Zack Adder leaned on the background info Ronaldo had provided.

  “No, never hunted monsters before. Isn’t it dangerous?”

  Stacy frowned. “No experience, got it.”

  She didn’t comment on how dangerous it was.

  “Any notable skills?”

  “Well, I’m training to be an actor…” He had arrived initially with Millie, a known actress from the Rose Theater, so it was better to keep his backstory consistent. “But I’m just getting started.”

  “So, [Acting]?”

  She rubbed her temples.

  “And, uh, [Running]…”

  Zack knew he was coming off as a bit incompetent, but that was the plan.

  He wanted Stacy to come up with the idea of couriering herself.

  “How about you sign up for some basic training? We can put a sword and shield in your hand and you can go out and help take care of the thurgenrat infestation. And, hey, you’ve got that snake, right? It can help you out!”

  Now it was Zack’s turn to frown. “She’s still a juvenile, and I dunno about taking her out fighting monsters just yet.”

  Stacy frowned back. “You’re not very adventurous for an Adventurer, are you?”

  Zack sighed. “Look, I’m busy enough with the Theater as it is. Isn’t there something I could do fast, like right now, and get paid so I can go buy snake food?”

  Stacy relented. “Fine… Ugh, you know, I get rated on the kinds of jobs I get people to take, right? What’s with all the cowards these days… It’s just thurgenrats…”

  She reached under the table and pulled out a bundle of envelopes sealed with wax, almost A1 paper sized, so a fair bit bigger than a regular letter-sized envelope. She also pulled out a pin and armband, bright green and white striped with the symbol of the Adventurer’s Guild on it.

  “You got [Running], right? Wear this while you’re on the job so the City Guards don’t start chasing after you. And if they yell at you to stop, anyway, make sure you do. They do spot checks on couriers for smuggled goods and to catch out thieves.”

  She glared at him lightly. “Do that under Guild colors and we find out, you’ll wish it were the City Guard that caught you.”

  Zack put on an indignant frown. “I would never!”

  Stacy furrowed her eyebrows. “Good. Deliver these letters to the named recipients, and get a signed and dated receipt. That receipt is how you get paid when you come back.”

  She slid the stack of envelopes to Zack, and he flipped through them before picking one at random. “I’m not sure where this street is, do you have a map?”

  “Yeah, hold on…”

  But rather than pulling out a map, Stacy instead pulled out a blank piece of rough paper and quickly sketched out the rough outline of the city, the main streets, and enough of the side streets so that she could draw a little star at the location of each of the delivery points.

  “It’s your first job,” she said as she drew, “might as well make it easy for you.”

  In under a minute, she passed him the map. “If you get lost, you can ask the City Guards for directions. Payment is five lindra and one Guild contribution point for each delivery and the penalty for losing the letters is three Guild contribution points. No penalty for failure to deliver if you bring them back. So don’t lose the letters. Got it?”

  Zack nodded. “Got it, thanks.”

  There were five envelopes, so the payment for delivering all five was twenty-five lindra.

  “You know how contribution points work?”

  “The what now?” Zack feigned ignorance.

  “The contribution points. You’ll get one for each successful delivery. You’re currently unranked, but once you hit ten points, you’ll promote to G Rank and you can do better quests. Each thurgenrat slain is worth a point, you know?” She tried to entice him once again towards thurgenrat hunting.

  “Maybe some other time.”

  “There are better deliveries, too, if you just want to do that. These are the lowest priority so the pay is…”

  “Sorry Stacy, but I really just need some quick cash right now.”

  She sighed, defeated. “Alright. Good luck, brave adventurer, on your quest…”

  He pinned the armband to his sleeve and headed out, envelopes and map in hand. Orienting himself was easy, thanks to the visible Grand Cathedral and Royal Castle visible on their respective hills on the outskirts of the city, and he took off at a light jogging pace.

  Might as well get some [Running] experience as he went.

  Two side streets brought him to one of the main arterial roads of the city, the Kingsroad, where carts laden with goods for market and raw materials for crafters passed each other moving up and down the road. Lining the sides were various storefronts and a sidewalk barely wide enough for two men to pass each other as they walked. The shops, of course, spilled out onto this valuable real estate with stands displaying goods for sale, forcing pedestrians to step into the road to get around.

  The first delivery was to a Harvey Verr, of Verr’s Jewelry, on a side road just off the Kingsroad. Zack was forced to a walk as the road grew crowded and he needed to pick his way through the other pedestrians.

  His skin prickled as he walked. As though he could feel every time someone’s gaze turned to him. For the most part, people would glance at him and find him uninteresting, given his cheap-looking clothes, but a few gave him longer looks.

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  Most of those looking at him more closely were the City Guards, some posted on corners and others walking up and down the street on patrol. And most of their gazes were on his armband, marking him as being on Adventurer’s Guild business. But none stopped him like Stacy had told him to expect.

  Another lingering gaze came from a particularly ornery-looking shopowner, lurking in his doorway, mean-mugging every man who passed.

  The final lingering gaze was from a young boy, either twelve or thirteen, dressed in rags and walking towards Zack, heading in the opposite direction. He was attempting to hide that he was focused on Zack, and as they passed, they bumped into one another.

  Zack grabbed his wrist, the boy’s hand still in his pocket, and they froze in the middle of the crowded sidewalk.

  “I can take you to the guard over there and accuse you of pickpocketing, or you can answer my question and I’ll let you go,” Zack threatened with a low growl, trying to get some [Private Conversation] experience while he was at it.

