by Ryota Hori
“Yes, it’s my first time here, so I’m not really sure what to do. Thank you.” Bowing his head politely, Ryoma sat in the chair opposite from her.
One good aspect to Ryoma’s personality was being able to ask for help when he needed it. It was a much safer bet than pretending to be knowledgeable about things he didn’t have the foggiest clue about.
“Very well. Could you please write your name down here, sir?” The teller girl said, taking out a piece of parchment-like paper and a pen.
Well, it certainly doesn’t look like real paper... So I guess it’s parchment?
Stifling his curiosity, Ryoma took the pen and parchment.
Name: Ryoma Mikoshiba
Age: 16
He filled out his name and age without thinking about it too deeply, and left the address column empty. It was when he returned the parchment to the teller girl that Ryoma realized something.
Wait, what I just wrote... Was that Japanese? What did I write in there? I did write my name down, didn’t I?
Nonetheless, the girl was still working without paying it any heed. If nothing else, she seemed to have made sense of what he wrote.
“So you’re Mr. Ryoma Mikoshiba, sixteen years of age. Is this information correct?”
The teller girl directed a probing expression at Ryoma’s face. Perhaps Ryoma didn’t look to be sixteen years old to her, because she was looking up at him suspiciously.
“Yes. I guess I don’t look like it?”
Ryoma was so used to people being surprised at his age that it didn’t even annoy him anymore.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I look old...
He’d intended to write his name down in Japanese, but the letters on the parchment were unfamiliar. Ryoma didn’t understand the logic behind it, but the teller girl accepted his form, so he decided now wasn’t the time to question the subtleties.
“Actually, is sixteen too young to open an account?” Ryoma asked calmly.
That was the scariest possibility to him, but the teller girl shook her head.
“Oh, not at all, your age won’t be a problem. It’s just... you’re very mature and calm, sir, so your age came as a bit of a surprise. I must apologize for coming off as rude.”
Ryoma couldn’t honestly say he felt satisfied at that, but people believing him to be older than he was from his appearance was par for the course anyway.
“Oh.” He smiled calmly at the teller girl. “It’s fine, I get that a lot. So, could you open my account?”
“Of course. Please wait a moment while I make your card.” She said, and began to write something on a piece of paper roughly the size of a business card.
She then placed the card between two transparent sheets and used what looked like an iron to crimp them together.
Is she laminating it?
It looked strikingly close to a driving license or an employee ID. Ryoma couldn’t tell if the living standards in this world were high or low at this point. They most likely had science similar to his own world.
“Thank you for waiting. Please place your hand on this orb.”
She placed the card into a slot at the bottom of a pedestal with a glass orb on it, and pushed it toward Ryoma.
“Like this?” Ryoma placed his hand on the orb, and the moment he did, it began to glow.
“Yes, that’s good. Your personal information is now registered on this card, Mr. Mikoshiba. Should you lose your card, go to any nearby bank and they will reissue it for you.”
After the orb finished glowing, she extracted the card and handed it over to Ryoma.
“It’s done already?”
“Yes, your account has been opened. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
It had ended so quickly that it almost felt anti-climactic to Ryoma. At any rate, opening the account was secondary to the main reason he had come here.
“In that case, yes. I’d like to make a deposit to my account.” Ryoma said, placing his bag of coins on the counter.
“A deposit, yes? Thank you very much. Place the coins here, and insert your account card into the slot.”
She then placed what appeared to be an electronic scale in front of Ryoma. He followed her instructions without a word, placing the sack on the scale.
“Yes, that’s perfect. The money seems to be in order. I’ll confirm the sum, then.” The teller began counting the coins and sorting them into groups of ten.
I see... So the scales are to ensure the coins aren’t counterfeit. That’s convenient... Though she still has to actually count them by hand.
So they had cards in this world, but no machines that could automatically count coins. The teller girl continued piling up the mountain of coins, unaware of Ryoma’s internal complaints. This took her about twenty minutes. After double-checking the coins three times, she turned to him again with a bright smile.
“Thank you for waiting. The total sum is three gold coins, 54 silver coins, and 735 copper coins. You’d like to deposit this in full, correct?”
Lunch at the Sea Rumble Parlor was five coppers, right? And silver coins are worth one hundred coppers, so... that’s quite a bit of money for now.
Apparently the soldiers he slew were skeptical of the card system, but thanks to them carrying their money on their person, Ryoma wouldn’t have to worry about being able to eat for the time being.
“Yes, please go ahead.”
“Very well, I’ll deposit that at once.”
With that said, the teller girl placed his card on the change plate and bowed her head to Ryoma.
Phew, looks like I’m done with the bank for now. Now I just need to go and register at the guild.
He’d deposited and confirmed his living expenses, but he still needed to work for a living. Ryoma left the bank and went straight into the building next door.
Beyond the door were counters manned by receptionists. In terms of structure, it wasn’t much different from the bank. Ryoma took a seat at an empty counter.
