Theo stepped into the gaudy guild hall that was the Slayers guild. Where the Seekers building had been simple and homely, the Slayers’ guild hall was adorned with various banners holding different coats of arms and a few tapestries depicting glorious scenes of battle against monsters both large and small.

  More than a few preserved heads of monsters were mounted on one wall, each one fierce and snarling. The largest of them was a mounted bear head with horns growing out of its crown like it had been in a bad fight with a pack of narwals. There was some sort of magic at play as it breathed and snarled at Theo as she entered, even locking eyes with her as she back stared at it.

  Also unlike the Seekers guild, the main room was empty outside of a few plush couches and crimson carpet that she felt uncomfortable walking on with her shoes.

  She approached the singular counter and had to ring a bell to get a clerk to appear.

  Matching the gaudiness of the lobby, the clerk was wearing fine robes and more than one piece of jewelry jingled as the man sat down before even addressing her.

  “What can I help you with today… miss..?” he trailed off waiting for her name.

  “Theo.”

  “Miss Theo.” He was differentially polite, but there was a tone in his voice that she didn’t quite like.

  “I was wondering about membership?” She wasn’t sure she planned on joining, but the Seekers didn’t restrict her from joining other guilds and she wanted to keep her options open.

  “And do you have a sponsor?” He sniffed.

  “Uhh… no?” Theo knew this was going to be a bust, she could already tell from how this man was acting towards her.

  He rolled his eyes but retrieved a set of papers not too dissimilar to the ones she had filled out earlier.

  “Fill these out. We aren’t currently seeking non-sponsored members but we will keep your name on file and reach out to you via letter should that change.

  Theo looked at the papers before sliding them back. “You know what. Never mind. Have a nice day.” She turned on her heel and made her way for the exit. Choosing to ignore the rude words the man uttered under his breath as she left.

  When she neared the door, they opened and a brown haired man in filigreed plate armor stepped in shouldering her aside as if she didn’t even exist.

  “Move.”

  He was strong, but Theo leaned into the shove while boosting herself with [gale heart] and it caused the man to stumble.

  “Watch where you’re going rat.” He turned on her with a look of pure disdain.

  “Well aren’t you a walking trope.” Theo snorted. She would have liked to say his face matched his attitude, but he was honestly handsome. He had a slightly downturned nose with a clean shave and bright green eyes.

  “What did you say to me? Careful girl. I’ll have you flogged for assaulting a noble.”

  ‘Wow. Someone is in a bad mood.’ Theo said as she just stared at him with an impassive face, she had dealt with assholes before and she knew not giving him any reaction would both piss him off and disarm his threat. She hoped.

  “What are you staring at? Nothing else to say?” The jerk’s voice rose and The struggled not to laugh at him.

  “Just memorizing your face.” She said with casual indifference, staring a few heartbeats longer before she turned her back on him and walked out the door. He shouted something but she was already back on the streets and walking away before he had finished his ranting.

  “That place sucks.” Theo decided to not even bother with the last guild in the city. She wanted to get some shopping done and maybe see if she could get a leatherworker or blacksmith to make her something she could hold her feather in more securely than just keeping it in her bag.

  She awkwardly asked for directions from a few different people before she ended up near the market at the city's gate. There was a street of craft shops nearby, all advertising their wares and works and she stepped into one that looked like it specialized in combat gear.

  She didn’t have much money, but browsed the pre-made wares. Sets of leather and metal breastplates, helmets, gloves. Anything she could think of that a new adventurer might want or need. The labels were all hand written and while most of it was out of her price range, she did end up grabbing a leather satchel and magical flashlight. It was shaped like a miniature lantern with a mirror and was designed to clip onto her clothes at her chest to leave her hands free.

  She nearly chortled with glee when she found a small spice kit that contained salt and something that was a close enough analog to pepper along with a few other odds and ends she would need to experiment with. She had always liked to cook, and now she wouldn’t be forced to subsist off of plain meat should she find herself away from civilization.

  Approaching the shop clerk, she placed her items on the table before asking about getting a necklace custom made to hold her feather.

  “I ‘spose that wouldn’t be too hard to make” the man told her, and after leaving her payment for the goods told her to come back in the evening to pick up her order.

  She was glad he hadn’t tried to make small talk, and quickly left.

  The rest of her day until her meeting with Vara was spent wandering the city and eating street food. Back on Earth she had always been distrustful of food stands. Having gotten food poisoning enough times that risking the quick bite to eat was just not worth it to her. But here, it was simply too tempting to not try out the unique and local cuisine.

  Skewers of spicy, breaded meat coated in crumbs of sugar. Rolls stuffed with vegetables and cheese. An honest to god smoothie stand was her favorite. The local fruits that were just the right combination of sweet and sour that sent her going back for seconds as she asked the owner about local sights to visit.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  There was apparently a library free to the public. A museum. A red light district that Theo wasn’t all that interested in until the man explained that there were shows and games that were more suited for family activities than more adult pursuits. And an auction hall that opened its doors once a month for anyone with enough coin to bid on the various items that adventurers and locals wanted to sell.

  Theo decided on the library first, figuring it would be a good idea to try and brush up on her local knowledge and maybe find a few books about edible plants and such.

  The library was smaller than she had been expecting, but there was enough information that she lost herself in reading and was forced to pack up quickly when she heard the city bells go off at the time she was supposed to meet Vara back at the inn.

  “So you met him huh? “Mels giggled as Theo recounted her day for the table while they waited for Barns and Vara to show up. “That would be Jarrot Darramine. Real piece of work. One of the worst nobles in the city if you ask basically anyone who knows anyone. Someone should have knocked his teeth out years ago, but his family name just carries too much weight in the kingdom.” Mels took a drink. “Apparently he was sent here as some sort of punishment, but feels more like it was to punish the city if you ask me.”

