Arthur stood outside the building that had been his home. He had with him all his worldly possessions. A trusty sword, the clothes on his back, and the chain mail he spent the last of his orphan funds to buy.

  What had happened was this. Mick coughed up what he owed (a few silver pieces). Elyas offered to pay for all the damage to the tavern (counting a broken mop, a broken table, and psychological damage to Philomena Jr., it amounted to a couple of gold pieces). Tilda forced everyone involved to clean up the mess. And Arthur got fired from his job and kicked out of his lodgings.

  The runes on the street’s only lamppost sputtered, the magic flames flickering against the night. It wasn't raining anymore, but the ground was still wet, and it was still very much night. Baxter and the three sailors had run home, leaving Arthur alone with... him.

  “Look on the bright side,” Elyas said, “you're no longer underemployed."

  "Like hell I'm not underemployed; I'm unemployed! And it's all thanks to you. You owe me a job."

  "You owe yourself a job. No one asked you to butt in."

  "No one asked you to give me a fencing lesson."

  The wolf brushed against Elyas’s leg. He petted its fuzzy head. "I'm off. See you around, kiddo." He turned and trotted away.

  "Where do you think you're going?" Arthur asked.

  "Home. It's Shaggy's bedtime."

  "What about my bedtime?"

  "Not my problem."

  Elyas and the wolf — or ‘Shaggy’ — continued their merry way down the muddy streets. Arthur trudged along behind them.

  "Hey, I'm talking to you," Arthur said after a while. "You just ruined my life. Aren't you going to take responsibility?"

  "I did you a favor. Your talents were being wasted in that crap basket."

  "And what're you using your talents on, huh? You do this every night? Run around town beating up drunks for a few silvers, is that it?"

  "I heard the City Watch is hiring."

  "Oh good, the City Watch is hiring. Why don't I drop by their office right now and beg on my knees? I'm sure they'll be dying to give me room and board and a dental plan."

  Elyas was quiet, leaving Arthur alone with his thoughts. Truthfully, the City Watch wasn't such a bad idea. It was his backup plan in the first place. That still didn't solve the issue of having nowhere to live and nothing to eat for the next few days.

  "Fine," Elyas said when it became evident Arthur wasn’t going anywhere. "You can stay with me until you're back on your feet. How's that?"

  “That sounds good. Thank you.”

  By now, they had left Arthur’s home district, gone through the tannery district, and were currently crossing the harbor. Wherever Elyas and Shaggy lived must have been on the other side of town.

  The sea churned in the wind, spraying water over the docks.

  Arthur pulled his coat a little closer.

  "So, where do you live?" Arthur asked.

  "You'll see."

  Elyas and the wolf-dog led Arthur along the harbor, past a wet market, and through a metalworking district with no sign of slowing down.

  Up ahead, red light streaked from a side alley.

  Arthur had a bad feeling about this.

  Finally, they rounded the bend. Arthur shielded his face from the light. When his eyes adjusted, the street came into focus.

  While the rest of Belmont was dead asleep, this place practically throbbed with life. People of all species strolled between brightly lit shops. Multi-hued lanterns hung overhead, water still dripping from the rain.

  Elyas and Shaggy made their way down the lane. Arthur stuck close behind them. They passed signs advertising everything from bars and cabaret clubs to love inns and brothels. One gnome offered Arthur special discount drugs, while an orc tried to recruit him to an underground fight pit.

  Elyas stopped at the end of the street in front of a tall, ramshackle building that looked like it might topple if you sneezed on it. Tipsy tavern music blared from within, and flashy lights danced behind the curtains of the ground-floor windows. A sign featuring a thick, curved spear hung over the— wait, that’s not a spear, is it?

  And there goes Elyas waltzing into the joint.

  What the hell did Arthur get himself into?

  Arthur closed his eyes and took the plunge. When he opened them again, he found himself in a plain hallway. Relief.

  Music pounded from the right wall. Red light streamed from underneath a door. A burly doorman with a curly mustache crossed his arms and eyed Arthur. Arthur ignored him and followed Elyas to the staircase at the end of the hall.

  On the stair steps, a halfling woman with dark curls and a stern frown put her fists on her hips and glared down at Elyas.

  "It's about damn time," she said.

  "Sorry, Estelle. Ran into a bit of trouble." Elyas took out a few silver coins and dropped them into her open palm.

  Noticing Arthur, she said, "And who's this?"

  "Arthur, Ma'am. Arthur Reed," he said.

  "That's Mistress to you. Come, lad, let me have a look."

  Estelle held his chin in her hand and looked him over. "Nice, strong jawline. Wavy, blonde hair. Dreamy, green eyes. And you're tall too, what are you, six-one, six-two?"

  Elyas said, "Actually, he's—"

  "Good build, broad shoulders, tight waistline. You must work out. Go on, lad, take off your shirt."

