> "Honestly, I think every one of us was in some way scarred by the Demon King's army. My mother was killed by the Demon General the White Dragon. I hope that our pain will lead to a determination that will put humanity one step closer to ending this evil. Come on, everyone, let's take that quest on the wall and go on our way!"
Audrey exclaimed as she summoned up all her enthusiasm for that speech. The others seemed impressed enough and followed Audrey as she took the last quest of the board. The party then went up to the Guild girl and Audrey told her that they were choosing this quest as she smashed the paper on the table.
> "That's great, and while I approve the start of this quest, I want you to put in your personal info into these forms so I can create your adventurer cards."
The party wrote down everything necessary and had officially started the quest becoming official adventurers at the same time.
> "Wait a minute, what is the quest even about, what are we supposed to do?" Fallace said as he looked towards Audrey.
> "Ehm I mean..." Audrey stuttered in thought as she realized that she had been oblivious.
> "Audrey, you're supposed to be our leader, and you didn't even read the description?" Melian said as she sighed in disappointment.
> "It's okay guys let me just pull it out of my bag."
> "There is no need, Audrey. I and Melian read the quest while it was still on the board."
Woah, Konstantin is so perceptive, Audrey thought excitingly.
> "I didn't notice you reading Konstantin, but you're correct. I did read it. It is apparently a "village grade" quest." Melian said, and the curious Audrey asked what that meant.
Then she got her wonder explained by the guild girl who came up hearing the slightest question.
> "It's really simple, you know! The settlement grading system has been used by adventurers for centuries. Every quest, spell and adventurer has a rank that describes their power or challenge level. You guys start at "house grade" the lowest rank. In total, there are:
> House grade: Your average civilian or domestic animal. As a result a quest at this level could be capturing a drunkard for example. In other words, it is a threat for the average household.
> Village grade: Includes low-level monsters, combatants, and magicians commanding power ranging from wall to small building level destructive power. Most adventurers fall into this category.
> Town grade: Includes stronger monsters that effortlessly destroy buildings up to castle size. Knights are considered the baseline of this category.
> City grade: The highest threat level this guild deals with. They usually require the cooperation of several town grade adventurers. Includes beings with the might to blow away entire village blocks and pose a threat to the average city.
> Nation grade: Monsters of this caliber include the Demon generals that have the capability to conquer several cities by themselves. The military is left to deal with those kinds of threats.
> There is also an unofficial sixth grade called World grade. People like to say that the ones that manage to slay the Demon King accomplish a World grade feat."
Audrey's crew understood this system without any problems, but Melian had a question about how the quest's challenge level was decided.
> "Well, simply, our staff will give the quest an approxmative rating based on the type of problem involved. We also use the power rating system. The average human has a power rating of 5. Which is determined by adding their attack power and durability power. On average, humanity has 1 AP and 4 DP. We measure these stats through trial or a scanner pedestal that analyzes a being or a thing and tells us its power rating." The guild girl spat out then, taking a quick breather before continuing.
>
> Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
> "Though a quite accurate system, it does not take the speed, intelligence, fighting skill or style into account. Please don't be overwhelmed. You shouldn't have any trouble completing this quest, even with low power ratings."
As the guild girl was finishing her speech to the party, she had already completed their adventurer cards. She then gave the cards to them before saying goodbye and oblivious to the fact that she forgot to scan their power ratings to give them an accurate grade.
Fallace wondered what his power rating was, and Melian was already somewhat familiar with the power rating system from before because it is used on animals and monsters.
> "Audrey, I never got to know what the quest was about. Could you read it out loud?" Fallace said as he realized he didn't know.
> "No problem, it's written here that we are tasked with investigating delayed research of some kind of project called monster zero that is being worked by the mountain gnomes and making sure that it's completed. We are then supposed to deliver it to Fandohlin and get a 50 gold krist payment."
> "This is going to be our first quest, so we need to prepare accordingly. This all our your first day in Fandohlin, right everyone?" Audrey asked.
Everyone responded with a yes, and the group headed to the local inn. They reached it within a few minutes of walking and were met with the sign "Lionheart inn." They entered the establishment and saw an old man just having helped a frail woman who had dropped a fork on the floor. It must have been while she was eating in the dinner area on the right side of the inn, Audrey thought.
The old man ran up to them in his roughed shirt and quite impressive physique.
> "Hello there, young folk, you must be some more of the new adventurers in town. Welcome, how can I be of use?"
> "Well, we need 4 rooms to stay the night and some of your best food, please. How much does that cost?" Audrey asked.
> "Cost, hohoho! The kingdom paid me more than enough to house over 100 adventurers. Everything today is on the house, and we have a special room for the knight captain, which I guess is you." The old man said while leading the group up the stairs and presenting their rooms.
