The piece of material moved once again across the blade, finally leaving it acceptably clean. The man clicked his tongue and hid his dagger, finally getting to work. He had to transport two living people and one body. If it weren’t for his stupid chatter, he could have avoided it and fully executed the mission instead. Yet, he couldn’t stop himself , and now he was reaping the consequences. In his defense, the father looked like he’d given up a long time ago. Viar did not expect, however, that the dead man, hearing the familiar name, would suddenly regain almost all his strength and attack.

  What’s worse, he wasn’t the target of this final attack, but the fallen man’s own wife and daughter. If he’d jumped at him, Viar could’ve just knocked him out in a fight, but he didn’t want to risk it when the main objectives of the mission were at stake. What was even worse was that in a way, he could have expected it. The stories of what happened to the people who refused the Baron were well known among the locals.

  Although this title was no longer legally valid, people who once held power tended to cling to it tenaciously. Even if the real holder of that power was a distant ancestor. Once it was law, but now money, connections and influence were the main tools in the hands of the descendants of the former nobility.

  Additionally, many of those who were convinced that they were naturally entitled to this kind of power by virtue of their noble blood had overly sensitive egos. They were looking for attempts to make fun of them or signs of disrespect even where there were none.

  That was the reason why Viar Na’ar was given this assignment.

  The woman who now lay unconscious at his feet made several mistakes in her life. First, she had found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, thus catching the Baron’s eye. The second, bigger mistake was turning him down for the job she was offered. The third, and the greatest, was that she dared to have a husband and a daughter when the Baron himself was interested in her. Viar knew perfectly well how idiotic these reasons were, but questioning them was not in his interest.

  He’s screwed up enough already by provoking the deceased. The Baron wanted the man to live and see what fate awaited his family, but he had probably heard enough already, so he tried to spare them suffering. Fortunately, he wasn’t the main target for the job. Although they won’t be able to kill him in front of the woman, they still can show her the body. They could even gash him up a little bit beforehand to tell her he suffered. They’ll still have her daughter at their disposal and… well, Viar preferred not to think about what they had in store for the poor child.

  He first threw the unconscious woman over his shoulder, then took her daughter under his arm to carry them to a transport waiting outside. What happens to them the moment he gets them to their destination is no longer his concern.

  It was just a job, and at the moment it’s done, the only thing that will matter is the payment.

  ***

  Orion blinked several times to shake off the remnants of the vision. Seeing that he was still in a familiar corridor with the same person sitting across from him, it occurred to him that not much time had passed. He decided to think about what he had just witnessed.

  He had heard praise for adventurers and their work ethic, which forbade harming the innocent, from the mouths of his familiar team more than once. Moreover, given the fact that the Guild was one of the few organizations not only accepted but also directly supported by the System, he expected rather a role model hero at the top of the hierarchy.

  And yet, history has shown the person clearly; lacking a better term; morally grey. However, Orion was grateful that they didn’t show him any propaganda pulp that would simply be praising the Founder’s reasons to the skies. They showed him both his crimes and their consequences over time, and then they let him think about them with an open mind.

  If the Har’ghar had enslaved a more civilized race, it’s quite possible that in time they would have been able to break the sky blockade and conquer other planets even before the System arrived. And although Orion didn’t see firsthand how the System opened so-called gateways to other worlds, he could imagine what would happen to humanity if Earth was invaded by this kind of force.

  But on the other hand, the Founder was directly responsible for the slaughter of his entire race. Whether he liked it or not, Orion saw it as a reflection of his perception of humanity. He’s always been aware that humans are an invasive race, trying to take what others have. And yes, he did think that the Earth would be a much better place without his race, but he never considered any real action against humanity, quite the contrary.

  Another element that resonated with him was the moment in history when the Founder chose to stand against his race. Although it was an entirely different circumstance and an entirely different degree of injustice, he still recognized certain similarities in that woman’s gaze to the gaze that was the impetus for his own change. However, there was another difference to note. Orion, as a child, cared so deeply about another human’s harm, yet to Har’ghar, other races were just like animals. In their eyes, slaughtering a whole was not much different from going to the shop to buy meat, and yet young Karr was so concerned that he made a decision that resulted in the annihilation of the entire race.

