh, nice to meet you little boy.” The large adventurer greeted with a crooked grin. As he smiled, Shawn noticed the man had a chipped tooth, a fake silver tooth and one of his front teeth were bent. That joined with a cauliflower ear and a scar on his forehead clearly showed that this man’s seen some action.

“This fine gentleman here is Aiden Ramsay. He is a like minded individual that I met, he has decided to help us. Mr. Ramsay, this is Shawn Lee.” Oskar introduced the two.

The two of them gave each other a small nod of acknowledgement. Shawn then asked Oskar, “So what is this meeting about.”

“For you to know about your special commission of course!” Oskar exclaimed.

Shawn with narrowed eyes asked, “What commission?”

“Well, after the whole fiasco with those chaos worshippers I did a bit talking and it turns out that you did quite a bit.” Oskar said.

“Did I now?” Shawn said dryly.

“Why yes, dealing with the warlock, saving a guard. There were quite a few things to commend you for.” Oskar continued to praise.

“Okay, where is this leading?” Shawn demanded.

“Well, it allowed me to get to talking with a Captain Monroe of the Esterwood. I managed to convince him into allowing us to have access for some more specialized jobs.” Oskar said.

“And that means what exactly?”

“It means that there’s job tonight being offered.” The massive adventure, Aiden spoke out.

“Yes, exactly.” Oskar said nodding. “Captain Monroe offered a job to clear out a group of vicious smugglers tonight.”

“Does this relate to adventuring or does this count as volunteer work?” Shawn asked.

“A little bit of both actually, the guild has sanctioned you and Ramsay to assist, while additional awards will be dolled out to the rest of us.” Oskar said, “This will be good experience for you.”

“Unless you don’t feel up for it.” Blake joked.

“I should be asking you that. How’s your leg?” Shawn shot back.

“Good as new. That paladin knew what she’s doing.” Blake said with a smile, “So you in?” He pressed.

“Sure, when do we head out?” Shawn said with a shrug.

“The mission begins at sundown, but we leave to meet the soldier boys now.” Aiden said. Aiden then rose from his seat and walked past everyone and out of the door.

Shawn noticed as Aiden walked past him that the top of his head only reached Aiden’s shoulders. Shawn wasn’t sure if that said more about how tall Aiden was or how short Shawn was.

“Wouldn’t want to keep our Captain waiting.” He said as he left the room.

Once Shawn was sure he was out of earshot he looked over to Oskar.

“So, you trust this guy?” Shawn asked unconvinced.

“What you don’t?” Oskar replied with a small laugh.

“I’m with Shawn on this. There’s something about him that I don’t trust.” Charron added.

“I’ll admit he isn’t the most trustworthy character, but neither are any of us.” Oskar joked before becoming more serious, “Right now he’s useful, when he stops being useful, we’ll leave him. If he screws with us, we leave him. We keep our eyes on him.”

The three others nodded their heads in agreement.

“Now, let’s get moving.” Oskar said as the other three followed him out of the door.

As they moved out of the main hall and into the main room Shawn was following at the end of the group and heard a voice call out.

“Hey, Shawn!”

Turning around Shawn saw Maxine calling out to him.

“What?” He asked, “I sort have thing right now.”

“Just get over here.” She demanded.

With a roll of his eyes, he walked over to the counter.

“How can I help you. Make it quick cause I’ve got things to do.” He said annoyed.

“Yeah, I know. I signed the commission.” She snapped back, “You’re working with Aiden Ramsay?”

“The big guy with the dumb face? Yes.” Shawn replied, giving a quick glance back to make sure that he didn’t overhear. Thankfully Aiden seemed to have left the building already.

“Is this going to be a one-time thing?” She asked.

“Not sure, probably not.” Shawn said with a shrug.

“Then I recommend against it.” She warned.

“Why is that?”

“You’re new so you probably don’t know, but that guy is bad news. He’s been around long enough to reach level five. But through a lot of bad behavior, he’s been stuck at level three. And that’s only from stuff that he’s been caught by.” She whispered urgently.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well.” She paused, “There are rumors of what he’s done.”

“You believe in rumors?” Shawn questioned.

“Look, I know some rumors are absolute bullshit, but some of merit.” She shot back.

“Don’t worry, I think I can deal with him.” Shawn assured.

“Shawn, you’re far more capable than the usual rookie that comes around. But that’s still a guy at a level five skill level.” Maxine said admittedly, before pointing a sharp finger at him, “Don’t think that I don’t know that your friends aren’t exactly upstanding citizens. If you do work well with Ramsay, then your career will suffer.” She warned him once more.

The two then locked eyes for a moment, what Maxine said may have been a warning for Shawn to behave. However, Shawn new it was also advice for him from a veteran of the adventurer’s guild that came out of concern.

Shawn gave Maxine a confident grin and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep myself in line. And if I don’t, I’ll make sure you won’t find out.”

Maxine crossed her arms still unimpressed, “Just watch yourself. Especially with anything involving Ramsay.”

“I’ll do my best to break a leg.” Shawn assured as he turned around.

“For your sake I hope it won’t be yours.” Maxine said, cracking a small smile as Shawn’s back was turned.