by Pirateaba
Because it was new. Because it wasn’t stale and mundane and boring. That was the key. Erin still remembered her despondency from yesterday—in truth, it was still bugging her a bit, although the Jasi and Grev situation had distracted her. Music and food were two things people in this world could appreciate, same as in Erin’s. But—
It wasn’t enough. It still wasn’t enough. Erin could see someone like Agnes listening to the latest hot song of the year being played on the lute—or delighting over some new recipe and selling it at her inn. But was that all she’d ever do? Just stuff her face and listen to a new tune now and then?
No. That was so boring it hurt. There had to be more to life! People weren’t machines—Erin refused to believe that leveling up like machines every day and working without any fun was how this world should be.
That was why when she walked back out of the kitchen and saw that the inn had mostly cleared, Erin was determined to find Jasi a job that wouldn’t crush the Drake’s soul. She’d already accepted that Jasi wouldn’t be a [Barmaid]—at least not at Agnes’ inn. If the woman didn’t want her here, then that was that.
But Erin could always bring Jasi to Liscor. It wasn’t the best option, but Erin kept it as a reserve idea. She walked over to the exhausted Agnes, who’d taken a seat at the table to rest her legs, and smiled brightly.
“Alright! Breakfast’s done. Let’s find Jasi a cool class.”
Agnes only smiled weakly at Erin.
“Oh. Very good, dear.”
—-
How did one find a class? It was such an odd question to Erin—was it like getting a job in her world, or did someone just decide to become a [Thief] and start stealing things?
As it turned out, people in this world decided on classes in a very sensible manner. Once Miss Agnes had recovered, Erin found herself sitting at the table with her and Jasi as the older woman quizzed the Drake on her likes and dislikes.
“Do you sew? I should say—have you tried needlework? What about cooking? I hear your kind has variety of…interesting treats.”
Likes, dislikes, and most importantly natural talent or aptitude went into choosing a class. Which made sense. No one wanted to be stuck with a class they were bad at, or one they hated. Jasi had taken the [Washer] class out of desperation, so Agnes and Erin’s job was to find something she’d like and be good at, and hopefully, earn enough to support herself and Grev with.
The problem was, Jasi didn’t seem to have any outstanding talents.
“I poke my scales more often than the cloth with needles. I would have sewn if I could—mending clothes earns a bit more coin than washing. But I couldn’t do it. The same goes for cooking—I can make a few things, but kneading dough is hard with claws.”
“Ooh. Yeah. That wouldn’t be so easy.”
Miss Agnes frowned slightly in vexation at Jasi, and partly at Erin. She was clearly irritable from having to play [Barmaid] so early.
“Have you ever thought about a combat class, dear? I know that’s a long shot, but…”
“I hate fighting.”
Jasi shook her head immediately, shuddering at the thought. Agnes nodded.
“Well, those classes are out, then.”
The older woman sighed. Jasi looked anxiously at her and Erin.
“I really don’t mind trying to learn to sew or cook. Or—I thought I could even learn a class like [Butcher] or [Receptionist]. I’m not picky. I’d try anything if I had the chance.”
“That’s the spirit!”
Agnes immediately brightened up at Jasi’s words.
“We could try you out in all of those professions. I have friends in various classes—it wouldn’t be too hard to talk them into giving you an apprenticeship. Why, in a day or two you’d probably find something you really shine at.”
Jasi nodded obediently, looking grateful for the opportunity, but Erin frowned.
“Willing doesn’t mean she likes it, Miss Agnes. Jasi should find a job—a class that suits her.”
“Yes, well, we don’t all know what we’ll be good at.”
Agnes smiled blandly at Erin. There was definitely a current of tension running between the two [Innkeepers] now, or so Erin felt. No—she wasn’t imagining it. She was annoyed at Agnes, and the same held true of the other woman. They were clashing over the issue of Jasi, and it was making Erin uncharacteristically upset.
“I think a few days of feeling things out would do young Jasi some good, Erin.”
“Really?”
