"You know, when I promised to get you your pork, that meant I was going to pay, right?"
"So?~" Yua said back with a catty twist to her lips.
She puffed out her ample chest and patted her bag of coins, smirking as though she pulled one over on me.
I'd given her about 10 gold's worth of assorted coins to work with, but the only thing she bought today was our meal. As a slave, she technically couldn't own the money I gave her, but it's hers to use. However, she was being unnecessarily frugal. Even more than I was myself. Still, it's not like I can force her to use it.
With our bellies now full and shopping done, we were headed towards our second main objective for our visit to the city.
Just like everywhere else in the city, the Adventurer's Guild was packed to bursting with people. Humans and beast-folk mingled and enjoyed their afternoon brews as the thick scent of sweat and alcohol permeated the air. Likewise, Adventurers filled the tables, schmoozing it up with city girls and friends as they regaled all in their daring exploits, their bravery and the valor they claimed during their last quests. More still were taking care of business as usual with the guild staff, like we needed to do.
We made our way through the crowd, past a small group of friends enjoying a game of throwing small knives at a board with a target painted over it to the cheers and jeers of those who'd clearly been betting on the outcome. Unlike those that chose to drink their worries away this early in the day, those on this side of the guild were all intently looking at the posted quests that were still up for grabs. And there were many, many more quest slips tacked to the board than there were during our last late-night visit here.
Watching the armor-clad men and women of the guild diligently reading the quest slips and imagining how full the board must have been before the morning rush, the place was really starting to feel more like a proper adventurer's guild. Rather than a tavern that happened to offer jobs.
Feeling as though I finally got the chance to really start my life in this fantasy world, I eagerly and carefully pushed my away into the mess of Adventurers clamoring about in front of the board. I could practically feel Yua's tail waving about curiously as she joined me in scanning the quest slips.
"What type of quest are you looking for?"
"Nothing in particular. I would like one that could take us to another city, so we could make better use of a trip by getting paid to go there. But right now, we're just here to make sure we don't run out of coin."
The experience we would gain from doing these quests may or may not be enough to level us up, but after a quick check of the board, it was clear quests paid more than the average romp through the dungeon. And those were only the C-rank quests, the only ones I could currently accept. The posted rewards for the higher ranked quests not only made me a little jealous, they suggested that leveling up to pursue work exclusively through the guild might actually be better for us than finding a regular job. No wonder why the place was so packed.
Ignoring the regret I had for not attempting to convince the guild to let me start at a higher rank, I forced myself to focus on reading through the variety of C-ranked quests. Most of their objectives seemed kind of simple, boring and worst of all, easy. But I refused to complain. Work was work and it was clear that these were quests meant for beginners. Which I technically was. The only real problem was…
"I don't know any of these places," I said after checking the destinations printed at the bottom of the quest slips.
With Amoranth being the only civilized place I've seen, let alone set foot in on this world, I had very little knowledge to work with.
"Yua, do you know this one?"
I picked a particularly easy-looking quest that only required us to collect a certain rare herb called a "Connifery Plant" in the "Dumort Forest" near a certain city called "Guerraway." Being that I am not originally from this world, I had no idea where either of these places were. I did remember the owner of the Bubbling Cauldron, Madame Turquesse, mentioning the name Guerraway during an argument I accidentally started, but she said nothing of its location.
Yua leaned over my shoulder and carefully read the slip. Her emerald eyes ran through the words, but once before she ultimately shook her head.
"Hmm. Nope. Sorry, but I don't know them either."
"Damn…"
"Why don't you just ask the … Waa!"
Yua staggered and slammed into me, nearly knocking the both of us over. The impact was so sudden that it was like she'd tripped while standing completely still. She only just managed to catch herself on my arm, forcing me to turn and see what happened.
"You okay?"
"Yes, but…"
Yua looked over her shoulder and we spotted a blonde-haired girl still in the middle recoiling from the impact as well. She'd clearly bumped into Yua pretty hard.
"Oops. Sorry about that. Guerraway is a city just north from here. It'll take ya about three days by horse to get there."
