As the frustrated young man stepped away from the counter a bored voice called out, "Next!"

  Dryth stepped forward with the job posting in his hand. He wasn't looking forward to the plan for the day that Sindri had excitedly put together, but he wasn't expecting them to fail or get seriously injured either, so he didn't have a leg to stand on other than "I don't want to."

  The pretty lady behind the counter at the bounty station listless turned the page of the book she was looking at as Dryth approached. "How can I help- Oh, it's you two." Hey bright green gem-like eye shifted behind her long eyelashes as she glanced around the room. When she noticed no one was paying attention to her the lethargy and boredom in her posture flowed away. "Hi Dryth, hi Sindri."

  "Hi Belle!" Sindri waved his tail at her and she wiggled her fingers back.

  "Still stuck dealing with that?" Dryth gestured with his head toward the door the frustrated bounty hunter had stormed through.

  The bounty station receptionist crossed her eyes in frustration. "Of course I am. I don't think it's ever going to stop."

  The new receptionist had been hired a month ago, which was only a few weeks after Dryth and Sindri had started taking on bounties. With her pretty green eyes, her gorgeous flowing brown hair, and her well proportioned figure, she'd instantly become the most popular agency employee in town and was still being hit on almost constantly. Most of the bounty hunters had tried at least flirting with her once, to no avail, and she was still breaking hearts and frustrating the self-assured with her complete lack of interest.

  She'd only become friends with Dryth and Sindri for two reasons, the first being that Dryth wasn't interested in her like that and didn't try and flirt or hit on her. He thought she was just as beautiful as everyone else did, he just wasn't looking for a relationship or someone to share a bed with which made him a safe person for her to befriend. The second reason was Sindri was adorable to anyone who didn't hate snakes. That was Dryth's opinion at least, and Belle agreed with him. Their friendship had grown pretty quickly once Belle had realized that there was someone she could actually talk to and didn't have to stonewall or glare at to get them to leave her alone, and Dryth stopped by to chat with her whenever she was working.

  "He was one of the ones that seemed to think he's the gods' gift to women and can't comprehend I disagree." Belle complained. "If he ends up being the type that can't take a blatant announcement that I'm not interested I might upgrade him to more than an annoyance."

  Dryth leaned in close with a grin. "Did he have any good ones?"

  Belle clicked her tongue. "No. The same lame 'Look how cool I am, aren't I so attractive?' nonsense. There's this one new woman though, who's had some lines. Really hot too. She's the closest I've come to actually being tempted by anyone. Sadly, she has the wrong bits for me. Took it really well though, unlike some jerks."

  "She has the wrong bits and..." Dryth smirked at her and slowly turned to look at the nearby office door.

  Belle leveled a dangerous finger at him. "You shut up!"

  Dryth reared back as if his life were in danger, laughing as he fake cowered. "I won't say anything! I promised."

  "You better not." She snatched up the job listing he'd left on the counter and started flipping through the magical record book she pulled out.

  Dryth straighted up and leaned on the counter as she worked. "What kind of lines did this woman have?" One thing Dryth had learned from his new friendship was that he found the pick-up lines and flirtations that people tried with Belle hilarious. It wasn't something he'd ever experienced before, no one had wanted to flirt with him when he was younger, and something about the cheesy lines made him laugh every time. He especially liked the ones where people compared Belle to a princess, although he couldn't articulate why those particular ones were so damn funny.

  She shared a few of them with him while she got all the paperwork for him and Sindri accepting a new bounty. She was right, several of them were quite good although Belle said that it was more the confidence of the woman who'd been flirting that carried some of them more than others. Of course, a few moments had to be dedicated to explaining some of the one liners and flirtatious jokes to Sindri, who understood human flirting as a concept but not in practice.

  It took longer for Belle to get everything sorted compared to Holter or the other receptionists, but she was new to the job and didn't have any cards to help her out yet. That's why when Holter burst out of his office and looked around rapidly the noise and movement startled her enough that she spilled books, papers, and Dryth's license all over the floor under the counter.

  "Dryth! You two are here, nice!" Holter jogged the few steps from his office to the counter with a wide, smarmy looking grin that vanished when he noticed the mess. "Ah, shit. Sorry Belle, didn't mean to startle you. Here, let me help."

  She waved him off without looking at him as he started bending down to pick up papers. "No, no, it's fine, I've got it. You have something important to talk to Dryth and Sindri about, do that I can clean up."

