The group of them loitered in front of the large bulletin board in the center of the Guild District. There were a few other members from different guilds looking at the postings as well, but most didn’t spend more than a minute or two to find a job they were willing to do. Meanwhile, Point Blank’s members had been standing in front of the board for nearly an hour. Everyone but Curt and Mahku were bickering over which job to take.

“Eliminating the monster plaguing the nearby farmlands seems like a worthy endeavor for our guild,” Xujen pointed out.

Bauph sighed. “That one’s also too high rank for us to accept, Xujen. Remember, we’re only D-rank.”

“Are you sure we can only pick up the D-rank ones?” Jesse asked. Curt had seen him scan all the D-rank listings at least three times so far, looking more disappointed with each look. Curt didn’t blame Jesse though; the most interesting D-rank posting up was watching for pickpockets for a shop.

“From the board? Yeah,” Tera answered. “The restriction is there so weak guilds don’t go on suicide missions.”

“I can’t believe this.” Lysse was rolling her eyes at the group. “If it’s just money you guys need, I could take care of it.”

“We’re no longer thieves, Lysse,” Vanessa said, frowning. “We don’t have to steal anymore.”

“I’d rather go rob someone than do those jobs. Finding someone’s lost pet? Playing bodyguard for a fruit stand? No thanks.”

“So there’s really nothing we can do but take on these D-rank jobs?” Jesse asked with a sigh. After glancing over the listings on more time, he looked resigned.

Mahku, who previously kept out of dispute, said, “We could see if someone wants to commission our guild. If we are directly commissioned, that circumvents the rank requirements. Of course, this requires the one hiring us to have confidence in our abilities to handle the task.”

Jesse’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“I’m sure it will be a simple matter to have ourselves hired,” Xujen said. “When our employer meets with us, they’ll quickly realize that our rank belies our true ability.”

“So we can just go ask whoever posted this?” Tera said, pointing to the posting that Xujen mentioned earlier.

Mahku shook his head. “Once a job is posted, they can’t do a direct commission until the posting expires.”

“How do we find ourselves an employers then?”

Mahku took a moment to think. “We’ll have to advertise ourselves. Our guild is not so reputable that jobs will come to us. Instead, we’ll have to promote our guild publicly.”

“Hell no,” Lysse said. “I’m not going to parade the streets begging for a job.”

“Why don’t we just take on the D-rank jobs?” Bauph suggested. “They’ll be easy.”

At that suggestion the group went back to bickering over what to do. Curt figured it was time to excuse himself before another hour passed. He had business with Kirina, and now seemed as good of a time as any. Especially if it meant he didn’t have to stay and listen.

“I’m going to go see Kirina. I’ll just head back to the base if you guys aren’t still here when I’m back.”

No one paid him much heed beyond Mahku giving Curt a nod of acknowledgement. Curt headed off to where Kirina said her shop was at. Ever since she moved out of the hovel she, Otto, and Curt shared a few months ago, Curt hadn’t actually seen her shop. Though, from the sounds of it, she was doing well.

He was beginning to get more familiar with Endyre’s streets, and with a few turns, found himself in the Market District on the street where Kirina said she’d be. It wasn’t hard to find her place. A practical looking building with a simple sign that said “Kirina’s Reinforcing” didn’t stand out on its own, but the long line that went out the door and around the street corner did.

Curt watched as the line of people steadily streamed through the doorway. They all looked like guild members or mercenaries; most clutched a weapon or two with expressions that were a mix of hope and fear. With each person entering, someone would exit, either holding broken weapon parts with tears in their eyes or marching triumphantly with a shiny weapon in hand.

When Kirina said her business was successful, Curt didn’t doubt it. But he supposed he didn’t think she’d be this popular. He wondered if it was worth waiting in line to see Kirina. Luckily, he was spared the line. Kirina’s head peeked out the door.

“Curt? That you?” She called out, spotting him.

“Hey.” Curt gave her a small wave. “You look pretty busy. Maybe I should back another time?”

Kirina shook her head. “Nah. It’s fine. Come in. I got the process mostly automated now so it’ll run itself.”

Curt entered the building, and the first thing he noticed was the giant machine before him. It practically took up all the room. The center of the machine looked like a giant furnace, and an assortment of pipes were constantly kept busy by releasing multi-colored smoke through the chimney. Kirina had taken out the second floor to make enough room for the thing.

Curt watched as customers made offerings of gold and magic crystals to Kirina and the machine respectively before tossing their weapons into the machine with fingers crossed. Horrible grinding noises ensued, but for a lucky few, their weapons survived whatever process it was subjected to. The unlucky had pieces of weapons spewed back out.

“Uh, is it alright for your machine to be breaking most of those?” Curt asked.

“They know the risks,” Kirina replied simply. Kirina pulled up a stool for herself to sit on, and gestured to Curt to do the same. “Machine isn’t perfected yet. Need gold to improve it, so it’s open for business. Anyways, what’re you here for?”

Curt took out the pair of blue-tinted revolvers Kirina had gifted him. They still looked brand-new, and no surprise there — Curt never got the chance to really use them.

Kirina frowned. “Run into some trouble with these? Shouldn’t have. They’re my second-best work after what Otto has.”

Curt shook his head. “They’re beautiful, really. I haven’t actually had a chance to use these yet, but I’m sure they work fine. The problem lies with me.”

Kirina raised an eyebrow.

Curt glanced at the line behind him. “Maybe we could discuss this somewhere more private?”

