“I’m sorry for the wait,” Sandra, the front desk clerk of the guild, said as she entered the room.

She walked towards our table, placed the book and the card that she brought, and sat on one of the empty seats in the table. The book had a red cover adorned with golden borders and a large blue crystal in the center. The card on the other hand looked empty, I could see the words: name, sex, age and other categories in there, but there was no information under them. It had roughly the size of a credit card.

“What is that book?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“It’s a book about the history of the Adventurer’s Guild,” She opened the book and faced it towards us. She called it a book, but I wouldn’t really call it a book book. It’s more of a picture book than anything else. Yeah it’s both books but there’s not really much wor- you know what I mean!

“It’s pretty,” Alicia, after drinking her tea, commented.

It sure looks really pretty though. Every page was colored and looked almost realistic

If I were to rate it, I would say that every page is like a masterpiece. Each page can already be considered a magnum opus of an artist. That’s coming from someone who doesn’t have an eye for art by the way, so take that opinion with a grain of salt.

“I’m gonna start then. Is everyone ready?” Sandra asked us.

Emyr and Alicia said yes. Sandra, waiting for my answer, looked at me. I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to be ready for so I just followed their lead and nodded my head.

After seeing my response, she stood up from her seat and closed all the curtains making the room darker. It wasn’t so dark that you couldn't see anything, it’s more of a dimly lit room.

Returning to her seat, she closed the book and pressed her finger on the jewel in the center of the book. She was silent, as well as everyone who was watching her.

I took a biscuit from the plate in front of me and gave it to Rimu. I also took a sip from my tea while waiting for something to happen. The tea wasn’t made the way I like it but it was still pretty sweet. Sandra probably made it this way in consideration to us children.

After a while, she moved her hand away from the jewel, moving her touch to the edge of the book. Light started coming out from the jewel. It hit an empty wall, projecting a sentence into it. The book started to act like a projector.

“The History of the Adventurer’s Guild,” Emir read out loud..

“This is amazing.. It’s my first time seeing something like this,” Alicia, seeing a projection of an image for the first time, was completely taken aback.

“Have you already seen something like this before?” Alicia asked. I probably wasn’t showing that much reaction on my face.

“Why do you ask?”

“Your face is not really showing any kind of reaction to the light on the wall”

That confirms it. Well you can’t blame me! We used projectors a lot of times in my past life. We use it almost every time we have a meeting. I encounter and use a projector at least twice every month so you really can’t blame me for that.

“Well.. I was completely surprised that I couldn't even say anything, let alone show something on my face.”

I can’t really tell her that projectors are commonplace back in the world where I came from, so I ended up lying once again.

“Hmmm.” She stared at me for a short while, then brought her attention to the other kid beside her, sipping his tea.

“How about you Emir? Have you seen something like this before?”

“I have. We have something similar back at our castle.”

“I’m being left out,” She said while pouting

“I really haven’t seen anything like this before,” I said, trying to convince her.

“If you say so..”

Lilia, also seeing this device for the first time raised a question.

“I didn’t know the guild had something like this.”

“Well.. This book was only really used to educate the new clerks.,” Sandra replied, letting out a nervous laugh.

“Should we be using this thing then?”

“It should be fine if we keep it a secret…,” She shot everyone in the room with a worried look.

Lilia let out a short sigh. “We’ll keep it a secret then.”

Hearing Lilia’s reply brought a cheerful smile to her face. With that out of the way, she started her presentation.

“This is the history of the adventurer’s guild.”

The projected image on the wall slowly warped, turning into a completely different image. The way it warped was similar to a flashy transition effect that you can find in presentation softwares. The image showed an aerial shot of a small village beside a river.

“This was the Kingdom of Ludenburgh before it was founded. 200 years ago, after the Holy war, the hero Richard Ludenburgh decided to settle down in a small village next to a river. He lived a silent life but still ended up being the village’s chief. Under his leadership, the village slowly, but surely prospered. The village’s peaceful life didn’t last long however. With the approach of the disaster-”

“Disaster?” I cut her explanation to quench my curiosity.

“The age of ice, or more commonly known as the White Disaster.”

That didn’t really answer my question though. Seeing my head still tilted to the side, Alicia stood up to answer.

“You know? The-”

“No I don’t,” Hearing my quick rebuttal made her pout.

