Sarah's Story Chapter 035 - Disciplinary Hearing

Johnathan was a thin man in his fifties, his hair almost entirely grey with age but still full and styled fashionably. He wore simple, but finely crafted clothing that perfectly displayed his professionalism without any possibility of overshadowing his own boss, who was a member of the nobility.

He was here at this meeting mainly to resolve the situation. Clark had been running the quarterly financial report, which was the last one before the annual financial report, which would be submitted up the ranks to the royal family itself. The Adventurers’ Guild often found itself with, not exactly accounting irregularities, but financial issues that spilled over into the next fiscal year. A certain level of debt was to be expected, given the need to pay for labor before payment for completed jobs could be collected from some requesters, and the need to keep cash on hand for emergency requests like monster swarms, bandit suppression, natural disaster relief, and Dungeon Breaks.

But this was quite an irregular situation. It was unheard of for such a low ranking Adventurer to accumulate so much debt without having, generally, caused a lot of property damage.

Beth responded to the secretary’s question. “In this case, sir, I believe that to be the case. The Guild has a policy of allowing new Adventurers to take training through the Guild and put the expenses on a tab, to be repaid from job completion rewards.”

“You mean to say that this sum of money was spent on training, and in eight months Brawler Sarah hasn’t put more than–” Johnathan checked his notes and raised his eyebrows just the tiniest fraction of an inch, “half a copper a week towards paying them?”

Clark leaned over towards Johnathan and covered his mouth, although Sarah’s [Sensitive Hearing] picked up what he said anyway. “This is why I suspected embezzlement, sir.”

Mr. Tenns nodded. “Er, yes sir. Brawler Sarah assists me with every Saturday with sparring practice for new and lower ranking Adventurers, which has been meeting her requirement to complete one job per week to remain in good standing.”

Clark sat back up straight and Johnathan looked over at Mr. Tenns and Beth. “And she has completed no other jobs?”

Mr. Tenns shook his head. “Other than some one on one training with other Adventurers arranged between themselves, no.”

“As I’ve documented, Brawler Sarah has been working on Scout training almost every day for the last eight months,” Beth said, tapping the paper in front of her.

“Beth,” Clark said, leaning forward to look at her more directly around Mr. Tenns’ bulk, “you have to know that’s preposterous. None of those courses take more than a week or two to complete.”

“I would refer you to the notes regarding Brawler Sarah’s second class,” Beth said in a matter of fact tone.

Clark and Johnathan looked back down at their papers, and Johnathan spoke first.

“Beth, your Skill is active, yes?”

“Yes sir,” she responded.

Johnathan rubbed the bridge of his nose and made a face as Clark finished reading, then looked at Sarah with wide eyes.

“Brawler Sarah, you still haven’t selected a second Class?” he asked incredulously.

“Uh, yes sir, that’s correct,” Sarah responded.

Johnathan slid a hand down his face, clearly growing exasperated with the situation. “And why,” he asked, dragging out each word, “have you gone to the trouble of completing every single Scout training course, unclassed, if you clearly don’t intend to be a Scout?” He tapped the paper in front of him. “On paper, Brawler Sarah, you are a Scout in pretty much every way that matters. So why waste time on this training–” he made eye contact with Clark, “–at Guild expense?”

Sarah bit her lip, hesitating, and looked at Beth who nodded at her, prompting her to answer.

“I’m, uh, that is, my brother was kidnapped three years ago, and I’m trying to get a Class that can find him.”

Clark and Johnathan just stared at her for a moment before Beth spoke up.

“As you’ll see in the notes, Sarah has been regularly adding to the reward for finding her brother, Smith James from Mortimer Barony, or any information regarding his whereabouts. The reward is up to forty-seven silver.”

Johnathan sighed. These were exactly the worst kind of time-wasting problems, where everyone involved was in the right and yet, there was still a problem. Worse yet, Guild policy would need to be changed, which was also time-consuming.

There simply was never enough time in the day.

Clark raised his voice slightly.

“So you’ve been raising the reward on this cold case request every month, and made no effort to pay off your debt to the Guild? Explain yourself!”

Johnathan watched the girl sitting in front of him tilt her head and say the natural thing, the obvious thing.

“I didn’t think I needed to?”

