GDoc . Happy Eclipse Day to the USA-ians! (Not the reason this chapter was so late…)
Enjoy the new arc! (Arc 2.5, by the author’s numbering.)
The Adventurer"s GuildAN: A short extra arc before arc 3. (TN: for those curious: bangaihen. Also, “short” means nothing to me. It"ll still take a while. Uni starting in less than 2 weeks.)
The Adventurer"s Guild.
Wherever there lived people, so too would be present a branch of the Guild, in the nearest town or city.
The Adventurer"s Guild had its roots in a mercenary guild used by the Emeldia Sanctuary, a temple complex dedicated to worshipping the Creation G.o.ddess Anastasia, to ward off foreign influences.
Emeldia eventually formed its own organization, the Templar Knights, which took over the mercenary guild"s role. However, the demand for the mercenaries themselves continued throughout mankind’s history as long as the fighting continued, and so, the mercenary guild continued to exist.
A divide grew between the mercenaries who only fought wars for a living, and others, like people who did odd jobs or treasure hunters who explored the ruins of ancient civilizations.
Eventually, some of them broke off from the mercenary guild to found a new organization.
That was the birth of the Adventurer"s Guild.
As monsters caused more and more damaged, the Adventurer"s Guild quickly grew.
Since its members did not just fight in wars, but also fulfilled miscellaneous requests, it became a valuable inst.i.tution to the countries ravaged by monsters.
To the commoners, the guild was the place where they could trust that any request they submitted would be fulfilled by an appropriate person.
To the n.o.bility, the guild allowed them to divest their knights as defense against monsters, and apply them to more pressing matters.
Sometimes, the Guild would also receive requests regarding major problems from the country itself.
A gathering of diverse talents — that was the Adventurer"s Guild.
Simurgh was the capital of the Remulshil Empire.
The Guild had four branches in the metropolis that was Simurgh. One in the northern part of the city, one in the southern part, one in the eastern part, and one in the western part.
And in front of the three-story high building that was the eastern branch, there stood two children.
A boy, and a girl.
Judging by their heights, the boy was a bit older than the girl.
However, the boy didn"t seem to be even 10 years old.
The little boy pushed open the door, and entered the building.
"So this is the Adventurer"s Guild…"
As he entered, he saw a large hall before him.
Right in front of him, he saw three receptionists dealing with both adventurers and their clients at the counter.
To his right were ten large round tables with six chairs each. Further in, he saw a bar, with 10 stools lined up along it.
On the wall, there were sheets of paper detailing various requests, affixed to a bulletin board.
To his left, all he saw were a set of stairs, and a small side door.
The boy encouraged the girl clinging timidly to his left arm as they made their way to the end of the line of people in front of the receptionists.
Several of the adventurers seated at the table, and also some of the people standing in line with them looked curiously at the two children.
The Adventurer"s Guild did have children as members.
Some of them were children of other adventurers, while others were children who lived in the slums around the city.
Unlike pickpocketing or burglary, becoming an adventurer was legal.
By joining the Adventurer"s Guild, the kids could earn some small change taking odd jobs.
Most of the time, they would lose their limbs from injuries or even their lives in the process.
However, only a few of them were lucky enough to make a fortune.
"Someday, I might become a famous adventurer."
Despite only a small minority of adventurers prospering, there was no end to the children who dreamed of such success.
Due to that, it wasn"t strange to see children at the Adventurer"s Guild.
However, the two children were especially young.
The boy did not seem like one of the children who dreamed of becoming an adventurer at all.
Both his shirt and trousers alike were covered with patches.
He would not seem out of place among the children from the slums.
On the other hand, the girl, who was trying desperately to seem invisible, stood out.
Anybody could see that her clothes were of high quality, as if it had come straight out of a picture book. She appeared frightened of the gazes gathered on her, but all those present could only imagine how pretty she would grow to become.
The two children eventually reached the front of the line.
"h.e.l.lo, and welcome to the Adventurer"s Guild."
The lady who was at the reception desk smiled at the nervous-looking children.
"I wonder which n.o.ble"s request or company’s request will be submitted?"
The receptionist, Lilia thought to herself as she observed the two children.
She a.s.sumed that the girl was the daughter some affluent person, while the boy was her servant.
"Umm… Miss, we would like to become adventurers."
"Eh? You came to become adventurers!?"
Lilia let out an astonished voice.
