It took almost an hour to get the soldiers calmed down and finished making camp. The camp radiated out from the cook-pot I had built in the middle of the campground. Most of the men were sitting down and eating stew in groups, with some of them standing guard on the outskirts in the case of attack by animals or monsters. The horses had been taken care of and were now positioned at one side of the clearing, thankfully downwind. Small uniform tents encircled a fair-sized gap in which sat a table with four persons eating stew.

"So what are your plans from now on?" Garret asked us while we ate. "Now that Clarabelle is with us, you don't really need to escort her back to the capital."

"Well, we were planning on going to the capital anyway," I responded. "At the very least, I promised Nyssa a bedroll like Clara's. I suppose I'll need to earn some money for that but I'm not really sure how I'm going to go about it yet."

Clara looked towards her uncle, getting a nod in return. "My parents will likely provide a reward for my safe rescue-"

"I'd rather you gave the money to the families of those who didn't make it. I'm sure that I can make my own money." I interrupted.

"Ooooh, Raak. Can we become adventurers?" Nyssa asked.

I thought for a little while. "It's not a bad idea. We could even join in the goblin extermination if we did that. It will also provide a steady flow of enemies to increase my skills with."

"There is a problem with that, though," Clara lamented. "Neither of you has any adventuring experience, Raak doesn't even have common sense."

I raised a finger to argue, but then put it down and nodded. "No, you're right." 

I have common sense, it's just that none of it applies to this world.

"What should we do then?" Nyssa asked, slightly discouraged.

"Why not the adventurer's training course?" Garret spoke up. "It was implemented to keep new or young adventurers from getting killed their first time out. They teach some of the basic things to watch out for and what part of monsters to bring back for proof of subjugation and sale. The last test of the training class is also a mission with a B-rank adventurer overseeing it, so you can gain some experience on how other adventurers handle missions."

I thought for a bit, before agreeing, "That could be helpful. What do you think Nyssa?"

"I don't mind, we still get to be adventurers, but how are we going to earn money to stay in the town for the class?" She asked while tilting her head cutely.

"You can stay with me!" Clara blurted out, before deflating a bit. "If my parents agree, that is."

Garret gave Clara a strange look before turning towards me. "It should be fine, you are their daughter's saviour after all. We could say it's as a reward, considering you refused the one offered."

"As long as it's not a bother. We would only need to stay there until we earn enough money to live on our own, either way. Do they have enough room for us to stay?" I asked.

Garret opened his mouth but Clara interrupted before he could speak. "No problem, we have more than enough guest rooms for the both of you." Causing another strange look from Garret.

"Well, there isn't much we can do about it without first meeting with your parents, so I guess that's it for tonight," I said and looked around the camp. Most of the men have finished eating, the guards patrolling the outskirts of the camp had switched with the others and even they had eaten now. A few small campfires had sprung up here and there around the camp once the sun dipped below the horizon, basking the camp in a flickering orange glow.

"Nyssa can sleep in my tent, I'm not sure what Raak is going to do though," Clara said, it seems like they had been organizing sleeping arrangements while I was distracted.

Hearing my name spoken, I returned my attention to the group at the table. "No problem, a tent really won't do much for me anyway. I think I'll just sleep under the campground's new addition," I said while using my thumb to point at the fruit tree behind me.

"My men can handle the night watch," Garret nodded while looking around the camp. "Though if anything does happen, your help would still be appreciated."

I simply nodded to him and walked over to take a seat leaning against the tree. Some of the men gave me odd looks when the tree creaked slightly but then gave a small chuckle and continued with their business. My ears picked up a lot of chatter coming from the camp. Various talk about the strange stone man, the beautiful half-elf, some speculations on the goblins. Most of them came to the same conclusion that Nyssa had, about there likely being a chieftain present leading the horde. Some of them were worried but most felt that once the army came, the goblin problem would be solved. The tent where Clara and Nyssa were was in the center of the camp, near Garret's own tent. I could still hear them from where I sat under the tree, however.

"Remember, don't say anything you don't want Raak to hear. He's probably listening to us right now." Clara said quietly.

