TWEM Vol. 1 Chapter 4
Chapter 4 – First Visit to the Adventurers’ Guild
I boarded Bacchus’ horse carriage and chatted with the group as we proceeded through the forest. Soon enough, we arrived close to the town called Waxe.
“We’re almost there.”
Announced Bacchus: I poked my head out of the carriage and looked in front.
Though smaller than the royal capital’s, Waxe’s gate and surrounding walls were rather high. There were people queuing in front of the gate, probably waiting in line for the inspection.
“Those are some really solid walls, aren’t they.”
“Yes, well, monsters appear frequently in these parts, you see. Sturdy walls like those have become a necessity.”
Bacchus answered my question, then advanced the carriage to a different queue.
“We’re not going to get in line there?”
“That’s the queue for common folk, but there are two more available to enter this town: one for merchants and one for nobles.”
As Bacchus explained, we arrived at the inspection point.
The gate guard then approached our carriage.
“Trader proof, please— ”
The guard stopped midway through his sentence and smiled.
“ —oh, Mr. Bacchus! …did something happen? I don’t see the adventurers that left with you…”
“Indeed, we were attacked by monsters in the forest and they all fell in battle…this young man saved us, so we had him escort us back to town.”
The guard then turned towards me and looked at me, head to toe.
“Excuse me, may I see your id? Your adventurer card would suffice.”
I didn’t have anything like that, though.
I pretended to look for something for a little, then looked apologetically at the guard.
“I am very sorry, it looks like I lost my id while fighting with the monsters…and, ehm, I do not have an adventurer card either…”
Bacchus then interjected for my sake.
“We can vouch for this man — for Mr. Haruto.”
“I see, if Mr. Bacchus says so, then you may pass…make sure you have an adventurer card with you next time.”
What was the adventurer card anyway? Some kind of proof of registration?
“Yes, thank you very much.”
Thus I could safely enter the town…but Mr. Bacchus was looking at me, puzzled.
“You aren’t an adventurer, Mr. Haruto?”
“Hm? No, I’m not?”
Wait, didn’t I say so before?
….I didn’t, did I.
Bacchus looked surprised, then nodded to me.
“I see, I was positive you were an expert adventurer…well, I’m sure you have your circumstances. On another topic, do you already have a place to stay?”
“I was planning to go look for one, why do you ask?”
My plan was to register at the adventurers’ guild, sell the monster parts I had, and go look for an inn.
“If that’s okay with you, would you stay at our trading company’s inn? It would be free of charge and you can stay for a while if you wish.”
“Is that really alright? I’ll gladly accept your offer, then.”
Bacchus looked overjoyed by my reply.
We proceeded through the town, eventually stopping in front of a store clearly larger than the ones I had seen until then.
“Here we are! This is the headquarters of the trading company I represent.”
Bacchus got off the carriage and announced our arrival, his chest swelling in pride.
The building was larger than the shoddy trading company I saw in the royal capital, so I was convinced his words were true.
“I’m the vice representative, by the way.”
So said Daryl as he followed Bacchus out of the carriage. I then turned towards Loujas and Gulliver.
“Could it be that you two are part of this company too…?”
“Yes, I am in charge of a branch store located in another town.”
“The same goes for me. We had gone to the royal capital for a store representative meeting.”
I see, so that’s what happened.
Bacchus then seemed to recall something and asked me a question.
“Mr. Haruto, will you turn in already today? Or maybe you plan to go to the adventurers’ guild to have them issue you a card…”
So you needed to register at the guild to get the adventurer card…but…
“I was wondering what to do, actually. It’s already dark, after all.”
There was no need to hurry and go today, I thought. I might as well go tomorrow…but I would probably also go sightseeing a bit, so I needed a minimum amount of money.
Bacchus said he was a merchant, so he might accept to buy stuff from me…
“By the way, Mr. Bacchus, would you buy these clothes? I need some finances for daily expenses…”
I took out my school uniform from the bag and showed it to Bacchus.
“This is…a cloth like I’ve never seen before, but it feels nice to the touch. Together with the reward for escorting us, what do you say to 10 gold coins?”
“That will be alright.”
It sold for more than I hoped…
I accepted Bacchus’ offer and received the money. To have an easier time when shopping for smaller items, I asked for silver coins and large silver coins.
“You’re a great help, Mr. Bacchus.”
“Oh no, we are the ones that must thank you…anyway, it’s gotten pretty late. I’m thinking of fixing dinner now, would you like to join me?”
“Is that really alright? You’ve done so much for me already.”
“Of course! You have nothing to worry about!”
I felt a bit bad for Bacchus to take care of me to such an extent but I decided to accept his kind offer.
