Entering the hallway and looking at the notice board, I could see the area had become noticeably busier! Adventurers were tightly crowded around the board looking over the various requests offered. Many could be heard screaming and shouting “I found that one first!” or “No, that’s mine, get your hands off it!”. As for how organized everything seemed during registration, that amount of good will quickly evaporated when viewing the chaos of the request acceptance area. Attendants could be seen in the background frantically trying to calm adventurers and breakup fights before they could occur.

“Something must be going on, during my whole year here, I’ve never seen this much disorder at the notice board.”

Kael’s comments were interesting to me. For him to speak up in this situation must have meant something was going on. Not too much longer had I thought about it, when a large, well-dressed man spouting various facial scars, battle wounds, and long, greying hair, entered the hallway and jumped onto a levitating wooden platform to rise above the rowdy adventurers. Then, raising his right hand to strike a metal bell, an ear shattering, mind-numbing sound was produced. Silence immediately befell the hallway as everyone’s attention went towards the elevated individual.

“Thank you everyone.” He said with a bow.

“I apologise for the inconvenience and abrupt notice by the adventurer’s guild in closing access to the labyrinth today. I am Griffon, headmaster of the Solara Adventurer’s Guild Branch, and have been informed by the reigning monarch, King Solar, that the labyrinth will be closed for several weeks while the Royal Guard performs a military training exercise. For those who normally venture into the labyrinth for income, the guild has prepared a compensation package of 30 silver Solara for this inconvenience. To receive this compensation, please line up outside my office, where I will personally determine your eligibility for this payment.”

Well, I guess that answers the question for why it was so chaotic. Most adventurers choose to delve into the labyrinth once they reached F rank, as the challenges it possesses are consistent, or low variation. Defeating monsters in the Labyrinth for parts is a great source of money, and eliminates the variability from completing quests around the kingdom. A simple request to kill goblins could quickly go from a G rank difficulty to an F rank if some stronger creatures showed up during the subjugation.

Comparatively, the labyrinth was a well-known monster spawning zone below the kingdom, with its biggest advantage being consistency. It was a well studied fact that floor 1 always contained only goblins of level 1, floor 2 always contained undead skeletons of levels 1-2, and floor 3 always contained giant insects of level 2. Deeper floors always had the same monster spawns, and there was no risk of a stronger monster appearing on the current floor. It also appeared that the labyrinth residents were unable to move freely between the levels, so many adventures stuck to being “Labyrinth Fighters” as they called it, for the low-risk it offered.

Adventurers still died sometimes, but that was from usually pushing their luck trying to go deeper down in floors for rarer rewards. After all, drops from a goblin were worth fractional bronze Solara, compared to an ogre’s potential silver Solara! The only downside to becoming a labyrinth fighter, is you HAD to reach F rank first. Entry to the labyrinth for G ranks was forbidden by the kingdom and adventurer’s guild. If everyone was able to enter into labyrinth by simply registering at the guild, there would be almost no incentive to complete the simpler requests, and many would remain unfilled. So, this was the guilds unique solution, no entry unless you were rank F(-) or above.

It didn’t take long, but eventually the crowd around the bulletin board started to disperse and follow the headmaster to his office in hopes of receiving the generous compensation package. I mean, that was roughly three months of wages for experienced adventurer parties, who wouldn’t want to receive that in a lump sum payment???

Motioning for my friends to follow, we slowly approached the notice board and began looking through the various requests:

Rank B – Cull wyvern population located in the mountains above Solar and it’s neighbouring kingdom, Valoria.

Rank B – Investigate demon and cultist sightings near Valoria.

Rank C – Labyrinth floor mapping, Floors 11 and beyond, detailed mapping specialists only.

Rank D – Retrieve and transport of basilisk eggs from the Colosseum Kingdom.

Rank E – Investigate disappearance of new adventurer parties in the forests surrounding rural Solara. Areas of interest are the forest regions: Eldermyst, Great Pine, and Willow’s Retrieve.

…. From there, the requests quickly turned into a large assortment of F and G rank requests, most of which were uninteresting, such as “Find my lost cat” or “Gather 20 Healing Herbs – fair quality and above”. There were even requests for manual labour in cleaning houses and construction. Seriously, what were adventurers to these people? On demand, hired help? However, one request did stand out to me amongst the sea of ordinary tasks.

Rank F(-) ---URGENT--- Goblin Subjugation in Eldermyst forest. Two large goblin camps have been harassing merchants traveling to the city, please eliminate them. Estimated 20 goblins. Reward: 10 silver Solara.