“Stupid Lumina! I’m not done explaining yet!”

“I’m so- sorry, ple please continue,” I said while trying to hold my laughter in.

“Hmph! Whatever. I’m not explaining it now,” She crossed her arms and faced the other direction. Seeing this, Ceres stepped in to answer my question.

“It’s the disaster that occurred after defeating the demon king. In his downfall, he casted a spell that covered the sky for years which lowered the temperature so much that it began snowing everywhere. I hope that the young mistress is not neglecting her studies.”

“Oh. That disaster. I understand now. I’m also not neglecting my studies, thank you very much. I just don’t know what disaster Miss Sandra is specifically talking about,” And what’s with the young mistress? Why suddenly start calling me that? I wanted to ask but I couldn’t, considering the current situation. I’ll just ask her that later when we’re alone together.

With their explanations, I took another good look at the image and realized something. The image on the wall didn’t have that much sunlight in it. Clouds stretched to the end of the horizon. The image once again warped, this time, showing a line of people extending as far as the eyes can see, moving to the small village.

“Due to the aftermath of the Holy War, thousands of people lost not only their homes, but also the reason it became their home in the first place. Millions of lives were lost. After the news spread out that a hero is starting a village in the middle of nowhere, people seeking for salvation, seeking to find a new meaning in their life, or people just wanting to start a new life made their way into the said village.”

I can’t even imagine how many problems the influx of that many people will bring to a village that small.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“With thousands of people pouring into the village, came also thousands of problems. Food, shelter, water, and crime. All sorts of problems started popping out. Add the darkening skies, and the lowering surrounding temperature, which doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon, King Richard needed to act fast. He can’t just turn all those people away, but he also can’t leave things as is either. It’s either the village will die along with the refuge, or the refuge will die on their own.”

The image warped again, showing King Richard standing at a podium, giving a speech to hundreds of people.

“The King didn’t want that though, he wanted everyone to survive. He gathered everyone he can and gave a speech that managed to inspire those who were listening. This day was marked in the calendars as the day where King Richard Ludenburgh united the Kingdom of Ludenbrugh.

Luckily, some of the refugees were nobles from fallen countries. Those who swore allegiance to him were given roles to manage the growing population. From a nameless village, to a town named Ludenburgh; this was the start of the government of Ludenburgh. They manage to solve some of the problems, but due to the constant stream of refugees still entering the town, the mountain of problems keep getting taller. As the government can only do much, King Richard created the Ludenburgh Recruitment Committee, more currently known as the Adventurer’s Guild. They handled the distribution of jobs and the payment for the completion of these jobs. The government gives them the tasks needed to be completed, they will find the appropriate people, handle everything from the organization of materials needed for jobs, and oversee the completion of these tasks.”

“The adventurer’s guild back then did a lot of things,” Emir, who was quietly watching all this time, spoke.

“They did. We still do a lot of things to these days, but nothing compared to what they did before!” Sandra cheerfully said.

The image on the wall changed to an aerial shot of the town. It was so much bigger compared to the small village it was showing before.

“It’s so much bigger now..,” Alicia commented.

“It will only get bigger,” Sandra said and shot Alicia a smile.

“As the town slowly grew to a city, the tasks slowly started to dwindle. More government organizations were created, handling specific sectors of the kingdom further decreasing the work of the LRC. Its function slowly deviated from its initial purpose. The LRC started issuing tasks given by the people in the kingdom, making it similar to how the Adventurer’s Guild functions today. The government still issues tasks occasionally, but most of the time, the source of the tasks are from the people living in the kingdom. Any questions?”

Finishing up her explanation, she asked us if we had any questions. She looked at me. Since I don’t really have any questions, I just shook my head from side to side.

“Nonee~,” Alicia answered.

“How about that card that you’re holding?” Emir voiced his question.

“We’ll talk about that later. Do you have any questions about the history of the Guild?”

“Ah. None.”

“Okay then, Let’s move to the Adventurer’s Guild Card, or more commonly known as the guild card.

She pulled her finger away from the book and the image on the wall vanished. She stood up from her seat and opened the curtains. The light entered and quickly spread throughout the room.

“Ah!” Alicia let out a short shriek while covering her eyes. She was probably caught off guard by the sudden difference in the brightness of the room.

“What are you doing Alicia? You’re supposed to slowly open your eyes at times like this. The sudden brightness can hurt your eyes.”

