Chapter 17
Partly relieved that she wouldn’t have to help him after he explained what he wanted, Eisa was also disappointed because it meant that she’d still have to delve into the dungeon alone. Oh well, it only took an extra minute to hear him out, so no harm done. She’d still have plenty of time to do what she needed to.
Knowing that there was no way this rural bumpkin could possibly have that much coin on him, she gave him her answer. “Ok, I’ll help you out, but it’s going to cost you. First, you need to have the 20 silver pieces for the Syndicate application fee, and then you’re going to have to pay for the SDIA up front – there’s no way I can afford to be on the hook for it if you d—…uh, don’t reach an F-Rating within the timeframe. And then, of course is my fee for helping you out – my reputation would be on the line if you didn’t work out.” Not that it could get much worse, she thought resignedly.
He didn’t even bat an eye at that as he asked, “Okay, and how much are those?”
Here’s when his jaw hits the floor at the cost and then he leaves me alone. “Well, for my fee – that’ll cost you 50 silver pieces. I know, it’s a lot; but believe me, I’m worth it if you want me as your sponsor. As for the SDIA, that will cost you a whopping 2 gold pieces, or 200 silver pieces if you don’t have any gold on you. Normally, by the time you reach the F-Rating, your loot fees that you’ve paid at the end of completed jobs would cover most of this cost; like I said, though, I don’t want to be on the hook for it if you aren’t successful in reaching the Rating in time.”
He smiled. He actually smiled at the cost she just told him, as if it was nothing. If she was lucky, Eisa might earn that much in a year going solo; when she had been grouping up before this, however, it probably would’ve only taken a month or so. Either way, it was a much greater amount than almost anyone in the town (other than the few merchants) had to their name.
Does he really expect me to believe that he has that much money? She decided to call his bluff.
“Well, then if you’re ready, let’s get this done and be on our way.” She marched over to the counter where Jaymes – the Syndicate representative at that particular branch – waited with a derisive sneer on his face at her appearance. Does everyone know? She caught the look of pity he shot…Fred?...and ignored it, just as she ignored the look he gave her.
“Alright, Jaymes, I’ve got a new recruit for you here. I’m sponsoring him, so go ahead and fill out the paperwork. He says he’s good with the fee.”
Jaymes hesitated for few seconds, looking at the two of them, before he said, “Are you sure you want to do this, Eisa? I mean, I personally don’t care about you, but are you sure you want to send him out there – so young? I can’t refuse you, but I advise you to reconsider – for his sake. I mean, considering your reputation and everything…”
Rage suffused her entire body and it was only through a supreme effort of will that she was able to contain her anger and power. How dare he judge me like that – and out loud in front of a recruit!? It was bad enough that she got all of the looks from everybody, but none of them had the guts to say anything to her face before this. She gripped the wooden counter to stop herself from “accidentally” throttling the insufferable man, and she heard it creak from the strain. Through gritted teeth she managed to somehow squeeze out “Yes” without it sounding like she was constipated.
“Oh, and I’ll be paying for the entire…S-D-I-A thing up front, so that she won’t have to worry about anything if something goes wrong,” Fred interjected happily, thankfully breaking the tense mood.
Jaymes looked shocked at the pronouncement, though Eisa was excited to watch that change when Fred failed to produce the required amount. I bet he thinks he can get away with some sort of promise to pay for it later.
Fred slung the bag off of his shoulder and turned around, fumbling – seemingly ineffectually – inside his bag for the payment. A few seconds later, he turned back around with a fistful of silver pieces – just enough for the initial application fee. Well, he’d better have that, as it would’ve been stupid to come here without it.
Placing the silver on the counter, he turned back around and rummaged inside his bag again. Alright, here we go – time to end this farce so I can get back to work—
She heard the sounds of coins jingling around, followed by a low-pitched growl. Fred whispered, “Sorry,” to something, before he pulled a cloth sack filled with what sounded like coins from the bag. I bet it’s all copper—
He placed the sack on the counter and a stream of silver pieces flowed out the top, running all over the counter; Jaymes was knocked out of his stupor in time to catch them before they tumbled onto the floor. “Phew, sorry – those were heavier than I remembered. Go ahead and count – there should be the full amount there.”
Eisa and Jaymes both looked back and forth between the sack full of silver pieces and Fred, strangely united despite their dislike for each other in their amazement. Unthinkingly, Jaymes started arranging the silver coins in stacks of 10 as they watched, finally coming up with 20.
“Uh…that’s more than enough, actually. It rarely happens and isn’t advertised, but there is a 50% discount for anyone paying the 2 gold SDIA fee up front, so you can keep half of this. The other gold is for overhead; keeping tabs on fees collected toward total payment, and, of course, collection fees. Here, let me get you something that’ll be easier to carry around.”
Jaymes grabbed half the stacks (and the original application fee) and put them in a drawer on one side of the counter, which she knew from experience was the application and loot fees depository. On the other side of the counter, he pulled out a smaller drawer that had a multitude of different coinage, including gold pieces – which he immediately pulled out one of and placed it on the counter, depositing the remaining stacks inside the drawer at the same time.