"..."

'Well, she's got me there.'

I refocused my attention back to the surrounding camp. Garret's men seem to be doing a decent job, not that I have any experience with night watch, I just know that not one of them is sleeping on the job. The camp aside from those on watch has gone completely quiet, with only the occasional snore being heard. Before I even realized it, I was drifting off myself.

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I woke up slightly before dawn from a decent night's sleep. The men changing guard had woken me up twice but aside from that, the only thing that happened in the night was a rat spooking the horses. It didn't stay around after almost being stepped on so the guards returned to their patrols soon after.

Breakfast turned out to be simple travel rations so we could get back on the road quickly. As such, I decided to eat a few more swords instead as the amount of flavour was about the same. I ended up sloughing off a bit more stone but my mass was increasing nonetheless.

It didn't take long before the entire camp was dismantled and we were back on the road towards Ostentius. This time, however, the horses were only walking. As they had run for most of the day from a town called Holt, and again afterwards from the goblins, Garret decided to give the horses a bit of a break. I had to walk fairly quickly to keep up, but it could still at least be considered a walk. That gave us much more time for conversation, which is really good seeing as I have a lot of questions.

Garret seemed to be the most knowledgeable on the subject so I asked him, "How long does the adventurer training last?"

Garret turned towards me, I'll say this again, but Garret is a large man. Sitting on his horse, the added height makes him look incredibly intimidating. Broad shoulders, barrel chest, and thick arms make him look like a thug more than a soldier. If not for the matching armour and neatly trimmed brown hair with touches of grey at the sides, he could almost pass for a bandit. He was obviously geared the same as the rest of the men, with a bow on his back, and a small short sword at his waist. Now that I look closer, however, there's a much larger greatsword, almost two meters long, strapped to the saddle behind him as well.

"It depends, really," He said and shrugged his shoulders and thought for a short time before continuing. "Some children will enter the course as early as 12 years old and train for several years. Others who are young adults or those changing careers may spend less than a month there. With your strength, I imagine it won't take you very long to pass the course. You don't need combat training, just the basics for monster types, herbs and other objects to look out for. As well as the general rules for the guild and how they handle missions and ranks, of course."

"Speaking of ranks, what are they based on? Guild contribution? Fighting strength?" I asked curiously.

"Aah, A bit of both, actually. The ranks go from the F-rank at the bottom all the way up to S-rank. Those who accept non-combat requests at the guild such as cleaning and general labour are counted as F-rank. Most people don't count them as adventurers so much as contracted labour. E-rank is usually gathering herbs outside the village as well as fairly weak beasts and monsters that eat crops or disturb livestock. the average D-rank would probably be able to take two goblins on by himself but usually, by that point they would be a part of a group, hunting small goblin incursions or the occasional wandering predators."

There was a short pause in his explanation and I began thinking. The soldiers I saw fighting to defend Clara were probably at the upper levels of D-rank if I had to guess. They managed to take quite a few of the goblins down before they succumbed to the massive number disadvantage. At that point, they were fighting with their backs to the carriage and as a group using military tactics. If they had been completely surrounded, however, I doubt they could have taken out as many as they had.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Garret continued a moment later, "C-rank is the large majority and what people call real adventurers. Most people will spend the greater part of their career in C-rank as there is a contribution requirement and combat test to be promoted to B-rank. As such, however, there is a large gap in the strengths of C-rank adventurers. Some may be barely stronger than D-rank and others may be much stronger, nearing but not being able to pass the test for B-rank. Even the weakest of B-rank adventurers could probably take out more than a hundred goblins by themselves. They are some of the strongest people in the country and equal to a small army by themselves."

I'm starting to wonder why he's comparing strengths in the number of goblins they can kill, but I would have to guess he's actually doing it for my benefit seeing as I don't know how strong most other monsters actually are. If the weakest of B-rank is equal to 100 goblins, how strong must A-rank be? I asked Garret what was on my mind.

