Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated that they understood who I worked for, although he didn’t need to go as far as calling it my luck. The guy made me sound like a bareheaded monk joining a scholastic monastery. It was the only time I ever heard the old man tell me to mention his name and that of the Dryad. From their reaction I could see why it would be useful to me.

“I believe you are familiar with the Dryad’s reputation then. Although I cannot use the name of the Dryad on a personal capacity, I can however offer this guild my weapon making services under my own Karosaki trademark. In return I ask for the right to advertise my services freely on the noticeboard and to have free access to quests that might be offered.”

The guild master looked perplexed as if a tug of war took place in his brain.

“I think your offer is far beyond what we would consider as compensation for my offer. I’m happy to have your services displayed on the noticeboard, but I apologise, on the issue of free quests I cannot agree. Please understand that it’s not that I’m refusing your request, but rather that guild law prevents me from offering discounts on guild quests.”

“That’s a pity. I wanted to present this knife I recently made to you. It hasn’t got a scabbard, but you can keep the leather cover.”

I said while unwrapping a leather parcel I placed on the table. Lying on the leather wrapping gleamed a silver-coloured bush knife with an ogre-tooth handle.

“As you can see it is a fine knife with a particularly durable and sharp edge. It’s ogre tooth handle came from an ogre general I killed with my own hands. The creature you see etched on the handle is called a lion, my personal motif. I’m presenting this knife as a gift to the adventurer guild as a sign of my sincerity in this issue.”

“Th…Thank you, it’s a although I’m not sure what we would do with it though?”

For some reason he looked uncertain, perhaps I missed something, so I suggested an option.

“Mm, if accepting the knife is a problem, could I suggest something?”

“Eh, by all means.”

“Why not offer a raffle where each adventurer taking part can pay a silver in for a ticket and a chance in a draw. It should raise a good competitive spirit.”

“What’s a raffle?”

I put my face in my hands. While realising they didn’t know what a raffle was, it probably needed further explanation from me. I’ll save you the details I gave them, but I think they received the idea well enough judging by their nods and smiles. I left it to them to sort out, I had no intention of getting involved except as using it as a means of broadcasting my name. The guild master waved his hand in a dismissive way.

“Don’t worry Mr. Karosaki, we have another noticeboard the guild uses for private bulletins.}

“Waive all costs for advertising and I’ll accept.”

The guild normally charges for the placement and acceptance of quests and every copper meant something to me. I might as well throw that into the bargain.

“Very well, the guild will rescind any placement or quest acceptance costs for you.”

And so, we enjoyed a bit more conversation and planning, and so we returned downstairs where I asked Olivia for some help.

“When you have a moment, would you mind taking me around the guild and explaining how it works?”

“I’m free until lunch time, let me show you what I can till then.”

With nothing better to do until then, I indicated for her to start. She started with the basics, firstly with how the adventurer rating system worked.

“Regardless of the type of task an adventurer can complete, the guild measures their ability to complete any task with a merit system called ability levels. Every adventurer starts off at Basic level, from there, only two other higher levels exist, Intermediate and Expert. Your ability level dictates the type of quest or request that you can participate in. Any questions?”

She stood with her hands on her hips like a teacher giving a lesson to a student. She looked cute, but that stance gave away her immaturity, but I didn’t dislike that either. Why did I suddenly have a suspicion she was the older sister for younger siblings?

“How do I improve my ranking?”

“Rankings increments are awarded by merit through the adventurer guild. Merit is decided by the guild including things like level of quests completed, number of quests completed and years of service amongst others. There are negative factors that can drop ranking levels like adventurers causing problems for the guild or other folk. Only guild masters of all guilds in the kingdom can increase an adventurer’s ranking to Expert by voting for advancement. To give you an indication of how rare of an opportunity that is, almost all adventurers are either at the Basic or Intermediate levels. Follow me.”

I followed her to the quest noticeboard where she pointed to a quest.

