"Whoa..so big.."
"Ah yeah well because the guild needs to be able to accommodate a lot of people. The traffic between the requestor and adventurer is really high and there's also dining hall for the adventurer or guest to eat. Sometimes other civilians will come to the guild too."
There's 5 floors in this guild. Compared to the other building in Pedrell, the guild is really huge!
"On the first floor, there's the receptionist and the dining room. The second floor, is the administrative work space for the guild's staff including their break room. There's few space for more receptionist too and the warehouse is also on second floor. From the third floor to the fifth floor is the inn. The adventurers can rent a room there while they stay in town."
"I see.. Malik-san, you're the guild master of this place, right? To be in charge in such huge place, you're really amazing, Malik-san!"
Malik-san is amazing! He was a famous adventurer, now after he retired he becomes the guild master of this huge place!
Ah now that I think about it, Malik-san has spent these last two days with me, is it okay for him to ditch his work?
"Umm, Malik-san.. I'm really grateful for all your help these past few days but is your work alright? Since you had your hands full because of me.."
"Ahh, it's okay, it's okay. I've been working too hard and never took any vacation before so I've decided to finally enjoy myself a little. Today too, I'm not here to do any work. I just want to register Ren to the guild and then go back home."
I'm glad Malik-san didn't skip his work for me but I'm not an adventurer so why would Malik-san decided to register me?
"I don't have any combat ability you know? Is it okay to register me??"
"I know, I know. Well, shall we go in first? There's two entrance. This one for the adventurer, and that one is for normal civilian. Though I suppose you can tell by looking since there's guard with scary face over there."
So what ?? That doesn't make me feel happy at all! Those guys faces are too scary! I suppose it's good that they are stationed on the door for adventurer, I doubt any normal civilian would dare to get close to them.
Malik-san pulls me to get in through adventurer's door. There's a sign on the door.
[Entrance for adventurer only. General audience please enter through the door on the right ~]
Oh, the sign is in what looked like arabic letter but somehow I can read it. Is this one of the perk being an other worlder? I don't really get it but is sure very convenient!
As we enter, I see a bulletin boards on my right side and a line of ornamental plants behind it. I guess it's used to cover the entrance for the general civilians. There's a bunch of tables on the left side, some adventurers are having their meal there. In the corner, there's a counter. I guess you can order food from there.
If we go straight, there's a stairs to the 2nd floor. Next to the stairs is another counter with a sign [Quest Registration] on there.
"Eh? Guild master, I thought you were on vacation until tomorrow?"
A young man with cat ear on the counter calls out to Malik-san. Next to the cat eared man, there's an old man with thick beard.
"Yeah, I'm here to register my son to the guild."
"WHAAAAAAAT?!?!"
Everyone in the guild screams in unison. I can feel their eyes piercing through me.
"What are you saying?? You're not even married!"
"Nevermind that! Even if you somehow managed to get married without us noticing, isn't still too early to be thinking about registering your son to the guild!"
The two people on the counter voices their disapproval clearly. Well of course they would say that, from their point of view Malik-san probably still freshly married and his 'son' might be still an infant so registering to the guild might seem ridiculous. Especially since in Alsar you can't have a child without being married first.
"I just got a son today. Here, Ren let me introduce you. Hugo and Tord here both work as the guild staff. The one with cat ear is Tord and the bearded one is Hugo. Hugo, Tord, meet my son, Ren."
"Nice to meet you, my name is Ren. From today, I am Malik-san's son."
Malik-san introduces me to Hugo-san and Tord-san. I step away from Malik-san's behind and bow my my head to introduce myself.
*silence*
Hmm?
Didn't they hear me?
I cautiously lift my head and I see that everyone looks dumbfounded. They are at loss of words with their mouth hanging open. Tord-san keeps glancing between me and Malik-san frantically.
"…Master! Where did you kidnap such beautiful child??"
"Even if it's you, crime is crime Master."
Somehow both Tord-san and Hugo-san accuses Malik-san of kidnapping me!
"Umm.."
"So rude! Ren here is an other worlder, I met him yesterday! A lot of things happened and now I've finished registering him at the government office as my son! Now all's left is to register Ren at the guild!"
Malik-san scoffs and ask me to follow him to the counter.
"I see, an other worlder eh. No wonder I've never seen such beautiful black hair like this before! But Malik-san, he's still too young! He's probably 15 at most!"
"Don't be fooled by his young appearance. Most other worlder looks younger than they actually are. Don't you know Manami-sama? He's actually 40 years old despite looking like 30 years old."
"Eeeeh? I refuse to believe such young looking man is already that old ! Ahh, everyone in the guild is going to be so surprised! I bet they're curious but too afraid to actually act on it since Master is so scary when you're angry."
