Around the afternoon, we finally saw the town gates. I checked on my Map which had now revealed a big circular residential area, covered all around with a thick layer of walls, and inside were a whole bunch of buildings, going further towards the center, the town seemed to be divided by another wall into two sections, inner and outer. The buildings in the inner section seemed much more spacious and big compared to the ones in the outer region, even having gardens and other fancy things the rich people normally have.
Must be an area for rich people like nobles, priests, and big merchants to live.
Balha Village was truly a frontier village when compared to a proper residential establishment I could see here. The thick walls, as I saw them in more depth as we approached the town, gave a strange sense of safety. It was most likely a natural phenomenon here since the outside was dangerous with monsters and bandits. Inside, one could leave in peace, not constantly worried about their life.
But part of me felt strange seeing the guards wearing full metal plate armor and carrying spears and other medieval weapons. None seemed to hold magic staves or wands though.
I wonder if there aren't any magicians among the guards.
After giving it some thought, I concluded that they probably had them but were simply not visible from my narrow field of view from inside the carriage.
At the entrance, there was a small line of carriages that were being checked for their contents. Then, after checking a strange sigil on a parchment, passed inside. When our turn came, the guard asked for my proof of identity. Since I didn't have any, I was made to pay 1 Silver for a temporary certificate of identity. They didn't check my status, as expected. I had already asked the carriage uncle a few times if they did such a thing but he had denied that every time.
I may or may not have asked one too many times though since by the end, even the calm and friendly uncle seemed to find me irritating. At least, he didn't say it to my face.
What I was told instead, however, was that they checked the outsiders and foreigners for any criminal background using a crystal to see their jobs.
When checked, mine showed Swordsman. No rank or prefixes like Master or beginner.
By the way, that 1 Silver also contained the toll fee for entering or passing through this city.
From here, the carriage uncle and his son, who surprisingly had no presence whatsoever during the whole journey, and I had to part ways. Our destinations were now different.
"I wanted to drop you off near the guild, but unfortunately we are quite late. The market will close soon so I have to hurry."
The uncle looked sad, but I thought it was unnecessary.
"It's okay, uncle. I'll find my way."
I smiled and thanked him for the journey, and took my leave.
After asking a local for directions, I was told to go straight ahead and then look for a huge building near the center of the outer district. There lay one of the biggest establishments in this town— if you ignore all those fancy mansions and villas in the inner district— the Adventurer's Guild.
I followed the directions while checking my Map, to identify a comparatively big building, and found a characteristic establishment with wide, open gates. There was a big sign hanging on the front; "Adventurer's Guild Belstra Branch" was inscribed on it in bold Belstrean alphabets. There was also a sword and shield drawn just below.
I can read the letters.
This was my first time reading such a unique language, whose words seemed to curl and twist more than even the Arabic language while still retaining a sense of heaviness, like the Japanese kanji or traditional Chinese. Of course, while I was trying to resemble the design of those written words, they were completely different from any modern language in the sense that they felt alien. English was not alien, nor were Spanish, German, or French— even if they were pronounced differently. And while Russian, Chinese, Korean and Japanese were particularly unique for me, they were still not alien since I had, albeit rarely, seen and heard them. And while more languages existed, in present and past, with their uniqueness and perhaps even greater resemblance to the one I was looking at, they were not relevant here since I didn't know anything about them.
My point is, that the Vestian language— at least in the written form— felt very outlandish. It made me feel that I was truly not from around, and that was already implied by the myriad of beings from several races not just your standard human, residing here.
I could probably read and speak a foreign world's language because of my
I entered the guild and was greeted by a strong whiff of alcohol.
Is this beer? Ugh. It stinks.
I quickly found the source of that sharp smell. On my right side was, what seemed like a tavern. Except they seemed to also make food. Many adventurers were sitting, having their meals, and along with it, alcohol. At least, their version of alcohol. I knew it was alcohol from its characteristic smell but was unaware of its kind. I could have used Appraisal to find out, but I wasn't really interested.
On my left were large wooden boards that had a whole bunch of parchment papers stuck to them. Upon closer inspection, they seemed like guild quests.
Hah, I had a feeling that it will be here. So template-like. But I can't deny I like it this way.
