"So, what exactly are we doing here?" I asked Arswen as we reached the modest building of the Merchant Guild.

"Registering a new service and submitting the order form," Arswen replied.

"Order form? New service?"

"Where do you think we get most of our stock from? And yes, a new service. We can put Evaluation on the list of services we provide now."

"Eval...? Oh right, you have me now."

Dungeons produce all kinds of weird things, so obviously adventurers need someone to tell them what those things are. Evaluate is rare skill, due to the amount of studying one needs to do to earn it, so you don't really see people with it in adventuring towns like Etir. You're more likely to find them in large cities and academies. Also, people with the skill usually don't really value money or material things, so that's why there's not that many businesses which offer Evaluation as a service.

We entered the Merchant Guild and headed towards a burly man with fading green hair. He noticed us and gave us a friendly wave.

"Hello, Arswen," he greeted. "Not with your brother today?"

"He decided to stay behind at the shop today," the boy replied. He gestured to me before rifling through his satchel for the order forms. "This is Joan, the newest employee of our shop."

"Hello," I said.

"The meeting is appreciated," the man said, shaking my hand. "I'm Sediall, Master of the Merchant Guild."

(Off to the side, Arswen may or may not have muttered 'So he does have a name.' under his breath.)

"The meeting is appreciated."

Man, I really hope I'm using it right.

"You're not from around here, are you, Joan?"

"Nope. Did the hair give it away?"

"Oh! So it's natural then?"

"Guildmaster," Arswen interrupted our small talk, holding out the forms, rolled up neatly and tied with a thin red ribbon. "Here are our order forms. We also wish to register a new service."

The guildmaster accepted the papers from him and set it on a pile of similarly rolled and tied up documents. "Oh? Did you finally-"

"No."

That was a rather loud and firm 'no', I thought. Wonder what the guildmaster was about to say?

I looked at the red-head in question but he avoided my gaze and told the guildmaster what we needed registered instead. He looked surprised and said, "I thought your brother swore off-"

"Joan can use Evaluate." For some reason, Arswen seemed to be glaring slightly at the guildmaster. I wondered what Arsral had sworn off. Could he actually use Evaluate or something but had sworn not to due to one reason or another?

"Oh. You don't look the scholarly type," he told me. I scratched the back of my head sheepishly.

"Yeah, I know."

The man directed us to Aidyl, a woman at another counter who had just finished speaking to two people with dull pink hair. The process was quick and simple, and we were out of the building and into the sunlight again in a few minutes.

"So what now?" I asked Arswen, stretching in the warm air. He shrugged.

"Up to you. We can explore the town a bit, or we can go back to the shop and wait for your friend."

"Ehh... Let's go back, then."

"Sure."

On the way, we passed by someone selling roasted chestnuts. I bought myself and Arswen a bag each with the money the elder brother had given me after my first month at Cleimeph.

"Joan."

I looked up from the book I was reading and caught the bag Arsral tossed over with one hand. Several somethings inside clinked together as I lifted it up to eye level.

"Your pay for this month."

"I get paid?"

The red-head rolled his eyes. "Of course you do."

"What about the room and board then?"

"Covered by the pay for assisting me. You were more useful than I anticipated," he admitted, but not reluctantly.

"What, just useful? Admit it, you enjoy my wonderful presence."

"Don't push it," Arsral replied, but I could see the corner of his lips lift a little.

I plucked the chestnut from Arswen's struggling hands and peeled it open for him without much thought.

"Thank you," he said, before letting me pop it into his mouth.

"No problem."

We walked in silence for a few blocks, me peeling the chestnuts for both of us and Arswen opening his mouth for the unshelled chestnuts I pushed up to his lips.

"You seem awfully used to this," Arswen commented, once we had finished the bag. I looked away from where I had been admiring the earrings some bright purple haired guy was peddling.

"Hm? Oh, I have two younger brothers. Whenever we eat something that needs shelling, they, being the lazy bas-- annoyances they are, always pester me to do it. So it just became a habit, I guess."

"You also have brothers? What about your parents?"

"Parents are also too lazy and much better at ignoring the whining of two bratty kids than I am. And yep, two younger brothers. Five years younger than me and twins. Awful, spoilt, selfish, and not cute at all." I paused, and amended, "Well, okay, they were cute up until they were, like, three. Then they learnt the word 'why' and it was all downhill from there."

I grimaced. Arswen smothered a small laugh.

"What are they like?"

"What are they like? Well," I took a moment to compose my thoughts, "Liam is younger than Will - our mum likes four letter names, dunno why - by about twenty minutes, though he likes to pretend he's older and everyone just lets him; both of them wear glasses - everyone in our family but me has bad eyesight, guess I just got lucky; both cry really easily, though Liam is more vocal about it; they're always together so when nobody really bothers saying their names separately and just yell 'WilLiam' when they want them; Liam is louder, but surprisingly, Will is the one who takes charge; they always try the stupidest pranks on me - actually, I have them to thank for my good reflexes - such as the bucket over the slightly open door, changing the time on my clock, and a myriad of other stupid things you'd think they'd learn to stop doing after I start roughing them up harder and harder each time; and-"

"I'm sorry."

"-then they- Huh?" I stopped walking and stared at Arswen. His head was down and away from my confused gaze. "What for?"

"For, for taking you. From your brothers, from your family. From your life. I'm sorry. It- it just never occurred to me before that you, you might have-" He was interrupted by my hand landing on his head. I ruffled his hair to comfort him. (It was incredibly soft. Ulterior motives? What are you talking about?)

"Don't worry about it. True, you shouldn't have been messing around with a demon summoning circle in the first place, but you couldn't have known what would happen, right?" I continued petting his head while I talked. (So. Soft.)

He shook his head. "Don't you miss your world though?"

"I do, sometimes," I shrugged, "But your world's pretty interesting too. I try to think of this whole thing as an extended holiday from, uh, life, I guess. No point in despairing over things you can't help, right?"

"I... guess not."

"See? Now wipe that guilty look off your face," I patted his cheek, "It doesn't suit you."

It took the kid a bit, but eventually he managed to give me a smile.

"There. Much better."

"Thank you, Joan."

"No problem. Now, do you want to continue listening to me complain about my brothers, or shall we move onto other topics?" I asked, starting to walk again.

"I think I'd like to hear more about your family."

"Alright then. So one time..."

As we walked back to the shop, I continued telling Arswen about all the antics my brothers had gotten up to, and the ways which I'd had my revenge. I was starting on the story of when they had filled my entire room with orange balloons when we reached the shop.

"And so, when I get home, what do I see but-" I opened the door and turned, just in time to see a black blur flying towards me and attach itself to my face. "Wha- mmph!"