Before either of us could complain about how swiftly she moved on from shoving us, our assailant pulled a hand out of her pocket to scratch at her head. With a small smile that suggested her apology was only customary, she played it off with all the nonchalance I would have expected from any of these brutes. But somehow, this girl and her oddly laid back attitude gave off the aura of being both entirely at home in this place as well as a complete anomaly.
Why is this? Because she wore a pair of loose, baggy pants that by all means should have fallen off her slim waist the second she pulled her hand out of her pocket. Stranger still, up top, instead of a shirt, she wore nothing but what looked like an extra-wide leather belt that covered only the center of her small breasts, leaving the bulge of their undersides plainly visible. And at the same time, this belt had the same effect as a push-up bra in how its tight bindings amplified the sight of her miniscule cleavage.
Curiosity building from her appearance once I realized her attire wasn't skimpy because it was enchanted, I checked her info box and found that she was both a level 5 Adventurer and Thief and my confusion almost overwhelmed my curiosity.
She had the Thief class, not tag.
I may still have a lot to learn about this world, but what I do know is that committing an act of thievery earned you the "Thief" tag in your info box. It was supposed to appear under your name, but hers was under the Class section. Knowing that the first class someone had was the class they were born into, with hers being Adventurer, and with how your sub-class being achieved through your own effort, I came to the quick conclusion that not having a second one before stealing must earn you the class instead of the tag.
Discovering all this within the first five seconds of meeting her, I quickly shook my head and helped Yua to stand. None of what I just learned about this girl necessarily meant that she was a bad person. Yua sure as hell wasn't. She might've just fallen on hard times or got screwed over in some way I'd rather not imagine.
Due in part because of this, I decided to pretend I didn't see anything. Though I did keep weary of her, just in case. Regardless of how she started off, if she was a level 5 Thief, then she's been at the thieving game for a while yet. At this point, it had to be either a necessary habit or a profession.
Besides, I couldn't exactly report her to the guild without explaining how I knew she was a Thief in the first place.
"Ya okay?" the Thief said, eyeing me suspiciously. "Sorry I bumped ya, but I don't think I hit ya hard enough to rattle your brain."
Realizing that my observing her info box (and her skimpy outfit) for so long might have given the impression I was ogling, I hurried to answer, only to find that her gaze was switching from Yua's bust to her own. Her own wide-eyed staring could have been seen as retribution for my own, but the comparison she made seemed to make her blush.
"I'm fine. I'm Alex, by the way. And this is Yua. Have you been to Guerraway?"
"Name's Lilt. And no. I haven't been there myself. I've just seen it on a map a few times."
She flipped her palms up and shrugged as if what she said was no big deal and, since nobody in this world had the benefit of a phone's GPS always at the ready in your pocket, she was clearly being modest. Maps were surely on the more expensive side here and without them, Yua's sonar-like senses and our limited knowledge of the city, I'd be running around this world completely blind.
"Could you tell me where I could buy one of these maps?"
"Buy one? If that's what yer after, isn't the answer obvious?"
With a wry smirk, she leaned in to whisper to Yua, as if she were the one that asked, like she wanted to share a juicy secret.
"Just go check in with the Cartographer, of course. Haha. Well, sorry. I guess a tourist wouldn't know that."
"And what makes you think I'm a tourist?"
"Because I saw ya on the way here. The way ya were looking around the city like everything was brand new kind of makes it obvious."
Apparently, my revitalized enthusiasm for exploring the city caught the attention of a Thief. Wonderful. At least I know where to find the answer to my questing woes.
"Can you tell me where to find this Cartographer?"
"Sure. She's in the northern quarter. She's a little… weird, but ya should be fine. And, just a little bit of advice by way of apology," she paused, her voice and expression instantly turning serious. "Take these words to heart: Do. Not. Make. Her. Angry. If ya so much as think you've ticked her off, even just a little, run for it. Otherwise, you're a dead man."
"Um, okay? Thanks for the info and... warning, I guess."
