part0024

Sam looked up, shading his eyes against the afternoon sun, so he could read the sign painted in auspicious gold lettering above the door.

Bunch o’ pompous asshats is more like it, Sam thought as he entered the guild hall. Gordon followed closely behind, now dressed in the leather armor that Sam had procured for him. He seemed quite proud of it for some reason and would take every chance to pose heroically whenever anyone looked at him. This had earned him more than a few scratches behind the ears, and even a few treats.

As the door opened, a wall of sound slammed into Sam, so loud that he actually winced. A few people turned to look at him when he entered, but soon went back to their own business. Looking around, Sam noted that it was exactly what he’d been expecting of a guild hall. A massive bar took up nearly half the room, with scantily clad women running around and fetching the rowdy adventurers their drinks. Every time one of them would pass, they would receive some kind of groping from an adventurer, be they male or female.

There was also, as he’d expected, a fight going on. A short, gray-skinned man was currently pounding the face of a young looking boy wearing a copper chain. Sam noticed that the chain around the gray man’s neck was gold.

So bullying was a thing here; no surprise. Classic fantasy, Sam thought, completely ignoring the fight, and walking to the other side of the guild hall, where a massive board stood covered in various bits of paper. Next to the job board was a small desk, behind which an overworked looking gnome sat filling out paperwork.

Walking up to the gnome, Sam waited patiently for him to finish, but after nearly five minutes passed without the small man looking up, he finally lost his patience.

“Excuse me,” Sam said, trying to be polite.

“What the fuck do you want?!” the gnome practically exploded as Sam spoke up.

“Well, excuse me for asking asshole!” Sam answered back, feeling his own temper rising. “I was just looking for some help, but seeing as that’s too much for you, I’ll just leave!”

The gnome’s eyes dropped to Sam’s neck, where he noted the lack of a guild chain, and suddenly, his demeanor shifted.

“My apologies good sir. I’m just a bit overworked. What can I help you with?”

“Nothing. I think I’m good,” Sam said, turning his back on the gnome and heading for the door.

“Hey! You can’t just leave!” the gnome called out, but Sam ignored him and kept walking.

“I said stop! Don’t you fucking ignore me you low-bit piece of trash!” the gnome screeched, his shrill voice cutting through the noise of the guild hall.

Sam stopped, fists clenched as the room went silent, and turned to face the red-faced gnome behind the desk.

“What did you just call me?” he asked, voice dangerously low.

Gordon was standing right next to him, his muzzle bunched up, and a low, rumbling growl sounded across the room.

“You heard me! Nobody walks in here, then just leaves, that’s not the way it works! If you’re not a member of the guild, you sign up; it’s the law!”

“Is it really?” Sam asked Gordon under his breath.

“Last I checked, it was not,” he replied.

“Really?” Sam asked, reaching into his bag and pulling his wand from inside. “And who, pray tell, is the one who made this supposed law?”

“The King! That’s who. Now get back here this instant, before I have my men haul you over here and have you forcefully sign the contract!”

Holy shit! This dude was going full evil villain on him.

“Yeah, I’m not a member of this kingdom, so you can go fuck yourself,” Sam said, now feeling his anger cooling.

This gnome was too much of a joke for him to take seriously, and looking around the room, he could see that most of the people in the guild were watching with looks of distaste.

“Fudge! Stork! Grab this man and drag him over here! He is not obeying the King’s laws, and must be made to!”

Sam actually began laughing when he heard those two names.

Gotta give you credit for those, Overlord, those names are so comically stupid, that only a couple of henchmen could have them!

Sure enough, a moment later, two hulking men separated themselves from the crowd and stomped over to him. It didn’t escape Sam’s notice that each wore a platinum chain around their necks, but when he used his Inspect skill, found that they were only level 4. All the others in the hall were eyeing these men with expressions ranging from annoyance to outright hatred.

Something was definitely off here. Normally Adventurer Guilds were supposed to be the good guys, but here they clearly were not. Or at least, the people in charge weren’t.

Sam took a step back, raising his wand in a threatening gesture, and Gordon stepped between him and the hulking brutes, growling and showing his teeth.

“I suggest that you get out of the way. Otherwise, I don’t think this will end well for you,” Sam said in a dangerous voice.

“Ha! You hear that Fudge. This little pipsqueak thinks he can scare us,” the man on the right said, guffawing stupidly.

“Fine then, it’s your choice,” Sam said with a shrug, motioning Gordon out of the way.

Fudge took a step forward, and Gordon leaped back.

“Look at that, even your dumb dog has more sense than you,” he said, sounding just as stupid as Stork.

A massive flash of blue energy exploded out from him, sending the two men flying in opposite directions. Fudge slamming into the wall, and Stork landed on top of the still raging gnome.

Sam turned to face the gnome, whose head was sticking out from between Stork’s legs and gave him the finger. Then, he abruptly turned away from them and walked out of the guild hall. No one stopped him.

Once they’d made it outside, Sam immediately turned to Gordon and gave him a questioning look.

“What the hell was all that about?”

“I do not know,” he replied, looking quite worried. “But something is definitely wrong if guild officials are acting this way.”

Sam’s question was answered a moment later when a new window popped up before his eyes.

“What is it?” Gordon asked, as he closed the screen.

“I just got a quest to stop the corruption in the guild, so it looks like we were right. Something is definitely off. There are only two problems; one is that we have a time frame, about six days to complete the quest, and another is the difficulty. I don’t think I can take on a Very Hard quest by myself.”

Gordon nodded, but was quick to offer a solution.

“Quest difficulty is directly related to the recipient’s level. If you raise your level, then the difficulty should decrease, making your task a little easier.”

Sam nodded, checking his clock and wincing. It was nearly two, and he still had to defeat a dungeon boss today.

“Alright, guess we have no choice but to head for that dungeon you were talking about.”

“Do you think that is a wise decision? Perhaps it is better to just accept the punishment for failure, rather than dying.”

“While I appreciate your concern, today would be the best day to go at it alone. I got a divine blessing doubling my HP , and like you just said, I need to increase my level if I want to complete that quest.”

Gordon nodded, then turned and began heading for the opposite side of the city, Sam following closely on his heels.

It took them about 25 minutes to reach the city walls, and another 30 to reach the dungeon. It came as a bit of a surprise when Sam saw a couple of guards standing by the entrance and a small line of people stretching from it.

“I didn’t realize that it would be this crowded,” Sam said as he stepped up to the back of the line.

“Dungeons around cities usually are, especially if they are under the control of the Guild,” Gordon replied.

“Wait. Are you saying that they won’t let us in unless we’re members of the guild?”

“No, but you will have to pay a fee upon exiting. I believe the standard for non-guild members is 10%, though it may be higher here due to the corruption you mentioned.”

Their suspicions were confirmed when they reached the front of the line, and one of the men looked Sam over.

“Since you’re not a member of the guild, you will be taxed 40% on all goods collected while you are in the dungeon.”

“Forty percent?! Are you out of your fucking mind?!” Sam practically exploded.

“You’re always free to leave,” the other man said, not even reacting to Sam’s outrage.

“And what happens if I don’t pay?” he asked, eyes narrowing.

“The guild will place a bounty on your head. You will be hunted down and made to pay for the lost income, plus an additional 150% fine for making us take the time to hunt you down. You will then be thrown in prison for anywhere between 5 to 50 years, and upon release, you will be blacklisted by the guild.”