Edited by: KenChi死

I woke up in a room and saw for the very first time in my life. The first thing I wanted to do was to get up, but a pain in the chest made me fall back.

“Look who is finally awake!” I heard the secretary’s voice “I told you, that asking the guild master for training session is not the most brilliant idea. But, maybe it will help you? You look to be one of those who learn from mistakes. I have treated your wounds. I did not call for a medic as you said you are a healer yourself, so there was no a reason to make you pay for something you could do by yourself… Just to let you know, it is morning. You have slept for the entire night. A few adventurers have departed, so the guild is a bit empty and quiet. If you would need something – scream. Now, pardon me, I have a job to do.”

Aaaand she left. Let’s see how bad the condition of my body is… broken ribs, yeah I already knew about it, dislocated shoulder… when did he do that to me? Swollen wrist… after blocking that powerful blow at the beginning? If I want to do anything today, I had better start healing myself. Before casting healing magic, I summoned Sebastian. Just to talk a little.

“I can see, that you have finally met someone out of your reach?” The raven transformed into his semi humanoid shape “It is a good thing to know. Sometimes the best way to progress is finding an obstacle you can’t bypass. You want to move forward? Smash it.” “Easy for you to say” I smiled weakly “He is even more cruel than you.” “Cruel!” he snorted, “I am treating you to lightly. If he was be your enemy, you would already be dead.” “Same if I would fight with a dragon, behemoth, goliath, kraken…” “You should not seek excuses for your weakness, instead focus on finding motivation to keep working… sparring with someone superior is a good thing, but to truly get stronger you need to lay your hands on higher tier quests… gathering weeds will not help you much.” “Fear not, I already have a way to boost a little speed of ranking up for at least two stages. It will also be a nice source of money.” “What do you have on mind?” “You will see, I don’t want to spoil your fun. But… I am not going to do anything before I heal myself.” “Talk less. Focus on getting better.” “Give me an hour or two.” I said. At the same time I heard a cracking sound, as my shoulder wen’t back on its place.

In the end healing took a bit longer than just two hours. I got rid of my swollen wrist almost immediately, shoulder was fixed after a couple of minutes, but the process of healing my ribs took much longer.

When I was done, I got up from the bed, washed my face in the bowl standing nearby, and stepped out from the infirmary. On my way out of guild I encountered the Guild Master, casually walking through the corridors.

“Already on your feet? Tsh, what kind of monster are you? But as you are as good as new I presume that you are ready for another lesson?” He grinned happily. He was the kind of man that was really kind and helpful, but some pride or even arrogance from his young days stayed with him, and from time to time he needs to show his dominance. There is nothing wrong with showing of your superiority. It is completely normal in nature. “Sure thing, but maybe not now. I have a couple of places to visit.” “Ho, ho. Chickening out?” “I have told later, not never. Prepare for the evening, old man, this time I will not be holding back.” “BWAHAHA! Ah, good one, wait, you are going out without taking a quest? Being afraid of hurting those soft hands of yours to much?” He was saying every word in a happy, joking tone. “Back where I came from, there is a saying, work smarter, nor harder.” “You came from the forest…” “Yup, and I would be the only one saying it.”

The Guild master just shook his head.

“Just don’t get lazy. We hate lazy people here.” “I will remember that, now, pardon me.”

I walked passed the Guild Master, and out of the Guild building, then I turned in the direction of the slums and began my march forward.

As I was passing each street, the building were getting worse and worse, alleys became more narrowed and dirty, people were wearing clothes of worse quality, and children were roaming, playing on the streets.

From time to time, some shady characters were throwing angry gazes at me, a few of them even touched their belts, where there daggers were hold, yet at the very last moment somebody else was drag his more violent colleague off by whispering something like “unworthy”; “Mage”; “to risky” and so on.

Soon I reached my destination – the inn Black Snake. As I was walking in, the bouncer only barked “Cause no trouble, or you will end up with knife in your stomach”. He literally barked, he was a beast-kin.

I get to the counter and sit on one of many chairs.

“What ya want?” A fat man in dirty apron – probably the owner, asked in a not exactly friendly way. “I want to say hello to the Boss.” The men’s eyes narrowed. “Who send you?” “A friend of a friend” I said the code-words.

The inn owner only nodded, and whistled quickly. From the street a little girl came in.

“Clarice, bring him to the boss.” He looked back at me “Looks like you are here for the first time. She will leads you to the hideout. We have a few rules here and everything is ruled by trust. Try something funny – you are dead. Speak about it to anyone – you and the one you speak to will be dead. Now, go.”

What else could I do? I stepped outside with my new guide and begin marching once again.

“Why he simply couldn’t tell me where this hideout is?” I could tell why by myself. I just felt awkward walking in silence. “We will see if you have a tail, the location of the hideout is a bit complicated, and it is protected by Syndicate brawlers, if they would see a stranger coming closer without a guide, they would kill him.”

So just as I though.

“You are not afraid of the city guards?” “The City guard stays in the merchant and noble districts. Back in the past there were a few patrols here, but as half of them did not get back, the Guards and Syndicate had an agreement. Basically – what happens in slums stays in slums, from time to time there is a patrol sent here, they won’t be attacked, and the Syndicate would gave them a few criminal that violated rules… if they won’t be killed first of course.” “Pretty organized. Just to have a full picture, how many organizations are working with the Syndicate? Except city guards of course?” “It will be easier to count which organization do not work Syndicate.”