  Mixed feelings was the perfect term to describe what Orion felt the longer he drew conclusions from the story he had watched. But the longer he thought about it, the more two things dominated his thoughts. The first was that nothing was as black and white as it was presented. Even though the Guild is now supposed to be an organization for good and protection, its foundation is based on genocide.

  Couldn’t this have been handled differently? Would history have unfolded exactly as the Founder envisioned? If Karr had some kind of revelation, couldn’t the same thing have happened to the rest of his race? Did the alleged outcome justify all of this? He could formulate those kinds of questions, but the longer he thought about it, the more he realized the answers would vary depending on who he asked.

  And the second thing was, it was a very, very distant time. A lot has certainly changed since then, from the System itself to the Guild and how it operates. Over the eons, their performance has been improved, and the flaws notoriously removed. Although, as mentioned earlier, Orion did not see firsthand what these so-called gateways to other worlds looked like, from the conversations he heard, following the actions of the Founder, he concluded that they did not once have an assimilation period. Back then, once the world was integrated, it was possible to somehow travel to other inhabited planets, but now the System gives the inhabitants of a given world some time to adapt.

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  And although it was just one example of change, Orion concluded that he couldn’t look at those situations the same way he would look at what’s happening in the present. The next thing he thought was that sooner or later he would want to explore how the System used to work and how it works now.

  Before returning to reflect on the Founder’s proceedings, he heard the sound of the door opening, coming from the right side. Out came the same young man who handed him the little pyramid.

  “Come in and relax. I’ll quickly take care of the lady here, and I’ll join you right away.” said the Guild official.

  Nodding, he accepted the invitation and went inside. Orion saw the interior of another spherical room. Aside from a round table surrounded by several chairs and shelves containing various books and scrolls, nothing particular stood out. Noticing that there was no other way out, he thought that the previous guests had probably left while he was still watching the Founder’s actions.

  After sitting in silence for a few minutes and continuing to contemplate, two people entered the room. The same young man and the same raven woman he’d seen before.

  “Oh, I didn’t see that coming.” said Orion to the birdlike woman, already realizing that she had not come here to fill a request. The fact that she was here explained a bit why he felt such a complex aura from her. “I have to admit, I totally bought the whole ‘mean client’ discomfort.”

  “And yet, I don’t see any great shock in you.” she said, to which Orion shrugged. “By the way, Albia.”

  “And I’m Merian. As you might have guessed, I’m an official in the Guild.” the man also revealed his identity.

  Orion also introduced himself, as usual. Although Merian stated his function, Orion could only guess what Albia’s real role was. Security? Possibly, but certainly not because of him. Yet, that clearly non-combat attire was suitable for surprising anyone who might want to cause trouble. Maybe it was some kind of procedure. However… since there were no other doors here, perhaps this whole ‘mean client’ was also just an act. That would mean they could have invited him earlier, but they wanted him to see the Founder’s story. And since Albia was in the same room, she also could…

  “Did you somehow measure my reactions?” Orion asked.

  “Indeed, we did.” said Merian, raising his eyebrow.

  “Oh, and how did I do?”

  “Properly.” Albia said.

  After a while, he realized he didn’t have to ask. If it had gone badly, the raven woman would most likely not have entered the room, thus not revealing that the procedure had taken place at all. Her being here meant he had to pass some sort of hidden test.

  “Hmm, but what was actually being measured? My thoughts themselves? My approach? Perhaps my brainwaves?” he continued his thoughts, this time out loud.

  “We can’t read your thoughts directly, but we can roughly read what you’re feeling. Knowing what happened in the story and comparing it to your reactions, we can indirectly assume what you were thinking, but more importantly, how you felt about what you witnessed.” Merian explained. “Don’t get us wrong either. It’s standard procedure, which is the first step in discovering if someone comes to us with pure intentions.”