I've heard this a lot these days, I do agree I look young compared to other people in Alsar. This Manami-sama though, he must be someone in the guild as well I guess.
"Ren, I want you to listen to the introduction of the guild. Come, take a seat."
Malik-san goes behind the counter and rummaging through the shelf for something. I sit on the chair in front of the counter. After a while, Malik-san returns with a paper on his hand, he put the said paper on the counter.
"The guild receives quests from various people. Either from private company, fellow citizen, the government and the others. There's also variety of quests, from plant collection, escorting, monster subjugation and even items delivery. The quests will be divided according to the difficulty into their ranks. So the adventurer can only take quest within their rank and below. The guild also stores the gold. People can store and withdraw their gold through the guild. This is why I want Ren to apply to the guild. There's various benefits if you register. Do you understand so far?"
Basically guild is like the bank but unlike normal bank back in earth, you can take on quest through the guild.
So, registering for guild = opening for bank account.
Registering as an adventurer = able to receive quests.
Even if I don't plan on registering as adventurer, I can just use the guild as a bank. Carrying a lot of golds around seems like asking for trouble anyway. It's safe to store the gold in the guild because there's lots of adventurer lurking around so the robber would think twice before taking action.
I guess that's about it?
"I understand the basic use of the guild, yeah. Umm… Is there's quest that is safe for me to take? If it's there, I would also want to register as an adventurer."
I want to get a job as soon as possible but because of how young I look like, I doubt I will be able to get one. If there's suitable quest for me in the guild, I would take it so I can start earning my own money soon.
"Hmm.. For Ren huh.. Maybe plant collecting? The quest is easy and the place to gather it is safe from dangerous monster too. You can also do it alone."
"Great! I would like to register as adventurer too then!"
Yay! I'm glad there's quest that I can take!
"Okay, for registering you need to sign on this document and then let your magical power run through."
"Umm.. I can read it but I can't write in Alsar language…"
Even though I can read the letter, I cannot write it. I still don't understand how I'm able to understand Alsar language in the first place anyway. Malik-san looked at my troubled face and smiled. He then told me how to proceed with the registration.
"It's okay if you write it in language that you understand and then pour your magical power into the paper."
"Then I will write my name as Himukai Ren and then trace the letter with my fingers I guess."
As I trace the paper with my fingers, the paper glows incredibly bright and floats! The paper then spin around in the air.
"E-eeh? Wha-what? Why??"
"It's okay, don't panic. The paper is changing itself into your guild card.See?"
The paper shrink in size and turn into standard card size and fall into my lap.
[ Ren ・ Himukai ・ Cleva
21 years old.
F rank.
An other worlder. ]
I turn the card back and forth but that's the only thing written on it.
"F-rank is the starter rank here. You now can take the quest within F-rank! Here, I will show you my guild card [Come Out Guild Card]"
Malik-san hands me his guild card.
[ Malik ・ Cleva
47 years old.
S rank.
Magical Swordsman.
Red Crimson Malik.
Guild Master of Pedrell's Adventurer Guild. ]
S rank?! That means Malik-san has the highest rank?!
And what is this magical swordsman?! It sounds really cool!
"Malik-san what is this magical swordsman? And this S-rank?"
"Ahahaha, that. Well S-rank the highest rank here. Actually since I already retired, I want to erase it but I couldn't find the way how and magical swordsman is a swordsman who can use magic."
I knew it!
Malik-san really, I keep getting surprised with how incredible he is and he's also able to use both swordsmanship and magic!
"Ahh Malik-san you're too amazing…for me to become your son, I don't think I can live up to your name.."
"Ren, don't think like that. You're an honest and good kid. Your magical power seems high so rather than magical swordsman I think being a magician will suit you more. Well, let's try various thing in the training ground tomorrow!"
Really? My magic power is high?
And training ground huh, of course there's a place like that. This is the fantasy world afterall. Ah I can't wait for tomorrow!
"I can't wait! Ah! That's right, how do I store the card?"
"Hold the card in your hand and say [Return] to store it and say [Come Out Guild Card] if you want to take it out again. The card will be stored inside your body with magic. It's better to store the card so it won't get stolen."
Storing the card inside your body huh.. Won't your body hurts? I don't really get it but since everyone seems fine I guess it's better to not think it thoroughly. This is fantasy world afterall.
"[Return] Wow it really disappears!"
"Yup! Just like that. Now then, let's go home quick before.. Ah too late."
"Eh?"
Since we don't have anything else to do I'm fine with returning home but then Malik-san is looking at something behind me. Curiously, I turn around to see Tord-san hiding on the desk near us though since he's bad at it, I can see him clearly.
"Well?? You guys done, right? Come, come with us Ren-kun!"
"E-eh? Okay.."