“Thank you – I’ve never held a gold piece before.” Fred picked it up and immediately started eerily staring at it, rubbing it all over with his fingers, and testing its weight. He even brought it up to his nose to smell it and, even stranger, licked it briefly. I have no idea what is going on here – today is not turning out the way I thought it would.
“This will make…a lot of things much easier. Thanks again!” he told Jaymes, before turning to her. “And here you go, your fee for your sponsorship. I really do appreciate your help – I couldn’t have done this without you.” And he dropped the heavy gold piece inside her left hand, which she reflexively held out in front of her when he prompted it. What the? He just gave me a gold piece like it was nothing to him.
“What sponsorship fee are you talking about? There isn’t a fee for sponsoring anyone,” Jaymes asked in confusion, before turning to Eisa with a thunderous expression on his face. “Wait, you charged him a fee to sponsor him? Of all the low…”
“Hold up now, it’s not against the rules to charge a fee – just frowned upon. And I only did it because I didn’t think he had the money for it. Here, I can’t take this – it’s too much.” She tried to give it back to Fred, but he wouldn’t take it.
“I appreciate you owning up to the way you tried to take advantage of me, but I don’t care about the gold piece. Keep it. I just wanted to get into the Dungeon Adventurer Syndicate so that I could get some help going into some dungeons.” He still had a smile on his face.
She didn’t know what to say. Why would someone not care about money when that was a major part of dungeon delving? She wasn’t going to argue, though; she needed whatever coin she could get. She quickly pocketed the gold piece into the hidden slit in her dress, knowing it was safe there until she could exchange it later for some smaller coinage and get everything into her bag.
“As much as I don’t agree with what Eisa did, she’s right that it’s between the two of you and not against the rules. Now, down to business – let’s get your paperwork filled out and your SDIA that you’ve bought and paid for,” Jaymes said while frowning in her direction. He pulled out a f
ew sheets of paper and pushed them over to Fred, along with a magical pen. “If you’ll just fill those out, I’ll be right back with your Artifact.” And he was gone almost before he finished his statement.
Now more than slightly interested in this young man – purely because he was an anomaly – Eisa stuck around to find out a little more about him. The fact that he might not be interested in money struck her as odd – obviously – but he also had an innocent-yet-confident aura surrounding him that was…intriguing. Fortunately for her curiosity, she ended up learning a lot more about him in the next few minutes.
Fred stared down at the pages in confusion, before turning to her. “Can I use your help again? I can read, but my parents never taught me how to write. Do you think you can fill this out for me?”
Literacy was a requirement for every citizen of the Craytion Kingdom, though Eisa knew that in some of the more rural sections some people slid by without being able to read or write. Being able to read was an absolute necessity to do most things in the sometimes overly bureaucratic world of the DAS, though he could probably get away with not being able to write. The fact that he couldn’t, said something about his origins, as well; he’s obviously from some rural farm somewhere.
The Craytion Kingdom was huge, representing millions of people – and they were only one of hundreds across the entire world (at least, that’s what she was taught). She had never visited any other Kingdoms, as they were usually separated by long distances, but she expected they would be similar to her own: large tracts of populated areas and farmland, surrounded by dungeons of every variety. No one knew how many dungeons there were in the world, but someone once put the estimate in the millions – 1 for every 500 or so people (give or take 100).
So, to be able to pinpoint where Fred may have come from was difficult; for all she knew, he could’ve come from another Kingdom entirely.
“Sure, I can help you fill it out. Let’s sit over at that table and get it done.”
She grabbed the forms and the magical pen – a thin, pointed metal stick that used magic to transfer whatever she wrote to the paper – and led the way to a table, where they immediately got to work.
“Ok, full name?” she asked.
“Fredwynklemossering.”
“Fred—what? Is that for real?”
He seemed perturbed for some reason. “Yes, that’s what my parents named me.”
“O…k…Fredwynklemossering it is. Now, age?” My guess is 13.
“Uh…17 – I’ll be 18 in about a month.” Horsesh— He’s got to be lying, though when Jaymes runs this through the codex array, it will definitely point it out. To prevent someone from reporting falsehoods, applications and job completions were run through a magical codex array with a sample of their blood, which would pick out the truths from the lies. It wasn’t foolproof, but with something as simple as an age, it would easily find it.
“Alright, then – preferred class?”
Fred looked confused. “Class? I have no idea.”
“That’s ok, I can put down undecided for now. Later on, when you figure out the class you’d like to register for, you’ll have to come back here, and have it inputted into your SDIA. Otherwise, any of the juice you acquire won’t allocate correctly.”
More confusion, though she was expecting it by now. He obviously didn’t prepare for this other than acquiring a buttload of money…which I’m still shocked at.
She asked another few questions that he answered easily, about his starting physical characteristics and weapon knowledge. As she thought, he had some experience fighting with his knives – despite the fact that they looked like they were brand-new.
Finally, she asked one that she expected him to fail, as she couldn’t think of another way that he could’ve gotten his coin honestly.