  Dryth smothered the grin threatening the rise up his face. Belle was turned away from Holter as she scrambled to pick up the papers and books, which meant that only Dryth could see her massive blush and the nervous look in her eyes. Anyone that tried to flirt with Belle was out of luck, because the beautiful young woman had the biggest crush Dryth had ever seen on her boss. She consistently made mistakes around him out of nervousness when she was cool and collected in front of everyone else and was always sneaking peeks of him when he wasn't looking at her. It was obvious to anyone that saw the two of them together, except for the fools who wanted to believe it was because she was nervous around her new boss and that they still had a chance and Holter who was apparently oblivious. Dryth had managed to wiggle a few details both out of Belle and for Belle, he'd confirmed that Holter was currently single during a conversation and slipped that to her, but she was pretty tight lipped about her feelings. The only thing he did know was that she'd known and liked him before she ever managed to wrangle a job in the bounty station.

  Holter put both arms on the counter and leaned forward, looming over Dryth and snapping him out of his thoughts about his friend's romance. "Hi, Dryth, Sindri. You two wouldn't happen to be free today, would you?"

  "We were just taking a job, actually." Dryth pointed at the slip in Belle's hand as she cleaned up the last of the papers.

  Belle squeaked in surprise as Holter reach over her and snatched up the magic book that tracked who had taken what job. He flipped through it expertly before slamming it shut with a wide grin. "But you haven't officially taken one yet! That means you're still free, right?"

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "He wants something, doesn't he?" Sindri asked suspiciously. "Is he trying to ruin my plan?"

  "Not on purpose, but maybe."

  "Sindri has a whole plan for today Holter, so no, we aren't free."

  Holter lurched across the counter and grabbed both of Dryth's shoulder. "I really need a favor from you guys." He admitted in a low voice. "There's a group bounty that's really important that was supposed to get taken care of today, but one of the hunters had to drop out."

  Group bounties were jobs that for one reason or another the Bounty Agency had decided couldn't be handled solo. They mandated a certain number of people that had to work on those jobs together and usually permanent parties of hunters snapped them up whenever they appeared, but occasionally smaller groups of singletons would team up in temporary parties to take on group bounties.

  "And you want us to take his spot? What's in it for us?"

  "The normal split of pay for the job, which is good, and my gratitude."

  "I don't know..." Dryth glanced at his partner. "Sindri, what do you think? You're the one who'd have to give up on your plans."

  Sindri's emotions were that of someone furrowing their brow in frustration. "I want to hunt a mistdeer!" He complained. The open bounty on culling the number of mistdeer in the area was still going on, and someone had let slip that mistdeer venison was delicious, spurring Sindri's interest. "We're finally ready to fight one and I want to taste some!"

  "Sorry Holter, Sindri interested in mistdeer hunting, he's been asking me to all week."

  The grip on Dryth's shoulders intensified. "Please, guys, please take the job. It's from someone really important and we need it done as soon as possible." Holter turned to look at Sindri with desperate eyes. "It'll be a really interesting fight Sindri, I promise."

  "A good fight?" Sindri's pout evaporated at those words. "What kind of good fight?"

  "It's a rare type of monster that can pop up randomly, and some of them can only be damaged by magic." He turned his despondent eyes on Dryth. "That's why I need you guys. You're the only licensed mages around right now besides the guy who had to drop out, and you have to at least one mage when you're fighting ruin crabs."

  Sindri was already in at the thought of a fun fight and the chance to be a hero in battle, Dryth could tell from his growing excitement and the images flashing at him of Sindri gliding over an amorphous dead monster, the only one who'd been able to hurt it and thus the savior of the day. "We'll do it, but!" he cut in cutting off Holter's celebration, "You owe us one."

  "A favor?" Holter's face got serious as he considered. "What kind of favor?"

  "One equal to taking on a bounty for you with no notice. If you think whatever we end up asking you for is too much or something you can't do then you don't do it and we try something else later."

  He thought it over for a moment, but he was obviously in a bind and Dryth wasn't asking for that much. "Fine." He held out his hand and they quickly shook. "Now come on, the groups been itching to leave." He kept hold of Dryth's hand and started dragging him off. "I'll show you how to cancel that job acceptance you were processing and how to put it back up when I'm done with Dryth, Belle!" He called over his shoulder. The only response was an alarmed squeak, but he didn't seem to notice.

  Out the back door in the yard behind the bounty station a group of four people were standing about in a lose circle. Holter dragged Dryth up to them then pushed him forward so he was closer to the center of the circle. "Here we are, folks. Got you a mage!"

  A short woman with two sword hilts sticking out over her shoulders scowled at Dryth. "We already had a mage!" She insisted, pointing at one of the others.