“This quest has the name of the initiator, the date of posting, a description of the quest and the reward. An expected completion date will also be on there if it applies. Technically, when a quest parchment is taken off the board by an adventurer it is considered as accepted by that adventurer, although it is only confirmed with an acceptance stamp at the administrator counter. If a quest is not accepted at that stage for some reason, a fine will be payable, the amount also listed on the parchment. It’s recommended that any queries about the pinned quest parchment first be queried at the counter before taking it off the board.”

She looked at me with a stern face. I think many a teacher looked at me like that once.

“That costly mistake is commonly made by beginner adventurers.”

“Why do they have a rule like that? Surely there wouldn’t be a problem taking information off a wall?”

Olivia shook her head.

“It would be a problem. If that rule didn’t exist, any adventurer wanting to monopolise the quests could simply take all the ones they liked off the board, regardless of whether they intended completing them or not, disadvantaging everyone else. It’s not fair to everyone else. However, the guild administrator would be more than happy to advise anyone about any advertised quest on the board, so there’s no reason to remove them.”

Her explanation made sense. It reminded me of a small note I once read next to a delicate ornament at a curio shop. It said: beautiful to look at, wonderful to hold, but when you drop it, consider it sold. I guess the same applied to someone taking a quest parchment off the wall. On later occasions I discovered that no adventurer touched the parchments unless they planned to remove it from the board. When they did, they were literally brutal in ripping it off the board in an over dramatic fashion so that no one doubted their intention. I wondered if anyone ever accidentally ripped more than one quest off the board with all that violent pulling.

“Have a look here. The board is divided into three quest difficulty rows with the easiest on the bottom and the most difficult on top. As you can see, there are fewer quests at the bottom because they are mostly sought after being bread and butter quests.”

“Bread and butter?”

“Quests that give low but consistent rewards. An adventurer will never become wealthy through them, but they will not starve either. They can also double as multiple quests allowing adventurers to collect items on the way to other quests. This encourages efficiencies from adventurers. And before you ask, the top row also has fewer because those quests are the most difficult to fulfil and fewer adventurers can complete them.”

“Is there a limit on the number of quests that can be taken at one time.”

“Generally, only one quest at a time is advised, although a guild administrator can allow more if adventurers discuss it with them first. The guild is not against varying quest arrangements, we just feel we have the right to advise on any quest selections out of the norm.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

That seemed fair. At least they were not strictly against the idea, which could make a substantial difference for adventurers trying to make quests more cost-effective and worthwhile.

“You’ll also notice that the board is divided into category columns to make it easier for adventurers to find quests. Look to the far right where all the plant quests are.”

I looked closer at the parchments and immediately recognised the drawing of Swine Plantain on a parchment in the easy plant section of the board. It offered a reward of one silver per complete plant including the roots and the plant needed to be fresh. I could stuff a whole lot of plants in my bag and sell them at the guild, I chuckled at the ease I could earn some coin. At first, I thought it sounded too good to be true but then I realised there were a few other realities that needed to be considered. For one thing, a single adventurer needed to carry everything on their back unless they had a beast of burden like a horse. In a forest a horse could be both a blessing and a curse because as much as it could carry things, it was also a big target for monsters. Horses laden down with heavy burdens wouldn’t make for quick getaways from monsters either. Practically, it became a balance between weight and speed. In that way only a certain amount could be brought back, and that was if you found the plant in the first place. Olivia continued.

“As you no doubt can see, the plant quests higher up the quest board have greater rewards but with coinciding increased difficulty.”

She wasn’t kidding. There was a plant called Edelweiss going for one gold per flower. There was no mention of where to find them. I expected someone clever enough to accept the quest would know where to find them, in which case I assumed it wasn’t conveniently placed next to the main road. The name reminded me of the Swiss alps for some reason. Thoughts of snowy craggy mountain cliffs came to mind. I didn’t plan to get involved with those sorts of quests until I was either a lot wiser, richer, or warmly dressed. With plants in mind, I had another question for Olivia.

