Legend's Echo Chapter 06

“By my power as Master of the Alvon branch of the Adventurer’s Guild, I hereby bring this disciplinary meeting to order.”

Despite the grandiose nature of the man’s proclamation, the meeting was happening not in some great hall. Oh no, it was happening in the Guildmaster’s office, a cramped space that could barely hold three people let alone the five that were attending. Robin was seated across from the Guildmaster’s desk, enduring the full brunt of the grizzled veteran’s gaze. She tried to not stare at the scar across his cheek, as sure of a sign that he never got it seen to by a healer as any. That didn’t bode well for her prospects.

Neither did Donavan serving as the primary witness of her crime.

She kept a vague hope that he was playing a bit of a con on them and would back her up in the moment it counted, but experience told her otherwise. He’d already stood firm against The Legend’s complaints, which meant he was entirely convinced of this course.

The Expedition leader was standing beside him, his own opinion clear by who he was backing. That left the final guest in the room, The Legend. He wasn’t standing behind Robin as she had hoped, but rather chose to lean against the wall near the door; as if none of the proceedings mattered.

Well, they certainly mattered to her!

The layout of the room confused her a bit, as she was used to the desk of important persons being directly across from the door so that the person in question had direct line of sight. Not this office. The guildmaster kept his desk oriented sideways, rather than across from it. She wasn’t sure why, and this was hardly the time to ask.

“Now, I understand that Gold rank Healer Robin disobeyed the primary order all healers are expected to abide by,” the guildmaster said with a disapproving frown. “Do you have anything to say in your defense?”

“There is nothing to say,” Robin said, her resolve to own what she did solidified. “That I stepped up when I did is the only reason any of us are here to speak to you today.”

The guildmaster’s eyes narrowed at her declaration. “You had the Legend on your side. What danger could you have possibly been in.”

“Exactly,” Donavan said. “There was nothing that necessitated running into the hungry jaws of rabid wyvern as Healer Robin did.”

“I see,” the guildmaster said. “Your argument of necessity is flimsy if that is your answer. Especially when the highest ranked adventurer is fighting alongside the front lines.”

“Do note,” the Legend interjected, “that I was indisposed at the time of this incident. The Dragon had taken to the field while the adventurers failed to hold the defensive line against her horde. Robin’s actions prevented a rout that would have meant potentially hundreds of dragonlings loose in the countryside.”

“Are you claiming that you failed in your own duty, Legend?” Donovan demanded.

The Legend shrugged. “I don’t know the full details considering I was thousands of feet above the fray dueling the Dragon atop a mountain. It was expedition leader Bran who held responsibility for the defensive lines.”

“And those lines failed,” Robin said softly. “Several wyvern broke through to the staging area. It was hours into the battle and the healers were flagging, only I and Donovan were keeping up with the worst injuries. When the wyvern appeared and began to slaughter those we were supposed to help, I just…”

“Recklessly charged into a battle you had no place in,” Ser Bran said. “I recommend the full punishment. One thousand demerits or a reduction to the beginning of Silver rank, whichever is harsher.”

“Agreed,” Donovan said, and the smarmy bastard didn’t even try to hide his smirk.

Next time she took an apprentice, it would be another woman.

The guildmaster’s fingers trailed over the table for a moment. “It would be an agreeable punishment, though I do worry that it might discourage our best Healer from continuing as an adventurer.”

“She must face the consequences of her actions!” Donovan shouted. “If I had fought, I’d expect the same punishment!”

“You would never fight,” The Legend said. “Cowards run. Heroes stand. Robin stood.”

“Against orders,” Ser Bran said, eyeing the Legend.

“Robin has volition,” the Legend continued, uncaring of what the panel of men had to say. “That is the mark of someone who will go far.”

“Not as a healer,” the Guildmaster said. “Healers are rare enough, and vulnerable in a fight. We can’t risk them getting the idea that they can simply charge into danger.”

“Why not?” the Legend asked.

The Guildmaster scoffed. “Just because you’re our best doesn’t give you the right to upend traditions that have stood for centuries.”

“Because I reached this rank by respecting tradition,” the Legend said with a scoff that reverberated within their helmet. “You would think that more would try following my example.”

“Oh, they do,” the Guildmaster practically spat. “Do you have any idea how many good adventurers we lose to people thinking they can emulate your success?”

It was getting to the point that Robin felt more like a spectator than a participant in the discussion that would cement her future. Seriously, everyone was talking around her and none of them were letting her speak for herself.

“If you want her to fight, make her start back at Bronze,” Donovan said. “See how she likes being back at the bottom, on the combat track no less.”

“Is that necessary?” the Legend asked, almost sounding bored with the whole thing.

They really weren’t going to let her have a say in all this, were they?

