Julius looked at the small rabbit in disbelief, but his eyes flashed as soon as he recognized the monster. "Is that... a Black Fur Rabbit?" He was completely dumbfounded. Black Fur Rabbits were common household pets thanks to their cuteness, yet this was his first time seeing someone actually tame one.
Edward looked at Whitey in his arms. At first, he didn't want to reveal Whitey's true bloodline, but the man seemed like a good person. "This isn't a Black Fur Rabbit... Whitey is a Moon Rabbit."
"A Moon Rabbit?" Julius looked at Edward with a strange expression. He never expected that this young man was actually insane. "Oh, I didn't know..."
"So? I can enter the Monster Association library, right?" Edward asked once again, excitement visible on his face.
"Well... not yet." Julius straightened his posture and gave a better look at the boy. Even if his pet was a Black Fur Rabbit, the young man was still a tamer. "You're new here, so I suppose that you don't know the city's rules, correct?"
"Rules?" Edward's face dropped as he realized that getting inside the library would be more difficult than he had imagined.
"Yes, firstly, every monster tamer must sign up at the Royal Office. This is just a way for the country to know how many of us there are." Julius felt somewhat strange as he referred to the man as a monster tamer. After all, his pet was a Black Fur Rabbit! "Second, no monster bigger than 4 meters in circumference or two and a half meters tall shall remain outside your spiritual sea."
Edward looked around in confusion. There were many people accompanied by monsters that were bigger than the allowed size. "What about them?"
"They're Guild members, so they have a pass, while they are on duty at least..."
"Guild members?" Edward looked at them with his eyes shining. His mind instantly thought about something like the Adventures Guild that existed in the novels of his previous world. "What types of Guilds are there?"
Julius perked up his eyebrows as he stared at Edward, his eyes full of disbelief. He had met quite a few country bumpkins, but none of them were so oblivious to the outside world that they didn't know about Guilds. "You don't know about the Guilds?"
"I was homeschooled..." Edward could only lower his head in embarrassment, silently cursing the previous owner of this body for being too much of a sheltered kid.
"Homeschooled?" Julius shook his head and motioned for the young man to follow him, thinking it was better to talk to him while moving. "The guilds are the backbone of society. Each element represents one guild and a duty. Let's use me as an example: I'm from the Fire Guild, and our job is to maintain order. The Water Guild is responsible for the city's water supply."
"Oh! I understand! Each guild uses their pets to keep the city functioning." Edward quickly thought back to all the elements he had learned about in the book and tried to guess what their duties were. "Earth is responsible for constructions and those things, right? But what about poison?"
"The Poison Guild is the one who deals with waste disposal – quite the dirty job, but someone has to do it." Julius gave Edward a quick glance and continued to explain all the guilds. "The Air Guild is responsible for weather forecasting and transportation. The Nature Guild manages the flora outside the city, and they also help with the city's food supply." Julius gave a slight pause as he pondered when he became a tourist guide.
He then cleared his throat and continued, "The Ice Guild is responsible for the prisons – they act like the wardens of the city. As for the Thunder Guild, they have quite a similar duty as us. The guards that you see as you enter the city are all members of the Lightning Guild, and they also go on expeditions to hunt outlaws."
Edward listened intently, trying to absorb all the information that Julius was sharing with him. He couldn't help but feel grateful for having such a knowledgeable person to show him around the city.
"The last two guilds are the Darkness Guild, who are the detectives and investigators, and the Light Guild, who are responsible for the healthcare of the population," Julius sighed as he finished all the guilds, hoping that the boy had no more questions.
"Interesting. This way, everyone can help and contribute to the development of the city," Edward commented, impressed by how complex the guild's system truly was.
"Well, something like that. But, in reality, things are a bit grimier than that." Julius thought that the young boy was too naive. Things, in reality, were never that easy and straightforward, especially when it came to politics and power dynamics within the guilds. "The guilds also compete with each other. They each receive a portion of the taxes from the city, but this amount is not enough to pay and fund the development of all members."
-"Compete? Like betting?" Edward didn't think much about all of this; after all, competition was natural in those types of environments.
-"Every year, there is a competition for the guild's higher-ups. The Monster's Association gives a yearly prize to each guild based on their ranking." Julius let out a bitter smile as he talked about the guild's ranking. "The Earth Guild is the strongest guild in this city; they have been ranked first place for almost ten years now..."
-"Hm... What about the Mystic Guild?" Edward noticed the man's bitter smile and tried to change the subject from the guilds' ranking. "I don't recall you mentioning them."
-"They are a very special case. The Mystic element has access to some really handy abilities like long-distance communication and even teleportation, but they cannot be used very often. The Mystic element is also very adept in matters of illusion and dreams, making them the favorite guild for Monster's Trainers. So, they hold quite the standing with the Monster's Association." Julius halted his steps as he reached a luxurious store. "Here we are. When speaking of Spiritual items this is the best shop in the whole city. If you are looking to sell something, this is the best spot."
Edward gave the store a fleeting glance before returning his attention to the guard. -"Thank you for the help."
-"No worries, just doing my job." The armored man chuckled as he turned around. "Just remember to stay out of trouble. And, by the way, to access the Monster's Association Library, you will need an Entry Level Badge. That building right there is the headquarters of the Light Guild. If you are curious about how hard the challenge is, you can go there to see for yourself." Julius looked at the rabbit in the boy's arms and shook his head. With such a weak Monster, it was basically impossible for the boy to pass even the Entry Level Challenge.
Edward was about to enter the store when he heard the man's words. He turned around and saw the big sign on the Light Guild's headquarters. -"Hm... I wonder how hard that is going to be..." It was only now that Edward remembered to test if his information index could work on humans.
Edward felt somewhat disappointed as he tried to summon the information index three times, but they all ended up in failure. Finally, he entered the store.
The walls of the store were covered with shelves, each one of them filled with exquisite and unique plants. He spent a few minutes looking around the shop, checking the information on all the plants he could see.
Most of them were at the bronze rank, with only a few of them being at the Iron rank, and exactly two being Silver Ranked.
The lack of silver-ranked plants on display made Edward happy. After all, it seemed that the plants he had gathered were enough to ease his financial woes. He took a few deep breaths in preparation and finally headed to the counter.
"Uh... Hello, I'm looking to sell some plants," Edward said as he took out the stalks of plants he had prepared and put them on the counter.
"Is that all?" A young man, looking no older than Edward himself, walked by and picked up the plants. He looked at them carefully and suddenly frowned. "Look, man, I know times are tough, so I will overlook this, but don't try to scam me." He put the stalks of Moonlight Dancing Grass back on the counter and looked at Edward, infuriated.
"Excuse me?" Edward gave the man a puzzled look, not understanding what the man was trying to say. "Do you have no interest in those stalks?"
"Who would want this trash? As I said, I won't cause too much trouble for you, but please don't try this again. I am too familiar with this method. You come here to sell something and mix them with a bunch of adulterated or trash items, expecting that I won't notice it." The man finished observing the stalks of Sun Bathing Weeds and crossed his arms. "If you want to sell those, we can make a deal, but never try something this stupid in this store again."
"Well, there seems to be a misunderstanding," Edward gave the man a firm stare and pushed the Moonlight Dancing Grass back to him. "I'm not trying to scam anyone. If you doubt the veracity of my items, why not ask someone else to check them?"
The attendant looked at Edward with confusion. He never expected that the boy would keep insisting. "If you say so..." The attendant turned around and rushed to one of the rooms in the deeper part of the store, returning sometime later, this time accompanied by two middle-aged men.