"Thank you for your help," Yua added.
"No problem," Lilt said, her cheeks growing pink when Yua bowed to thank her on my behalf. Frantically waving off the polite, if not unnecessary, gesture, she took an exaggerated step back. "O-Oh, and the northern quarter is where all the snobby, rich folk and the city's nobles live. So, if anyone gives ya trouble, I recommend just apologizing and getting yourselves out of of there before they call the guards on you."
Great, so this Cartographer was likely some sort of rich snob with an anger problem. Fantastic. I better be careful. If this being-an-Adventurer-thing pans out, I may need to seek out her maps from time to time. Let's not have a repeat of what happened at the Apothecary's place.
"Thanks again."
"No problem," Lilt said, wrenching her gaze off of Yua's chest again. "If you'll excuse me…"
She leaned past us to collect a quest of her own. It almost looked like she had picked one completely at random, but she didn't hesitate. After a brief wave and a playful wink aimed at Yua, Lilt turned and disappeared into the crowd.
Briefly wondering how she intended to accept the quest without getting outed as a Thief, I decided it wasn't any of my business and tore the Guerraway quest slip off the board. We hurried back through the crowd to join the line behind the other Adventurers waiting to speak to a guild employee.
The wait, thankfully, wasn't long as most of those ahead of us were just accepting quests too.
When we stepped up to the small reception window cut directly into the wall, I found that, true to form for a place such as this, the guild girl behind the counter was a busty, beautiful woman. Not only this, but she was a bunny girl with lilac-colored hair tied into a neat braid over her shoulder. I admit I gulped a little when her abundant chest jiggled provocatively when she waved us forward, but I did my best to not let on that I noticed. Yua already made sure I reentered the world as a true man, I can't go letting myself get flustered here. Not even if her guild outfit left a plentiful amount of cleavage on display.
There was a polite air about her, from the way she met my gaze with a soft smile to how she offered a small bow in greeting before sitting up straight in her chair. Though, it was clear from a glance that her smile was nothing more than a professional curtesy as, despite her good looks, it didn't hold a candle to Yua's.
"Good afternoon and welcome to the Amoranth branch of the Adventurer's Guild. How may I help you?"
Without introducing herself, leaving me to spy the name Milly from her info box, she got straight to the point. I handed her the quest slip and without a word, she started reading its contents. One of the tall bunny ears atop her head twitched when she reached the bottom.
"Something wrong?"
"Not at all," she said easily, handing the slip back. "This quest was pushed through in haste. The one that requested it made it very clear that they need it to be completed quickly. I was worried nobody was going to take it in time."
They, huh? The Guild must have some sort of policy not to out their customers' personal details. And if they are adhering to that rule enough to not even mention their gender, then I won't pry.
The quest slip said we had a week to bring the plants back and what Lilt said was true, then that meant anyone else would have to take a three-day trip, spend one days searching for the plant, then take another three days just make it back in time. Anyone without access to teleportation would have it rough. Must be why nobody's taken it yet, even though the reward was a healthy 30 silvers.
Not bad for just picking some flowers.
"I can handle it no problem."
When I gave her a confident thumbs-up that heavily relied on my Dimensional Step spell, Milly let out a small sigh of genuine relief.
"Excellent. Then, if you would."
She pushed a scrying orb to me. Without question, I set my hand on the smooth surface of the blue glass globe and let a little mana flow into it. As soon as my info box appeared between me and Milly, she seemed only to check for the guild rank posted there before nodding and replacing the orb with a silver tray.
"Perfect. If you don't mind, I'll take the quest deposit now."
"Oh, uh…"
"Is there something wrong? I can't let you accept the quest unless you…"
"No, I know. I don't mind, but I was never told how much I'd need to give you."
When I joined up, I learned that all Adventurers had put up a downpayment to accept a quest so that the guild could still get a cut of the profits in the event that the Adventurer either failed the quest or if they died during it. It was a rather callous insurance policy for them, but it didn't stop me from pulling out my coin purse.