I reached up and lightly tugged on the posted parchment, separating it from the notice board. This was to be our first request as a group, and it was perfect! Goblins were a very easy prey monster around Solara. I had even managed to kill a few of them when they wandered onto my family’s farm, so I knew they posed no challenge to us as a team! Pleased at my find, I happily let my party mates know about my discovery.

“Hey guys, how about we take on this goblin subjugation request? It looks pretty easy and it has a nice reward too! 10 whole silver Solara for killing 20 goblins!”

I showed the request to Kael, Lyra, and Drogan who all looked it over and gave their thoughts.

“Humph, killing these filthy creatures? I suppose they would be good experience for you Jake. I’ve myself already recorded over 100 kills, so I would be more than happy to teach you how its done.”

“Fine. Goblins are super weak and die from a single cast from one of my spells anyways. The only unpleasant thing about killing them, is the horrid smell of charred goblin skin after I’m done with them.”

“Ya, I guess that would be an ok starting quest Jake. It gives me an opportunity to test out my twin shield technique against an easy monster!”

“Perfect, sounds like we’re all in agreement then! Let’s take the request to the counter and inform the guild that Crimson Steel Lux will be taking on the Goblin Subjugation Request!”

Walking towards the counter, there was the demi-human cat that helped us out earlier, Neko. Fortunately, her facial expression was back to being cheerful again. Eagerly, I handed her the request and was already excited at the prospects of finally getting to start our journey! Until I realized there was a rather long pause for her response... Eventually, the demi-human gave their reply in a soft tone again.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“Ummm, Jake? I’m sorry, but this is a request for an F ranked party, and you guys just registered today, so you can only accept requests from the G rank category and below.”

She was right, the request did say F(-). However, that meant it was on the lower end of a typical F ranked difficulty! So, it was time for me to put on my charisma and convince her we could easily handle the problem.

“I see that Neko. However, I am the amazing Jake Valkin! My status sum for a level 1 is already 38, which is well above average! Furthermore, two of my party members are individually ranked F adventurers. Even though Drogan and I just started, we are already effectively an F(-) ranked party if you consider our status and group composition!”

Neko didn’t seem all that convinced at my perfect persuasion, but everything was true. Crimson Steel Lux IS going to become a famous adventurer party, and we’re already filled with talented members, so clearly the only option was to let us take the request and kill the goblins. Though, I was starting to get nervous waiting for her response.

“I’m sorry, but I cannot allow your party to accept this request. It goes against the guild’s rules. Please select another request from the bulletin board that is of G rank difficulty.”

“Oi, Miss Cat, I think ya should let the kind fellow take on the request. He looks like a super dependable guy. Plus, my buddies and I can spot and mentor him on this request for the extra safety, we’re all E+ ranked, see?”

Slightly startled, I looked behind me to find the owner of the strange, rough voice. It was a large, muscular man with scars across his face and body. He had brown hair, not to mention lots of excess hair all over his arms and exposed chest from a deep V cut shirt, and appeared to be balding on the scalp. Accompanied by light facial hair and a red bandana, he gave off a very intimidating aura. Likewise, this was the type of individual you wouldn’t want to come across in a dark alleyway at nighttime. I could see he was flashing his adventurer’s badge towards Neko.

Seeing my startled face, the man reached his hand out to me, offering a handshake and said:

“The names Bandit, kid, pleasure to meet ya.”

“Likewise sir, ummm, what did you mean by spotting us on that request?”

“Ah geez, did the cat not tell you? It’s a system the guild has in place for more experienced adventuring parties to offer guidance to newbies like yourself. Higher ranks agree to forego a monetary reward in exchange for goodwill towards their next rank up. It’s a system that benefits everyone by increasing safety for new parties, while allowing veterans to rank up quicker.”

“You are correct Bandit; it appears this disappointment of a guild attendant failed to explain even this system to us during the introduction.” Kael arrogantly added on.

“So, Miss Cat, does the guild have any problems with this? Or should I go bother the headmaster myself to get the approval? I don’t think he would take too kindly to a demi-human failing in their duties here ya? He did look quite busy and all dealing with all them angry Labyrinth Fighters today.”

Neko looked completely flustered and at a loss of what to do, the panic on her face was clear as day. Her ears twitched and tail flicked vigorously as if they were trying to find some other way to decline Bandit’s perfectly reasonable rebuttal. I had to admit, he did an incredible job with his persuasion in this situation!

“Ummm, I… I guess the guild can allow the Crimson Steel Lux party to accept the request if sir Bandit’s group agrees to mentor them and guarantee their safety.”

When Neko finished giving her reply, I felt a rather heavy and hard “Slap!” against my upper back. The only potential culprit, being the large fellow behind me. A tingling sensation continued vibrating through me. Man, this guy had a hell of an arm to make me feel that way from a friendly slap on the back!

