Isaiah took his first steps inside the wooden building and felt the magic of his surroundings.

"Woah."

The scent of spices mixed with the stale air above created a strange yet pleasing smell for his nose, while the sound of laughter, cheers, and people moving about filled his ears. The place was busy and boisterous, filled with life as befitting its size.

Wood dominated the building from its walls to the ceiling, but the floor was paved with stone and some kind of concrete mixture. Wide and expansive, it felt like he had just entered a mall with the space afforded by the place, on the opposite end was a balcony, with chairs and tables placed along the sides. The tavern mostly occupied the space, rows of wooden tables and long chairs filled the spots, most of the people inside mingled here, some eating and others drinking, but there were those who were simply socializing, speaking to their partners or potential clients.

Almost everyone had a plate hanging around their necks, however, there were also a small amount of ordinary folks, here to listen to tales or perhaps scout the solution to their problem. Adventurers, as it turns out, deal with all sorts of problems and are not just limited to defeating monsters.

"Out of the way..." A muscular man shoved Isaiah out of the door as he and his party of eight entered the building, "Don't stand in the middle." the tall lady at the end warned him.

"Sorry, sorry." Isaiah bowed as he shrank himself into one corner before proceeding quietly inside the building.

Every step that he took made his heart race faster, the sights and the sound were truly foreign in his eyes. There was a particularly strong smell coming from his right and upon checking to see what it was, he could see a large brick oven, a fat lady inserted her hand inside the oven and took out a steaming hot clay pot, despite the heat she looked unfazed as she handed the pot over to a boy who quickly began distributing its contents onto a dozen smaller bowls, said bowls were then quickly distributed to waiters who gave them out to the customers. Its contents looked edible and were of a different league compared to what he ate at the mansion.

The kitchen was large, staffed by about five people with one singular oven and many counters lined up in the walls, at the midst of it all was a wooden table filled to the brim with all kinds of ingredients and cooking stuff. Right in front of him was a long counter that was empty, on it were three large jugs with wooden taps installed whilst behind it were rows of unlabeled glass bottles of all shapes and sizes, a man emerged from a door carrying a jug to which he placed right next to the three others,

"Rum has arrived!" He announced with a loud voice followed by plenty of cheers as adventurers flocked towards his table to order their glasses. Isaiah found himself suddenly assaulted by a wave of sweaty bodies as he tried to move out of the area, he managed to free himself soon after and looked back at the crowd,

'Wow, is it happy hour or something?' He looked up, the roof itself was filled with windows for ventilation, and he could see that the sky was turning darker, 'Looks like I can't take a quest today, might as well enjoy the city for now.'

A noise from behind him caught his attention and there he saw a large creature that resembled a lizard. It had the body of a scaly lizard but its head was rather long and smooth similar to a bone marrow, and was blanketed by a small foilage of dark green hair which covered much of its face.

'682?' He gasped as he watched the lizard resist its master who was pulling it inside another room, the lizard was at first winning but when its master's companions joined in pulling, it soon gave out and followed after them deeper inside. Behind it was a carriage filled with the corpses of monsters. Surprisingly it didn't stink, 'The adventurers must have already prepared them beforehand, would that mean I also have to prepare corpses?' He watched until the lizard's low growl, which resembled that of a car engine, disappeared into the room. It was his first time seeing a creature native to this planet and it only doubled his already excited state. 'I have a taming ability, would love to have one of them someday.'

Left of the hallway where the creature disappeared was a stairway that gave access to the balcony above whilst to its right was a long desk where many adventurers stood. It was clear that this was where he should head first and Isaiah quickly joined the shortest line. That said, the lines moved slowly as many adventurers argued with the clerks whilst others were simply slow with the documents, thus, while waiting for his turn he concentrated on his surroundings, picking up the chatter from other adventurers around.

"Have you seen the new quest, 500 marks per slave sounds real good you know,"

"I heard a slave killed a Black Hand, aren't they as strong as gold-ranked adventurers?"

