It took me a while to actually make out how the ship looked. It was big, but not as big as typical cruise ships. Mostly made of wood and by the look of things, there were maybe a hundred or so people on board; three distinct floors and the deck. The bottom floor was fully submerged.
The ship had arrived about three hours early. And there was a good reason for that. Namely, passengers were going to get off the ship. But not just passengers, merchants had a lot of crates lined on the deck which too had to be disembarked. Afterwards they would clean the ship and that would also take a few hours. Den said, often the ship is delayed past the afternoon and sometimes it barely leaves the harbor by the evening. It was a miracle they arrived early.
Basically, they operated like trains. Hopefully they wouldn't run over me though.
"Will you be joining us for lunch Al?" Den said.
"Yes, Den," Alastur said.
When the fuck did you get so friendly?
Seriously, I was with them the whole time and yet… sigh. Anyway, we located a restaurant and went in. Pretty busy, no open seats. So, we had to wait for a group of people to finish. Once they finished, we sat tight, ordered some meat and bread and devoured them. Den got me a Honeycrisp pudding and it was pretty good. Since it was so busy, we didn't have time to relax and were promptly shown out.
"Now what?" I asked. "Do we train or something?"
During my travels, I actually kept a wide eye for Burgers or Pizza but so far, I didn't have any luck. Maybe I'll find some in the next port assuming they existed in this world. I mean, I did see goat cheese every now and then on sale, so it wasn't unlikely they had some sort of pizza.
"No, would be counterproductive," Den said. "The guild isn't that far from here. Why don't we take a look?"
"Not far? It's literally on the other side, Den." I rolled my eyes. "Besides, I don't have any interest in becoming an adventurer."
We were pretty much at the end of the city. Walking back to the other side would take us a good half an hour at the very least.
He still started walking anyway. "So, how will you be paying tuition?"
"Excuse me? I thought you were-"
"For the first year, I would. But eventually you'll have to start earning money to live, right?"
He had a point. But I was too damn young to be worrying about money of all things. heck, I wasn't even supposed to be having this journey in the first place. I was supposed to be sitting on my Mom's lap and just sleeping or something. Fuck!
"And you didn't tell me that sooner because?"
"Because…" Den paused, and looked conflicted for some reason. "I didn't want you to worry needlessly. Besides, I resolved to somehow gather the money and-"
"Wait, how much is the tuition?"
"Fifty gold a year," Alastur said. "Includes a shared dorm and meals."
"You got to be kidding me," I sighed. "You know that's too much."
"But it's one of the few schools not run by the church," Den said. "And one of the few we could afford."
Fifty gold? Fifty grand? Seriously? Even college didn't cost that much! And I was talking about America!
Okay maybe some colleges did cost about fifty grand but that was for international students not local ones! Well, you are technically international though… sigh.
"How much can you sell a dual head tiger for?" I asked.
We were of course walking towards the guild which happened to be near the entrance we came in last night. Aka, all the way across the city.
"About a gold, if the pelt's in good condition."
So basically, my life wasn't even worth a gold. I mean, that thing was definitely beyond me. And anything stronger than that was also beyond me.
Suddenly my shoulders got heavier. Even when I'd run from home, I didn't feel like this. I mean, I had Dad's credit card but… damn it. Fifty grand was a whole lot of money.
"Don't worry about it," Alastur said. "Work diligently, methodically, and safely and you should be able to scrap together 20-30 gold a year. The rest your family can cover."
Even so, that was a lot of money. And I was five. I could hardly take a swing of my knife. I had no real talent as a hunter. Heck, I never even hunted anything in my damn life. But wait, adventurer jobs weren't all hunting jobs. Some were also collecting and- No, no, no! It won't work and-
And we'd arrived. A two-story unassuming building with nothing but noise coming out of it.
The door was already open and I could see a lot of people. Like a lot of burly men just going about their days, laughing and telling stories. They had a bar of sorts in the corner, and some guys singing while drinking. They were pretty hammered by the looks of it.
A guy was approaching us with a menacing look but the moment he noticed Alastur, he just scrammed. Well, our harassment event didn't quite pan out, I suppose.
Den took me over to the counter and explained a few things.