Yes, it was stated Guild policy designed to encourage new Adventurers to actually take the damn training and keep them from getting killed taking on jobs beyond their competence. Of course, it was unheard of for an Adventurer to take training for eight straight months, but not against the rules. Of course, it was unheard of for an Adventurer to only do the bare minimum jobs to remain in good standing, but not against the rules. Of course, it was unheard of for an Adventurer to accumulate a debt of over fifty silver in training fees, but not against the rules.

And yet, the Guild couldn’t just leave a debt that large on the books, especially when it didn’t seem likely to ever get paid back.

Johnathan raised a hand. “That’s enough, Clark. I understand the situation.”

He looked down the table to Beth, who was taking notes. “Beth, please list and summarize all the Guild policies that are relevant to this situation for review, and draft a proposal for updating them along the lines of a limit on how much debt an Adventurer is permitted to have with the Guild for training, strictly along official rank lines. We’ll find a precise balance at next month’s leadership meeting.”

“Yes sir,” Beth replied.

Next he turned to Clark, next to him. “Clark, thank you for bringing this to our attention. It doesn’t look like there’s any evidence of wrongdoing here, although you are certainly right that the debt is far too much for an E Rank Adventurer.”

Clark pressed his lips together but didn’t say anything.

Finally he turned and looked Sarah straight in the eye. “Brawler Sarah.”

“Yes, sir?” Sarah responded.

Johnathan tapped the paper in front of him again. “You need to pay down this debt.” Johnathan always made an effort to speak simply and clearly to Adventurers, especially the young ones. One never knew what kind of education, or lack thereof, they brought with them to the Guild. “You need to stop taking training courses and start completing jobs.” Giving Adventurers direct orders rarely worked, and holding them accountable for failure to obey orders more usually resulted in Adventurers being kicked out of the Guild rather than compliance, which was just compounding losses.

The trick was to find the proper motivation for each Adventurer. The proper carrot and the proper stick.

“I sympathize with your concern for your brother, but I have a responsibility to the Guild and the Kingdom to ensure that we don’t have money problems.” He arranged his face in an expression of sympathy and reluctance. “I’m going to have to put a hold on the request to find your brother. It will remain posted and active–” he immediately clarified, already seeing her expression tighten as he said the words, “–but no-one will be allowed to increase the reward amount until you have paid off your tab.” Her expression settled as she processed what he was saying. Good, just the right amount of irritation, but not outright rebellion.

Now for the carrot.

“I had planned to recommend you for a special request from the A Rank party ‘The Golden Swan,’ one of the best Dungeon exploring parties in the Kingdom, who are due to arrive in the capital sometime in the next month, but… I cannot in good conscience recommend them an Adventurer with so much debt, no matter how skilled they are in combat or Scouting.”

Interesting; she didn’t seem surprised by news about the party or request, but still dismayed about the lack of recommendation.

Now, the challenge. Adventurers love challenges.

“But I will reconsider if you are able to pay off this debt before the Golden Swan arrives in the capital. When exactly that will be I cannot say, so I would strongly urge you to pay the debt off as quickly as you can.”

The young girl nodded. “Yes sir, I will!”

Good, good! She looked really motivated!

All that was left was pacifying Clark.

“Beth, please keep Clark informed of Brawler Sarah’s repayments so that he can update his reports at his earliest convenience. Mr. Tenns.” He turned to the large Survivalist. “Please take a moment this morning to recommend some appropriate jobs for Brawler Sarah, so that she can repay her debts as quickly as possible.” There was always a number of jobs that languished uncompleted, either due to the displeasing nature of the work or the inadequate monetary reward. If they could get this financially irresponsible girl to do some of them, well, that would be a win-win-win situation.

“Er, yes sir,” the large man said.

“Clark, anything else?”

“No sir.”

“Mr. Tenns?”

“No sir.”

“Beth, have we covered everything?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good, let the record show that Brawler Sarah has been verbally cautioned about her debt but has committed no wrongdoing and will not be punished in any way. The request for the missing Smith is active, but changes to the reward or posting are frozen until Brawler Sarah’s debt is fully repaid. A change to Guild policy will be proposed at the next leadership meeting. This hearing is adjourned. You’re all dismissed.”

With that, the Deputy Guildmaster’s secretary stood, straightened his shirt, and left the room.