"Golds, what of them, that man probably just bought that rank..."

"There's this new sword I want to buy..."

"A store at the corner sells really cheap mana potions, they work but my stomach says otherwise..."

'Now that's scary.' He thought as he listened to the conversation of the many adventurers around him. They were mostly filled with this new 'quest' about capturing slaves. He had heard of it back at the gate but he had thought those were just rumors, to think that word spreads this fast. He began to fear for his safety, wondering if registering as an adventurer was good in the first place,

But as he listened to their conversation more, his worries began to die down.

"Hey, I heard lord Steiner is denying those quests in this place?"

"Really now? The money is damn good though, why would adventurers listen to him?"

"Not adventurers, but most likely the guild won't pay you or something so we'll have to go somewhere else."

"Neutral my ass, guilds just obeying the dukes..."

'So this Steiner guy really hates that other dude huh...' Isaiah nodded to himself as he felt more and more secure, the knowledge that an enemy of his enemy was around made him happy, 'You know, maybe I should work with him, that way I could get my revenge and also start my career too.'

He had remembered from Nicole that the Steiner family happened to be the rivals of the Razorbacks. If he used his card right then he might be able to squeeze himself into their petty squabbles and earn himself his freedom and money as well. He felt relieved, he had been wondering what to do once he registered at the guild thus having formed a goal was refreshing. He began to think about his plan, wondering how would he present himself and just how much was he willing to work with this duke when the guy in front of him moved out, the counter now empty.

He quickly made his way in front of the clerk who was looking at his book, double-checking what he had just written. Isaiah waited for him to acknowledge him and after a few seconds, the clerk looked up and asked before he could say anything, "You here to sign up?"

"Er... Yes? How do you know?" Isaiah became warry, 'Was this person capable of reading minds?'

But his worries were for naught,

"You don't have a plate, and it feels like you're looking for trouble, one way or the other."

"Oh..."

"Then..." The clerk then reached his hand out, "Your papers and 50 marks..."

Isaiah gave him the money and documents he received which the clerk scanned,

"Isaiah... Isaiah, hmmm... You not from here are you?"

"N-Yes."

"Isaiah is not a name our citizen uses."

"Is that a problem?

"Not really... If you migrated here, no problem." The clerk then started making his way to the back of the office, "Just don't lie next time."

"Right, sorry about that."

The clerk then disappeared into the backrooms while another replaced him on the desk, "Please wait on the chairs, we will send yours later."

"O... Okay."

The adventurer from behind shoved him out before he could say anything, and just like that the registration process was complete. There were no background checks, no interviews, heck not even a proper security measure was in place. He wasn't even asked about his powers or anything. Not that Isaiah wants to complain as the lack of security was more to his benefit since there was no need to conjure up a false background story for himself, though he did find the lack of explanations pretty weird.

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'Almost the same with this status page, no help menu... That said, it's easy to guess exactly how this place runs anyway,'

Not too far from where the desk stood a longboard where plenty of papers were nailed. Isaiah made his way over the quest board and scanned the different offerings available. He had heard from the adventurer that the language was called Corsica. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, somehow translation of the letters was more taxing than words.

'It would be a lot better if I just got transported in a world where the languages are the same. Better yet, this translation thingy should just work like normal...' The lack of convenience that his skill gives was really irritating, that said he couldn't complain all day.

The quest papers themselves were very simple, written at the top was the name of the issuer, usually accompanied by a seal of sorts. The main body of the paper contained the description, only a few had some related drawings. Then below in bold large letters were the rewards. The rewards were usually a number, though sometimes it just said negotiable or some kind of material gift. Then next to the rewards was the rank required to take the quest, with there being four types of ranks present, bronze, silver, platinum, and gold.

