The week following my duel passed by quickly enough, although there were a few fools that insisted on interrupting me whenever possible. I did my best to discourage them from approaching me, once again using Jurgen to scare off all but the most devoted of individuals, but not everyone that wanted my attention was a nuisance. I was happy to give those select few a few hours out of my day to build a stable relationship that would allow me to rely upon them in the future to further my standing on this planet. The most important of these visitors was Witch who paid me a visit alongside Spearman, presumably after the headstrong idiot took a moment to calm down and reassert his ego in such a way that wouldn't lead to him bothering me in the near future, in order to apologize for his behavior. As much as I detested having anything to do with Spearman, I made sure to accept his apology for Witch's sake and offered to accompany her on a quest once I was finished with what I hoped would be a meaningless task that would take a few years to accomplish at the earliest.
The Sisyphean task I undertook was the planning and construction of a training facility that any prospective members of the Adventurers Guild could visit, free of charge, in order to give them far better odds of survival than just pointing them towards the nearest goblin den and hoping some of them came back out in one piece. I remembered Guild Girl mentioning how new adventurers were rarely prepared to deal with the trials that came with being an adventurer the night after my duel, and seeing an opportunity to increase my standing in the Guild without putting myself in immediate danger, I made sure to propose the idea to the kind-hearted blonde who was always looking out for the many aspiring heroes she dealt with.
I personally couldn't find a frak to give about the fate of some idiots willing to get themselves killed because they charged a horde of greenskins alone with a bunch of rusty farm equipment and thought they somehow wouldn't be turned into the goblins lunch if they was lucky, or their newest plaything if they weren't. Anyone dumb enough to rush into the middle of a bunch of murderous, daemon worshiping xenos unprepared deserved whatever grisly end they encountered if you ask me. Fortunately, my general disdain towards such suicidal bravery seemed to be quite close to the general consensus amongst the guild staff as it turned out, although the girls had far much more pity to spare for fools than I did. Guild Girl sounded ecstatic when I mentioned my idea to establish a nearby training facility and volunteered my time and experience training countless soldiers to make sure the Adventurers Guild could provide the best training possible to new adventurers. The stories I gave her about how I turned a bunch of starving refugees into an army that was somehow capable of driving the orks out of their home world, as well as turning the once dysfunctional Valhallan 597th into the fearsome regiment that it is known as today, soon landed me the job of developing this new facility in case my credentials and quick victory against a Silver ranked adventurer weren't enough already.
It wasn't long after I had delegated the task of finding an adequate plot of land to establish this training facility to Jurgen that my ever trustworthy and efficient aide proved himself to be the perfect assistant once more. It turned out that there had once been a village near Frontier Town (the name of this town once again left me equal parts amazed and exasperated at this planet's creative sterility for quite some time) not too far away from the Guild Hall. At the most, it was a half day's travel which Guild Girl declared was an acceptable distance from the Guild Hall. It was when she told me that they would have to demolish all of the skeletal ruins of a nearby abandoned village that I finally realized how popular Frontier Town was for attracting new adventurers. To require the entirety of a village to house the training facility, it's tutors, and future cadets would have meant that there would be at least a hundred people stationed there regularly. I found myself amazed at just how devoted the Adventurers Guild was to providing the best service possible to prospective adventurers after hearing the scope my facility would need to encompass.
I for one didn't know nor care about any of that for long, as once I learned my wage for overseeing the construction of this training facility would be one gold coin per day, I was too focused on getting to work to pay much attention to anything else Guild Girl might have mentioned to me. One silver was enough to rent out a room in the Guild Hall for almost a week, and a single gold coin could rent out that same room for a month alongside a warm meal every day in the bar below while still leaving some room for a few rounds of the local amasec. Even if I wasn't being paid a small fortune for to create the plans for a simple training facility, leaving Jurgen to deal with the more strenuous details of my new job of course, having an excuse to enjoy the comfort and safety provided by the Guild Hall was more than enough reason for me to entrench myself in my room for a week while putting my experience at whipping poor excuses for guardsmen into something that wouldn't turn tail and run at the first sign of danger to use.
