Entering through the front door, most eyes were turned to Ithil. But seeing that he was nothing special, they started looking away. Ithil, who didn’t like all the gazes, relaxed.

Everything was made out of wood, like everything else in the village. It’s to be expected since it was located next to a forest.

Everywhere was tables with chairs and in one corner stood a counter. Next to the counter was couple of doors leading somewhere. Behind the counter stood an older elf. It wasn’t an high elf with pointy ears, so Ithil figured it out because of his extra sensitive dragon eyes.

It seemed like the man didn’t want people to know that he was an elf, and Ithil respected that. Walking up to the counter, the man spoke to Ithil.

“I haven’t seen you around here before, looking to register with the guild or are you an adventurer from some other place?”

“Yes, I’m looking to register.”

“Sure, do you need me to give you an introduction to the guild?”

The man started digging in one of the drawers on his side of the counter while Ithil thought to himself.

‘There is some information in the given knowledge regarding the guild, but there may be something missing…’

“Yes, I’d appreciate that.”

“We hang up local quests on that wall next to the entrance. There are different ranks: 5th rank, 4th rank, 3rd rank, 2nd rank and 1st rank. 5th rank is the lowest. You can take quests of any rank, but the guild isn’t responsible if it’s a quest of higher rank than your own. Everyone starts in the 5th rank. If you have completed three quests with ranks that are above yours, then your rank is changed to the lowest of those ranks.

We also have global quests, but all are 1st or 2nd rank. They hang on the walk next to the counter.

You can sell most rare things you find to us if they aren’t part of a quest. We only pay and take payments in the common monetary system.”

The man took forth a small metal card, seemingly enchanted with some advanced magic.

“Now may I have your name and the registration payment?”

Ithil handed over the amount that stood on a sign above the counter: 50 copper.

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“Cliff Dagger”

It was an alias Ithil had though up on the spot. He didn’t like it much, but it would do.

The man wrote with some kind of pencil on the metal card, then handed it over to Ithil.

“This is your adventurer’s card, it is used for identification. If you lose it you can get a new one here for a small fee.”

“Thanks.”

“Good luck on your adventures kid.”

Ithil walked over to the local quest wall. Most quest were things like picking magical mushrooms for some miracle drug or hunting for smaller beasts on the plains beyond the hills.

There were some harder quests like killing a rampaging giant bear and bringing back its head.

“Ehm, are you perhaps looking for a quest? Do you want to join my party on one quest?”

Ithil turned around. A young skinny human about his height was standing there, looking a bit nervous. He was constantly changing his position, most likely without noticing it. He wore a commoner’s clothes and had grey eyes with brown hair. He hadn’t grown any beard yet and looked to be around 18.

“Sure, what quest is it?”

--------------------

The undergrowth rustled as the three people walked through the forest.

“I see you don’t have any equipment Cliff, I have some you can borrow,” the human who had asked ithil to join his party, Lerth Regalweaver, said. Ithil noticed he was still a bit nervous even though they had been walking together for hours.

They were tracking a giant thorn cat through the forest near the sea cliff. Lerth was the party leader, he used two daggers when fighting and was very agile. Well, at least for a human.

The other person who was the one tracking, Hikor Suhkihr, was wearing a bow and camouflaging clothes. Hikor didn’t show his face, but Ithil suspected he was a disguised lower elf just like the man behind the counter at the Adventurer’s Guild.

Ithil had decided to train in limiting his strength, since he didn’t want people to become suspicious. But he still preferred not using weapons, no dragon liked using tools to win.

“No thanks, I train with my fists.”

“Really? Are you perhaps using magic?”

“No.”

“…

Ok…”

Lerth looked a bit shocked before shaking it off.

“Hikor, are we getting closer?”

“The giant thorn cat has started slowing down,” the tracker answered a bit grumpily.

‘Seems like he’s not in a good mood… Or maybe he’s just always grumpy. He clearly isn’t very social, I like that.’

After walking for another hour, Hikor stopped and jumped up a nearby tree. Ithil and Lerth followed.

Lerth was about to ask something, most likely regarding if he had found the cat, when Hikor made a gesture for him to stay quiet. Lerth shut his mouth like Hikor wanted, and they kept still in the tree watching the forest floor.

A little while later, they could hear something moving close to them. Small twigs broke and the bushes rustled.

A cat with thorns growing out of its back came into view. It was sniffing the ground. When it walked below the tree, it froze. Sniffing the ground even closer, it started looking around.

‘It seems to have found our scent.’

Hikor started counting down with his fingers.

3… 2… 1…

Hikor jumped down, tightly followed by Lerth, as they attacked the giant thorn cat. Ithil stayed behind for a moment, not wanting to risk showing his full strength.

‘It doesn’t look very giant, maybe it’s a young one. Or maybe it can expand it’s body… Most likely the second considering the reward for the quest.’

Ithil followed the other two down.