After a bit, they started moving again. The next little while was rather uneventful and they made it to the city in the afternoon of the following day. "Are you from the village just down the way?" A gate guard asked Braydon and Alice.
"Ah, we came from that direction, but we aren't from there. We're adventurers." Braydon explained.
"Kid, I don't have time to joke around." The guard said. Braydon grabbed his card from his bag and handed it to the guard, then motioned for Alice to do the same, which she did.
"J-journeyman? And only in the guild for a week and a half?" The guard said in shock. "Go make sure he knows." The guard said to another.
"Right away." The other guard responded as he left. After a few moments, the wagon they are on had entered the city. Once in the city, they exited the carriage and went to the guild.
"Welcome~." A woman said as they entered. The structure is similar to the other guild, just bigger and with a second floor. "Are you here to submit a request?" She asked.
Braydon presented his guild card. An expression of shock filled the woman's face. "We will gather the receptionists immediately." She said. Braydon nodded. Upon hearing this, murmurs began popping up around the guild.
"Prepare the contract, Alice." He said. Alice nodded and quickly prepared a contract using magic and made it magically binding. After around an hour, all of the receptionists were gathered. There are a total of twenty-five.
"Big guilds really are on another level..." Alice said as she placed the contract on the counter.
"Indeed." Braydon agreed. "Anyway, each of you are required to sign this." Braydon said. After a few moments, they had each signed the contract and Alice grabbed it, rolled it, then threw it and it burst into purple flames, binding each of them to the contract.
"By the way, I have a question for you." Alice said to the original receptionist they met.
"I will do my best to answer." She said.
"Why is it that there is a rule like this in place?" She asked.
"I assume you are referring to the rule of two weeks, which states all receptionists must do as the adventurer who ranked up in less than two weeks says." She said.
"Correct." Alice said.
"Well, the reason is simple, if the adventurer is male, they are likely to impregnate one of the staff members, and if the adventurer was powerful, the child is likely to be powerful as well, this is used as an opportunity to raise a hero, and possible a line of heroes." She explained.
"And if they are female?" Alice asked.
"There is not much we can do, however, it is much rarer for women to accomplish such a task. Something about the tendency of men to be more physically strong. Although women do tend to have more latent magical potential, that is usually only tapped into if they attend a school." She explained further.
"Ah, I see. I was wondering that for a while, but it makes sense." Alice said.
"Adding upon what I have already said, we are also trained to tell new adventurers that are male that they could even do sexual things to make them more ambitious. It is not a lie, they can, in fact, during the month, we are entirely theirs, but it makes more adventurers attempt the challenge and makes pregnancy more likely." She added.
"Oh, that explains why Irene was willing to tell an eleven-year-old boy that they could have sex." Alice said blandly without thinking.
"Yes, exactly." The clerk said with a light smile. Braydon blushed slightly.
"Can you not say that like it's normal?" Braydon asked as he looked at Alice.
"Oh, right, sorry." Alice said. "Anyway, is there a library in this city?" Alice asked.
"Only on the campuses." The clerk said.
"Is it possible for the general public to access it, or is that a no go and you have to enter?" She asked.
"You have to enter." The clerk said. Alice sighed. As she walked towards the exit.
"Thanks." She said as she waved with the back of her hand. Braydon quickly went to catch up with her.
"What are we going to do?" Braydon asked.
"We have a few options. First, we could be casuals, enter the university, likely for magic, and obtain access that way, but that would force us to study for years and cost money. Second, we could break in and read the books. Third, we could steal them, fourth, we could perform a great task for the university and instead of something monetary, we ask for access to their library, fifth, we get a noble to let us read their books, sixth, we hire a tutor, again, some money required, and seventh, we give up." Alice outlined a few options.
"Right, well, since we are adventurers, we could definitely see about the task, but we only have so much of an opportunity for that." Braydon said.
"Yeah, and the only way that we could likely get a noble to let us read those books is if I were to become a concubine or if we give a lot of capital." Alice said.
"Damn... Well, let's see about making some money in the meantime, we still need somewhere to stay." Braydon said. "First, of course, let's find an inn to stay at." He added.
They explored the city a bit and found an inn that is a reasonable price. They found an inn that costs ten copper a night and paid for twenty days. They went up to their room, which has two beds with blue sheets and comforters.
"Well, this is where we'll be sleeping." Braydon said. Alice nodded as she sat on a bed.
"Comfy." She said blandly with a cute face.
"You really are kicking up the theatrics ever since getting that body." Braydon said.
"Yep. I would have before, but I wasn't cute enough. Now I can do it and only some people will give me a weird look." Alice said.
"Ah, I see." Braydon said as he sat on his bed. "We really do need to learn the norms of this society though." Braydon said.
"Agreed. Most importantly, we need to understand the current standing of politics." Alice said.
"Why is that?" Braydon asked.
"Put simply, if the politics of this country are unstable, we need to get out of here or take control, or even try not to get involved period." Alice explained.
"Oh, I see." Braydon said. "Well, for now, let's go take a job, since we have an inn to stay at." Braydon said as he stood up. Alice stood up as well and they headed for the guild.
Once at the guild, they took a simple wolf subjugation request which gives them fifteen copper per wolf slain. By the end of the day, they had killed forty wolves, earning them six silver.
Once they had finished, they went back to the inn and slept. Braydon woke up to hearing a knock on the door in the middle of the night. He stood up after a few moments and opened the door.
"I... Did not expect you to be in your normal clothes after waking up..." A young girl said. "A-anyway, you received a letter from the earl. It must be exciting being you." She said.
Braydon observed the girl, trying to wake himself up. The girl looks to be around twelve, has brown hair and brown eyes. Her hair goes down to half her back's length. A small amount of blush appeared on her face from Braydon's staring.
"Ah, sorry, I'm still a bit drowsy." He said as he took the letter.
"I-it's... Fine." She said as her face became a darker red. "U-um... You have really nice eyes..." She said. Her face at this point was completely red and the lack of response sent her emotions into overdrive. "S-sorry, goodnight!" She said as she closed the door quickly.