Questioning it would be rude, so I left it at that. The receptionist was behind the main desk. She said "Julien. René. Nice of you to drop by. You have been getting a ton of requests lately." Her face was guarded and the glare from her glasses made it harder to tell her true expression. The Protectors walked over to the desk to look at them. I was sure that there was more to this attitude she was showing to them. They did not seem to care about her one bit. It really wasn't my business. "I still have no idea how obvious fighters like you two are so popular these days. It must be a fad or something." she grumbled. She then turned to me. "Hello, sir. Would you perhaps like to avail yourself of our services?" Her face changed into the smile of a salesperson. I decided to humor her. "I was just interested in looking at your prices. You never know when you might need a good medic." I was given the book to leaf through. There were medics of several races and ranks. The top medic in this branch of the guild was a male half elf named Phann. He was Diamond ranked. Another Diamond was the human Eric.
Rekish the naga was the third Diamond rank. Next were the six Gold ranks. Four were human. One was a half orc. Two were beastkin and final was a centaur. At the bottom was the Coal rank. There were several of the different beastkin types and scruffy looking humanoid urchins. I asked both Julien and René how many requests did they need to fulfill to rank up to Bronze. They had four each. "We could finish them all today, but that would mean servicing dirty old men that the world would be better off if they just croaked." René said casually as he stretched his arms to the sky. "I could only stomach two at the most anyway." Julien added. I was going to leave them to their work when I saw an assassin approach me as I turned. I drew my Zweihander and charged him. He threw daggers at me and I took them head on so I could deliver my attack. I took a good chunk of his health from the blow, but there was a really potent poison added on the blades. I shot an ice spike at him and it hit him dead center of his thin chest. I killed him with a sweep of the legs and impaling him while down.
I looked at the shocked receptionist and the curious Protectors. I was still a wanted man for my crimes. At this point, I was not sure whether or not I should just let myself get killed by one of the assassins to get the bounty over with. "You never know when you might need a good medic." I repeated before leaving. I was not sure what I was going to do next. There was the matter of the bandit fort that wanted our protection. I decided to retire to one of the closer forts. I gathered some of the recruits and we made our way to the bandit camp. The bandits let us in the main hall and the bandit chief came to see us. "Thank you for finally showing up. You have a large reputation in some circles. It isn't every day that a thief becomes a knight, much less a paladin." he said. The other bandits looked at me in order to size me up compared to all the hype. "You fought in that tournament and brought the Church of the Seven Roses from a small cult to a large force." he continued. I stood as straight and tall as I could. I said "I was on the front line of a holy war. I love taking forts too." That got them all nervous.