Sadly, I ended up creating a set of drills my facility would conduct, determined the prospective budget, manpower, supplies needed for the facility's construction, and the time frame for the construction process far sooner than I expected to. Jurgen once again proved himself to be far more useful than most people presumed, as he managed to locate both the location for my prospective training facility and the contacts we would need to employ for its construction in a matter of days. Knowing his uncanny ability to find everything I've ever needed in the past, I should have known my aide would have been able to secure the resources the training facility would require in record time. There was something about a stubborn, foul smelling man with a meltagun on his back that made people quite eager to assist him in any way possible. Still, despite my success, it was with a heavy heart and a far lighter coin purse than I wished I had that I finally presented my finished plans for the Adventurers Guild's training facility to Guild Girl.
I wanted to present my plans to her in the morning knowing that, outside of a few adventurers wanting to request services or supplies directly from the Guild, there would be no one able to stop me from finishing my business with her so I could enjoy my daily nap afterwards. Guild Girl quickly waved me over once she finished posting up the new quests for the day, and I made sure to wait for the horde of eager adventurers that typically swarmed to the quest boards so early in the morning to rush past me before conducting my business with her.
"Hello Commissar Cain. How can I help you today?" She asked, presenting a warm smile that was quite different from the one she offered Spearman whenever he was trying to grab her attention. Thankfully that idiot wasn't here to see it, or otherwise I would have surely been forced to endure his childish antics once more instead of slapping him with the flat of my chainsword.
The thought of putting that fool in his place instantly put me in a good mood that rivaled Guild Girl's. "I've finished with my proposal for the training facility. All I need is for someone to send it in to your superiors so they can begin its construction." I told her, presenting her with my plans as I did so.
"Oh, already? I'll be sure to send them on the next carriage to Water Town for inspection." She said as she took the papers I offered her.
Guild Girl seemed to have a work ethic that mirrored my own. Rather than sifting through the thick stack of loose papers herself, she motioned for one of the other members of the guild staff to do the heavy lifting for her. Inspector was her unlucky victim this time, and after seeing me at the counter she quickly made herself scarce, more than likely fearing that Jurgen would not be far behind me. Any other day and she would have been right to assume so, but this morning Jurgen had apparently had more pressing business to attend to. He wouldn't mention what it was when he woke me up earlier, and as much as I imagined it had something to do with Padfoot Waitress and the way I caught her looking at him from time to time, I sincerely doubted he was liaising with the a member of the guild staff like I used to do with plenty of women in my early years. Whatever it was had to be important for him to readily abandon me in the unlikely event that I needed him for something.
Still, I hadn't seen Padfoot Waitress yet either. Maybe Jurgen did get lucky after all. Abhumans do have weird tastes, so I've been told.
"There is also something else I would like to ask you, Commissar Cain." Guild Girl said, dragging me out of my thoughts and saving me from thinking about Jurgen's sex life any longer than anyone but him should.
"Oh, do you have another job already lined up for me?" I asked her, hoping that whatever it was could be done from the safety of the Guild Hall.
Guild Girl was about to tell me, but a juvie dressed up like an Ecclesiarch approached the counter beside me. She was a small, delicate looking thing with golden blonde hair, pale skin, and deep blue eyes that would surely leave her with an army of men and envious women ready to pounce on her once she grew up a little, in both senses of the word. For now though, she looked somewhat small and fluffy, like some of the pets the more eccentric and nature loving planetary governors I've met insisted on keeping with them.
My palms itched at very the sight of her, so I instantly began studying every inch of her as my subconscious screamed out in terror. In the week I had been staying at the Guild Hall, I had familiarized myself with most of the patrons that were employed by the Guild. The child beside me didn't wasn't one of the faces I had come to associate with the Guild Hall's regulars who I had already come to recognize. If that hadn't been enough, a quick glance at her neck told me everything I needed to know about her purpose here. Instead of a Porcelain or Obsidian tag like most adventurers her age would have worn, she had no visible indicator of her status within the Guild anywhere on her body.
She was obviously intending to register as an adventurer, and as strange as it was to see such a timid looking girl attempt to muscle her way to the staff member I was talking to, a quick inspection of the quest counter revealed that Guild Girl was the only member present and ready able to help her. Once again, I found myself grateful for having befriended one of the only two capable employees of the Adventurers Guild willing to take their job seriously. I certainly would have been far worse off if I wasn't able to rely on such a capable woman such as her.
