“By order of the Grand Duke of Novari, Julius Grecko III, I, Captain Lerin Millim Vesper, have arrived to speak with the Guild Master of the Adventurers Guild, Maras Villan, as scheduled. Please summon the Guild Master, so we can conclude this business shortly!”

Behind the man calling himself Lerin, was a squad of ten soldiers. They all wore the same set of armour, and were armed with swords and shields. Their shields bore a crest, a thick white chevron on a light blue background, with a small yellow circle above the chevron. Their armour was clearly polished well, but it did show signs of use.

I shot a worried look towards Michael, but he was busy facepalming. When he noticed me staring at him, he quickly moved closer and whispered.

“Dear Captain isn’t a bad man, but he takes way too much pleasure in rules and regulations. And he almost reveres the Grand Duke as a god. While he’s technically doing the right thing, most people in the military are a lot less stiff.”

Rebecca, the receptionist who was on duty when I first woke up, smiled politely and followed the Captain’s demand.

“Please wait a moment while I fetch our Guild Master.”

Pleased with her response, the Captain relaxed his stance a bit and started looking around the inn. I quickly averted my gaze to avoid eye contact, and tried my best to continue working as normal. Before Rebecca returned with the Guild Master, most people were back to enjoying their afternoon as usual.

While working, I kept my eye on the situation. Rebecca and the Guild Master returned and they started talking with the Captain. I couldn’t follow what they were saying, since they were speaking softly and the background noise of the patrons was, as usual, quite loud. Silently cursing the language barrier, my concentration was broken by a sudden question.

“So, how is our mysterious boy adapting to his new life? Any progress on recovering some of your memories?”

The man asking had a huge build, and even while seated was almost as tall as I was standing. His ‘armour’ if you could call it that, wouldn’t be misplaced in some shady bdsm shop. It mostly consisted of studded leather straps, while proudly displaying his bulging muscles everywhere. It almost looked like his muscles had muscles themselves, the textbook definition of a barbarian.

“Ah eh no, I have not gotten back memories. But the people here are very nice!”

I let out an unconvincing laugh. Maras previously told me he had spread the rumour that I had an rare, extreme case of amnesia, which would explain my difficulty communicating and the horrendously low stats. His biggest headache was that I had spoken an unheard language, since in this world everybody spoke the same language. From every country to every race, if it could speak, it spoke the same language. This world doesn’t even have the concept of ‘language’. For its inhabitants, it is just the natural way of communication.

He explained that he couldn’t keep my existence secret, but spreading a false rumour would hopefully keep unwanted attention to the minimum. Only the Adventurers Guilds’ staff knows the real story, but I had a feeling that Ella was also not completely convinced by the fake rumour.

“Indeed, this Guilds’ service is the main reason our party hasn’t moved to greener pastures. So we’re having high expectations for you boy!”

The muscled man led out a hearty laugh. I realised this was also a good chance for me to learn a bit more about this worlds’ people. Michael really thought this through.

“Haha, I will try! Eh, maybe you can help with my memories, can I ask you a few questions?”

“Sure thing, go ahead! Oh, but can you first take our order? Talking with a dry throat won’t do us any good, you know.”

“Right, what will it be?”

The rest of his party was a male dwarf in robes, a female human in heavy armour and a male half-elf with leather armour and arrows slung on his back. The dwarf ordered first without hesitation.

“I’ll take a Khazadurian ale.”

“Ehh, I don’t know, I’ll go with the cheapest wine.”

“Cheapskate.”

“Heh, I don’t want to spend all my money on getting drunk. Besides, I thought dwarves are supposed to be closefisted?”

“Not when it comes to drinking. We save money so we can enjoy ourselves later. Those are the basics, oi.”

“Heh, so you’re just glorified drunka-"

The muscled man interrupted his party's bickering.

“Come now, let’s not keep the waiter waiting. I’ll just have your regular houseale. Britt, you gonna order or what?”

“Sorry chief, I was just enjoying this scene. They always remind me so much of my little brothers, I couldn’t help it.”

“Oi, who’re you calling little?”

“Heh, to be fair, you’re not exactly tall, you know.”

“Oi, not this again! I’ll have you know I’m slightly above average in length!”

The group fell silent for a bit, before everyone started loudly laughing and slapping each other on the back. It was clear these people had a tight bond and had shared harsh trials together. Once the laughter died down a bit, the woman spoke up.

