The Adventurers' Guild was a gathering place for some of the
toughest customers in the city. Some were physically powerful; others were
skilled, veteran magicians. Some favoured the sword. Others used axes, staves, or even their bare hands in battle. Some loudly boasted of their prowess,
while others silently sneered at the braggarts. There were warriors clad in
heavy armour, but also lightly dressed sorcerers. There were pig-like men and
snake-women; men with insectoid wings and women with the legs of horses.
All sorts of people from all sorts of races formed a single, teeming crowd.
That was how things usually were in the guilds of the Demon Continent. The Rikarisu branch was certainly no exception. Suddenly, someone flung its huge swinging doors open with a bang. Many of those inside turned their eyes toward the entrance, curious. It wasn't unusual for people to throw those doors open dramatically, but the reasons why they did so varied. Had some party just returned victorious?
Perhaps a group of monsters were launching an attack and the guards at the
the gate had called for aid?
Or was it just the wind playing tricks on everyone?
Of course, there'd also been some talk that Dead End was wandering around
this area recently, but surely—
Before anyone could follow this line of thought to its conclusion, three
people strode through the open door.
The first in line was a boy with an oddly confident smirk on his face.
He wore grimy but expensive-looking clothes and carried a staff wrapped in
cloth. Despite his obvious youth, the battle-scarred crowd of grown-ups
inside the guild didn't appear to intimidate him in the slightest. Who the heck
is this kid? many wondered. He seemed completely out of place here. Might
he belong to some race of demons who looked younger than they
were?
Following closely on this strange boy's heels, as if to hide in his
shadow, was another youngster. This one seemed to be a girl. Her face was mostly hidden by a hood, but her eyes glittered watchfully from within it.
There was something about her bearing that suggested she knew how to use
that sword at her hip. A few veterans inside the guild instantly pegged her as
a skilled fighter.
The last of the group to enter was a tall, imposing man with a red jewel
on his forehead and a scar running diagonally across his face. These were the
same distinguishing features as the infamous monster known as Dead End;
some adventurers nearly cried out in alarm, only to notice at the last moment
that this man's hair was blue rather than green. It had to be someone else who
bore a strong resemblance to the murderous Superd.
Altogether, these three made a strange bunch. Strange…and unsettling.
There wasn't a single ordinary adventurer among the three of them. No one
could begin to guess what they were even doing here.
The trio came to a sudden halt, and the boy shouted at the watchful
crowd: "Hey, c'mon! What's with the slack-jawed stares, folks?! Don't you
know who this man right here is?!"
Uh, no. Why the hell would we? thought everyone simultaneously.
"This is the infamous Super mSupermonsterEnd Ruijerd himself!
Don't just stand there, idiots! Make with the screaming and running for your
lives!"
Come on, do you think we're gonna buy that? thought everyone
in unison. Everyone knew the Superds' hair was vivid green, not some dirty
shade of blue.
"Can you believe these country bumpkins, Boss? They don't even
know the face of terror when they see it! What a joke. All those rumours flying
around, but we walked right in and no one even recognized you!"
Okay, so apparently this kid is hellbent on claiming that his pal here is
a vicious, bloodthirsty devil. The more they thought about it, the more
hilarious his high-pitched little tirade seemed. The unsettling aura this little
band had previously projected faded away almost instantly.
The kid's "Boss" had the red eye on his forehead, sure. And the scar
across his face. They both looked pretty convincing even. But he'd gotten
some really basic details completely wrong.
"Snort…" At this point, some anonymous adventurer let out the first
quiet laugh of the afternoon.
"Hey, what's your problem?!" shouted the boy fiercely, spinning in the
direction of the sound. "Did I say something funny, punk?!"
It was just too ridiculous. Stifled chuckles began spreading throughout
the crowd. After a long moment, someone finally offered a reply.
"Snort… Hehe. J-just a tip, kid…the Superd have green hair…"
With that, an explosion of hilarity filled the guild's lobby from one end
to the other.
***
Judging from the gales of laughter buffeting us from all sides, our act
had gotten off to a decent start.
