Leon did not take a job the next day. He looked over the available commissions, but they were as disappointing as the day before. Instead, he explored the local library and the tomes provided by the Guild in order to find articles on agility training. He was met with little success.

  He did not take a job the following day either, and instead did some constitution training. While he was sure he had the right idea with his attempts at agility training, it was not an exercise he felt he could put himself through everyday.

  The third day saw him go jobless yet again, as did the fourth, fifth, and sixth. All together it took eight days before he was finally forced to take a job, his anxiety and a steadily dwindling coin purse spurring him to at last begin whittling away at the ten missions he needed to achieve bronze-rank.

  It must have been his lucky day, for he found a mission that would entail actual combat. There was a small group of goblin bandits harassing hunters out in the eastern woods north of the river. It was the perfect job for him, save for one small caveat: it would require him to set out with a party of no less than four.

  Three more unranked…

  Three tag-alongs…

  Three deadweights.

  Turning to look over the adventurers in the hall, a cold weight settled onto his stomach. Discounting those who proudly displayed their bronze and occasionally silver ranks, he was easily able to discern the unranked among them. Those he saw only served to heighten his disappointment and kill his enthusiasm. In spite of the lackluster appearance of the other unranked, this would be the perfect job for himself.

  With that, he took a deep breath to steel his nerves and snatched the job listing before making his way to stand on a chair before the unranked all conveniently clustered around the back of the hall.

  Clearing his throat to gather their attention, he was rewarded with odd looks by some and outright ignored by others. It was all quite rude. In the tales he read of adventures, he was sure this was how they would form parties.

  “Excuse me…”

  Still no attention.

  “ATTENTION, FELLOW UNRANKED.” This time, he made sure to raise his voice, and sure enough, he received plenty more attention. A good chunk of the room was now regarding him and watching with curious expressions.

  “Thank you. I am taking a mission to subjugate some goblin bandits out in the woods and require three companions. As those of you who completed initiation with me will be aware, I can handle myself quite well. I simply require bodies to assist me, but make no mistake, I shall be wholly capable of defeating the foes on my own. As such, the contract reward shall be split half my way and three-ways between each of you for the remaining half. You may enquire about joining with me.”

  With that, he gave a small bow and stepped off the chair, during his speech he seemed to have garnered significantly more attention and quite a few were chuckling. Not remembering speaking any jokes, he assumed their comrades must have said something amusing.

  From the corner of his vision, he spotted a very awkward looking guild clerk approach him. She looked around at all the laughing and inquisitive faces, her face reddening slightly before she began addressing him.

  “Uh, sir. If you would like to form a party, you may leave the details with us and we can put the information on the party request board for you.” She pointed towards another set of boards Leon had not bothered interacting with.

  He had assumed they were for general announcements and written them off; to know they were for party formation was a new piece of information for him.

  “My apologies. I am looking for—”

  Holding up a hand, she stopped him. “A party of three with a fifty split for you and fifty split between the rest. Goblin subjugation where you will handle all combat. Is that correct?” she asked, he nodded his confirmation. “Good. The guild will inform you of when your party has formed.”

  “I appreciate your assistance, Ms…?”

  “Mavis,” she replied quickly. She seemed embarrassed. A natural reaction he felt—he was quite handsome.

  “Thank you, Ms. Mavis,” he said, putting on a friendly smile.

  Nodding, she quickly left, her face having become even more red. It was pleasant to see that he was still as charming as ever. She was quite cute, even if she was of common stock. Dismissing such thoughts, he looked back over the unranked and sighed before getting back on the chair.

  “APOLOGIES.” Everyone gave him back their attention a tad more raptly than before. “Enquiries may check the party formation board over there.” Pointing towards the board for the rest of the unranked’s benefit he continued, “That is all.”

  Stepping down off the chair again, he was met with even more raucous laughter than last time. Unsure what he might have said that was so funny, he simply determined it must have been some adventurer's joke. Spotting Mavis in the crowd, she seemed somehow even redder than before. Shrugging it all off, he made his way to the Guild’s training yard, figuring he might as well stay close for when his party was formed.