"Perhaps you might want to help this girl with her registration before we do anything else." I suggested, Guild Girl finally taking notice of the demure blonde beside me, the girl in question letting out a startled squeak as I acknowledged her.
"S-sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you." She apologized, her voice almost a whisper as she brought the golden staff she was carrying a little closer to her chest and tried to fold in on herself, it's rings clattering together as she trembled.
I let out a small laugh at the way she was cowering before me like many kids and unruly guardsmen did when they saw my black greatcoat, the most easily recognizable sign of my office and the power it gave me. The intimidating article of clothing having been recently repaired thanks to a local tailor who was nothing less than a miracle worker for salvaging my greatcoat and the rest of my uniform so quickly, and I had only just managed to retrieve it yesterday so I could look a bit more civilized than the average farmer on this world. Needless to say, but I already put in a request for several other uniforms in the increasingly likely event I was stranded on this lost agri-world for more than a few weeks.
The shy girl seemed to relax a little bit hearing me enjoy myself at her expense, but she still held her staff close as if she somehow had enough strength in her willowy arms to beat me away with it if she had to. "Don't worry, I'm a new adventurer just like you." I said, showing her the Porcelain tag around my neck as I did so. "I'm sure you're just as eager to become an adventurer as I was a few days ago."
"B-but I-"
"Calm down." I interrupted as she started stuttering out another apology. "If you can't talk to your fellow adventurers, then how can you ever expect to go on an adventure with them?"
The girl relaxed a little more after taking a moment to consider what I told her, and she finally lowered her staff now that she wasn't as afraid of me as she was earlier. Not wanting to waste any more time trying to comfort her and hoping that I would still be able to fall back asleep after concluding my business with Guild Girl, I decided it would be best to end my little chat with the blonde juvie before she could start apologizing again.
"What is your name, girl?" I asked her, hoping that I could steer her wavering confidence without making the trembling girl cry.
"Priestess." She said, once again proving that the people of this planet were about as creative as most cogboys I've come to know over the years. Maybe I really will meet Frakking Idiot at this rate...
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Priestess. I'll be sure to look out for you in the future. Maybe we can do a few quests together if I can find the time to join you on your future adventurers." I told her, giving her a firm handshake before turning my attention back to Guild Girl. "Go ahead and help Priestess with her registration. I'll be waiting by the fireplace once you've finished helping her."
Guild Girl gave me a curt nod before rummaging underneath the counter for the appropriate forms to complete Priestess' registration, allowing me a moment to enjoy myself before I resumed discussing whatever business Guild Girl wanted to discuss with me. Lacking anything better to do and carrying a sizable amount of funds, I placed an order for another delicious steak with a waitress that was passing by and claimed a seat by the fireplace like I had intended to. My meal arrived not long afterwards, delivered by Padfoot Waitress instead of the one I placed my order with and putting an end to the fantasies I was having about Jurgen's love life before my wandering mind could traumatize me more than a Slaaneshi cultist ever could. I was hoping I would be able to enjoy the tantalizing slab of meat she offered me in peace, but sure enough, nothing could ever be so simple as that.
"Hey, you're that Hero of the Imperium, right?" A boyish voice rang out from behind me just as I took the first bite out of the juicy slab of meat before me.
I turned around in my seat to see a young man, still just a juvie, accompanied by two girls that seemed to be as old as him and Priestess. The boy was wearing a cheap metal plate over his chest that still had its shine on it, his armor more than likely being untested, and the neatness of the clothes he wore in place of some more protective equipment suggested an equal unfamiliarity with combat. The girl on his left looked similar to Witch, although far younger and dressed more modestly than Spearman's alluring partner. The last child was wearing a simple white robe that was somewhat dirty, and a few frayed threads around the collar and belt she was wearing was all I needed to see to know that she was the only one of these three that had ever participated in a fight. Each one of the juvies were wearing Porcelain tags, and the stupid, cocky look on all of their faces did nothing to hide their intentions for approaching me.
As much as I wanted to tell them to frak off and let me enjoy my steak in peace, I could hardly be seen disparaging against the youngest adventurers in the building, especially after proposing to nurture other, more intelligent looking rookies like them in the future. "Indeed, although I would prefer you to call me Commissar Cain instead. Was there something you wanted to ask me?" I asked the boy, hoping that the tingling sensation spreading throughout my palms was from food poisoning instead of whatever reason he had to approach me.