At a glance, the Adventurers' Guild seemed to be even more of a
rough-and-tumble place than I'd expected. The crowd was incredibly diverse,
although that was probably typical for any gathering place this deep inside
the Demon Continent. I'd noticed a man with a horse's head, a guy with the
scythe-like arms of a praying mantis, a woman with butterfly wings, and a
girl who was all snake from the waist down. They were mostly human in
appearance, but there was always at least one strikingly unusual feature to be
found. Even the people without animal body parts weren't exactly regular
human beings. I saw people with spiky thorns growing out of their shoulders,
and others with totally blue skin; there were even a few with four arms or two
heads. Based on what I was seeing, the Migurd and Superd were probably
some of the more humanoid demons, in terms of appearance.
"S-stupid jerks! Don't you dare laugh at our boss! He took down a
a whole bunch of monsters that were attacking us out in the wastelands…all by
himself!"
Rather than flinching under the crowd's scrutiny, I strode further into
the lobby, trying to act convincingly furious.
"You hearin' this, guys? D-Dead End's goin' around rescuin' lost kids
apparently!"
"Ahahah! Damn, I never knew the guy was so soft-hearted!"
"Seriously though? Maybe he'll come to save my bacon sometimes too!
Gahaha!"
Normally, I would've frozen up in the face of all this mockery, but this
time it wasn't getting to me. Was it because I was only playing a part?
Because the crowd around me was so…surreal? Or maybe…I'd
become a more confident human being.
Nah, let's not get carried away here.
They were mostly laughing at Ruijerd, not me. There was no reason to
pat me on the back until I could shrug off cruelty that was aimed
at me.
A quick survey of the room told me that no one in it suspected Ruijerd
was the genuine article. That meant it was time for me to trot out the scene
A, one of the bits of dialogue we'd worked out beforehand.
"I've had enough of these morons! C'mon, Boss, teach 'em a lesson!"
"Hmph… Let the fools laugh if they want to."
Incidentally, we'd also practised scene B, in case there weren't any
laughter beforehand.
"Let the fools laugh… Oh man, what a badass!"
"H-holy crap, he's already actin' like a big shot!"
"Gahaha! Poor guy! I almost w-wanna apologize…"
You'd probably be apologizing right now if you knew the truth, man.
With tears running down your face.
"Hmph! You idiots are lucky our boss is such a big-hearted guy!" I
announced, then promptly turned to examine the room. To our left, there was
an enormous bulletin board covered in pieces of paper. To our right, there
were four wooden counters, staffed by a handful of clerks who were staring
at us in astonishment. That looked like our initial destination.
I strode confidently over to the right side of the lobby with my
companions in tow…only to realize that they used some pretty damn high
counters.
I nodded up at Ruijerd, and he promptly hoisted me up.
"Hey, you there! We want to register as adventurers!"
I'd deliberately spoken loudly enough that the whole crowd could hear.
There was another immediate explosion of laughter.
"Dead End's a friggin' newbie, huh?!"
"Hack, wheeze… Agh, my achin' sides!"
"Oh, man! Am I g-gonna have to show Dead End the ropes?!"
"Now that's somethin' to write home about!"
Okay, I think that's enough for now. "Will you people pipe down?! I
can't hear the clerk!"
After I shouted at them, the crowd did start to quiet down, although the
smirks on their faces showed no signs of fading.
"Sure, kid. N-no problem…"
"G-gotta pay attention to the rules and everything, right…? Snort…"
"Hehehe…"
I could still hear some quiet chuckling behind my back, but that wasn't
a problem.
So far, so good.
***
And so, after roughly forty-four years of obstinate struggle, I finally
realized my long-cherished dream of setting foot inside an employment
office…sort of.
I had my "credentials" as a Water-Saint-tier magician up my sleeve, a
trusty new companion who hadn't worked in centuries at my side, and a
somewhat spoiled little lady behind me who I needed to provide for. At the
end of the day, a man's gotta work if he wants to eat…
But anyway. Let's get started.
"I'm sorry for the commotion, miss. Mind helping us out?"
The clerk across the counter from me had orange hair and a striking pair of fangs protruding from her mouth. Her top was also rather low-cut, and
she happened to have three breasts, which meant two times the cleavage.
What an efficient innovation.
"Huh? Oh, of course. You want to…register as adventurers, correct?"