“It helped me. I didn’t know I’d be an [Innkeeper] when I was young. But when I met Cecil, well, things have a way of working themselves out. We don’t all get to choose what class we level in, now do we? You told me you earned your [Innkeeper] class by accident as well. Maybe Jasi will find her class as she tries things out.”
Erin narrowed her eyes. Being an [Innkeeper] certainly hadn’t been her choice, but she’d been forced into it out of the need to survive, and because she’d liked it.
“I don’t know. I think we should consider more classes. There are tons more than just…those ones you mentioned.”
Miss Agnes lost her smile. She sounded exasperated as she spread her hands out on the table.
“The girl—the Drake—doesn’t have any particular skills, Erin. Why not let her work a few odd jobs? She seemed to be doing well for herself as a [Washer] before you came along.”
Jasi shrunk back in her seat, but Erin didn’t bat an eye at the criticism.
“If you mean she was alive, yeah, she was. But I had to buy a healing potion for her hands. That’s not doing okay, Miss Agnes.”
The woman wavered. She glanced around the mostly empty room and realized their argument had attracted a few casual eyes. Safry immediately turned and started bussing a few more tables. Miss Agnes eyed the new customers and changed the subject.
“We’ve got more customers, I see.”
“So we do.”
Erin folded her arms. Miss Agnes waffled on, glancing meaningfully at Erin.
“Late morning breakfasters, I’ll warrant. There’s always one or two…a good [Innkeeper] prepares for them, but I suppose it was quite a crowd that came in this morning. But here we are, and I know they’re hungry. It would be a shame to turn them away, don’t you think?”
A scowl was the only reply she got. Erin sat in her chair, unwilling to move. She glanced at the customers, and then smiled.
“Why don’t you cook for them?”
“Me?”
Agnes blinked.
“But I—well, I don’t have any Skills in cooking like you do, Erin dear.”
“But this is your inn. And I’m tired. So—you cook. Or you could turn them away. But I think I’m going to help Jasi some more.”
So saying, Erin turned her back on Agnes and looked at Jasi. After a few seconds she heard Agnes walk briskly away.
“Safry! Ask our customers what they’d like to eat.”
Erin smiled at Jasi, who looked somewhat pale.
“I don’t want to be a bother, Miss Erin, I really don’t. I’d be more than happy to apprentice at any job for a while. If I got a few levels—why, I’d probably be able to make do from there.”
The young woman sitting across from her smiled and shook her head slowly.
“That’s true. But I want to find something that you like to do, not something that you have to do. Agnes is wrong. You should try and find something you want to do.”
Jasi paused.
“Thank you, Miss Erin.”
For the first time this morning, Erin gave her a genuine smile.
“Call me Erin. Just Erin. Now, have you ever tried running around? I have a friend who does that all the time, and she says the pay is good…”
—-
An hour later, Erin had to admit that perhaps Jasi didn’t have any particular class that seemed to suit her. At least, not one that could be easily discerned. She and Jasi had gone through a huge list of classes, hindered by Miss Agnes’ occasional
comment, but Jasi either hadn’t tried the class before or didn’t feel inclined to try it.
Some jobs the Drake could tell weren’t for her. [Farmer], [Soldier], [Thief]…those were easy. Others might have been likely, but they were impossible to tell, like [Guardswoman]. How would you even tell? Jasi had never lifted a sword before. And she hadn’t had a chance to try out any of the other professions in the city.
She’d been poor all her life. And that, Erin was quickly discovering, was a limiting factor.
Despondently, Erin slumped over at her table, staring at Jasi’s helpless expression. The inn was mostly empty. Agnes’ cooking had a way of driving away even fairly hungry patrons, and besides, it was that time of day when inns didn’t really matter, in between breakfast and lunch. If people wanted a snack they’d find a stall outside. And few people were drinking this early in the day.
Erin could use a drink. She hadn’t known how hard this would be. Well, she had—but knowing wasn’t the same as experiencing it. She felt like she was hitting her head against an invisible brick wall, but she had no idea how to stop running into it.
“I dunno. I guess we could do the internship-apprentice thing, but that’s so slow. Are you sure you don’t want to try being an [Alchemist]? I could go bother Octavia right now if you want.”
