In a secluded alley somewhere inside the city, three figures are holding their breath.
"... The coast's clear. There are no pursuers approaching even after a few minutes have passed," Ein, who was currently disguised as an elf, said as he peeked out of the alley.
Hearing this, the two elves, Nayta and Melina, sighed in relief.
After the three entered the city, they quickly traversed randomly through alleys here and there, hoping to lose any sort of pursuers that may have followed them. Ein didn't even think that the guards wouldn't send anyone after them for fear of his retaliation. He just thought that they had successfully left the pursuers behind.
The three of them left the alley and started walking around the streets. Still, they gathered gazes from all over the place. The reason wasn't only that elves were rare, but rather that the large wolves following the three were extremely conspicuous.
Ein, leading the group, ignored this fact and said "Let's head straight to the adventurer's guild."
While on the way to the city, Ein already asked Nayta and Melina about possible avenues for gathering information regarding strong individuals. The top candidate was the Adventurer's Guild.
The Adventurer's Guild is an establishment catering to groups of vagrants, mercenaries, or those who have confidence in their strength. Their main jobs focus more on exploration, extermination, and guarding.
Ein was planning on applying as an adventurer to gain his legal identity in this world. Although he was in disguise, he could still reuse this identity later on if the need arose.
It didn't take the group long before they reached the guild, which was located near the gates. The building was large, with about two to three floors available. It was crude and made of mortar, but it has this inexplicable aura of being indestructible.
Without hesitation, Ein entered the guild quickly, followed by the other two.
"Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild. How may we help you?"
The female receptionist spoke in a loud voice from the counter right across the entrance. Ein expected a rowdy place full of ruffians but was surprised to see the place quite empty. Other than the receptionist, there was only one other guy mopping the floor.
"Is it always this deserted here?" Ein couldn't help but ask.
"Is this your first time in a guild?" The brown-haired receptionist tilted her head. "Usually, around this time, adventurers are still on the way back from their missions. If you came two to three hours later, then the place would be even rowdier than an arena." The receptionist smiled wryly.
They reached the gate approximately an hour after noon. Given that the adventurers took quests that could be completed nearby, they would be back before sundown. Ein nodded in understanding.
"I see. By the way, I'm Rain. I want to register as an adventurer." Ein introduced himself as he reached the counter.
"Registration, right? Then please touch this Appraisal Orb here," the receptionist said after pulling up a large orb from under the counter. It was about as big as the dungeon core, which Ein was familiar with.
"I just need to touch it?" Ein asked as he reached for the orb.
As soon as he touched the orb, a bright flash of light was released, surprising not only the receptionist and the man mopping the floor but also Ein, Nayta, and Melina as well.
The women's group screamed "Kyaah!" simultaneously as they covered their eyes in reflex.
When the light faded, floating letters appeared above the orb. The receptionist, being a professional, quickly copied the values onto a piece of card. After a few seconds passed, the floating letters vanished.
The receptionist wiped the cold sweat from her forehead before passing the newly created guild card to Ein.
"E-Esteemed member, we welcome you to the Guild." She greeted him with a stiff smile.
"Uhh, thanks," Ein awkwardly replied.
He peeked at the guild card, and as he expected, the letters were unfamiliar to him. Scratching his head, he moved away from the counter. Then, Nayta and Melina took turns registering as well.
When the two elves placed their hands on the orb, it glowed slightly before letters appeared above it. A case like Ein's, where they felt like a flashbang exploded at point-blank range, didn't occur a second time.
After finishing their registration, they went to the corner of the room and sat at a table. There, Ein asked Nayta in a low voice.
"Nayta, I'm sorry, but can you read this for me? It seems like the letters here are different from what I know."
Ein then passed his guild card to Nayta for her to read.
"It's fine. Let me see... Eek?!"
After seeing the guild card Ein passed, Nayta let out a soft, squeaky voice. Curious, Melina too peeked at Ein's guild card and was similarly surprised.
***
[Name: Rain
Rank: F
Date of Registration: 10th day of the First Month, Year 55 of the Dragon's Calendar
Magic Power: S+
Aura Power: C-
Battle Power: S+]
***
After Nayta read the contents of the card to Ein, he tilted his head to the side.
"Is there anything surprising about this?" he genuinely wondered after seeing how both of them seemed surprised.
"It seems Ei—Rain doesn't know, but S+ is the highest evaluation the appraisal orb can give," Nayta explained. "Even for elves like us, it's hard to reach an A rating for Magic Power."
"Is that so?" Ein was still not convinced. "Then can I know your status too?" he asked.
"Of course," both Nayta and Melina replied.
***
[Name: Nayta
Rank: F
Date of Registration: 10th day of the First Month, Year 55 of the Dragon's Calendar
Magic Power: B+
Aura Power: D+
Battle Power: C]
***
[Name: Melina
Rank: F
Date of Registration: 10th day of the First Month, Year 55 of the Dragon's Calendar
Magic Power: C-
Aura Power: D
Battle Power: D+]
***
However, even after hearing this, Ein couldn't really see the disparity in their battle power. Just looking at the letters doesn't give him enough information to judge.
"Do you have any measure of how much stronger those in one rank are than those in another?"
"Regarding battle power, there is," Melina said. "In our village, they talked about battle power rankings like an E-rank can take on 10 F-ranks and beat them, a D-rank can take on 10 E-ranks, a C-rank can take on 10 D-ranks, and so on."
"With your rating as S-rank, then you can probably take on 10 A-rank, 100 B-rank, or a thousand C-rank and win," Nayta supplemented. "The plus-minus on the end of the rank describes the fluctuation between each rank. A plus means twice or more powerful, and a minus means about half as powerful."
A regular foot soldier would be rated as a D-rank, so Ein is currently rated as powerful as a whole city's army of thousands. A literal one-man army!
If Ein asked Lilith for a much more accurate appraisal, similar to the one the guard used on him, then he would know that his actual battle power was rated at SSS rank. This means he can actually overpower 100 S-ranks simultaneously. However, Ein didn't even consider being appraised before coming to the city, leading to his surprise.
The guild acted similarly to a bar as a side hustle. The group stayed inside the guild and ordered some food and drinks to pass the time. They were waiting for the flood of adventurers during rush hour. Time passed quickly as the three chatted idly. Then, after a few hours passed, a commotion was heard from outside the guild.