The clerk seemed a bit taken aback by my tone suddenly becoming
much politer. Still, it probably wasn't wise to try and keep up the belligerent
act forever; it'd be much too easy to slip up and give myself away at some
point. She'd probably assume I'd just been trying to show the crowd I wasn't
a pushover. "That's right. We're new to this."
"In that case, would you please start by filling out these forms?"
The clerk reached under the counter and retrieved three sheets of
paper plus three slender sticks of charcoal, which she handed to me. The
forms all looked identical. There was a line for your name, a line for your
profession, and some text describing the guild and summarizing its rules.
"I can read that out loud for you if you can't read it yourself," offered
the clerk, just as I was starting to wonder how some illiterate warrior from a
backwoods village would deal with all this.
"Thank you, but we're fine."
I picked up one of the papers and read it out loud in my Human tongue
for Eris's benefit.
***
1 — Use of the Adventurers' Guild
Registering with the Adventurers' Guild ("the guild") entitles you
to the use of its services.
2 — Guild Services
Registered adventurers may visit any of our branches—found all
around the world—to take on jobs, receive payment for completed
work, sell raw materials, and exchange currencies.
3 — Your Registration Record
All information related to your registration with the guild will be
recorded exclusively on your Adventurer Card, for which you are
personally responsible.
Should your card be lost or destroyed, a new one can be issued.
However, your rank will be reset to F, and a region-specific fee
will be imposed.
4 — Leaving the Guild
Registered adventurers may withdraw from the guild at any
branch.
Re-registration at a later date is permitted, but your rank will be
reset to F.
5 — Prohibited Conduct
Adventurers are strictly prohibited from:
Violating local laws
Taking any action severely prejudicial to the reputation of the guild
Obstructing another adventurer from carrying out their tasks
Buying or selling guild jobs
Any violation of this policy will result in the assessment of a fine
and the revocation of your status as an adventurer.
6 — Breach of Contract
Any adventurer who fails to complete a job they undertake is
required to pay one-fifth of the listed reward as a breach-of-
contract penalty.
This fee must be paid in full within half a year. Failure to pay by
this deadline will result in the revocation of your status as an
adventurer.
7 — Rank
Adventurers are ranked in seven tiers based on their experience
and abilities, beginning with Rank F and advancing to Rank S. As
a general rule, adventurers can only undertake jobs rated within
one rank of their current rank.
8 — Promotion / Demotion
By completing a preset number of jobs (based on their current
rank), adventurers can secure promotion to a higher rank.
If an adventurer does not feel ready to take on a higher rank, they
may decline the promotion.
In addition, failing to complete a certain number of jobs consecutively may result in a demotion to a lower rank.
9 — Duties and Responsibilities
Should the local authorities call for aid in the event of a monster
attack or similar crisis, all adventurers are obliged to offer their
assistance.
In addition, adventurers are expected to obey any orders issued by
their local guild in the event of an emergency.
***
By the time I was halfway through the list, Eris was looking
increasingly fed up. This sort of stilted, formal writing wasn't exactly her
forte. I didn't enjoy it much either, but this stuff seemed like it could be
important. I hadn't noticed any particular problems yet, but…
"Uh, miss? I have a question…"
"What would that be?"
"Is it all right if we fill out this form in another language?"
"Another language? Such as…?"
"The Human tongue, maybe?"
"Ah. In that case, it won't be a problem."
Based on her first clause, it may have been a problem if we wanted to
use a more uncommon language. Japanese was out, of course. I
decided to go with the Demon-God tongue; it seemed like a good idea to give
them the impression that I might be some sort of youthful-looking demon,
rather than a human child.
"Go on, Eris. You should fill yours out too." I could have done it for her, probably, but it was usually best to personally sign documents like this.
In any case, all the conversations inside the guild so far had been in
Demon. That was probably the only reason Eris had pouted silently instead of
getting into it with the crowd; if she'd understood what they were
saying, she might have drawn her sword and gone charging after someone.
"Not that we're planning to do so, but…what would happen if we used
a false name on these?"
"We don't have any particular rules about that. Use whatever name you
want to register."
"Don't you get criminals signing up under made-up aliases or
anything?"
