Adventurer

Adventurer.

Fort. Sector 2.

Sage's guild headquarters.

409 AF. A day before Tara left the Fort.

"I love you so much, my dear."

"I love you too."

The lady behind the computer rolled her eyes.

'You're supposed to be working right now. All that nonsense can wait.'

She soon started to hear the sound of lips smacking against each other.

'Oh, now they're kissing. A bunch of animals.'

She didn't stop typing though. Her eyes were glued to the screen the entire time.

"Mabel?"

She raised up her head, hands off the keyboard.

"Dylan."

The man before her wore a black formal suit, and had a peculiar scar on his right eye, which was very old. A newer mark on his face would be the red lipstick that was still on his lips.

'What a great kisser you are!'

"What do you need, sir?"

"This." He dropped another heap of papers on her desk.

"More applications?"

"Yes. They have to be sorted and properly registered in the database. Also, the routine sweep is coming up tomorrow. Need to make sure everything is perfect when our supervisor comes in to check things out. So you've got until then."

'Our rivals have algorithms and artificial intelligence to handle this. Why me?'

"Get to work. Work overtime if you have to. Bye." He turned his back and left.

'Damn. Work overtime? Have you ever worked overtime in your life?'

She sighed and glanced at the computer. Only about 35 pages to go.

'Damn this. Damn him. Damn everything!'

Mabel slammed her fist on the table, shaking the stacks of papers. She winced, then frowned.

Then she kept working anyways.

'Vacation in sector zero. Vacation in sector zero.'

Mabel chanted it in her mind like a mantra. As she did so, her hands didn't stop moving.

The new papers she was copying into digital format were application forms. Adventurer application forms. Among the big three guilds only Stalwart and The Sage's guild has this formality. The Wyrm guild let almost anyone apply, but the sages needed to be strict.

Why? Because they only accepted the best of the best. The weaker ones were rejected. Hence, at the end of the day, only a few candidates would be accepted. But keeping records of every single applicant was actually someone's job. A particularly stressful one, that sucked the life out of a person.

'But at least, I'm not out in the wilderness beyond our haven, risking my life. Although I would appreciate better pay once in a while. Maybe shit would have been manageable if that bastard didn't keep reducing my pay cheque every year.'

She sighed and kept working.

Mabel started to recognise some new faces. Some recurring ones too. There were no shortage of people out there who were desperately trying to join an adventurer's guild —this adventurer's guild. She doesn't blame them, the sage's guild was the best when it came to espers and spell tech. They had information about espers and esper abilities that is unheard of elsewhere in the Fort. Rumours go round, that even the king himself didn't know everything the Grand sage knew about the evolution of the world and people.

But she found it ridiculous that someone would try again after being rejected 15 times.

Jupiter whitehead.

Aged: 34. Height: 195cm

Sound health.

No notable talents or achievements.

Compulsory educational qualification.

"There's nothing redeeming about him. Nothing stands out. Why is he still trying? He could be an adventurer elsewhere; he'll still get paid. Here he is, wasting precious coin on this futile attempt. It'll make sense if he was an esper. But the sage's guild accepts all espers—their abilities no matter how weak, are always valuable. But this bum isn't an esper."

Suddenly, she heard knocks on the door to her office.

"Come in."

The door creaked open, and she heard the sounds of footsteps. Rotating her office chair with style, she turned to face the visitor.

It was a lady. A brunette in her late twenties, dressed in a formal gown and carrying a stylish hand bag.

"Hi!"

"Mrs. Diamonds herself! What is it that made you grace this humble office with your brilliance."

"Would you stop it Mabel. I'm not Mrs. Damien yet. And yes, his name isn't diamonds."

"It is to me. He's not just rich, he's made out of money."

Caitlyn sat down on one of the chairs arranged on one corner of the office.

"I'm glad he is. But..." She trailed away. Her face wasn't as bright as it was when she came in.

"What's the matter?"

"The wedding's been postponed again."

"What?! What is he thinking?"

"It's not Gary's fault. They happen to have a big job now. It's the reason I came here, not that I don't want to visit you."

"Hmm.... Big job. Outside the Fort?"

"Yes. Outside. I was hoping, since you're the one handling most of the files regarding adventurers, something must've come up somewhere."

"You want me to remove his name from the roster. You know that's a crime, right? If Dylan finds out.."

"He won't. Come on, please. Just do it for me."

"Your fiancé is the greatest esper working with the sage's guild. He's number one. There's no way they won't notice his absence. He's THE Diamond. I.. I can't do this."

"What if, there is a justified reason for his absence from the raid?"

"The guild master- great Sage- and his 'disciples' aren't stupid. Rather, they're the opposite. They will remember the fact that they wrote his name in the original plan for the job. However, I could twist things around if I had proof that he was sick. But he doesn't need to know- you know how he gets. You can keep him busy and away from the guild, right?"

"Gladly." She smiled.

Mabel rolled her eyes.

"A fever. Yeah, we'll do that. Just do your part. I'll handle everything else."

"How will you get the proof?"

"The story is : he went to the doctor for a check up, discovered he was ill and decided to decline the mission. The doctor- Evan- would correspond with the story. Then you would say the same when they call his phone. Everything concerning that is your problem, not mine."

"Thanks, Mabel. You're a lifesaver."

"All in a day's work."

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Codename: Terror raid XXIV

Category: Threat management.

Priority: A

Objective: Wound or cripple the thing and escape alive.

Threat level: 3000.

Info: Only A-rank adventurers are allowed. Even then, the mission might fail without The Sage's esper team and their leader, Diamond.

Time limit: The mission must take place between the hours of 12:10:08 pm—18:19:78 (approx.). Failure to complete the mission may lead to an attack on the Fort, launched by the Terror.

King's summons to all the adventurers, corporations, families and guilds participating in or sponsoring the raid.

Joint operation guild participation: Wyrm guild, Stalwart guild, Sage's guild, Cobra guild, Phoenix guild and Sun guild. Other guilds are to stay in the Fort and cease all missions.

Private adventurers participating include: Riot, Omen, Nautical and Stopwatch.

Sponsored and/or assisted by : House Damocles, House Windfall, The minx, Flagship organization, Extermination group, Moon guild, Lightning guild, Red Lion guild, Hidden blade guild.

Rewards for all participants: 30000 gold coins.

Disclaimer: This mission was proposed by the Sage's guild, who had been the first to discover the terror's growing power. Credit for the completion goes to them. On orders from the Elder Great Sage, the operation would not be broadcasted across the Havens.

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