Chapter 8: Meeting other guild members
I might have said this earlier, but, I'm sorry if I end up making the characters out of character and if I butcher the spelling of characters names. The only game I've played are Abyss, Legendia, and Phantasia, (Though I haven't completed the later two) I have not played any of the other games … only watched bits and pieces of walkthroughs, looked on the Tales wiki, and looked through T.V. Tropes, so again, I apologize for making most of the characters out of character. It would help to tell me the personalities of the characters. Also remind me if some of my original characters are becoming Sues.
Within 6 days Simon had completed about 10 jobs, they were either errands or community service jobs, the errands were normally shorter than the community service jobs. At the end of the day he and Robin would walk a ways to a clearing outside of St. Gabriel to train. Robin would yell at him to dodge or parry his attack right when he would bruise him with that staff. Simon figured how to defend and attack, though all of his attacks would get blocked, so his attacks were slow and predictable. Robin told him several times that he had to move in combat several times, he promised that the next time they trained he would run around the clearing to motivate Simon to move.
The next day Simon went to the Ad Libitum office his request said that it was an extermination assignment and the client was someone named Lloyd Irving. Claus told him that he was in the lounge room on the second floor. Simon went to the room on the second floor that had couches, two tables, a large one and a small one, a fireplace, and a radio. He looked in to see a young man with brown spiky hair, wearing a shirt and suspenders under a jacket, talking to Colette. He knocked on a wall catching their attention.
"Oh hello Simon," Colette greeted, "do you need something?"
"Um well … I got this job request from a Lloyd Irving …" he began.
"That's me," Said the young man with Colette, "It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." Replied Simon shaking his hand. "What is this job about?"
"Well, we need to get rid of some wolves in the woods near the road that goes from here to Medine." Explained Lloyd.
"To make travel from here to there safer?" Asked Simon, remembering going down that road with Cress when he first came to St. Gabriel.
"Yep," answered Lloyd, "I still need to get some things, so when you're ready meet me at the eastern exit to the city. "
Okay." Simon nodded remembering that it's the inn closest to Lylia Inn, now if he could just remember the streets. Simon eventually found the eastern exit of St. Gabriel and not too long after Lloyd caught up.
"Are you ready?" Lloyd asked, Simon nodded, "Great! Let's go!" So they headed into the forest next to the road.
It was just as he remembered with Cress, cold and grey, at least it wasn't raining, like it had been for the past few days. Still the cold made his ears feel like they want to pop. The heard a growl and Lloyd drew his sword, signaling Simon to draw his. The wolf monster crawled out of the bushes, sniffed around and stared at them, snarling its teeth. Then a different wolf attacked from behind, signaling the first wolf to attack. Simon dodged the wolf from behind though it didn't stop him from getting his arm bit by the wolf he stabbed the wolf in the eye, forcing it to let go yelping. Then Lloyd shouted something, injuring the wolf then Simon stabbed it, killing it.
"Hey, are you all right?" Lloyd asked.
"I'm fine," Said Simon flinching and rubbing his arm.
"Here," Lloyd offered with an apple gel. Simon looked confused, "It would help with that injury."
"I … didn't know that." Said Simon, "I didn't get any ... Sorry."
"We all make that mistake at least once, we should learn from these things or we'll get scolded for not being prepared." Joked Lloyd, sounding insightful.
"Thank you." Said Simon, taking the gel and swallowing it, the pain from the bite seemed to vanish.
"No problem, let's go, we can probably get Mint or Cheria to look at it after the mission." Said Lloyd, proceeding into the wood, Simon fought at least seven more wolves, each encounter Simon became better at dodging the bites and scratches, and he gradually became better at attacking. Lloyd was the one who dealt the finishing blow on the wolves using some special attack, making Simon wonder how'd Lloyd did that, and if he could perform the attack as well. They killed five more wolves before Lloyd looked at the paper and told Simon that they were done.
While heading back to St. Gabriel Simon asked, "Um … Lloyd? You know those attacks like … Demon Fang or Tiger Blade?"
"What about them?"
"I was just wondering … how do you do them?"
"How do you perform artes?" Lloyd repeated, simplifying the question.
"Yeah."
"Why do you need to know? Do you not know how to use them?"
"I barely know how to fight, I would like to learn of ways to make myself stronger." Said Simon with a shrug, just as they reentered St. Gabriel.
"I'm not quite sure how to explain this … but I know that you definitely need to focus." Stated Lloyd, "You should probably ask someone else about it."
"I will, thanks." "No problem." Said Lloyd, as they got back to the guild's headquarters.
"I assume that you've finished the job?" asked Claus. " Do you have his evaluation sheet Lloyd?"
"Dammit!" Shouted Lloyd digging in his pockets for the piece of paper then frantically grabbing the pen on Claus' desk and scribbling onto the sheet. Around the same time one of the female candidates came in with a young man and girl with him. The man had silver hair and a tattoo on his face. While the girl was an aryan with some of her fringe braided and wore a headband. The young man wore a shirt and jacket like anyone else, except he had wore gloves and had some type of body armor on his knees, while the girl wore a vest over his blouse and a long shirk that would have tripped her if the front wasn't held up by straps.
