Hi, I’m Blue. I’m bored so I’m helping coolizer out with this novel. Nice to meet you readers.
Chapter 1: Eternal E-rank Adventurer①My head throbbed as if someone was swinging a hammer around inside it.
"Urgh, my head hurts."
It"s probably because I drank a ton of cheap sake yesterday.
I"d like to roll around in bed on a nice day like this but sadly my wallet was light enough to get blown away by the wind. If I didn"t earn today"s rent I"d have to camp out under the stars. Besides, I couldn"t just skip my routine.
I lightly slapped my cheeks to wake me up, quickly got dressed, and then finally picked up my beloved sword which was resting against the wall and left the room.
The inn that I"ve been staying at for a while was the "Golden Rooster Tavern" where the guest rooms were on the second floor while the first floor had a dining hall open to all. At night groups of coa.r.s.e adventurers often came to drink away the day"s fatigue.
Although it wasn"t a professional bar, "Golden Rooster Tavern" was popular among adventurers of Capital La’ch.e.l.l. The dishes are quite delicious, but "her" presence was probably a much bigger reason.
“Ah, Raigh-san. Good morning.”
The one who greeted me with a cheerful smile while I was coming down the stairs to the first floor was an attractive Rorona-chan.
Age is still 16 year old. Her flaxen hair was tied in the back of her head revealing sweat running down her forehead while she was carrying cooking. Her healthy thighs extending from her short skirt were too dazzling for the morning of a hangover.
“Good morning, Rorona-chan, I’m sorry but could I have a gla.s.s of water?”
“Of course, how about a white stew with plenty of vegetables to go with that? It has a reputation to cure hangovers.”
“Ah ~.”
As expected of the poster girl of "Golden Rooster Tavern". She saw right through the fact that I had a hangover.
“That"s a very attractive offer but I better not today. If I don"t take a request I won"t have any gold."
“Huh? But Raigh-san, you took a request yesterday, didn"t you? Other adventurers said that they can live if they receive a request about once every three days.”
“That’s only for adventurers over C rank.”
Even though we"re the all adventurers we each have ranks. From the top S-rank to the bottom E-rank. The higher the rank is raised, the higher the reward will be for the request taken. Out of all the adventurer only a handful of adventurers were A-rank and above, it is said they have a higher salary than the members of the Kingdom Orchestra who were the admiration of all boys and girls.
However, if there"s an upper cla.s.s there is a lower cla.s.s. The lower ranks had to desperately work everyday or they wouldn"t survive.
“Because I am an eternal E-rank adventure, I have to sweat and work.”
I got the plain water from Rorona-chan and I left the "Golden Rooster Tavern" to do my daily routine.
After doing my daily routine, I went to the adventurer guild which was took charge of all adventurers.
Despite it still being early in the morning, the inside of the guild was full of adventurers seeking a better request (Quest). A lot of adventurers were crowded in front of the lower level quest board which can be accepted even by adventurers under D rank, in particular. Every time a new quest was stuck on a fight occurred.
No way. I definitely don"t want to partic.i.p.ate in that.
My headache has improved a lot, but I"m still a long way from being in condition.
"I guess there"s no choice. I"ll take a unregulated hunting quests again today."
I turned directly towards the reception counter where the guild staff were and I of course chose the most familiar receptionist from among the three windows.
“Yo, Rika-san, please take care of it today as usual.”
“Good morning, Raigh-san, are you taking the usual today?”
The one who was looking at me with the inexpressive eyes was Rika who became a guild employee around the same time as I became an adventurer.
The dignified beauty had long silver hair and sharp eyes, but because of her glare and her blunt tone this poor woman was usually avoided by a newcomers. That’s why even though she"s over 20 she still hasn"t had a single boyfriend…
"Raigh, you"re thinking about something strange aren"t you?"
"No way, there"s no such thing."
Sharp! Scary!
"…well, I"ll leave it at that. Please wait a moment."
Mr. Rika takes out a piece of paper from the shelf nearby, and fills in the contents of the quest with a pen smoothly.