I diverted my focus once again and headed straight up, where lay a counter with attendants sitting and waiting. I went to one of them.
"Hello. Welcome to the Belstra town's Adventurer's Guild. How may I help you today?"
The young receptionist girl spoke in a trained manner bearing a professional smile.
"Hello. I'm here to register as an adventurer. Is this the right counter for it?"
"Understood, is this a new registration or are you re-registering?"
"A new one, please."
"Understood. Please wait while I prepare the paperwork."
She took out a form, a quill, and an ink bottle.
I figured they won't have a gel or ball pen here. But what creature is that feather from?
After appraising the quill, its origin seemed to be from a creature called Cae-cae.
Yep, don't know what that is.
The scientific technology of this country didn't seem to be much advanced. I hadn't seen any signs of electricity-powered lights or anything that would hint at being modern in the places I came across.
"Can you read and write? Or would you like me to fill out the form?"
The receptionist's sudden words took me out of my thoughts about technology. She was holding the quill and waiting for my reply.
"Ah, um, can you give me the form for a second?"
"Yes?"
The receptionist passed me the form and quill along with the ink bottle.
Upon inspection, I could read the form properly. It was something like this:
**Adventurer's Registration Form**
Name: ________
Age: ________
Gender: ________
Race: ________
Job type(if any): ________
Joining Branch: ________
Talents and Abilities (Optional):
__________
__________
__________
***
It wouldn't hurt to say it was a fairly straightforward form. Some parts appeared to be optional, like Job type and Abilities. I was glad they didn't ask me to explain my abilities. Furthermore, there was no need to mention my hometown or nationality. That would've been bothersome.
"They seem to prioritize customer privacy here, huh?"
I spoke to myself but the receptionist, who misinterpreted it as an inquiry, answered my question.
The guild made the form simple and convenient so that adventurers don't find it bothersome. Particularly for the abilities, many didn't like theirs known to others, since it could be said to be their lifeline, so they used to leave it blank.
A few years ago, the higher-ups at the main branch decided to make abilities optional by default.
The receptionist then proceeded to give me some advice.
"If you showcase your talent, it becomes easier for us to assign you appropriate requests. Sometimes, there are special requests made for people with specific abilities, so there's also that benefit. But it's up to the individual adventurer and we don't force anything on them."
"I see. Is the same true for nationality as well? Since the form doesn't ask for one's nationality. Isn't it quite dangerous to let anyone join in?"
In hindsight, I was trying to get myself into trouble by asking that. They were being lax on people like me, and here I was, trying to jump on the ax since it didn't jump on me.
"That's a fair point, but I must inform you that the adventurer's guild is an international organization. While the guilds in any country have to follow certain guidelines and laws, we are not under the complete control of the royalty or aristocrats. Guild has the right to operate somewhat freely and even exchange information from guilds outside the country."
"And the nobles allow it? Wouldn't it risk leaking private information to other countries?"
I was an amateur in this field, but even I could see a visible flaw in the system. An international organization that has not been bound by proper laws was liable to betray any country for its own benefit.
Of course, it was based on the assumption that the guild could have certain parts, if not all, corrupted or swayed by foreign forces.
But then again, any organization— especially the big ones—had corruption in some form inside it.
To answer my question, she had this to say.
"Mr. Rio, while I don't understand the bureaucratic approach of the higher-ups, I have never heard of a guild betraying its parent country. Just because the organization we belong to has an international nature, doesn't imply we will abandon our motherland and dear fellow countrymen. It's in our values that we stay loyal to the lords and king."
So, it all comes down to patriotism, I guess. Nothing wrong with that though. I just find it peculiar.
"Besides…"
It seemed she had more to say. But this time she lowered her voice before continuing.
"While it is true that we are independent, we are still bound by a few laws. The lords won't allow an organization that has so much power and influence and isn't leashed, to at least some degree."
After hearing her answer, I dipped the tip of the quill and tried writing my name.
… Okay, this feels weird.
What resulted was my writing in an unknown language for the first time in my life. But I somehow knew I was writing it properly. The written words, in Vestian language, read my name as "Rio". The filled form looked like this:
**Adventurer's Registration Form**
Name: Rio
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Job type(if any): Swordsman
Joining Branch: Belstra
Talents and Abilities (Optional):
Swordsmanship
***
It was the same as my modified status and seemed passable for the job.
