"It's really bothersome, doesn't it?" Riolu said.
Hex replied, "Well, you only need to do it for the item worth selling, something that can make a fortune, like an A-rank weapon or artifact. I never document anything below that because you can still buy it at a big blacksmith shop."
Riolu was amazed and asked, "Wow, I didn't know that. How much does a B-rank weapon cost?"
Hex thought for a moment and replied, "Well, maybe around 10,000 gold coins."
Riolu was surprised and exclaimed, "So, I still can't buy it even though I sell all my organs?"
Hex chuckled and said, "Enough with the chit chat. We're here."
As they arrived at the adventure guild, Hex parked the cart, and Riolu went inside the building. He saw the counter where Hex told him to go, and the place was bustling with adventurers. However, some of the adventurers were rude and tried to trip Riolu. But, because he had experience getting bullied, he was able to avoid it.
One of the savage adventurers got angry and stood up. He said, "You must be new here. I've never seen you before. Just because you're new and young, I'll give you a registration fee discount. You only need to give me 1 gold. How about it?"
Riolu was confused and said, "Isn't there no registration fee?"
The savage adventurer punched Riolu in the face and yelled, "There is a registration fee when I say there is!"
Riolu was knocked down by the punch, and the savage adventurer tried to punch him again. But, someone yelled at him and said, "Stop it right now, or I will stop you!"
The savage adventurer turned his head and saw a man who had already drawn his bow and was ready to shoot. The savage adventurer's friend whispered something to him, and then he let go of Riolu and said, "Fine, it's boring to whack a poor person anyway," and left. The mysterious man approached Riolu and asked if he was okay.
Riolu said, "Thanks."
The man introduced himself as Kid Silverstone and said, "Be careful. He is the son of a silver-plated merchant. He will hold grudges. By the way, if you have any questions, you can ask me."
Riolu replied, "My eyes hurt."
Kid said, "Well, that's because you've been punched there."
Riolu said, "It's not a question."
Kid asked, "Well, anything else?"
Riolu said, "You don't listen, do you?"
Suddenly, Hex opened the door, saw Riolu's black eye, and started laughing uncontrollably. He asked, "Hahaha, what happened to your eye?"
Riolu said, "Accident."
Hex said, "Is that the three ugly-looking bastards who just came out did that to you? Want me to kill them? Hahaha."
Then, Hex noticed Kid standing next to Riolu and his expression changed to a glare. He said, "Why are you here? Didn't the prince say you can't leave the inner city?"
Riolu looked confused and asked, "Huh?"
Kid: "That's none of your business," the kid retorted sharply.
Hex raised an eyebrow, "Harsh, aren't you? Ahh, I think I found an idea. How about you accompany Riolu to register for the guild and show him around? Then I won't tell your dad about it."
The kid huffed, "Hump, okay. But I'm doing it because I want to, not because you tell me to."
Hex waved a dismissive hand, "Yes, yes, whatever you say. Riolu, behave. Don't ruin my name. I need to meet someone important."
Riolu scowled, "Just go, you ugly old man."
Hex handed Riolu a few coppers, saying "For food and drink," before leaving. Riolu checked his hand, only to find ten coppers. "It's only enough to buy bread and water. That stingy old man," he muttered.
The kid put a hand on Riolu's shoulder, "Hey, don't mind that man. Let's register yourself."
They went to the receptionist and, after a few normal tests and questions, Riolu finally got his adventure identification.
Riolu frowned, "F-rank? Teachers say that I'm at least an E-rank."
The kid explained, "Everyone starts at F-rank and does some quests until they become highly ranked in their classes. Then, they can take an advancement test or, in some special cases, a secret mission to raise their rank."
Riolu asked, "Can you show me how to take a mission?"
The kid took Riolu to a big board across the room, "This is where you take your mission. That's their difficulty rank and their reward. You can only take a mission one rank above you, and then the reward will be given when the mission is completed."
Riolu scanned the board and chose an F-rank mission, "Killing an F-rank saber-wolf beast, Requirements: 2 or more F-rank Adventurers, Reward: 1 Silver coin."
Riolu suggested, "How about this one? Why don't we try and take this one first while you help me know how the mission works?"
The kid agreed, "Well, it's an easy mission for a rookie, I guess. Let's go then so we can get it done before the sun sets."
They walked a few minutes to the city street market.
The kid explained, "This is the street market. Different from the usual shop, stuff here is usually very cheap but comes with different problems."
Riolu asked, "What kind of problems?"
The kid replied, "The fake kind, of course. Because of the cheap price, some items here are fake, created to trick naive buyers. Like that sword over there, it looks really shiny for a normal steel sword. It's probably created by fusing some kind of aluminum or low-quality ore into the forging process to make it cheaper to produce."
Riolu exclaimed, "Wow, you know much about weapons, don't you?"
The kid nodded, "Yeah, I've seen weapons and armor since I was five, so I guess it just became clear to me what good quality items are and how to identify them."
Riolu suddenly remembered, "Sir Hex mentioned that you're a prince and not supposed to leave the inner city," he told the kid. The kid brushed it off, saying that Sir Hex was just spouting nonsense. Riolu didn't press the issue and they walked towards a few street shops.
As they walked, the kid suggested that Riolu use an E-Rank shortsword that had good durability and a pretty sharp edge. Riolu asked for the price, and the street vendor said it was just 5 silver coins. Riolu checked his pocket and found only 13 copper coins. He thought he would use his fist for the mission, but the kid offered to buy the shortsword for him as a meeting gift. Riolu thanked him, and they bought the rest of the supplies needed before heading to the outskirts of the city.
The kid explained that near their location was the usual spot for saber wolves to hunt, so they just needed to wait there and ambush it. He told Riolu the plan: when the beast was sighted, Riolu would charge at it with everything he had, and the kid would provide cover fire to make sure the beast didn't try to charge Riolu or escape. Riolu sighed and said, "So basically I'm a human shield." The kid agreed, and Riolu got ready.
After waiting for an hour, a group of four saber wolves finally showed up, looking exhausted as if they had been running for a long time. The kid became uneasy and wanted to cancel the hunt, but before he could tell Riolu, Riolu charged at the saber wolf. Kid sighed and provided cover fire for him. The fight was not intense as Riolu was already stronger than an F-rank beast, and the kid was an E-rank archer. They finished the fight within a few minutes.
After the fight, the kid told Riolu that to report that they had cleared the mission, they needed to cut the tail of the saber wolf. Two tails were equal to one silver coin. Riolu knew this, as they had seen the poster together.
As they were busy cutting the wolf's tail, they didn't realize that a beast was lurking in the darkness, watching them. Suddenly, the beast struck at Riolu, almost killing him. But an arrow pierced the beast's eye, saving Riolu. The kid explained that a shadow wolf was hunting the saber wolf pack, which was why they looked tired. Riolu asked, "What's a shadow wolf?" while taking a defensive stance.