“Welcome, sir. How may I help you today?”
The receptionist girl here was also clad in a uniform.
“I’d like to register as an adventurer and look for work, please.”
“Very well. If you don’t mind me asking, do you have a bank account?”
“An account? Will this do?”
Ryoma handed over his newly-issued card.
“Yes, that’s fine. We’ve recently begun paying using the bank cards, so we request that all new applicants open a bank account.”
“Oh, is that right? Guess I lucked out, I heard I wouldn’t need to have anything prepared to register with you.” Ryoma smiled wryly, and the receptionist replied with a forced smile.
“Yes, some people can’t wait and come right over to us. We have to ask those individuals to return after they take care of that.”
With that said, she inserted his card into a slot on another pedestal adorned by a glass orb.
“There. Your registration is now complete, Mr. Mikoshiba.”
“Huh?” He blurted out.
Ryoma was not expecting to be called by name here, so his guard went up instantly.
“Cards from the bank share information with guild registrations. So if you have a bank card, we can expedite the registration process by reading information relevant to us.”
With that said, she took out a bunch of papers, or at least, sheets which looked like papers, and began reading through them.
They share information with each other? Or, well, I guess they’re companies under the same enterprise...
Compared to what Ryoma saw outside this building, this all felt all too foreign. Both the bank and this organization called the guild employed technology that was far too advanced, and the management at both establishments seemed far too refined.
“Hmm, you’re going to be accepting quests while you’re here too, correct?” The clerk’s words pulled Ryoma out of his thoughts.
“Ah, yes.”
“Are you familiar with the guild
’s system?”
Ryoma gave an honest shake of his head.
“Then let’s go over it. Feel free to ask if there’s anything you don’t understand.” She said, spreading out the sheets in front of Ryoma.
“First, about our guild. It is comprised by what were originally two separate organizations, the adventurer’s guild and the mercenary’s guild. The two merged to form our current organization. We are a large scale organization with branches throughout the continent, so whenever you hear the term ‘guild,’ it will most likely refer to us.”
The clerk beamed with pride. It seemed that from her perspective, the guild was like a massive conglomerate in the terms of Ryoma’s old world.
“Next, about the card. Please look here.” As the clerk spoke, she pulled the card out of the pedestal and handed it over to Ryoma.
It had information written on it that hadn’t been there when he’d first received it in the bank.
“Its initial state immediately after registration is Level 0. Your guild rank is F, the lowest rank. You will find your rank is displayed on your card. It also doubles as your identification within the guild, so make sure not to misplace or damage it.”
She then flipped a few of the sheets over, and pointed at a column of text that said F near the bottom.
“Simply put, your level translates to your combat experience, and your guild rank translates to how many quests, i.e. requests, you’ve accepted and completed for the guild. Incidentally, your combat experience refers to the total amount of life force you’ve absorbed from living beings. You know about power absorption, right?”
“Yes. When you kill another living being, you absorb a fraction of its power, right?”
“Exactly. It’s said that if level 0 is the average strength of a human, level 1 translates to having twice that strength. Of course, age and gender can factor into this, so it’s not as simple to calculate as it may seem. Also, it doesn’t influence your pay as an adventurer, but it can affect your pay as a mercenary.”
“I see. So if I’m at level 10, I’d get paid as much as ten people?”
In layman’s terms, it would come down to that. But the clerk smiled softly and shook her head.
“Fundamentally speaking, you’re not wrong, but I’ll spare you the details and simply say the highest level achievable by a human being is 7, and there’s only one person in recorded history to have gone that high.”
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean...?” Ryoma furrowed his brow at the clerk’s words.
I’m not wrong, ‘fundamentally speaking’...? What’s she talking about? Plus, seven’s kind of an odd number to cap the levels at...
The clerk didn’t answer his doubts, though.
“There’s no need for a beginner to worry about that. For the time being, it’s fine as long as you understand that you need to absorb prana and strengthen yourself. You can confirm the rest of the details with any nearby staff once you reach level 1.”
Her smile was gentle, but her attitude was obstinate. The clerk was not intending to answer Ryoma’s doubts. Seeing him nod reluctantly, she continued her explanation.
“Now, about your guild rank. Each time you accept and complete requests, you’re given points, and once you cross a certain point threshold your rank will increase. Once your rank is higher, you can accept more lucrative requests. However, you can only take work at the same rank as yours or lower.”
“What about this warning?” Ryoma glanced at a line of warning text written on the page.
“Yes, about that. You may accept multiple requests, but they are time-limited. Not completing a request within its fixed date may incur reparations on you and lower your points.”
“So it can lower my rank?”
“Correct. Your rank advances for every one hundred points you accumulate. But there have been cases where adventurers increased their rank and failed a mission immediately after, resulting in their rank being reduced. However...”
The clerk’s finger then pointed at a disclaimer written on the page.
“If the request’s conditions or contents are found to have been inaccurate or wrong, leaving you unable to complete the request, no reparations will be imposed on you, and depending on the situation, the requester may have to pay a fine. If that happens, inform the guild and it will be taken care of.”
