Chapter 22: Adventurer’s Guild 2 (Part 1)
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Translator: SFBaka
“Willie, how far do we need to walk to get to the adventurer’s guild?”
“It’s just nearby. It’s that large building over there.”
Willie pointed toward a large, three-story building. It seemed to take up five times the space compared to the buildings surrounding it.
There were a lot of people who looked like adventurers hanging out at the building’s entrance. It seemed like they were waiting for something or someone. They might be waiting for other members of their respective groups.
We entered straight away.
“The reception counters are that way.”
There were two reception counters lined up inside the building. The receptionist at one counter was busy talking to an adventurer about something. We went over to the free counter.
The receptionist was a young woman.
“Excuse me. We’d like to register as adventurers please. Is this the right counter?”
“Yes. The both of you will be registering?”
“Yes, that’s right. Me and this girl here.”
“Well then, please fill out this registration form first.”
Uh-oh. The only things I can write at the moment are my and Cleria’s names.
“I’ll write for you, Alan.” Cleria offered.
“Really? I’ll leave it to you then.”
Cleria promptly filled out both our forms. I hope there’s no problem with the info she wrote. Well, it’s not like they can find out whether or not the stuff written in my ID in this world is true anyway. I guess there would be no problems.
But I need to learn how to read and write the characters soon. I’m sure Nanom would be able to update the database if I get someone to read a book aloud while I sit beside them or something. I wonder where I could buy some books.
Cleria finished writing and handed the forms back to the receptionist.
The receptionist gave the forms a quick check. She seemed to be quite surprised after reading them and stared hard at Cleria and me.
“Um, I’m sorry, but is what’s written in these forms true?”
The receptionist pointed at the forms and asked Cleria.
“There’s no mistake.”
Was there something wrong with the info she wrote on the forms?
“Understood. The registration fee is five silver coins per person.”
I handed the receptionist two large silvers.
“I’ve received the payment. Well then, the two of you will need to undergo the rank assessment test next. The rank assessment test is meant to measure the overall abilities of the two of you. We will be able to determine the most appropriate starting rank for both of you after the test. Do you need me to explain the ranking system?”
I and Cleria nodded.
“The adventurer’s guild receives various kinds of quests everyday. Escort missions, monster extermination, material collection and so on. The guild reviews the quests and assigns an appropriate difficulty rank for each of them. In order to fulfill these quests more efficiently, the adventurers are also given corresponding ranks and will be able to undertake quests with a similar or lower rank as theirs. They can also undertake quests one rank above them if they chose to do so. The ranks for both quests and adventurers are as follows: F, E, D, C, B, A, and S – with S being the highest. Seven ranks all in all. As an example, an F rank adventurer is only allowed to take F or E rank quests. Have I managed to explain clearly enough?”
Man, this girl’s amazing. She just explained all of that in one breath. She should have given this spiel at least hundreds of times already.
“Yes, there’s no problem.”
Cleria nodded in agreement.
“Well then, I’ll talk more about the quests next. The general quests are posted on that wall over there.”
Following the direction the receptionist pointed towards, we saw a number of adventurers checking out the quests posted on a wall at the side of the building.
“You can select the quest you want to do from that wall and then report it here. If there are no problems, you will be assigned to complete that particular quest. It’s first come, first served. You are given a specific deadline to complete each quest. There would be a penalty imposed for failing to complete a quest on time. You can check the penalty for quests here as well.”
“There are also designated quests, which differ from regular ones. These are assigned by the client to a specific adventurer or party to complete. The adventurers are free to decide whether or not to accept the quests. There’s also compulsory quests. These are only issued out by the guild in times of emergency. You generally cannot refuse these quests. Refusing to do them would result in a grave violation of guild rules and will have a corresponding heavy penalty.”
“Adventurers are also required to complete at least one quest every two months. If one fails to do so, it will result in their rank being lowered by one step. In the case of F ranked adventurers, they will immediately face expulsion. Have I managed to explain it clearly so far?”
“Yes, there’s no problems.”
Cleria nodded in agreement once more.
“Well then, I’ll proceed with preparations for your rank assessment tests. In the meantime, please go ahead and read the guild rules and regulations posted on that wall over there. I’ve already discussed most of the important ones, but some other particulars are written out on there as well.”
“Understood.”
I headed towards the wall with the guild rules posted on it along with Cleria. The rules were written directly on the face of the wall in bold characters. One would be able to easily read them. Perfect timing. I’ll have Cleria read them aloud for me then.
“Cleria, can I ask you to read the rules aloud for me? You can just whisper them to me if you want.”
“What for?”
“I need to learn the characters. Please.”
“You can learn them just from me reading them aloud!?”
“I can. I’m fine with you reading them quickly too.”
“Understood.” Cleria nodded and started reading.
