Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

A middle aged woman was at the counter. I expected a beautiful woman to run the counter like the games I used to play. But I guess reality was different. "Welcome. How can I help you?"

"Can you fill me in on how this works? How I can sell materials and stuff…"

"You would have to register at the guild first. Then we'll assign ranks based on your aptitude and experience. After that-"

Things were getting tedious. To sell materials we needed to register first. That was okay and all but we'd get the lowest rank, rookie. Rookies had mandatory jobs so we'd be pretty much slaves if we registered. I didn't like the sound of it. The way they presented it, had a lot of superficial worshipping. They were treating a job at the guild like some sort of super luxury thing: it definitely wasn't winning me over. This woman was hell bent on scamming me. But could I actually call it a scam though?

And she carefully avoided all the dangers a female adventurer might experience. This woman was good. Too good. No wonder she had a job like this.

"Oh Daarc! I thought you'd come tomorrow morning!"

It was a familiar voice. I had no intention of hearing it. I turned to leave. There was no more reason to stay here.

"Don't go yet!" He grabbed my arm from behind. Damn, this guy was fast. 

I sighed and resigned. "What do you want?"

The cross-dresser, aka, Jori grinned. "Nothing. I only want to help you. You are here to register at the guild right? How about I offer you some help?"

Just like that? Why would you help me without profits? 

"What are you going on about? I don't see you doing anything unless there's profit for you." And I held nothing back.

If he couldn't make a profit, then was it even a business?

"How rude! I am a very respectable lady I'll have you know." He actually looked a bit offended.

I wonder how you see yourself as a lady. Is your head alright?

Was HE alright?

He continued. "Besides if you register, both the guild and you'll profit exponentially. From what I've seen you're a top class adventurer. But even you should know what could happen if someone should ambush you and your party on the road. For that purpose the guild exists. And if you ran into trouble with local thugs or stuff like that the guild'll protect you. Even if-"

I had no intention to give in. If he thought he cornered me then he had another thing coming. "Sorry but no thanks. I just came here to see what the fuss was all about. Honestly I think that had more to do with what I saw in games more than what I've seen in this world. But from what I can tell I don't need your protection."

It was more like nothing in this world could protect at all at this point, but oh well.

"Game?" Lianne mumbled.

The guild was relatively quiet when Jori had walked in. But now it exploded with laughter and cheers. 

Where the hell was my, boos and boycotts!?

"Looks like you got rejected big boss Jori."

"He got you, good big boss."

Big boss?

I was confused and looked at Lianne. "He's probably one of the upper echelons I told you about," She whispered.

Should have seen this coming I guess. After all, last time he was with the guild master.

Jori sighed. "I'll make an exception. You can trade with the guild and receive fair price. But you won't have to register and so won't get any protection. To a broader sense, you won't be able to go on quests either... as long as you don't want to that is."

"I wasn't planning to either." 

What's with the sudden change in attitude?

I had a lot of goblin ears and cactus needles and various other things in my ring. The ears and needles were in the bag I was carrying now. I didn't want to create a scene so I didn't use the ring. But I was confident the stuff I had could fetch a good deal. 

But this sudden change of attitude made me wary. What was he up to?

I still showed off the stuff I wanted to sell, to him. I didn't want to sell the gemstone the geezer gave me. And I had no plans on selling the crystal of that monster either. 

"Just those? You won't sell-" Jori was utterly disappointed. The guy was very persistent.

But I was even sterner. "I believe I already gave you my answer."

"I know. But it was really a pity you know. I really wanted that stick." He chuckled and led us to the place where we could have the stuff analyzed.

People whispered all sorts of things. I mostly ignored them. 

***

"Anyway, how much is all this?"

The attendant calculated everything with an abacus and ticked his glasses. "These are really good quality stuff. 120 silvers in total!" The attendant was proud of the price he just declared.

He was a good-looking guy, flashing his teeth at me from the beginning and giving me the looks, but he was also a complete noob when it came to acting.

But come to think of it, I'd been stared at almost all the time, but I'd never been hit at. Were people afraid to hit on me for some reason? I certainly wasn't complaining though. 

"You think that's fair?" I turned to Lianne and before she could say anything Jori changed a few presets of the abacus. 

"Let's say you'd be getting 160 silvers and 50 bronze for fun, what do you say?"

"Big boss?" The attendant couldn't believe his ears. I didn't expect such a sudden change of mind either.

That was more than a thirty percent increase too. 

Lianne smirked. "Pretty generous. Think you can win her heart like this?"

His! You mean 'his' heart!

At this point, I really couldn't complain about being treated as a girl though. 

I didn't know why but I felt frustrated beyond reason.

"My dear even small drops of water can cut through adamantim if you let it drip long enough." Jori smiled triumphantly. 

He had a point. But what the hell was an adamantim? "What-"

"It's a rare ore." Lianne shushed me before I could even ask.

"Oh." I kept my mouth shut.

Now I was more frustrated.

"Besides, shouldn't I be in good terms with an adventurer who defeated two monarchs and went toe to toe with the gods," Jori said loud and clear: he made sure everybody in the whole guild building heard the last part. 

Wait, what?

"News travels fast, huh?" Lianne remarked like nothing was out of place.

"What the hell are you people even talking about?" I glared at them in confusion. 

The people around us stared at me with awe like I was some kind of deity. Some even said stuff like, 

"Look she's so brilliant!" 

"A goddess has descended!" 

"I'm going blind! I'm going blind!"

"I could die a happy man now. Live well, my sons."

Thinking of them as potatoes and ignoring them outright wasn't working. And why the hell were they acting like they'd just achieved enlightenment?

Things were looking weird- weirder. Lianne and Jori bargained for a long while. Both of them ignored me and went back and forth with what they thought. In the end, the deal was made for 165 silvers and now I was kind of rich. 

Jori came close. "And if you want that magic trick, maybe going on a few of the grand quests might-" Apparently he wanted me to go on a specific quest in the capital if I wanted that magic trick. I actually kind of wanted to know how he could survive while imbuing his head. But oh well. "Do come again." They all waved. 

But I was mentally scarred. A little praise was always fun to have but they'd milked the shit out of my stories. Besides, none of them were my achievements alone. And I never went toe to toe with a God. That was oblivious!

***

We walked out of the building. "I can see your confusion but you can't stop people from gossiping. This was inevitable." Lianne didn't give me a chance to ask anything. 

I suppose this was only a matter of time. But I shouldn't let his bother me. After all rumors are just rumors.

At least that's how I consoled myself. 

But I was still kind of thinking all sorts of stuff.

I steeled my resolve. I couldn't let gossips get to me. But it really was wearing me out. 

I'd be a guy right after I cross the borders. And I'd also be in a different country. So all this reputation wouldn't really last. I knew that.

But it was still exhausting.

"How come they only knew of those things and not the thing about the emperor? I mean you guys framed me pretty well, right?"

If my memory served me well, then they'd framed me for everything. Meaning, I was a murderer of the princes and I also almost killed the emperor. 

"They already know. But they don't care. No one really cares about the elven royalty you know. So when they heard a human gravely injured the emperor and killed a monarch, they rejoiced."

"But how come they weren't surprised to know that I wasn't dead? Wasn't I supposed to be executed long ago?"