  ~

  It took around two hours before he felt his copper badge begin to shake and glimmer, he assumed that was his message that a party had been formed. In that time, he had been practicing basic swordsmanship, he was not used to training around so many people, and while not self-conscious of his skills, there was some trepidation at performing before so many. It was never a bad idea to refine the basics at least, so he stabbed and slashed merrily until his summons.

  Sheathing his greatsword, he made his way back to the main Guildhall. There he found a trio of unranked waiting around the party board. A quick once over told him they were nothing special, their gear still that which had been loaned out by the guild. He did not even recognize them from his initiation, although perhaps that was not saying much. He grimaced, they would be enough. The requirement did not call for exceptional bodies, merely warm ones.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  As he drew closer, they finally noticed him and all stood a bit straighter. Each of them held out their hand as if to shake his before two of them nervously withdrew them upon seeing he only had one hand with which to shake their own. He took the hand of the last one offered to him and shook it, it was not a strong grip or a calloused hand, and he felt his enthusiasm drop lower and lower.

  “I’m Calen, it’s nice to meet you, Leon. I took the initiation a month before you, but my friends here were in yours.” Calen nodded to the other two who awkwardly nodded a greeting to Leon.

  Their faces jogged no recognition, a rather unsurprising realization all things considered. The only one worth remembering from his initiation was the Katiine, and even then, he only remembered her by her race.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

  In reality, it felt like anything but. If Calen was telling the truth, it meant he had been an unranked for well over a month at this rate. His enthusiasm had reached a solid rock bottom before bursting below that to descend further yet into the six hells. Calen only smiled at his words, however.

  “I am glad to hear that. Before we depart, however, I must ask, is this reward split non-negotiable?”

  Leon eyed him warily before responding. “Not necessarily.” The faces of the three boys all lit up at that. “Reports say there are at least eight goblins. For each one you kill, I am willing to increase your share. Should you manage to kill them all, it would be I taking the lower share.”

  The smiles all died immediately at that, but wisely, none chose to complain.

  “Fair enough, I suppose. A sixth is fairly generous if all you expect us to do is stand around.”

  Leon nodded, pleased they understood their role. He would not be opposed to them killing a goblin or two and saving himself the hassle, but they should understand to leave the bulk to him.

  “Good. We should head out now then. Who knows how long it may take us to find them.”

  The three unranked all shouldered their gear and left the hall with him. Despite his companions, he doubted it would take all too long to complete the mission. All things told, he would likely be returning before noon.

  ~

  His companions mostly spoke amongst themselves, a small mercy all things considered. The job listing pointed them towards the last area the monsters had raided, but from there, it was a matter of tracking any marks the goblins may have left, and hoping that they might stumble upon them.

  It was a frustratingly difficult endeavor, and noon had passed them by without any progress. The small area the hunters had been ambushed in provided no clues of where the goblins may have run off to, and if there were any, none of them had keen enough eyes to discern them. As lunch rolled past, Leon had decided they would need to approach this from a different angle.

  The goblins had to have a home base somewhere in the woods. Given the group's small size, they were probably set up in a cave rather than going through with the bother of building a camp, and Leon took this into consideration as they hunted.

  The guild had provided a map, and he took it out every so often, noting the caves and similar geographic features in their vicinity. The map was very detailed, listing not only caves, but their sizes and if any non-monsters inhabited them. From that, he narrowed down their options to three nearby caves. He waved for the other three to follow him, and they set away from the ambushing site they had spent so many hours at. He had figured they might ask where they were going, but everyone seemed too bored to argue against sticking around and fruitlessly looking for clues to care.

  Cave was a generous term for the small hole in the earth that they found. It would have been more apt to have called it a hole in the ground with some rock sheltering it from the sky. Deeper caves would be home to more powerful monsters, however, or at least more plentiful. Eight goblins were low on the hierarchy of monster threats all things considered. They would undoubtedly be stronger than the groups of five kobolds from initiation, and capable of much more coherent strategy at that, but if goblins wanted to secure themselves good cave real estate, they would need much higher numbers.