Kirina sighed, but relented. She stood up and began directing people to leave. Once everyone was out, she flipped the sign over on the back of the door, and closed it. Now it was just Kirina and Curt.

Curt took a moment to gather his thoughts. He wasn’t sure how much he’d need to explain to Kirina — did she even know how magic worked in this world? Maybe she did. After all, she had set up quite a successful business based around strengthening weapons with magic.

He decided to just tell her everything Mahku had told him. She listened without interruption, and when Curt was finished, she closed her eyes in deep thought.

“I can see why these guns wouldn’t do you much good then,” Kirina said finally. “Are you returning them then?”

“No. Seems a bit rude to return a gift. I was thinking if you could make some kind of… magical bullets or something.”

Kirina thought that one over. “It’s possible. I would have to have in reloading again, but it is doable.”

Curt nodded. “Thanks, Kirina.”

She held up a finger. “I didn’t say it’d be free,” she said. “The materials for it aren’t cheap. Same with all the work I need to do.”

“You do know I don’t have any money, right?”

“I expected that much. There’s something you — and Point Blank — can do for me.”

Curt blinked in surprise. “You have a job for us?”

She nodded. “I can’t commission any guilds since I’m tight on funds myself. Machine needs a lot of maintenance.”

“We’ll do it.” After surviving an encounter with Blood Moon, going to put down a quarry monster sounded like a cake walk in comparison. Curt also figured it was only fair to do something for Kirina too.

“Good. In any case, it’s directly related to modifying your guns. There’s a quarry near White Coast where most of my magic crystal supplies come from. Latest delivery told me there won’t be another one coming anytime soon. Some kind of menace made its home there. Drive it out, get me another shipment, and I’ll give you the improvements you asked for.”

White Coast… that was the place with a mage tower that Mahku said another of the Sky Barrier’s seals resided. The only other things Curt knew about the city was that it was by the coast and it was famous for its magic schools. The only issue he could find with Kirina’s request was that it’d take a week to just get to White Coast. Assuming the job could be done in a few days, they’d be back with only two weeks left until the tournament.

And there was just one more thing that bothered Curt.

“Why are you the one posting for the job?” Curt asked. “Shouldn’t the quarry or White Coast be taking care of this? Isn’t a big supplier of magic crystals stopping their deliveries a pretty big deal?”

Kirina shrugged. “I’m not sure, but the merchants told me that right now the quarry is off-limits to everyone. Oh, that’s right. Forgot to tell you — you’ll be breaking the law by investigating.”

Great. That might make it hard to get Xujen to agree with going. “Any idea why it’d be illegal? Too dangerous? A big shot’s pet gone loose? Dirty secrets in the quarry?”

“Not sure,” Kirina said. “Supposedly there’s a disagreement about who is going to take care of it though. Holy Order wants to help, but White Coast says its mages will do it. But that last shipment was a while ago. Nothing’s changed from what I heard.”

“Guess I’ll find out when I get there.” Curt stood up. He should probably head back and let the others know about Kirina’s request.

“Take care, Curt.”

----

Point Blank was still where he had left them — hanging around the guild bulletin board.

“Good news, guys,” Curt called out. “I found us a job.”

“Better be a good one,” Lysse muttered.

He pointedly ignored Lysse’s comment and explained Kirina’s job to the rest of them. While telling them the details, he realized how little of them he had to go off of. Kirina wasn’t exactly descriptive. All Curt knew was that she wanted whatever problem going on with quarry to get solved.

“Sounds more interesting than any of these at least,” Tera said. “I’m in.”

“White Coast…” Mahku had a pensive look on his face. “I would like to visit there, now that I am able to enter the city.”

“I look forward to introducing the foul beast that threatens innocents to Shrieking Vapor,” Xujen said.

“Hang on,” Bauph said. “What’s the payment she’s giving us? Because unless there’s an advance, we can’t exactly afford to travel to White Coast — let alone pay for meals.”

“Well…” Saying the reward just was to improve his guns sounded pretty bad now that he thought about it. Not to mention both of his holsters were empty right now. Maybe going to fight off a monster unarmed was a bad idea too. He clearly didn’t think this through.

“We could help with that,” Vanessa piped up. Since she was standing next to Lysse, Curt figured that’s who she meant by ‘we’. Though Lysse didn’t exactly look cooperative.

Vanessa continued when everyone turned her way. “Oleander’s traveling back to the village soon. It’s halfway to White Coast so we could tag along easily, though it might be a bit cramped. He’s taking back food and supplies, so we’ll have something to eat. The rest of the way we could maybe borrow a wagon or something from the village.”

Lysse was frowning. “Are you sure, Van? Letting them eat food meant for the village?”

“There’s enough to go around,” Vanessa said. “In any case, we’re going to help people. I think that’s a worthy cause to donate some food toward.”

Jesse grinned. “I’m not so sure about Lysse, but you’re cool, Van.”

Vanessa smiled back shyly, but Lysse shot Jesse a glare.

Curt wondered if he should bring up the fact that they weren’t going to get paid in cash for the job. Everyone was already starting to head back to the base to pack for the trip. In the end, he decided he’d keep it to himself. When they did get back, he’d ask Kirina to pay the rest of the guild. She wouldn’t agree easily, but she’d understand.

First, he had to get his priorities straight. He was gunless and, consequently, useless. Curt hoped Otto was willing to let him borrow his pair of revolvers. Supposedly they were Kirina’s masterpieces. He couldn’t imagine Otto parting with them easily.