Leveling Up With Monster Girls

Chapter 24: Registration

The interior of the Workers guild was smaller than the adventurer’s guild building and had less people. Most of it was made with wood and while the common room was large, it did not have an upper floor.

A desk sat at the far end. A wooden board with names written with chalk. The rest of the hall held a few tables and chairs occupied by various people.

The air was mostly filled with the noise of chattering from the other people in the hall. None of them were bothered by the goblin protesting as he was being raised by the dwarf and the Kitsu watching the whole thing.

The door opened and Julius walked in. A few eyes turned to look before most of them returned back to what they were doing. With the exception of the kitsu, the dwarf and the struggling goblin.

"Fancy meeting you here stranger" Joan said as he entered.

Julius closed the door. "Likewise...Joan."

Neznala offered her greetings before returning her attention to the goblin who was begging to be put down. Julius noticed Daren and the other elf weren’t around as he walked to the receptionist desk.

There was an elven man at the desk wearing silver framed glasses that rested on the tip of his nose while reading a book with the title, ’The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Leaf’. The elf seemed to be absorbed in it.

So much they weren’t bothered about the fuss the goblin and Neznala were making, or weren’t getting paid enough to care.

Julius stood at the desk which prompted the elf to look from his book. His eyes narrowed at Julius, looking at him before he made his assessment.

"Hmmp. A Veshari...half human? What do you want?" The elf sneered.

Julius did not respond to the sentiment. He noted there was a bias toward the veshari. He didn’t know if it was personal or an elven thing. He would find out later.

"To register for the worker’s guild," he replied.

"Hmmm..." There was a pause as he assessed him again. "Very well, I will prepare the form. Give me a moment." The elf said.

The elf tapped the table thrice and spoke the words. "Come forth, Zyddkyx." A glowing circle with inscriptions appeared.

Julius noted it was similar to the one that brought him here but this one glowed a fiery dark red and from it a small wisp of black smoke appeared that dispersed and within it emerged. An imp.

There was no doubt in Julius’ mind that was magic. Real magic, another thing his brother would go crazy about.

The creature was similar to the ones Julius had seen at the market district. The difference was this one had tiny glasses on its face, wore clothes and stood in a composed pose, arms folded, legs apart.

[Zyddkyx | Imp]

"You summoned me, tree hugger." The Imp spoke without looking at the receptionist.

"Yes, you lazy fiend. I want you to draft the form for this man so he can register for the guild." The elf answered.

"Why?"

The elf exhaled, adjusting his glasses before replying. "Because you are on a contract and are supposed to work?"

There was a moment of silence as the Imp turned his head to look at the elf, still in its pose before replying.

"Be honest. Ain’t I clean though?"

The elf’s ears twitched, Julius could have sworn he saw a vein pop. The elf adjusted his glasses and picked up the book he was reading, raising it above the Imp.

"Clean? Are you mad? You vile, wretched creature. Get to work!" The elf swatted the Imp who dissipated to smoke before appearing again.

"Tch you’re no fun," the Imp replied before scampering away to get the form.

The elf turned to Julius and apologized for his outburst. Joan had slithered close enough to hear the conversation.

"So...a veshari. That makes sense," Joan spoke. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Julius did not look at her. "How so?"

"Most human looking people in this age. One of the ways to identify them are their marks" Joan angled herself so she was in his line of sight.

"Marks?" Julius asked still not looking at her.

Joan narrowed her eyes as if the answer was obvious. "Yes, mark. A disability, deformity, . All veshari have one." Joan answered before that sly smile appeared again. "I am curious what yours is." Her nose twitched as she took in his scent again.

The mark was another thing Julius filed away. Revealing he didn’t have one would blow his cover. He would have to invent one later.

Joan was watching him eagerly.

"It’s not something I discuss and could you stop doing that."

"Doing what?" Joan asked, feigning ignorance before adding. "Oh? Is it because of your stray kitten girl?" She put her hand above her eyes to look around. "I don’t see her here."

She paused before adding. "Where is she by the way?"

"I don’t know." Julius opted to change the conversation. "Where is Daren and the other guy..."

"...Kieran." Joan finished. "They went to the temple of Aventa. Something about praying for guidance."

"And you and Neznala are.." Julius turned to look at the dwarf who had dropped the goblin and was talking to him in a tone Julius knew was threatening.

"Oh that guy tried to scam us out of a job. He posted a job and when Neznala and I were done with it, he refused to pay on some technicality. It is truly hard to bargain with goblins." Joan pointed to the goblin before shaking her head.

The Imp returned with the form and attempted to give it to Julius but not before the elf took it to double check. He mentioned to Julius that Imps could be mischievous.

The Imp pretended to be hurt by the statement before disappearing with the same magic circle that had summoned it.

Julius filled the form and returned it to the elf who gave him some breakdown on how the guild works.

Jobs were posted on the notice board by clients and workers could do them, some jobs were timed.

Each job had a marker: Yellow; job was in progress, Green; job completed but worker hadn’t received payment, Grey; vacant job.

The markers were displayed with illusion magic.

It was generally advised that the moment you chose and finished a job, you logged it both at the start and on completion.

Payments were issued when the client confirmed the job was done. Clients may request for specific workers if their services are exceptional. The notice board has a list of exceptional workers.

The guild was open 24/7 to also accommodate workers who were on nocturnal time.

Julius nodded at the explanation.

"Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to read." the elf said as he picked up the book he was reading before.

Neznala approached Joan, a smile on her face with a pouch in her hand.

"The weasel paid after all," Joan said to which Neznala nodded.

"When in doubt, a bit of stern warning is good. Some clients are a hassle," she turned to Julius as she spoke.

"I’ll keep that in mind. Anything else?"

"Hmm...If you must do jobs at night, do the ones in the outer ring. They are safer." Joan replied. "In any case, we have to meet with Daren, so I guess we’ll see some other time, Julius."

Joan and Neznala left and Julius went to the notice board. There were lots of jobs. Most of them involved mundane activities like cleaning, fixing, teaching among other things.

Some were requests for items. He scrolled through and saw a request for fire bear pelts, two of them, in good condition and properly skinned. The pay was seven silver coins.

A small smile flashed across Julius’s face as he ticked that one. A screen flashed before disappearing; two days. That was the deadline. All he needed was to deliver the ones he had.

Easy money. He thought.

Julius also looked through the names of recommended workers.

He recognized Daren’s and his crew.

There were other names too, some caught his eye.

.

.

Daren Athaerius

Ruben Blackthorne

Lumi Silverblood

Kieran Athaerius

Moko Battleborn

Neznala Stonefree

Yumiko

.

.

.

The last name caught Julius’s eye, he wondered if it was the same person he knew. If it was, he was curious what kind of jobs the Nekari did. He’d ask later

For now, he had a job to do.