She looked at their faces to make sure she had heard correctly.
The girl"s shoulders just barely reached the countertop.
Even for an adventurer"s child, she seemed rather young.
The youngest person to register as an adventurer was only around the boy"s age.
"Umm, How old are you two?"
"I am nine years old, and she is seven."
Lilia was troubled.
They were so young.
Even children from the slums were about ten when they started working as adventurers.
In her three years working as a receptionist, she had never seen such young children want to register.
"Umm… Don"t you know that adventuring is really dangerous? It"s too early for you, much less this girl over here."
Of course, not all of the work was dangerous, but she didn"t think such young children, especially the little girl, would be able to do the work.
The Guild valued its credibility.
If it failed to fulfill requests, its credibility would decrease.
Something else bothered her.
"No matter how you think of it, that girl is from a well-off family. Is it fine for her to become an adventurer?"
If they wandered the streets, she might get kidnapped.
The girl was hiding behind the boy, so she could only see her face.
"It"s fine. Even though we look like this, we"ve already trained ourselves."
"No no no"
In her mind, she shook her head.
"Just give up, please…"
At that moment, she heard the voice of a young Adventurer from the door. "What is it, Lilia?"
"Oh? Aren"t these the two brats from The Roost? "
"Paul, do you know these kids?"
The eighteen-year-old Paul had finally graduated from being a novice Adventurer.
"Yeah, I don"t think there is anybody who stays at The Roost that doesn"t know who they are."
Paul called out to Lilia, his crush, with a delighted expression.
But he soon frowned.
"Even though they"re just brats, they"re quite quick."
After he had woken up, Paul had made his way from the Wandering Bird"s Roost to the Adventurer"s Guild through a back alley.
On the way there, he had seen the two kids at the inn"s backyard swinging around wooden swords as they did every morning.
When he first saw them, he thought to himself: "How nice, for them to be so lively this early in the morning." But upon looking closer, he was surprised at how deftly they handled the swords and their bodies.
"Could they be faster than… Nope, nope. No way that"s true!"
Paul shook his head, getting a puzzled look from Lilia.
"Ah, isn"t it fine to let them just register? Apart from the little girl here, that boy can handle some work."
He made a suggestion.
"Fine. Can you write your own name?"
"I can."
Most of the kids from the slums couldn"t write.
But the boy wrote his own name neatly on the doc.u.ments he was given.
All he had to fill out was his name and age.
Since many adventurers didn"t have a fixed residence, that was not required.
"Wynn Byrd. So you"re Wynn."
As Lilia scanned over the doc.u.ments, she felt a tug on her sleeve.
"Leti also wants to do it!"
The girl exclaimed, while standing on the tip of her toes to reach as far as she could.
"Umm… It"s a bit too early for you, young lady."
"I wanna register!"
She had just been hiding behind the boy, behind Wynn’s back, but was now tugging on Lilia’s sleeve as hard as she could.
"Miss, Leti has also been training with me, so it"s fine."
In resignation, Lilia took out another registration sheet and handed it to the girl who called herself Leti.
"Are you also able to write?"
"I learned it from Onii-chan"
Shakily, she wrote the letters L, E, T, I onto the form.
"Please wait a moment."
With a sigh, Lilia stood up.
She took out two plates from a locked box, and handed one to each of them.
"These are your registration cards. You have registered in the Simurgh"s eastern branch of the Guild. It also serves as your identification, so please take care not to lose it."
Lilia proceeded to explain the work of the Adventurer"s Guild in an easy to understand manner for the two children.
As a novice, they couldn"t accept requests from the bulletin board, and instead, they had to take jobs that the Guild a.s.signed them.
Only when the Guild acknowledged that a novice was ready would they be able to take requests from the board.
The guild card could also serve as identification papers.
To adventurers without a permanent residence, the proof of ident.i.ty was important. However, on the off chance that an adventurer inconvenienced the Guild by committing a crime, then not only would the adventurer have to pay a fine, but in serious cases, the Guild might send an a.s.sa.s.sin after them.
"Do these kids really get it?"
Wynn was nodding with a contemplative expression. Leti, on the other hand, had a blank expression on her face. Whenever Wynn nodded, she would follow suit.[1]
"These kids definitely do not get it."
She was sure of it.
"Let"s start with some simple jobs."
After finishing her explanation, Lilia took out a book listing the available requests and opened it in front of them.