"We're on an urgent quest to slay some goblins!" He declared, the spittle flying from his face as he yelled, barely missing my plate and souring my opinion of him even further.
"Oh, good for you." I told him. I naively hoped he would take a hint and stop pestering me after noticing my indifference. If only I knew just how dense that idiot was.
Unfortunately for me, the boy seemed to have as much social etiquette and self-awareness as Jurgen, for he continued prattling on regardless of the clear disdain for him and his partners who also seemed uncomfortable with their leader's actions. "We heard from Guild Girl that there was an old man that had experience fighting goblins." He said, oblivious to the glare I shot him when referring to my age.
He wasn't wrong to call me old, as I was almost a century old already, but thanks to the juvenat treatments Amberley had given me and Jurgen to keep us in fighting shape, I barely looked half my age. Aside from a few greying hairs around my temples, I still looked just as young and eager to charge into The Emperor's enemies now as the Imperium at large thought I was for most of my career. Hearing the boy call me old, in the same way that a guardsman would refer to equipment in desperate need of a Litany of Percussive Maintenance, did nothing to persuade me to entertain whatever he was clearly trying to get out of me. Hearing him disregard my age and the experience that came with it as a handicap instantly soured my mood.
"She told us we should see if you wanted to join us on our first quest!" He continued, allowing me just enough time to reign in my temper before I embarrassed the both of us.
"I'm sorry, but I happen to be quite busy at the moment." I told the group of rookie adventurers, hoping they would take the hint and frak off already.
The girls didn't need any more convincing to leave me alone, the young witch girl looking particularly eager to get away from me, but the boy didn't want to take no for an answer. "But this is an urgent quest! The goblins have kidnapped some girls from a nearby village and somebody needs to save them!" He yelled, slamming his fist down on the table beside me and acting no less belligerent than Spearman typically did. Apparently there was a Frakking Idiot on this planet after all.
"Yes, someone does need to save those girls." I said, the boy looking confused and forcing me to tell him something that should have been painfully obvious without me needing to say it. "And you kids are clearly not capable of saving anyone, let alone yourselves."
"Hey, what is that supposed to mean?!" The young witch girl shouted in anger.
"It means that if the three of you were to leave on this 'urgent quest' of yours right now, I doubt any of you would escape with your lives or your sanity." I told them, knowing just how dangerous both greenskins and Chaos worshipers could be.
"Oh come on, they're just goblins. Are you trying to say that they're more dangerous than a demon?" The boy said, looking just as smug as any fool that had never dealt with a horde of greenskins or the Ruinous Powers in battle before.
"No, not at all." I told them honestly. "Goblins are nothing to the daemons and xenos I've faced countless times before."
"What's your problem then?" The black haired girl without any visible weapons and a loose fitting robe that was just asking for someone to grab it so they could pull her to the ground. She was quite fortunate that I was in no mood to teach her a quick lesson about the dangers of loose clothing on the battlefield and spoil my appetite in doing so.
"My 'problem' is that the three of you are severely overestimating yourselves and I will only be putting myself at risk by joining you on your suicidal adventure." I flatly told them, taking a bite out of my meal as I savored the tender juiciness of the slab of meat I cut into almost as much as the look of outrage on all of their faces.
"How dare you! We are more than prepared to slay some measly goblins!" The witch shouted mere inches away from my face.
I remained perfectly calm and refrained from returning the favor with a childish outburst of my own, instead choosing to use one of my favorite techniques for hammering an important lesson into the mindless officers in the Lord General's retinue that saw guardsmen as disposable resources and intelligent tactics as heresy.
"If you're so confident in yourselves, then how about we play a little game? I'll ask you several questions about this quest you are planning to take and if you fail to give me three acceptable answers, I will happily join you on your quest. If you don't then I will not be leaving my seat to join you on your hopeless adventure. Does that sound fair?" I asked them, feeling absolutely confident that they would fail to impress me.
"How many questions are you going to ask?" The young witch asked me, clearly seeing the easy out I had left myself.
"No more than ten." I said. I doubted I would need more than three given these juvies' arrogance, but I still preferred to have some room for error just in case.