"How was your job you two?" Claus asked the silver haired young man, handing Lloyd and Simon's pay for the job.
"It worked out for the most part with a few exceptions." Reported the young man handing in the recruit's evaluation.
"I'm very sorry Senel." apologized the girl.
"It wasn't your fault Shirley, we just got caught off guard, it happens sometimes." Said the young man.
"You up for another job kid?" Claus asked, Simon, he nodded. His client was a young woman named Philia at the church. Before he left to do the other job he felt that he should at least know the two guild members that came back.
"Excuse me!" He called for the two guild members, he caught the girl's attention.
"You're one of the recruit candidates right?" The girl asked, Simon nodded. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Shirley Fennes."
"I'm Simon." He introduced.
"I'm her brother, Senel Coolidge." Said the young man cutting in.
"Nice to meet you." He replied, "You two don't look like siblings." He then commented.
"She's my adopted sister." Senel explained.
"I do have a biological sister," Shirley added, "But…"
Simon sensed that he's heading into a taboo topic. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." He interrupted, "I'm sorry if I brought it up."
"It's fine, we should probably get going." Said Senel, ending the conversation.
"Yeah, I hope we get to work together sometime." Said Simon going to the church.
Once Simon got to the church he was at a lost as to where to go since there was no one up at the altar and there were doors to wither side of him. A young nun with green braids and glasses walked to the pews shaking a blonde young man who was sleeping. He recognized the young woman as the Philia he's supposed to talk to, since he's met her before on community service projects.
"Um …" He cleared his throat.
"Oh, Simon is it? Are you here about the job?" She asked.
"Yes," Said Simon. "Well then … I-" She began just then the young man she was trying to wake.
"Hey Phillia …" He moaned.
"Oh Stahn just in time, I was going to explain the job to Simon."
"Simon? One of the candidates Kratos and Claus are testing?" He asked.
"Yeah … how do you know that?" Said Simon.
"I was recently on a job with … Robin, he did mention you a few times, we were mostly talking about our little sisters, and I'm part of the guild." He explained.
"Oh …" Said Simon feeling a bit stupid for not knowing Stahn was part of the guild. "So … what is this job about?"
"Well, it shouldn't be too difficult, we're just going to be delivering something to Kidneypool." She stated, "I'll be right back." She said going to one of the doors then coming back with a brief case.
"Now in here is something we've been keeping safe for a while and it needs to be kept safe until then."
"All right." Said Stahn, Simon nodded in agreement.
"Good, well then let's go to the train station." Said Philia.
The job was rather uneventful, it was just an hour long train ride to Kidneypool, Stahn fell asleep while he and Philia got into a conversation went from Sakriny, to Health, to Yggdrasil, to memory loss, to his memory loss, to cats. The conversation was cut off when they arrived at Kidneypool. They gave the brief case to a man named Theodore, he gave the guild members their pay while Philia insisted that he shouldn't give her anything and she was doing this for the good will of god. The train ride back to St. Gabriel was a dreadfully quiet one as Stahn slept and Philia filled out Simon's evaluation sheet.
When Simon turned in his sheet it was starting to get late so Claus let him go, he went back to the inn where Robin and Lediemn were taking care of Robin's sisters, it had been a long day for Simon so he told them he'll be taking a nap and to tell him when dinner's ready, and Lediemn reminded him that he'll have to pay the next weeks rent the next day, since he skipped the rent the previous day. He went to his room and fell asleep.
He wasn't having a lucid dream like he occasionally had, where he's usually talking to Siela about why he should return to Sakriny. She never was clear about her reasoning. This time he was a man that was considered delusional. He warned that the world shouldn't become industrial, he got laughed at and mocked whenever he preached about the dangers of industry and innovation. Then he decided to take matters into his own hands and started burning factories to the ground. The workers and their owners became outraged and thus he was hanged for his crimes. Simon snapped awake just as Robin was about to wake him up to tell him that dinner's ready.
The next day, Simon was assigned to a job with Robin, Chester, and Cheria to check a cargo train for any opium smuggling, as a secondary check, in Medine, since the authorities might not catch something within the nearby checkpoint city of Medine. Why people are suspecting opium trade on the train, is that the train came from an area that grows the poppies responsible for the drug. So, drug trafficking and inspections have very strict rules. The police forces gave them search warrants to check the load before they went into the train. They checked the carts, starting at the back of the train, they mostly found chopped up lumber, canned foods, and consumer goods. They went through about three train cars and it was staring to get dark, they predicted that it will be an overnight job.
"Did you hear something?" Chester asked, stopping, the other three looked at him. He pointed to a corner, "I thought I heard something over there." Simon closer to the corner Chester pointed to and he was right, he heard some droning coming from the corner. As he got closer to the corner and the sound became clearer, it turned from murmurs to words he can vaguely make out.
"Simon?" Cheria wondered.
