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Chapter 49 - The Adventurers Guild
When Merlin’s patience had reached its limit and he was about to storm out of the room, without caring about offending the viscount, a servant opened the door of the room and announced his arrival. Hearing that, Merlin closed both of his fists and forcefully calmed down.
The viscount came accompanied by two youths, a young boy who didn’t look older than 11, and a young girl who, despite the evident development of her feminine attributes, seemed to be 13 or 14 years old. He didn’t have a reason for it, but the very second he saw them, Merlin had a bad feeling about the situation.
The viscount made a sign to one of the guards that were in the room with Merlin, and confirmed with him the information he had gotten about the ambush to the carriage.
Viscount Monyme: “Is that the boy you were talking about?”
Guard A: “Yes, my lord, he is the one.”
V. Monyme: “Hmm. It’s hard to believe that a boy that young has the strength you described… However, I know that you would never lie to me, so if his strength is the real deal, we might be able to make use of him…”
The viscount didn’t even bother to keep his voice down, and seeing how he was planning on using him for his own plans, without even asking for his opinion, Merlin couldn’t hold it anymore, and talked to the viscount without even minding his manners.
Merlin: “Viscount Monyme!”
The guard and the viscount were startled by Merlin’s voice, because he had said it half-shouting. The young girl had her eyes wide opened for a second, before recovering and letting out a smile. The young boy, on the other hand, looked at the viscount nervously. Meanwhile, Merlin continued talking.
Merlin: “Viscount Monyme, I don’t know what your plans including me might be, but don’t you think it is a little presumptuous on your part to assume I am going to happily agree to them?”
V. Monyme: “Well, I’m a viscount, and…”
Merlin: “I might be a simple boy who set out in order to experience the world, but even I have my own honor, and I won’t let you tarnish it anymore! It was disrespectful enough having us waiting for you the better part of the afternoon, you even plan on using me without asking for my opinion? Who do you do you think you are? The King? A god?”
V. Monyme: “I-I…”
Merlin: “I have had enough of this! I’m leaving!”
Without giving them any time to react, Merlin went to the nearest window and jumped down. The viscount run to the window, only to see Merlin strolling out of his property, like if jumping down from a second floor was the most ordinary thing in the world.
V. Monyme: “How did he survive that fall? And why did he leave, was it something that I said? Besides, I’m a viscount! How dares that brat to disrespect me?”
At that time, the young girl had arrived next to the viscount, and had heard his last question, which she hurriedly answered.
???: “You disrespected him first, uncle. He saved my life and my brother’s out of the kindness of his heart. He isn’t one of your men, and he has no obligation whatsoever toward us! In addition to that, he is not from this kingdom, so your authority as a viscount doesn’t mean anything to him!”
V. Monyme: “Camille, dear, that’s beside the point. He…”
Camille: “It is the point! You kept him here for a long time, impeding him to do in the city the things he had to. You didn’t even thank him for saving our lives, and even planned to use him in your schemes without consulting him first, and you made the plans with him hearing them! How exactly did you expect him to react?”
V. Monyme: “…”
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While the young lady was busy, lecturing the viscount, Merlin had already arrived to the Adventurers Guild. Truth be told, that branch didn’t look much different from the one in the capital, albeit smaller, and a little more squarish.
Merlin entered the guild and went to the counter to make his registration, but before he could do so, a group of bulky men had surrounded him. They looked like brawlers, and the first thought that came to Merlin’s mind after seeing their actions was *No way!*.
He really couldn’t believe that he had gotten caught in such a cliché situation. He had often read manga in which the weak looking main character had to teach a lesson to some idiot adventurers upon his arrival at the guild, because they tried to bully him and keep him from registering with the guild. What Merlin hadn’t expected, was live that situation himself!
Guy 1: “Look boys, a little mouse is trying to become an adventurer!”
Other guys: “Hahaha!”
Such mockery wouldn’t even faze Merlin, but the second he tried to move toward the counter once again, the adventurer who had talked first grabbed Merlin’s shoulder to keep him in place. That crossed the line, and made Merlin go into battle-mode.
Merlin: “You would do better to keep your hands to yourself, otherwise, you might lose one of them some day…”
The group was startled by the words that Merlin had icily said, but after taking a good look at him, they thought he was just putting a tough front, and started laughing at him again.
Guy 1: “Those are some badass words for a weak little shit like you!”
Guy 2: “Go home, and come back when you have gotten rid of the smell of your mother’s milk!”
Guy 3: “Yeah, go home, kid!”
Merlin: “You had your chance, don’t regret you choice later!”
Merlin didn’t bother trying to reason with them any longer, with those words he unsheathed the dagger on his waist and initiated his attack. He slashed at the hand the adventurer had on his shoulder, and cut it off by the wrist. The slash had been so fast, that by the time the adventurer’s brain registered the pain of having his hand cut off, Merlin’s dagger was back in its sheath.
