Early Bird

Upon entering the mercenary's guild, a foul stench exploded against his face. "Ugh, what is that smell?" Although he couldn't feel pain, the heavy smell of alcohol and something else that he couldn't make out was enough to hurt his nose.

The lights inside were off and the windows were shut and blinded by the curtains, but light still leaked in through cracks here and there, enough to illuminate the room for him to see. Just like with the inn, the inside of the tavern was a wreck. Tables, chairs, cups, bowls, and even a few unconscious men, riddled the floor all over. It was like a rat's den.

Just what the heck happened last night? Was it a holiday or something? It seemed to Kies that everyone was either celebrating or partying, well, other than him of course.

Kies carefully walked over to the reception desk, making sure to not step on anything or anyone. There were broken pieces of glass everywhere. It was going to be a nightmare to clean up this mess. This was at least ten times worse than the mess at the inn.

Kies made it to the reception desk quietly and without making noise. The few men who were still on the floor snoring kept snoring, unaware of the new presence in the room. If he wanted to, he could rob all of these men without them knowing, and after what they did to Iris, he was tempted to but refrained from doing so.

Kies knew that there were a few good mercenaries in the ocean of rotten ones, and the ones here were probably jerks seeing how they made such a big mess and were just sleeping on the floor, but even still, there was no point in taking their stuff.

"I bet they don't even have that much on them anyway..."

Since there was no one at the reception desk yet, Kies slid over the table to the other side. He wasn't supposed to be over here as it was for employees only, but it wasn't like he was looking to cause trouble. Rather, he was looking to help people in trouble.

Standing ten feet tall and ranging over twenty feet wide in front of them was the commission board. There was also one outside in the common area for people to take, but this one, the board behind the desk, had all the commissions sent in by people. From what Kies observed, the reason why the guild didn't just throw all the commissions out there on the board is that they want people to take them.

Mercenaries hated taking on long and tedious requests and low-paying ones so they were very picky about what they chose. To help fix this problem, the guild would only post a certain number of commissions on the smaller board for the mercenaries to take, essentially forcing someone to take it in the end, or else there wouldn't be any new commissions.

Kies was definitely not allowed to do this, but who was going to stop him? The mercenaries that we're lying on the floor? They were so sound asleep that even a thunderstorm couldn't wake them... Probably. The employees were also nowhere to be seen. With the sheer number of commissions on the massive board, there was no way that anyone would notice if one or two went missing.

Kies quickly went over the commissions on the board, scanning each one and skimming through the contents. Most of them asked for some kind of material from the desert, like a beast's hide or a rare mineral. They didn't pay very well either, but Kies didn't care about money. After today, he will be sitting on a pile of gold and this little pocket change was nothing.

No, he was looking for interesting commissions. Ones that sounded intriguing or fun. He had some time to kill before his match and wanted to find one that he could do in that time.

"This one sounds good..." Kies' gaze fixed on one of the commissions near the top center of the board. The words were small and hard to read from this distance, but he made out the gist of what it said.

On the outskirts of the kingdom, outside the tall walls that protected Otane, a village has sighted something that looks like a dragon. Further investigation is needed.

Something this important... And it was collecting dust on the board!? How irresponsible of the guild. A commission like this needed to be done straight away. And also, why did the village commission this to the mercenary's guild instead of the army? Even with how slow they were, if word of a potential dragon sighting near Otane gets out, they will take action.

But then again, didn't Otane have wyvern riders? The dragon sighting may just have been a wyvern. The two looked pretty similar so that might be the reason why this commission wasn't labeled as an emergency.

"Ah, whatever. I'll take it anyway." If it is a dragon, Kies wanted to make sure that it wasn't the one that burned down Silverfield, because if it is, he had a grudge to settle with it.

Kies wasn't sure, but he may be the sole survivor of the Trevan family. As much as he didn't want to think about it or admit it, the chances that Nina and the rest made it out were pretty slim. Heck, even if they did make it out, Kies didn't even remember what they looked like anymore. He had recovered some of his memories with the first fragment but his memories of them were hazy. He could've walked past them here in Otane and didn't notice.

"Ha..." Too many useful thoughts. Kies shook his head and came back into reality. Right now, he needed to pick a commission and leave before someone saw him.

*Yawn!*

Kies spun around and looked behind him, startled by the noise. One of the mercenaries that had been sleeping near the entrance was waking up. The man sat up and rubbed his eyes, recovering from his hangover. There was no time. Using his magic, Kies picked up the dragon commission and rushed out the door before the mercenary had the chance to open his eyes.

*Foosh!*

A strong wind blew by the mercenary and out the door. "Huh?" The mercenary looked around, confused. There were no windows open so where did the wind come from? "I guess I still didn't sleep enough..." Tired and still confused, the mercenary laid back down on the booze-soaked floor and went back to sleep.

Outside, Kies was standing with the door to his back. After making sure that he wasn't caught, he breathed a sigh of relief and left. What a random time for the person to wake up... Kies didn't even make any noise and yet he somehow woke the mercenary up.

"Well, that's that." Kies looked at the commission that he picked up. Now that he was somewhere where there was more light, Kies saw that the paper was a light shade of brown. The ink was also fading off some of the words, but not enough that it interfered with the writing and clarity. Kies was able to read it just fine.

From this, it seemed like that the commission was left untaken on the board for a long time. As for the reason why? Kies didn't know, but there was only one way to find out. Kies looked up at the sky. Judging from the angle of the sun, he didn't have as much time as he thought he did. Whether he could finish this before the match starts, the answer was probably no. But, there was really only one way to find out.

Taking a quick survey of the area, Kies saw that there was no one on the streets yet. Perfect. "Winds." At his call, his trusty partner flew to him and took him up onto the rooftops. He folded the paper and put it somewhere safe. His destination? Wherever the place was written on the paper.

The description was vague and he would have to try and deduce it with his eyes. It was outside the city, opposite from the direction of the river, near several sand dunes. Not exactly easy to find. But nevertheless, he will find it... Hopefully.

Kies took off towards the walls, using the winds to create a barrier around him to make him somewhat invisible to the naked eye. If a person happened to look up in the sky where he was passing, they would only see a blur.

The houses beneath him were nothing more than stepping stones to help propel him forward. It didn't take long for him to reach the wall. Preparing himself, Kies stopped at the last house before the wall and jumped with all his might, leaping well over the wall and onto the other side.

Kies used the winds to break his fall and he landed safely back on the sandy ground. But now that he was down here, he looked back up the wall. "Hmm... Maybe I should've stayed up there and scouted the area..."

Kies was a little regretful that he didn't think about it until he landed down here, but what could he do now? It was already a bit late to try to jump back up there... Or was it? Jumping back on top of the wall wasn't that big of a challenge. "Sorry, friend, but I need you to help me again." The winds that he just dispersed came back to him. They were fierce, swaying from side to side, annoyed that Kies had called them back so fast. But still, they obeyed him and helped him as he jumped back into the air, landing on the wall without any issues.

*Woosh!*

Right after the winds accomplished what they needed to, they dispersed as quickly as they came, roaring away before Kies could change his mind again and ask them to do something else for him. Now then...

Kies looked down at the vast desert from atop the walls. It was time to start the search.

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