After eating dinner with Bacchus and the others, I lay down in the room assigned to me.
It was an intense day, like I never experienced before: the fatigue made me fall asleep immediately.
~
The following morning, I asked Bacchus about the location of the adventurers’ guild and headed there.
The adventurers’ guild was an organization that handled requests regarding escorting, gathering materials, exterminating monsters, etc, acting as a liaison between clients and adventurers. Branches were present everywhere, and the adventurer card it issued was recognized as an official identification document.
Half anxious, half excited about the kind of life that awaited me from now on, I opened the guild door.
The building was very spacious and also contained a tavern. Towards the back of the entrance hall, there was the reception counter, where a queue of people formed.
Thinking that it was probably the place to go to register, I got in line too.
I looked around for a while and soon enough it was my turn. The female receptionist smiled at me.
“Hello, do you wish to make a request?”
“No, I would like to register as an adventurer. It’s my first time here, actually…is this the right place?”
As soon as I spoke three muscular men, probably adventurers, turned towards me. One of them, a bottle of what was definitely alcohol in hand, spoke first.
“Hey, lil’ guy, aren’t you a bit too green to become an adventurer? You sure you don’t want to go home to suck on mommy’s titties instead?”
“You can leave your money here to us though? Gahaha!”
“Nice thinking, man! Gahaha!”
Looking at the three men laughing vulgarly, I was moved. Another classic fantasy light novel development…
The other people around us looked at me with pity in their eyes. As soon as our eyes met, however, they all looked away.
No one liked to get involved in troublesome stuff, after all. Their reaction was more than natural.
Secretly enjoying this classic event, I talked back to the three men.
“Thank you for your warning, but it is unnecessary for me. If you have enough money to drink in broad daylight, why not send some to mommy instead? Oh, but I suppose you’re using mommy’s pocket money to pay for your alcohol instead. I see, I see.”
My taunt sent the three men into a rage.
“What did you just…!? You’re not getting away with this!! You’re talking to C-rank adventurers here, brat!!”
After one of the men shouted so, they all drew their swords.
Once they realized what was going on, the adventurers around us quickly distanced themselves and the receptionist raised her voice to stop us.
“Fighting inside the guild is forbidden! Put away your weapons immediately! Or your adventurer cards will be revoked!”
“Hey, hey, this guy started it, okay? So we have to finish it! He said he wants to be an adventurer anyway, so we’ll check how strong he is for you!”
I started it? Really now?
But checking my strength seemed like a fun idea. I didn’t know how high a rank C was supposed to be, so it was a good chance to know about adventurer levels.
I ignored the three men and turned towards the receptionist.
“What is the penalty for drawing your weapon inside the guild?”
“In such a case the adventurer card is confiscated for one month, making any activities impossible in that period. In case there are casualties, the offender is expelled from the guild for life.”
I see, so all three of them would get their cards suspended for one month. Served them right.
Even if that was decided, however, the fact that they were pointing their swords at me didn’t change.
I was at disadvantage in terms of numbers, but…
I thought about how to make it out of the situation and used Appraisal on the three men. Their levels weren’t anything special, nor did they have any particularly worrying skills either.
It was unlikely for me to lose, so how should I defeat them?
The three men probably thought I wasn’t drawing my sword out of fear: they smirked to each other and attacked me all at the same time.
…you’re all using the same downward slash attack? Talk about variety.
“Look out!”
So shouted the receptionist, but just by defeating the monsters I encountered in the forest my level had already reached triple digits. The three men’s attacks looked like slow motion.
I immediately created a skill to harden my body via All Creation and focused magic power in my hands.
<<Skill “Harden” acquired. Skill level reached 10. Skill added to Martial Unification.>>
While listening to such information, I used my hardened hand to shatter the three men’s swords.
“Wha!?”
All three of them looked at their swords, dumbfounded.
“See what happens when your sword is frail? It breaks just by touching someone’s hand…”
The three men, the receptionist and the adventurers witnessing what happened all looked at me with an expression that screamed “no way those swords were frail!!”.
I ignored their reaction, however, and glared at the three men after activating my Intimidation skill.
When I saw that their knees started shaking, I deactivated the skill.
I faced the three men, their faces pale as a sheet and produced the most menacing tone I could.
“You three.”
“Y-yes sir!!”
The three adventurers jolted upright.
“You three started this by jumping at me…right?”
The three men nodded, without a word.
“Right…so I suppose I deserve some compensation. I mean, I was so scared I couldn’t even draw my sword…and my hand hurts now…but I don’t have a penny on me, so I can’t even afford medicine…ah, poor me…”
I glanced at the three men, who started talking all together.
“P-please accept this!! Forgive us!! We beg you!”
“We’re really really sorry!”
