5 First Contac (2/2)

She shuffled a few papers around and pulled a black pen from a container inside of her desk. She signed something on her own, before handing the paper over to Jin.

”I'll need your name, place of birth, your house, lesser houses are acceptable, don't worry, and your age.”

Place of birth? Jin thought. He nodded to himself and wrote down an answer. House? That's like… Last name, family, right? He remembered more of the lessons Elizabeth had taught him. Only now did he understand that this entire time, she was preparing him for outside interactions. Age… Easy enough.

”Done.” He handed back the paper.

”Wonderful, well, let's take a look shall we.” Her eyes scanned over the paper's contents, but stopped when she wrinkled her nose, pulled back, and looked up. ”In 'place of birth', do you mean the Jessen Village of the Western Forests?”

”Uh… No.” Jin replied.

”So… Why did you write 'forest'?” She asked.

”I… I was born in the forest. West.”

As Jin said this, things seemed to click inside of the woman's mind. She gave a satisfied nod and continued.

”Yes, that would explain why you wrote ”none” under house, as well. For a moment there, I thought you may have been a Griffin, even though you're no beast.” She chuckled. ”Alright, I understand, by the way, my name is Ricca.” She wrote a few things and handed the paper over to a woman who was standing nearby. Jin noticed that a few pairs of eyes were locked on him, seemingly interested in the conversation he was having. He looked to his side, and saw the woman who took the paper, tapping some sort of object on a wall. That object glowed for a moment, and a card materialized out of thin air. She paced back towards them and handed the paper over to the woman Jin spoke to.

”Here you go, Jin.” She said with a smile. He took the paper and returned the smile in kind. ”Do you have any family here?” She asked. Jin shook his head. ”Then you'll be needing a place to stay. Well, there's a brown building just down the street, biggest building aside from this one, can't miss it. That place is an 'inn', a place where you can sleep for some silver. It would do you well to head there. Also, over there, see those papers on the wall? Those are jobs. You do them, bring evidence that you did, and collect. Every adventurer has a rank, and a tier. As you do more jobs, and improve your reputation, that rank goes up. There are four tiers. Tiers, 3, 2, 1, and Z, from worst to best. The ranks follow school grading, with them going from F to A. Right now, you're Tier 3, Rank F. Everyone starts off at this rank, don't worry. Normally, I'd give you some weapon to start you out, but you seem to be well-equipped. Oh, of course if you mess up too many jobs, we'll revoke your card.” She eyed his sword, and the bow peeking from his back. ”Try a job out, take a paper, and bring it over, so you can pay for your stay.”

”Thank you.” As he replied, a thought came to him. Money. Right, that's that silver and gold stuff? This was one of the more confusing concepts Elizabeth had taught him. He simply couldn't grasp the value in trading coins for objects. Whoever was giving away the objects was clearly getting screwed, but still, even in the storybooks they insisted on this system. It was weird to him. And now, he was hearing that ”money” was used to buy places as well?

”Have a nice day.” She replied.

Jin bowed, as he remembered people did in the books he read and paced away. For good or for worse, as he didn't know what he had gotten himself into, he'd just became an adventurer. If it meant he could spend time hunting, he didn't mind what that entailed. At least now he had kept some link to his past life.

He began walking over to the board, where the jobs were listed. As he approached, he saw a small group standing in front of it. They seemed nervous, indecisive. Jin decided not to speak to them. He had gotten lucky, that woman he'd spoken to earlier turned out to be kind, but not everyone was going to be that way. He had to be wary.

He gazed over the board and read through some of the jobs available.

”Assistance: Need secretary. Duration: 1 day. Pay: 4 silvers an hour.”

”Support: Need an escort to take me to the nearest village. Duration: 1 week. Pay: 9 silvers an hour. Warning: Will be travelling through dangerous roads.”

”Asistence: Ned tooter to teech my boi hau to rite. Durachen: 30 menits. Pei: 1 silver en our.”

Finally, Jin smiled when he found what he'd hoped for.

”Hunt: A thunder-bear has established itself north of the village and has been attacking travelers. Dispose of it. Pay: Forty silvers.” He took the paper down.

As he turned to hand it over to Ricca, he heard some gasps coming from behind him. Disregarding this, he continued.

”Found one.” He said with a proud smile.

”Let me see…” Ricca grabbed the paper. Her eyebrows raised slightly. ”Oh?” She looked up at him, as if analyzing him for a moment, before nodding. ”Okay. Good luck.”

Jin walked away, satisfied that he had found something to do. He didn't know what he'd do afterwards, but for now, he had some direction.

He exited the building, and once again, his feet found dirt as he paced through the road, and outside the village.

Serenity filled his heart once more. This was his home, this was what he knew. He placed his hand on his sword hilt, and began walking north.

”Hey, wait!” He heard someone call out from behind. Hm? He turned, and saw that group from earlier behind him. A girl with cinnamon brown hair, like himself, wearing some armor made of animal pelts, and two boys behind her. One was wearing a white cloak, the other was wearing a suit of iron. He saw something like this in a storybook once. Was he about to get 'mugged'? ”You're the one who took the thunder-bear job, right?”

”... Yes.” Jin tried to be cautious, but something about this girl calmed his nerves. It took him no time at all to realize what it was. She looked like a younger version of Elizabeth. He didn't know whether to be thankful for the familiarity, or distraught by it.

”You can't do a job like that alone! Let us come with you!”

”Yeah, we'll back you up.” The man in the iron armor said. He was a short boy, but he carried a large axe at his back.

”You at least need a healer, right?” The man in the white cloak said.

”I'm sorry,” Jin said, ”but I don't even know you.” He used a line he'd read from a book. It was one where a man and a woman had met together at night, for purposes Jin didn't understand.

”Oh, sorry, I guess this is kind of sudden.” The girl rubbed her head. ”My name is Viscerin.” She pointed at the boy in the iron armor. ”That's Goljin,” she shifted towards the boy in the white cloak. ”That's Thompson. Listen, we're new at this, like you! You look like you know what you're doing... We wanted to work together with you. Strength in numbers, right? Maybe we could get some experience together?” She smiled, but it was a weak one.

”I... Uh...” Should he turn them down? He didn't know. He knew he absolutely didn't need their help. He had fought thunder-bears before, and although the first one was responsible for some of the scars that plagued his skin, he was confident he could win in a fight with one now, given that he prepared for it. However, a thought appeared in his mind. Maybe these people could help him settle into this village. They appeared to live here, he could speak to them. Learn about this place. He realized he had as much to gain from this as they did. ”Yes.” He replied.

”Great!” She nearly lept in the air. Joining this strange group, they continued down the northern road.