"Chester's right, there is something over there." He informed, the other two joined them in, what turned into, their investigation. They searched through the cart, primarily the corner where Chester identified the sound. Then Robin stood at a crate, he crouched down and pressed his ear against it. "
Did you find something Robin?" Simon asked.
"I could've sworn I heard breathing in this crate." He claimed, then a thud came from the crate. Chester walked over to the crate and shoved the lid off, Chester smirked.
"God dammit!" Shouted a voice from the crate, it sounded familiar to Simon.
"I told you that we should be quiet until we get to the docs!" Said another voice that sounded unfamiliar to him.
"Oh put a sock in it Laurel!" Snapped back to first voice. Simon rushed over to see who was in the crate. He found out Kanonno, her friend, tangled on top of each other, and a small green cat with tail wings standing on top of them.
"Ah …" Simon began then he sneezed, catching the girl's attention.
"Bless you." Said Robin.
"Thanks…" Sniffed Simon.
"You!" Started Kanonno sounding shocked.
"Uh … hi …" He said before sneezing again.
"Are you all right Simon?" Cheria asked.
"I'm fine … it's just a cat allergy." He said.
"Oh, I am terribly sorry sir." Apologized the cat flying out of the box, Simon fell back out of shock.
"Ah… no … it's fi-achoo!" He sneezed, followed by coughing and moaning while rubbing his eyes.
"We should go outside." Stated Cheria, helping Kanonno and Marianya out of the crate.
"Anyway, it's good to see you again Kanonno." Smiled Simon getting out of the train car. "How have you been?"
"I'm fine but -" Began Kanonno.
"That reminds me," Interrupted Marianya the cat gave her a disapproving glare, "how's your head, do you feel dizzy or anything like that."
"My head's all right um…" Simon paused for a moment trying to remember her name, "Who are you again?" He asked, Marianya looked offended at the remark while Kanonno snickered.
"I'm Marianya, Marianya Sorge! I'm the woman who healed your head injury!" She hollered.
"Wait a minute!" Cut in Chester. " Simon, you know these women?" he questioned.
"Well, they were the first people I met aster I lost my memory. Though, I don't know the cat." Answered Simon.
"Oh, sorry, I'm Laurel, Kanonno's caretaker." The cat introduced.
"Okay then, how exactly did you two come across him?" Continued Chester, sounding a bit suspicious.
"I found him on the roof of the weapons factory unconscious, naked, and the back of his head bleeding." Explained Kanonno. "I carried him off Marianya's place to fix him up, then I got him to Medine."
"Hold on!" Cheria cut in, "What were you doing on the roof on the weapon's factory, how did he get there?" Kanonno sighed and explained the whole story, from her at work to parting with Simon in Medine.
"All this trouble just for one man?" Chester wondered.
"It's the only logical thing to do, if you knew about the prejudice in Sakriny." Said Marianya.
"Oh, right, Sakriny has laws against those with either dark hair, skin, or eyes." Said Cheria.
"Well, you can get away with dark eyes, and there are exceptions to the law because of their blood lines." Explained Kanonno, "But it's not just that, during the past two years they started taking away people with those traits and sending them away to labor camps to die."
"Why?" Cheria asked.
"I don't know, I think it may have something to do with 'creating a perfect race.'" Quoted Kanonno.
"I'm sure that we all have questions for these ladies, but don't we have a job to do?" Robin suggested pointing to the train car.
"Oh right!"exclaimed Simon, having completely forgotten the job.
"Do you mind if we help?" Marianya asked.
"I don't know …" mumbled Chester, but it was too late Kanonno was in the next car checking the goods.
Several hours later, sooner than they expected, they've finished the job and told the conductor that there was nothing unusual on the train they didn't tell about the two women and the flying cat, for they were hiding. The train conductor paid them equal amounts of gald and went on his merry way. Kanonno, Marianya, and Laurel came out of hiding and joined the four on their way back to St. Gabriel.
"Kanonno what are you going to do about lodgings?" Simon asked.
"Well, we might stay at a shelter until we can find a way to get to Cademeca." Shrugged Kanonno.
"The shelters should still have some room." Stated Chester. "Though if you couldn't get in I think that the guild could provide you with some living assistance."
"Thanks for the offer, but I think someone here may have a little too much pride to ask for assistance." Said Marianya, looking over to Kanonno.
"I'm not that stubborn!" Claimed Kanonno, "I can ask for help when we're desperate!" Simon took out gald, minus that day's pay and gave it to Kanonno. Kanonno seemed quite shocked, while Marianya grinned, and Cheria stifled a giggle.
"What's this?" She asked.
"To help you." He stated.
"But what about the inn's rent?" Robin asked.
"I have enough for a few more days." Said Simon.
"Thanks but I don't need this." Kanonno rejected.
"Consider this as returning the loan you gave me." Said Simon, still holding out the offer. Kanonno stared at him for a while, then gave up and took the gald. Simon smiled at the gesture. Claus had already closed down the guild by the time they got back, since Chester and Cheria live in the guild dorms they told them that they're going to turn in the evaluations in the morning, or at least leave them on the front desk. The women left the two boys to go look for a shelter, while Simon and Robin went back to the inn.