Chapter 11 — A Guild Card Made with Inscrutable Technology, Somehow Recognized across the World, and Impossible to Forge
Yogiri and Tomochika stepped into the adventurer’s guild. The first thing they saw inside was a large set of doors in front of them. It made them feel like they might have come in through the back entrance.
The next thing they noticed was the noisy area to their right. A number of tables were lined up, and waitresses were going back and forth between them and the kitchen. People looking like adventurers were eating and drinking at the tables. Though a fair number had likely teleported here before the two of them, a look around the room didn’t turn up any faces they recognized.
“Looks like it’s got a bar built into it,” Yogiri observed.
To the left of the entrance was a counter with five reception areas.
“Ah, welcome! I don’t recognize you two. Are you newcomers?” A nearby waitress called out to them.
“Is this the adventurer’s guild? I have no idea what you guys do here,” Yogiri asked.
“First of all, as you can see, we serve food and drinks here,” the waitress answered. “But we also offer support for quests.”
“You mean like Cavern Quest?”
“That’s right. Though there are also other quests, like monster extermination and item collections quests. Either way, if you want to play Cavern Quest, you need to register with the guild.”
“Oh, really? Should we?” Yogiri asked Tomochika.
“Either way, I’d like an explanation,” she answered.
“Okay. If you’re brand new, please go to the leftmost counter!”
Doing as they were instructed by the waitress, they headed for the counter, but someone stepped in their way to block them.
“Hey, hey, are kids like you really trying to sign up to be adventurers? Don’t insult us like that. You’ll just die anyway. If you wanna survive, you’re better off trying to curry favor with us in hopes you get some of our crumbs.”
“Well, isn’t this a cliché development?!” Tomochika exclaimed. Standing in front of them was a man wearing leather armor, looking every bit an adventurer.
“What do we do, then?”
“Ignore him, I guess.”
There was no need to entertain the man. Yogiri tried to step around him to get to the counter, but the man moved to get in his way.
“Come on, get out of here while I’m still in a good mood. You’re not gonna survive out there with just a little scrape.”
“What happens to us is none of your business.” Yogiri’s words were met with laughter from all around. At some point, other adventurers had surrounded them.
“If you want to go get killed, fine. But we don’t need you feeding the monsters.”
“That’s right. All you’ll do is make the monsters level up.”
“There’s plenty of work besides being an adventurer out there, at least for you, girl.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Just turn around. The prostitute guild or the slave guild would be more your style!”
The men’s faces lit up with vulgar smiles.
“I seriously don’t know what to do,” Yogiri said. He couldn’t just kill them because they were standing around him. “If they had planned to kill us, I could have used that as an excuse, though.” Judging by their behavior, the situation here likely wouldn’t escalate to anything beyond punches. Yogiri’s automatic self-defense wouldn’t trigger for something like that.
“Definitely don’t do anything!” Tomochika said. “I’ll take care of this!”
“Are you sure? If they have the Gift, I don’t know if your martial arts will really be a match.” Ordinary thugs would be no match for Tomochika, but this world was full of twisted people with all kinds of abilities.
“This doesn’t seem like the kind of situation where people would be using their powers, does it? Though if it comes to that, I’m sure you’ll do something.”
Tomochika disappeared. It took Yogiri a moment to realize what had happened, but she had feigned collapsing, dropping to the floor and sweeping the legs out from the man in front of her.
The Dannoura style was to start the fight in the middle of the conversation. Her unexpected movement would cause others to lose sight of her. The sweep threw the man off-balance, sending him stumbling into the man beside him, creating a domino effect that knocked the whole group down. They were now all lying on the floor in a ring around them. Their arms and legs tangled together, they couldn’t figure out what had happened.
The technique is not useful against anyone of comparable skill, but against a large group that seeks only to restrict your movement and has no intention of killing you, it has its uses, Mokomoko remarked.
Each of the men struggling to stand were tripping up the others around them, effectively immobilizing the whole group.
“That went pretty well for a first try.”
“You’ve never done that before?”
“You can’t really get a big group of targets like that for training.”
“That was impressive.” Another adventurer approached. “After that, I doubt anyone else will try to stop you. Of course, I won’t either. I won’t ask you to forgive these guys, but I hope you at least understand they’re desperate to survive down here too.”
“Huh? All they were doing was trying to stop us from registering, though, right?”
“That’s true, but they have their reasons. Go ahead to the counter, they’ll explain it to you.” After saying that, the man left.
“What was that about? Whatever, let’s go.” Tomochika stepped over the tangled mess of adventurers, and Yogiri followed her. They went to the leftmost counter as instructed.
“Would you like to register together?” the receptionist asked them.
“Yeah, if that’s not a problem.”
“Understood. The registration itself will be extremely quick. Please place your hand on this crystal.”
One at a time, Yogiri and Tomochika put a hand on the crystal ball the receptionist had indicated.
“Next, can you please give me your names?”
After giving her their names, their registration was complete.
“Very well, allow me to explain Cavern Quest—”
“Ah, I’ll do it. Can you two come up to the second floor, please?” A man dressed like nobility behind the counter interrupted her. He was a young man, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a gentle smile.
“Very well. Do you mind if the guildmaster explains the rest to you?”