"I see. Then let me apologize on behalf of the Guild Master for not informing you properly." Milly cast a side-long glance to the man himself, Cade. He may have been the guild's leader, but he was busy enjoying himself by serving drinks over in the bar area. "You need to offer thirty-percent of the quest reward to accept it. It will, of course, be repaid to you upon completion of the task."
Part of me wanted to say that Cade was just being greedy asking for so much, but I did see just how dangerous the details of the higher ranked quests really were and why level mattered so much. Adventurers must actually die fairly often.
After quickly doing the math, I set out the thirty-percent on the silver tray without complaint. If anything, I was honestly surprised at how easy the process of accepting a quest was.
"There you go, sir. Please bring the plants back here so we can confirm the quest's competition. I wish you luck on your travels."
"Thanks, but is there anything else you can tell us about the area? Neither of us have been there before."
Milly lifted one corner of her lips into a contemplative dimple and crossed her arms. She furrowed her brow in an honest attempt to think up something useful, but only ended up shaking her head.
"Sorry, but I've never been there, either."
"It's fine. Someone already suggested we see the city Cartographer, anyways. So, I'll just see what she knows."
I was sure that, given how she couldn't just browse the internet to find references for the maps she no doubt had to draw by hand, she had to have been there before in order to chart the land. So, she might know something useful about the area. Anything that could get us there and back in one piece.
"Th-Th-The Cartographer?" Milly stammered, sweat beading on her brow.
At the mention of just that woman's class, the bunny girl immediately broke into a fit of shivering. Her face growing pale, she made a grab for my hand before I could pull it away.
"S-Sir, as a guild employee, please let me remind you not to anger that woman. Or it won't just be your guild rank on the line!"
This again?
So, not only was this woman apparently quick to anger and might resort to violence, she'd go after my guild rank too? Moreover, on top of how mentioning just her class was enough to make this bunny girl quake in her boots, a sudden silence stole away with the jovial air existing around all within earshot.
Drinks stopped flowing. Games ceased. Hardened Adventurers froze in place. And only the conversation over by the bar kept the world from going completely silent. Man, woman, Adventurer and civilian alike all stood stock still and stared at us wide-eyed as if I'd threatened Milly with just those words. None drew their weapons, but a few did make a pointed effort to look away.
Was the Cartographer a noble? Who else would have the power to thoroughly ruin your life and scare even this bunch of seasoned fighters?
"Why would you want to meet that… woman?" one such person asked, her voice trembling until she took a long swig of ale to calm her nerves.
"Yea," another echoed. "Just stay away from her."
"Kid, just take your girl there and head to the dungeons. You'd be loads safer there."
Thinking back to all the pain and near-death experiences we had in the dungeons, I almost laughed. I wasn't about to assume these guys were playing a prank on the newbie, their fear was too real to deny, but they sounded crazy.
Yua, too, looked just as taken aback as she slowly inched her way in front of me to make her return to the vanguard of our party.
"What are you talking about? How could…"
"What's all this about?"
At the sound of gruff voice of an older man, I felt the hard thump of a hand land on my shoulder. Keenly taking note of the stillness we caused, Cade appeared beside. The bulky muscle of the older man and all the battle scars he proudly bore and all the experience both gave him allowed the man to keep a level head and not crush my shoulder after noticing the sudden mess Milly had become. Thankfully, he had the patience to notice we hadn't actually caused any trouble, but he crossed his arms all the same.
Milly sucked up the fear that nearly took her and bowed to her boss as though his appearance was reassuring. But I hadn't even noticed him leave the bar, and judging by the bewildered was Yua's ears seemed to need a second to catch up with what her eyes were seeing, neither had she.
"It's nothing. I think. I was just asking for directions to the city Cartographer."
Cade raised a brow at this. Then he smirked after looking at Yua.
"You want her too, eh? Greedy, ain't you?" he said with a laugh that visibly calmed the mood. I think I heard a few people suck in a breath they'd apparently been holding. "Not possible. She'd tear you apart."
"I just want a map…"
"Ha! Sure, sure, kid."
