To Earthland... And Beyond [Job;Solo]

Job Info:

Bureaucracy. Vincent couldn’t imagine that anyone was a fan of it. At best, supporters would call it a necessary evil. He was more or less on board with what detractors had to say about it – that the current state of bureaucracy in Fiore was simply too complicated, too messy. Not only was this a problem for him, but it was also a problem for every person in Fiore who needed to go through government procedures to get the most minor of tasks done – such as getting a passport. These thoughts on the present state of Fiore’s bureaucracy were not unprompted but were instead the result of having to wade through the molasses that was the line.

One would imagine that the years of magical advancement would somehow make the process of getting any simple task done through the government more efficient, but one would be mistaken. For some unknowable reason, Fiore’s government still insists on at least keeping the process by which its citizens acquire their passports traditional. Mages like Vincent who are eager to cross country borders and see what the faraway lands have in store as far as opportunities are concerned are forced to stand in line and wait for their turn to provide personal information to a government official.

If the very process he was engaging in wasn’t bad enough, he had just aligned himself with a relatively new legal guild in Fiore that very morning. Instead of going out into the field to acquire some invaluable observations and materials for future experiments, he was stuck in this very spot – moving only a step for what felt like every ten minutes that passed. With every call of “Next!” from the booth, Vincent inched forward. He was presently thinking about all of the opportunities that joining one of Fiore’s legal guilds would provide him. They certainly won’t mind funding any of my projects. What’s a couple thousand jewels to an organization of artisans. I don’t doubt that they’re called into all sorts of theatres to perform for the highest rung of society, a rung which doesn’t hesitate to show their momentary gratitude upon being entertained.

This thought of finally being able to create new knowledge made the hell of inching forward to an unsatisfying conclusion bearable and additionally served to motivate the researcher to take on the world before him. He had only recently graduated from under his master’s tutelage and this could be considered his first real world experience, though even he knew that this did not represent the bulk of what a mage tied to a guild did on a day to day basis. Thankfully, he would only have to get one passport from the Magic Council before he was allowed unlimited access to the resources of neighboring nations. This hope and wonder overtook Vincent until he was thrust back into the real world by some woman shoving his back.

He realized that the long line in front of him had disappeared, leaving a clear and straight path to the Council’s booth. He walked forward and gave the man behind the counter all of the information asked of him – his name, height, occupation, guild affiliation, and so on. Before he knew it, he had a passport with his face sitting neatly on the page with all of the information given wrapped around the image. Vincent thanked the Council bureaucrat and put the passport in his pocket. He was now equipped to begin the real tasks of a Fiore mage.