Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash vol. 1

4. The Joys of Guild Life

Haruhiro was now standing alone in one corner of an area called West Town.

"This ought to be the place..."

West Town was where the poor and destitute lived, a slum town, apparently. The buildings were all old and run-down or crumbling. It was all very shabby. Most of the people you would meet there were miserable wretches. Honestly, it wasn't the kind of place you wanted to walk around alone.

Why did I go and choose this place? I shouldn't have. But I've made my choice now, so it's too late.

Haruhiro was trying to walk around a building that was like a complexly interwoven amalgamation of various other stone and wooden buildings, but it was impossible to do so. When he went down the narrow alleys, he would be obstructed by wooden or stone walls, and there was no way to get around to the back of the building.

However, as he tried, he ran into a ridiculously low doorway at the end of one alley. It was a rusty door, and a hand with a keyhole in the palm had been carved into it.

Suspicious. So this is the entrance, huh?

"H-Helloooo." He tried calling out, but there was no response, so he tried knocking. It made his hand hurt. He decided to try at least turning the handle and pulling. It didn't budge.

"Is this the wrong place? What the hell..."

As he muttered to himself, turning to leave, a low voice echoed through the alley. "State your business," it said.

Where had the voice come from? He couldn't tell. He was the only one in the alley, and the door was still closed. But he didn't think he was just hearing things. There had definitely been a voice.

"Um, well... I was hoping you'd let me join the guild."

"Enter," the voice said, and the door clicked.

Had it just been unlocked? Haruhiro put his hand on the knob and turned. He tried pulling. It was heavy, but it opened.

Beyond the door was a cramped, dusty hallway. There were shelves on either side of the hall, packed full with rope, metal clasps, wheels, and assorted other things he couldn't make any sense of. Closing the trick door behind him, Haruhiro saw there was a bright light coming from deep inside. Its source was a wall lamp, and the hall turned there. The hall got even narrower as he went.

Turning his body diagonally, he managed to progress down the hall and finally come out into a room. It was dimly lit, and he couldn't tell how big it was. There was a desk in the room, and a woman was sitting on it cross-legged. She was playing with a knife. Her hair was long, long enough to cover half her face, but she didn't seem as eager to cover up her skin. The woman's arms, chest, and thighs were all boldly exposed.

"You want to join our thieves' guild?"

"Y-Yes," he said, gulping despite himself. I probably shouldn't stare too much. He averted his eyes, just to be safe. "That was... my intent."

"From the look of you, you're a volunteer soldier trainee. The second one today."

"Huh? Second one?"

"Well, that doesn't really matter. If you're joining us, you'll be going through the seven-day training by yourself, anyway. It's one-on-one. I'll be responsible for you. An honor, no?"

"Huh? Well, sure..." Haruhiro looked up at the woman. He figured it would be rude to stare at her chest or legs, so he looked at her face. I wonder how old she is. She's probably not that young. Thirty or so? That sounds about right.

For Haruhiro, who was sixteen, she seemed pretty old, even though that wasn't nice to say. But she was beautiful. And dangerously sexy. "...I-It's an honor. Yeah."