The guild receptionist, Ami, had another staff member replace her on the counter and went towards the staff room.
It was still early in the morning, but there was already five male staff inside the staff room.
“Everyone, it’s been so long, but it seems there are some promising new recruits today! But I haven’t confirmed it yet though.”
“That again, Ami? The guys that show themselves off like that are usually all weaklings y’know.”
“Well, one of them is a really cute girl.”
“Say what!? That sure is rare. I’ll be in charge of her then.”
“The girl’s cute, but she’s wearing some nice armor and seemed like a proper knight.” Ami followed up.
“Man, that sure sounds promising, ain’t it?” another staff member chimed in.
“Um, let’s see. The girl’s swordsmanship level is 7 out of 10. Wow! She can also use fire magic! And it’s level 8!”
“Aww, that sounds awfully exaggerated, doesn’t it?”
“No, no. The guy with her sounds more amazing! Apparently, both his swordsmanship and magic has reached rank 10!”
“Ahaha! That’s rich! How long has it been since we got such jokers?”
“So the two of them can use magic? Did you properly explain what the exams are for?”
“How rude! Of course I did!” Ami retorted.
“Alright then. Even if they actually suck at it, let’s assume both of them can really use magic. If even just half of what’s written in their applications are true, they’ll really turn out to be promising rookies. We’ll have to do this properly after all folks.”
“I’d rather believe they couldn’t read the forms properly.”
“No, that doesn’t seem to be the case. The girl wrote the forms for both of them, but there’s nothing to complain about with her penmanship. The characters were all written beautifully, and she also wrote them at a fast pace. There’s no chance she’s illiterate.”
“Yosh! I’m gettin kinda curious now. Let’s all go see them, shall we?”
“I’m gonna be in charge of the girl, y’hear!”
Cleria just finished reading the rules aloud to me when the receptionist came back.
“Sorry for the wait. I’ve finished preparing for your rank assessment tests. Please come with me.”
“Fuu, that was tiring.” Cleria exclaimed.
“Sorry, you were a great help.”
I completed the update and confirmed that I could now read the rules written on the wall. Alright. I’ll just have to update the database a few more times and I’ll be set.
“Oh yeah. Can you wait for us here, Willie?”
“I understand.”
We were led to another building next to the guild. Its side walls were 30 meters long, its front and back were 20 meters, and its height was 10 meters. It was another fairly large building. It should be a sort of gymnasium. There were a lot of objects which looked like stationary targets lined up on the far at the back of the gym.
I saw five guys who looked like guild staff standing nearby.
“We’re going to serve as your proctors during the test. So, you both specialize in swordsmanship right? You two are going to engage in practice matches with one of us each here for the swordsmanship test. Listen up. This isn’t about winning or losing. It’s not like you’ll automatically fail if you lose the match. We’re going to rank your skills objectively, so be sure to give it all you’ve got.”
“First up is Ria! Come out front!”
“Do your best, Ria.”
“Alright.”
The examiner who was gonna serve as Cleria’s opponent handed her a wooden sword used for practice. Her opponent was a guy who looked to be in his thirties. They’ll take some distance from each other first, and then the match will start.
“Ready… Begin!”
Both of them held up their swords and stood in place. Cleria was watching for an opening.
The examiner moved one step forward as a feint in order to bait her, but Cleria remained motionless.
The examiner looked quite composed as he gradually shortened the distance. And once he neared a certain distance, he greatly raised his sword overhead, as if inviting her.
Ah! As soon as he did so, Cleria made her move and rushed straight for him.
She was so fast that the examiner had no choice but to execute a downward slash. But Cleria has already anticipated that and agilely dodged to the side. Afterward, she started to unleash her sword rush.
The examiner swung widely and ruined his stance. Cleria didn’t give him the chance to reorient himself and rushed him with a furious flurry of sword attacks. The examiner was finally made to drop his sword.
Cleria promptly stopped her rush and placed her sword next to the examiner’s throat.
“M- Match over!”
Cleria taught Beck and Thor the basics of swordsmanship while we were on the road, but it’s not like that’s all she did. She had Beck and Thor do sword swing practice from time to time and invited me over for some practice matches.
The swordsmanship I know is basically limited to rushes and combos. I just focused on unleashing as many attacks as I could.
But it can’t be helped. That kind of fighting style was really popular in the school I attended back then after all. If I didn’t practice this kind of fighting style as well, I probably would have been left out during conversations with my buddies.
I had no choice but to teach Cleria how to make effective rushes. I would show an opening, Cleria would close in, and I would counter her with a sword rush. We repeated this kind of practice match lots of times. Thanks to that, my defensive skills have actually improved as well.
Both I and Cleria could easily read the examiner’s movements. Cleria wouldn’t let an opening like that slip. That examiner seems to have underestimated Cleria a bit.
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