  "He’s with me," Elyas said. "He'll be staying with us for a while. Don't try to poach him now."

  "Speaking of... your rent?" Estelle folded her arms.

  "Would you look at the time, can't talk right now, see you in the morning."

  Elyas and Shaggy were up the stairs faster than you can say ‘lap dance.’

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "One more week, you hear me!" she yelled, "Or you and that pooch will be sleeping with the gutter rats like I found you."

  She turned back to Arthur. "And as for you, dear, if you change your mind, you know where to find me."

  "I probably won't, but thanks for the offer, I guess?" Arthur said.

  He hurried up the stairs after Elyas.

  "Toodles," Estelle said from behind.

  At the top of the stairs was on another hallway flanked by closed doors. At the end of this hall, an open trapdoor let down a rope ladder.

  No. Say it isn’t so.

  Footsteps thudded above the ceiling, then Elyas' head popped out of the trapdoor. "What're you waiting for? Quick, before she decides to kick the both of us to the curb."

  Arthur scampered up the ladder, and Elyas shut the trapdoor behind him.

  A dim lamp in the corner was the only light source in this attic. A disheveled bed lay in front of the room's sole window. Elyas was spreading a sheet over the floor beside the bed, which was where Arthur would presumably be sleeping. Shaggy was already lying on a pile of sheets to one side.

  In the middle of the room sat a short table, yet Arthur couldn’t see any chairs. Did this guy eat sitting on the floor? Strange.

  After setting the makeshift bed, Elyas walked to the back of the room and started doffing his armor and gear. He slotted his knives and blades onto the racks lining the walls. A host of other weapons hung from the racks. Shortbows and slings, sabers and stilettos, katanas and necksplitters. And those were just the ones he could name.

  "Don't just stand there," Elyas said. "Make yourself at home. Mi casa, su casa."

  "So you are from Calencia," said Arthur.

  "Who said anything about Calencia?"

  "Sorry, it's just... never mind."

  Arthur inspected a desk on one side of the room, on top of which were three stone figurines — a woman and two children — along with some painted rocks and sticks of incense. Implements of a foreign religion, perhaps?

  "What are you exactly?” Arthur asked. “I mean, what do you do? Are you a debt collector for that madame downstairs?"

  "Now and then when I need to be.”

  "And when you don't need to be?"

  "It's getting late, son. I understand your sleep cycle is still on night shift, but I need to get up early. Why don't I show you what I do tomorrow?"

  Arthur agreed.

  Elyas and Shaggy were out in a few minutes, but Arthur couldn't fall asleep, and it wasn't because his sleep cycle was whack.

  The events of the past twelve hours washed over him. All in all, this might very well be the second worst night of his life. The realization just hadn't sunk in yet.

  He was too numb from shock to feel sadness or anger, but he sure as hell was going to feel hunger tomorrow. Though his old job didn't pay much, at least he got three free meals a day.

  He rolled and turned under the blanket.

  What the hell has he gotten himself into? And more importantly, how the hell does he get out of it?

  City Watch was his best bet. They accepted anyone, right? He heard they had a good retirement plan too. Yeah, that's it. He'll head over there tomorrow and see what they can do. He just hoped Elyas would be okay with him staying here for a while until he found himself a place to live. Arthur couldn't get a good read on the guy, but he had a feeling Elyas wouldn't mind.

  ~~

  Arthur was back on the farm. Pa was herding the sheep while Uncle Thomas played with his kids on the porch of the farmhouse. Mei was there too, lying on the field with Adamu and Fareed. They were all laughing at Sveta chasing the sheep around.

  Then, a thunderous roar exploded from the heavens. A gargantuan wyvern with five multi-colored heads and massive scorpion stingers crashed down on the farm.

  The sheep scattered. Cries filled the air.

  The wyvern rampaged over the land. Arthur’s friends tried to fight back, but it crushed Adamu and Mei under its weight, spewed acid over Fareed and Sveta, and then grabbed Arthur’s father in its claws.

  Arthur could swear this thing got bigger every time. He learned to turn his nightmares into lucid dreams a while back. Right now is when he would usually pick up his sword and kill the damn thing, but when he looked at his hand, he was holding a mop instead. He raised the mop anyway. The monster slashed it in half along with Arthur's torso.

  When Arthur came to, he was back on the academy training grounds, dueling with Garth. Except this time, he was wielding a mop rather than a practice sword. This was definitely new. He and Garth went back and forth. Their classmates jeered at Arthur from the sidelines. All of a sudden, they started to laugh, and when Arthur looked down, he found himself naked.

  He dropped the mop and ran away from his classmates, from his school, from his life. To complicate matters further, his teeth started falling out.

  Then, a thunderous roar exploded from the heavens. "ARTHURRRRR!!!"

  Arthur looked back, and to his abject horror, a hundred-foot-tall Tilda was riding a colossal orange cat. Junior crushed everything in her path while Tilda swung a massive rolling pin at the buildings.