"We accept! Ask us anything you like!" The boy said, earning a scowl from the witch girl that he remained oblivious to.
"Very well." I said, instantly slipping back into one of my more enjoyable routines when dealing with people who thought they were smarter than I looked.
"First of all, how much practical experience do any of you have fighting goblins?" I asked them.
"Uhh… practical experience? What do you mean by that?" The boy asked, offering me a sheepish smile that told me everything I needed to know.
"He wants to know if any of us have ever fought goblins before, right Commissar, sir?" The black haired girl asked, looking at me with a renewed look of respect that hadn't been there earlier.
"You would be correct... I'm sorry, but although it seems you know me, I don't think any of you have bother to introduce yourselves before demanding I assist you on your quest." I said, quickly trailing off so that I could potentially take them more seriously in case they had named themselves something sensible unlike everyone else on this planet.
"Oh, sorry about that." The boy said with a nervous laugh. "I'm Warrior, the two girls in my party are Fighter and Wizard."
Well, there goes my final hopes of seeing a single shred of intelligence from any of them. Wizard had to be the girl that bore a fleeting resemblance to Witch, which meant Fighter had to be the black-haired girl with the white robe. Why someone calling themselves Fighter didn't carry any weapons on them was beyond me, but maybe she thought she was better in a fight with her fists than a sword. It must be a local thing or something like that.
"Well, Warrior, do you or any of your companions have any experience fighting goblins?" I asked him once again.
"I've chased off a couple of goblins that were near my village before." Warrior said, puffing out his chest as if scaring away a deformed Gretchin or two was some sort of noteworthy accomplishment. Fighter certainly seemed to think that way given the way she was ogling her leader from behind.
"But did you actually fight and kill any of them?" I then asked him, quickly picking up on what Warrior was trying his best not to mention.
"Uhm… not exactly…" Warrior mumbled as he and both of the girls beside him looked down at the floor, unable to look me in the eye after calling them out.
Strike One.
"So you don't have any experience fighting goblins or anything in particular…"
"Hey, I graduated at the top of my class in the magic academy!" Wizard shouted.
I wasn't amused by her claim and even less so as she interrupted me, so I decided it was her turn to learn some humility now. "Then surely you have seen real battle then, right?" I asked her.
"Of course I have. I dueled plenty of my classmates and always succeeded in casting Fireball before any of them could finish their chants!" Wizard proudly, and I feigned a look of surprise to give her the impression that I cared about what she was saying. "I can also cast three spells a day, two more than any of my peers I'll have you know."
"Pffft, you can only cast three spells? That's adorable." I said, snorting in laughter after hearing how impressed she was at being just above the stage of not tearing herself apart with her own psyker powers given some of the stories I've heard about psykers and wytches. Wizard looked furious, and nearly said something else before Warrior could calm her down before she embarrassed herself any further.
"I'm sorry, Wizard." I said, not meaning a single word of my phony apology. I've never heard of a witch or psyker having a limit to the number of spells they can cast back in the Imperium. I still find it hilarious that the people of these lands find it impressive that being able to cast a few spells every day is anything to be proud of." That was a mostly true statement, because what little I did know about them was more than enough to convince me that they were a force to be reckoned with. I made sure that Jurgen was always close by so that way his peculiar talent could negate any Warp sorcery they could conjure.
"How about you ask us something else. Just because we haven't fought goblins before doesn't mean we can't beat them." Warrior said, trying his best to act brave and failing miserably to hide the growing doubt that was washing over him.
"You're right, how about you tell me what supplies you will be bringing with you on this quest?" I asked them, believing I at least owed it to them to offer them one chance to prove they weren't just cannon fodder.
"We don't have enough money to buy any potions… or food, either." Fighter said as she tried to hide inside of her own shadow once I focused on her dismal response.
Strike Two.
"This isn't your first quest, is it? You do know that goblins are Steel ranked monsters, right?" I asked them in absolute disbelief at the incompetence they had displayed so far.
Their silence told me more than anything else they could have said.
Strike Three.
"So let me get this straight: The three of you have never gone on an adventure before, never fought a goblin or any other creature in order to kill it, have no gear to help you in case anything goes wrong, are intending to fight monsters that are two ranks above your own… and you still want me to help you?" I asked them, holding nothing back as I unleashed the pent up anger I had been holding back at their sheer incompetence.