The quests themselves were segregated by rank with gold having only two available spots whilst the silver and platinum quests were mixed. Bronze represented the vast majority of available postings, most of the bronze-type quests were related to city works such as cargo hauling at the pier, construction, farmwork, and whatever else the city and its citizens might need of cheap temporary labor. They were simple, and very labor intensive, but with low pay ranging from 50 marks to 800 marks. It was at the silver and higher-ranked jobs that the four digit rewards were offered, and the quests themselves were the types adventurers would take. They involved jobs such as cleaning up monsters, charting unknown territories, supplying remote villages, and escort duties for trade caravans. Though they were more complex and would usually take more than a day to complete, the pay range was from 2,000 marks all the way to 100,000 marks.

However, Isaiah had no other choice but to go for bronze as he is a bronze-ranked adventurer, also most silver-ranked quests required a troupe, something that he didn't have. Despite their low wages and back-breaking work, the bronze-ranked quest was rather popular as it didn't take long before their dominant presence on the board was dwindling. That said Isaiah wasn't as enthusiastic as the other bronze rankers around him.

'This payments, yikes...' Isaiah clicked his tongue as he scanned the bronze section, although a guild worker would come from time to time to add new listings, they still had very bad pay. Registering at the guild already took out a quarter of his income, not to mention the inn and food he would need to survive daily, though Isaiah could live by if he lived frugally whilst taking on the higher-paying bronze quest, such circumstances don't happen all the time. Plus most of the higher-paying bronze quest had a minimum head count requirement, meaning that the low reward would only get divided further once he joined a party.

'Should I just take on those contracts by Ephillus?' He wondered, but he didn't want to be further indebted to the man especially since he knew of his slave status and the fact that he wanted him for his skills, going to Ephillus right now is simply inviting more trouble. 'Seems like many supplement their rewards by selling whatever monster they can find. That said, I don't have a storage skill, no money to buy a carriage, and I definitely don't want to carry dead things by hand, do I also have to prepare the bodies? Augh, thinking about that makes me sick... I haven't seen monsters in the forest anyway and there might be people looking for me... Convenience, where are you!' He wiped his mouth and looked at the papers, 'Should I just work at the pier then? 200 marks per day plus free lunch... If 100 marks would pay for my inn, then I could save by not eating too much, I could also show off by using my magic which might get me good pay, but what about winter? Wouldn't the river freeze and no ships would pass, where would I find work? No wait, I could probably work for a merchant guild, but wouldn't they try something to me if they found out about my powers...'

Overthinking was one of the problems Isaiah had, he tends to think too much into the future when presented with an opportunity, and sometimes he tends to get negative thoughts. As he was pondering over what his next move should be he unconsciously opened his status page, upon seeing it appear in front of him he decided to examine the changes to his status first, that way he would have some clues as to what to do next.

=============================

Name: Isaiah Peter Dragovitch

Level: 15

HP 34/34 MP 208/208

STR - 17

AGI - 15

INT - 52

ATR - 2

Talents (Passive Skill)

[INT Boost II]

[Holy Blessings I]

[Taming I]

Abilities (Active Skill)

[Manipulation]

[Electric]

===============================

'Level 15... Only one level was gained at that mansion. Except for my magic, I don't really have anything to speak about, had Nicole not been there at the mansion I would've died multiple times from injuries alone. I really need to level up quickly, but at the same time, I need money. Working at the pier would get me money, and once my magic is used it would get me even more money, but I wouldn't be able to level up as the opportunities to fight against monsters are low, most of the time I would be moving things around, and considering that they might even try something sneaky, like a competitor wanting to kill me or worse if my slave status gets found... No, no, no, working at a ship is off the list. So adventuring is my only hope then?' Isaiah watched as a guild employee came to add more papers onto the board but a quick scan of the new offerings made him sigh, 'This is horrible... Should I just wait tomorrow, hoping that a better quest would come?'

He thought about it for a while before nodding along to his idea,

"Yeah..." He murmured as he turned around, 'I should get my badge first.' He was about to head for the desk when...

"Ohh, looking for a quest there?"