“Let's say I were to find Swine Plantain on a quest when I didn’t request a plant gathering quest. Could I gather Swine Plantain, claim the quest, and then immediately receive the rewards after handing in the plants?”

She nodded in affirmation.

“Most definitely. Again, efficiency counts. If an adventurer can fulfil the requirements of the quest and it is still on the noticeboard, we will have no issue approving it. But remember, your word is your bond. If an adventurer regularly fails quests, we will not willingly issue difficult quests to them, regardless of their ranking. It isn’t just the adventurer’s reputation at risk, but the guild’s as well.”

“I can understand that.”

In that world where your word counted for survival, a person’s reputation was paramount. There were other categories of quests like monster hunting, resource gathering and even community work. Monsters like goblins seemed to be a particular problem in certain forests judging by the areas earmarked on the quests.

Olivia then shifted to another noticeboard where judging by the quest notices I assumed that board was the private noticeboard where private people or businesses could advertise quests.

“This private noticeboard is where anyone can advertise their services. Because the guild doesn’t control this noticeboard, we don’t regulate the ability levels for it. Nonetheless, advertisers still mention rankings because just like us, they don’t want to waste time, effort and money on false expectations or failures. We offer this as a community service and some misuse it as a method of avoiding costs when going through the guild. Although we tolerate that, we don’t endorse it. I’ll admit that it can be lucrative, but it can also prove costly.”

“Why is that?”

“Over a summer season ago, an adventurer making poor decisions fell into hard times during a previous winter. To recap his losses, he took on a dangerous private escort mission with other adventurers for a merchant caravan looking to beat the opposition to Eldergarde in the Kusian kingdom in the north before the snows fully disappeared. Unfortunately, an unexpected snowstorm devastated the caravan far north of Draguilet at the foot of the Mystral mountains. Monsters soon finished whatever the snows left behind. The adventurer survived but lost his lower legs in the end so that he couldn’t work again. Normally the guild would cover adventurers with a royal pension as advertisers pay a fee to the royal palace as insurance towards mishaps. The higher the risk, the higher the fee. In his case, because the private merchants waived the insurance fees in preference for paying higher incentive rewards, not only did he lose the reward he also lost any pension. He had little choice but to live in poverty and rely in the charity of strangers in the end.”

It honestly sounded like a page from the story of the Donner party. I felt that it was a sad way for that adventurer to pay for his poor choices, but it was little different on earth. Merchants knew adventurers wouldn’t accept a risky quest without attractive rewards, but the resulting quest insurance would have been inordinately high considering the risk. Consequently, including insurance costs on those quests made the trip non-profitable, so the merchants bailed out on the guild’s insurance and instead opted for issuing a private quest and the rest was history, so to speak. Doubtlessly some adventurers liked those sorts of high reward, high risk quests.

At that point Olivia, concerned about me standing the whole time, sat down at one of the tables and invited me to join her. Then she continued her explanation of the guild rules.

“You can bring in monster remains as evidence of your completed quest just don’t bring bloody carcases inside the building otherwise, we may present you with a cleaning fee. Anything messy or too large for the counter you can take to the back where there are facilities designed to handle those.”

“Okay, no monsters or bloody monster parts in building…check.”

“Once you leave the carcases there you can enter the building and speak to one of the administrators who will go through the assessment process for you. When the initial assessment is completed, you will be paid for completing the quest minus any other costs like processing or removal fees payable to the guild for dealing with any leftover parts. You’ll also pay then for any professional slaughtering fees you might request from the guild. You could also hire our facilities and slaughter the carcasses yourself.”

“Is there any particular reason why I can’t just slaughter the carcasses outside the guild?”

“You could if you keep the parts needed to prove the monster subjugation. Remember that slaughtering inside the city walls is forbidden unless doing so in designated areas and sometimes slaughtering just outside the walls could also attract monsters following the smell of blood which can create problems for people and farmers. The guards will not be happy if they discover you slaughtering carcasses near the walls.”

