Eshanai looked somehow right in her armor and with her new spear and shield in hand she looked like she was borne to wield them. The weapon was a short spear, made with a shield in mind so you could use it with one hand without it becoming unwieldy. The shield was pretty big, reaching all the way from her upper chest to her waist, she handled it easily enough. I had felt its weight and had struggled to hold it up when I handed it to her. I knew she was strong from this morning, her abs were hard and defined, her arms slightly muscular, but knowing and seeing were two different things, and I mentally increased the odds of us making it out of this alive.

The shopkeeper at the weapons store had sold me the spear and shield with a significant discount. He had apparently recognized us from the various posters around town and had practically given us the gear for a pittance of what they were actually worth saying that he was extremely excited about seeing the old arena finally getting some use, the endorsement to his shop helped too I’m sure. He would make sure that everyone knew where the weapons came from, and the increased patronage would make up for the discount easily. At least if we won, if not he could just keep his mouth shut.

That judge had been working fast, getting the posters ready and plastered at key locations took less than a day. I had also seen town criers heading out of the city, doubtless on their way to the various farms and small villages in the area to spread the word of the fight at the arena. The summer festival drew people from all over the country, and some from other lands, but I wasn’t sure if the fight would bring in too many more spectators, it was short notice after all with only five days left to our supposed challenge by Lyle. With Eshanai all geared up, I still needed some time to practice my spellcasting. She could probably also use some time to get used to her new armor and weapons in a real fight, and I knew of an excellent way to gain experience now that I didn’t have to hide from the guards.

The adventurers guild was an unassuming building by the east gate of the city. It looked more like a bar than anything except for the sign hanging by the door depicting a crossed sword and mages staff. Eshanai and I entered through the front, and everyone inside stopped to stare at us for a couple of moments before resuming whatever they were doing before. I had expected a more extreme reaction, but these people were adventurers, they had probably seen weirder things in their travels than a slightly chubby guy and his snake lady friend. The place really did resemble a bar with round tables and chairs spread throughout the room, and with booths by the walls if you wanted more privacy.

It was the middle of the day, and not many people were here drinking, but the few that were here all looked like they could handle themselves. Wearing some type of armor and having a weapon close at hand they all looked fit and healthy. Some had maps spread and seemed to be taking inventory of their supplies, and a few were drinking despite the early hour. The drinkers appeared to be relaxing while the mappers were whispering among themselves in low voices. I started walking to the counter in the back, and Eshanai followed behind me. As we went past the planning people, they quieted, and a few eyed us suspiciously until we were out of earshot and they went back to their huddled discussion. The bartender behind the counter gave us an absentminded smile before he said.

“Are you here to drink or to join the guild?” I didn’t know those were my only options, did you need to join to take on contracts? Not wanting to have to stutter through tedious questions I merely said.

“Join,” I could back out later if it turned out I didn’t like it, but the guild was a good place to find allies and grow stronger. The man behind the counter looked at us more closely then, his gaze traveling up and down both Eshanai and me before saying.

“Oh, it’s you. Your friend there is pretty hard to miss and very distinctive, even if they did a horrible job of capturing your likeness. So, you’re a summoner, huh. You seem pretty powerful, but everyone must prove themselves. The entrance fee is five gold, also you must complete three common contracts to show that you are worthy.” He became much more enthusiastic when he realized who we must be, having previously only glanced at me disinterested.

“Common c-c-contracts?” I said, hoping he understood what I meant.

“Ehm yes,” he looked at me skeptically before sighing. “Do I really have to go through the same routine with every potential recruit?” He put a hand over his face before looking at me, but when I only gave him a questioning look, he continued. “Did you truly summon that spirit or are you some type of fraud?” The man said and loomed over me threateningly. I tensed at his words, balling my fists in agitation. I tried to speak, but my throat had locked itself. I didn’t know what would happen if we were discovered, but I would bet that it wouldn’t be good. Eshanai must have noticed my distress, because she came forward and hissed in the man's face, fangs bared. The man's hight seemed to annoy her slightly before she rose herself up using her tail to tower over the bartender as he had done with me, she stopped just before reaching the ceiling. I suddenly had a bout of inspiration and my throat loosened in relief.

“She r-reacts to my e-e-e-motions,” I said and took a deep breath before continuing, the man looked pale and was staring up at Eshanai, but now his attention switched to me. “I’ll try to c-c-c-calm down before she s-strangl-e-es you.” The man gulped before nodding slowly at me. I looked up at her and patted her tail to get her attention when I had it I tried to smile gently at her and gestured for her to get down. It seemed to work as her scowl disappeared and her fangs retracted. She was back to her usual self and by my side shortly afterward. I turned to the man behind the bar and repeated my question. “Common contracts?” I managed to say in a calm voice without even stuttering this time. The man snapped out of his daze before answering my question a bit nervously at first but gaining confidence as he went.

“Oh yes, where was I?” His head turned to Eshanai and back to me before he remembered himself and continued. “Common contracts are requests from either the guild itself or from some civilian to do a specific task in exchange for a reward. They are open to the public, and you don’t need special permission to take one on. You need to be a member of the guild to try one of the more difficult ranked contracts. Common contracts are ranked thusly because someone without training or experience can handle them without much difficulty.” A huge grin spread over his face before he added. “But I don’t think it will be a problem for you,” while he eyed Eshanai and wiggled his eyebrows. He seemed to have lost his fear of her very quickly, 'perhaps there's more to this man than I first thought.' He might have been a bit old, but there was a hidden strength in his arms, and now that I looked closer he had a bunch of scars running up the length of them, some jagged some clean pale lines against his dark skin and disappearing under his clothes. Maybe he had been an adventurer in his younger days.