Once I was done, I handed everything back to the receptionist and she started making an entry in a register.
"Please wait while we prepare your adventurer's license. Would you like to apply for a pre-rank evaluation test? If you have the skills, you can skip the lowest rank and start from a higher rank. Ah, I do apologize, I haven't explained the ranking system to you, have I? Are you aware of the seven guild ranks?"
"Seven guild ranks? No, not really."
"I see… It's fairly common knowledge, but perhaps because Mr. Rio is not from around here, he isn't aware. Anyway, please let me give you a brief."
She then told me that Adventurer's Guild followed a meritocratic system, where each adventurer is assigned a 'rank' and gains guild points or credits by completing tasks to rank up.
The ranking starts from the lowest F to E, D, C, B, A, and then the special rank S.
I did say it was the alphabet but in Vestian, it meant something else. The translation from Vestian to English lead to the ranks looking like English alphabets.
The ranks had the following meaning.
F-ranks: Novices who have just begun adventuring. They are often treated as a provisional rank and aren't completely a part of the guild yet.
E-ranks: First official rank adventurers reach after doing this work for at least a few months and gaining credits for a rank-up.
D-ranks: Seasoned adventurers, who have been adventuring for quite a while.
C-ranks: Intermediate-rank adventurers who have enough strength to take on serious quests like saving a village from a monster, protecting carriages and important people, and such. Party leaders need to be at least at this rank to form a new party. It's also the rank that a large majority of adventurers have. It's often said to be the true hurdle of ranking up, as further ranks require quite substantial strength and merit.
B-ranks: Pros who can handle town saving and monster herd subjugation requests with ease. They can easily take on the threats on the level of goblin generals on their own and come out victorious. They have a high reputation in the guild.
A-rank: The highest rank any Adventurer's Guild offers. The adventurers at this rank have enough strength and experience to defend entire cities from hordes of monsters, subjugate high-ranked monsters with ease and become valuable assets in wars as mercenaries. Their strength and popularity are quite substantial and they are the best adventurers of any branch.
But even above them were a league of adventurers, who have had their valor proven, not just by the guild but by the country as well.
They were monsters said to be capable of destroying their opponents with incredible strength and abilities. They were the special S-rank Adventurers, who often worked under the command of the guild grandmasters— the highest-ranking officials of the guild administration— and kings themselves, and enjoyed extraordinary fame and glory.
They were the true aspirations of all adventurers, new or old alike. But they were also people revered and feared by them, and for valid reasons too. These S rank behemoths were a rare sight and a lot of them were rumored to have eccentric and often queer personalities.
I was, in fact, familiar with this ranking system from games and novels, but hearing the subsequent explanation made their value known to me. There was much to gain in the field of adventuring.
I wasn't suddenly interested in reaching S-rank and living in fame and glory, however, but having a vague goal seemed like it wouldn't hurt. Perhaps it would help in my daily missions.
'Having a visible goal or aspiration is the key to corporate progress.' This was what one of the speakers from a pre-placement seminar I once attended in college, said. That was also the only thing I remember from the 2-hour seminar where he practically bored everyone to death, teachers included.
Maybe I should aim for a B rank, then? Well, that is, if I stayed in this business for long enough. My main goal is still to find a way back home.
"I would like to take the pre-evaluation test, please. Do I need something for it?"
"No, please head towards the back from the hallway on the right. You'll be led to the training area. We'll have your test there with wooden weapons certified by the guild."
"Got it. Um, it may be a little late to ask this but is there also a registration fee I have to pay?"
There was no talk of money so maybe they did the registration as a free service.
"Ah, I forgot to inform you of that. My apologies. That'll be 10 coppers or 1 Silver for the registration and 2 Silvers for the pre-evaluation exam. You'll need to pay regardless of whether you pass or fail."
… Or not. Turns out it was paid after all.
She forgot about the payment… Isn't she messing up an important part of her job? I fear she'll be scolded by her managers if she made that mistake again.
Other than that though, she was really helpful. She properly answered all my questions.
Thinking such, I walked to the training area.