“Last question. Have you ever committed a crime, either knowingly or unknowingly, including, but not limited to: theft, kidnapping, or murder?”
Fred thought for a moment. “No.”
Fat chance of that being true.
It didn’t matter too much to her, though, as she had done her job and it was Fred’s problem if he had lied on the application. She walked back up to the counter to find that Jaymes was back with an unlinked SDIA. She handed the forms to him, smirking at his confused stare. “He needed some more help, that’s all.”
He took the papers and looked them over, raising his eyebrows as he read over a couple places. Looking directly into Fred’s eyes, Jaymes asked him, “Do you swear that everything on this paper is the truth?”
“Uh, yes I do.” Such naivete.
“Ok, let me just run it through the codex array for accuracy and we’ll get you your Artifact. Hold on.” He placed the forms along an inscribed box behind the counter and waved his hand over it for a few moments. If everything was deemed to be true, the entire thing would light up green; if anything was false, it would light up bright red, with the falsehood plainly highlighted. She’d only seen it light up red once before, though fortunately not for her. Very few were stupid enough to try to cheat the system.
Less than ten seconds later, a light erupted from the codex array that was a bright…green. How? I could’ve sworn half of what he told me was a lie. She didn’t know how he got away with it, but she wanted to find out. Unless…it could all be the truth?
Either way, she was going to stick by him; she now had a large reserve of coin that would allow her to live relatively comfortably for the next few months at least. She hadn’t been this excited since she first joined the DAS.
“Ok, looks like we’re all good. Here’s your SDIA, and once you get it linked up, we can discuss what kind of training you would like – or if you wish to jump right into dungeon delving. Normally we don’t allow new recruits to venture out until they are at least moderately trained, because we have an investment in them. However, since you’ve already paid for the Artifact, you can do what you want.” Jaymes pushed over the box that held the SDIA towards Fred, and Eisa unconsciously rubbed the back of her right hand. It didn’t hurt and she couldn’t feel it, but she knew that’s where her own Artifact was.
Fred picked up the small black square, turning it over in his hands while he asked, “Ok, so what am I supposed—”
The Sub-dermal Interface Artifact melted into his skin, which Eisa remembered was strangely uncomfortable for a couple of seconds; after that, she could feel it move to the back of her right hand underneath the skin, where it faded away and became a part of her. Essentially harmless, it was a tool to help track progress and allocate juice to wherever they wanted it.
Fred’s eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he collapsed on the floor, where his body started to convulse and twitch. White foam mixed with blood spilled out of his mouth and a scream that shook her right down to her soul erupted from his lungs, prompting her to cover her ears in pain.
And then from his bag that he dropped, a small Dire Wolf Cub crawled out the now-open top and crawled over to his face, staring at him intently with old eyes.
Well, that’s new.
Chapter 18
As soon as the strange black-colored square melted into his skin, it was as if his mind lost all control of his body. Unimaginable pain coursed through his entire system: it felt like his blood was boiling, the skin was being slowly peeled back over every inch of his body, his bones were all being broken-set-broken over and over again, and two knives were being shoved through his eyes into his brain and then twisted. He had no idea what was happening, nor did he have any sense of time during that maelstrom of agony; it could’ve been a few seconds of torture, or an eternity of suffering.
It felt like the latter.
He couldn’t move or do anything to prevent the misery, even if he knew what was causing it. Added to the pain from everywhere else, his throat and ears started to hurt; it was only when he felt himself catch a breath that he realized he was screaming uncontrollably. But he couldn’t even stop that involuntary response – so he kept screaming.
Something poked at his consciousness; he hoped it was the end coming for him because he couldn’t take the torment anymore. He thought that only the sweet release of death would be able to stop it; it turned out that he was wrong.
“...op screaming! Calm down – that’s the only way to get through this. I can’t do anything to get rid of the foreign system in your body, but there may be a way to incorporate it into your existing Dungeon Core Initialization Program. Hold on…”
Hold on? To what? I’m dying here, I can’t hold on! He grasped at the slim branch of hope that Deecy extended to him in his flood of pain; however, everything was so intense that he could barely concentrate, let alone try to calm down. He was able to stop screaming, though he wasn’t sure if it was because he completely destroyed his throat and lungs, or if it was a conscious decision. Or he was deaf now; either way, it was a small victory.
Suddenly, he felt a substantial shift in his body, like he had been punched in the stomach by a bear. There was a split-second pause in the pain suffusing his body, which made the return of the torture all the worse. Added to that, it now felt like something was trying to rip all his vital organs from his belly. His heart was beating so fast he thought it might burst.
“Sorry about that. I had to force my way through using the Mana Communication pathway, which may have hurt a little bit more than I had expected.”
You think?
“Now, this part is all you – I can’t help you any more than I already have. I’ve connected the foreign system to the Initialization Program, so as long as I did it right, you should be able to run it through that to stabilize and accept it. It’s a good thing that you transferred the majority of the Dungeon Core guides and coursework to me, otherwise you’d already be dead.”
Not important to know!
Dungeon World: A Dungeon Core Experience Page 12