What she was writing out right now was an individual quest to be posted on the quest board – in other words, it was different to the quests where there was a client who would pay out a reward depending on how well you completed the quest, but rather an unregulated hunting quest where the guild buys the materials of the monsters that you defeated and turn that into the day"s revenue.
There are rarely any people who take this unregulated hunting quest.
It"s certainly true that adventurers hunt monsters. However that"s usually when the monster itself is the quest objective or because they"re blocking the way on the way to the objective. As long as the original objective is achieved and the quest is completed the quest reward is received so the materials of the monster is only side income.
Naturally, some materials are purchased at high prices. However because there is no quest reward the profit barely matches the pain one has to go through. There is also the fact that one can"t raise their own level without completing individual quests or perhaps danger in the fact that because there are no set goals one might encounter an enemy beyond their level, would that also be a big reason?
They are called adventurers, but in fact they do not adventure.
Comparing your status against the difficulty of the quest and the level of monsters, you can endure your safety to a certain extent. I will be in danger, but as long as I don"t do anything stupid I won"t fail to the extent that I lose my life.
That is the occupation of an adventurer.
“…… Other than me.”
“Did you say something? Raigh-san.”
“Nothing, anyway… I just thought that I want to take ordinary requests occasionally.”
Raigh pointed at the lower level quest board silently.
“I’m sorry, I don"t have the courage to push my way through that crowd alone.”
“If you join a party, the danger level will drop dramatically just like that.”
“Don"t say that Rika … There"s no way there would be anyone who would want to party with an adventurer who has stayed in Rank-E for five years like me?”
Adventurers start at E-rank and can be promoted to D-rank at the latest in one year. It wouldn"t be surprising if were promoted to C rank within three years. Although it depends on talent beyond that, it will not be surprising even if one joined the ranks of B-ranks when one"s adventurer history lasts for five years.
On the other hand, it is surprising someone can stay at E-rank for five years.
So when the young adventurers who were lined behind me unintentionally spoke out, I thought it couldn"t be helped.
“You’re doing it for five years, are you still ranked E? What is the level you need to promote to D-rank, isn"t it just 10 levels?”
“Yes, with just 10 levels and 20 requests you can go up to D-rank.”
“Oh yeah, it’s that 20 achievement achievement is troublesome, but level 10 is too easy, when you become an adventurer it’s usually already about that level.”
At the leader-like boy"s words the other three show me their status screens. "13" "14" "14" Level. The last guy even has swordsman skills. d.a.m.n I"m jealous. I wish he would suddenly get rejected by a woman on the street.
“By the way, I’m level 14. You, what level are you?
“I wonder. Do I have obligation to tell you?”
“Eeh. That"s not cool, after we already showed you our status."
“What are you saying when you show me on your own?”
“It"s fine isn"t it. Show me your status. I promise I won"t laugh."
The boy who was already smiling was deciding what face to make when I actually show my status but I decided to ignore him since any further and it would be annoying.
"Stingy, that"s why you can"t go beyond level 10."
Wrong! I"m just stingy because I don"t have any gold.
Without making any reb.u.t.tal I face forward.
Rika was staring at me with a sullen face.
"I"m sorry."
"Why did Raigh apologize. Did you do something wrong?"
“No, your eyes.”
“I was born like this, what about it?"
“I am terribly sorry.”
This time when I seriously lower my head, Rika-san sighed and then handed me the quest paper that she finished writing.
At that time, she gently whispered in my ear.
“I am sorry, even though there is a reason why Raigh is still E-rank.”
Seriously, I wonder why such a good person can"t find a boyfriend.
“Don"t mind it. I"m the one who feels bad with you all the care you"ve given me.”
“No, this is my job”
Rika shook her head and sent me off with her usual words with a slight smile on her face.
"See you. Please take care."
“Oh. I’m going.”
I raised my hand slightly and I left for the quest.
"Wai, why?!"
It seemed like the people lining up behind me screamed from Rika"s cool response but since it was just as usual I left the guild without worrying about it.