"Well, the definition of a 'criminal' isn't the same on the Demon
The continent as it is in other places. So long as someone isn't causing trouble for
the guild, it isn't much of a problem. However, if you're ever stripped of your
status as an adventurer, you'll find it impossible to register again…on this
continent at least."
"That seems very…lenient."
"It does cause us issues of course. But many people on this continent
weren't named at birth, and a stricter policy would prevent them from
registering at all."
Interesting. It sounded like the guild on this continent had a certain
level of independence from the broader organization, if it could set its own
policies like that. I'd come up with the whole "Royce" thing in case they
wouldn't let a Superd register, but it seemed that wasn't going to be a
problem.
"If I register here and then head to another continent, will I need to re-
register with the guild over there?"
"That won't be necessary."
Figured as much, but good to know.
"If you're finished with that form, please place your hand on this."
This time, the clerk took out a transparent board about the size and
shape of an erotic game box, with a magic circle engraved at its centre. I could see a small metal card sitting underneath its surface.
Hmm. What's all this then?
"Like this?"
As I pressed my hand flat against the centre of the plate, the clerk
tapped the button on its far edge.
"Name, Rudeus Greyrat. Profession, Magician. Rank F."
After reading out the contents of my form in a flat, steady voice, she
pressed the button a second time, and the magic circle glowed faintly red for
just a moment.
"Here you are. This is your Adventurer Card."
The ordinary-looking metal card was now marked with faintly glowing
letters:
NAME: Rudeus Greyrat
SEX: Male
RACE: Human
AGE: 10
PROFESSION: Magician
RANK: F
For some reason, it was all written in the Human tongue.
Ah, I see. So that thing's some sort of magic printing press,
huh? Hmm. Wouldn't it be convenient to use it for books too? If
they've got 'em in public facilities like this, I wonder why they're not all over
the place…
Then again, maybe the upper plate and the card itself were special
items too. It sounded like the clerk had manually input my name, rank, and
occupation, but the device seemed to have sensed my race, age, and sex from
my hand somehow. That was kind of a bummer. So much for hiding
the fact that I was a human. Well, whatever. I'd just have to roll with it.
NAME: Ruijerd Superdia
SEX: Male
RACE: Demon
AGE: 566
PROFESSION: Warrior
RANK: F
For a second there, I was seriously worried this thing might reveal that
Ruijerd was a Superd, but his card went with the nicely vague word
"Demon" instead. A relief. The device had exposed his actual age,
but the clerk seemed to take that in stride. Maybe absurdly long lifespans
weren't that rare among demonkind.
The name "Ruijerd Superdia" also didn't get much of a reaction. She
probably just assumed it was a pseudonym. Talk about rude… I'd just told
her we weren't planning on using those. Then again, maybe it wasn't
common knowledge that Dead End's real name was "Ruijerd." I'd heard the
The words Dead End thrown around a ton in here, but not his actual name.
Incidentally, his card had come out in the Demon-God tongue…
NAME: Eris Boreas Greyrat
SEX: Female
RACE: Human
AGE: 12
PROFESSION: Swordswoman
RANK: F
But Eris's was written in the Human tongue as well.
"Is there a reason why his card is in a different language than ours,
miss?"
"Yes. It changes depending on your race."
Ah. So humans just got the Human tongue by default, no matter what.
"What happens if you're mixed-race?"
"Sometimes it might use a bit of both the relevant languages, but
typically it would pin you as the race more of your ancestors are from."
"Hmm. But what if you're a Human who can only speak Demon-God
or something?"
"In that case, you can just press your finger against the centre of the
card and speak the name of the language you'd prefer."
Just to try it out, I pressed my finger to my card and said, "Beast-God
tongue."
The words on my card changed instantly.
This is kinda fun. "Demon-God tongue. Fighting-God tongue—"
"Try not to do that too often," the clerk interjected. "You'll use up the
card's magical energy more quickly."
"What happens if it runs out?"
"You'll need to have it recharged at a guild branch."
Right. So the card itself was a magical implement as well.
There was probably some tiny crystal embedded inside it or something.
"Would the information recorded on it disappear?"
"No, fortunately."
