Chapter 10

I Was Informed of a Nice Hunting Ground

Since I came to the guild, I felt like I’ve just been asking lots of questions.

「I wanna go to the royal capital. How do I get there?」

「Th-The royal capital?!」the receptionist exclaimed, looking surprised.

Her astonishment made it sound like not a lot people from this town head to the capital.

「Yeah. The royal capital.」

「Let’s see… You take the royal capital ferry from the port city of Minatan. That should take you to the capital. But it’s incredibly pricey for the public.」

「The public?」

「The ferry is primarily used by guild and country officials. There are slots for the general public, though, but the cheapest go for three million gils.」

Three million… If I sell a hundred Wolf fangs, I should have enough. If there are plenty of those weak Wolves like the one I killed on my way here, I should be able to save money up easily.

「Is there any other way to get there?」

「Hmm. You can work for a trading firm or a noble family with connections in the royal capital and become someone important, or work for the guild and get a seat on the top brass. Then you might get on the ferry!」

Yeah, no. That would take years.

「Besides taking the ferry, your only other option is to swim across the sea.」

「Thanks. I’ll just save up three million gils.」

It might be a different story if I’ve already changed class, but crossing the sea as a Novice is pure suicide. There are also monsters in the sea and without any footing, fighting will be hard. To top it off, you can’t take a break. I should just take it easy and save money as I make my way to Minatan.

I studied the map posted on the wall. The port city of Minatan wasn’t too far; about a week’s travel away.

I should postpone travelling for now since I still didn’t know how powerful the monsters of this world were. At the moment, I should learn how to fight this world’s monsters while making money in this town.

「I’d like to take a request. Got anything you’d recommend to a beginner?」

「A beginner… you’re taking it, correct?」

「Of course.」

「In that case, I recommend this one!」she said, bringing a request titled『Lesser Wolf Kill Quest』.

The letter E was written on the rank field.

「I’m rank F. Can I take an rank E request?」

「If the request doesn’t specify the rank of the adventurer that can accept it, then you can go for it.」

Sounds like I can take it then. Still, immediately going for an E rank didn’t sit well with me. 『Lesser Wolf』 was an inferior version of a『Wolf』and the bestiary said it was rank E.

The reward was 7,000 gils per Lesser Wolf. The highest reward of the other rank E requests was only 4,000 per monster so this one was on the higher end of the spectrum.

There was no penalty for when you failed and it had a time limit of ten days from acceptance of request. No problem so far. But there had to be a reason why the reward was high.

「Why would you recommend this?」

「First is the reward. You need money to get to the capital! A Lesser Wolf’s fang is worth 12,000 gils so you’ll be killing two birds with one stone! I, Teresa, proudly recommend this request!」

「Yeah, the reward is high. But what’s bugging me is why.」

There was no way a request with a high reward was still left untaken. There had to be a reason for that. I’m not taking the request until I find out what that is.

Oh and apparently, the receptionist’s name was Teresa.

「That’s because for an rank E request, its difficulty is actually higher. It’s essentially D rank.」

Well, that’s a pretty simple reason.

「All right, I don’t want it. Just give me a rank F one. I’m not really in a hurry to make money that I’d take a request way above my level.」

「You beat the examiner in a one-on-one match. I think it’s a waste for someone as strong as you to settle for an F rank request. We have a shortage of skilled adventurers at the moment and the guild would want to give the appropriate requests to strong adventurers.」

「I only won because he went easy on me and I managed to trigger a Miracle Strike by chance.」

「He’d never go easy on you when the whole purpose of that exam is to make a Novice like you fail. Wait, that was a Miracle Strike you used back then?!」

「Of course. Otherwise, there’s no way a Novice like me can send the examiner flying.」

I kind of regretted that I brought it up now. I sure hope they won’t invalidate the result on grounds of me simply being lucky. I should’ve been more cautious about mentioning the Miracle Strike.

I waited for what Teresa had to say as I reflected on my foolishness. But what she said next was the exact opposite of what I expected.

「Using a Miracle Strike, even if it was a coincidence, means you’re a highly skilled swordsman! Now I know why you’re so strong.」

Wait, what?

True, there was a trick to triggering a Miracle Strike deliberately, but surely anyone can activate it by chance. Was it really such big a deal?

Teresa began searching for something among the bundle of requests. And then…

「You should take this request!」she said as she took out a new request—a C-ranked one.

Sending a level 1 Novice to take a high rank request right off the bat was basically the same as telling them to die.

No way. I can’t trust Teresa. I’ll choose a request on my own. I picked a rank F kill quest with the lowest reward.

Kick Rabbit Kill Quest; the reward was 1,500 gils—perfect as my first job.

「If you insist… I’ll process it then.」Teresa said, discontent on her face as she took the request form and my guild card and headed to the back of the guild.

After a while, she came back.

「I’m done processing the request. There’s nothing but Kick Rabbits in Elia’s Second Forest so it’s safe. Still you should be ready and on your guard.」

Oh, she certainly could do it if she put her mind to it. This is exactly the kind of information I needed.

「Can you tell me where this Second Forest is?」

「Of course!」

◇

After about ten minutes, I headed out to fulfil the request right away while it was still early. It would be dangerous to be out when it gets dark.

「Oh, if it isn’t the strongest Novice around. Going out for a job?」

I was making my way to the town’s gate when I ran into the guild’s examiner. He’s the guy that supervised my admission exam and went easy on me.

「I’m not really the strongest, but yes, I took a request. I’m off to kill some Kick Rabbits in Elia’s Second Forest.」

「Kick Rabbits in Elia’s Second Forest…?」he said with a puzzled look on his face..

Well, he was a legitimate Swordsman so a Kick Rabbit kill quest was probably outside of his field. I have to change job classes quick too so I can fight with confidence and pride.

「Yeah. I was told that there’s only Kick Rabbits in the Second Forest so it’s safe. They recommended a high rank request at first, but I declined and picked the easiest one I could find.」

「…I see. Well, good luck.」he said, averting his gaze.

He was most likely feeling guilty for going easy on me.

「Thanks. I’ll do my best. We Novices can’t underestimate something like a Kick Rabbit after all.」I said as we parted ways.

All right, time to head to Elia’s Second Forest. The safe hunting ground with nothing but Kick Rabbits is waiting for me.