“Wonderful miss! I’m so glad you were able to understand the situation. Don’t cha worry, my boys will take good care of em. Come on over Jake, my groups sitting in the tavern by the window.”

I looked at my friends for their feedback and didn’t receive much. Kael had an unusually large grin across his face, probably from seeing Neko tormented. Lyra seemed uninterested about the whole situation, continuing to absorb herself in the silver mirror she held, and Drogan looked like, well, Drogan. Nothing abnormal. So, we started walking over to their table when I felt a slight tug on my arm.

“Umm, Jake, didn’t that guy seem a little, too happy to be helping us?” Drogan said in a whispering voice. “He looks super scary, I’m not sure this is such a good idea.”

“Don’t worry Drogan, he looks like a very competent person. He has clearly seen many battles and lived to tell the tale! We could learn a lot from him and his friends about being adventurers!”

As we approached the table Bandit walked to, there were two other men sitting down, both appeared to be having a pint of beer. One of the men was very slender looking, with long, dirty brown hair and heavy dark bags under his eyes. There was also a small scar across his right eye. The other man was a similar build to Bandit, except completely bald, no other notable features besides his overweight figure.

“Oi, Slick, Garrick, introduce yourselves why don’t cha? This here’s Jake and we’re gonna be helpin em and his party kill some goblins out in the forests there.”

Now that I’d been listing to Bandit for a little bit, he had a very crude and poor usage of even the common tongue for Solarian. Although that could easily be the alcohol talking. Still, I wasn’t one to judge such a helpful, fellow adventurer.

“Sures thing boss, my names Slick, and I’m the scout for the party. I always gotta keep my eyes open, see? That’s whys I got these bags under em. Happy to meet cha.”

After Slick introduced himself, the other man put his drink down and followed.

“And I’m Garrick, I hold the frontline with Bandit there. Pleasure to meet ya.”

“Likewise! I’m Jake, and beside me are my friends: Kael, Lyra, and Drogan, and together, we’re known as the Crimson Steel Lux party! What’s the name of your adventuring party?”

“Ha! We don’t have no stinking party name, we’re friends and that’s all that matters. No reason for us to have an “official” group name. After alls, you has to pay a fee each year to keep it, and pay even more if you want to rank it up! Stayings as individuals is much better since you save on fees, ya hear?”

“That’s our Bandit! Super smart that one, taughts us all about this adventuring stuffs, and now we’re able to enjoy all the good things about livin.”

“Interesting, I didn’t know there was a fee for keeping a party name. I guess Neko failed to mention that to us as well. Alright, Bandit, Slick, and Garrick, on behalf of Crimson Steel Lux, I look forward to working with you on this request.”

I offered them a bow and collected my thoughts as we were about to head out on our first adventure!

Looking over the request again in more detail, the goblins were believed to be residing in the Eldermyst forest, roughly an hour outside the main city. It would be a relatively quick walk, but once we arrived, we had to start scouting to actually find them. The Eldermyst forest was quite large, spanning thousands of acres. The goblins we were looking for could be anywhere within there.

“Oi, Jake, a bit of friendly advice, but your party composition could probably use a healer or supporter role. You should try asking around the hall here to see if any healers are interested in joining you temporarily.”

As much as I hated to admit it, Bandit did have a point. A healer was a corner stone for most adventuring parties, able to save members from certain death with a well timed “Heal!” or provide a boost to the frontline’s strength or defensive status to reduce the damage taken, and, as it would seem, my group was very heavily focused on offensive. Agreeing to try and find a temporary member, I started asking around the guild hall to see if anyone was interested. After some searching, I managed to find two potential healers. But, once I showed them where we were sitting, they all politely declined after seeing Bandit. I guess they didn’t like the intimidating atmosphere he gave off, even though he was a nice guy. A shame really.

After exhausting all my options, I returned to Bandit disappointed. I was also slightly annoyed my friends didn’t try to help me in finding a supporter either. I guess being the leader was rather difficult, shouldering all this responsibility. Fortunately, Bandit had a solution.

“Don’t cha worry Jakey boy, I knows a place thats near the forest we can probably find a supporter to help yas out. It’s another adventurer guild branch outside the main city proper, just don’t mind the patrons inside though, ya?”

“Oh, that place, I guess if we have no other choice. I still think we’ll be more than fine with just the four of us plus your mentor group Bandit. But, it’s Jake’s decision. He is the leader after all.”

Geez, it was times like this I really wished I could knock Kael upside the head. His comments were starting to get on my nerves.

“Yes Bandit, lets go to one of the other adventurer guild branches and ask there. If it’s your advice, it’s probably good, lead the way.”

And with that, we finally started our first quest, to slay goblins in the Eldermyst forest.