Suddenly they pull us to sit with them on the round table with 4 chairs on it. Malik-san sit on my right, Hugo-san sit in front of Malik-san and Tord-san sit in front of me. Since Tord-san is a beastman, somehow I see his eyes twinkling like a cat that has found a new toy. The other adventurer seems to gather around our table too.
"Ren, drink up. This is my treat so don't mind it! Tord is going to ask you a lot of question, please bear with him, okay?"
Hugo-san gently place a glass of drink in front of me.
"How rude! I'm not going to ask him that much!"
"Today, Ren already has to experience a lot of new things, please do question him in moderation. Ren, I'm sorry. I know it's troublesome but Tord won't stop bugging you until he gets what he wants."
"Well, if it's something that I can answer, I will."
Tord-san seems really excited on the other hand Malik-san seems troubled. Since I'm going to be meeting with them a lot, if possible I want us all to have good relationship so I'm going to do my best!
"Ren-kun, you're an other worlder, right? Let me introduce myself once again. My name is Tord, 20 years old. As you can see, I'm a cat beastman."
"Yes, I'm an other worlder. I've seen other tribe of beastman back in the market. I guess there's a lot of type of beastman, huh? As for me, I just turned 21 a month ago."
"WHAAAAAT?!"
Right. This reaction again. Do I look like a kid that much?
"Are you serious? You're older than me?! Wow, other worlder looks extremely young!"
"For real? Even though you look this tiny?!"
"Even though I've seen some other worlder that look younger than they actually are, I've never seen one this extreme!"
"Whoa, he's so much slender than me. He looks like he would stumble down if he were to hold a sword."
The surrounding adventurer cause quite the commotion. I don't think I can grow any taller than I already am. Maybe..Maybe I can grow my muscle instead?! Nah, it's highly unlikely to happen…
Do I have to live the rest of my life like this? Even the female adventurer is pitying my size…
"I didn't expect you to be older than me. That means, instead of Ren-kun it should've been Ren-san?! Ah I'm sorry for calling you Ren-kun!"
"Ah it's okay, I don't mind either way. It's okay if you speak to me like usual. I guess some of it is my fault too, since the way I speak is kinda feminine."
Since I've been living with my mother, my speech just get really gentle and soft like a girl. Even my choice of words is like a girl. It's already a habit of mine, I don't think I can change it even if I want.
After that, Tord-san then asked me how I met with Malik-san, what happened when I first came to Alsar, my impression on Pedrell, the market, the guild and so on. Tord-san asked what I want to do in the future and he even told me stories when Malik-san was still an adventurer. Tord-san tell me stories about Malik-san excitedly. He must really admire Malik-san but Malik-san on the other end seems really embarrassed even though the things he has done is amazing!
"Hoo~ So almost everyone here is helped by Malik-san in some way or another?"
"Yes, that's right! When I was 8 years old, a wyvern came into my village and almost burned my village to pulp! But thanks to Malik-san, he defeated the dragon like it was a walk in the park ! As expected from Crimson Red Malik!"
"Ugh, that nickname is so embarrassing, please stop calling me that.."
"Why?! You were really cool! You stood tall against the wyvern with flaming sword in your hand. Ah, at that moment I thought 'This is truly Crimson Red Malik!' like that! Even though you were so cool when you were young…. Now you've become a lazy old man, leisurely enjoying your retirement.."
"I think the current Malik-san oozes the kind and gentle feeling and he still looks cool too."
I see, so Crimson Red is because Malik-san wield flaming sword. But I disagree with his last statement, I think Malik-san is really kind! He even helped me! Even though he's already in his 40s, Malik-san still look really handsome!
"Even Ren-san said things like that?? Aaah I feel like I've lost.."
"Ah, please don't cry.."
Tord-san face slam the table and start crying, I feel troubled so I just stroke his head. His emotion is like a roller coaster, even though he was so excited just a moment before now he starts crying.
"So noisy. Come on Tord, don't try to flirt my cute son! You've finished interrogating him, right? Ren, it's okay to leave him be, didn't you want to make dinner?"
Malik-san stands and walk to the door with his magic bag slung on his shoulder.
"Is it alright to leave him? Since I'm not familiar with the food here it might take me a while to prepare it. Well then,everyone goodbye!"
I follow Malik-san in panic and bid my goodbye to Tord-san and the others in hurry. As I gaze at the sky I think it's around 4 pm now? Malik-san then confirms the time with his pocket watch, I was right.
I need to add pocket watch into my to buy list too. Back in earth we have our smartphone for everything so I didn't realize the importance for a pocket watch before.
Then, we walk back home.
~*~
Another character introduction
Tord
20 years old.
196 cm.
A beastman from cat tribe.
Works as guild staff in Pedrell Adventure Guild.
Hugo
52 years old.
187 cm.
His charming point is his beard.
Works as guild staff in Pedrell Adventure Guild.