THE MOMENT
Marlon had a tendency to get carried away by frustration, and as he marched into the adventurer's guild, his anger was eager to be let out. Fortunately, he was fast on his feet and never too proud to retreat.
"Ah, hunter did you slay that vampire yet?" the clerk greeted him with a smile and friendly small talk. She was the one who approved his quest, and it was mildly surprising that he was back so soon. Only mildly, though, the Chroma guild had a positive reputation, and they were known for being overwhelmingly powerful.
"No," Marlon met her eyes with a hard stare.
"No? What do you mean, no?" she asked. He'd entered the guild and approached the counter directly, and he was missing the metal vambrace on his left arm, with the cloth sleeve singed dark red. He'd obviously already tangled with the monster, so why was he there if it wasn't dead? "Well, we thought you could handle it," she nodded to remind him of the conversation before he embarked on the adventure.
"You never mentioned it was a vampire DRAGON! It shot blood flames at me!" Marlon knew he wasn't mad at her, but she was there, and he was upset.
The clerk held his stare for a silent moment as she processed the discussion they were having at the moment, while trying to remember the details of their previous encounter. Then, she giggled and shook her head.
"You're an imposter," she said. Then, she clarified before Marlon could properly take offense or defend himself. "You're not really in the Chroma guild, are you?" she asked.
He was entirely blindsided by the accusation. It was true, but he hadn't done anything to give himself away. Up until the flaming blood, he'd been a complete professional, upholding the lie. The Chroma guild was the most popular and strongest guild in the world. And despite that, it had been surprisingly easy to masquerade as a member.
"That's a different conversation we'll circle back to," Marlon said. He was hoping they never did, but at the moment, he wanted to portray focus and calm. "Regardless of what you believe about my membership, the point is you sent me in ill-prepared. It was never made clear what I would be facing." He was about to ask for the guild leader, but the clerk reached under the desk and brought out the Quest sheet that Marlon accepted. She laid it out on the table between them as she explained it.
He seemed almost new the first time he passed through, and the clerk noticed. But, she assumed he had some bare minimum of knowledge to claim he was in the Chroma guild.
"It says right here," she tapped the top of the sheet. It had a sketch of the vampire Marlon went in search of with some text at the top. "Vampire Dragon."
"No, wait," Marlon shook his head. He would've seen that. He thought back to when he accepted the quest and realized her hand was in the way. "You hid it!" He spun the sheet around and put his hand just at the top, completely covering the monster's name. "You showed it to me like this!"
"Did I?" The clerk seemed genuinely surprised. "I apologize, it wasn't intentional. I'll try to be more careful about that in the future." She gave a formal apology, then nothing. She remained quiet, waiting for Marlon to say something.
"That's it? Just... 'I'm Sorry'?? I almost died!" She smiled again and shrugged.
"It's an adventurer's guild," she said. "It's what you signed up for."
"I signed up to be informed about dangerous situations!" he said.
"Actually," she shook her head. "You lied about your credentials. If you were really as experienced as you claimed, you would've known we label all quests, and you would've known where to find that information," she tapped the top of the sheet again.
"On top of that, if you were from the Chroma guild, a vampire dragon would not have been particularly dangerous for you. Flaming blood and all," she said.
"If I were you, I'd think about my schemes a bit more," she added with a playful smile. "You didn't think you were the only one, right? Any stranger who walks in and claims to be a member of the Chroma guild, is totally allowed to make that claim. It's usually some new guy in a hurry to shoot up the rankings, thinking they can handle the harder quests. We don't really care, the Chroma guild doesn't care, and the impostors are usually killed on their first adventure," she said. "I'd congratulate you on making it back alive," she laughed as she turned away to start some idle busywork. "But, you didn't even finish the quest."