"…Can you just tell me where to find her?"
"Nope. I have no idea. Never cared to learn. Last time I met her, she caused a huge mess here. All because someone that used to be an active Adventurer tried to get a little handsy. So, I banned her from coming back."
"Wait, you banned her for protecting herself?"
"Oh, no. That guy got what he deserved when she broke both his arms. Poor bastard can't hold a sword anymore. I banned her because she broke every table in this place throwing him around. People like us need a place to sit down and relax after a good adventure. Can't do that without a table to hold your beer, right?"
Cade thumped the nearest seated Adventurer on the shoulder, causing him to remember the fact that he was holding a mug of ale when it sloshed on the table. He quickly tried to salvage what he could and glugged the rest. He then threw the mug at Cade's head to request another and the Guild Master snatched it out of the air long before it could hit him. Those around the two started laughing.
"Can you at least give me her name?"
"Oh?" Cade grinned mischievously. "Easy. It's Elane Bellenfort. Hard to forget once you see her. But don't go engraving that on your heart, ya hear?"
Having said his piece, and laughing deeply, Cade returned to the bar and got right back to serving his drinks.
Feeling as though I stepped on a landmine by bringing up my plans, I quietly thanked Milly, stuffed the quest slip in my pocket, grabbed Yua's hand and made for the door just as the mood started to repair itself.
We once more entered the throng of people bustling about through the city streets and somehow, the air out here was much less imposing.
Strictly speaking, we didn't need to visit with this supposedly scary woman. Lilt said Guerraway was to the north, so while I could easily just use my Dimensional Step spell to teleport in the general direction of the north, I might end up getting us lost. There was a lot of north to be had out there and only one Guerraway. Besides, it's not like a quest marker suddenly appeared on my compass to direct us.
That aside, I had some interesting ideas on how a map might work for me. So, it couldn't hurt to pay the Cartographer a visit. These people may already be on her bad side, but that didn't mean we were. As long as we didn't do anything to anger her and, though I am loathed to admit it, my years of passive timidity was likely going to make that easy. Add on to that Yua's all-around good-natured self, we ought to be fine.
As we walked the streets towards the northern quarter, Yua gradually grew a little fidgety and she started patting her thighs like she was trying to hold down her skirt from some invisible assailant attempting to flip it. Though the minimal presence of wind inside the city wasn't going to be enough to cause an accidental flash. So, I stopped her for a moment and pulled her aside to talk.
"Something wrong?"
"No, sorry. It's just… skirts are so breezy."
To emphasize her discomfort, she wiggled her hips and forced the fabric to sway. I guess she must not have noticed earlier because we were enjoying ourselves. And back at the cabin she usually didn't get to wear them for very long when around me.
What can I say? I have my preferences and I filled the majority of her wardrobe with skirts for that very reason. Changing the topic for her sake, I asked a different question.
"Do you know anything about this Cartographer?"
Patting down the front of her skirt one more time, she shook her head.
"Nope. Never even heard of her. Or that class."
"Hmm…"
If Lilt and Milly didn't already make it clear, it was already abundantly obvious that this woman inspired fear. I needed a map to test out my hypothesis, but it might not be worth the risk.
"We could ask someone else for directions," Yua said. "I'm sure someone else in the city knows the way."
The sheer abundance of traveling merchants that were setting up temporary shop in Amoranth suggested that was likely true, but I thought better of it.
"We'll be taking at least one quest every month. It's how I plan on keeping our purses and bellies filled. But that means we'll be needing to ask directions almost every time. I think it'll be for the best if we're on friendly terms with the map maker. At least until we know our way around the area."
Some quests could end up taking us hundreds of miles away, if not further. So, we wouldn't have time to waste running all over the city, trying to track down someone able to give us directions. And that was only if we could find someone. We had a full week this time around, but that may not be the case in the future.
"Let's just be as polite as possible when we talk with her."
"Right. You've been practicing, so you'll be fine."
With that little detour settled and in mutual agreement that our plans hadn't changed, we made our way over to the northern quarter.