"Approved," Charles said as he stamped the document and places it aside.

"Thank you," the masked woman said. She nodded at him, turned, and began to walk away.

Charles slumped back in his comfy seat with a sigh. It was a busy day at the Adventurer's Guild, and he was alone, manhandling the entire receptionist desk. Working as a receptionist in the Adventurers Guild meant that he would often deal with rambunctious or eccentric individuals who came in to either send in or accept a request. It wasn't a difficult task. He just filled in the paperwork and submitted them.

Unfortunately, on the rare occasion he had to deal with anonymous requests like now, he would have to file a lot more paperwork to ensure the Adventurer's Guild or the adventurer who had accepted the request weren't screwed over somehow.

Because anonymous clients tended to keep a veil of ambiguity around them, it was difficult to sniff out if it was a legitimate request, a prank, or a trap.

All he knew about the masked woman was that she flashed an ID card, before asking to submit a request for an escort mission into human territory.

Many people were doing that now. Rumours of Demon Lord Wrath mobilising an army to invade spread around like wildfire. Elves, Dwarfs or Beast-folk would much rather stay in human territory than demon territory if war broke out.

Demons were famous for brutal conscription, after all.

As per protocol, the woman had left half the payment behind. It was a hefty sum, so Charles knew it was legitimate. He quickly counted the number of gold, silver and bronze coins and confirmed everything was in order. It was more work than he was used to

Fuck. He just wanted to end his shift, go home, and take a long nap.

"Next!" he called out, straightening his seat, trying to look more professional. But as he saw the next person, he knew that was unnecessary.,

The receptionist blinked as a woman draped in rags walked up to the counter. She has messy brown hair, and two vile looking daggers sheathed at her sides. She almost looked like a beggar from the streets.

Charles cleared his throat and raised a pen "Hello, may I have your name?"

"Rena," she said in a straightforward voice. "I'd like to be an adventurer."

Great, one of these people. Charles mentally rolled his eyes.

In the two years he worked here, he'd seen his fair share of people like her come into the Adventurer's Guild after hearing about the fame, glory and riches that came from adventuring.

They thought they could get rich quick. Those idiots ended up quitting within a month or so.

Either that, or they ended up dead, their bodies shredded to pieces my monsters. It was stupid, really. However, Charles never voiced his opinion, as he was a professional -

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"Er, hello? Is there blood on my face or something?"

His thoughts were interrupted. Rena waved a hand at him. "What are you staring at?"

Charles blinked, breaking out of his stupor. He nodded slowly and shuffled through a pile of paper.

"Right, right. Well, before you sign up, I need to know your rank, level and class"

"Um, Rank F, level 15, and no class," Rena replied simply.

"Well, since you're a warrior class, you'll just have to pass the physical evaluation-" Charles droned on for a moment before cranking his neck up. He started directly at the girl. "What did you say?"

"Well, I said I'm-" she started.

But Charles shut her up halfway though her sentence. "I know what you said! No need to repeat it!"

"You know, you're sending a lot of mixed messages right now."

"What are you doing trying to apply to become an adventurer if you don't have a class?" The receptionist said, pointing at her accusingly.

A few heads in the guild turned to watch the commotion. Rena just shrugged.

"I mean, I went to the class-giving place, but they said I needed an adventurers licence or whatever first. They said all I had to do was pass a held examination to get that licence."

"Are you a fucking dumbass?"

"I don't know - Am I?"

Charles got to his feet, ignoring her and gesticulating wildly. "I said, are you a fucking dumbass? You think there won't be a problem if we let anyone join the Adventurer's Guild? I'm sure becoming an adventurer is your childhood fantasy, but being an adventurer is a job, not some hobby. It's not fun or fulfilling. It's dangerous. The mortality rate for adventurers are higher than the mortality rate if you enlist ion the Demon Lord of Wrath's army. That's right. You might as well enlist as a soldier!"

He harrumphed. Rena just crossed her arms. She gave him a long, flat stare.

"You done?"

The receptionist sunk back into his seat. "Why do I even bother? They never listen. They never do."

Rena sighed. "Look, I just want to become an adventurer. One of you guys said the same thing about being 'classless’. I went to the class giving place, ant they told me to get an adventurers licence first. This loop is stupid as hell. I'm stronger than some classed adventurers anyway, just let me join"

Charles shook his head, opening his mouth. "Look, if you really think you can lie to me, you can just to scram. Its common sense that any D ranked person can select a class once they reach level 10. C ranked and above, you're born with a class. The Class Church helps change your class, not fucking give you one! Look, if you-"

The receptionist looked up, blinking to see a well-rounded man towering over the counter. Charles immediately recognized him.

It was Yache - a gold badged adventurer!

The only gold-badged adventurer currently residing in this town!

His presence already drew a lot of attention. Some newbies pointed and gasped at where he stood.

He looked down at Rena.

"Yo you applying to be an adventurer?" Yache said as he loomed over Rena.

"I just said that, did I not Yes, I am." She nodded.

"I see." The gold-badged adventurer's gaze shadowed her. He uncrossed his arms and took a step toward her. "Well, you…" he started.

Grinning, Charles leant back into his seat, For a usually relaxed dude, Yache sure could act intimidating. Maybe it was an intimidation skill?

He couldn't wait to see the fallout of this. Yache was going to give Rena and earful, and Charles was all for it.

The girl cocked her head as Yache's lips moved. He raised a hand.

"C’mon Charles. Let her in, wont ya?" He slyly said, pointing at the receptionist.

Charles stood there, dazed. "What…?"

"I mean, she said she was level 15, didn’t she? Even as a rank F, a level like that measures her up to some of the best Broze-badges, don’t'ya think? As a rank F, she can't get a class, no matter what. A bit unfair, eh?"

"I - that’s's…" Charles opened his mouth, wanting to protest. Then he saw the whispering faces. Most of the watching crowd was pointing at im with judging looks.

The receptionist gave up. He bowed his head, and spoke softly. "I apologise, Ms Rena. As long as you fill out the paperwork, I will look into registering you as an adventurer."

"Cheers." Yache gave him an approving look.

And Rena just watches with a smug grin.