“Please have mercy!!”
The three men each took out a leather bag as they talked.
I took all three bags and smiled at them.
“Oh, you’re too generous! …so..you’re still here?”
A shot of Intimidation, stronger than before, sent the three adventurers shrieking and scampering towards the exit.
“…phew, I thought I was going to get robbed…”
I looked at the three men go, then wiped the sweat off my forehead, but I felt surrounded by glaring eyes.
I could tell what everyone was thinking: “you’re one to say that!!”.
I sighed, then gave two of the leather satchels to the adventurers, the other to the receptionist.
“This is for the trouble, have a drink of whatever you like.”
I had the three men cough up their money because they irritated me, but thanks to the reward for escorting Bacchus’ group and selling my uniform, I wasn’t in financial trouble at the moment.
“Yeeeaah!! Dude, you’re the best!!”
The adventurers rejoiced at my words.
All’s well what ends well. However…
I turned towards the receptionist.
“…you haven’t forgotten about my registration, have you?”
“Y-yes!? I mean, no, of course not! Hahaha!”
Based on her reaction…she really did.
I laughed wryly and had the receptionist proceed with my registration.
~
“ —please fill this form first. We will then use this crystal to check your status…oh, where are my manners..my name is Neena, I work as a receptionist for the guild. Pleased to meet you.”
“Ah, the pleasure is mine.”
I had gotten tired of speaking politely, so I talked in a pretty casual tone. She didn’t look offended, so I thought it was okay.
I then started to fill in the registration form.
I wasn’t sure I could read or write this world’s language, but the Language Comprehension skill let me do so without a hitch.
When I finished writing I gave the form back to Neena.
“…Mr. Haruto, I see. Your form doesn’t seem to have any problems.”
Neena checked the form, nodded to me and took out a crystal sphere, about 15 cm wide, from under the table.
I hoped she didn’t notice my eyes peeking at her cleavage when she crouched.
“Please place a hand over the sphere. Your status will be displayed, so I will check it.”
“I see.”
My current status was already cheat-level stuff, however, so I thought I should probably hide it.
Before I did anything else I used All Creation to create the “Disguise” skill.
It was a skill that used magic power to disguise one’s appearance or status. It barely used any magic power, so I could keep it active for a long time. Even if other people used Appraisal on me, they would see my disguised status.
<<Skill “Disguise” created. Skill level reached 10. Skill added to Magic Unification.>>
At the same time as the information resounded in my head, my newly disguised status appeared on the crystal sphere.
|
NAME : |
Yuki Haruto |
|
LEVEL : |
58 |
|
AGE : |
17 |
|
SPECIES : |
Human |
|
SKILLS : |
Sword Arts LV 5 Wind Magic LV 4 Fire Magic LV 3 Recovery Magic LV 5 Physical Boost LV 4 |
Such was the status displayed on the sphere.
“Ehm, you are quite strong…no, not there are any problems with it. Let me explain in detail about the Adventurers’ Guild— ”
The explanation was pretty long, so to summarize it…
Adventurers were separated into different ranks, going from the highest, S, to A, B, C, D, E and F, the lowest. The more difficult requests you completed, the more you advanced in rank.
Adventurers rank C and below had to complete at least one request per month, but rank B and A adventurers only had to do so once every three months.
S rank adventurers didn’t have any such obligations, but they were often forced to undertake urgent requests and many requests came specifically for them, so they were rather busy, apparently.
Incidentally, at present, there were only five S rank adventurers in the whole world.
Not all adventurers started from rank F: a test was conducted at the time of registration, so it was possible to start from the rank most fitting one’s abilities.
Wait, those three men were rank C…did it only amount to that much…?
Adventurers could also form parties, which had ranks too, based on the party’s total abilities and the requests completed until then.
After explaining all this, Neena stood up and smiled at me.
“Well then Mr. Haruto, let us proceed to the arena for the mock battle that will serve as your exam. Your opponent is a rank B adventurer, who will decide your starting rank.”
“Understood…that was quick, though.”
“Well, aspiring adventurers register every day, so we always have at least one rank B adventurer ready for the exam. Many of them are very passionate about training their juniors.”
Neena then stood up from her chair, to lead me to the arena.
“Oh, I thought adventuring was a very dangerous job, but there are so many people aspiring to become one?”
“It is dangerous indeed, but it can also be a well-paying profession and more than anything it offers a lot of freedom. Many yearn to become one.”
“I see, that makes sense…by the way, is my opponent very strong?”
“He definitely is, he’s a rank B adventurer after all. You won against those rank C adventurers easily, but please do not let your guard down.”
Neena grinned at me.
“Yeah, I’ll remember that.”
I was really looking forward to the battle.