The Guild Offices in the Merchant City of Marvar had seen its fair share of strange Adventurers, but this was the first time it had seen one that was a monster.
The goblin that entered and walked through the adjoining tavern, showing all indication of having been "domesticated", civilized by a master, was at first assumed to be a captive of an Adventurer.
Some of the Adventurers noticed the goblin's dignified bearing, the armor it wore that carried trademarks of Dwarven craftmanship, its gaze, calm and sober, that showed no traces of hostility, fear, or the grudge of the defeated. But as no one else in the Guild tavern seemed to be reacting to it, they dismissed it out of hand. They had seen stranger things than a well-dressed goblin.
It was when the goblin approached one of the Receptionists that it began to stand out.
She stared wildly for a moment. Then, coming to her senses, she emitted a professional welcome greeting.
The goblin, of course incapable of human speech, returned a small bow.
The poor Receptionist tepidly reached for the letter the goblin handed to her. She did not see any Adventurer nearby, which meant that the goblin was travelling without an owner, which meant that nothing prevented it from turning wild and attacking her...
"Good goblin...good goblin..." (Surreptitiously backing away as she opened the letter) "A letter from its master I suppose..."
Eccentricity, a successful Adventurer's eccentricity. Eccentricity of character: Common fare at the Adventurer's Guild in Marvar, whose members, particularly the male ones, were fond of doing things that would get them talked about. Like noble youths who live in the public eye, each tried to outdo the other with the quirks of their personality. As such, many things were allowed to pass in Marvar, that would not in any foreign Office.
"No doubt this is the product of someone's 'Eccentricity'." (she thought sighingly)
The letter was in fact not from the goblin's master, but from the Captain of the ship on which Ayame had stowed away.
The contents were as follows:
Eliding the not entirely legal circumstances that had brought the goblin onto the ship (our readers will recall it had stowed away under the deck), the epistolary detailed the brave deeds which the goblin had performed when the lives of the crew were in peril. That, together with the monster's courtly decorum, strange apparel, and gracious bearing testified to a rare and human kind of eminence.
Nothing the crewmembers saw of the goblin during the 3 days of sail spoke except to the nobility of its character.
The Captain of the ship, curious about the goblin's purposes, eventually managed to extract the information that it was on its way to become an Adventurer. Foreseeing that it would find great difficulty in this mission due to the reputation of its race, and finding nothing in the goblin's behavior except would have won praise in a human member of his ship, the Captain took it upon himself to write a letter of recommendation for the goblin to make its way forward easier.
The Captain admitted that he did this partly to repay the goblin's irreplaceable efforts to saving the voyage and lives of the men. But the main part was that (here, the Captain reiterated, "in the days wherein we were bound to the Wayfarer") the Captain had borne witness to the strength and gentility of the monster.
The letter ended by reiterating "from all we have seen of its character..." and was signed by the Captain and his first mate.
The Receptionist read the letter twice, scouring it for the least trace of a prank.
"Please wait a moment." (She said with a smile)
Ayame was growing into middle-age for a goblin. As it grew older, it had also grown more docile. Life with the God and Emperor had made it used to many situations. It waited patiently, ignoring the attentions it was beginning to receive from the tavern area.
The Receptionist returned with a senior Guild Official.
Though such an event was certainly unusual, there was no legal reason why monsters could not be registered under the auspices of the Guild. And if the goblin was able to pass all of their tests, they were willing to extend to it a Provisional Adventurer card, that, once trust was earned, could eventually be solidified into an official one.
First they would go through the preliminaries.
A basic competency test.
A well-worn mana crystal was extracted from a safebox in the wall and placed on the Reception desk.
"Now if you would good sir, touch the Artifact and conjure up a basic status skill." (Senior Official)
The goblin nodded and obediently placed its hand on the crystal.
"Wow!" (Receptionist)
The interior of the crystal swirled with a cloudy substance and glowed faintly with violet...