"But they're just goblins! They aren't any smarter or stronger than children!" Warrior whined, finally showing that he was nothing more than an overconfident brat at long last.
"Yes, because children obviously do not have an evil bone in their body, never manage to outsmart adults, and can always be overpowered even when they outnumber you twenty to three!" I shouted in exasperation.
"See, you even agree with us!" Warrior shouted.
Strike Four.
I have met some true idiots in my time in the Astra Millitarum, so I know a thing or two when it comes to frakheads that make a herd of stampeding grox look as smart as cogboys. Warrior, and possibly the rest of his party, had somehow managed to ascend to an even greater plane of stupidity than I had thought possible. I completely lost my will to argue against them in the face of all that idiocy, and since there was no cure for stupid, I didn't even entertain the idea of talking them out of going on their quest.
"Get out of my sight." I told them.
"But… but… our quest-"
"Give up." I told him. Warrior looked shocked now that I was speaking in a language his flea sized brain could understand, and as what looked like a flicker of introspection passed through his eyes, I gave both him and his party a parting piece of advice before they left to get themselves killed. "Go to Guild Girl, and ask her for a quest that is more appropriate for simpletons like yourselves. I refuse to lead a bunch of juvies to their deaths. Either take my advice, or find some idiot willing to help you all get yourselves killed because I will not have your blood on my hands."
The three rookies looked absolutely stunned at my speech, and I gave them a few moments to leave before having to ask twice in a far less civilized manner. "Leave me to enjoy my meal and stop wasting my time before I ensure none of you are able to go on a single quest for the rest of your lives." I told them. To my knowledge, my precarious position as a diplomat from a foreign nation that no one in Frontier Town had heard gave me no such authority to make good on my threat, but the gullible idiots in front of me didn't have the luxury of knowing that. To them, I was simply a noble threatening to crush their dreams after getting angry at them. If I had known just how lightly they had taken my earlier words, I would have done everything in my power to make Guild Girl revoke their membership in the Adventurers Guild before they could risk their lives and the life of anyone stupid or naïve enough to accompany them.
Warrior and his party ran away from me as quickly as they could, allowing me to finally enjoy my meal in peace. I tried my best to not think about them or whatever they were discussing with that other rookie adventurer that Guild Girl was helping register as I devoured my breakfast. Whatever enjoyment there had been in the tender steak had been ruined by those three insisting that I help get themselves killed, ending my chance of falling back to sleep that day after my heated argument.
I was getting ready to abandon my seat at the fireplace and was ready to head back to my room so I could pretend this day never happened, but Guild Girl quickly ran by my side and stopped me before I could take a single step.
"Commissar Cain! What happened with those Porcelain adventurers?" She asked, a look of concern on her that instantly snapped me to attention. I hadn't seen her look worried about anything since I registered as an adventurer. Seeing the normally unflappable woman look worried instantly set me on edge.
"I told them that if they were so insistent on taking someone to watch them get slaughtered by goblins, they could go bother someone else." I told her.
"You didn't try to help them?"
"I did. I told them to give up and pick a different quest because they had no chance of surviving a fight against goblins." I said as honestly as I could. "The only way I could have done anything more for them would have been by forcing them to resign against their will like any sane person with the power to do so would.
Guild Girl paled for a second and looked completely shell-shocked for a moment, and despite how my palms were starting to tingle, I went against my better judgement and asked her what was wrong. "Are you feeling okay? You look ill."
"I'm… I'm fine." She said, fooling no one, not even herself. "I'm just worried about those adventurers, that's all."
"People don't look like they are about to pass out at any moment if they're 'just worried' about something." I said, hoping she would tell me what was wrong and that it somehow wasn't related to the suicidal bunch of idiots that had left the Guild Hall a few minutes ago.
"You're right." She said, looking quite solemn as envisioned something and quickly tried to wipe the image out of her head afterwards. "It's those rookie adventurers. It's never easy letting people like them leave knowing they likely won't come back."
For a moment, I was completely taken back by what she said. Then a small sense of indignant fury rose up inside me. "Then why did you let them take that goblin quest if you are so worried about them?" I asked her, doing nothing to hide my disdain behind her decision in her voice.