"If you keep using the same card for a long time, does the battery start
draining faster or anything?"
"The battery…? If you're referring to its magical energy, then no. The
supply is usually good for about a year, but we'll replenish it every time you
stop by to report a completed task, so it typically won't run dry at all."
"How much does that service cost?"
"Well, there's no fee of any sort…"
Okay, so why did you tell me off for playing around with it? Hmm.
Maybe people had been known to storm in and yell at the clerks when their cards ran out of juice. Customer service jobs always sucked, no matter what
world you landed in.
"Okay, got it. I'll be more careful from now on."
I had no idea who invented these things, but it was an interesting little
system. I felt like there were probably all sorts of other applications for
"rechargeable" magic tools… But maybe the guild was monopolizing the
technology?
Ah well. No point thinking about it right now.
"Hehe…" Eris, meanwhile, had been gazing at her little card with a big
smile on her face for some time now.
I know you're happy, but don't lose that thing, okay?
"Would you like to register a party as well?" asked the clerk.
"A party? Oh! Yes. Please." Somehow, that part had slipped my mind
completely, probably because there wasn't anything about it on the initial
paperwork. We'd been intending to set ourselves up as a party from the very
start. But—
"Before that, would you mind giving us a rundown of the party
system?"
With a polite nod, the clerk began explaining the nitty-gritty details:
A party can have a maximum of seven members.
Only adventurers within one rank of the party's leader can join the party.
Your party rank is the average of all your members' ranks.
For rank promotion purposes, all party members receive credit for any
jobs completed as a party.
Individual party members can still take on jobs independent of the party.
To join a party, you need approval from both the party leader and the
guild.
To leave a party, you only need approval from the guild.
The party leader has the right to eject any member from the party.
Should the party leader die, the party is automatically disbanded.
Two or more parties can join together to form a clan.
High-performing clans are eligible to receive a variety of special rewards from the guild.
The clan parts didn't seem especially relevant right now. We were
going to be a small-scale operation for the foreseeable future.
"Now then, what would you like to use for your party's name?"
"We'll go with Dead End."
The clerk's face twitched a little, but she managed to paste a smile
back on in no time. The woman was a pro. "Very well. Let me have
your cards for a moment, please."
We retrieved the cards we'd just tucked away and passed them across
the counter to the clerk. She stepped into the back for a moment, then
returned. "Here you are. Please make sure everything's in order."
I looked down at my card and saw a new line had been added to the
bottom:
PARTY: Dead End (F)
The "F" was presumably our party rank.
For some reason, it was a little embarrassing to see the words "Dead
End" actually written out like that. It sounded intimidating when you said it
aloud, but it was a different story in print.
"At this point, we've fully completed the registration process.
Congratulations."
"Thanks for your time, miss."
"If you want to take on any jobs, simply tear the relevant paper from
the board and bring it over to our reception counters."
"Got it."
"Also, we handle purchasing behind the building, so make sure to head
back there when you have something to sell."
"Outback. Got it. Thank you."
Phew. Finally done with the paperwork at least…
***
With our registration completed, the three of us headed over to take a
look at the bulletin board. Unfortunately, that meant making our way through
a gauntlet of smirking adventurers. Almost everyone looked at us like we
were a bunch of monkeys in a zoo. But there were a few in the crowd who
seemed more hostile than amused. Those were the ones I'd need to watch out
for.
I'd told Ruijerd it was okay to scrap if he needed to, but I wasn't
expecting much from him as an actor. There was no guarantee we'd be able
to turn trouble to our advantage the way I wanted to. All said and done, I
didn't want to get into any fights today.
"Uh…"
All of a sudden, a leg stretched across the aisle we were walking down.
The leg in question belonged to a frog…or frog-man. He had a blue body
with black spots and the smuggest face I'd ever seen. His bulging cheeks
inflated and deflated rapidly; it was obvious he was suppressing the urge to
laugh.
Was the guy inviting us to trip over his leg or what? It brought back
some unpleasant memories, but I pushed them out of my mind and stepped
carefully over the obstacle.
"Gyahahaha!"
"Eeheeheehee!"
"Ghuh, huh hu h huhuhsome reareasonereasond a burst of laughter from all around me.