Having got the point I didn’t want to hover on that topic and shifted focus to another question of mine.

“One of the quests on the board needed five goblins to be killed. What happens if I can only kill three, can I claim part of the reward?”

“A definite no. If a quest has not been completed to the requirements stipulated on the quest parchment, then it isn’t completed. As guild administrators we do not compromise on this. Broken teeth or parts of horns or ears will not even be considered. In fact, if an adventurer is brazened enough to try, they may find themselves in a lot of hot water with the guild administrators.”

“What happens in cases like that, would they be expelled from the guild?”

“Only as a last option for the guild. We would probably first issue three consecutive warnings to the adventurer and depending on the severity of the case, then look to expel them.”

I naturally assumed that wasn’t three warnings per quest.

“Could I gain rewards for monsters I killed which are not listed as quests?”

She smiled at my question for some reason. Perhaps a commonly asked question by budding adventurers like me.

“That’s a good question. Yes, because the kingdom considers monsters as pests, the guild will always pay on demonstration of proper monster parts. If anything, the guild is even more stringent when confirming non-quest kills.”

“It’s all very well talking about monsters but just how prolific are they?”

“Generally, you would battle to find monsters for at least half a day’s travel by horse from the city. Many newbie adventurers like you tend to operate within a day’s travel from the city so any monsters are quickly subjugated. That means few, if any, monsters can be found within the farmland areas surrounding the city. The further you travel into the forested areas, the better your chances of finding monsters.”

From her explanations I discovered that goblins sometimes appeared around the forested outskirts of the farmlands. Only more experienced adventurers went deeper into the forest hunting ogres or anything bigger. Direwolves were almost unknown and if they were around, few lived to talk about it. Perhaps I should feel privileged having seen one not that long ago. Adventurers usually created larger groups or cooperated with other teams to improve their survival chances when operating in the deep forest.

Olivia then showed me other places in the guild, like the adjacent sparring training hall and the meeting rooms on the upper floor above the reception counter. Apparently, all their facilities could be rented from the guild at a discounted rate for guild members. At the back the building stood the slaughtering block. It sported all the necessary mechanical items to help skin and clean any carcass. The place smelled of rusty iron and meat, not a smell I particularly wanted to hang around, so I understandably kept that site visit short.

When she finished my tour, I asked where I could find the nearest adventurer supply shop. She just finished telling me where to go when a commotion started near the administrator counter. A woman frantically ran into the guild.

“Help me, help me, please someone. My husband went out on a quest, he should have been back four days ago and still hasn’t come home. Please help me.”

I expected Olivia to rush over to the woman to help her, instead another administrator helped her.

“Ma’am, please calm yourself. What’s your husband’s name. We’ll look for his name in the register. Okay?”

The hopelessness on Olivia’s face said it all. I had to ask because my heart felt that lady’s hurt.

“What’s happening there?”

“Since the failed attack on the Blister Oak Forest dungeon, more dangerous monsters have penetrated far deeper into the forest than they usually would. Adventurers that could normally cope with the handful of monsters in the forest are finding themselves attacked by large, well-coordinated armoured groups. She must be the seventh distraught wife or girlfriend entering the guild in the last few days looking for loved ones. This poor lady’s husband is probably no exception, and I suspect there will be more.”

Olivia gave me a stern look.

“Do not underestimate the forest or the monsters that live there. Especially in these dangerous times.”

In the aftermath of that woman’s grief, I left the guild somehow feeling as if I should be doing something but unsure of what or how. It was frustrating for me, and I didn’t like feeling helpless. I decided to visit the local adventurer shop as a distraction, perhaps to find something that could distract me. I also wanted to drop off another advertisement for my services since Grenfell told me I had to find my own business to keep me occupied and employed while in Shimmerstal.