.^^ Ranger Willam ^^

— Josef —

Without even talking to any of us, the little fat man attempted to shove past me casually, then bounced off my muscled thigh.

I slowly looked at him, then the tall man behind him. "Good day." I said calmly, and looked back at the elf behind the counter. "So, Lord Makanin, have you considered my offer?"

He hummed. "I will perhaps consider it. Come back tomorrow, and we will discuss more. Having a C+ Mage Smith skill, and an A+ smithing skill, those alone definitely qualify you to work for me, however, Alchemy SS is most impressive. Here, that's... 640 Silver Pieces, all told." He slid the money to me.

I nodded and handed the three bags to Karen, who happily shoved them into her satchel, even though Mara glared at her. Then I stepped to the side calmly, and let the little man past me.

He glared at me, and opened his mouth, but my calm, steady gaze made him rethink being overly rude. He quickly turned to lord Makanin. "Ahh, Yes, Lord Makanin, I have a bit of an issue, and the Ranger here has decided that while I am not owed an amount of compensation money, I am owed a replacement weapon." He tossed a broken sword onto the counter Rudely.

"That is not what I said. I said that you should request a replacement. You are owed nothing. Do not ever misquote me again, Lord Beau, or I will cease to assist you." The 'Ranger' frowned at him severely.

The little lord frowned back at him, but I ignored them, examining the broken sword. It was an easy fix, and he clearly had only broken it because he didn't take proper care of his blade, and he'd chopped at something incredibly tough, likely stone, until the sword had broken.

"He broke it on purpose, but I could fix it in a minute or so?" I asked Kieran quietly.

He gazed down at the man. "What I have understood is that you would like to purchase a new blade?"

He smirked. "Not at all! Your Blade was clearly of inferior make, and I demand-"

The ranger cleared his throat, narrowing his eyes.

The fat man growled. "I would like the money I spent on that piece of-"

"Women and children present." I interrupted him, and the Ranger smirked.

The little man gritted his teeth. "Silence!!! Now, elf, I require-"

"So you're a Ranger, huh? A Lawman?" I asked the taller man casually.

He shrugged. "Just a mediator, really. I'm Ranger Willam, the head of the Guild here... I don't know you." He held a hand out to shake.

"Josef Von Eisenberg. I've been here almost two months, working with the Arcbrands as a Smithing Apprentice for now." I gripped his hand gently, and shook.

Even my gentle grip was apparently a little rough, as his knuckles cracked. "Hmm... Alright. You thought of joining the Guild?" He asked, flexing his hand behind his back.

"Didn't even know it existed. I'm entirely new to this country. Or kingdom, whatever." I shook my head.

"From where?" He eyed me curiously.

"Well, I died, about two months ago, and woke up here, then met Karen." I shrugged, pointing at the dwarf still balancing on my shoulder.

He blinked slowly. "Oh. One of those... that's rough, friend..."

"Excuse me!!! I-"

"You are entirely excused! Thank you for the consideration, Sir." I instantly replied sarcastically.

"Indeed, I believe you've received your answer, Lord Beau." The Ranger nodded as well, pointing a thumb at the door.

He was slowly turning purple, and when he popped, I held back both Karen and Mara, one in each hand, and didn't even bother listening to the spouting fountain of slurs and threats that was glowing forth from his mouth.

While I restrained them from killing him, the Ranger horse-collared him, and threw him out of the building, into the slush-filled street.

I immediately dropped the dwarves, then picked up the blade, intent on fixing it and selling it, because it had several gems embedded in the hilt. 'Activate Skill: Repair SS?'

'Ja? Why is my repair skill higher than my Smithing Skill?'

'Answer: Repair SS = Smithing A+.'

'... oh.'

The two halves of the sword merged, and the chips that had come off slowly welded themselves back onto the sword, making it whole again. It was disenchanted when it was broken, so I handed it to Kieran. "How much?" I grinned facetiously.

He raised an eyebrow slowly. "Repair as well? You grow more interesting as you stand here..."

