Volume 3, Intermission: Pale’s Lecture on the Adventurer’s Guild (2/2)

Volume 3, Intermission: Pale’s Lecture on the Adventurer’s Guild (2/2)

The main branch of the adventurer’s guild was located in the best part of the merchant district of the capital city, Rishu.

“I-It’s huge…” The young man said as he looked up in a daze at the building.

Pale wryly smiled. “It was originally made to oppose the merchant guild, so it was built like a fortress.”

As the boy nodded, Pale led him and the girl inside.

Pale felt the two youths look on wide-eyed as they entered.

Pale quietly watched their surroundings. Thanks to the favor of the god of wind, her hearing was much sharper than normal, and she could easily visualize the surrounding area with just the sounds.

“The counter at the front should handle the procedures. I’ll wait,” Pale said before leaving the two to take a seat and listen attentively to the people around her.

Whether it was the hushed voices of the adventurers from the next table or the sound of equipment rustling, not a single sound escaped Pale’s sharp ears.

Pale turned her attention to eavesdrop on the adventurers in the room.

“The Red King has been getting increasingly active recently. It seems the Dagger of Werbus has joined them too.”

“That’s a joke, right? An assassin clan (blood oath) is literally a blood oath.”

“Word says the Red King is a ludicrously strong leader. On top of that, they brought first rate warriors and mages. With—”

“Ms. Pale!”

While Pale was eavesdropping, her name was suddenly called out. She looked up toward that voice.

“Ah, sorry. You’re done registering?” Pale asked.

“Yes,” the girl nodded.

“We should go find ourselves an inn first then. We can look for work afterwards,” Pale said.

“Ok!”

Pale wryly smiled. It was like when she was still with the Elks taking care of the clan’s neophytes.

Pale left the guild with the two in tow and looked for an inn, when they found one, they paid for the room and left.

“Oh, right. When we were registering, they asked us what clan we were affiliated with. What’s a clan?” The young man asked.

Pale nodded. “There doesn’t seem to be any suitable jobs, so let’s talk at the guild for the meantime.”

They were looking for a job that would send them to the east. A mail delivery job would be most preferable, but things weren’t always so convenient, and there was also the issue of rank.

Also, since not even Pale could read letters off paper her ears, she had to ask the young man to read the contents for her, but she couldn’t find anything that suited the level of the two neophytes with her.

In the end, they couldn’t find any work and had no choice but to go back and eat at the inn.

◆◇◆◆◆◆◆◆

The concept of clans was created about 40 years after the guild was established.

Adventurers frequently formed parties to hunt monsters, but cooperation was a difficult thing to achieve with strangers.

After 40 years only a few of the forefront founding members of the guild where left. Though perhaps it was more surprising was that there were still members from 40 years ago working in the same yakuza-like line of work.

The most important thing to when hunting monsters is the organization of the participating members and their roles.

Who will be the vanguard? What are their special weapons? What magic do they specialize in? How long can they last in battle?

At the time it was usually the most skilled of the adventurers who would lead the party.

One of the remaining founding members, Sergeid Harken, who was also known as the Supreme Spear, founded the first guild, Golden Toast.

He gathered the people who admired him and all the skilled adventurers regardless of age, then as proof of their alliance, they drank each other’s blood.

The power of that clan was proven when the recently reclaimed land in the north suffered heavy causalities.

Sergeid led his Golden Toast to push through the scattered parties and stop the maddened orcs.

That was the impetus for the clan rush.

The most renowned clans are Leonheart, which accepts both elves and demihumans, and Valkyria, which is known to undertake a lot of merc job from various countries.

They aren’t the only ones with over 1,000 members, but it isn’t easy managing such big clans, so most of the clans are mid-sized.

The Swallow Clan that travel the world and undertakes many jobs, the Red Moon that works solely in the south, the recently rising Clan Alliance of the Red King, and the Elks, who are active in the east.

There are many clans.

Being able to participate in clans like these means that one is trustworthy.

Being trustworthy means being paid more.

The rank the guild gives isn’t solely based on power. It just so happens that the guild can’t trust people without ability, but that’s true for all lines of work.

The rank given by the guild is really a measure of how trustworthy a person is.

In other words, it’s their way of saying ‘you can trust this person to get the job done’.

The ranks are normally divided into 5, ranging from A to E, but there is a special rank handed out by the guild, Rank S.

Even if someone has ability, if that person isn’t trustworthy, he will only be an E Ranker.

Of course, there are exceptions.

The exception is when a person is affiliated with a clan.

An adventurer can undertake jobs of higher ranks based on the reputation of the guild he is affiliated with. If he fails, then the reputation of the clan will be affected, so their clan naturally won’t make them do jobs that they can’t do.

Another path one could take is by getting the recommendation of a country.

The guild is closely connected to the secrets of various human countries due to undertaking various jobs for them that may or may not be profitable such as merc work, monster subjugation, labor… etc.

If one can get a strong recommendation from such a country, then one can undertake jobs of a higher rank.

People trusted by the guild or people with high contributions to the country can also be summoned directly by the king.

The country who does that the most is the Germion Kingdom which has many unexplored territories.

Because of that the holy knight, Gulland, who came from the background of a mere adventurer, has become the goal and object of admiration of many adventurers.

◆◆◇

There were 3 people walking along the road east of Rishu.

They had undertaken a job to exterminate the monsters of a nearby village.

“I’m going to become a hero!” The young man said full of zeal.

Pale was expressionless.

“Can you not say stuff a kid would?” The young girl sighed.

“Stupid, this is a man’s dream,” the young man said.

“I’m not stupid!”

Seeing the two frolicking, Pale couldn’t help but wryly smile.

“How can I become a hero!?” The young man asked.

As Pale felt the wind caress her cheeks, she opened her mouth. “Hmm… You could try leading a charge. People who can do that well are often called heroes. If not, then at the very least, no one will call you a hindrance.”

Pale recalled that time when she had just joined the clan. She remembered how Touri Nokia valiantly led them into the dungeon.

It was a dungeon that would make anyone think twice entering, but he valiantly led the party from in front.

He stood at the front precisely because it was dangerous. Pale saw that as something dazzling and noble.

“Let’s hurry. It’s just a monster extermination quest, but it’ll become difficult should nightfall come. And besides, a bigger reward is better, right?”

The guild doesn’t cover travel expenses. Everything is paid for by one’s self, so travel expenses would have to be subtracted from one’s reward. Naturally, that means the less one travels the more money one can make.

The two nodded as they followed Pale into the village.