“Right, for me just my regular, the local brandy.”

“Khazadurian ale, regular ale, wine and brandy coming right up.”

I left the table to prepare the order, but from the corner of my eye I noticed that the Captain and the Guildmaster had left, leaving only the soldiers standing around looking uncomfortable. They were likely even more uncomfortable because Michael had pounced on them and was now busy with his great sales pitch. The soldiers must be tempted whether they could just have one drink. From what I know with my limited knowledge, the inn in the Adventurers Guild was actually quite famous for the quality of food and drink. These soldiers must really be struggling to fight off the temptation.

I wished the soldiers luck internally, and got to work on my order. Working at the bar felt quite natural, since I was a part-time bartender during my student life. It still took some effort to adjust, as my body still wasn’t working as I was used to. It’s pretty close to catching up, but my dexterity was still lagging behind a bit. It also didn’t help that whenever one of my stats did go up, it came with a noticeable difference in ability. You could probably compare it going through your growth spurt during puberty, when your brain has trouble catching up with your physical growth. Although in this situation, my body was changing almost daily.

Even so, I finished the order relatively quickly without spilling anything. I hurried back to the table to serve the drinks.

“Oho, you’re not even half bad! Perhaps you worked in an inn before you lost your memories? Of course, you’ll still have a lot of growing to do before you reach Michaels level.”

“Heh, don’t be so hard on the boy.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“I’m not, it’s just some friendly encouragement to strive for betterment! Oh before you start asking questions let me introduce ourselves first. The woman is Britt, and she’s the voice of reason in our party.”

“Sup.”

“Then we have our quarrelling duo covering our backs, Lethel and Burk. Lethel provides arrow fire, while Burk is our support.”

The half-elf and dwarf wanted to speak up, but decided against it and simply waved.

“And I’m Myes, useful for all your strength needs and somehow the chief of this bunch. I still think it should be Britt, but she refuses.”

“It’s pretty simple, people have a harder time taking a woman seriously, unless she’s above rank 60.”

I guess gender equality is even worse in this world sadly.

“And I still say you shouldn’t let that keep you down, but I’ll listen to your advice. So boy, what did you want to know?”

“Hmm, Britt mentioned rank 60, but I not really understand ranks.”

“Ah, actually, numerical ranks have only been in use fairly recently. It used to be classified with letters.”

“Perhaps it would help to explain what ranks are used for, chief.”

“Oh right, yeah, so you know how there are quite a lot of adventurers right?”

I didn’t really, but I nodded anyway.

“To be able to assign the proper adventurers to the proper work, we use the ranking system. So a low ranked adventurer wouldn’t take on work above his capabilities.”

“It also helped determine when to flee from a fight, since monsters have also been given ranks.”

“Right, so the rankings used to start with the lowest rank E, and then it went up to D, C, B and so forth. However, the ranking system was conceived almost 1000 years ago, and over time the adventurers kept getting better and better.”

“Because of experience?”

“Hmm, that might be part of it, but not really. The most important reason is that our physical stats kept improving basically each generation.”

So this world experienced some sort of power creep? I know evolution is a thing, but that wouldn’t explain entire generations improving this quickly.

“So the rankings eventually became a bit hard to understand, with ranks such as Ultimate S plus-plus.”

I internally rolled my eyes. What a name.

“However, 15 years ago the entire world changed. While some magic items did exist, nobody could cast magic themselves. And suddenly, basically overnight, everyone was able to use magic themselves. That event has different names across different countries, but it’s most commonly named ‘The Great Upheaval.”

I was speechless. What. The. Hell. Real worlds generally don’t go through such extreme changes. It almost sounded like an overachieving expansion for a game. Still, it must’ve had the base for it, otherwise it would’ve changed the entire fundamentals. A harrowing thought went through me. Am I in a simulation? Is my real body hooked up to some machine and crazy scientists are going out of control with their experiment? If that’s true, I wonder what would happen if I’d die in this world. Would it end the simulation? Not that I plan to find it out the direct way.

At this point I decided to stop being surprised at all the rules and natural laws this world would throw at me. With events such as the Great Upheaval happening, it’s safe to assume that all kinds of crazy stuff can happen. I was hit by a sudden realisation.

“So with casting magic came making magical items?”

“Oho, your speech might be funny, but you seem to be pretty smart! Yes, the Great Upheaval sparked the beginning of magical engineering. And one of the first things they created was a way to accurately measure our abilities.”