  Entering the hole, Leon and his makeshift party investigated it, taking half an hour to make sure there were absolutely no signs of habitation before moving onto the second cave.

  Once they had cleared that one as well, Leon began to worry. If the goblins were not at the last cave as he hoped, then they would need to expand their search radius around where the hunters were ambushed. By this point, even if they found them at the last cave, they would not be returning to the guild anytime before dusk. He racked his brain for what he knew about goblins, and was frustrated at the lack of information he could dredge up.

  Goblins have a strength-based hierarchy determined by how much loot one has. They are not exceedingly dangerous, but they are clever. Clever enough to make their own small shelters, though? We would be stuck here all week combing the woods in that case, and if they have seen us, they might even be avoiding us entirely.

  Glancing behind him to the three unranked trudging along, he examined their moods. One of them was breathing heavily and had removed his jerkin, while the other two were barely better, dragging their feet and desperately fanning their armor to let air onto their chest. There was some discomfort on his end as well, it felt as though he were boiling inside his chest plate, but he was unwilling to remove it, and less willing to allow those frustrations to be seen.

  I cannot let myself look weak in front of them. Unranked they may be, they are also more than capable of spreading rumors concerning any lackluster performance I might show. Even if we succeed at this point I’ll be a laughing stock for taking well over a day to hunt some goblins. Damn it all, I need to study up on tracking procedures, or at least be more selective in hiring help next time.

  Shaking his head, he cleared the idle thoughts. There would be no changing the mistakes of the past; hopefully, the goblins would be at the last cave, and he could salvage some of his reputation in battle. His prayers were answered as they caught sight of the last cave. While there were no goblins present, there was clear evidence of habitation, and by multiple bipedal creatures at that. Even if these were not the goblins they were looking for, he could fetch a good bounty simply by dispatching whatever had taken up residence here.

  Seeing the evidence, the other three let out a quiet cheer while Leon himself simply released a relieved breath. The goblins were not at camp, but they would undoubtedly be returning before nightfall. It was for the better this way, giving his team a chance to recover their stamina after hours of trekking through the forest.

  “Perfect, we can set an ambush here and deal with them quickly,” the leader of the other three—Calum, he thought—spoke up, with the other two giving satisfied nods.

  Leon was not opposed to the idea; in theory, an ambush would allow them to effectively neutralize the goblins with little risk to themselves. But it would also lead to a better share for the other three and leave it seeming that Calum was the one in charge. No, if Leon wanted to salvage his reputation and earn his proper share, then he needed to face them head on.

  “There’s no need for an ambush. Goblins are intelligent monsters—I shall parley with them and prove my physical prowess. They will have no choice but to withdraw from the forest,” he spoke with a confidence that had the other three boys conflicted.

  They knew their leader's plan was a good one, and undoubtedly did not know if goblins were even intelligent enough to talk with. It seemed none of them were brave enough to challenge him for it, however, especially with him staring them down.

  Seizing upon the initiative granted by their indecisiveness, he continued, “You three stay here and surround them when they arrive. I shall face them on my own while you prepare to intervene should things go south. If I require help, I shall call for it.”

  There were some slow nods and murmurs of assent at that. Taking those in stride, he made his way to the goblins’ camp in order to dissuade any further argument. The other three stayed clumped together for another few minutes, likely discussing their positions, before they too split up.

  Pulling out his greatsword, he let the whistle of steel through air soothe his nerves. When he felt sufficiently calm, he stopped swinging and rested the sword point into the earth. He did not lean himself on the pommel, but instead stood ready for the goblins to appear. The sun was close to setting, and he hoped they were not facing a night hunting group. Shaking the unwelcome notion from his head, he prepared himself. If they hunted at night, they would have found the camp in use when they arrived. No, the goblins would be coming back to rest, he was sure of it.