Isaiah turned to his left and there he saw a blonde man, upon making eye contact he gave a wide grin showing his shiny white teeth, Isaiah could even see his reflection from them.

"Yes?" Isaiah tilted his head,

"Well, I just saw you standing around at the board without picking anything, I thought I could help a brother out?"

"Ahaha, it's alright man, no need to."

Before Isaiah could move away, the man fished out the two small items inside his sleeve pocket, they were his papers and a small bronze plate, inscribed was an unfamiliar bird with a long wavy neck, as well as 5 bronze coins that were slightly larger bearing the number 10, "I was told to give that to you," Isaiah closely examined the plate and found his name inscribed, "As someone starting out, I can tell you want good money. I can get you access to some high-paying jobs." He then fished out a long chain from underneath his shirt which bore a silver plate, "So how about it, wanna join my troupe?"

Now this was a fortune, one quick scan into the lineup of silver-ranked quests showed that the pay was considerably higher than bronze ones, even if divided Isaiah could still net around a thousand marks per quest and this guy was willing to give him that! A grin was slowly forming underneath his lips,

The blonde started to lean onto the table, his beaming smile now full of confidence. "I see, interested now are we?"

"What if I am, what can I get out of it?"

"Hmm? Well, we will take silver ranked quest, might take some days, sometimes weeks to complete as they require a lot of traveling, but we evenly split the rewards, how about that? We even have an active commission so we get paid more!"

Isaiah wasn't sure what a commission meant but if it paid more then he had no problem with it, that said, "Why me? As you can see I am new?"

"See this?" He pointed to his eyes which glowed a faint green hue, "Us windies can see if someone can use magic you see."

"Windies?"

"Wind magic users... You can use magic right?"

"That is true, I see, so you want a mage in your team, is that it?"

"Yep... And so there's that, although some of us have magic, we can't exactly use that magic for combat purposes anyway, my mana is small so I can barely use wind magic, my partner's just a tad better than I in magic but still no good, but you have good mana reserves so you should do well in that department."

"Right right, but you said there are others in your troupe."

"Yeah, six, if you join in then that's seven."

"Oh..." Isaiah's grin disappeared. It was simple maths to realize that the whole thing might not work out so well, he had at first thought that they would just be partnering up and dividing the spoils 50/50 but upon realizing that there would be seven of them including him, then even the high paying silver-ranked quest would get divided so much that they'd be barely worth it, "What about the cost we make while making the quest?"

"Well, it gets docked out of our reward, and then we divide what's left."

'Urk... Transport aint cheap in this world, then there is food. Horses move slowly which means going from one place to the other takes a lot of time and a lot of time means a lot of food. That's gonna eat out at the rewards, then getting only 1/7 of the reward aint worth it for a days to week-long quest... Plus him, he is very suspicious.'

Isaiah had been suspicious about this man in the first place, considering that he had appeared out of nowhere and offered him to join his troupe, sure he may have magic but that doesn't mean he should be singled out of all the bronze class who could have magic around. There was always what Porridge once told him about how people pay more for mages. The man looked the part too, he looked like the Prince Charming who would sell women out to slave brokers, he must have thought that Isaiah was easy prey with his having magic affinity as an added bonus.

'But six huh, I could probably take on three, but if there are six of them, then there must be more.'

Isaiah didn't want to go back to that castle or anything like it again and thus, he decided to refuse the offer. Going solo was better anyway from an economic standpoint and he had the strength to do it, if not then he would eventually gain the strength to do so.

"It's alright, have a good day."

The man looked shocked as he watched Isaiah leave,

"Okay..." Was all he could say, "Are you sure about this?"

Isaiah nodded without turning back as he quickly left the guild, blending in with the crowd that was forming as night began to arrive. Upon exiting the guild, Isaiah felt the cool air rush through his body, only now did he realize just how hot and sticky the guild was,

'I need a proper bath later...' He then wore the plate around his neck, 'Now then... Time for dinner.'