The Maid and Her Princess [On Hiatus]

Madoka is Tired of NPCs! (Spring 4)

IV.

It was not long before the two found themselves headed up stairs near the backend of the Guild Hall. The place itself was oval shaped with stairs leading to a balcony and more tables on both wings. Madoka presumed those tables were for more meetings between adventurers. The man, or dragon, guided them silently to an office and gestured them to go in.

"A job follow-up interview, huh?" Audrey muttered. Madoka bumped shoulders with hers to get her to stop. A chuckle came from the Guild Master, Luxgor, he took a stand at his window. The girls looked at each other and sat on nearby cushioned benches. Madoka could see the smoke rising from the grounds singed by magic.

"Now, it's been some time since I've asked this, but," he turned. His stoic features melted away and he looked like he was about to beg. "What do you two want from this town? Why come to this guild?"

Madoka stared at the dragon using Reverent Noble in disbelief. A powerful being reduced to such a— She felt an elbow jab her side.

"W-We were told to get identification rights from this place, sir," Madoka said as honestly as she could. "No need for formalities."

"Yeah! T-The guards even told us to get them from here!" Audrey added earnestly. Luxgor looked at them with an expression of relief and then he started laughing. The copper tags in his hands jingled as he did. Madoka sensed he was attempting to shake off his nervousness.

"Identification rights?" Luxgor exclaimed. He calmed down after seeing Madoka nod. "Really? We are truly lucky. So truly lucky."

"W-We're not around from here," Audrey tried to explain. "Our parents sent us away because of the war."

"I see. You don't say," Luxgor did not buy her story at all. "I am sure you have your reasons. It's just that those guards... Nevermind."

"How do we get our identification rights?" Madoka asked with a twinge of irritation. The dragon nearly jumped out of his skin when her tone changed but he finally skipped his dialogue.

"These will serve you just fine," Luxgor held up the copper tags. To Madoka, they seemed no different than the coins except their shape. She was not sure about owning her own identification tag but she snatched them from him anyways and gave one to Audrey. "However, based off your unique appearance the Guild could a-accommodate anything should you ask for it. Within reason, of course!"

"Appearance?" Madoka raised an eyebrow.

"Y-Yes," the dragon stammered. "You two are not really children, are you? Perhaps you are god-touched? You stand like true warriors who have gone through insurmountable mountains and bloody battlefields. F-Forgive my ignorance!"

Madoka felt odd at his statement. Perhaps he knew what they have gone through. God-touched? Perhaps the man could sense the rune on her shoulder or detect Audrey's true power. Madoka cleared her throat when no one said anything.

"We've just got here, sir," Madoka said. "We are the ignorant ones here."

"So, uh, how does the Guild work?" Audrey asked.

"Right, right," Luxgor's eyes narrowed. "There's a few things that we should go through. In this organization, an average adventurer start as copper trainee. The tags you two hold belonged to fallen adventurers. You wear them as a promise to carry on their legacy."

Madoka fiddled with the copper tag in her fingers. There were notches and dings in the edges but the piece seemed like it had history. The Guild Master continued.

"As for the average adventurer, most will do commissions set up by the people. These commissions are divided by their danger rank, copper being the lowest and having no slaying or subjugations. Upon completion, a notch is made in the tag. After they get their feet wet with five copper rated commissions, they can shadow Iron rank adventurers on Iron rated commissions to see if this life is for them."