"A-rank," he spoke wistfully. "That goblin horde that was chasing us wouldn't stand a chance against an A-rank. There are very few things in the world that can kill an A-rank adventurer. An A-rank adventurer is what you would call to deal with a monster horde, a lich, or something like a lesser dragon. Each of which could be enough to reduce a city to rubble."

"If that's the case, then wouldn't S-rank be the equivalent to a god?" I asked.

Garret chuckled a little at that. "You aren't far off, actually. S-rank would be able to fight toe-to-toe with a true dragon. They could destroy a country on a whim, crush mountains to powder in a single hit. If an S-rank adventurer fights, the entire landscape of the area can change in moments. In the entire three thousand year history of the Ostus kingdom, there haven't been more than 3 S-rank adventurers. One of them was the founder of the kingdom, and the other 2 were both heroes summoned from the other world to fight against the demon lords of their time."

I suddenly felt even weaker than I had when I realized I was shorter than the grass. If an S-rank adventurer or monster fought anywhere in the country, I could die without even knowing what happened. The way Garret explained the ranks, it seems I would be something like mid C rank? Possibly even on the low end of that.

Thinking this far only brought another question to my mind. I approached nearer to Garret so I wouldn't be overheard by the nearby soldiers and quietly asked him. "Doesn't that mean that the soldiers of this country are really weak compared to the adventurers?" 

Garret burst out laughing at that. "Boy, do you really think that all of the soldiers in this kingdom are as weak as what you've seen so far? The men guarding Clara were just that, guards. This lot behind me is a bunch of rabble I picked up in Holt while rushing out the gate and neither group had seen proper combat. 'Damned mayor wouldn't let me leave the city without an escort. Let me tell you, I used to be a B-rank adventurer myself in my younger days. A large portion of the soldiers in the army are former C-rank adventurers as well. Adventuring is a dangerous job, and many people would rather have the security and steady pay that comes with being a soldier rather than risking their lives fighting monsters in Goddess-knows where."

"Is that so?" I thought for a bit. "Wait, if you were a B-rank adventurer doesn't that mean you could have taken on that entire ambush yesterday by yourself?"

"Hmm? Yea, of course. But if I did that, how would these men get any combat experience? It also served as a sort of test to see if you were telling the truth about the goblins." He responded with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Besides, I'm not as young as I used to be. Might as well let you young people do some work for once."

I narrowed my eyes a bit at that.

'Crafty old bastard, isn't he?'

"And what are you two talking about that has Raak giving you such a dirty look, Uncle?" Clara asked. She and Nyssa had spent the time conversing among themselves while Garret and I were talking. The two of them were now bringing their horses closer to join in the conversation.

"Ah, not much. Raak here was just disappointed that he didn't get to see your uncle in action yesterday against the goblins," He replied to Clara with a silly grin on his face.

"Really? And what, exactly, was the reason for your distinct absence in yesterdays battle?" Clara said coldly as she slightly glared towards Garret.

Garret coughed lightly and avoided her eyes before replying, "Training for the soldiers, of course. If I had helped, the fight would have been over practically before it started."

"Is that so?" She replied. "Are you sure it wasn't just to see if Raak was as strong as we said he was?"

*Cough* "Ahem. Of course not. I don't even know where you would get such a strange idea from," He denied while still refusing to meet her eyes.

"It's fine, isn't it? Everyone made it out safely, so everything is fine, right?" Nyssa asked uncomfortably. 

Noticing her obvious aversion to the thinly veiled argument, I decided to give her a hand.

"Yeah, no big deal. Nyssa and I had it all under control anyway," I said flippantly. Garret looked to me with slight surprise and I gave him a distinct look that obviously meant 'you owe me one'.

Clara gave me a bit of a glare for helping her uncle out of his dilemma before sighing and giving up.

It was at that point that we crested a small hill and could see the grasslands give way to vast golden fields of grain as well as some smaller green fields that I assumed must be vegetables of some sort. A short way down the road was a small village. The village had a short wooden wall around it but the gate was wide open as both men and women were heading out to the fields or returning with baskets full of fresh produce. 