  “Alright. I get it.” Orion said. He also had to admit it was pretty clever. There was also technology on Earth that could read brain waves and tell if someone were calm, focused, or maybe stressed at a given moment. Although he was aware of its existence, he never specifically considered the possibility of using it in this kind of venture.

  On the other hand, he couldn’t definitively deny whether such solutions were used in secret. Another thing was, how would matters like this translate into magical solutions? Were brainwaves themselves also aspects that could be detected and measured in their activity? Could these aspects be influenced in some way? Could someone with the ability to control the essence based on this create a physical sphere of, say, stress? Thus, could he take that aspect from his mind and throw it away?

  ”If you don’t stop, our meters are going to burst.” Albia said with a laugh, indirectly admitting that they could tell if there were any thought processes going on in his mind.

  This made Orion, unaware of it, almost responsible for turning the Guild meter into a temporary strobe light. First the crystal ignited, responsible for the sense of surprise that accompanied him when he heard her laugh. Then there was gratitude, noticing how that laugh relaxed him a little bit, followed by the realization that they could still know this and irritation that they were watching his emotional carousel.

  “Well, it won’t be necessary anymore.” Merian said, taking the scroll from Albia and putting it in his inventory. “Firstly, that measurement would be inadequate if you know what it’s for, and secondly, it’s already done its job.”

  “Oh, but it was fun,” Albia added, pretending to be sulky about having her source of entertainment taken away. Her sudden, cheerful approach seemed a bit artificial to Orion, but on the one hand, he didn’t want to attribute character to race, and on the other, he appreciated it because the woman was most likely aware of his stress.

  Then they moved on to an actual conversation about the story he had watched, during which Orion resolved that he would share his honest thoughts and uncertainties. Merian became his main interlocutor, who, although he explained a little about the Guild’s procedures, added that he would be able to provide additional information once Orion actually joined.

  They also discussed the nuances of moral issues. On the one hand, Orion was asking about the situations in which you might take actions that could potentially hurt someone else, while Merian was asking him questions that assessed his thinking and approach. There was even the question of what he would do if he saw a swarm of enraged Thargrims charging, with an elderly couple and a child in their path. A kind of classic moral dilemma with a train and the question of who you would save, in a local variation.

  Merian also admitted that although it was not generally known among Guild officials, the two who spoke to him knew that he came from a newly integrated world. The young man raised the question of why the System had thrown him into this world, but he treated it more as a temporary interruption than an object of debate, instead suggesting that Orion reveal this secret to an increasingly larger group of people over time. Probably sooner or later it would have come out because of his lack of knowledge of the local culture and customs.

  After more than an hour of conversation, it was time to read the contract, which, upon signing, would commit Orion to joining and abiding by the Guild’s rules. The document itself appeared in the form of a System window, and its contents contained mostly what he had already expected, plus nuances such as keeping the Guild’s procedures secret, such as previously measuring his reaction and so on. As he had heard before, joining could be canceled at great expense, but some secrets, for example, would have to be kept unconditionally.

  The problem arose when the document was signed. Although in this case the intention itself worked, as when browsing System boxes, and his signature was visible on the contract, as if written with a pen; the window simply disappeared at some point. The passing moments made him realize that something was wrong. He saw Merian’s furrowed brow and Albia abandoning her relaxed posture.

  The tension was interrupted by a young official who didn’t even hide his sigh.

  “Yeah, it definitely took longer than usual.” he said, apparently on notice that everything went according to plan.

  “Well, don’t ask me. I don’t…“ Orion began but stopped when he saw a notification pop up. Apparently, the System calculated the perfect moment for him to show it.

  [Quest – Join the Adventurers Guild and contribute to solving the problem of demonic invasion.

  Time to complete: 599 cycles + 9:99:94.

  Reward: A unique opportunity to serve as an early envoy of the Adventurers Guild on a selected planet in the newly integrated universe.

  Penalty for non-performance: None.

  Accept the quest? Y/N]

  awesome! ??