The young woman awoke to the foggy morning light coming through her small apartment’s window, sitting up and stretching as she pushed off her bedding.

  “Uwahhhh~! Morning…” She yawned groggily as she jumped out of bed and onto the rickety wooden floor of her small home. It was a standard Porus apartment for someone of her lower middling status, sparsely furnished and barely large enough for that.

  But that didn’t matter much for the young woman as it was close to her job at the Hero’s Guild and more importantly, the first floor was home to one of the best patisseries in the world.

  Still slowly waking up, the young woman got changed and checked her calendar. It was a simple thing made of cheap paper and decorated with illustrations of cute cats.

  “10 to 6… Plenty of time to get some chores done before work!” Dawn thought to herself as she laced up her boots and grabbed her purse and left her small apartment, squeezing through the narrow hallway and down the spiral wooden staircase that led to the back alley of her building.

  The streets were already busy with people shuffling to work, wearing their clothing that was dirtied by mana crystal run off and faces sullen by years of grueling factory work.

  Life in Porus could be hectic, as the capital of Furinch it was a center of political, economic and cultural power for the region. But with the cons that came from such a centralized position of importance came a variety of pros.

  For Dawn, it was the food. Joining the crowds of people as they walked the cobbled streets she quickly turned onto the main road and into her favorite store.

  The Bouxbon Charity Patisserie. It was a small store with the odd customer poking through its wares. It targeted an odd subsection of the market. People who spent time in the more industrial district of Porus and people who had enough money to buy a Bouxbon pastry, even albeit day-old pastries.

  This ended up being Dawn and whatever adventurers wandered over from the nearby Hero’s Guild.

  “Aha! My sweetest strawberry has returned once again!” Jerri Bouxbon, the proprietor of this establishment, exclaimed excitedly. Dawn let out a laugh, the gangly man in an oversized green suit.

  “Nice to see you again Jerri! I’m just gonna have my usual please and thank you!” Dawn requested cheerfully. She always found Jerri’s jokes funny.

  Though, Jerri was hoping she’d see he was trying to be more than just friendly. Today, unfortunately for Jerri, was not that day.

  “O-of course…” Jerri mumbled as he quickly packed Dawn’s usual order of a pano au chocolat and a mocha with extra milk and sugar. While Jerri rummaged around looking for the newest sweet for his sweetheart, Dawn prepared the exact change from her purse.

  “16 Silver and 30 coppers here and ready!” Dawn exclaimed, placing it on the counter as Jerri stood up.

  “W-well actually I was gonna give it… to you… yknow… free” Jerri mumbled anxiously as he slid the paper bag and cardboard cup of coffee towards the clueless Dawn.

  “Sorry?” Dawn asked, cocking her head to the side.

  “Nothing…” Jerri sighed, admitting defeat, Dawn letting out another laugh.

  “You’ve got a bad habit of mumbling Jerri! You should work on that.” Dawn exclaimed as she left with her usual hop in her step. Jerri bashed himself on the head as the real employee poked his head out of the backroom.

  “Can I come out now boss?” The real employee asked cautiously.

  “Yes yes I’m heading back to my manor. Make sure to spit in everyone’s drink today on my behalf.” Jerri shouted irritably as he pushed him out of the way to find his coat.

  Placing the pastry in her purse, Dawn sipped on the sugary and milky mocha, walking along the center of the wide main road of Porus leading to the Mauvais Tower in an attempt to avoid the traffic of people coming and going from the many stores and apartments on the main street.

  Mauvais Park was the central plaza of Porus, a round ring road surrounding a large patch of grass and small gardens which had several picnic benches, which themselves surrounded the Mauvais Tower.

  The tower itself was something of a tourist spot considering how it represented the traditional industry of the city, Wax Candles and its modern day spot as an ostentatious center of commerce. Originally created when the nearby factories dumped excess stock in the park, eventually a wizard from the Porus Academy of Magic decided to try and move the unsightly piles of wax. In doing so he ended up melting four pillars of wax together, creating the base of the tower.

  Soon a tradition was formed with various corporations trying to add more and more to the tower until suddenly it was 6 stories tall and acted as a source of illumination for the former dumping ground.

  Eventually when the city upgraded the roads they moved the official center of the city away from the upper class district to what ended up being dubbed Mauvais Park around 30 years ago.

  Dawn enjoyed learning these tid bits about the city, she was a receptionist for the Hero’s Guild so she talked to travelers and adventurers from all over the world, having her history straight about the city she lived in was an important aspect of the job for her!

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Walking through the large park she cut through the large roundabout by walking through the park and underneath the tower, heading for a park bench on the other edge of the park to have her breakfast.

  “Ah luv, whatcha got dere?” A shifty looking man asked from one of the wax pillars of the Mauvais Tower, accompanied by an equally shifty looking Beastkin quickly walking in front of Dawn.

  “Oh just breakfast!” Dawn said in her usual cheerful tone, side stepping the men and picking up her pace. The underneath of the Mauvais Tower was dark while being surrounded by bright lights, causing the interesting effect of making it difficult to see through, the perfect spot for pick pockets and other miscreants right in the center of town.

  “Now, now luv don’t be a stranger! We’re just tryna make a bit of conversation!” The shifty Beastkin man added, his fangs shifting into a macabre smile as his large round ears drooped around his long face.

  “I’m a little busy, sorry!” Dawn laughed nervously, walking as fast as she could without breaking out into a sprint. Crime was fairly common in Porus, street urchins, gangs and other kinds of general miscreants all trying to get a piece of the pie that was wealth that flowed through the city.

