Chapter 9
Keeping an Eye Out
Axios, Upper Midgard
14 Ianuarius 652
Upon their return to Guild Hall from the Temple, Pawel was immediately met by a Guild clerk who said, "Sir Pawel, the Guildmaster would like to speak with you."
Pawel glanced to Zofiya and told her, "Stay with the kids, Zosia."
"Give Master Shapur my regards," Zofiya replied. Then to the children, she said, "Come along. If I remember right, this is where they finalize your registration in the Guild."
"That would be correct, Dame Zofiya," the Guild representative escorting the children replied.
Pawel left them to it and followed the clerk upstairs to the Guildmaster's office. As Pawel never rose higher than team leader in his old Company, he never had many direct dealings with the Guildmaster before, but Master Shapur was known to be a rather hands-on leader, so his face was well-known even to Rookies. In fact, it was a little surprising that he was not in the tavern last night personally welcoming the newest batch of Summons.
The clerk opened the door to the Guildmaster's office, saying, "Guildmaster, Sir Pawel, as requested."
"Thank you, Hunfrid," the Guildmaster replied. "That will be all."
"Yes, sir," the clerk said.
The voice was not Master Shapur's and neither was the face.
"Hello, Pawel," the Guildmaster said.
It was Iberico, the leader of the Guild's chapter in Costa. He was a solidly built olive-skinned man with short, curly black hair, almost like sheep's wool, now with a noticeable amount of silver mixed in. He used to be rather on the boisterous side, but he seemed to have settled down quite a bit in the time since Pawel last saw him.
"Iberico?" Pawel asked. "You're the Guildmaster now? What happened to Shapur?"
"Shapur's brother was crowned Shah five years ago," Iberico explained, "and he wanted Shapur to be his Grand Vizier."
Shapur was one of the many sons of the Shah of Babu Dhaba, so far down the line of succession that he chose to find his fortune here in Axios, rising up the ranks in the Guild until he became Guildmaster. As fancy as a title like 'Grand Vizier' was, surely it would not have half as much influence as the head of the Adventurers' Guild. Why would he give that up?
"I didn't think Shapur liked his brother," Pawel said.
"The feeling was entirely mutual," Iberico replied, "but the new Shah probably thought it was safer to keep his brothers close."
"Safer for him maybe, but not so much for Shapur, I'd think."
The Shahs of Babu Dhaba were infamous for doing a lot of pruning of the family tree as soon as they were crowned. Why Shapur would stick his neck out like that was a mystery.
Iberico only shrugged, saying,    "Yes, well, you know how Shapur is about his sense of duty. Anyway, so now I'm Guildmaster."
"So now you're Guildmaster," Pawel repeated. "An' you wanted to talk to me?"
"I wasn't expecting to see you back."
"I wasn't expectin' to be back, but the World had other ideas."
"So it's you and Zofiya—"
"An' the kids."
"And the kids. What about Jun?"
"The World didn't get her. Lucky her, I guess."
"I wonder about that," Iberico said. "You think she's happy being left alone?"
It was the same thing Oscarius had had, and the more Pawel thought about it, the more it stung. Poor Jun was probably going out of her mind with worry. As hell as the World was, she probably would agree that being here together was better than being there alone.
"No," Pawel said, "I don't imagine so."
"I would've liked it if she were here. She was always so reasonable when it came to negotiations."
That was another thing Oscarius had said. Jun had quite the reputation, apparently. It made it seem like everyone thought Pawel was nothing more than a bull in a china shop. Of course, when he thought back on how he used to be, that reputation was probably warranted. It might well still be warranted, but it did not mean that was what he wanted people to think about him.
"Well, I'd like to think that the years've made me more reasonable," Pawel said.
"That's promising to hear," Iberico replied. "Let's get to my proposal then."
"What've you got?"
"Seeing how you're in starter gear, I take it you're back to square one. Even if you wanted to go south, you won't last too long like that. You need money, right? Well, we've just got two new groups of bambini that need Mentors. You and your missus each take on a group and the Guild'll pay you a stipend for it. A hundred denarii per diem. You won't live like kings, but it'll make it worth your time and you can start saving for the gear you need to head further on down where the real money's at."
"Well, I'd have to speak with the missus first 'bout it," Pawel said.
"Don't take too long. I'm doing you a favor seeing as how you've got, shall we say, unique circumstances. There's plenty of burnouts looking to get their drinking money playing babysitter."
"Then I'll talk to her soon."
Iberico nodded.
"I'll have the paperwork waiting when you get back."
Pawel went back downstairs where Zofiya was watching over the children as the clerks were taking down their registration information.
Slidling up behind Zofiya, Pawel said, "Zosia, babe, I've got a proposition for you."
Zofiya gave him an annoyed look.
"For the hundredth time, no."
"What? No, not that. You know I just spoke to the Guildmaster, right? The Guild's offerin' us a job as Mentors. We were plannin' on doin' it for our kids anyway. Only catch is that we'll have to each take on a sep'rate party."