“It will hurt, so it’s best to do what Lumina is saying,” Emir agreed with what I have said.

“So you really have seen this book before then?” Alicia spoke, still lightly rubbing her eyes.

You’re still not over about that?! This child..

“No. What I mean is, if you go from somewhere dark to somewhere bright in a short amount of time, you can hurt your eyes. It has nothing to do with the book that we saw earlier.”

“If you say so..”

“I forgot to tell you about that. I’m sorry!” Sandra apologized while chuckling.

Alicia was about to complain but Sandra immediately changed the topic to the card in her hand. She probably saw the face that Alicia made. She completely read her even though they just met. She’s kind of scary in a sense.

“This card proves that you are a member of the Adventurer’s Guild. Without this, you will not be able to do tasks that are issued by the Guild.”

She placed the card on the table and pushed it towards me.

“This card shows your information. Most importantly, your name, and your rank.”

The card has a blue gem in its center and small blue lines extending towards the edge of the card. I picked the card and flipped it over. The back of the card had these symbols interconnected to each with the blue line that was coming from the front of the card.

“Let me see it too,” Alicia, who couldn’t wait for her turn, rose from her seat and went beside me.

“Couldn’t you wait for a bit longer?”

“No. It should be fine with me sitting besides you right?”

It is fine, but think about me and Rimu. We’re already kind of cramped here.

“Umm..,” Emir, who was watching us from across the table, made a small sound and started to get up from her chair.

“I have an extra card for you. You don’t have to go there.”

Sandra handed the card to Emir. He took the card and took his seat wearing a disappointed face.

“What is this crystal in the center for?” Alicia asked Sandra while still inspecting the card in my hand.

“It’s a magic circle that verifies if you are the owner of the guild card. This magic circle prevents the theft of identities. If you try pouring mana into that little crystal, your card will start to emit light.”

“Nothing is happening,” Emir, who tried doing what she said, said.

“Well that’s because that card is not yours, or not anyone’s. It shouldn’t activate no matter who pours their mana into that stone. Here, look at this.”

She took out a card from her front pocket and showed it to us.

“If I start giving my mana to this crystal, this guild card will begin to glow.” She began demonstrating. She pressed her hand on the crystal in the center of her card and it began glowing.

“See?”

“Wow! I want to do that too!” Alicia, amazed by what she saw, said.

“You need to register to the guild first.”

“Lilia?” Alicia turned her attention to the elf on the other side of the table, silently drinking her tea.

“You will not be registering at the guild.”

“Please? Come on Lumina. Don’t you want to have that card too?”

Well it’s true that I want to register, but it’s not because of the card.

“Lilia Please?” Just like Alicia, I started begging for her permission to let us register.

She sighed. “This is why I didn’t want to go to the guild in the first place.”

“Can I also register with them?” Emir also started asking for her permission.

“Fine. But all of you will be explaining yourselves to His Highness later.”

“Okay!” “Sure.” “Alright.”

“You heard them Sandra. Please register them with the Adventurer’s Guild.”

“Alright. Let me prepare the stuff needed. Please excuse me for a moment.” She lightly lowered her head then left the room.

“Ceres,” I called to the maid standing behind me.

“Yes, young mistress.”

“Are you registered with the guild?”

My question brought Ceres in the middle of the spotlight. Everyone inside the room was looking at her.

“I am,” She gave a short response.

“How about you Lilia?” Alicia, shifted the question to Lilia.

“Ofcourse I am.”

“Can we see your guild card?” Asked Alicia.

“The guild card is not a toy you know.”

“I know.. I just want to see yours,” Alicia Added.

Before Lilia could take her card out. Sandra entered the room with another device in hand and papers on the other.

“Sorry for the wait.”

She gave the three of us one paper each, having a similar size as the guild card, which had roughly the same size as that of a credit card. “I need all of you to fill this paper up.”

“Do you need me to help you three?” She asked.

“I’m good,” I answered first, making the other two copy me.

“I also don’t need any help!” “Me too,” The two of them answered.

The paper was a simple questionnaire, asking for your name, sex, and age. I answered Lumina, Female (still a male at heart), and 10 years old (not really 10, but in the body of a 10 year old, probably).

“Is this everything we need to fill up?” Isn’t this too little? Are there no documents needed to register to the guild?

