15- Worthy

Mimiru was at the Adventurer’s guild, brushing and helping Feugan clean off. Much like Brushing a horse to have it prim and proper. She just had nothing better to do. It was way early for her, the sun was still sluggishly taking up on the horizon, the kingdom’s walls would provide a nice shade to sleep for a tad longer.

Just not for her.

She was wide awake already. Her developed adventurer’s habits to blame partially.

Armor? Checked. Shield? Sturdy and properly fastened. Dagger? Cleaned and sharpened. Breakfast? Where are thou?! Oh, yeah. Too early.

The other part to blame? Some bunch of weirdos that arrived to the guild. She hadn’t seen them yet but she had a bone to pick with them. Woken up a few times by some wackos yelling in the middle of the night. Something about wanting to catch a rat and finding food on some alleyway. And then!! Some crazy bucko! Yelling at the top of his lungs “ITS MORNING BUGOK!, THE SUN IS COMING BUGOK!” way before sunrise.

What gives?!!

She didn’t know who they were. But she would find them, and punish them.

Giving up on adequate sleep, she just decided to start her routine. Having accepted that sleep was no longer a viable option. She came down to the hall to wait for breakfast, way too early obviously. She encountered Feugan, and somehow she found herself helping him to prim off. Brushing him off almost like a horse, helping to get mud and dirt of his scales and wings, the clods stuck in between.

Later, once done with thr primming and well entered onto their breakfast (Which Mimiry paid for both of them, insisiting on not force Feugan's welcome too much), she saw the guildmaster. He waved and joined them at the table. They had a small amiable chat about the weather or something. Maybe. She wasn’t quite sure. Not fully awake yet.

After finishing the breakfast and finally feeling like she had some semblance of being awake. The guildmaster was signaling to both of them to follow him.

They were going to be holding the first part of Feugan’s registration as an adventurer. They talked about the subject the night prior if memory served right. She stood up and followed suit, Feugan behind her. The guildmaster lead them to a room on the back of the hall. They were holding the registration on closed doors, very private in an office Mimiru only knew from gossip with others. Adventurers would go in there to talk about costs and fees, or interviews between groups and interested people that required more privacy than sheer alcohol stupor from your peers around.

With a rather odd mood set in the room, the guildmaster invited them to sit, a chair for Mimiru and the same big comfy bag for Feugan.

Not too long after they settled themselves inside, one of the guild assistants entered the room. One of the pretty ladies that worked from behind the counter on the guild. Mimiru knew that regardless of the pretty looks and bright smile, the assistant was in fact a capable former-adventurer, deemed too much of an asset to the guild due to her managerial and people skills to be left on the wild. An offer for a stable position was made at some point in her career and the would be assistant lady was now one of the core elements of the kingdom’s Adventurer’s guild.

The guild assistant entered the room bringing with her a magic devise Mimiru recognized.

She had seen it before, it’s a magical devise that aside from the people can be considered the heart of the guild. They are very precious indeed, mostly because their capabilities to help with the guild business, they provide a magical means to contract signing, identity check and communication in between the guild branches across cities.

While one could consider it invaluable and certainly, the number of adventurer’s guilds was limited to the amount of such a magical devises available, their scarcity came mostly from how hard they were to create, it wasn’t expensive in itself especially since they became a necessity for big cities and administrative-oriented business.

The device was simple enough in shape. One big chunk of crystalized mana held on by a metal base, this one was an unadorned model. A diamond shaped pale blue crystal, almost like a chunk of blue ore the size of a melon. Mimiru had heard gossip about really fancy ones at other places like the merchant’s guild and indubitably, the king’s castle. The crystal here was built in and presented as a tool, sturdy and unadorned. Get the job done, let the nobles worry about looks.

The female Assistant came in and politely nodded to them, she gave Mimiru a warm smile along with a good morning greet which she replied back to. They had known each other from years as working together as deskfront and adventurer. Then turning back to her work duties, she placed the crystal artifact on the table at the center of the room, then sat right next to it, standing in between the Guildmaster and, Feugan and mimiru. She immediately placed her hands on the magical crystal and began concentrating on it.