Worse, the Guildmaster was nodding along in agreement with the smug prick! “If you are so insistent that she be excused for fighting, enroll her as a combatant instead. She will have to start at the bottom of Bronze rank like any other adventurer.”

No. They couldn’t do this to her!

“So be it,” the Legend said.

Robin’s eyes shot wide as she stood up, pointing at The Legend as her lips struggled to form words. How could he do that to her? She was so close to breaking into Platinum ranks, only one other healer had ever managed to do so in all of History! Even if she were reduced back to the start of Gold, it was still far better money than what was offered to Bronze adventurers.

Robin’s knuckles turned white as she clenched her fists and jaw. “Do I even get a say in this?”

“You won’t be able to assist her in any missions either,” the guildmaster continued, completely ignoring her. “If we hear so much as a word about you helping her…”

“My armor won’t be seen on her missions,” the Legend said. “Though she will accompany me on any of mine.”

“They won’t count towards her rankings,” the Guildmaster said.

The Legend shrugged. “Not until she reaches Gold again, which will only take a year.”

“A year?” “Preposterous!”

The Guildmaster sighed. “That is a bold claim, and such a feat has never been accomplished by any group of adventurers in the past.”

Robin wasn’t sure, but she was almost certain that the Legend was grinning under his helmet. “That’s the thing. Guild missions assume a team, and the rankings and rewards are divided among the members. A solo adventurer gets all of the merits from a mission.”

“WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP FOR ONE GODDESS BE DAMNED SECOND!?”

Finally, she seemed to have gotten through to the men that were deciding her fate. Which… She wanted to yell at all of them, but she had to start somewhere. Who did she pick first? The easy one would be Donovan, given he was just another Healer who was looking for an easy advancement in the rankings. But he wasn’t the architect of the current conversation, was he?

Robin wheeled on the Legend, stomping right up to the man. “Where do you get off deciding my fate for me? Maybe I’d rather take the thousand demerits and remain a Healer than go be a combat adventurer, did you even consider that?”

“I did,” the Legend said easily. “But then you would be submitting yourself to the whims of these men. Tell me, Robin, do you want to roll over for them? All because you did the right thing? Or, would you rather rub their noses in your continued success?”

“Someone is full of themselves,” Ser Bran muttered.

The Legend had a bit of a point about that, but that didn’t change how Robin felt. He had no right to just dictate her future like that, even if he was reading her shockingly well… No, just because his voice was like velvet with how the helmet distorted it did not change anything. She didn’t know the man under the armor. For all Robin knew, he wasn’t even human!

She couldn’t let herself get swept up in his fame just because he was willing to give her the time of day. Yes, she had killed wyverns, but most adventurers could do that easily enough. That was why they brought so many of them along on that mission. Thousands had been killed over the course of the battle, which meant she wasn’t anything special for killing two of them.

“Why should I put my faith in you?” Robin demanded. “What can you do for my future that I can’t manage myself?”

“Little to nothing,” the Legend admitted, much to Robin’s growing outrage. “You’re an incredibly capable woman who only needs an opportunity to shine.”

Well, that was some flowered flattery, but Robin wasn’t about to be won over so easily!

“Good start, now give me your actual pitch.”

“Because if you stick with me, I’ll have you at Platinum rank before you turn thirty.”

Robin’s eyes narrowed as she tried to gaze through the man’s helm. “I’m twenty-eight and would be starting over from nothing.”

“I know what I said,” the Legend said. “And I stand by it.”

“Then you won’t mind a little test,” the Guildmaster said with a smirk. “Shall we see if this little experiment of yours has any merit? If Healer Robin succeeds as a combatant, we’ll double her merits for the trial mission and consider her on the path to Silver ranking.”

“And should she fail?” Donovan asked snidely.

“She remains a healer, taking the thousand demerits which would put her back in the upper ranks of Silver,” the Guildmaster said. “The quest will be the most dangerous Bronze rank mission we have, or the lowest Silver. I’ll let the Legend himself decide which his little project would be best suited for.”

“Simple enough,” the Legend said. “If she succeeds, I want her to also receive Merits from the Dragon mission equal to her new standing as well, and proper credit for two Wyvern takedowns.”

Smiling like a cat that caught a sparrow, the Guildmaster held out his hand.

Robin looked down at the extended limb, and the more she thought about it, the fewer reasons she could think of to not take the chance. The worst that happened saw her demoted back to Silver, but not far off from making Gold again, which was what she was facing when she walked in the door. Switching to a combat track would mean starting over, but there was a reason there were no Platinum rank Healers in the Guild.

It was something nobody talked about, and a fate she wanted to avoid if possible. So, Robin potentially damned herself for a chance at changing her destiny. She took the man’s hand as she met his gaze with determination.

“Deal.”