"This is one of the farming villages that provides food for the capital," Garret spoke, obviously thankful for a change in subject. "We're only about an hour away from the city now so there shouldn't be any need to worry about monsters. The army regularly patrols the roads around the villages to keep the people and crops safe."

We made our way slowly through the village, following the road. We were only an hour away from the capital, so we had no reason to stop here. The villagers moved to the side of the road as we passed, bowing and giving a quick 'my lord' towards Garret. Occasionally, we could see children rushing around and peeking from behind the corners of buildings to watch us as pass by. I had expected worse living conditions considering the fairly medieval look of the village but, as it was, the streets were clean and there were no outhouses to leave sewage festering even in this rural place. When asked about it, Clara responded by telling me that one of the previous heroes had introduced a magic toilet using small cheap water cores to fill the reservoir. Once the rudimentary plumbing had been spread to the masses, it seems sickness and disease had been cut down by an incredible amount. It seems even baths were fairly common even in places like this thanks again to the same hero.

While we were in the village, Garret made a quick stop at the village head's house to explain that the path through the mountains would be incredibly dangerous until the goblins were taken care of. The village head said that his people would inform merchants attempting to head in that direction but that he also had no way to stop them if they decided to continue regardless of the danger. Garret agreed with just that, and we continued on our way hoping that nobody would actually be stupid enough to actually attempt it.

And finally, almost an hour later, we were nearing Ostus. The capital of the kingdom was huge. Massive towering stone walls, evenly dotted with watchtowers surrounded the entire city. Several roads converged with the one we were travelling on, bringing merchants with carriages, messengers on horseback, and people walking on foot. 

 At the entrance to the city, there was a long line of carriages and people on foot, all seemingly undergoing inspection.

 As we were about to bypass the line  using Garret and Clara's status as nobles, something unexpected occurred.

Two long lines of heavily armoured calvalrymen suddenly rode out from the gate, surprising the people they were passing, and causing everyone to stare. All of the men were wearing full iron plate armour, each man had both a large shield and a longsword strapped to their horses, as well as a long spear strapped to their back. The plate helmets each had a horsetail coming out of the back in the blue and white colour that I've come to recognize as belonging to the Ostus kingdom.

"Oi, where are you lot off to in such a hurry?" Suddenly Garret called out to the man leading.

"Uncle? I thought you were in Holt inspecting the towns near the border," The man said as he brought his horse out of the formation, causing the men behind him to slow to a stop. "My sister was supposed to return from there two days ago but we have not heard of her carriage since."

The man pulled off his horsetailed helmet, revealing a rather handsome face framed with somewhat long, flowing blonde hair. He looked to be not older than twenty-five, however, he sat upright in his saddle as if he had been born there. He had a very noble air about him, further contrasted by the fact that Garret was slumped over in his saddle like a the bandit he resembles.

"Ahh, that would make sense. You're a little late though, her carriage was ambushed about a day and a half ride west of here by goblins," Garret spoke with a hint of sadness in his voice.

The young man's face fell.

"Wha-What happened? Did anyone make it?" He asked quietly.

"Well, you should probably ask her yourself." Garret said and pointed behind him, into the middle of his group of men, where Clara was just coming forward to see what was going on.

"Clara!" He shouted.

"Hmm? Ferron? What's wrong?" the oblivious redhead asked.

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Name Raak Race Alloy Elemental Mass 280kg Str 51 Vit 54 Dex 39 Int 29 Wis 23 Hp 795 Mp 375

Skill List - Passive Level Glutton 1(MAX) Crystal Core 1(MAX) Journeyman Photosynthesis 6 Novice Hand to Hand Fighting 8 Apprentice Two-Handed Weapon Mastery 8 Novice Dismantling 8 Apprentice Cooking 1 Novice Leatherworking 4 Apprentice Enhanced Senses 5 Apprentice Sneak 3

Skill List - Active Level Glow 1(MAX) Journeyman Earth Manipulation 4 Apprentice Space Manipulation 4 Apprentice Plant Manipulation 1 Novice Fire Manipulation 5 Appraisal 1(MAX)