  The students scattered. Cries filled the air.

  The titan locked onto Arthur, hellfire in her eyes.

  He awoke with a start, drenched in sweat. Elyas’s musty attic came into focus. It was morning, and the weight of reality bore down on Arthur’s shoulders. He already wished he was back in the dream.

  ~~

  Down the trapdoor hatch, Arthur was just in time to see a woman leaving through one of the doors in the hallway.

  "I can’t thank you enough," she said.

  "All in a day's work," said Elyas, coming out after her.

  She shook both his hands in hers before heading downstairs.

  "There you are," Elyas said, noticing Arthur. "The sheets alright?"

  "Slept like a baby," Arthur said. "So was that a…?"

  "Client."

  "What was she thanking you for?"

  "Why don’t you come in."

  He followed Elyas into the office.

  Stacked bookshelves lined the walls. Papers were scattered in clumps across the floor. Books and writing implements cluttered a desk on the left side of the room, a bottle of rum lying precipitously close to the table’s edge. Shaggy glanced up at Arthur from an undersized doggie bed in the corner, then went back to sleep.

  Arthur made himself comfortable on a creaky wooden chair by the desk. Or at least attempted to.

  Elyas walked straight to the window and looked down at the pedestrians below. "Tell me, boy, why did you come to Belmont? I know it wasn't to hang cloaks on coat racks."

  "The short of it is, I came here to become an adventurer." It always sounded good in his head. Now it sounded ridiculous. "I just graduated from the Adventuring Academy over at UB."

  "So you think you're some kind of big shot then?"

  "Definitely not. The guilds made that clear."

  "What do you define as an adventurer then, hmm?” Elyas asked.

  "I guess it could literally mean 'one who goes on adventures,' but technically an adventurer is a specific type of trained professional. Someone with skills and abilities above the ordinary which they use to accomplish heroic tasks out of the reach of common folk."

  "Ah, but that only describes what an adventurer is in theory. You and I both know that’s not what happens in practice."

  “What do you mean?”

  Elyas turned from the window and started pacing around the room. “Tell me, boy, where are most of the adventurers in the city found?”

  “The adventuring guilds, of course.”

  “And how does one avail of their services? Whom do they cater to?”

  Arthur thought about this for a moment. "When a threat needs to be dealt with and the government doesn't want to stir up the army, they pay one of the adventuring guilds to deal with it. Or when someone needs something done, they go to one of the guilds and hire out a party to do it for them. And sometimes, a wealthy noble funds an adventuring excursion to a dungeon and takes a cut of any treasure that's found."

  Elyas nodded, rubbing his chin. "Now tell me this. What happens when someone needs something done but can’t afford the guilds' services? What if that somebody is a nobody – an alley urchin not even the city watch would bother with? What happens then?"

  What little pride Arthur had at wanting to join a guild was extinguished. "Uh, nothing, I suppose. The thing that needs to be done doesn't get done."

  "There you have it," said Elyas.

  "So where do you fit in all this?" Arthur said. "You must be better than half the stooges in those guilds.”

  Elyas stopped his pacing and stared pensively at an empty corner. "Have you ever heard of a private detective?"

  "I've heard of a private investigator."

  "A private detective," said Elyas, "solves crimes that the authorities have given up on or simply don't give a damn about. I have invented a new profession. I..." he rounded on Arthur "...am a private adventurer."

  The words hung in the air.

  "A what now?" Arthur said.

  "Call it what you want. Jack-of-all-Trades. Taker of Odd Jobs." Elyas went back to the window to look out at the world. "In other words, I take people's problems and solve them. I help the defenseless, the weak, the poor, and the helpless when no one else will."

  Arthur thought back to a time when he was defenseless, weak, poor, and helpless. He recalled the conversation with Sveta yesterday. An idea sprung up from the depths of his heart. An idea that blossomed into a passion, which bloomed into a conviction.

  Arthur stood. "I want to work for you, Elyas. I could be your apprentice. Let me help you help those who can't help themselves."

  Elyas turned and looked him in the eye.

  "Are you sure? The road I take is often thankless, and it surely isn't easy."

  "I'm sure."

  "Are you absolutely certain this is what you want to do with your life?"

  "I am."

  "Do you forsake evil and vow to uphold all that is right and just?

  "I do."

  “Do you vow to uphold the values of honor, excellence, and service? And above all, do you vow to do whatever I tell you to uphold said values?"

  "I DO!"

  "Then from this day forth, you, Arthur Reed, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, are my apprentice. Till death do us part."

  Tears welled up in Arthur’s eyes. He promised himself he wouldn't cry when this day came, but he couldn't help himself. He finally found his purpose in life.

  "Now for your first task." Elyas stepped behind his desk and lifted two large paint cans. "Head down to the corner of Rue Pierre and Pecker Lane. Mrs. Baker needs her roof painted."