  The man she pointed at looked to be around Dryth's age with short-cut light brown hair shook his head. "I already told you, I'm not that kind of mage!"

  "A mage is a mage!" She shouted at him, "Can you do magic or not!?"

  "Yes, I can, but all I have right now are support magics!"

  "Then what good are you? Huh? Why did are we even bring-"

  One of the other figures zipped up to the shorter woman, leaning right into her space and staring her down with unblinking eyes. There was the faintest sound of someone whispering that Dryth couldn't make out. The woman stepped back, one hand holding a sword hilt tight before growling with frustration.

  "Fine! I get it, he's useful." She turned and pointed at Dryth angrily. "What do you bring to the table, huh? Why should we take you on our job?"

  "I'm a mage that can do attack magic." Dryth replied blandly. "And Holter says you need one of those if you're going to get this bounty done." Through their connection, Dryth told Sindri, "Pay attention to that one. I don't know what her problem is but let's not let her put us in a tough spot."

  "Agreed."

  "That's right," Holter announced as he gave the woman a stern look. "In fact, if you don't take him the agency won't be allowing you to take this bounty at all. Any of you got a problem with that."

  The other mage immediately shook his head no, while the tall, cloaked figure that had defended him slipped behind him and didn't reply. The fourth person also seemed fine with Dryth, but the short woman stormed off, muttering angrily.

  "Don't worry about her." Holter said quietly, "She gets like this. She'll be back in a second."

  Dryth took the moment to look over the group he'd be going on a job with. The short woman was by herself near the edge of the yard, still muttering angrily as she stared at the wall. With her back turned Dryth could see the twin short swords sheathed in parallel down her back. She was wearing bulky armor that wasn't quite up to the stuff of being called heavy armor, but was edging close to it. Her hands were covered with metal plated gauntlets and she had heavy boots on her feet. Her hair was cut short and of a dull brown color that came just to the edge of her armor.

  The other mage was dressed similarly to Dryth, with padded clothing mixed in with lighter armor, allowing for maneuverability and the most important thing for mages who didn't want to get into melee fights, the ability to run away quickly. He had a small dagger on his belt that didn't look like he used often and no other visible gear. His ears and nose were just the tiniest bit too big for his face, giving him a look that edged on comical which was immediately belied by his serious expression and professional bearing.

  The figure standing behind him was covered almost entirely in a hooded cloak that descended past their waist. They had leather pants with reinforcements sewn into the knees and a pair of well worn boots, all of a similar color as the cloak which was a mottled dark green. Through the darkness under their hood Dryth could just make out a pair of bright green eyes and the barest edges of facial features that gave no clues to what this person actually looked like. Any weapons or gear they had on them were hidden under the cloak.

  The final figure was the most normal among all of them in Dryth's mind. The short warrior was too angry, the hooded figure was, well, hooded and mysterious, the other mage had the hooded person standing immediately at his shoulder and didn't seem to notice, and Dryth was carrying around a white and gold snake with feathers. By comparison the average height young man with mousy features and light brown hair that bordered on blonde wearing normal looking armor and carrying a shortbow next to a quiver of arrows looked like the most average fellow in the kingdom.

  After a moment the angry woman stopped muttering to herself and marched back over to the lose circle of people. She looked between Dryth and the other mage, obviously debating something. After several passes she settled on the mage that wasn't Dryth. "I'm sorry both for snapping at you and implying that you're not useful. I know how useful support of any kind, including support magic can be and I was out of line. My apologies." She looked over at Dryth. "I'm sorry for snapping at you like that, you didn't do anything to deserve me acting like that toward you." She took a long, deep breath and slowly let it out. "I have had a string of bad luck lately and some of that has been with temporary party members that... made things worse for me. That being said, my frustrations are my own and shouldn't be taken out on anyone else. I will be professional and keep a cool head while we do this job."

  The rest of the temporary party shared looks before the mage shrugged. "I accept your apology. I'm not going to try and dive into your stuff, but as long as you're cool while we do this I'll be fine." The hooded figure leaned forward and whispered something in his ear. "We'll be fine."

  They all looked at Dryth. "I also accept your apology and I agree with what he said."

  "Good, because you all need to work together to get this job done in a timely manner." Holter produced a thing folio with documents inside and handed it to Dryth, who was closest to him. "Here's a map marking the area we believe the ruin crab to be in and some details that might help you narrow down its location. Everyone else can brief you on the job while you journey, Dryth." He shot them all a strained smile and pointed at the door. "Now please, for my sake, hurry it up and go!"