Sarah's Story Chapter 038 - Enter The Golden Swan

[Brawler] Class chosen. 1/2 Classes chosen. Please select a Class.

In the world of her soul, Sarah found several interesting new options. Wind Mage, for one. But the Class itself was nearly as clueless as she was about what Wind Mages could do. What the Class did know was the important thing: that there was no chance it could develop into something to find James.

Delivery Girl was amusing; the class had a larger than expected focus on spreading gossip. The specialization options included an armored class that focused on transporting money and valuables and it had a surprising overlap with her Brawler Class and prior training in detecting danger and threats.

And the Scout options multiplied even further; though none of them could do what she wanted.

Avenger, as always, lurked in the background, but she noticed now it had a faint green glow around its hands, playing with the wind. Doubtless the options there had expanded with her newfound Wind affinity.

She had no desire to find out the details.

As always, week after week for months, she forced her eyes open and stared at the ceiling above her bed.

[Brawler] Class chosen. 1/2 Classes chosen. Please select a Class.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon, brightening her room. The days were at their longest right now, and the nights at their shortest.

She looked over at the other bed in her room, at her mother still fast asleep. She’d been still out working when Sarah returned, and hadn’t come back before she went to sleep.

Sarah hoped her mother wasn’t working too hard. And she hoped her dad was doing okay, too. They exchanged letters periodically, but it wasn’t the same as sitting down at the dining room table and talking over a meal.

Quietly, Sarah got ready for the day; which by this point, compared to anyone other than a Scout or Assassin, was dead silent. She stopped by the kitchen and picked up the lunch her mother had prepared the night before. No matter how late it was when she got back, no matter how long she had been working, in the entire time they’d been in the city her mother had never failed to at least make Sarah’s lunch for her.

Sarah smiled softly and headed out into the rapidly warming morning air.

It was going to be hot today.

Tiffany waved frantically at her as soon as she stepped into the Guildhall.

“Sarah! Sarah! They’re here!” she squealed.

The Golden Swan.

Sarah looked around, but the bar area was empty. The equipment racks, however, had some very nice weapons and armor hanging on them today. Sarah stuffed her lunch in the usual cubby and got the details from Tiffany.

The Golden Swan had arrived late last night, gotten a recommendation for an inn, and promptly left. Early this morning they had arrived to meet with the Guildmaster and other Guild HQ leadership to discuss A Rank business.

“Hoho, Sarah, bright and early as always.” Mr. Tenns stepped into the Guildhall as well. “Good morning, Tiff.”

“Good morning, Mr. Tenns!” Tiffany responded. Sarah turned as well. “Good morning, Mr. Tenns.”

But he frowned. “Oi, Sarah, I told you, it weirds me out to have an Adventurer at C Rank still calling me ‘mister.’ Call me Sam.”

“Ahem, right, good morning Sam.” Sarah corrected herself, feeling a little awkward, but Sam nodded and smiled. “Right, there you go.” Mr. Tenns was C Rank himself and could be strangely picky about etiquette and what to call people and what people should call him.

The smile on Sam’s face faded almost immediately and he narrowed his eyes at Tiffany. “Well, I’m guessing you already leaked everything to Sarah here, so there’s nothing for me to say, eh?”

Tiffany started sweating and her eyes darted all around.

“Uh... huh? What’s that? I think I just heard someone calling me from the back, have a nice day Adventurers!” She scurried away into the back office and tightly shut the door behind her.

Sam sighed, and shook his head with a wry grin. “Young’ns… Although, I guess not all the young’ns these days are like that.”

“Tiffany’s in a class of her own,” Sarah replied, smiling.

They sat in the empty bar area and discussed the plan for the day. After introductions, they were going to jump right into self-defense training for Delphi, the party’s Scout, out in the training yard. Sam was going to supervise for safety, the party’s Light Mage would be on standby for healing as necessary, and Sarah would be the sparring partner and instructor and demonstrator.

Suddenly, Sarah’s [Danger Sense] flared, harder than it ever had before. She couldn’t stop herself standing up, and Sam held up a hand.

“That’ll be them, calm down. Coming from the fourth floor, right?”