I flinched slightly at the noise, which only made them chortle harder. Stay
calm. It's no big deal. They were going to laugh at you no matter what you
did. I'd experienced the same thing in my previous life. This was
classic, cookie-cutter bullying.
Following my lead, Eris tried stepping over the frogman's leg as well; but he suddenly jerked it upward, catching her by the tip of her toes.
"Gah!"
Eris started pitching forward but managed to catch herself at the last
moment by slamming her leading foot down hard against the floor. Of
course, this prompted more raucous laughter from everyone in the vicinity.
Her face bright red, Eris stared furiously back at the frog, her hands
squeezed into fists and her teeth grinding loudly.
"Ooh. Sorry 'bout that, kiddo! My legs are so long and thin that I can barely
keep 'em under control sometimes!"
The man did offer an apology of sorts. Not that she understood a word
of it. Crap. Is this going to turn into a fight? If she throws the first punch,
things might get ugly fast…
But to my surprise, Eris just snorted haughtily, turned on her heel, and
strode over to join me. Her face was terrible to behold, but she'd managed to
control herself. Good girl, Eris! Way to be the grown-up in the room! I'm
giving you a fighting spirit prize! You just received 100 bonus points!
Unfortunately, it was now Ruijerd's turn to face the frog-leg menace.
Stretching his leg out like that drove home just how long and skinny it
was. Should he be out adventuring with sticks like that for legs? Maybe
they let him jump high or something…?
Uh, focus, please. What's Ruijerd gonna do here?
Lifting his foot high, Ruijerd began stepping over the obstacle in his
path. Just like with Eris, the frog-man jerked the leg up to trip him…
"Wh-what?!"
Instead of Ruijerd, it was our slimy friend who took a tumble. Ruijerd
had slipped a foot under the frog's leg as he raised it, then kicked upward to
throw him off-balance. Flipped backwards out of his chair, the man
landed flat on his stomach in a classic squashed-frog pose.
Once again, everyone around us burst into laughter.
"Ghuh, huh huh!"
"W-way to get knocked down by a newbie, man!"
"Th-that's what you get for messing with a Superd! Hilarious!"
Froggy's bright blue face immediately shifted colours to a vivid shade
of red. Very interesting. Was he cold-blooded?
"Bastard!" Hopping to his feet in a very froggy fashion, our new friend
pulled a knife from his hip and pointed it threateningly at Ruijerd.
Huh? Seriously? Do you want to go all life or death over this?
"Ya got a lotta nerve messin' with me like that, buddy!"
"…You should back down now if you know what's good for you."
Ruined. Please. That's the sort of thing you say when you want to
fight. The guy's got a knife, right? That's kind of… Hmm. Maybe this would
still qualify as a scrap? Just barely…?
"Hey. C'mon, Perutko. Give it a rest." A horse-headed man suddenly
stepped in from the sidelines to intercede. "Pickin' on newbies went outta
style years ago, man."
"But this guy—"
"Ya just lost yer balance and fell, right?"
"Come on, Nokopara, the bastard's scowlin' at—"
"Ya lost yer balance and fell. Right?"
When Horseface repeated himself, Froggy paused, clicked his tongue
bitterly, and then stomped straight out of the guild. The crowd of onlookers
promptly lost interest and began dispersing in groups of two and three.
Man. I'd given some thought to the possibility that we'd get into a fight
here, but that was more nerve-wracking than expected.
With the crisis past, I turned around and made for the guild's bulletin
board… oblivious to the ominous gaze of a certain horse-headed man.
***
The board was covered with dozens of pieces of paper.
There was a mountain of work that needed doing apparently.
As a brand-new party, however, we could only take jobs ranked F or E,
and there weren't any particularly epic-looking quests in those categories.
The majority were just odd jobs around the city—stuff like organizing a
warehouse, helping out in someone's kitchen, basic bookkeeping, looking for
a lost pet, and exterminating insects.
None of them looked especially challenging, but the rewards were also
low.