  The Beastkin grabbed Dawn’s shoulder, stopping her in place.

  “You shout ‘n my associate ‘ere will rip your throat out.” The shifty man whispered as he wrapped an arm around the short woman's shoulder.

  “We’re just good buddies now awright?” The Beastkin smirked as Dawn gulped, dropping her coffee on the ground as she was dragged to another part of Porus. Dawn nodded silently, heart pounding in her chest.

  “Now we ‘ear that you’re a receptionist for the guild yea? We was hoping you’d ‘elp a couple of gentleman out with a bit of a pickle we’s in.” The shifty man explained.

  “Yea yea, we got’s bounty on our heads. Can’t leave the city for nothin’. Clear dat and we’ll be out of ya pretty little hair.” The Beastkin continued.

  “O-Okay…” Dawn yelped as she felt the Beastkin’s claws dig into her shoulder.

  “Yea, we ain’t gonna get caught anytime soon either, my associate here’s got dat Beast magic what let’s him be a bit hidden like one of them rats, so don’t get any clever ideas of calling for-” The shifty man began before being interrupted by a fist to the face. Before the Beastkin could react he joined his companion on the ground with a black eye.

  Dawn let out a sigh of relief as she looked up towards the familiar face of Dreaphs.

  “Oh my goshhh that was scary…” Dawn sighed as she checked her purse to find that her pano au chocolat had been crushed. Pouting, she saw that Dreaphs had unceremoniously kicked the criminals back into the corner they’d been hiding in.

  “I told you to not take this short cut again.” Dreaphs chastised with his usual monotone glare as he turned to leave.

  “It takes like 20 extra minutes to get around the roundabout.” Dawn shrugged as she followed Dreaphs out of the glare of the Mauvais Tower.

  “Hmpth. Why do you rush?” Dreaphs asked sternly as he strode across the grass, seemingly unencumbered by his thick armour he insisted on wearing everywhere.

  “Believe it or not I have chores to do before work! What are you doing here anyway?” Dawn asked curiously, the pair were well acquainted. Childhood friends and now they technically worked together, considering he was a high ranking member of the Hero’s Guild. Dreaphs looked at her for a moment, quickly healing the small wound on her shoulder before letting out a sigh.

  “I thought this crystal sensed demonic energy, but perhaps I was just imagining it.” Dreaphs explained as he put away a small crystal on a chain in his pocket.

  “Well you saved me! Come by the guild for lunch and I’ll get ya something on the house!” Dawn explained cheerfully. Dreaphs glanced over to where a pair of Adamonic Knights coming out of an alleyway were.

  “Maybe, I need to get going now. Stop taking the short cut.” Dreaphs explained sternly as he pulled up his scarf to cover his face. Dawn rolled her eyes.

  “Fine Mr Mysterious!” Dawn exclaimed with a slightly frustrated huff.

  “He’s such a pain to find and when you do… he’s gone again!” Dawn thought to herself as she walked past the Adamonic Knights who were rushing towards the local Church.

  The rest of Dawn’s morning continued without anything particularly exciting happening, she ate her ruined breakfast in a grump and wandered over to the laundromat to grab her clothes she’d left the other day. On the way back she grabbed some flowers from her favorite florist to decorate her apartment with and treated herself to another mocha as a treat for her dangerous encounter this morning.

  Returning to her apartment, the long way, she put everything away in its proper place. Shortly afterwards she walked across the road and heard the bell chime for 10 o’clock just as she walked into the Hero’s Guild.

  “Finally! You’re late!” Mr Sarloh, the manager of the Hero’s Guild, shouted angrily as he stood up from the receptionists desk.

  “I’m just on time Mr Sarloh!” Dawn replied cheerfully, sliding through the gap between the desk and the wall. The grumbling elf shook his head.

  “I keep telling you, 5 minutes early is still late!” Mr Sarloh reprimanded.

  “Yeahhh hun, you gotta put in the hard yards. Make sure you squeeze them for everything he’s worth!” Autumn cooed as she carried a crate of whiskey for the coming Lunch rush at the Hero’s Guild’s Inn.

  “Autumn you could work a little less hard…” Mr Sarloh groaned, the Cat Beastkin had an impeccable natural clock and made sure to add every second she worked to her time sheet, something Mr Sarloh was enforced by guild rules to uphold.

  Dawn preferred to just work her hours instead of trying to remember all those minutes here and there, which is exactly why Mr Sarloh wanted her to come in early, she wouldn’t try to charge him for it!

  Mr Sarloh rolled his eyes and returned to his office as Dawn got settled in, working on the boring paperwork that constitutes most of her job.

  Soon after, a familiar face walked in, a hushed murmur announcing his presence.

  Dawn looked up and let out a beaming smile and felt a surge of relief.

  It was the Hero, Cedrick Yvonyson, he’d returned from the Demon Lord’s Castle and survived.

  Next to him was an odd looking man, she couldn’t work out where he may have come from but he seemed to be with the hero.

  “You go get registered, I think I see the soothsayer over there.” Cedrick explained cheerfully, quickly leaving his friend and making his way over to the inn, not paying Dawn even a second thought.

  The tall odd looking man with blue skin and silver hair looked confused and slowly walked over, before turning to look at Dawn and visibly gawking.

  Dawn did her usual and gave her big natural smile.

  “Hi there! What can I do for ya?” She asked.