CH 2

My breakfast is bread, a thin meat that looks like bacon, salad, and soup.

Unlike the dinner I ate last night, it’s pretty plain and light on salt. I hear dinner is saltier in part to replenish the salt spent during the day.

It feels like the ingredients are presented as they are and without seasoning, and I can’t say it tastes good.

The bread is tough too, so I eat it by letting it soak in the soup.

I eat silently while listening to conversations around me.

Most people staying here are adventurers or merchants. Adventurers talk to their partners about what requests to accept, and merchants keep each other in check as they talk about what will sell and what has no hope of turning a profit.

I heard more useful information last night when the drunk adventurers talked about their adventures, and end up not hearing anything the innkeeper didn’t already tell me.

I guess that’s all I’m getting by eavesdropping, and I’m not brave enough to jump between those adventurers and start asking questions either.

It seems common sense doesn’t apply to drunks. Maybe that’s just prejudice on my part.

After I finish eating, I go back to my room and take a breather, and leave the inn after killing some time.

As I leave, I’m asked by the innkeeper what she should do, since I’m staying here for several days, and I ask her to just change my sheets.

“I should go ask questions first.”

I’m noticing that I’ve been talking to myself a lot more lately, and decide to go to the guilds I looked into before.

Asking questions is free, so I make plans to go to the alchemist guild, chemist guild, merchant guild, and adventurer guild.

I go around them in order as I walk around town.

I learn that those affiliated with the alchemist guild or chemist guild have a duty to provide certain goods every month. For the alchemist guild, it’s items transmuted by that person, and for the chemist guild, it’s either a certain amount of potions or items of the same category.

People affiliated with the merchant guild have to pay a monthly membership fee. Also, people have to register with the guild if they’re going to do business. If they don’t, and start trading on their own, a lot of pressure is put on them, the worst of which being that a directive will go out to bar them from doing business, making it so they can’t buy or sell goods.

The registration fee is one silver coin, and the monthly fee is one silver coin minimum.

But that’s only the minimum, as people rank up depending on how much they pay, and receive more benefits as they rank up. For example, they receive priority in business involving rare items.

The merchant guild also buys monster materials and items, which leads me to question if this doesn’t overlap with what the adventurer guild also does. But apparently that’s not a problem, and I’m politely told it’s actually a system put in place to prevent a monopoly, and stop prices from skyrocketing.

A pass that lets people enter and exit towns freely only costs one silver coin? Isn’t that pretty cheap?

The last guild I visit is kind of what I figure is the right choice for me, the adventurer guild.

To be perfectly honest, I have no good feelings towards this country, so I think I want to leave eventually. And I imagine I’m going to be at least somewhat strong.

This is a fantasy world with skills and magic. On Earth, if I went abroad, there were dangerous places where public order was so bad that my life could even be at risk, but this world is actually even more dangerous.

It was unthinkable in Japan, but here, a lot of people carry deadly weapons around as they go about their daily lives, and anyone can have them.

I don’t really know the social etiquette of this world, but if something happens that causes someone to attack me or a fight to break out, it could turn very ugly.

“Welcome to the adventurer guild. Is this your first time here?”

I heard that this place is packed early in the morning, as people scramble to accept requests, so I avoided that time period. Now the place is almost empty.

But it’s not like it’s completely deserted. There are people gathered in the place here in the guild where people can eat and drink, and someone is talking to a receptionist.

I focus my ears on those two, and it feels like he’s hitting on her.

I say yes, it is my first time here, and she tells me her name is Mikaru and she’s fifteen. She’s been a receptionist in this guild for a year, and she’s saying she’s happy she’s graduated from being a newbie.

But what about the guild?

I try to get the conversation back on track.

There are six adventurer ranks, S, A, B, C, D, and E. S being the highest, and E being the lowest.

To go up in rank, one has to complete requests, and failure to complete them comes with a penalty.

But adventurers can only rank up normally up to rank A. To be elevated to rank S, they have to complete a few designated quests, and receive a recommendation from the guild master.

As adventurers rank up, they can accept more difficult quests, and receive higher rewards. It’s all about high risk and high reward.

Rank also affects the period of time when one has to complete a quest. If one fails to complete a quest for a certain period of time, they will be demoted if they are rank D or above, or lose their status in the guild if they are rank E. For example, rank E adventurers have to at least complete a quest once every thirty days.

They can register again, but the registration fee will be high.

If this happens a few times, it will be deemed that they aren’t really serious about this, and their registration will be rejected. The number of times this has to happen before they’re rejected isn’t clear, and apparently it varies from guild to guild.

I ask if that means they can just re-apply in another adventurer guild, but it doesn’t look like it’s that easy.

“When you are ready to accept a quest, bring one here from the wall over there and so we can process it. Report regular quests here, and go to the purchasing counter to settle matters related to materials. Is there anything you don’t understand?”

“About quests to defeat monsters… Do I bring the monsters here without taking them apart?”

“It depends on the monster. There are some we won’t buy, but as for parts that can be used as materials, we will subtract a fee from your reward if we need to take the monsters apart. We also charge a disposal fee for some monsters, so be careful about that. Like goblins, goblins, and goblins.”

Does she have a grudge against goblins?

I ask myself if I have any further questions, and decide it’s enough for now.

Then I wonder if I should register with the adventurer guild, but since there are safe, low paying quests that can be completed here in town, I decide to register.

This won’t be enough for me to make a living once I run out of money, but these quests are pretty convenient for me, so I can’t complain.