Siterion- 'Trouble Never Ends'

Arin walked towards the end of the hall with a trembling heart. He imagined everyone in the guild hiding behind the closed doors on either side of the alley, ready to pounce on him as soon as the magic fox revealed his secret identity.

He found himself behind a stall at the end of the alley. Peering through a window, he saw a stool and, behind it, various merchandise, artifacts, and a rack full of books. He recognized many of them from the castle's library. Strangely, there was no sign of any magical beasts.

"Ahem," a voice caught Arin's attention from behind. He turned around to find a red fox with glasses, wearing a checked shirt and suspenders. "You…" Arin struggled to form a coherent sentence. "You seem to be traumatized from last night's events," the fox spoke sympathetically. "Go and take rest, or find a healer. Come back tomorrow!"

"You… can… talk?" Arin stammered in disbelief.

The fox gave him a look that made Arin feel ashamed, as if he had expressed wonder about something as obvious and natural as the sun rising in the east every morning.

Quickly collecting himself, Arin said, "Forgive me, after the barbarian lady hit me so hard, I'm still feeling groggy!"

The fox burst into laughter. "Alright, now it all makes sense. It was you, right? Yes, I saw it too. Now I can remember, it was you!"

He sat on the counter and rang a bell. A human girl in a maid's costume arrived from behind. The fox ordered two cups of coffee and said, "Let's have our discussion over a cup of coffee. You really need it, trust me. Till our order is served, let's introduce ourselves. I am Finnian Vulpestra," he extended his arm.

Arin noticed that in this world, instead of simply shaking hands, people grabbed each other's forearms in a gesture called 'Vowgrip.'

Arin followed suit and grabbed Finnian's forearm. "Nice to meet you, Mister Finnian. I am Arin Drez, a novice adventurer. I've just fulfilled my first quest and I'm here to exchange my loot for money!"

"'Sell' would be more appropriate than 'exchange,'" said Finnian. "We buy from our adventurers. If we sold to adventurers, the Merchant Guild would object. Fair warning: if you sell a good, be ready to buy it back at a higher price from an outside merchant. Unless you're absolutely sure you won't use it in the near future, don't sell. You can store it in the Guild Bank for a nominal monthly fee."

"Thanks for the disclaimer," Arin smiled, opening his backpack to take out his loot. The first items were strange amulets. The fox inspected them closely. "They don't have much value in terms of design or material, but…" he turned around and started shuffling through old tomes.

Meanwhile, the girl brought two cups of coffee. Arin smiled back at her as she left. He waited for Finnian to finish surfing through the pages of his tomes. "YES! I KNEW IT," Finnian shouted with excitement. "I knew I'd seen this pattern before!" Finnian grabbed Arin's hands tightly. "Where did you find these medallions?" The fox's face was a strange mix of curiosity, excitement, and fear. He was trembling. "Do you know what these mean? Their implications? All the pillars will be shaken, it's a great omen!" Finnian was about to pull out his fur in distress. He grabbed Arin's hand and directed him outside. "Get your bag, we are going to meet the Hall Leader."

Without waiting for Arin's answer, he dragged him outside into the guild hall. People in the guild hall saw the Guild Merchant dragging a newbie adventurer outside. Ragna stood up from her chair. Suddenly, the bustling guild hall went eerily quiet. Finnian, however, paid no attention. As he went upstairs, the receptionist lady approached them and said, "Mister Finnian, the Guild Leader is currently…"

Finnian bared his fangs and replied in a cold, stern voice, "Do you think I care?"

The lady didn't find the courage to stop him. Arin felt like a kid being dragged to the principal's office after misbehaving.

Finnian knocked twice and, without waiting for a reply, opened the door.

Arin entered a large, spacious, well-decorated room. A middle-aged man was sleeping with his face buried in a book.

"Sir Zikar," Finnian said politely.

"I am no longer a knight," the man said without looking at them, his face still buried in the book. "What have you found?"

"A forbidden artifact of lost ages," Finnian spoke in a grim tone. "Amulets of Nahun's followers, as well as…"

"As well as?" Zikar stood up, his glaring eyes scanning the strange new man who had entered the room with Finnian.

"Amulet of Nahun's priest," Finnian said, trembling with excitement and fear.

Zikar took one in his hand, carefully inspecting it. "There are faint traces of dark energy, much less than there should be."

"Is it fake?" Finnian asked.

"No, otherwise there wouldn't be any trace of dark energy at all. It has dissipated. Either someone drained them of dark energy, or they have been there long enough to lose their residual energy." Zikar looked at Arin. "Where did you find these? Did you find anything else?"

Arin was prepared for the situation and had already made up a fake version of the story. He told them he had found the amulets buried in a mound directly under a grate for rainwater passage. The mound seemed unnatural, so he dug it up to unearth the strange amulets along with silver bars.

"Silver bars?" Finnian was amazed. "Show me!"

Arin took out two silver bars from his backpack. Finnian took them in his hands and slapped Arin's head. "You fool, you think these are silver bars?"

Zikar laughed. "You see, that's why our founding leader established this rule: to prevent unscrupulous merchants from scamming our members."

Arin was dumbfounded. Looking at his confused expression, they explained that the bars were 'Quicksilver bars,' much more precious than gold.

Finnian told him, "One Quicksilver bar is worth around 500 gold coins." He continued inspecting the bars. "They're so rare that they're only made in bar shape, not coin, to avoid wastage. They also contain the seal of the owner…" Suddenly, he stopped, his face turning grim. He showed the bar to Zikar, whose face also turned grim.

"Are you sure you found these beneath the mound, along with the amulets?" he asked.

Arin nodded.

"Finnian, go down and summon Captain Duran. Tell Ashley that no one other than the captain comes upstairs until I say so!" Zikar ordered.

As Finnian was leaving, Zikar called him back. "Wait, if Duran proposes to bring some people with him, let them come as well. But NO ONE ELSE!"

Finnian left, and Zikar looked at Arin. "Boy, you are attracting too much attention for your own good. Whether it's for good or bad, let the ones above and below decide."

He said nothing else and started reading a book. Arin sat completely at a loss, having no idea what had happened.

After a while, a knock was heard.

"Come inside," Zikar said.

Arin witnessed Duran entering the room. He was accompanied by the two guards from yesterday who had been on guard duty at the main entrance gate of the city wall and had stopped him initially. There was also the guard in charge of the sewer gate last night. However, besides them, there was another odd person—a hooded man. When he took off his hood, Arin was taken aback. He quickly realized it was the same suspicious man he had seen that morning in the plaza, who had given him a strange glance and vanished into thin air.

The hooded man looked at Arin and asked the others, "Well, isn't this good sir supposed to take off his mask as well?"

Before Arin could answer, Duran chuckled and told the man, "Trust me, you don't want him to take off his mask!"

"By Lathasa," Duran smirked at Arin. "As I thought, you are really something. I knew it."

Arin was about to stand up in his honor, but Duran waved for him to sit. "You are really a troublesome guy, aren't you?"