Sarah forced herself to sit back down and, taking a second to examine the feeling, confirmed it was was on the fourth floor. The entire floor dedicated to the Guildmaster’s offices. He needed the entire floor since he wasn’t just the Branch Guildmaster, but also the entire Kingdom’s Guildmaster, reporting directly to the King and a peer to Guildmasters from other Kingdoms and Empires.

There were five big threats coming down the stairs, one much smaller than the others.

Sarah had to force herself to relax her muscles and not be tense. She checked her pockets, wishing she had more sand. She eyed the gear on the racks, mentally judging the distance and how fast she could get to it. Her palms were sweaty. Her braid felt loose. Her–

“Sarah, breathe. Focus on your breathing. That’s just how A Rank is,” Sam said softly.

It was with a force of will that Sarah focused on her breathing and relaxed again.

Brawler Class Skill [Danger Sense] has reached level 11.

Brawler Class Skill [Threat Awareness] has reached level 13.

And then they were there, coming out the door leading upstairs.

The man in front was a giant who had to duck to get through the doorframe. Well over six feet tall, with close cropped light brown hair and piercing bright blue eyes and a jawline that could cut stone and a sharp, perfectly straight nose. He was covered in muscle, easily visible even underneath his leather under-armor. His boots were massive iron things that pounded the wooden floor with each step. His gaze swept the room before immediately focusing on Sarah.

She tensed–

But no, he was looking next to her.

“Sam! Good to see you well, my brother-in-arms!” His voice effortlessly filled the room and dominated it, not loud per se, but demanding the full attention of all who heard it.

Sam casually raised a hand in greeting. “Well met, Gregory.”

Gregory stepped forward and behind him followed another man, only slightly shorter, wearing loose training clothes save for the sword belt around his waist and the longsword on his hip. He had dark blonde hair and narrow eyes and a slight frown on his lips, but there was a tension in the way he moved, like he was a coiled spring, compressed. Ready to lash out and strike at a moment’s notice.

Behind the Swordsman oozing lethality was a woman wearing a snow-white robe covering her entire body, although the hood was thrown back revealing raven black hair and exotic, foreign features. Full lips and a small nose and small, glimmering eyes looked playfully at Sarah.

Something struck Sarah as strange about the woman, and it took a heartbeat for her to realize what exactly it was.

Her footsteps weren’t coming from where she was walking. It was hard to tell with everyone walking, and especially Gregory’s loud footfalls in those iron boots, but Sarah was sure of it. Her expression tightened just a fraction of an inch and the woman gave an exaggerated sigh, slumping her shoulders.

“Ohh, Arthur, she already figured me out~ boohoohoo…” She clutched at the Swordsman’s arm and pretended to cry. He shook her off immediately.

“Serves you right, playing tricks when we’re among allies.”

Behind them both, and coming forward on the Swordsman’s other side, was the least dangerous of them as far as Sarah could tell. A young woman, maybe mid-twenties, with auburn hair tied up in a low ponytail and a vacant, almost dreamy expression on her face. Her hazel eyes were unfocused, and the lightest hint of freckles graced her small nose and fulsome cheeks. She wore the most obvious armor of all them, full leathers reinforced with metal plates in places, with the gaps covered in chainmail. Delicate white-silver chains were woven into gauntlets, protecting small, almost fragile-looking hands. In those hands she carried a full helmet, with a visor that could be raised and lowered, made of the same white-silver metal. She was short, perhaps only a few inches taller than Sarah, who was much closer to five feet tall than six. Sarah’s eyes swept up and down her body’s curves, searching for weapons instinctively but only seeing the two daggers on her hips.

This must be Delphi. She was slender, but had the kind of curves that made most women envious; and that Sarah understood would throw her off balance in combat.

The Scout smiled vaguely in Sarah’s direction. “Hello,” she said shyly, with a soft, high pitched voice.

Following behind the two women of the party was another large man with incredibly broad shoulders and a thick neck supporting a head with coiffed blonde hair and high cheekbones. His pale blue eyes, like most of the rest of his party, locked onto Sarah almost immediately and gave her a once over. He wore a loose linen shirt with the top buttons casually unfastened, revealing a strong collarbone and well trained chest while also disguising his solid core muscles.

A Lancer’s build. Sarah recalled how her elder brother had looked the last time she had seen him, at his wedding.

With that, they were all present, naturally falling into an optimal formation for exploring.

Or for facing a threat.

The Golden Swan.