"There's nothing I can do. I would be fired by the Adventurers Guild if I refused to let those rookies take a quest they were qualified for." She said, although the way she spat out the word 'qualified' as if it were grox dung told me exactly what she felt about her role in this mess.
To me, I was very familiar with this kind of bureaucratic idiocy. The Adeptus Munitorum seemed to run solely on such poor decisions, some of which were to the Militarum's benefit but most of which were decidedly not. I could hardly blame Guild Girl for being little more than an easily replaceable cog in the machine feeding fools into yet another meat grinder.
"Perhaps there is something you can do." I told her. "Is it possible to still register me as a part of the quest?"
"Yes, yes I can." Guild Girl said. There was a small look of hope in her eyes as she spoke, and I took that as all the confidence I needed to ignore my itching hands. Why I was so insistent on risking my life to save a bunch of juvies I felt nothing but contempt for, I couldn't really say. The steak I ate must have been undercooked, giving me a small bout of food poisoning that made me feel delirious enough to save Warrior and his party before anything could happen to them. There was no other logical explanation for why I was risking my life for a bunch of strangers I didn't know or particularly care about.
"Good, as soon as I need to go, I'll try to catch up with those idiots and do everything I can to keep them alive. Make sure to tell Jurgen where to find me once he comes back. I don't think I will need his help, but having him around certainly couldn't hurt." I told Guild Girl as we rushed to the quest counter.
Guild Girl quickly pulled up a copy of the quest they had taken and told me to sign as she continued to search for the maps and quest details I would require to ensure my own survival. I was about to sign with the title I had chose for myself when I noticed that someone else was accompanying those three idiots on their fool's errand.
"Priestess also accepted this quest?" I asked myself, unable to believe such a timid looking girl would be so stupid as to join Warrior without putting up a fight. Even so, considering how timid she looked, I doubt it would have taken much to convince or coerce her into joining his party.
"Yes, she did. I tried my best to advise her against it." Guild Girl told me, apparently overhearing what was meant to be an idle comment and feeling somewhat defensive about it.
"I'm sure you did. Don't worry, I'll do everything I can to protect them." I told her.
Yes, I would do everything I can to protect them after ensuring my own survival. I could hardly save their lives if I couldn't save my own, and I had no intentions of dying a martyr when I had a nice, cozy bed waiting for me once I returned from my first quest as an adventurer.
I hoped it would also be my last, but that of course was but one of the many hopes I had for the day that would never be fulfilled.
Author's Corner:
Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, has finally found a quest worthy of his time. His intervention is the only chance of survival the hapless rookies determined to fight the greenskins plaguing a nearby village have, but will the rookies set aside their suicidal ambition and listen to a hero or will their recklessness be their undoing?
Strong-bot: Not gonna lie I was half expecting the guild to start singing like the guardsmen in the Bruva Alfabusa video on Cain.
Great minds think alike, it seems. I've had a little *something* drafted up for a while now but as much as I want to use it now, Cain's reputation is not well known enough for anyone to start singing songs about him… yet.
kukuhimanpr: This chapter makes me somewhat compare Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, and Jurgen with King (but with some decent power) and Genos from the One Punch Man series.
I never really thought about the similarities King and Cain had before, but now that you mention it, King luck does seem to rival Cain's. Hell, the only real difference between the two would be how useful they are in a fight whenever running isn't an option.
If Cain's chainsword is so strong, perhaps he can rely on it to disarm lots of his future enemies in GS world.
IF I remember correctly, Cain's chainsword and most others in W40k are made out of an adamantium alloy. While it has been quite some time since I brushed up on the Mohs Scale of Fantasy Mineral Hardness, I'm fairly confident that an adamantium chainsword that can cleave through armor and bodies with ease could also chew through an iron sword, especially if it was already softened by the heat of a few lasbolts.
Garibaldi the Black: It's either Jurgen's job, or Amberley is going to find a background source to slip in. If she can't find it, she'll use Jenit Sulla's autobiography.
Yep, I needed someone to move things along and keep the plot moving forward without just starting off wherever Cain thought something noteworthy happened. Since Jurgen was available I just took a page out of the commissar's book and threw the workload on him.
Jurgen is such a cog.
The Omnissiah truly processes his data!
Well, that's it from me for now. Thanks for the support, I'll be seeing y'all again real soon!