The S-Rank Adventurer Just Wants to Work a 9-5!

My First Encounter With a Knight...And Hopefully My Last

(Three Days Have Passed Since The Goblin Incident)

I wasn't greeted with the same blue sky and carefully placed clouds as my first day. Unfortunately, today was more overcast with the clouds blocking most of the sun's brightness and warmth. There was no evidence that rain was coming, but it still made the day look quite bleak. Still, even in the dreariness of this atmosphere, it had its own type of beauty to it as I got to see the wind test the strength and resilience of the trees, causing them to bend, but not break against the force. All in all, not a bad day for my second shift of being gate guard.

Well, actually, my second shift would have been two days ago, but my "heroics" (if you can call them that) earned me a few days off from the captain in charge of the city guard. To quote him verbatim, "Such an exemplary show of heroism and skill warrants you to earn a few days off. And that's not just me saying that. His Majesty sent this recommendation down himself. So I'd advise that you follow orders." As much as I can appreciate a day off from daily duties to take time for myself and spend it doing whatever I please, I'd have liked to actually earn it from multiple days of work and not get good things handed to me just because I had dispatched a few goblins. Okay...it may have been more than a few, but I still hadn't even broken a sweat! That hardly warranted any type of praise or rewards. As much as my point of view made sense, in the end, it didn't matter as I was forced to take the time off which almost killed me of boredom. I lacked a lot when it came to the field of hobbies as most of my time during my younger years was spent either training or traveling so to be told to focus on a hobby for a while was...surprisingly pain-staking.

Still, none of this stopped me from venturing to the gate today in order to take over for my second solo shift. If I remember the schedule correctly, there shouldn't be anything occurring in terms of major transports, nor were any groups scheduled to exit or return today. So this definitely should be a shift where I can focus more on the finer details of my position and less on fighting back threats. The procedure for cart/merchandise inspections was something that I still found to be tricky, so I was hoping that I could gain a little bit of practice throughout the day. Though the gods seemed to have a funny idea of how my days would be spent when I was supposed to be working regularly.

As I was arriving for duty changeover, the person I was relieving gave me this look as if he were pitying me. "What's the matter? Eventful day?", I asked with some interest as I can't even recall the last time someone looked at me with such an expression. The off-going guardsman (Darius was his name if I remembered correctly) simply shook his head and sighed as he was preparing to give me the run-down of expected interactions for the day ahead. "Not really. All you've got are a few merchant carts coming and going with nothing else of importance coming through. The only thing is I'm not sure how much you'll be able to focus on those tasks today." His expression originally just garnered my curiosity, but his words had gained my full attention as I raised an eyebrow and responded. "Dare I ask why you have a feeling that I won't be able to focus on my tasks today? I understand that I am new, but can assure you that I am not one to-" Darius cut me off by explaining himself. "Do not misunderstand. I am sure that you can accomplish things in a timely manner...if you don't have any distractions in your way." Distractions? What did he mean by distractions? "You'll see for yourself. Just let others know if you need assistance today." And with that cryptic message, he simply left me to take my post and likely went home. "What an odd way to explain things." If only I knew what he had meant.

Upon making my way to my post, I could immediately see a few red flags, the first of which being that there was a large crowd surprisingly close to my post. At first, I thought that maybe some bandits had been apprehended and were being transferred or perhaps a monster or two had recently been killed outside the gates and people were spectating. From what I've been told, it's not entirely uncommon for that to occur as most people never venture from Gwyndale's gates as they provide safety and a semblance of comfort. However, I felt that this was not the case as, when I took my post, all eyes turned to me and a wave of hushed voices flowed throughout the crowd. I couldn't make out exactly what everyone was saying (I definitely could, I just didn't really care to waste the energy), but I could take a guess as it likely had to do with rumors regarding the goblin attack. I just hoped that Darius had not said anything regarding my actual involvement so I could feign ignorance. Though that would prove to be difficult as a man emerged from the crowd wearing what I could only describe as the gaudiest armor I have ever seen. And, for me, that is quite the bar to clear.