“That’s one thing I am sure about, Miss. [Alchemists] are far too strange for me. I don’t want to melt my tail off or—or grow mushrooms out of my eyes.”
Jasi shuddered at the thought. Erin sighed and then cast her eyes around the inn.
“What do you think, Wesle? Would Jasi be a good [Guardswoman]?”
Welse looked up guiltily as he tucked into a crepe Erin had made. He straightened up in his chair, glancing at the door.
“I ah, don’t know, Erin. Guarding isn’t as hard here as it is in a Drake city, it’s true, but we do require all our recruits to be able to use a sword. Plus, there’s always a bit of fighting when we have to quiet drunks. If Miss Jasi was assigned to gatekeeping duty I could see her doing well—but even then, she’d have to help fight whenever a monster attacked.”
Erin nodded gloomily.
“Thought so. How’s the crepe?”
“Oh, wonderful, Miss Erin.”
Wesle blushed a bit.
“I’m very grateful. But ah, I am on duty. I’d better just eat this quickly and go.”
“Mm. Thanks for bringing Grev here.”
Erin turned her head and regarded the nervous young boy sitting at a table with a crepe of his own. Wesle had brought Grev into the Frenzied Hare about an hour after breakfast had ended. Now the [Guardsman] looked over at Grev sternly, giving him a hard look.
“I hardly believed him when he said he lived here, Miss Erin. But he kept insisting that you’d given him and his…sister a place here.”
“Well, he was telling the truth. Which is sorta rare for him, I guess.”
Grev hunched over in his seat. He’d been caught by Wesle for lingering a bit too near a shopkeeper’s outdoor stall. Now he sat with the disapproving eyes of Jasi, Erin, and Wesle on him, clearly wishing he could be anywhere else.
“I’m so sorry about that, sir.”
Jasi was as apologetic as she’d been with Erin, and clearly unable to do anything to stop Grev. She was a big sister, not a mother, and she was even more nervous now that Grev had clearly not learned his lesson from yesterday.
Wesle nodded to her, trying to look dignified and failing to with bits of crepe on his weak mustache.
“I’ll overlook this today, but you should know your brother is on the thinnest of ice, Miss Jasi. If he keeps sneaking off again—”
Safry was passing by Erin with a used plate and utensils. Erin snatched the plate out of her hands and hurled one of the utensils in one motion. The spoon passed by Grev’s nose and bounced off one wall. He shouted in surprise and alarm, freezing as he tried to edge towards the door.
“Sit down.”
Erin’s glare magically sent Grev’s bottom back in the chair. He trembled as she waved the fork at him.
“You’ve caused enough trouble for your sister. Try and run off and I’ll throw the plate at you next time. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll take this fork and shove it—”
Erin paused. She glanced at Safry and Miss Agnes, both of whom were watching her with gaping mouths.
“What?”
Wesle coughed delicately.
“Was that [Unerring Throw], Miss Erin? It’s rare to see an [Innkeeper] with a combat Skill like that.”
“Oh.”
Erin just shrugged. She had a lot of odd Skills, or so she’d gathered. Probably because she’d actually had to fight for her life. They weren’t that useful in day-to-day life, but they were certainly handy when she wanted to terrorize young boys.
“Where were we? Oh yeah. Jasi’s class. Um…”
Erin sighed. Then she looked at Grev. He stared at her, white-faced.
“What about him? Can’t Grev get a class instead of running around and stealing things?”
Agnes snorted. She’d kept out of the discussion, but she eyed Grev skeptically now.
“The boy’s at the right age to be apprenticed to someone. But with his past misdeeds—I doubt anyone would want to take a risk on him. I’d advise Miss Jasi to say her goodbyes while she can—if the young thief hasn’t changed his ways after so many warnings, he won’t now.”
Jasi’s scales turned pale and Grev looked palely down at his empty plate. Erin glared at Miss Agnes.
“Don’t you have anything you can do, Miss Agnes?”
“Not at the moment, Miss Erin. I have no customers, as you may have noticed.”
“Then why don’t you leave your inn to me for a while?”
The woman paused.
“What?”
