NOVEL NEXT 08: Back in the Office!
Settling back onto the ground face first once the door had closed behind everyone as they filed into the room, Kaitlyn rolled over, hugging her two swords close to her chest. The room itself was elaborate, a solid desk, although covered in paperwork, of a quality that could not be denied. The walls, decorated with paintings, each one depicting a scene of exotic nature, scenes that Dexter had seen on his adventures to the far off frontiers.
Yet between the door and the desk, a guest space, two couches facing each other separated by a low table, where the previous conversation took place, and where everyone gathered now.
“Soooo... Gotta get through some administrative work first,” Dexter began, settling down at his desk seeing the couches full, pushing aside some paperwork to clear out some space, “You’re the other worlders, yes? And Kaitlyn, come on, maintain some formality at least, don’t just lay on the ground.”
“Yes we’re otherworlders,” Oliver answered with a nod, taking charge and fulfilling his role as their party leader, “I assume we need to go through some verification then some physical tests maybe?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Dexter nodded with a bored expression, pushing aside the paperwork that was their verification, “We can do that after we answer your questions first, your reactions to finding out about Kaitlyn and I were very... comedic to say the least.”
Sitting up for a moment, then deciding to lay back down, Kaitlyn retorted, having found a gap in the conversation, “I like your carpet much more than your couches, so I’ll just stay down here actually, like usual...”
“Alright, alright, fine, have fun down there,” Dexter shook his head, sighing in exasperation before looking up, drumming his fingers on the rich wooden table, “I’ve decided, since I’m lazy, your examiner to verify and let me get a grasp on your abilities will be Kaitlyn, that way you’ll also get that practice bout you want.”
“Wait what?!” Kaitlyn interjected, not letting Dexter continue his speech, “I just want to go hunt like... piggies or something.”
With a clear laugh, a smooth baritone, Dexter continued on, ignoring Kaitlyn’s outburst, “So, after I verify you, and test you, and blah blah, all that administrative bullshit that I don’t care for, probably Marie can do it, she’s the vice guild master after all. After all that, you need to go to the royal palace and like... have an audience with the King, he’s nice don’t worry, but you all are pretty high profile politically, so we want you to be acquainted with the King. Also you’re S-Ranked Adventurers, which is a big deal blah blah, they all meet the King and are high profile people.”
“That was too long of an explanation,” Kaitlyn called out, then raising her hand and waving it around from the ground, “I’ll take them to the King, I haven’t seen him in a while! Yes, yes, I got to fulfill my duties as an important person or something.”
Leaning against the couch, the soft pillows and cushions that seemed to just suck the person sitting in, Rachel piped up, “That’s a lot of things... And isn’t Kaitlyn going to smack us, anyway? We stand literally zero chance against her, you know?”
“It’ll still be funnnn~” Josephine laughed, using a more sing-songy voice, “Gotta take what we can get you know?”
“How about this,” Kaitlyn proposed, now facedown again, but still on the ground, “I won’t use my signature spell, with that, I’m just a uh... middle ish S-Ranked adventurer maybe.”
Taking some time to sort out the rest of the details, with Damien taking some notes at Oliver’s behest, the administrative work was completed. A previous mess of papers composed of blanks and lines, now clipped together, filled with information and a neat signature at the bottom of each page.
Leaning back with a heavy sigh, sinking down in his chair Dexter closed his eyes for a moment, letting his eyes rest after the paperwork.
“Alright, alright,” Dexter murmured, sitting back up in the chair, “Now it’s your turn, what are you all curious about, it seems you’ve heard a lot about us, or no?”
Taking a moment to also rest, Oliver sat up, kicking off the question asking, “I guess I can start? We were really sheltered and fed a fair bit of propaganda back in the Varis Empire, so could you give us more information, in general, about both of your past adventures?”
“I don’t know,” Kaitlyn groaned, a little bit of exhaustion starting to creep into her voice, “I was honestly pretty young, so I don’t remember much...”
Hoisting Kaitlyn off of the carpet, Josephine then asked, putting Kaitlyn down on the couch, “How old were you then when you joined the hero party? You all beat them 7 years ago, and you’re 21 right now, right? So you were 14 when the demon king was beaten? That’s really young...”
Nodding along with a chuckle, Dexter organized his desk, putting away paperwork, sliding the dark wooden desk drawers closed, one after another, bang, bang, bang.
Patting his desk having cleaned it all off, Dexter mused, answering the question for Kaitlyn as Kaitlyn struggled to find an answer, “She joined when she was 12 years old. She was the last to join our party. To be perfectly honest, we didn’t want her there, and for me, I still regret it to this day.”
“Damn that’s young! DAMN!”
“Is Kaitlyn like that random kid in Belgium who started university at 12...”
“So is there a reason why you feel so regretful? If you want to share of course, we’re not too acquainted with each other after all.”
Sliding off the couch at a snail's pace, trying to return to the ever so comfortable, ever so fluffy carpet that was on the ground, Kaitlyn hummed, “It’s fine we can share, it’s really, like really common knowledge you know. It’s because they really needed me, I was distinguishing myself amazingly at that age as a swordsman, having beaten several S-Ranked Adventurers, so as the assault on the demon king’s frontier was going poorly, like trash beyond imagination, I was added to their party.”
Staring up at the ceiling, at the beams that supported the grandiose hall’s roof, at the beams illuminated by the pale light creeping in from the windows, Dexter pursed his lips, a little bit of melancholy and a little bit of regret creeping into his voice. “If only we were stronger, you know? Though that’s the past, no point in speaking too much about it right now, nothing we can do after all, and look how splendidly Kaitlyn has grown up even after going through those trials and tribulations. So any other questions?”
“That’s okay, no worries, we don’t want to push you,” Oliver nodded, understanding the unspoken mood surrounding Dexter, “Can you tell us more about some of the key fights then? They’re all quite glorified I’d say...”