The man led us over to a board on the wall to the left of where we were standing. “These are all the public contracts we have available right now,” the old man said before he left us to look over the various papers bolted to the board. Eshanai looked curiously at the contacts, she rubbed the paper between her fingers and flicked her tongue against it, and squinting at the letters she frowned when she couldn’t understand them. I laughed at her, and she looked at me sharply when she heard it, I stopped laughing quickly and looked through the papers for something easy I could show her. I found one with a goblin drawn on it and the word for it written in big letters underneath. I brought her attention to it, and she hissed when she saw the drawing and turned her back to it as if she were angry at it. I turned her around with a gentle touch to her shoulder, and she reluctantly let me. I pointed at each letter in turn, and then I said the whole word.

“Goblin,” then I pointed to the little drawing and said the same thing. I went back and forth a couple of times, and slowly her scowl was replaced with a look of understanding. Eshanai looked at all the words written on the board with wonder in her eyes, then she looked at me with that look of amazement she sometimes got, as if I was some great sage feeding her bits of knowledge about deep meaning philosophies or something. I waved her admiration off and turned back to the contract with the goblin. The guild itself had posted it, there was a band of the monsters not far from here, and the guild wanted someone to take care of them. I was a bit hesitant to take it, from what I knew goblins were pretty weak true, but they could be deadly in numbers. If it was posted among the public contracts though it should be no problem. It would be an excellent opportunity for Eshanai to train a bit and for me to improve my spellcasting methods. With my mind made up I removed the piece of paper from the board, folded it, and put it in my pocket.

Targal was wiping down the bar and watching the boy and his spirit exit the guild through the front door. Spirit summoners were rare and even rarer still were those who could summon such powerful creatures and control them so well. Most summoners gave sharp commands and orders to their contracted creatures, or so he had heard, but a simple look and a smile from this kid and the spirit had calmed down. Not that he was a mage or an expert on spirit summoning or anything like that. He had run into them often enough though to know a thing or two on the subject. One had even joined his adventuring party back in the day for a while before moving on. Her spirit had been much smaller though and was only summoned during battle and dismissed directly afterward. How the boy could keep the spirit summoned for so long, he did not know, but it had to be something like a spirit because Targal had been on more adventures than most and the number of times he had been surprised by an unknown creature he could count on one hand, well two hands now. Even if he hadn’t seen a monster in person, he had read countless books describing different creatures so he could be prepared to fight them in a life or death situation.

That was before he had retired though, he hadn’t been on an adventure in years, so perhaps some new type of monster had appeared in the world. He had no way of directly confirming if the creature truly was a spirit, but he could ask around if anyone else had seen something similar to the snake lady or he could contact his summoner friend. There was always the option of reporting it to the mages guild, but they were power hungry backstabbers who would do almost anything for a bit of new knowledge to one-up their colleagues, and they were likely to bring more trouble than they were worth to the guild. Now that he thought of it someone smarter than he could have thought of it too and might have already done so. He got a sick feeling in his gut suddenly, and he shook his head to clear his thoughts, things would get more interesting around here that was for certain.

He kept scrubbing at a particularly stubborn stain that just wouldn’t go out, someone must have spilled a potion or something, and it had seeped into the wooden countertop. He sighed before he gave up, just another stain to add to the collection he had unwillingly started on the bar. His thoughts drifted again to the snake creature, she had been fierce, he wouldn’t mind having her in the guild if she could be controlled. He might have acted a bit to test the boy when he asked about joining, but Targal's fear had been real when the snake lady had hissed at him showing her sharp fangs. Her tail was incredibly long, and it had carried her all the way to the roof of the building. He had no doubt that the thing could wrap around him several times before starting to constrict. He wasn't so sure he could break out of it, he had been retired for a long time now.

It would remain to be seen if the boy returned with the three completed requests or not. There was no chance of him dying, the system they had now was a good one. He would scare away the more week willed people right from the start, the common contracts might be considered easy, but if you were impatient or reckless it would usually show itself sooner or later, and you could be denied from joining. It was better than letting them die in some dungeon because the entrance requirements were too lax. He had watched friends die back when he was out adventuring because of stupid mistakes that could have easily been prevented. People still died, but nowadays adventurers were more prepared for the dangers of dungeon diving. The death rates had plummeted together with the number of guild members, but Targal wouldn’t sacrifice quality over quantity. He was brought out of his thoughts by one of his assistants frantically looking through the public board.

“Is something wrong Samson?” He said to the young man.

“Oh, hi guild master, not really. I was just looking for a contract that seems to have gone missing from my desk this morning, and I just came to make sure that no one had posted it here by mistake. But I don’t see it here so I must have put it somewhere else, think of the trouble it would cause if an intermediate ranked contract ended up on the public board, it would be a disaster.” Samson said over his shoulder and laughed to himself turning back to the board. Therefore he didn’t see the dark look that had crept over Targal’s face.