"Well, we need the money and I certainly don't want to see any kids get in over their heads starting out," Zofiya said.
"I thought you'd say that, but I didn't wanna speak for you. Besides, they'll need your signature, too."
Fedor was still standing in line waiting for his turn and asked them, "What's a Mentor?"
"A Mentor's an experienced Adventurer who watches over Rookies like you," Pawel said, "usually till you clear the First Trial."
"A babysitter, you mean," Arjun said.
"Now, there's no reason for you to have go an' to reinvent the wheel," Pawel said. "You learn from the people who've done it before, just like they learned from the ones who came before them. It may be called the Game, but there's no reset button if you die, no revive, respawn or any of that, an' there are things that can kill you right outta the gate. A Mentor'll help keep you alive till you can start to take care of yourself."
"You saw what happened when we tried to rescue Mama Zosia," Zsuzsanna said.
Arjun and Fedor both frowned at this. The sting of that experience would not be leaving them any time soon.
"How do you teach kids who have a different Job from yours?" Arjun asked.
"Any Adventurer worth his salt at least understands how the base Jobs work. An' any Mentor's at least Tier Two, so they usually have a workin' knowledge of two Jobs at minimum. 'Tween Mama Zosia an' me, we've got four of the six covered."
"You had to double up on Fighter," Zofiya said, half-teasing.
"Hey, it's what I was good at. I prolly would've tripled down an' gone Barbarian if Ruslan hadn't insisted I cross-rate into Mage."
"And did you ever struggle with it too."
"Not half as much as you cross-ratiin' to Thief."
"Mama Zosia was a Thief?" Fedor asked in disbelief.
"I was thinking about going Hierophant or maybe Sage," Zofiya explained, "but Ruslan—your father—, he thought we needed a Thaumaturge, so I spent a year and a half fumbling about as one of the worst Thieves in the World."
"Aw, Thief strategy is simple," Pawel said. "Jus' get behind an' stick 'em. Couldn't be easier."
"I get the feeling there's more to it than that," Arjun said.
Realizing that Arjun made the comment considering his own Job, Pawel felt the need to add, "Once you get the basics down, you can hire trainers to teach you the more advanced stuff. But I don't want you gettin' involved with the Families now, hear?"
"The Families?" Fedor asked.
"You know your 'Uncle' Crispo? Well, he's the Don of the Family that controls the South Quarter. The underworld used to be a lot messier place, but the Families came in an' made a truce, split the city up like a big pizza pie an' now crime's nice an' orderly. Now if you break the law an' you're not with the Families, if the City Guard don't get you, the Families will. An' of course even if you're with the Families, if you elbow in outside your Family's turf, don't expect to last too long.
"Those armbands Crispo gave us, they afford us protection in the South Quarter, but if you fly those colors anywhere else, you might as well be wearin' a damn bullseye. You startin' to get why I don't want you involved with 'em?"
"Yeah, I get it."
"Good. So, we've still got some stuff to sort out before we can get goin'. Tomorrow I think you've got the Bank an' the other guilds."
"Other guilds?" Fedor asked. "Ain't we s'pposed to be Adventurers?"
"Yeah, well, adventurin' ain't the only way to make money," Pawel replied. "Most folks pick up a Trade or two to help make ends meet. Also, trade skills mean the Adventurin' Companies aren't so reliant on tradesmen to get what they need. The more self-sufficient you are, the less you're at the mercy of the market. They'll explain it more tomorrow, so don't worry about it too much right now."
"What kind of trade guilds are there?" Zsuzsanna asked curiously.
"I don't think they would've gotten to teachin' you about this in school yet, but back in the day, pretty much ever'thin' had its own guild. You workin' iron, brass, silver? There's a guild for each one. You makin' hats, shoes? Ever' damn thing has its own guild. You sign up for a Trade Guild, they teach you how to do their thing. You get good at it an' you won't even need to go adventurin'."
"Then wouldn't it make more sense to just find a Trade and not go adventuring at all?" Arjun asked.
Fedor, however, did not like the sound of that one bit.
"Aw, where's the fun in that?"
Pawel said, "Like it or not, adventurin's what we're here for. It's how you'll unlock your potential. More importantly, it's how we'll make the kind of money we need to buy our way back home."
"How much money do we need?" Arjun asked.
"I don't remember the exact figure, but it took ever'thin' six of the best Adventurers in the World had an' then some to make it happen."
"What if we jus' didn't go home?" Fedor asked.
Pawel nearly snapped at him, but he was able to catch himself. All this had to look exciting to a kid. Was he not the same way when the initial shock and fear of being separated from his family gave way to thrill of the call to adventure? Even with their run-in with Crispo's gang, reality had not sunk in yet, but it would soon enough.
"You say that now, but you won't be sayin' it for long."
The children looked at each other, and a few of the other children who were listening to their conversation exchanged glances as well. They might have been young, but they were not stupid. They knew better than to take Pawel's words lightly. He only hoped they would continue to be so attentive in the days to come. It would make the difference between whether they joined all the Rookies who were easy prey for the World or they actually stood a chance to survive.
