Sarah's Story Chapter 028 - Bonus

Half the bar area was in ruins. Bodies littered the floor in pools of blood. In the other half of the bar area, other adventurers were curled up on the ground, seemingly unharmed but covering their heads.

None of the members of either feuding party were standing.

No, the only person standing was a young girl, in light training clothes, with her long blonde hair in a braid down her back. She cocked her head, as though listening for something, and the receptionist breathed a sigh of relief.

She turned in his direction.

“Sarah! Are you alright?” he called out.

She walked over with smooth, gliding footsteps, stopping in front of the desk.

“Yes, I’m alright, are you all fine?”

“Y-yes,” he answered, “we activated the ward.”

She nodded. “Good, can one of you go fetch the city guard?”

One of the receptionists nodded, and Sarah turned to face him as he scampered out the front door, turning back to the first receptionist once his cries for a guard rang out.

Adrenaline coursing through his veins had the receptionist shaking, but he took deep breaths as he let it pass and looked back at the wreckage. Nobody seemed to be getting up. He turned back to the brand new Adventurer, still only Rank F, and looked her up and down.

She didn’t have a scratch on her, but she seemed unwilling to meet his gaze.

“Uh, Sarah…”

“Yes?” she tilted her head, seemingly looking at his mouth.

“How did you fight in that darkness? That was magic, wasn’t it?”

“Was it?” she replied.

“Yeah, it definitely was. Did you have a talisman or something?”

“A talisman? Oh, one of those magic item thingies, right? No, nothing like that.”

“Then, how did you see in that darkness?”

The receptionist was no expert in magic, but he knew that the Nightwatch party used Dark magic to blind their foes before attacking, hence their party’s name.

“Oh, yeah, no, I didn’t. Actually, speaking of which, how do I get this fixed?” She pointed at her eyes.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, I can’t see, but I can tell there’s nothing wrong with my eyes. Do I need a priest? Or is there a potion, uhhh, what were they called…” Sarah struggled to remember from the overview of potions they had covered in her basic education course. “Not an antidote, right?”

“Wait, you’re still blind?” the receptionist asked incredulously.

“Uh, yeah, it’s kind of annoying. Think we can get this fixed before tomorrow?”

The receptionist merely gaped at her, before turning to his other coworker.

“Uh, Kyle, can you go get a couple priests from the Temple? Someone who can Cure and Dispel.”

Sarah snapped her fingers. “Yeah, that’s it, Dispel Tonic!”

“On it. Be right back, Vince.” Kyle raced out the door, heading for the Temple down the road.

“Sarah, is that you?” a voice called from the bar area.

“Oh, Jacob! Yeah, I’m here!” Sarah yelled back.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah! I took out both parties. The receptionists are getting help now!”

“Great. Can anybody see?”

A chorus of groans and ‘no’s filled the air.

Sarah turned back to the receptionist with unseeing eyes that still sparkled, despite being unfocused.

“Do you think I’ll get a bonus?” she grinned.

Brawler Class Skill [Threat Awareness] has reached level 5.

Brawler Class Skill [Threat Awareness] has reached level 6.

Brawler Class Skill [Threat Awareness] has reached level 7.

Brawler Class Skill [Throwing] has reached level 4.

Brawler Class Skill [Throwing] has reached level 5.

Brawler Class Skill [Sensitive Hearing] has been acquired.

Brawler Class Skill [Battlefield Awareness] has reached level 2.

Brawler Class Skill [Battlefield Awareness] has reached level 3.

Brawler Class Skill [Brawler’s Domain] has been acquired.

[Brawler] Class has reached level 3.

[Brawler] Class has reached level 4.

The priests managed to arrive before the city guard did. One Apprentice, still in his training period, and an Adept who had recently learned the Dispel technique, both with Holy magic affinity in addition to Light magic affinity. There was some bitter muttering from the adventurers who had to wait while the Adept was training the Apprentice, but when Jacob shouted at them to put a sock in it since they weren’t paying for the healing, they bit their tongues and waited patiently.

Sarah’s newly sensitive ears did hear him hiss that he’d set Sarah on them if they kept it up, though, which made her giggle quietly to herself.

The city guard finally arrived and took custody of the two feuding parties. None of them had died, but they were all thoroughly beaten up, wounded, and unconscious. Nobody was particularly interested in healing them, as none of the wounds were life-threatening, and the blinding spell was inconveniencing everyone.

Sarah moved to her favorite leaning spot and focused on her hearing, since she was unable to keep an eye on things. She was still on the clock, after all.

Eventually, Jacob got tired of waiting himself and had the Adept dispel his Blindness, so that he could start his report and damage assessment.

“Sarah!” he shouted, and she cringed.

“Uh, yes, Jacob?”

“Did you have to wreck the entire bar?!”