As if on cue, Myes’s party took out their cards. He pointed to the top right corner of their cards.

“This number right here is how people are ranked. I’m 35, Britt is 37, Lethal and Burk are both 31. With the old system, we would probably have been ranked B.”

“Although we are mostly just a run of the mill party compared to most other adventurers.”

“Oi Britt, we do have the edge over others because of our experience.”

“Heh, what experience? Your capability to drown yourself in expensive ale?”

“That certainly helps, but I’m mostly talking about the amount of times I saved your sorry ass.”

“You mean the amount of times you ‘accidentally’ set fire to my quiver.”

“Oi, that’s only because you mov-”

While Lethel and Burk continued their bickering, Britt followed up on Bruk’s initial remark.

“Well, it’s certainly true that rank is only calculated by your current attributes and attribute potential. Rank 30 might be able to defeat a rank 40 based on personal skills, gear and a favourable matchup. But a rank 30 will generally stand no chance against a rank 50, no matter their personal skills.”

“So, what is the rank of an average person?”

“For most humanoid species it’s 10, but there are exceptions, such as the Draconians way up north.”

Before I could further question the party about the finer details about ranks in this world, I noticed from the corner of my eye that Maras and the Captain were making their way to this table.

“Ah, I see you guys are having important company, please enjoy your afternoon!”

“Oho, I don’t think they’re here for us, boy.”

Myes was right. I looked at the approaching pair, I could see that their eyes were focussed on me. Maras was giving me an apologetic look, while I couldn't discern any intention from the Captain. As soon as they reached me, the Captain spoke up.

“Are you the individual addressed as Novis Kardia, who has suffered severe amnesia?”

“Yes Sir”

“Good, then by order of the Grand Duke of Novaria, Julius Grecko III, you have been inducted into the Royal Guard as a special initiate. This is a great honour to be bestowed upon you. Gather your belongings, we will be leaving immediately.”

“Yeah no, I decline”

I wasn’t exactly sure what the Captain meant, but joining the military sounds like a bad idea. I’m quite bad at dealing with people with authority. Well, it’s mostly me disliking being told what to do, but the point is, me and authority don’t get along. On top of that, I really have no desire to put my life on the line for a country I don’t know. However, I could see the Captain's eyes widen and he raised his voice.

“WHAT! There are people out there who would kill for such an honour, you insolent brat! Besides, it is obligatory for every citizen of the Grand Duchy of Novaria to answer the call for military duty when it arrives.”

He suddenly narrowed his eyes and grabbed the hilt of his sword. The soldiers behind him also tensed up.

“Or are you saying you’re not a citizen of Novaria, but an illegal immigrant?”

Great, I’m now being strongarmed into the military. A great way to get my cooperation, people. I really can’t wait to give it my all and die for this country.

I sighed, knowing I couldn’t refuse. However, I had promised the kids to play with them this evening, so I couldn’t leave immediately. I like to be pretty free spirited, but I always keep my promises. My mind was racing to find a way to at least be able to stay the night, but I couldn’t find a watertight solution. I then just tried to play into his sense of duty.

“No no, I am good, proud citizen of Novaria. But as a man of duty, I can’t leave my duty here alone. I did not decline your duty, only that I had to leave now. Because of amnesia, I still can’t speak well. Sorry for confusion.”

Luckily Maras chipped in.

“Exactly my good Captain, Novis here has some very important work left here. Now, you wouldn’t want to be the reason that the Adventurers Guild gets into trouble right?”

“Hmpf. One day. Then I will have someone sent to pick Novis up. Would that work for you?”

“It will be tough, but we wouldn’t want to inconvenience the Royal Guard too much. We will be ready then.”

“Good, that’s settled then. Men, we will take our leave!”

With those words, the Captain and his retinue left the Inn. Maras put his hand on my shoulder.

“That was some quick thinking Novis, well done. Now, please follow me to my office, so I can explain the situation to you in detail.”

“Oho, our mysterious boy is moving up in the world!”

“Please don’t get us involved in this, chief.”

“You can’t deny that you’re not intrigued yourself.”

“That maybe so, but still I-”

Maras and I quickly left Myes and his party to their own devices and soon after we arrived at his office. It was a relatively sober office, especially once you consider that this office belonged to a very influential man in the capital of Novaria. Every piece of furniture was exceptionally well made, but it didn’t exude the status you would expect from Maras.

“Right, so here’s the situation-”