The actual forms looked like this, for example:
***
F
TASK: Warehouse Organizing REWARD: 5 stone coins
DETAILS: Manual labour, heavy lifting
LOCATION: Rikarisu Block 12, the warehouse with the red door
DURATION: Half a day to a day
DEADLINE: N/A
CLIENT: Dogamu of the Orte
NOTES: I've got a ton of stuff to move around, and not nearly
enough manpower. Someone help me out. Ideally, someone
strong.
They didn't seem like the sort of jobs you'd undertake as a party.
It looked like low-rank jobs tended to be "solo quests" for the most part. Any
jobs we completed would count for all of us for rank promotion purposes…
At lower ranks, maybe people tended to take on a whole bunch of jobs as a
party, then divide the work among the members.
"Well, I guess we'd want to start with something nice and simple…"
Still, why's the lost pet one E-rank? Oh, right. I guess the city's pretty big…
The whole "until you find it" thing could also be a little awkward. There was
a possibility the thing was dead after all. But that bit about the "allowance"
had to mean that the client was a sweet, adorable little girl, right? It'd be
pretty sad if no one helped her out…
"Aren't there any about fighting dragons or something?"
"There is one, but it's S rank. Over here."
"Ooh?! Wait…I can't read this."
"It says a stray dragon's taken up residence to the north of the city."
"Think we could take it down?"
"It would be best not to try. Dragons are fearsome foes."
"Right, right. Still, I kind of want to try slaying something…"
"The monster-hunting quests start at Rank C, I'm afraid."
"There aren't any ranked lower than that?"
"So it would appear."
"But I heard you're supposed to start by fighting goblins and stuff…"
"You won't find any monsters that weak on this continent."
As I looked through the low-level jobs, Eris was having a somewhat
alarming conversation with Ruijerd, who handled all the reading for her. That
guy was a patient soul, wasn't he?
"Whoa there, my D-Dead End friends! Those are a little, uh…
hehe…high-rank for you guys, ain't they?"
One of the guys who'd been laughing at us earlier sauntered over to the
two of them with a big smirk on his face. It was a muscular man with the
head of a horse…the same guy who'd stepped in to break up that fight a minute ago actually.
I moved fast and managed to get myself between him and Eris before
he got too close. "Mind your own business! We'll take an F- or E-rank job,
just like we're supposed to!"
"Hey, calm down, buddy! I just wanted to give ya a little advice,
okay?"
"No kidding. Like what?"
"Here, ya see this job? The lost pet one?" Reaching past me, Horseface
ripped down the paper I'd been looking at only a few moments earlier.
"Yeah, I saw that one. Seemed like it might be kind of tough since this
city's so big."
"Huuuh? Hey, come on, kid! Ain't your boss the one and only? Like, a Superd?"
"So what if he is?!"
"Is that eye on his forehead just a decoration or what? It doesn't matter
how big the city is! He'll track that thing down in a single day, no sweat!"
Oh. Come to think of it, he's got a point. Ruijerd could locate living
things with pinpoint accuracy. Even if we were looking for a lost cat or
something, he'd probably manage just fine… Of course, Horseface here was
convinced that Ruijerd was a phoney, meaning that his thoughtful
"advice" was just intended to provoke us. I needed to react
accordingly.
"Shut up! Leave us alone!"
Still, I'd have to keep that missing pet job in mind. It seemed like a
good chance to take advantage of Ruijerd's abilities.
"Let's go, Boss!"
"Hm? Aren't we going to take on any jobs?"
"Forget it! We'll come back when there aren't a bunch of jerks waiting
around to sabotage us." The goal of this visit was to make our big appearance
and get ourselves registered; I'd only looked at the board to get a sense of the
type of available jobs. We'd get started in earnest tomorrow
morning. "Come on. We're done here."
As the three of us left the guild behind, I heard another huge burst of
laughter from inside.
"They're going home without even takin' a single job?!"
"Dead End ain't in no rush, man! What a cool customer!"
"Gyahahahaha!"
I could see the bewilderment on Ruijerd's face. It was hard to blame
him for wondering if we were really on the right track here. As far as I was
concerned, though, the afternoon had been a success. The people in that
building were laughing at the words "Dead End" instead of flinching or
grimacing. That wasn't what we were shooting for in the long term, but it
was a step in the right direction.
At the very least, I was convinced of that.
One way or another, the three of us were now full-fled adventurers.