Volume 1 - CH 11

It has been a week since I left the Red Village and I've been going through various towns and villages until I reached the famous town novice adventures frequent; Milkrond.

As soon as I stepped on the city's pavements, I breathed a sigh of relief, "Ah... Milkrond."

I scanned my eyes across the vast expanse and admired the tall buildings all around me. As I went deeper into the streets, I weaved my way through a crowd of bustling people. The scenery was truly different from that of Red Village. I guess, it is to be expected that I am awestruck by it. After all, I've never been to a city before. 

I've lived all my life in Red Village and I've never been on any big excursion of any kind.

Red Village was my whole world, but being here now, makes me rethink that perspective.

Something about being in this town moves me from the bottom of my heart.

"I'll save sightseeing for later.  First, I think I'll look for the Adventurer's Guild." I told myself as I focused on what I needed to accomplish first.

The Adventurers' Guild is an establishment where adventurers accept requests and receive rewards for their services.

Other than this, I must also take the Adventurers' Exam and pass it, if I were to become an adventurer. 

The Adventurers' Guild holds the exams once every month, and it always takes place at the beginning of that month too. It is also common knowledge that the exams are always different every month. Since today was the 29th of the 'Wand Month', the day after tomorrow the month will change.

It's perfect timing!

I need to hurry and find the guild then rent a lodging room near it.

While I was searching around town, I saw an establishment that stood out from the others.

It was clearly much larger than the other buildings, and inside it was rather noisy.

I glanced from outside and realized that this building was a public establishment, as there was even a bar in it, where a bunch of people gathered around to drink. However, it quickly became apparent to me that this was an Adventurer's Guild as I saw that there was a 'two crossed sword' pattern on a large flag waving outside.

"Ah.  This is it." I told myself as I prepared to enter the doors.

No matter how one looks at it, this was the Adventurers' Guild.

Since I easily found it, I was able to save a lot of time.

Furthermore, there were a lot of choices for lodging nearby, so I decided to choose one now. But before that, I needed to go to the information desk and ask about the Adventurers' exam.

With trepidation, I entered the Adventurer's Guild and immediately after entering, I was overwhelmed by the scenery in front of me. 

'This place is full of adventurers.' I thought to myself as I glanced around

Although this was a town mostly filled with novice adventurers, I reckon it is also expected that there would be a lot of experienced adventurers around too.

Still, I didn't expect for there to be so many though.

From the corner of my eyes, I spotted an Adventurer carrying crystal balls close to his chest. There was another Adventurer with an arm wrapped with bandages and sporting a serious look on his face. And further across the room was also an Adventurer that carried a large trident on his back.

I wonder if all those were sacred weapons? And how do they fight the demon race with those weapons?

I should have known that there were a lot of adventurers in the world who used strange sacred weapons.

I excitedly looked over my surroundings.  Shortly thereafter, I found myself satisfied with my brief sightseeing, and I finally went to the information desk to ask about the Adventurers' Exam.

"Um, excuse me." I started.

"Yes?"

"I would like to take the Adventurers' Exam.  Can you provide me with the schedule?"

"Ah, yes.  The next exam begins in the afternoon the day after tomorrow.  Don't be late.  You can also come at any time."

"Yes.  Understood." I went away quite satisfied. After all, the schedule was what I expected.

It will start the day after tomorrow in the afternoon.

Since that's the case, I can do what I came here to do tomorrow.  

For now, I'll try to take a look around the town.

Deciding on that, I went looking for some lodging near the guild.

XXX

Finally, it is the first day of the month and therefore the day of the exam.

It is the day of the Adventurer's Exam!

Therefore, I hurriedly went to the Adventurer's Guild.

"There are l-lots of people here." I sighed as I made it inside of the establishment.

There were certainly a lot more people here now compared to two days ago when I last visited.

Are they all here hoping to become adventurers too?

They were all equipped with tools that looked like sacred weapons, so I guess that's may be the case.

The chances of them succeeding are high, but still, do they think they all can be successful?

Come to think of it, I've heard the percentage of success drops by ten percent each time.

If one fails, the next exam won't be until the beginning of next month.

Given that I'd be unemployed during all that time, I decided that somehow, I should be successful with my first attempt.

If I don't keep this mindset, then I won't be able to advance.

No matter what, I have to pass.

"Well then, let's begin this month's Adventurers'  Exam." I felt uneasy as I heard a young girl's voice come from somewhere.

Due to the fact that adults gathered in this place, that voice sounded misplaced, and inevitably, the surrounding people also considered it quite dubious.

Everyone looked around the place, but could not find the girl who had spoken.

Before long employees working at the bar brought over a table, and someone quietly got on it.

It was a girl with a dazzling smile and pink hair holding the hand of a doll fashioned as a gothic lolita.