> "Since you're gonna live here as adventurers, you might as well get to know my name. It's Rum." Old man Rom said and left the adventurers to their business."
Audrey was shown that her room was on the third floor where all the other knight captain rooms were. It was filled with resources like armor, basic iron weapons, and a map of Svardkust. Everyone proceeded to take out their luggage into their new temporary homes.
Audrey then thought about how she didn't leave any instructions and called everyone outside. She told everyone that they needed to buy a carriage, an animal to draw it, some food and equipment. Since they were new to town, they were going to wander around until they find what they're looking for.
The sounds and smells of mooing coupled with feases took the attention of our adventurers, which led them to the ranch. As they entered, they saw all sorts of different farm animals and then they were greeted by the owner.
> "Follow me adventurers. I have the draft animals prepared. I am sure they will be happy to see you." The owner said enthusiastically with a heavy smile as he led the way.
> "These are our most prestigious horses. However, they are quite expensive animals and I don't recommend them to new adventurers. Many horses end up dying to malnutrition and being a big threatening target. I will instead insist that you should rather buy a donkey. They are compact creatures full of stamina, affordable, and easy to take care of.
There was only one donkey left, and Melian identified her as an quite aged female. Konstantin and Fallace approached slowly to the donkey that let them pet her. As the donkey was enjoying it, Konstantin asked the owner of her name.
> "That's old Betty. She may not look like much, but she's a champ."
> "Great, then we take her." Konstantin said as he had already gained Betty's trust.
> "What! Konstantin, are you out of your mind he is obviously just trying to sell us his leftovers. Are you really falling for that? Audrey, you must agree, right?" Melian said as she had approached Konstantin and Fallace with Audrey.
> "Melian, don't let yourself get too bothered by that, and I am sure that Konstantin will take full responsibility." Audrey said eagerly, defending Konstantin's decision."
> "Forgive me, Melian. I acted hastily without discussing the answer with all of you. We are a group, and I am still not used to such endeavors, may God forgive my ignorance." Konstantin said with a genuine apolegtic facial expression.
Even Melian couldn't resist forgiving Konstantin with his passive charm.
> "Sure, buy this donkey, but if it dies of old age, it's not my fault we'll be stranded." Melian sighed.
> "Oh my dear customers, while you were arguing, a party just returned a donkey and didn't even ask for the money back. If you want him, you can get him for the price of just little old Betty. How does that sound?"
The group bought the 2 donkeys for 80 silver krists without a second thought and left them at the ranch. Before proceeding next Audrey asked the owner if there were any horse carriages to buy in town. The owner told them that all carriages in Fandohlin are bought in the capital because no one sells them here. However, he has a few spare wagons that he could sell.
The group left after buying a wagon for 40 silver krists and continued to stroll around town. Melian suggested that they should buy some useful magic items when she saw a sign spelling "The Fandohlin general store, psst we also sell magic items". The rest agreed with her sentiment and entered the store.
When they entered, they saw a humble room with a hallway leading to the counter and rows of magic items, various dried foods and tools on the sides. There was a young woman with messy brown hair going down to her waist. She had long wizard robes to hide her impressive feminine features.
The woman turned around, and her face turned into an excited smile.
> "Hello and welcome to The Fandohlin general store, my name is Demouna. Take a look and if you're looking for something in particular don't be afraid to ask!" Demouna said as she walked up to them.
Melian recognized that name, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it.
> "You guys must be adventurers, right? You all look amazing. It reminds me of my life's as an adventurer very long ago. You guys are making me so nostalgic." Demouna held back her tears as she reminecied about her past.
> "Melian, you are an alchemist, so I give you the responsibility of buying the right stuff." Audrey said while Demouna quickly ran off after almost stumbling into Konstantin.
Melian complied and went up to the shelves and picked up some healing potions, food reserves, and enchanted boots. The others sat down beside a table in the corner.
> "Demouna, what kind of enchantment do these boots have?" Melian said as she stood by the counter.
> "They double your leaping distance and slow down your fall with some wind magic." Demouna replied as she took care of products.
> "That's what I thought, and by the way, Demouna, are you perhaps an elf?" Melian said casually while paying for the items.
> "Uhm... Ehm... Melian, I am just a human look at my ears, silly!" Demouna said while pointing at her ears panickingly.
Melian was thinking that Demouna seemed kind of weird visually. She looked no more than 20 human years old, but she was speaking of adventuring a long time ago. Was she just overthinking it. Either way, she could just be using high-level transmutation magic or the like to appear younger.
However, Melian chose to keep her suspicions to herself as she was still getting used to her comrades. She then joined up with Audrey and Konstantin. Fallace was sent to find some fresh food and equipment to prepare it.