I grinned. "It's no issue. You did just pay me a decent amount of money, but there's also Mara to deal with, so I was selling this at the same time to add to her monies. That work for you?"

"Surely that's not necessary-" Mara began.

"That is acceptable." Kieran nodded.

Ranger Willam nodded to Mara. "Hello there, Mrs. Arcbrand. Ms. Arcbrand." He smiled at Karen, his long white beard swinging gently against his chest.

"Hello, Willam. Thank you for taking the trash out." Mara sighed.

"Mm. Was either that or arrest you for killing him." He explained easily.

She blushed. "Well, I'm sure I wouldn't have-... hmph! See who gets some of my fish stew come Spring Solstice!" She huffed, turning away and looking at Lord Makanin. "So! Your order is here, plus an order of enchanted arrowheads, twenty spearheads, twenty daggers, and twenty extra swords!"

He nodded. "I had the money for my order ready, so that's for that, and we'll say... 20, 20, 20... that's 800 silver, I'd say. An extra 160, because of the enchanted arrowheads." He fished around in the back room, and came back, placing it next to the first satchel of coins. "Willam, you will escort them to the Bank?" He glanced at the older, buff man.

He shrugged. "The Bank is right next to the Guild, so I suppose there's no reason not to."

"And make sure they are respectful?" Kieran added.

Willam grinned. "I like you, Kieran, but not even the god's themselves could make those poncey fucks respectful."

"Language." Mara chided lazily.

"I'll handle them. Don't worry." I smiled, relishing the idea.

"Do try not to make me arrest you. You'd prefer I do it than the normal Guard." The Old Ranger sighed.

"I would enjoy you attempting to do so." I shrugged carelessly, and looked at Mara. "Let's go, Fräulein?"

Karen leapt back onto my shoulder, and then waved to Kieran. "We'll get out of your hair for now, sorry for the nonsense!"

He smiled. "I quite enjoy your nonsense, Young One. And my next order is for 2,000 arrowheads, and ten more boar spearheads, please. Hunting season is about to start. Two more months, is that good?"

"For just arrows and spearheads? Yes. Enchanted or no?" Mara glanced at me.

"Hmm... half and half? And make it diverse, yeah? Elemental as well as Dismantling." He nodded.

"Any other Enchantments you usually do?" I asked.

"No, though my Dismantling is only an E-, so the C+ is welcome." He shook his head slowly.

"Understood." I nodded and ducked through the door again, then standing straight up, and looking down at the three humans in matching armor, all staring at me in horror. "Hmm? What's the issue, boys?" I asked, curious.

Ranger Willam exited behind us, and laughed heartily. "Off you get, boys, I don't need an escort!" They saluted him hurriedly, and trotted a distance, stopping and clearly still shadowing him, but giving him room. He sighed. "Better, I suppose."

"So the Guild, you mentioned it... what is it? Hunting Club?" I asked.

"That's pretty accurate, yeah. We hunt things, solve problems for people who pay us. The higher-ups handle mediating disputes. In bigger cities, we handle dealing with bandits, thieves, mercenaries who've gone off-reservation, and our smarter members research threats and tell us weaknesses." He explained, leading us further into town.

"So there's different types of memberships." I hummed. "How do you know Mara and Brill? Are they members of your Guild?"

"Yes. The Arcbrand Forge, and all its Smith's, is treated as an honorary training house of sorts, and Lord Makanin is as well, because they supply us with both promising new blacksmiths, mages of all kinds, and Rank S weapons. They are very kind to us, and we take advantage of them quite often, and they in turn also use us to get good materials." Willam grinned unabashedly at Mara.

She smiled. "Perhaps."

As we walked, we saw the free-standing buildings give way to the thing I hated most: Uniformity.

A grid of cookie-cutter houses spread from a raised central point I could see, where a slightly taller and wider building dominated the rest. Each building had a slight decoration, or a sign if it was a shop, but it was clear that these buildings were created en mass.

Two stories tall, with metal-shuttered windows, old-fashioned Hurricane glass, (two panes with metal mesh between them,) and a sidewalk covered by their forward awnings.