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t!” she protested. There was probably one or two tables that weren’t broken…

“Aw, go easy on her, Jacob.” one of the adventurers called, sitting leaned up against the wall while waiting to have his own Blindness dispelled. “She took out two D rank parties single-handedly; hell, we both know Dragon’s Flame was close to C rank. What’s a little property damage?”

“Yeah, well you haven’t seen it yet,” Jacob grumbled.

“Hey, Jacob,” Sarah interrupted, grinning. “I get a bonus, right?”

He gave her a look that, fortunately or unfortunately, she couldn’t see. She just kept grinning at him excitedly.

He sighed. “Well, it’s going to be up to Beth once the full report is finished.”

Sarah smiled wider. Beth was a nice woman.

The next day, Beth was an angry woman.

Angry at Jacob, for the property damage.

Angry at the two feuding parties, who were now imprisoned for using lethal force inside the city, and under Guild censure for fighting in the Guildhall and attacking fellow adventurers outside of a sanctioned spar.

Angry at Mr. Tenns, who had promised that he would be there to backup Sarah, a freshly classed young girl and Rank F adventurer, and then wasn’t when the two parties finally showed up.

Angry at her night receptionists, who hadn’t thought to call the city guard as soon as the Dragon’s Flame showed up and then just hid behind the ward while a young girl fought alone.

And even angry at her deputy Guildmaster, who had ignored the party feud until it got out of control.

Just for completion’s sake, she wanted to be angry at Sarah, too, but she had done everything she was tasked to do in the job, and she even did it without getting any bystanders injured. Hell, she had even managed to take out the Fire mage before he burned down the building.

With a sigh, she finalized the report and awarded Sarah triple bonus.

Beth really was a nice woman.

A full nine silver for the night’s guard work, less taxes and the Guild’s cut, so seven silver and two copper to the Rank E adventurer.

That’s right, in addition to a triple bonus on top of a triple bonus, she was promoted to Rank E and given approval for guard jobs outside the city up to Rank D, and inside the city up to Rank B.

Completely unheard of for an Adventurer who only signed up less than a week ago.

Mr. Tenns, at least, had the good sense to look ashamed when he arrived in the morning to report on the emergency job he took, rescuing a new party that got in too deep in a Dungeon.

Beth glowered at him while he apologized to Sarah after she finished putting her things in one of the cubbies.

“Sorry, Sarah. I meant to be here to back you up when they got back to town, but… well, that doesn’t matter. The fact is I wasn’t here, and you got put in a dangerous situation. Sorry.”

Sarah tilted her head as she looked up at him. “Oh, uh, that’s okay. It all turned out fine in the end. And my mother was jealous I told her about the brawl, and I got a new Skill out of it!”

Sarah peaked around Mr. Tenns’ bulk and looked up at Beth with a smile. “Jacob said I might get a bonus!”

Beth’s expression tightened. “Yes,” she said through gritted teeth, “although that is really not the most important thing.” She frowned down at the excited young girl, and then sighed, slumping her shoulders. “Here, take it.” She handed over the handful of coins as well as the job completion receipt. “That concludes the guard job. Congratulations on completing your first—” she glared at Mr. Tenns, who looked away, “job for the Adventurer’s Guild. And congratulations on your promotion.”

“Huh?” Sarah’s expression fell. “The job is over?” She looked over at Mr. Tenns sadly. “No more guard work?”

He nodded. “That’s right, with both parties in custody, there’s no more need for an extra guard posting. But!” He clapped her on the shoulder, smiling. “It’s training day! You didn’t want to back out of helping me with sparring, did you?”

Sarah still looked sad.

“It’s half a silver a day, and we’ll be done by mid-afternoon.”

She perked up a little at that.

Beth sighed.

This new girl was a little too honest and easy to read.

“Sarah, now that you’re promoted, you’ll be able to take Rank B guard jobs in the city. You shouldn’t have to worry about money,” Beth chided.

Sarah turned to her, astonished. “Huh, promoted?”

“Yes!” Beth retorted forcefully. “You got promoted! Tiffany will update your license!” She then turned to Mr. Tenns, fully fed up. “And you, don’t go putting new adventurers on dangerous jobs anymore!” Without waiting for a reply, she stormed off, slamming the office door behind her, which made Tiffany, who had been blatantly eavesdropping on them, jump.

Mr. Tenns grimaced, then wiped his face with his hands. “Ugh, she’s gonna be mad for a while yet.” He turned back to Sarah. “Leave your license with Tiffany, and then meet me out in the back yard. We’ll see if we can’t get you a Disarming skill before the rest of the newbies show up, and if not, we can just spar like normal.”

“Sarah, you have to tell me the whole story before I go home today!” Tiffany’s eyes glittered as she took Sarah’s license for updating.

“Uh huh,” Sarah replied noncommittally before following Mr. Tenns outside.