“Yes, that's all the things you need to answer. You do need to pay for the registration though.”

“Really? How much is it?”

“That would be 15 silvers. Fee for the guild card, the registration fee, and the fee for our services.”

Let’s see. 15 silvers is equivalent to 1500 bronze coins. I guess it’s reasonable?

“And there’s also a 5 silver monthly fee that you need to pay.” Sandra added while showing me a gentle smile.

Another 500 bronze on top of that? And it’s a monthly fee? Is that too much? I really need to know the average prices of daily necessities here.

“Isn’t that too much?” I asked Sandra.

“It is completely reasonable. With the services we offer and the perks a member can get, I believe that 15 silvers for registration and 5 silvers for a monthly fee is already being generous,” She explained.

“Okay..” Again, having no knowledge about the economy of this kingdom, I decided to just back off.

“What do we do next?” Alicia asked. Probably getting a bit excited on getting her hands on that guild card.

She pushed forwards a small rectangular board towards us.

“This is what makes your guild cards.”

She opened it up. The inside had engravings on it. There were two compartments inside the board. One was an empty space, presumably where you put the paper on, and an empty guild card on the other.

“You place the paper inside.”

Hearing that, Alicia immediately placed her paper inside of the board.

“Calm down a bit. There’s no need to rush,” I said to her.

“But! Aren't you excited?”

“I am. But it’s not like the board will suddenly disappear or something.”

“Okay.” She hesitated for a bit, sat down back on her seat and waited for Sandra to continue. My message seemed to somewhat calm her down a bit.

“We close this up,” She closed the board leaving the paper inside of it. “Now I need you to press your hand into this small crystal on the side.”

“Will it be fine? I don’t know how to use mana yet.” Alicia immediately voiced her concerns.

“It’s fine, the crystal on this device, and the guild card is special. Even if you don’t know how to control your mana, it forcefully sucks some of your mana in order to activate.”

“Alright then,” She placed her finger on the small crystal at the edge of the board. The boards started making some silent whirring noises, similar to what a laser printer would make.

“It’s done.”

Hearing what Sandra said, Alicia perked up. She opened the board revealing a guild card, now filled with information that she wrote on the paper. So this device was like a printer then.

Alicia took the card on the board and immediately showed it off to me.

“Look, Lumina! I have a guild card now!” She was placing her hand on and off the crystal on its center, making the card glow on and off.

“Good job,” Having nothing else to say, Emir and I took our turns.

After a short while, both of us also finished making our guild cards. I placed my hands on the crystal and the card shone, just not as bright as Emir’s and Alicia’s.

“Umm. Excuse me. Is there something wrong with my card?” Sandra took a quick look. For some reason, the card in my hand shined really weakly. Like how a LED would act when electricity supplied to it is not enough.

“Your mana capacity is probably low. The guild card is compensating for that, to keep you safe.”

“I see…” Did she just say I have a low mana capacity? There’s a way to increase that right? RIGHT?! I want to cast magic too damn it!

“What does this letter mean?” Emir, pointed out the Letter E in his card, which also was in my, and Alicia’s card.

“That letter signifies your rank.”

“Rank?” Emir asked.

“The tasks handed out by the guild are ranked by difficulty. E, D, C, B, A, S, and SS. This shows how hard and how dangerous a task is. Only adventurers with the same rank or higher than the task difficulty can accept the task. Rank B can only accept tasks with difficulty B or below for example.”

“Oh..”

“Your rank also signifies your strength as an adventurer, and your trustworthiness. A rank A adventurer will naturally be stronger and more trustworthy compared to a rank C adventurer.”

“How can we increase our rank?” Alicia asked.

“By completing a certain amount of tasks, you will be eligible to take a promotion exam. This exam will test your skills. If you are strong enough to rank up.”

Now that we have gotten our guild card, we would be able to start doing some tasks. It’s only logical that our next move will be right? Having a bright idea pop up in my mind, I made my move.

“Hey Alicia, would you like to look at the tasks available?” I moved closer to her and whispered.

She nodded her head.

“Sandra, where can we get tasks that we can do?”

“You remember that large board near the entrance? Pick a paper there that has the same difficulty rating as your rank.”

Alicia and I exchanged a quick glance, nodding to each other. Immediately after, we jumped to our feet and headed out of the room.