I scrunched up my nose, looking at them. "I immediately regret my impulse to try to visit the city. I hate cookie-cutter houses. This is why I left Berlin." I shook my head sadly.

Mara smirked. "Hence why we don't mind living in Under Town. Also we get first pick of any produce that comes in the harbor."

"And you give some to the Guild, which is why we haven't bothered with a fuss." Willam shrugged.

I hummed, filing that information away: the Guild was capable of making a fuss over people not giving them the best of everything. That meant an amount of power in government and society, both nothing to sneeze at.

"And because you're terrified of mama." Karen added, amused.

"And because we're terrified of Mrs.Arcbrand." He agreed, smiling when she huffed at him again.

I laughed, amused, then squinted at a few of the people that were glancing at us as we passed. "Yes, well, I personally find death by dismemberment a little scarier than that." I let my voice deepen, so people would hear and look away.

'Activate Skill: Terrifying Presence A-?'

'You're damned right I will!' I grinned and watched the wave effect, as everyone heard the threat, and shivered, looking away.

Willam chuckled. "Nicely done! And well-timed, because this here is the bank." He stopped us in front of another nondescript pale grey building, the line of cookie-cutter's unbroken so far.

I hummed, narrowing my eyes and looking around. "Well that's odd... usually banks are Gaudy as Hell, even in cookie cutter towns..."

"They didn't have much choice, really. The Mage who built the city did so with something of a Template, so the differences start in the basements." Willam explained casually, and led us inside.

The interior was more of what I'd expected, a group of four people that were sitting at large mahogany desks, and there was no one currently in there, so they were relaxing, talking to one another casually.

"Ah, Willam, you've dragged in a few cats and a dog, Hmm?" One of them asked, barely glancing at us.

Willam smiled, but the room filled with a dreadful feeling that made my stomach turn a little. "Now gentlemen... you'll be polite, won't you?" He asked jovially.

They stopped talking, and the one who'd spoken cleared his throat. "I suppose we can muster the energy to bother with this matter..."

"Wünderbar. I am new here, and I'd like to open an account with the Guild?" I asked, walking to him while Mara stayed with Willam, at another desk.

He nodded. "Yes, and your funds? It is a minimum of 500 silver to open an account?"

I nodded. "Here's 600 or so, that'll start us off." I placed the velvet bags full of silver onto the desk with a loud thud.

He raised an eyebrow, and nodded. "Alright, and your name?"

"Josef Von Eisenberg. That's J-o-s-e-f_V-o-n_ E-i-s-e-n-b-e-r-g. I am a land-owner in Berlin and Sweden, though I'm sure you don't know where they are." I nodded.

He snorted softly. "I wouldn't have knowledge of such-"

"Insult my home. Go ahead, I dare you." I smiled when he glanced up at me, and let 'Terrifying Presence A-' loose.

He paled a little, and pulled out some vellum parchments, writing down my name silently, then handing the bags to someone who appeared at his whistle, a teenager. A few minutes later, he returned with the velvet bags, empty. "652 silver pieces." He said quietly.

"652?" I looked at Karen.

She shrugged. "Some of mine. I don't mind."

"Alright, 652 Silver, a respectable amount for a peasant, the Guild will have record of your reserves within the day, and you can access it at any Guild-Affiliated bank." The man sighed, and sighed the vellum page with a flourish, then held it out.

I took it, and read it swiftly. "Hmm... you wrote my address as 'Peasant's Shack'. Fix it." I said simply, placing it on the desk slowly. His eyes widened, an I nodded. "Oh, right, you don't remember a few seconds ago, when I said that I was not only a landowner, but educated. I can read and write fluently in four languages. But do go on, keep pissing me off. It will end so well for you, Ja?" The skill activated perfectly, on a lesser level. I wasn't trying to make him piss himself, after all.

He cleared his throat, and crossed out peasant's shack, writing Berlin for my address. "Well, there we are... I should warn you, however, that we cannot approve of you within the city until you own land in this kingdom."

