Sarah's Story Chapter 022 - Assessment Results

Unfortunately, Mr. Tenns’ recommendation for a B Rank in interpersonal combat was denied. A C Rank himself, he was only allowed to recommend that high, despite his wealth of experience in sparring as one of the Guild’s top trainers.

In the end, mainly due to Sarah’s dismal assessment exam results for everything except combat, she was inducted as an F Rank Adventurer, with a E Rank for guard jobs outside the city where monster attacks could be expected, and a C Rank for guard jobs inside the city where combat would mainly be with other people.

Beth wound up not filing any kind of complaint against Mr. Tenns, and did sign up for some training for herself as well.

And so Sarah found herself at the reception desk once again while Tiffany prepared her Adventurer’s License, with her Rank notations marked next to a shockingly accurate sketch of Sarah’s face showing a faint, almost shy smile.

“Good, right? My [Sketch] skill is getting pretty high!” Finished, she handed the license to Sarah.

“Yeah, it really is,” Sarah replied, tilting the small wooden board back and forth as she examined the portrait. She’d have to show her mother when she got home.

Sarah’s chest tightened when she remembered her brother, James. They’d never had portraits done before.

Suddenly she desperately wanted portraits of her mother and father, and her other brothers, and even her Auntie Nadine she’d just met.

“You okay?” Tiffany’s question brought Sarah back to the present and she looked back up into Tiffany’s worried face.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Sarah nodded, refocusing. “I’m fine. Anyway, I’d like to sign up for Scout and Bounty Hunter training.”

“Sure thing! The basic Scout course is ten silver, so five for you with the discount, and Bounty Hunter… Well, there’s no real set price, but we do have a few Bounty Hunters registered with the Guild. Let’s start at fifty silver, then with the discount that’ll be twenty-five silver, and since there’s none available right now, let’s say a fifteen silver deposit, with the rest due when you do the actual training.”

Tiffany smiled brightly at Sarah as though she was just going to pull a whopping twenty silver out of her pocket and slap it down on the counter.

Sarah gulped. “Uh, actually, I don’t have any money…”

Tiffany blinked and tilted her head a moment.

“Ah… Oh! Uh, okay, one second.” Tiffany reached under the desk and pulled out another sheet of paper and skimmed it for a second, before putting it back and looking back up at Sarah with a smile. “Okay, that’s no problem! We can start a tab for you.”

“A tab? Like a bar tab?”

“Exactly! Since it’s for Guild training, there’s no problem! The Guild will simply take another portion of your job rewards until the tab is paid off.”

Sarah blanched. Twenty silver was a LOT of money. It had taken her years of chores and errands to save up three whole silver back in her village, and at Rank F, she’d probably be doing more of the same for a while.

“Uhm… Okay… Uh, are there any good paying jobs at Rank F?” Sarah asked, hopeful.

“Nope!” Tiffany responded cheerfully. “Most Rank F jobs pay several copper at most. It’s not until you get to Rank D that you start getting up to a silver per job, but those jobs take longer to complete, too.”

“Oh…” Sarah said. How was she going to pay for this training? Maybe she’d better go back to the inn and ask her mother…

“Oh? Sarah, you’re still here? Perfect.” Mr. Tenns came around the corner. He must have been upstairs.

Wait, where had he been? Sarah tilted her head slightly in confusion. She had a pretty good sense of where everyone on this floor was, at least. But Mr. Tenns barely registered to her skills.

He chuckled. “Wondering why you couldn’t sense me around the corner? It’s part of my Class. Once you get more Scout training, you’ll have no problem keeping track of me, don’t worry. More importantly, I’ve got a job you’d be perfect for.”

It turned out, two parties in the capital had been feuding at a low, petty level for several weeks, and things had started escalating in the last few days. They were both due back in the Guild soon, and it was expected that things could get violent.

“Obviously, fighting among Adventurers happens, but it’s still against the rules. Especially inside the Guildhall. They think they’ve been sneaky with their little jabs, but leadership is fed up, and worried about collateral damage.” He gave Sarah a look. “So the Guild is interested in hiring a guard for the evenings, from mid-afternoon until closing, around midnight. It’s a Rank C guard job in the city, so you qualify for it, and it pays a silver a night, with triple pay if you break up any fights. Interested?”

Sarah’s eyes sparkled. This was perfect! She’d have the tab paid off in no time.

“Yes, please!”

Mr. Tenns chuckled again. “We’ll send a runner to let your mother know the good news about your registration, and that you’ll be working here starting tomorrow, then. Tiffany, can you handle the paperwork?”

“Yes Mr. Tenns~” Tiffany sang back, pulling out a sheet of paper and letting her quill dance across it, filling out the job acceptance form for Sarah.

“There’s also one more thing,” Mr. Tenns said, “I’d like to ask if you’re interested in helping me out with sparring practice. How are you at disarming? Any Skills yet?”

Sarah tilted her head slightly. “’Disarming Skills’? No, not yet.”

Mr. Tenns hummed for a second as he thought. “Well, we can try it anyway, we’ll just get a Priest on standby… The Guild holds sparring practices for Adventurers up to Rank D, partly to give young Adventurers a safe place to practice their Skills, and partly to beat some sense into their heads about biting off more than they can chew. You’ll be perfect. Spars are held every Saturday from morning to evening, and if you’re willing to help me out as an assistant, the Guild can pay you half a silver per day.”

“That sounds great! But…” Sarah hesitated.

“What is it,” Mr. Tenns asked, “that’s pretty good pay for an assistant.” A slight frown crossed his face and Sarah hurriedly shook her head.

“No, it’s not that,” Sarah replied, “it’s just, when is ‘Saturday?’”

Tiffany and Mr. Tenns both looked at her with blank expressions for turning and glancing at each other for a moment, before turning back to Sarah.

“Uh, Sarah…” Tiffany started, trepidatiously, “do you… not know the days of the week?”

“I mean, I know some of them,” Sarah responded.

Mr. Tenns sighed. “Tiffany, sign her up for the basic education course, too.”