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After cutting the hand off, Merlin didn’t stop moving, and went away before the blood stained his clothes. He attacked another of the adventurers surrounding him. That one wasn’t fortunate either, Merlin destroyed his right kneecap with a kick, then broke his jaw with a sideways elbow strike, and several teeth flew out of his mouth. The pain was so intense, that he fainted, and Merlin charged toward another adventurer.
Soon after, another two adventurers were down, as for the last one remaining, Merlin punched his stomach, and left him kneeling in the ground, gasping for air. The hall of the guild was in complete silence, no one present could believe what had just taken place before them. A seemly weak 12-year-old boy had destroyed a B Rank adventurer group in less than a minute!
No one in the guild pitied the 5 men on the floor, the other adventurers were actually glad that someone had finally taught them a lesson. Whenever the group of five were in the city, the number of young adventurers, as well as beautiful female adventurers, significantly decreased in the guild due to their harassment.
They either quit adventuring, of left the city without any intention of returning, which made the other adventurers wish for their downfall, which had finally come that day, by Merlin’s hand. The branch’s guild master had given them a several warning in many occasions, but they had ignored them, leading to their current situation.
When he was done with the las one of them, Merlin turned around and went to the counter to fill his registration papers. He smiled to the receptionist and stated his business there.
Merlin: “Hello there! I would like to register as an adventurer.”
Receptionist: “Wha-ah, oh, yes, sorry! Yes, here you have the -WATCH OUT!”
Merlin had already started moving to avoid the approaching strike before the receptionist gave him the warning, but he was grateful to her nonetheless. Making use of his nimbleness, Merlin avoided the strike and positioned himself behind his attacker. He then sent a kick to his attacker’s tailbone, and while he was paralyzed by the pain, Merlin brought him down and dislocated both of his arms.
Having disabled the attacker and checked no one else had the intention of harming him, Merlin returned to the counter to resume his registration process.
Merlin: “I’m sorry you had to see that, thank you for your warning earlier, by the way.”
Receptionist: “Lefey, that’s an unusual family name. I have never heard of it before.”
Merlin: “I get that a lot! It’s only natural, I’m not from around here.”
Receptionist: “Oh! That explains it, then. Well with this out of the way, the only thing left is making your guild card. If you excuse for a second, I’ll go get an inert card for you to bound with your blood!”
Merlin: “Ok, go ahead!”
Waiting for the return of the receptionist with the card, Merlin heard that the abnormally silent guild hall had returned to its usual noisiness. He looked back to check that the group of adventurers he had dealt with before wouldn’t try anything funny, but he discovered that they were already gone.
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???: “What did you say? Are you drunk, Emelinda?”
Emelinda: “I’m not, guild master! I witnessed it with my own eyes! That young boy utterly destroyed the ‘Fiendish Wolf’, and the weakest among those five was a Silver B Rank adventurer! He even cut off Hank’s hand with a slash so fast that anyone below Silver A Rank wouldn’t know how it happened!”
Guild master: “And you say he is only 12 years old?”
Emelinda: “Yes!”
Guild master: “Keep an eye on him and try to keep him away from the dangerous missions! I have to report this to the Head guild master!”
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Emelinda gave the inert card to Merlin and had him drop some blood on it to bond it. Merlin was very surprised when he saw the data he had previously given when filling the form earlier, was now shown on the card. He had expected that, but it’s never the same to read about it in a manga or web-novel, and experiencing the real thing yourself!
Emelinda explained to Merlin everything about the guild, how the specialized shops were distributed inside the guild and their location, and how the ranks worked inside the guild. The missions available were divided into two groups: solo missions, and collaborative missions. As the name of each group was self-explanatory, she didn’t dwell much on it.
The next thing she explained were the ranks. There existed 10 ranks, them being from weaker to stronger: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, X. So far, there had never been a X Rank adventurer, for the necessary power to become one would be akin to the power of a god.
Those ranks were further divided in 3 stages: bronze, silver and gold. The stage the adventurer’s rank was in, was shown in the border of the guild card, represented by its own color. However, while being in the same rank, the strength of someone at the bronze stage and someone at the gold stage were worlds apart.
An adventurer could choose any mission of his own rank, but with the restriction of the mission being a maximum of one stage above, or two below, his or her own. Finally, there was no limit to the number of missions that could be accepted at any given time, but there existed a failed completion fee of 15% the total reward, if a mission was accepted, but not completed in time.
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Meanwhile, in Viscount Monyme’s mansion, a servant that had been sent to look into Merlin’s whereabouts, had come back to report to his master the situation Merlin had found himself in, and the way he had used to solve it…
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