  “What?” the boy whispered back petulantly.

  Zack’s pocket had been empty anyway.

  “Is [Pickpocketing] a [Skill]?”

  The boy looked up, confusion apparent on his face.

  “Yeah,” he answered nodding.

  And Zack let him go, continuing on without a backward glance.

  He could faintly hear the boy scamper off, footfalls slapping against the stone street.

  There was just so much to learn in this new world.

  If he had to guess, the feeling of gazes on his skin was likely his [Paranoia] skill, and it probably wasn’t any kind of magic. Rather, he was alert, and noticed those in the crowd looking in his direction.

  That was all.

  Probably.

  Another few minutes of walking and he saw the sign for Diamond Street, though it was little more than an alley, and he turned off the main road and was immediately stopped by two city guards.

  “Halt, Adventurer.”

  Zack stopped, and one of the guards beckoned him over. There was one on each corner, flanking the entrance to the alley, and they were wearing chainmail over cloth tabards and leather boots and gloves and helms, with billy clubs hanging from their belts.

  “Yes sir?” Zack said.

  “Courier spot check. What’s your business around here?”

  “Making a delivery.” Zack showed the guard the envelope addressed to Harvey Verr.

  “And the others?” The guard held out his hand, and Zack handed over the entire stack.

  Now, if the guard took the stack, he’d be penalized at the guild. In America, he might have argued with the guard about his rights and searches and so on.

  This wasn’t America.

  If something happened, he’d simply report it to the guild and take the penalty on the chin.

  But the guard merely flipped through the stack of envelopes while his partner kept an eye on passers-by, and when he saw the partial map of the city he snorted.

  “You new in town?”

  “New to adventuring,” Zack said. “It’s my first job and the receptionist said she’d make it easy for me.”

  The other guard perked up, though he kept his eyes on the road. “She didn’t try to send you out hunting thurgenrats?”

  “No, she did, but I just need quick cash.”

  The guard holding his envelopes nodded and handed them back. “Smart man. The forest has been more dangerous the last week. Best to wait for the swarm to be thinned and then go out and get your first levels.”

  He smiled at Zack, and then turned and pointed to the third shop down on the left. “That there’s Verr’s Jewelry. He just got back from lunch, so don’t let his assistant lie and tell you he’s out. You have any trouble, let me know. My name’s Yarvin.”

  “I’m Paul,” the other guard said.

  “Thanks, my name’s Jack.” Zack nodded, smiling, and turned and walked down the alley to Verr’s.

  The door propped open and he stepped inside. Lit by some kind of crystal, the interior sparkled from hundreds of cut gems, mainly white diamonds, glittering inside clearsteel cases. At the far end, past a center display table, was a counter behind which stood a young man wearing an impeccably clean suit, made with fine black fabric and tailored to his body. His hair was glossy, and perfectly styled in a side part, not a hair out of place.

  His expression was one of distaste, seeing Zack come into the shop wearing simple fabrics and bearing the armband of the Adventurer’s Guild.

  “How can I help you, sir?” the attendant said, his voice dripping with disdain.

  Zack smiled. “I’ve got a delivery for mister Harvey Verr, and I’ll need his signature.”

  “My uncle is out on business for the rest of the day. Try again tomorrow.”

  The attendant narrowed his eyes and frowned haughtily down his nose at Zack.

  Zack stalked into the shop right up to the counter, and cocked an eyebrow at the attendant.

  “That’s interesting,” he leaned on the counter, placing his elbow down and claiming some of the attendant’s space. “Because my friend Yarvin, the guard outside, said Harvey Verr just got back from lunch, and to let him know if I had any trouble with my delivery.” He spoke louder than strictly necessary, so that his voice would carry into the back of the shop, through the closed door behind the attendant.

  “Do I need to go bring Yarvin into this?” he asked, letting his face settle into a slightly threatening but overall bored expression.

  The attendant broke.

  “One, one moment.” Sweat beaded on his brow, and he turned and opened the door to the back just enough to slip through, closing it behind him.

  Despite [Eavesdropping], the most Zack could make out was faint murmurs.

  A minute later, a shorter, older man came out, wearing a fine blue blouse and black trousers under an apron. Spectacles perched on his nose, and his hair was thinning terribly, his comb-over doing nothing to cover up his balding crown. He was a head shorter than Zack, but looked up at him smiling apologetically.

  “My apologies, adventurer. My attendant was mistaken.” He rubbed his hands together sycophantically. “You said you have a delivery?”

  “Yes, sign here.” Zack pushed the receipt towards him first.

  The man who might be Verr waited a moment, making no move to sign it, and Zack merely cocked an eyebrow. A few seconds later, he clicked his tongue and pulled out a fancy quill, signing the receipt Harvey Verr.

  “And the date.”

  “You’re not getting any tip from me,” the man grumbled, but he dated the receipt and thrust it back across the counter.

  Zack handed him the envelope.

  Harvey Verr frowned with disgust as he took it, as though the envelope was soiling his hands. “Another bloody summons. Don’t ever mess up your taxes, kid.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. Have a nice day, Mister Verr.”

  “Yeah, screw you, too.”

  Zack exited the shop.

  One delivery down, five lindra earned. About ten dollars equivalent. Surely that was enough for a live mouse from that pet shop, though he hadn’t checked.

  He pulled out his map and rotated it, aligning it with the Kingsroad.

  *ding!* The skill [Orienteering] has been acquired!

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