It seemed the conditions behind the request were decided meticulously.
This almost feels like temp work...
The clerk’s explanation gave Ryoma the image of a temporary personnel business. He’d only seen them on the news and the Internet, but the idea sounded close enough. The idea of the guild being an employment office and the adventurers being temporary employees was easy enough to understand.
“At any rate, this concludes the explanation. Is there anything you need more information on?”
Well, there is that part she left out... But if she’s not willing to tell, I guess I can’t force her. I guess I’ll just follow her advice and get to level 1 first.
“No, there’s nothing.” Stifling his doubts, Ryoma shook his head.
Understanding everything just from this explanation would be difficult, but he was doubtful he’d get an answer to all his questions right now, and he didn’t have any time to squander on these doubts. He’d just have to fly by the seat of his pants and figure things out as he went along.
“In that case, please select your first job, Mr. Mikoshiba.”
The clerk pulled out a stack of sheets from her drawer again, placing them in front of Ryoma. The rank was listed at the very top, and underneath that were countless jobs.
“So, what sort of requests are you looking for, Mr. Mikoshiba? An adventurer or a mercenary?”
“I could go either way, honestly...”
This almost feels like an interview...
Ryoma remembered going on a recommendation interview during his high school admission exams. It felt the same as when he was asked about his plans for the future.
“Hmm. If you’re confident in your combat skills, then maybe going for mercenary work would be ideal.” The clerk said, circling a few columns in red.
“I just circled jobs that require combat skills, such as killing wild dogs and wild bees. Since they’re jobs aimed at newcomers, they don’t have a time limit. You’ll receive the reward upon completion; three copper coins for every kill. You’ll also gain one point per kill as well.”
Looking over the circled jobs, Ryoma decided to ask if the kind of work he was looking for was available, like escorting someone to another place or carrying supplies.
“Is there any work that involves going to other towns?”
“Other towns? So, deliveries, then. Unfortunately, you can’t accept bodyguard work at rank F.”
Ryoma hung his shoulders in disappointment.
“Bodyguard work relates directly to the safety of the requester’s life and property, so the guild prefers to only send those with abilities at a certain standard, and those it trusts have proven themselves dependable. To be exact, you would have to be at rank C or above.”
“Abilities and trust...”
“Yes, it takes more to be a bodyguard than mere strength. Of course, strength is quite important, but one must also be attuned to one’s surroundings and able to pick up anything out of the ordinary. Not to mention being able to defend the requester and their goods from bandit attacks. But the most important thing of all is trust. If the bodyguard turned out to be a plant by the bandits, the consequences would be quite grim.”
“Then, when it comes to delivery work, could I take any of that work if it involves leaving the country?”
The clerk had explained everything perfectly, and Ryoma couldn’t think of any way to argue against it, but he wasn’t going to back down without trying, either.
“Unfortunately, that sort of delivery work is not available for those at rank F either. The most you are able to accept is deliveries to nearby towns.”
Unlike video games,
this world had a lot of limitations on which jobs one could take. Ryoma’s glance then settled on a map which hung on the wall behind the counter.
“Are there any delivery jobs in those neighboring towns?”
“I believe there would be; it is delivery work, after all.”
“Hmm. If you wouldn’t mind, do you have any spare maps?”
The clerk regarded Ryoma with a suspicious glance, before taking a folded map from the drawer and placing it on the counter.
“Erm... Where’s O’ltormea on the map?”
“The capital O’ltormea is over here.”
Her thin white finger pointed at a specific spot between the center and south of the map. Right next to her finger, the words ‘The capital O’ltormea’ were written in black letters. There was also a red line separating the center from the southern sections of the map. That red line probably represented the boundaries of the empire of O’ltormea. It was fairly wide.
Gharic, Melpheren, Girdas, Auiet... If I’m going anywhere, it should be one of those towns...
Ryoma’s eyes were drawn to the four towns surrounding the capital. They were all a short distance away.
“Are there any delivery jobs to Melpheren?”
“Let me see...” The clerk examined the paper in her hands. “This one isn’t the right rank for you... This one’s already been taken by someone... Ah, here we are! Delivering a letter. The reward is 30 copper coins, and it will increase your rank by five points.”
It seemed there wasn’t much work Ryoma could take as a beginner, especially ones where the recipient was in another city. Work wasn’t always readily available, and sometimes others might take it ahead of him. Ryoma was lucky, though. He looked at the clerk, who was flipping through the pages, with a smile.
“I’ll take that one.”
Ryoma immediately took the job. Being decisive could mean everything in these situations, and he didn’t have time to hesitate.
“Very well, I’ll put you in for it... I’ll just need your card for a moment.”
She began to seemingly type something into a glass pane attached to the glass-orbed pedestal, and then inserted Ryoma’s card into the slot. The glass sphere flickered for a moment. This equipment evidently operated much like a PC which would input the required information into the card.