  Grett nodded in agreement as he picked at his food.

  Mels talked about herself after that. She was a proud mother. A son named Tremle and a daughter Alyss who she had apparently named after her grandmother. Tremle was young but already had his sights set on being a mage, and she used her pay as a guard to afford lessons for him, while Alyss was more set on following in her mothers footsteps and she regularly followed Mels on hunting or scouting trips during safer times.

  Mel’s husband was a leather worker who she had met through the guard as he and his workshop did most of the work for the city guard. She gave the appropriate commiserations when Theo explained how her sudden displacement had left her with little knowledge of how her family was fairing and offered some ideas on how she could find out.

  It was expensive but scrying and fate seeing were two options. Another would be to submit a request with the city to forward her any knowledge of her home if any news reached them through official channels.

  Mels had been with the guard a long time and even offered to put in a word for Theo should she decide on the second option.

  They were mostly through their meal when Vara and Barns showed up together, apparently having been part of the same meeting the command structure of the guard had held to see what options they had to deal with the nightly swarms and their source.

  They had hired scryers and had been told that the swarm was from a single creature that had, surprisingly, been identified by the system. Which according to Mels was a very rare occurrence, but growing more common lately. The creature was called a vermin lord, and seemed to hold some modicum of intelligence as it had been seen directing and building a large nest of questionable quality.

  Vara explained that the guard had to pay tooth and nail to get the scryers to even do the work, as they were under the control of a non-local guild and were currently aligned with some nobles who were using the guild as a lever to further their influence over the city.

  Theo could tell it frustrated her to no end, but Theo wasn’t unfamiliar with how politics worked, and could only offer her lamentations.

  The guard was currently planning a push in the coming week, and while details weren’t finalized, they had already begun to muster anyone willing and capable of fighting or running logistics.

  The amount of rats they would have to push through was truly outstanding, and it was a wonder to Theo that the surrounding forests hadn’t been stripped bare already. But the rats seemed to be only really interested in high concentrations of mana or the people who produce it.

  Which explained why she had attracted a nearby group of rats upon her arrival in the occupied territory.

  What Vara was worried about was if the vermin lord could strategize, why was it sending small swarms at the city day after day? It would have been a better strategy to hide their presence and swarm the walls all at once. Even if the information the scrying had provided was on the low end of estimates. There were enough rats to build a ramp up the twenty foot high walls.

  Either it was planning something or just plain stupid. Thankfully, the current commander, a man named Sartha agreed. Unwilling to assume incompetence where malice and planning could be at play. As such, there was a bit of a rush within the guard to get ready as quickly as possible.

  At this point Vara asked Theo to join her squad in the push, as well as help with some of the nightly patrols or to help man the walls. She would get Theo supplied with armor from the guard as well as a loaned out mana rifle she could use, which she assured Theo, were quite efficient in their mana usage.

  Theo debated it on a bit, she was willing to help. But wanted it to be clear she had no intention of joining the guard and was expecting to be appropriately compensated for her help. Vara agreed with her conditions and said she would bring a contract later with the details clearly written out.

  Theo was mildly amused at the idea of being what was effectively a mercenary. But she figured being part of the Seekers would be much the same. Also helping defend people did excite the part inside of her that always imagined being a hero.

  After that, Theo asked about what kind of things she should look to buy for herself. Never having to think about what kind of equipment would actually be useful for someone who was really out “adventuring”. While she liked the idea of buying the typical adventuring pack. Rope, rations, torches. She had already seen how this world had better equipment than the typical fantasy world, and while skills allowed for a lot of breadth to how people approached their journeys, she figured it would be better to ask instead of stumbling into it blindly.

  When she mentioned joining the Seekers, she received positive reactions and Barns, usually quiet, even spoke up about their decent reputation and how well they treated their members. Adventuring wasn’t the most popular of professions, and so the guild wanted to keep their members happy.

  They even had free lodgings and cheaper food for members and Theo agreed that once she had fully joined she might move there instead of staying at the Truncheon as her money was really starting to get low.

  Mels mentioned that anyone who worked the walls during swarms or in defense of the city would receive a portion of the loot appropriate to their contribution and Theo planned on helping that night, but first she wanted to rest and after securing a promise from the table to retrieve her when it was time, went back to her room.

  She did plan on sleeping, but she wanted to absorb some of the essence from the feather first before she returned to the shop to collect her necklace for it. She was still a decent amount of essence away from tier three, and was eager to cross that threshold quickly.

  Sitting on the soft bed, she held the feather in her hands as she sat in a meditative position. She had never been very good at it before. Her mind always wandering to and fro had made it impossible for her to reach that meditative state people talked about. But focusing on the feather and pulling its energy into her core was oddly relaxing and helped focus her mind in a way she hadn’t quite experienced before.

  Wind essence flowed into her core, ever so slowly increasing the density she felt there. With practice the process became smoother and smoother and she found the flow of energy she was receiving increased. Still slow, but at least twice as fast as the small trickle she had gotten from it when she had first found it.

  There was probably more to it as well, but she jumped when a loud rapping on her door completely broke her trance and she looked out the window confused to see that time had passed incredibly quickly and she had completely lost track of it.

  “Theo! Come on, time to go!” Mels called and Theo was already up and dressing.

  Vara and her squad were waiting for her, and with a quick signature on the contract Vara had promised to write up, they left. Stepping into the twilight the city had sunk into.