Maybe this was the girl who spoke earlier.

Since she was wearing pink clothes coupled with carrying a doll, she appeared as nothing more but a young girl.

Since she had announced the beginning of the Adventurers' Exam, then she was most likely one of the examiners, but I wonder how old could she actually be?

It seemed as though she sensed the doubts surrounding her, for she suddenly spoke with a bright smile, "I am one of the examiners, Charm Floraito.  Although I look like this, I'm an adult who has been a part of the Blessing Ceremony, and I am a full-fledged member of the guild." Her dull voice reverberated throughout the guild.

She was definitely one of the examiners.

Unlike her appearance, she was actually an adult who had already taken part in the Blessing Ceremony.

With still a hint of surprise in my eyes, I watched the young girl move on the improvised stage, and she quickly began explaining the contents of the exam.

"Well then, I want to quickly explain the contents of the exam.  This year's exam will involve leaving from the east gate, going to the Seven Colors Forest area and searching for and bringing back this..." She wasn't referring to the gothic lolita fashioned doll which she held in her right hand but a smaller doll which she now holds and raises up.

What was that? 

Due to the audible sighs birthed from our group's collective confusion, Charm decided to answer our unspoken questions, "As you can see, this is a doll. Rather, this 'Exam Doll' will be placed in the Seven Colors Forest, and your task will be to find it and bring it back to the guild."

I see.

The goal of this exam would be to find something.

The exam changes each time, and I've heard that depending on the examiner, the degree of difficulty also tends to change a lot.

Since I've heard that the degree of difficulty in some exams is unreasonable, I was prepared to face whatever challenges they may toss at us. However, this time it seems it is a particularly simple exam, and so my erratic heart somewhat calmed.  Essentially, our task was just about finding something.

On the other hand, if she had said we were to face off against experienced adventurers or fight against all of the adventurers in town, I wondered how I would react.

I was quietly relieved, but after the examiner's next statement, I realized that that relief I felt was only for a short moment. 

"By the way, in the Seven Color Forest, there are monsters called 'Snatch Thieves'.  It is in the nature of these creatures to steal humans' properties, and they do what they want with stuff they find.  Most likely, they've already picked up all of the Exam Dolls we scattered in the forest by now.  So do your best to take them from them and bring them back."

"Ugh..." This Adventurer Exam is certainly something I shouldn't take lightly.

The gist of the Adventurer's Exam was; 'Go into the forest, and look for a doll.'

However, because there were monsters present, the ultimate goal of the ordeal now became about us, participants, devising a plan to subjugate the monsters.

Going to an area overrun with monsters and using one's 'Searching Ability' and simple 'Battle Ability'; this was an exam aimed to evaluate those two sets of skills.

"Of course there are other monsters in the forest.  Because of that, we have no problem with you teaming up with other examinees.  Since your aim is to become adventurers, it's only natural to learn to cooperate with one another. I think, there's no time like the present to start practicing that, too."

"T-Team up?" Certainly companions are necessary.

Depending on the connection one makes as well as how one cooperates with others will drastically raise one's chances of passing the exam.

"Obviously you need to bring back the number of dolls equal to the number of members in your party.  The time limit is two hours.  Well then, let's begin the exam." Charm's dull voice had given the command to begin the exam.

The time limit was two hours.

Taking into consideration the time it would take to get back to the testing area, I figured I had no time to waste.

"For the time being, I also..." I needed to quickly find some companions.

I mean I can say that, but do I really have what it takes to get people to let me join their party?

It makes sense that people would want to team up with strong individuals, and therefore they would have to have a strong sacred weapon.

However, my sacred weapon was just a rusted sword.

It's impossible for someone to think that a person possessing a weapon like this will be capable of joining a party.

Since that's the case, I could employ the strategy of using the 'Evolution' skill on my sword, change it into the Cursed Demon Sword and show it off. However, due to the fact that it looks like a Majin's sword when transformed, then people would certainly avoid anyone who was holding such a dangerous weapon.

Also, I don't want to use the Evolution skill before the exam.  I want to preserve that skill as long as I can.

Well then, what should I do?

When I looked around, there were many adventurers quickly teaming up in parties to face the Seven Color Forest together.  Inevitably, this forced me into a panic.

I have to quickly find people to team up with!  

With that in mind, I quickly started scanning the area for candidates. While I was in the middle of my search, I heard a loud voice come out of nowhere, "Ha?  I said a while ago that I didn't like it!"

It was an angry young girl's voice.

Because her voice was so loud, not only I, but the surrounding people all looked towards the source of the sound.

As soon as all eyes were casted in her direction, there was another exclaim, "Put me in your party..."

There was a party composed of three, and they were apparently all girls, and across from them was a young girl carrying a large shield. She was facing the group with tear streaked eyes and was begging to join them.

-To be continued.