Side Story - Adam 2: To the Guild

AN: Gotta get Adam up to speed to prepare for Book 6.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Adam asked once more as Natio pushed him out of the House of Healing. "I don't feel like I am ready to fight anyone and definitely not monsters."

"You'll be fine," the janitor scoffed. "If anything happens, our resident nuisance will help."

"You're the nuisance," Qhinya said as she stepped past Adam and Natio. "Why is Mister Penbrooks even letting you tag along? You are a janitor, after all."

"That doesn't mean I can't fight."

Adam eyed his two caretakers, not quite sure what he should make of it all. On the one hand, Qhinya would definitely be able to protect them. He had overheard Mister Penbrooks talk to Laelia about her. She had apparently been part of the royal guard for some Dragon King whose name he had forgotten.

Natio, on the other hand, was largely unknown to him. Sure, the man knew a lot about magic and had taught him a lot, but he had never seen him use anything big himself. He either could not or — something he actually considered more likely — he could do a lot more than everyone he had encountered so far. With the exception of her.

The winged Elf who had awaited him as she had come to this world was something else; he had known that as soon as he had laid eyes on her. There had been no need to think on the matter, he simply knew. Now that he had learned what, exactly, she was, it made a lot more sense. It also gave him another, much harder question. Why had the Creator of everything there is been there?

Laelia had said that Aperio had merely found the anomaly he had come through, and their meeting was nothing more than coincidence. But for one reason or another he still felt that he had not seen the last of her. Perhaps she could bring me back home after all?

He did not really miss Earth, his friends, or even his family. The lack of yelling when he was trying to sleep and no longer needing to keep a constant wall up when he was with his friends felt good. Freeing. Here, he did not need to pretend to be someone else to be accepted; did not need to hide behind mask after mask and fret for the day where he cracked and would lose everything he held dear.

Here he had magic, a world to explore and, most importantly, people who accepted him and even wanted to help him. Even if they act like they don't. He had seen the janitor smile more than a few times on the occasions where he finally got a spell right. Natio clearly liked their lessons, but seemingly would not be caught dead admitting that.

"You still with us, Adam?" Qhinya asked, waving her hand in front of his eyes. "Do I need to give you a cold shower?"

"No," he replied with a light shake of his head. "I'm good. No need for more water cannons."

"I think hitting you with a few more would be good," Qhinya countered. "Maybe you will finally be able to cast one then." She shook her head and started walking. "A mage that is so gifted in lightning cannot use water to save his life. What a tragedy."

"He'll figure it out in time," Natio said, slapping his hand against Adam's back and causing him to stumble forward. "He just needs to get a few levels."

Adam doubted these mysterious levels would help him, especially if he needed to kill something to do it. He had never done such a thing before, nor had he even considered it, but it seemed that he had little choice in the matter. After another, much more gentle tap on the back, he fell into step behind Qhinya. Their first stop would be the local branch of the Adventurer's Guild.

The guild was much like the ones he had read about before in various novels. They would give out contracts that anyone who was a member could take and get paid for. Once you completed enough — or proved your worth in other ways — you received a higher rank.

Of course, he currently had no rank whatsoever and neither had he ever intended to get one. If Adam had had his way, he would have simply spent his time sitting somewhere and trying to figure out how to use his magic. And maybe read some books. Despite the world looking rather medieval, they had a surprising amount of books lying around. He had inquired about a printing press, but apparently they used some form of magic to make them.

That was a trend he was not sure he could get used to; everyone was using magic for one thing or another. A tailor would use their magic to make better clothes and a cook could add just a tiny bit of extra flavour with nothing more than a touch of their mana. How any of that worked was a mystery to Adam, but he could not doubt that it did. That this extended to other industries should have been obvious, but in his mind those things were still the domain of machines, not magic.

"He seems to need to figure out how to walk and think at the same time first," Qhinya said as she tapped one of the horns that jutted from her temple. "Being distracted like that is a good way to die."

"Which is why we brought you," Natio said as he placed his hand on Adam's shoulder and practically dragged him along. "To look after our little friend."

"I know," she replied. "Doesn't make it any less true, though."

"Perhaps not, but most… people are like that when they first start out as Adventurers."

"Ah yes, the non-people don't forget," Qhinya quipped as she weaved her way through the crowd in front of them, somehow being both far away from them and right next to them at the same time. "Why do you always talk so funny, janitor?" A moment later, she stood next to Adam and rested her arm on his shoulder. "Does he talk this way when you two are alone, too?"

"Not really?" Adam replied as he tried his best to remain calm. "You all talk a little weird to me."

