Later that day, Keisuke and the others returned to Fortuna to hand in the quest. It was late when they arrived and the guild hall was nearing closing hours, so it was empty save the wenches tidying the place and the few receptionists remaining behind the counter.

They approached one of them.

“We're closing,” the girl said, organising an assortment of papers in front of her, “so, make it quick.”

Mahiro looked around. “I thought this was Lucy-chan's booth.”

“Obviously not,” said the girl. “The guild is open fifteen hours a day. It would be quite ridiculous to expect Lucy to work every single hour of it.”

“I see. And what’s your name? If you don't mind me asking,” Mahiro asked.

For the first time since they’d walked in, the girl raised her face and Keisuke got a good look at her. She was young, with golden hair tied into a neat bun and big green eyes that reminded Keisuke of emeralds. Despite being dressed in a professional, suit-looking outfit with a red ribbon that all the other commanding officers wore, she still looked young. Keisuke guessed she couldn’t have been older than fourteen.

Come to think of it, Lucy also looked young.

“Caroline’s name is Caroline. Ms. Caroline is also acceptable. But like Caroline said, it is closing hours, so make it quick.”

“Ah…” Keisuke found himself muttering.

Caroline turned her large, round eyes toward him. “What is it? Caroline’s face is nothing to be gawked at. If you’ve something to say, then say it.”

“It’s nothing. I was just wondering if all of you speak like that…”

“Speak like what?”

Were they unaware of their bizarre speech habits? Keisuke wondered. Both Lucy and Caroline referred to themselves in the third person whenever they spoke.

“It’s nothing. Never mind.”

Caroline made a sour face and frowned at Keisuke. “Caroline will tell you this as politely as she can, but Caroline does not take kindly to disrespect. Furthermore, Caroline will now call you the clueless one. Your face even looks clueless.”

“I was born with this face…”

“Caroline feels sorry for your parents.”

“Hey!”

This girl sure is rude, Keisuke thought.

“Um, Caroline-san—” Mahiro began but was swiftly interrupted with a wave of the hand.

“You foreigners and your honorifics. You are in Altear now, not wherever you come from. Drop the -sans and the -chans, if you’d please. I do not care for it.”

“R-right…”

Honorifics, huh…? Were they really that strange? To Keisuke, they didn’t really stand out much. In a way, they felt normal whenever Mahiro used them.

But apparently they were native to where they came from. Keisuke still had no idea where that was. This was just one of those things he couldn’t explain.

“Well, we came to hand in a quest.” Mahiro unfolded the paper Joseph's quest was printed on and placed it on the table. “Lucy told us that as long as the wolf was still alive, the quest was still active. We managed to slay it this time.”

Caroline read the contents of the quest. “Do you have any proof?”

“P-proof…? Well, uh…” Mahiro looked at Keisuke and Fumiko, but they didn't have anything on them, either.

Keisuke hadn't thought about that. Why didn't he? Of course proof would be necessary. How else would they convince the clerks that they really did complete the quest?

“...No. No, we don't have proof,” Mahiro admitted.

“D-does this mean you won't pay us? Without proof? Even though we did do it…”

Caroline eyed the three of them down scrutinously. She sighed. “Well, Caroline already knew this quest was completed and by whom.”

“You did?”

“Yes,” Caroline nodded at Keisuke. “Caroline gets updated the moment someone finishes a quest. She knows even before they come to hand it in.”

“How would you even know that if you're just sitting here all day?”

Caroline smiled smugly. “Caroline can't reveal all of her guild's secrets now, can she? However!” The young girl pointed her finger at them. “This isn't always the case. There are some instances and quests where Caroline will not be sure if it’s been completed. In that case, proof is essential. Without it, you won't get paid. So make sure to always have it.”

“We'll keep that in mind. Thank you.” Mahiro nodded at that.

“Now, then,” Caroline opened something that seemed like a drawer and the sound of coins could be heard, “it says you are due eight silver.”

There was a light sound of coins clanging and when Caroline was done, he held her hand out and there were eight silver coins between her thumb and forefinger. “Here you go,” she said.

When Mahrio took the coins, Caroline seemed to take a second look at them. Her eyes shifted between Fumiko and Keisuke.

“Will that silver be split between the three of you?”

“Uhm, yes,” replied Mahiro.

Caroline appeared dumbfounded. “And this is the first quest you’ve completed, correct? Have you made any money prior to this?”

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“Eh…no.” Mahiro looked ashamed to admit that.

There was a slight chuckle, followed by an outburst of laughter. “You cannot be serious,” Caroline said. “Just how do the three of you plan on surviving on eight silver?”

“Well, we–”

“Let Caroline show you something.” Caroline opened a big black book that was resting on her desk. “Are you aware of one named Ryoma? He was part of the group that you arrived here with. His party has already purchased their official licenses, and today alone they made over three-hundred silver.”

Of course Keisuke knew who Ryoma was. He wouldn’t be able to forget that man even if he tried. He’d stood out above the rest from the very first moment they arrived here, and now it was showing that he was heads above everyone else.

“Three-hundred…” Fumiko’s eyes widened with surprise.

Caroline flipped the page of her book. “Not everyone is as far as them yet, but they’re all doing well for themselves. As it stands,” she pointed her finger at them, “you three are bottom of the barrel. You’re being left behind at an alarming rate.”

It was a fact, but it was a bitter pill to swallow. Mahiro’s hand tightened around the coins in his palm and even Fumiko looked pretty dejected.

It wasn’t nice hearing that you were the last of the pecking order. The three of them had known that their progress was slow compared to the others, but apparently it was painfully so.

“Caroline does not know how you plan on surviving off eight silver, but tell me, have you at least acquired a wolf fang or a pelt?”

