Once Ray and Ashley arrived outside the room, Ashley asked him, "Was that okay?"
"I"m not sure what I should do about the reward? Normally, people would ask for money right?"
"That"s true. Money is probably what you currently need the most . . ."
Ashley continued to explain that most mercenaries would request the guild to hand over rare weapons or demand for permanent citizenship in Fortis, the country of mercenaries. However, most of the things in Ray"s possession were already weapons. Furthermore, it wasn"t like Ray wanted to be mercenary, so gaining permanent citizen in Fortis was pointless.
Making an excess demand would definitely sour the guild"s impression of him. Therefore, agreeing to an amount of money suggested by the guild was probably the safe decision.
Ashley predicted that the amount would likely be around 10,000 Crona or so.
10,000 Crona . . . 10,000,000 yen !? (88,910 dollars) . . . together with the 2,000 Krona I received from the baron, t-that"s enough for me to live for two or three more years. If I use that time to look for a way to go home . . .
In the end, Ray was no more than a high school student who hadn"t even managed to enter university yet. He truly doubted whether or not he could survive in this ruthless world.
Considering how limited my knowledge is right now, my money will probably be swindled away from me someday. Although this is making use of Ashley"s good will, I"ll have to ask her if we can stay together until I have the confidence to live on my own.
Ray decided to go to the mercenary guild later and tell them he wanted his reward in the form of money.
For now, the first thing he needed to do was acquire an ID. And so, Ray and Ashley headed towards the adventurers guild"s Molton branch.
The city of Molton was located on the hill at an alt.i.tude of almost one hundred mertos (meters) above sea level. Surrounding the city was a wall approximately five mertos tall. Rural fields spanned the hill"s southern side. On the northern side is a big lake. As for the east and west, the city was caught between thick forests on both sides.
The guild"s branch was located on relatively low land, close to the city"s southern gate. This area seemed to have developed into a commercial district. Ray could see numerous carts coming and going, their cargo areas piled with various goods.
Built in the same manner as the rest of city, the guild branch was a three story building with white walls and an orange roof. Even though it was not yet noon, the place was bustling with people.
Ray"s heart throbbed as he saw the adventurers guild for the first time.
Something every fantasy world has . . . an adventurers guild . . . even though it"s a cliché, I can"t help feeling excited.
The interior of the building was brightly lit and a number of wooden counters and tables had been set up around the room. Several men and women, presumably adventurers, were talking with the female receptionists opposite them behind the counters. The adventurers consisted of humans, elves, and dog and wolf beastmen.
The moment Ray entered, he uneasily swept his gaze around the room. The receptionists and adventurers all concentrated their stares at him.
They seemed to feel uncomfortable because a man who looked like knight had suddenly appeared, clad in completely white plate mail and gripping a metal spear. Feeling the awkward atmosphere, Ashley warned Ray, "Stop looking around." and then immediately headed towards a counter that had an available receptionist.
Behind the counter was a young woman with light blonde hair who seemed to be in her early twenties. She floated a business smile and asked, "How can I help you today?
Ashley responded as an acquaintance would.
"I want to register him. On top of losing his memories, he doesn"t have an Orb. Could you take care of his initial registration for me?"
"Who is going to be the guarantor of his personal ident.i.ty? Or do you accept to take on that role?"
Ashley nodded, "Aah, yes. That"s not a problem."
"I"m Edsel Wadler. Let"s begin the procedure then. Although the registration fee is five Crona, the guild can lend you the money and allow you to reimburse the fee at a later time. Are you able to pay the fee at the moment?"
"Yes, it"s not a problem."
Ray handed her a single gold coin. Seeing how he casually paid the fee with a gold coin, Edsel"s eyes widened for an instant. However, she immediately returned to him his change and resumed the registration.
"First, please fill in these fields. Do you need someone to write in your stead?"
Suddenly realizing for the first time that he was able to read the characters of this world, Ray was overcome with surprise.
How am I able to read this? Being able to speak normally was already strange enough. Suddenly being able to read is even weirder. Although the syntax somehow looks similar to English and the characters look like they"re a subset of the Latin alphabet, I"ve never seen this language before . . .
Seeing the frozen Ray remain silent, Edsel asked him one more time if he needed someone to write in his place. He came back to his senses and replied, "I"ll do it myself."
The required fields asked for things like his name, age, race, and birthplace. Ray tried to fill in as much as he could.
My name is "Ray". As for my age, eighteen is okay right? My race . . . human? My birthplace . . . I wonder if it"s okay to leave this blank, since I"ve lost my memories.
"Excuse me, do I have to fill in my birthplace? I can"t remember it."
"Sorry, I didn"t explain this earlier. Even if your form is completely blank, we can still extract the information from your Magic Stone. It"s okay for you to only fill in what you remember."
Based on Edsel"s explanation, anyone could look at the information Ray was writing on his form through the Orb. It was much a problem even if he only filled in his first name.
I wish she told me that earlier . . . I kind of remember writing about that in the plot though . . .
At the bottom of the form were the words "Please sign here to acknowledge that you will never commit an act in violation of the guild"s policies." In his own handwriting, Ray signed his name there.
If I violate their rules now, a record is going to remain in my Magic Stone. When I was drafting my ideas for the Orb, I think my wording of the contract was somewhat similar to this . . .
When IDs were issued, it was required that the one applying for the ID must pledge to obey the laws of their nation. This pledge activated a mechanism where if a crime were to be carried out, a record would remain within their Magic Stone.
Ray finished filling out the form and handed it to Edsel. She then said, "I"m now going to extract the information from your Magic Stone. Please follow me." Edsel guided him to a room that had a large wooden box inside and told him to enter it. The box had a height of three mertos, a width of one point five mertos, and a depth of one merto.
As he uncertainly stepped inside, Edsel shut the outer lid and locked the box, plunging the interior into pitch-black darkness.
After around five seconds, lights of various colors that were similar to lasers scanned Ray"s body. After another thirty seconds or so, the scanning abruptly ended. Edsel removed the lid and said, "Alright, we"re done now. Your Orb will be completed in around thirty minutes. Is the bracelet model okay with you?"
Ray didn"t particularly care, so he replied, "Yes, that"s fine." and then inquired about what they would be doing after this.
"While we"re waiting for your Orb to be finished, I"ll give you an explanation of the guild. However, let"s head back to where Ashley-sama is first."
Once they arrived back at the counter, Edsel began explaining,
"The adventurers guild has a main branch in Peric.l.i.tar and also has other branches in various places on the Taulia continent . . ."
Here"s a summary of what she said. The adventurers guild was an organization that cooperated with adventurers to promote a relationship of mutual benefit between them. The organization wasn"t affiliated to any nation in particular.
The guild handled the subjugation of monsters, magical beasts, and dangerous animals. They also collected medicinal plants and mined ore. Escort missions were usually unrelated to them since this was the mercenaries guild"s line of business.
The guild mediated between adventures and clients to ensure that various requests of the clients would reach the appropriate adventurers. They also purchased the things that were collected, like medicinal plants and monster parts.