They didn’t know why the guildmaster himself had come out to talk to them, but they had no reason to refuse his request.
◇ ◇ ◇
After receiving the Gift from Sion, Hanakawa found himself facing a settlement of wooden buildings built on dry earth. There was no sign of other people outside. The Seyla incident seemed to be a worldwide one, so Van must have given his message to everyone across the world. In short, one would have expected a large number of people to appear here, driven out of their homes by the Seyla. But there was no one. He found it a little bit strange.
“There are some buildings nearby, so I suppose that is an instruction to enter them?”
The buildings had a number of signs in front of them. They seemed to be an adventurer’s guild, a weapon shop, and an inn.
“Receiving the Gift may have been optional, but without it, I would be unable to read a thing here. It seems to have already become quite indispensable. Regardless, let us begin with the adventurer’s guild!”
Hanakawa stepped through the doors and into the adventurer’s guild. Inside was a bar and reception counter, meaning the part dealing with the adventurer’s guild was likely the reception area. He immediately made his way to the counter.
“Wait, is no one going to appear to stop me?! Is it not standard for a veteran to stand in the way of new recruits and to be struck down in turn?!”
He didn’t really want anyone to try and stop him, but after getting his new class of Monk, he was letting himself get a bit carried away.
“If you were a cute girl, maybe, but I’ll pass on you. Go ahead and register,” a nearby adventurer said as he walked by.
Without incident, Hanakawa made it to the reception counter and sat down.
“You wish to register with the guild?” the woman behind the counter asked him with a bright smile.
“Very much so!”
“Then please put a hand on this crystal.”
“Oh! This is to discern my stats, is it not? And if the numbers are too high, the guildmaster himself will make an appearance?!”
“No, this is just to record your biometric data for recognition purposes.”
“Huh? Then is there some possibility my immense power may cause the crystal to overload and break?”
“If you break it, you’ll have to pay for it, so please be gentle.”
“Ah, very well.” Hanakawa gently placed his hand on the crystal as instructed. It felt a little cool, but nothing of note happened.
“That is enough. Can I also have your name?”
“I am Daimon Hanakawa.”
“Thank you. With that, your registration is complete. Allow me to explain about Cavern Quest—”
“Huh? That is all it takes to register?! Will I not receive a guild card made with inscrutable technology, somehow recognized across the world, and impossible to forge?!”
“We do not issue cards, no.”
“Then how will I be able to prove my identity?”
“We recorded your biometric data, so that will be enough to confirm your identity. That is much more convenient than having to carry a card around, don’t you think?”
“That may be so, but then how will rumors spread about those with incredible stats, classes, and ranks?”
“I can’t really say.”
“And how am I supposed to flex my guild rank to get my way?!”
“Guild rank? We don’t really have anything like that...”
“What?! I mean the rank that determines what difficulty of quests you are permitted to accept from the guild!”
“Quests are assigned a difficulty rating, but there is no restriction on which quests you can take.”
“But it is supposed to act as a safety mechanism to protect us from taking quests that are too much for us...”
“If you take a quest that is too difficult for you, your fate is your own responsibility.” The receptionist spoke like she was explaining something totally menial.
“Ugh...but guild rank is such a good measure of a member’s strength...”
“Do you mind if we move on to the explanation?” the receptionist asked, clearly fed up with him.
“Fine. Please continue.”
“The ultimate objective for Cavern Quest is to defeat the Subterranean King Lasbo. If you defeat him, you will have beaten the game.”
“That sounds rather cheap as a name. Or perhaps I should say it is reminiscent of a certain pet robot?”
“By the way, the quest at the bottom left posted on the wall of the bar is the Lasbo Extermination quest.”
Hanakawa looked over at the bar. The far wall was covered in sheets of paper.
“Huh? I can challenge him at any time?”
“Yes, you can.” The receptionist’s eyes turned cold, as if to say “Why not hurry up, take the quest, and go die?” “Next, allow me to explain how to take quests. On each quest paper is a number. Once you give that number to the quest counter, the large doors in the center of the room will open so you can begin your quest.”
“Huh? I can begin it directly from here?”
“Yes. You will be teleported to the quest field directly. The field for each quest will be clearly labeled on the quest paper, so please make sure you check it carefully.”
“That seems somehow too easy...”
“If you wish to gather allies to take on your quest, we can provide you with a card showing the number of your quest. Please take that to any table in the bar and wait for companions.”
Hanakawa looked at the bar. Now that she had mentioned it, he noticed numbered cards sitting on the tables around the room.
“Aha. I wondered what they were doing in a bar in the middle of the day, but I suppose they are attempting to form parties.”
“The general flow expected is for you to take quests to strengthen your equipment and yourself to the point where you will be able to eventually take on Lasbo.”
“Well...it seems there is not much need to do these quests. Is there some reward for them?” He had come here mostly to get away from the Seyla, so it didn’t seem like there was any real reason for him to actually participate in the game.
“Yes. Clearing quests will earn you DP. DP is required to pay the Life Tax.”
“Life Tax?” Hanakawa asked in response to the ominous term.
“Yes. Every day, the Life Tax will automatically be deducted from your account. If you cannot afford to pay it, you will die.”
“How can you say something so outrageous so calmly?!”
It seemed he couldn’t afford to play around here.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login