The man motioned for Orn to follow him. “If you would grab your things and follow me. “

Orn followed the man to the end of the counter where the clerk lifted a hinged section to let Orn through. “The master wants to speak to you personally.”

“This is not the normal way jobs are handled, is it?” Orn asked weaving between a couple desks as he followed the clerk.

The clerk stopped and turned looking at Orn and the bundle he was carrying. “No, this is very far from normal.”

Then turning on his heel the clerk led the way to the door in the back. The clerk rapped his knuckles on the door. A muffled reply of ‘come in’ came from the other side, and the clerk opened the door for Orn.

Orn found the room to be a strange cross between his fathers study and a workshop. The wall to his left was covered in shelves filled with books and papers. The wall to the right had a large door next to a sturdy table with various instruments and tools. Orn was only able to identify a scale, and a set of strange knives, the rest of the tools were alien to him.

Turning from the table he took in the far wall. It had a smaller door, in front of which was a large desk. The balding man at the desk looked at Orn, and gestured to the other side of the table. “I have been informed that you have completed a job.”

“If there is nothing else sir, I will return to the front.” The clerk behind Orn said.

“Good, go ahead Aerric,” the man behind the desk nodded, without taking his eyes from Orn. “Sir Blackthorn please come closer, there is no need for us to talk across the room. I am Fredric, the guild master of the capital branch.”

Orn crossed the small space to stand opposite the seated man, and examined the man across from him. The guild master was middle aged and square built man, though not quite fat. His expression was flat and searching.

Eventually deciding he had stared at Orn enough, he leaned back in his chair. “I cannot make heads or tails of you. Too many contradictions,” the man said gesturing vaguely in Orn;’s direction. “A count’s son, wearing the same uniform as any peasant’s son. There are a pair of blades at your waist, but I have seen enough bowmen to know one when I see one. It is unexpected for a young man of your path, but so is taking work here at all.”

Orn was not sure how to respond, and chose to keep silent, when the man paused.

“Some might think you are not real at all. A fake name, a faked accomplishment, and enough of an accomplishment to overlook the paperwork irregularities,” the man leaned forward. “You were not sent here to kill me were you?”

Orn just stared at the man dumbfounded, What?

The man’s expression softened and he began laughing. “I thought not. Turide Trading would not have introduced you if they thought anything of the sort. Even if you think you bullied them into it. Do not look so surprised if merchants had to do more than stroke the egos of every noble we encountered the kingdom would be a wreck. Besides, Mr. Turide would have been better suited to the path of an actor, but the goddesses decided he should be a thorn in my side instead.”

The man shook his head before continuing. “My clerk says you are the most recent of these annoyances. You failed to follow procedure, but you did something impressive enough to be noted thought he will not tell me the details. So if you would be so kind as to start from the beginning.”

…

[Guildmaster]

The door closed behind the boy and Carth felt a weight lift from his shoulders. A soft groan escaped form his lips as he stood and stretched. He sighed as he felt the tension slowly ease. With a practiced motion he reached under his desk and touched the false bottom of the drawer.

The bottom hinged down sliding the handle of a serrated blade into his hand. With the same practiced ease he thumbed the knife slid back into its hiding place and lifted the false bottom back into place. The mechanism reset with a click.

Just what kind of a monster did you have Lissa introduce to the guild? he thought shaking his head. Nearly everything he had told the boy was intended to gauge his reaction. Either he is the best actor I have encountered or he is exactly what he claims to be. I am not sure which is worse.

He weighed the two options for a moment, before deciding the more worrying option was also the most likely. His eyes fell on the monster’s ear sitting on his desk. “A very dangerous young man, without backing or direction. He might as well be the proverbial bull in a china shop.”

The guild master sighed as he though back on their conversation. The boy had no sense of how the world worked, that much was certain. Based on what he said, he decided to track dangerous monsters because of boredom. Then he risked his life to kill it to protect a town. Worst of all he survived without a scratch on him! I want to doubt him, but I can see no other reason for him to do this. He just does whatever he wants, and expects it to be treated as normal. He is a problem waiting to occur.

Carth took a deep breath and pushed away all the ways this could destabilize the factions vying for power. This was the best option, he thought. This will separate him from the guild and give me time to try to mitigate what is coming.

He looked over the contract again. He gets the gold, he said the job poster was supposed to have offered, and none of this officially happened. He does not make a fuss of how badly the job we posted was represented, and he does not show his face here again for a year. Yes, this will do for now. It protects me from being associated if he does something wrong, and buys me time to decide if he can be an asset. Now I just need to find a way to keep him away from the noble factions while I decide what to do.

Maybe I can get him invited to some of the parties nobles like to go to, his mind raced through the well to do merchants who would probably be holding parties over the academy’s break. He paced around the small room trying to piece together his plan. With travel time he could be completely tied up. His path is high enough to be attractive to certain social climbers and he does not think himself better because f his nobility.

He snorted at the thought of the young man standing throughout Carth’s interrogation without a word of complaint. Probably a bit too deferential actually, but I could get someone to keep him out of too much trouble. A few of those hosting the parties have rather pretty daughters, he smiled, a sheltered boy like that would probably melt if they so much as smiled at him.

Carth imagined one of the girls his granddaughter was friends with handing the boy an invitation. “Yes, that should do it. Close enough to ensure it happens, but far enough removed that no one could be sure I was involved.”

He walked quickly around the table and pulled out a piece of parchment from one of the stacks on his desk. Rather than a blank sheet, though he realized he held a letter. His eyes skimmed across it and he recognized it as another from the young noble man who came in at the start of the holiday.

Maybe the goddesses have not completely forsaken me today. This may actually work better. Carth grabbed a couple pages of blank parchment and started writing. Besides if it does not, I can always go back to the other plan.

[Atr]

“There you little pest,” she whispered running her finger over the cloth. “You seem to like fighting monsters. Well I hope you enjoy.”

“What was that?” Clo asked as she returned to the room.

“Nothing,” Atr replied, lifting her finger from the smooth fabric. “Is Lac going to do something beyond play with her toy?”

“It seems she has a plan, but it is hard to say it is more than her goofing off.” Clo replied taking her usual seat at the loom. “Did anything interesting happen while I was away?”

“No,” Atr replied shaking her head. A single sheet of paper being shifted to the wrong stack on a desk is hardly important.