“I said, why don’t you leave? I’m perfectly capable of managing it, and I think you could use a break.”
“But I—this is my inn.”
Erin raised an eyebrow. She was royally annoyed with Miss Agnes’ attitude. How could she be so uncaring? So Erin took a page out of Ryoka’s book of meanness.
“It’s your inn, but I’m a better [Innkeeper]. You can take a break and leave things to me. You and Safry, for that matter.”
Both women gaped at Erin. But the young woman just flapped her hands at them.
“Shoo, shoo.”
Miss Agnes was staring hard at Erin, but she was the lower-level [Innkeeper], and Erin had stared down far more frightening things than a middle-aged woman with empathy issues. In the end, Miss Agnes haughtily adjusted her dress, not meeting Erin’s stare.
“I—suppose I could use some time to relax. Very well. Safry, you have the day off.”
“Yes, Miss Agnes.”
“I believe I’ll…go shopping. I’m sure Cumin would love a new decoration. Yes, I’ll do that. Thank you, Miss Erin.”
She walked out of the inn. Safry hesitated, and then followed her as Erin stared at her.
“Mnn.”
Erin stuck out her tongue after Miss Agnes and Safry had left. She felt bad but not-bad at the same time. It was the first time she’d ever been so mean to them, but—they’d been real jerks!
She turned and saw Wesle staring at her with a piece of crepe dangling from a fork. Jasi and Grev were also giving her fish-eyes.
“What? They were being rude.”
Jasi gulped. She looked at the door Miss Agnes hadn’t even bothered to fully close and shook her head, her scales pale around her face. She looked at Erin, mystified and gratified and upset.
“You’re being so kind to us, Mis—Erin. Too kind. I don’t know why you’re going so far for people like Grev and me.”
“It’s because I can.”
The smile Erin gave her was just that . A smile. But it made the Drake cry, and prompted Wesle to offer her a handkerchief. Grev sat in his chair, looking upset and confused, but soon enough Erin had another crepe in front of everyone, and a slightly alcoholic drink for the adults
and milk for Grev. She sat down and took a deep breath.
“Okay, let’s try again. Properly this time. Jasi needs a new job. Not necessarily a class. Grev needs to stop stealing, and Wesle probably need to get back to work, but he’s helping us. How can we make things right?”
—-
The best idea they’d had was for Erin to sponsor Jasi as an apprentice at a bunch of different jobs. Erin put her head in her hands and groaned.
“I wish Ryoka were here.”
“Why?”
“She’d know what to do. She’s got lots of ideas.”
Wesle looked confused. He was sitting at the table with Erin and Jasi while Grev practiced the art of trying not to puke. Erin’s solution to his restlessness had been to feed him to the point of bursting. Now he was sitting at his table, unable to even finish his last bite of hash browns drizzled with cheese.
Jasi was staring at the half-empty mug in her hands. She’d been growing more and more quietly depressed throughout the discussion. Now she looked up, confused.
“Who’s Ryoka?”
“A City Runner. She’s my friend.”
“And how could she help? I’ve seen Miss Ryoka come into the city quite often, but I don’t see how she’d help here. She seemed rather—quiet every time I tried to talk to her.”
Erin shook her head at Wesle.
“I know she’s a jerk sometimes. But she’s smart. And she studied a lot of weird stuff in school. Did you know she told me that we could probably build a greenhouse right next to my inn? She said we don’t even need any glass to make it, which is really weird, right? I was going to ask Klbkch about it, but then I ended up here.”
Almost none of what Erin had said made sense to either Wesle or Jasi. They just blinked at her, confused. She sighed.
“Never mind. Are there any classes we haven’t considered?”
“None, Miss.”
Jasi looked gloomy.
“I really do appreciate you helping, I do. But I don’t think I have any special talents. I’d be happy with a steady job, I really would.”
“Yeah, but that’s so…”
The [Innkeeper]’s voice trailed off helplessly in the face of Jasi’s resignation. They’d tossed out every class they could think of, but none had seemed right for Jasi. But there were plenty of ‘possible’ options and ‘okay’ options. But nothing felt right.