She is pretty clever, as she tries to not say anything unnecessary. Answering questions with a question that gives no essential information. Ha, those guys are scary.

We moved past a group of already mentioned brawlers. Not exactly friendly group, if I would have to say. We walked to a small house, the girl knocked three times, made a pause, then knocked two more time, paused one more time to knock three times again.

“The darkness blooms…” someone whispered behind the door “As innocence dies” The girl finished.

Then there was the sound of a key being turned and locks being moved. Not too many protections? It was not the end of the surprises. In the small hut there was a damaged carpet, the men inside moved it aside. Behind it, there was a hidden manhole. So, now to the sewer? And it is such a nice day.

We got inside. It was pretty dark inside.

“W..wait a little, I will light it up.” Soon, the darkness was enlightened by small flames she hold behind her hands. “You are a mage…” I noticed. After hearing this the girl smiled. “I am learning all by myself. I have a talent, so from time to time the Syndicate brings me stolen books about magic. As I grown up I want to be a rogue mage working for the Syndicate! Maybe even as terminator!” “Why won’t you study at the Academy?” “Don’t even joke around. It costs a fortune! There is no way that in my entire life I will save enough coin for it.”

With aclumsy movement she ignited a torch on the wall, after 4 meters another one, and after four more yet another.

“Are those torches is same distance from each other?” “Yes, why did you ask?” “How many?” “12 more… but why?” “I will help you a little…” I snapped my fingers and every torch in the corridor ignited. “I have mostly studied by myself to. You are scared of your fire too much. You can’t be afraid of your fire or one day you will be devoured by it. Control it by being confident, not by reducing your power by more than necessary… But if you would cause a conflagration… do not mention my name, ok?”

The corridor we were now in looked… very unsewer like. At the very end there was small room. Before it, a man was sitting behind a desk. He looked like a butler.

“Ah, mister Zariel, I presume? We were expecting you.” “Were you?” “Of course!” he said with polite smile “You are a friend of a friend! Boss is waiting for you, please, follow me, I will announce your arrival.”

We walked a couple steps more, the door was opened, and butler said loudly.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Zariel is finally here.” He stepped aside making room for me to walk in.

Inside of the room there was a round table, and a few males and females were sitting near it.

“Leave us.” The man, apparently a Boss, said in a tone that left no room for any negotiations.

Everyone get up from their sits.

“Once again, I hope you would consider our offer.” “It’s too risky, the whole idea is good, but I don’t like the part which takes any means necessary. We will drag attention, and we don’t like attention.”

The man once again bowed his head, and everyone left.

The boss was a man in his mid thirties, with a few scars and burn marks on his face. Wearing an easy, not so sophisticated robe, making the impression of even more dangerous. Actually I was hoping for some fat old man, covered in gold with naked woman chained to his chair. That kind of man could be easily fooled. The one that was confronting me, definitely not.

“Here, have a sit” He said after shaking my hand. “Daralon told me about you, and I am happy to see you here. There are not many alchemists that are willing to work outside of guild. I was thinking if I should say to you, how powerful and almighty we are… but after a conversation with Daralon, I decide against it. The truth is… the situation we are in is dire. We are a giant colossus, scaring our enemies, but we are a colossus on legs made of clay. You can almost sit and wait for us to collapse. Back in our best days we could do everything… we could kill anyone, we could steal anything and we knew everything.” “What’s the problem? To be honest, I had a few uses for skills of… company. To be more precise… I need you. It was also something I didn’t want to say to you on our first meeting, but I was encouraged by your honesty.” “Then, perhaps, we could help each other. We need gold. Ha-ha, yeah I know what you expected. Unfortunately, we had a betrayal within our ranks. Some cargos with treasure was actually a military patrol. The few easy locks to open where protected. We lost some skilled thieves, earned no money, and our informant demands to be paid.” “And my head was targeted by the church. It is not something exactly weird, if you would consider my race, but the speed with which they acted… I took a look at the map. I have to say that it is impossible for someone to notice me, inform a higher command in a country, and then send them after me, I need to know who, why and how to kill him. Deal?”

The men smirked.

“It was the fastest negotiations I was able to partake, the outcome is also considered by me as acceptable.” “I have to ask, do you work with a Guild?” “haha, Sure. Just tell me, which one you have on mind?” “Ah, yes, pardon me, the adventures guild.” “… I do. But better if you would not say it out loud. Sometimes we are checking if the sources that give quests to the guild is trustworthy. Sometimes, we help them to collect money that quest giver somehow don’t wish to pay… and so on. Why? You have something on mind?” “Would it be a problem, if you would come tomorrow to the Guild? I think I may have an idea how to pretty quickly cook potions for you, make the guild profitable. And earn something by myself and raise my rank. I will only mention the idea, but will need the agreement of both of you.”

The man was thinking for a little while.

“You have a deal. Tomorrow morning.” “It was nice to meet you, Boss.” We shook each other hand one more time. “Please, call me Rogue.”