Keisuke blinked. “Sorry?”

“How hopeless can one party get…” Caroline mumbled then opened her mouth and pointed at her canine tooth. Her teeth were pretty white. “A wolf’s fang can sell for a fair amount of copper. You can find many stores in Altear that will buy them if they’re in the right condition. Pelts, too. Not just of wolves, but almost any animal. That’s how scouts make extra silver around here.”

“I see..” Keisuke did not know about this. So, animal parts were valuable and they could earn more money by collecting them? “How much do they sell for?”

“Well, it depends on the vendor, doesn’t it? The price may vary depending on the condition. A fang from a normal wolf could get you about…forty or so coppers? And a pelt would be three silvers.”

“That means we could’ve had eleven silver,” Mahiro had a finger on his chin and was thinking. He turned to Keisuke and Fumiko. “We should remember this for next time. It could be worth it.”

Keisuke nodded.

Forty copper and three silver was nothing to scoff at. And that was the worth of slaying a single wolf. If they managed to slay a pack of, say, six wolves, that would amount to eighteen silver and two-hundred and forty copper, which would then amount to twenty silver and forty copper because one-hundred copper was one silver.

That was four times what they made today. It wasn’t at Ryoma's level of profit, but it was something. But still, it was wishful thinking. Slaying an entire pack of wolves was a big ask for them. They’d struggled with just a single one, after all. Six might be impossible.

No, as we are right now, it’s definitely impossible, Keisuke thought. Still, Caroline had given them valuable information.

“Thank you, Caroline. You’ve given us very valuable information.” Mahiro bowed his head and the three of them turned around to leave.

Caroline called to them once more. “Let Caroline bestow upon you one more piece of information before you depart. That quest you took? It was left outstanding for as long as it has because it paid so poorly. It might be good for a single person, but no party would want eight silver for slaying a wolf. If you wish to be scouts in the legion, then you’re going to have to aim higher than that and take on more challenging requests. The higher the risk, the higher the pay. If you can’t do that, then you aren’t fit to be scouts. In this profession, taking baby steps forward will leave you crippled.”

And with that, they left the guild hall.

They decided to return to the stables and get a good night’s rest. Today was a success. Regardless of how much they earned, at least now they could say that they completed a quest.

Keisuke's fear was that they wouldn't be able to take this first step forward. But now they have. Everyone else was ten or twenty steps ahead of them by now, though.

But there's no point comparing us to them, Keisuke thought. If we try to catch up to them, we'll just slip and fall. There's no rush, right…?

Whether there was or not, Keisuke didn't know. But there was no denying that they were the worst of the crop yet. Though, none of that didn't matter if they died.

Surviving was the most important thing. And this time they did survive, and would see tomorrow.

Keisuke thought they could be grateful for that, at least.

“Something on your mind, Keisuke?” Mahiro must've noticed his pensiveness.

Keisuke shook his head. “Not really. I was just thinking that we did well today, didn't we? We did what we set out to do. I feel kind of proud of that, I guess… Is that too shameful?”

“Not at all,” Mahiro smiled. “You’re right, we did well. I'm proud of both of you.”

“I’m sorry. All I did was slow you guys down. I wish I could've done more to help…”

“You did your best. That’s all any of us can do right now,” Keisuke tried assuring Fumiko. “We’ll get better, so don't beat yourself up, okay?”

The smile she gave him was reassuring. Fumiko nodded. “Right. I’ll do my best.”

“Keisuke is right, we did our best. But what Caroline said made sense as well. We can't expect to grow if we take easy requests. So, tomorrow I want to try something a bit more challenging. How does that sound?”

Keisuke placed a hand behind his neck. “I guess it should be fine…? As long as it's not something too out of our league. I don't mind trying to push, but something hard could be a bit too much, I think.”

Mahiro nodded. “I agree. Don't worry, I'll find something I think we can handle.” He then stopped and pulled out the coins Caroline had given them. “Here. We get two each, and I'll hold on to the remaining. I heard there was a bank in the city, so I wanted to check that out.”

“A bank, huh…?” Keisuke parroted.

“Yeah, I thought it'd be wise to try and save our money. Keisuke, do you know what our main goal is right now?”

“Eh…to survive, I guess?”

“Ultimately, that is the goal, sure. But remember we won't be able to make money as recruits for long. Our top priority right now is getting our official scouting licenses.”

Right. Lucy had explained it to them: without the licenses, they would lose access to the guild's quests. Making money would be difficult then.

“So, a bank could come in handy to make sure we stay on track. But, I wonder if saving two silver is even worth it, haha…”

“Oh, right. A license costs two-hundred and fifty silver, yeah? That would mean we need seven-hundred and fifty for the three of us…” Realising that, Keisuke felt somewhat dejected. He was embarrassed for feeling proud about a measly eight silver now.

“We-we're quite far from our goal, aren't we…” Fumiko muttered.

It was Mahiro's smile and words that cheered them up. “Today was just the beginning! Don't worry, from here on out we'll do better. I know we will.”

Keisuke and Fumiko both smiled. “Right!”

“Tomorrow I'll go and have a look at the bank and then stop by the guild to get us a quest. You two can do some shopping, if you'd like. We can meet up at the Mud Gate at noon.”

So, tomorrow's plan was decided. Keisuke looked at the two silvers in his hand. It was quite a dismal amount when he thought about it too much.

But…I earned this money, didn't I? Even though I got my arm mangled in the process, ha-ha… Still, there was something positive about knowing he'd acquired this money through his own efforts. And Mahiro was right, it was only just the beginning.

Will things get easier or harder from here? Keisuke wondered.