“Feugan do you know what this is?” Asked the Stern looking Guildmaster.

“{No. I haven’t seen this before. A magical tool?}”. “H-he hasn’t! But he thinks its magical”. Translated Mimiru soon recalling she was supposed to be playing the part of translator.

“Mm. Simply put this crystal here lets us check on adventurers and communicate with other guilds. Every adventurer has to register to the guild using it. It will analyze you and make certain you are not a threat, so all other branches can recognize you as well”

“{Analyzed? Is this necessary?}”. “Feugan?... He wants to know if it’s necessary, he is concerned about being analyzed”.

“Yes. It’s a requirement for any adventurer. It will calm everyone when seeing that you went through the normal procedures and showed no ill intent.” Replied the Guildmaster, understanding how this seemingly rude request is also a necessity and just explaining it as it is.

“As for your personal details, they will remain inaccessible for most people, only high ranked employed of the Guild will have full access to your information” Replied the female guild assistant. “Even now, I can only use it due to the Master’s permission.”

“Ok, that’s all about it, Are you ready Feugan, just put your… Paw? Your muzzle? or a wingtip maybe?... eh, just touch the darn thing somehow until we finish”.

Nodding in acknowledgement, Feugan proceeded at touching the crystal with his right paw. The device gave a faint blue glow as both of them touched it, the female guild assistant seemed to focus on the crystal first and then on something right in front of her that no one else was able to see.

“Ok. Feugan’Naa… ‘The  Noble’?!! He has a title? That is very uncommon… M-Master! A-and H-Hero!! Hero level 1!!” Said the bewildered assistant as her eyes grew big in a sudden bolt of surprise dropping all her professional manners after being shaken by the information she couldn’t pretend it wasn’t true.

“mm… regardless of the level… hero…” Said the guildmaster with a pensive look.

“A-Another one!! he has 2 classes!! ‘Lightning Sovereign’?!!” Said the shocked assistant.

“The heck is that?! Hah!! You are trouble, that’s what you are! Darnit!!” The guildmaster almost barked it with an odd mixture of annoyance and amusement. “So we got ourselves a hero trainee to handle now?, hah!”

Feugan had stood straighter right after the befuddlement of the assistant. Mimiru couldn’t help to notice, she was able to easily read his mood, most likely due to her knack for monster empathy. If that was even needed. She was pretty sure anyone able to see Feugan would notice he was reveling in all of this. He was practically beaming as the old seasoned Warrior and the knowledgeable-looking assistant called him “Hero” having their expectations shattered. She could’nt blame alone him on this. It was a look she had seen before, on youngsters coming to register. Being a hero was a rarity, true. But still, most adventurers came with “gifts”, much like her own knack for monster empathy. She had seen a few showing incredible gifts, classes such as “Sword adept”, “Charismatic leader”, “Elementalist”. Even the meathead of Bannon had “Iron wall” to show off for.

“Oi! Girlie! Now it’s your turn. Go and touch the crystal too” said the Guildmaster, looking at Mimiru and breaking the silence that had set in the room.

“Old ma- er! Master?! What’s this? I’m already a registered adventurer!” Replied Mimiru, a picth higher than she would have liked, just at the same time the assistant looked at him surprised as well.

“Just go and humor this old fool. Worst come, we will see if you have been diligently training to be a proper Monster Tamer”

At this, Mimiru gulped. All her progress and work from the last few years could be put into numbers this way. It was a frightening idea, actually. She had heard stories of would-be Monster Tamers that had the same gift as hers, but couldn’t further nurture it properly, and after years they would remain as “Monster Tamer level 1”. She moved her hand slowly, trembling slightly, scared by the idea of knowing she might have been wrong all this time. All her efforts and sacrifices meaningless. And even more concerning, she would have wasted the money of her family and friends. Her village’s hopes crushed.

Gulping almost audibly, she reached for the crystal, putting her palm on the device, closing her eyes tightly and hoping for the best. She made a small prayer for help to the heavens. The assistant nodded in response and focused on the crystal too. Also hoping the best for the Guildmaster’s young protégée.

“Ok… Uh?! A title too?! Mimiru, ‘Dragon Deliverer’. B-Beastmaster level 1?! Master!!” The assistant turned to the master with a shocked expression on her face.