The guild was an intermediary. They got jobs from clients and used adventurers or mercenaries to complete them. They provided jobs, while adventurers provided service. The guild kept a 15% cut for adventurers and 12% for mercs, and failure to complete a job netted you a 10% penalty. Standard stuff I was familiar with. However- they had no quality control on who could join. As long as you had life and three limbs, you could join the guild any day! And you didn't even have to pay a fee! You did have to pay a security deposit for your first job however.
"Press your thumb here," the receptionist brought out a metallic box that had a glass ball attached to it. I was supposed to press my thumb on the ball. I did. "Wait a few minutes." She went back but gave me a piece of paper with some words.
· Adventurers are required by international law to comply with the Askavan Church's rules and regulations
· An adventurer may not commit any crime whatsoever deemed by the local government. High Rank individuals are exempt.
· While adventurers are not required to directly answer to nobility and the church, you may wish to do so. If you don't, the guild would protect your rights in reasonable manner
· The guildmaster holds all rights regarding payment and job availability. In case of a missed payment, the guild holds rights to delay and reimburse you within 30 days.
· During emergencies, the guild may issue quests for all adventurers and mercenaries. These quests are mandatory.
· You may decide to take a break from adventuring without any penalty. However, you may not take a break during a job.
· Failure to uphold guild reputation and regulation would result in termination. Once terminated, you may not be able to register again, without express permission from the guild master.
Well, that was a lot of rules. But I didn't expect the church to butt in first thing. Though I suppose, I should have. Also, if you were high enough rank you could break the law? Actually, they had no rules about criminals not being able to join… hmmm.
The staff members were all beautiful women. Again, as expected. I'd seen all this in video games and anime so damn much that nothing really surprised me. Not even when I saw a random fire ball crash into a guy with a big shield. Nope.
Fireball? Wait, Fireball~!!!
***
Apparently, magic did exist.
I'd only seen actual magic once, no, twice. Back when our Goat Sisna electrified the tiger and when our buddy Rexen tried to fry the fuck out of me. Apart from that, I'd only read about magic and how rare it was.
But now, that was a fireball! And actual fireball! Who fired it? A young girl in baggy robes? Or maybe Gandalf like geezer with his proud beard!
Ah-
Oh… it was a dwarf. A fat dwarf who laughed hard, drank some ale and screamed- "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" with an oddly Scottish accent. And lit something and threw it… fire ball.
Fush! No explosion, just a spark of flames. And the guy who blocked it, laughed along with the others. Apparently, people were having fun.
Sigh. "I thought it was a fireball for a second there."
And yes, dwarves were a thing in this world; referred to as the mountainfolk. I was not interested in them at all.
"It is a fireball, though," Den said. "Anyway. You'll be starting out as F rank and can only take F rank jobs. The guild allows you some leeway up to 1 rank either way but for F ranks that's not available."
"Because they want newbies to prove themselves," I said.
"Exactly!" Den smirked. "I'm B-Rank by the way."
"How cool. But wasn't the ceiling like S rank or something? So how come you never made it that far, Den?" I said, deadpan.
His face twitched for a second. "Because it's impossible without a party or talent like him," Den motioned.
I followed his gaze and found Alastur being casually harassed by the pretty ladies. They were all over him, smirking, throwing kisses and all that stuff. The guy didn't even bat an eye at them even for a second.
Well, someone just won my respect. "What's his rank though?"
"A."
Wait, Alastur was A? The guy literally killed 18 bandits in less than ten seconds and with real ease. He was just A? There were stronger guys than him?
I grew up in a village. People there were exceptional. My Mom too. Strong and exceptional. However, Alastur was still a monster compared to them. And THAT guy was just A?
"Ho-how strong are S ranks?"
"Never met any," Den said. "They're pretty… ah," he chuckled.
The receptionist came back and handed me a card. A fine bronze card with some writing.
Name: Soler Arnius
Race: Human
Age: 5
That was it. There were some other blank spots but nothing written there. "Is this supposed to be so blank?" I asked.
"That's a magical card. The guild is loaning it to you. When you decide on your occupation or party, they'll update the card; be sure to not lose it or they'll charge you 1 silver."
Uh-huh. Made sense. "Any rules I should be worried about?" I did read up the rules but maybe there was more?
"Don't screw up the job, don't screw with the clients, and don't cause any unnecessary fights or trouble. Typical stuff," Den said.
Typical to you. Technically, common sense to me.
Anyway, that's how I was coerced into being an adventurer. Sigh, peer pressure sucks.