Duskbound

Book 2, Chapter 5

"Is this really the trial you put golds through?" Velik asked.

"Every single one of them," Nelspir told him.

"And... how often does someone just come in and pass this without working their way up through the guild?"

"Not that often," the guild master admitted.

"Do I get to pick which one I take?"

"Nope. That'll be up to the evaluator."

Fantastic. Knowing my luck, I'll get the hardest, most time-consuming option.

The trial itself was simple. He'd be given a gold-ranked assignment from the job postings, and an instructor would follow along to evaluate him while he completed it solo. He wouldn't be told what criteria he was being judged on, and the instructor wouldn't interfere except to save a bystander's life, though if they deemed that person being in danger Velik's fault, that would count harshly against him.@@@@

In theory, it was simple, except that even though gold-ranked monster hunters were allowed to work solo, it wasn't automatically expected of them. Of course, that was part of the test, too. If the job was too much for him to handle, he was supposed to be able to figure that out before he got himself killed so he could retreat. The problem was that if the instructor didn't agree that a gold-ranked shouldn't be able to complete the job without assistance, it didn't matter whether he could. It would just prove he wasn't ready for gold.

The plan was to hope he got an instructor who wasn't friendly with Pevril, get an assignment from the job postings that, with any luck, wouldn't take months to complete, and do his best out there. There were too many variables out of his control to be happy about any of this, but the guild wasn't giving him a lot of other options.

"When will I know what I'm doing?" he asked.

Nelspir considered the question for a moment, then said, "Give me three days to get things set up. I'll need to find your evaluator first, preferably one who isn't part of Pevril's bloc. There are also two jobs on the board I don't want you touching, so I'll see if I can get some other golds to claim those. That way they'll be eliminated from the pool."

Velik wanted to say something about how little control the guild master seemed to have over his own guild, but considering the man was doing him a favor in a round-about sort of way, he figured it was better to keep his mouth shut. Criticisms, no matter how valid they might be, wouldn't help his position.

"I'd prefer something quick, if you can make that happen. I've already lost enough time playing around with the irons."

Nelspir raised an eyebrow and stared at him. "Awful demanding, aren't you?"

Whoops. No matter what I say, it's always the wrong thing.

Pevril swaggered into Nelspir's office two hours later. The smug little prick didn't even bother to knock before he walked in and flopped into the very same chair Velik had occupied that afternoon. "How was your visit?" he asked mockingly.

"You were right," Nelspir said, almost begrudgingly. He hated when Pevril was right, and he almost always was. "He has no allegiance to the guild. He just wants access to the resources."

"Of course I was right. The boy didn't make any secret of it. And besides, it's not like that's a bad thing. Most hunters are with the guild because we make it convenient for them. They can find work, learn how to deal with the monsters they have to hunt, and fence whatever they bring back, all in one convenient place. It's no sin that he wants to take advantage of the guild, too."

"And yet you cared enough to block his advancement from iron to bronze," Nelspir pointed out. "Did Milly put that girl up to charging a split tailed bull's ass? Your idea, I assume."

"Let's just say I was satisfied with everyone else's performance," Pevril practically purred. Smugness radiated off him in waves, and Nelspir wanted nothing so much as to punch the man in the face. That was a temptation he wrestled with every time the head instructor walked into his office though, one he was well familiar with and far too disciplined to give into.

"You know, you could have just asked him to take the job," Nelspir said.

"Nonsense. It's far too difficult for a bronze, and that's what he would have been if I'd passed him today. We could never justify it."

"I don't see what difference it makes in the grand scheme of things," the guild master argued. "I know you want that job off the books, but we're still going to have to send an evaluator with him to make sure he does it right. This doesn't actually save us any manpower."

"Ah, true, but you see, any gold can refuse a job if they don't want to."

"So can an evaluator," Nelspir said with a frown. "Unless they... Ah. So it's really about her."

Pevril just leaned back in his chair. Somehow, his smirk was even wider.

"And your bloc is prepared to support my proposal for which vault we'll be targeting?" Nelspir asked.

"Of course. Anything for our esteemed guild master. We trust in your vision and follow you to glory."

Gods, I hate this prick. Fucking politics.

Your next journey awaits at My Virtual Library Empire

"I'll let the boy and his evaluator know where they're heading," Nelspir said sourly.