That was it… Mimiru’s worst fears had come true. “level 1? This is it. I’m sorry everyone. I’ll repay you somehow. I’ll find a way to gather money and repay your kindness. I’m so sorry-”

…

…

…

“WAIT!!! The fudge is a ‘Beastmaster’?!! I was training to be a Monster Tamer wasn’t I?” went across Mimiru’s mind along with a high speed train of other multiple ideas and questions, suddenly feeling too disoriented and overwhelmed by everything that was taking place.

“… Just calm down and read it as it is!” The Guildmaster replied to the troubled-looking assistant as he remained on his seat with his hands tightening onto fists.

“o-ok… Gatherer?! level 1!-”

“mm… I see, so she has acquired two-” Started the Guildmaster.

“and Cha-Champion!! l-level 1!” Finished the assistant, completely dazzled. Now with cold sweat on her face.

The old man froze in place. In fact everyone was frozen in place athe revelation. The room was now dead quiet. Mimiru, still a little too out of it, turned to look at the Guildmaster just to realize he had gone pale, his eyes wide open, unfocused.

“s-she has 3 classes… cha-champion…” the assistant mumbled all too softly, her eyes wide, unfocused and gone much like the Guildmaster’s.

 ***

In the history of the kingdom’s Adventurer’s guild they had only ever witnessed people with more than 2 classes about three times if the old records are to be trust. Both cases were heroes. Renowned Heroes at that. Within a rich history of 300 years.

Multiple classes were a weird thing like that. A regular person could become and adventurer and through hard work achieve a single class. At that point it was more akin to a merit badge with actual benefits given by the heavens.

It is believed it is similar to a recognition by the gods that you had achieved something. And had been awarded accordingly. To be born with a gift or even a class was uncommon but not unheard of.

Some drunk monk -somewhere- postulated that it was a deviant in the population, born with something inherent to them, long dormant within their family. Kind of like saying that long long ago a relative of yours had great affinity for fire magic, and now one of his great-great grandkids had acquired it back.

And then the madman tried to explain such a thing by using peas as an example. The man was utterly ridiculed of course. But, no one was able to deny the term “Deviant”, as the idea echoed on everyone’s mind. Someone out of the norm. Everybody had seen at least someone like that, born with certain affinity or predisposition to something. Stronger, faster, smarter and so on.

But.

3 classes.

That was straight up the realm of heroes of legend.

The seasoned Guildmaster was by no means talented. He had been born with an affinity for combat and worked hard to achieve his two applauded classes. He wasn’t angry or envious about it when he saw a green-newcomer with 1 or 2 classes (as long as they worked adequately and proved themselves useful to the guild). He had seen a good share of them die by making foolish mistakes. Gifted, not perfect.

Nor did he pity any starry-eyed kid that wanted to become a hero. He was proof that it was possible to attain great results with to hard work and determination. And he would cheer on them, train and polish them for it. All of them. Gifted or not.

But.

3 Classes.

Years ago he welcomed Mimiru to the guild. He heard her story and accepted her in. The kid had an affinity for monster empathy. That was it. No classes. No tittles. Only a wish to do the best for her family and friends by her own means. It… Maybe it was that… Acquiring one single class overnight wasn’t quite possible. Acquiring 3? Might as well blame the gods.

OH!

Champion, wasn’t it? That’s right… she was a champion now. A hero could be born or chosen. Some religious people claimed that all heroes were handpicked by the gods, or gods reincarnated, or even former heroes reborn from another world. The only thing they could agree was that a Hero had some sort of mingling going on with divinity. But a Champion was different. A champion has to raise from among the people. It was subtle to a degree. You could be born a Hero, chosen by the gods as an important piece in their plans. But no one could ever be born a Champion. They kept their eyes on the people of the realm, on those struggling and fighting, and then they handpicked those they wanted to take part in their plans. In short. The heavens had taken a look at his little girl and had deemed her worthy.

…

Gods be damned.

This little girls he took under his wing would now face innumerable challenges without a doubt.

His little girl would no longer had a normal, peaceful life.

Tsk.