02 - Brisk Beginnings

In this chapter, everything begins with our main characters, Cain and Vella. Here they take up their first job. It's a rather boring chapter I admit.

Chapter 2: Brisk Beginnings

It was about as average as a spring time day could be in fields. Warm and breezy, comfortable as you could imagine. It was truly a beautiful day to behold. The inhabitants of Denerim were going about their normal job routines as usual for mid-day. Despite the calmness in the air, there was something amiss that would interrupt the peace of the day that was slowly coming to show itself.
4 figures came to a stop quite a ways away from the city. You could see the walls of the city clearly from this spot. Each of these people wore a similar, yet slightly different black jacket. It was as if each person had personalized their attire individually, yet they were clearly a team. 3 boys and 1 girl were among them. A smug looking blonde male appeared to lead the pack, standing in front of them all with a confident demeanor. To his right was a taller, and angrier looking bald man. He had a scar over one eye and an eye patch over it. On his hips he had 2 blades that were sheathed, and his face had a strange look that could only be described as a sort of.. blood lust.

The girl among them was the shortest, and must have been about 5' 3”. Unlike everyone else, she didn't appear to have a weapon on her. She had long black hair that was up into 2 pony tails with long bangs that reached her shoulders in length. Her face had an unflinching sense of irritation. Right behind her was a man with a red bandana and short brown hair just beneath it. This person was the farthest behind anyone. He had a rifle strapped to his back and seemed rather disinterested in anything going on. Despite any other possibilities, it was clear to anyone that would see these 4 that they were bandits.
“It looks like that's it right there”, opened the blonde bandit.
The man with the bandana closed his eyes for a short while before replying “And what of the Sanctuary heroes? As I recall we had some issues with them last time”.
In response, the bandit smiled arrogantly and proclaimed “Then we fight back, Vance”.
“Lux, don't underestimate things.”

To this, the bandit with the eye patch scoffed. “Those posers have better things to do than fend off a petty town robbery.
All the while this conversation was going on, the lone girl in their ranks simply sat quietly.
“Let's start this party..” Lux stated condescendingly.

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 “Raise your blade, and spar with me.”

“I don't know.. it wouldn't feel right....”

“..... Don't tell me it's because I'm a girl or some crap, defend yourself!”

“Alright.”

Suddenly Cains eyes had snapped open as he awoke in the world that was reality. He simply sat there for a moment, thinking to himself. After awhile his gaze settled and he said to himself: “Another one?”. Still with his sight fixed upon the ground, he realized a shadow moving in towards him. He flipped his head up to see what exactly had decided to drop in on him unannounced, just to meet glances with Vella, who was not even a foot away from his face staring back at him.

“Why are you so close to my face?” He said with a sardonic tone.

“Why are you sleeping outside against a tree, instead of inside again?”, she replied with twice as much sarcasm, tilting her head sideways.
Cain simply sighed and closed his eyes. As usual he had been defeated by Vella in terms of making a point. After taking his breath of defeat, he figured she should get an answer. She would get a s****y one, but and answer is still an answer none the less.

“It's a beautiful day outside. There's nothing wrong with enjoying it.” He stated.

“Bull s**t Cain and you know it. I swear man, have you EVER slept in a bed before?”, she replied slightly giddy, yet serious.

“Of course I have, I'm not a feral child you know.”

“You are a very... confusing individual. Trees are not comfortable.. I would know! I've sat in them for hours at a time for training.”, Vella proclaimed. “However, as much as I would love to continue this debate I wanted to find you for something.”
Cain lifted an eyebrow in response, opening his right eye and focusing on her. Vella immediately understood it as if he had said “Get on with it”.

“We should take a job right now!”, she exclaimed suddenly, with a look of pure enthusiasm.
Cain had a few thoughts popping into his head. Why is she so spontaneous? Is that really all she needed me for? Do I really feel like doing anything today? All of these questions and many more popped up. Laying rest to it all, he simply said the first thing that came to mind.

“I don't see the harm in at least seeing what's available on the board, let's go.”

“Sweet”, she said in response.

As you can see, the vocabulary and slang of the people in Azerus is fairly similar to our own. Despite the difference in era, this world is quite similar in many ways.

The town was a bit more lively today than it usually is around this time. Cain thought perhaps there was an event today that he was unaware of, but after spending some time wandering the streets that this was false. Not a word was spoken about anything in particular, just gossip and small talk of the like between the denizens. It would appear that he wasn't the only one out and enjoying the fine weather.

Soon enough, the town's sanctuary had loomed in from around the corner. It was only then that Cain realized he drifted off during that excursion. They had opened the doors and entered, where there were various people within it, dressed in attire that was far different than the townsfolk for the most part. Some wore robs of various interesting styles, with staves and swords somewhere on their being. Others donned metallic armors of scales, chains, bands, and plates or any variation of the four. The clothing variations were as numerous as there were people within it. As Cain and Vella neared the jobs board, the density of people around had increased. It would appear they weren't the only two that wanted to complete a job.
“We should take a B-level job this time man, the C-level jobs are more like chores. It's so boring..”, Vella said as her face slowly drained of all excitement.

“As tempting as that may be, I don't think it will be approved quite yet. For now let's just stick with a C rank hunt.” Cain said in response.

Rather than speak, Vella instead decided to groan in disappointment. Oddly enough it was adorable in some way that couldn't quite be labeled with certainty. She was completely right however, and Cain knew it. He was also growing bored of the lower end jobs on the board. Although he had at least 10 times the amount of patience that Vella has with these sort of things, he still wished they could just be approved already.

As how things usually went, they officially accepted the job with the sanctuary elder in exchange for the details of what to do. Their assignment was to clear a group of slimes from the property of a local farmer not too far from their own home. For any of you who may not be too familiar with what a slime is, then think of it as an amorphous ball of jell-o. Now imagine that ball being a mildly acidic target that likes to be a pest wherever it is. Behold, you have a slime. With such a relatively simple task ahead of them, they were well aware of how this sort of thing went down, so they immediately set foot towards the destination.

Author's Note

Feel free to rip apart grammar and spelling as usual.