"Ah, right. You're not from here. I forgot." She tapped at her horn again. "Where did you come from again?"

"Far away." Adam had no intention of telling Qhinya where he was actually from, and he knew too little about this world to make up a convincing story of coming from some backwater village. "Very. Far away."

The rest of the way to the Adventurer's guild was spent ignoring the seemingly endless dispute between Qhinya and Natio. The former was still trying to get any form of information from the latter, but for one reason or another, Natio remained quiet. Adam knew that there was more going on with the janitor of the House of Healing, but he did not know what that was and neither did he really care. Laelia had offered to tell him what was going on, but he had declined. If Natio wanted to tell him, he would.

"So," Adam asked, breaking the rather awkward silence that had set in. "What exactly are we going to do once we are there? Will they just accept me?"

"For the lowest rank? Sure, they will just accept you," Natio said, giving Adam a smile, "but we are not doing that. You will take their initiation test and start off near the C — or silver, if you are more into the metal ranking — territory."

"He could do more," Qhinya said as she took a step back and gave Adam an appraising look. "His mana alone should be enough for gold."

"What rank are you?" Adam asked, not quite comfortable with the two of them talking about his 'potential'.

"Special," the Dragonkin replied with a big smile, some of her teeth showing. "It doesn't have a letter or metal designation."

Adam only gave a nod in reply as he was not quite sure what to make of the answer. Everything he knew about Qhinya pointed to her being more than met the eye, even if she always acted so… childish. Perhaps her strength was the reason for her personality. After all, who would go against someone that could in all likelihood kill you without breaking a sweat. Especially if the laws in this place seem more like… suggestions.

There was no rigid rule of law — or even police — as there was on Earth. Sure, he had seen the Guard do a few things here and there, but that was a rare occasion. For the most part it seemed like this world — or at least this city — was governed by those who could enforce their will through strength. Or everyone simply abided by the laws even without oversight, something Adam did not consider to be very likely.

Before any further conversation could take place, the group reached the local branch of the Adventurers' Guild. He had no time to take in the building the guild called home before being ushered inside. What greeted him was a busy tavern to his left and lines of people on the other. Adam covered his ears to keep his sanity amid all the noise, and wondered at the way Qhinya and Natio seemed to be entirely untroubled by the volume in the room.

Qhinya practically dragged him past the lines that had formed in front of the various stalls, beyond a pair of what appeared to be guards, and into a back room.

"It's fine," she said as she saw Adam's rather confused expression. "They know me." Qhinya quickly ushered him through the room they had entered, perplexing Adam even further. Past this next doorway they emerged into a large chamber filled with various racks and weapons, as well as a multitude of what were presumably test dummies. "Now you two just wait here and I'll go and get Andre."

"Andre?" Adam asked, looking at Natio.

"Sir Andre Diveon," the man replied. "He is the [Guild Master] of the Ebenlowe branch. He is also a Dwarf, so don't be surprised."

Adam scratched the back of his head at the comment and inspected the room once more. "He wouldn't be the first one I’ve seen, there are more than a few in the House of Healing."

Before Natio could speak again, the door flew open and — true to the janitor's word — a short man walked in, followed quickly by Qhinya.

"You must be Adam," the Dwarf, who he assumed to be Andre, said as he approached him. He held out his hand as he continued to speak. "After what Qhinya told me I am very excited to see what you can do."

Adam only gave him a half-hearted smile in reply and shook his head. "Don't expect too much," he said, pulling his hand away as he felt a small tingle run through his arm. "What was that?"

"Remarkable," the Dwarf mumbled and turned to Qhinya. "And he really been without mana for most of his life?"

"Yes," she replied. "He got his first taste of magic a few months ago. Our nameless janitor there"— she pointed at Natio —"has been training him ever since."

"A Janitor?" Andre asked as he began to stroke his beard. "That is not your usual job, is it?"

"It is not," Natio replied, seemingly fine not elaborating any further.

"He was better at teaching me than Qhinya," Adam said. "I had no idea of most things that she talked about when she tried."

The Dwarf gave a full-bellied laugh at his words, completely ignoring the punch Qhinya gave him. "That does seem like her, always assuming everyone can do what she does." He took a breath and cleared his throat. "Well, if the 'janitor' can teach you well enough that Qhinya thinks you can start at silver, I won't question him."

He clapped his hands twice, causing a few of the test dummies to move to the center of the room and a multitude of runes to appear on the wall. "Well," he said, setting his eyes on Adam. "Hit those targets, show us what you got."

AN2: Don't worry, the next Side Story picks up right where this one left off.