"And that is as insignificant to me as your insults. After all, it is barely worth notice, when an ant growls at you." I shrugged casually, with Karen giggling at the stricken look on his face, and walked over to Mara and Willam. "Are we finished, here?"

"Almost... they are having an issue 'counting my deposit'." Mara rolled her eyes.

I nodded, and leaned on the desk, looming over the young man at the desk. "I'm sure it'll resolve itself in the next minute, they are a Guild-Affiliated Bank, after all, and they have a reputation to uphold." The skill activated at full strength, and carried as far as my voice did.

The young man at the desk, surprisingly, wasn't shaken, but a teenager came out swiftly. "E-eighteen hundred and forty nine silver..." he murmured swiftly.

"Are you quite sure? Count again." The man hummed disinterestedly.

"I am going to get arrested if I murder him, aren't I?" I asked Willam without looking away from the man.

"Yes. And I'd stop you." He sighed.

"You would try." I smiled.

He paused, and smiled. "True, I might be too slow... I think I pulled a hamstring earlier..."

"What about just crippling him? Less reprehensible?" I asked calmly, as if discussing the weather.

"A little, bit there'd be community service involved."

"Oh? That's not bad, how much?" I hummed.

"Two years, mostly rock-breaking. You'd do well." He nodded.

"Meh, takes too long. What about just his tongue and eyes?" I grinned.

He considered it seriously. "Mm... two weeks, and I'd make you heal him."

"I don't have healing powers... I think. It'd be a good way to check, Yeah?"

"It would."

The banker's calm facade was slowly slipping, as we calmly discussed his grisly demise, which filled me with no end of joy.

I looked at the boy who'd frozen in place. "1849, was it? Thank you. The bags, as well?" I snapped my fingers.

He flinched, and raced out, returning swiftly and held them out to me. I nodded and took them, handing them to Mara. "Alright, are we finished here now?"

The young man in front of us frowned, but signed the vellum and handed it to me, ignoring Mara.

I handed it to Mara, and then pointed over Willam's shoulder. "That is very interesting, what is it?"

He raised an eyebrow, looking over his shoulder. "What are you-"

My fist cocked back and decked the man so fast that I was quite sure no one saw me move, though they saw the desk shatter, and the man slam into the far wall, his jaw visibly deformed.

"Oh dear, that looks like it hurts, you should be more careful." I said monotonously, and walked out before Willam reacted.

Karen clutched her gut, laughing raucously. "That... was... priceless!!!"

"What was?" I asked innocently, and looked around. "Now! Where's this Guild?"

"Right over here..." Willam sighed, leading us over to the building across from the bank.

The interior was a lounge of sorts, with carpets everywhere except from the door to the wide stairs down to the basement, which was stone, and stained with several kinds of blood and acid. "Well, that's inviting." I nodded.

The basement was a slaughterhouse, it seemed, on the back half, and a General Adventuring Supplies store of sorts, in the front half. A long desk in the middle separated the two halves, manned by one person.

"Huh. I like this." I nodded, looking at the items offered, which seemed to be several things that were specific for certain hunts, even silver maces and swords for fighting undead. "Undead exist here. Good to know... Willam, is Silver the only thing that kills undead?"

"No, it's just extra effective. Purifying properties. Now! Welcome to the Guild, and quick question: are you here to join?" He asked, and a few people around us stirred, forming something of a circle.

I shrugged. "Still Deciding. Tell me why I should, ja? Seems like something I can do on my own, really."

He laughed. "Sure, sure, but we get all the requests, so you'd have to go from town to town to find work. It'd be exhausting, honestly, and eventually you'd piss off the wrong people."

"That... that's actually a good point, I'm incredibly vexing. Snooty Rich people especially, because I don't act like them, even when I have more money than them... or I used to." I sighed, scratching my ear, then slapping Karen's hands when I discovered her trying to braid my hair. "Fine, I guess. What's the entry process?" I asked.

"Not much. Just survive." He grinned.