Becoming an Adventurer
After returning to Kubel, we all sat down together for a simple meal at a restaurant, at the young man's suggestion.
"Ah, so you were herb merchants. Lucky I happened to take a Blue King Slime subjugation request."
The young man who had saved us from the Blue Slime swarm said this with a smile. His name was Oren. An active adventurer, he had come to carry out a Blue King Slime subjugation request and happened to find us along the way. To someone like me who aspired to become an adventurer, he looked incredibly cool — genuinely impressive.
"You saved our lives. If it hadn't been for you, Oren, I don't know what would have happened to us..."
"I just did what anyone would do."
At my repeated thanks, Oren scratched the back of his head with a slightly embarrassed look. But I meant every word. The way he'd swept away that swarm of slimes in a single stroke — you could have called him a hero without the slightest exaggeration.
"The truth is, I'm aiming to become an adventurer myself. I want to become a great adventurer like you, Oren."
"Haha... you're giving me way too much credit."
"No, I mean it. At least to me, you're the hero who saved my life."
"I'm just an ordinary Bronze adventurer who happened to be passing by."
Bronze?
So that was how adventurer ranks worked in this world. Still, for someone who had looked that strong to only be Bronze... maybe Bronze was actually an incredibly high rank? No — judging by the way he'd said it, that wasn't the case.
"And actually, I'm the one who should be thanking you."
Oren said this to me out of the blue.
"Huh? What do you mean...?"
"When you're working as a Bronze adventurer — the lowest rank — you don't often get thanks this sincere."
"Is that so?"
"All the attention and glory goes to the higher-ranked adventurers. Bronze adventurers like us are more like janitors, handling the miscellaneous requests they won't touch."
Oren smiled bitterly. A janitor handling miscellaneous requests. Hearing that from someone who'd looked like a hero dropped straight from the heavens — the cognitive dissonance was real.
"To me, you're the greatest hero who ever saved my life."
"Haha, thank you. That makes me feel like being an adventurer was worth it."
Oren broke into a genuinely delighted, refreshing smile at my words. The word "Bronze" felt meaningless. In my eyes, he looked as cool as anyone could possibly be.
"Oh, and next time you go into the forest, at least keep a sword on you. Slimes have a core in the center — if you slice right through the middle with a sharp blade, anyone can take them down easily."
A monster anyone could easily defeat if they'd just had a sword?
I'd been surrounded by those things, watching my life flash before my eyes. Hah...what a weird feeling.
"Yunoa— Yunoa—"
Meruru, who'd been sitting beside me eating in silence, tapped my shoulder.
"What's up?"
"There's not enough, so it is."
Meruru said this while tapping her empty plate with a fork. Next to her, five plates she'd already cleaned were stacked in a pile. Hah, well. She'd gone through all that because of me, so today she could eat as much as she wanted. Once we sold off the herbs we'd gathered today, we'd have plenty of money...
"Ah."
I was about to call a waiter to order more when a thought flashed through my mind, and I froze.
"AAAAAAAH—!"
Then I clutched my head and screamed. I'd forgotten to harvest Freya's Blessing.
Yunoa could not stop thinking about how he had forgotten Freya's Blessing and left it behind.
He felt more regret over the money he had so narrowly missed than gratitude for having luckily escaped with his life.
After we'd parted ways with Oren at the restaurant, the Narration started jabbing at my inner thoughts. This from the same voice that had shut up completely when we were actually in danger. Honestly, could you blame me? Fifteen gold was the kind of money you'd be lucky to make even if you spent an entire week gathering herbs. If I wasn't disappointed, I'd be a saint.
The swarm of slimes that had nearly taken Yunoa's life could, in fact, have been dispatched by anyone with a well-sharpened sword.
Having been driven to the brink of death by such a monster, he was now declaring — without the slightest sense of shame — that he intended to become an adventurer.
The Narration's snark landed another hit. That one actually stung a bit.
True, the swordsmanship of that young man named Oren had looked incredibly impressive to someone like me who knew nothing. But for someone who looked that strong to be a Bronze adventurer... could a guy like me really become one? My confidence was starting to waver.
Even so, I couldn't give up on the dream of becoming an adventurer. The image of Oren fighting magnificently against dozens of slimes and rescuing us. That refreshing expression of genuine fulfillment when he'd received my thanks. Seeing that, I wanted to help someone as an adventurer and feel that same sense of fulfillment. I wanted to feel what Oren had felt. I wanted to go from being the one who received help to the one who gave it.
That was the kind of person I'd always been. Even before coming to this other world, I'd been too scared to try anything, and so I'd done nothing. I'd been afraid of everything, so I'd spent my time inside a safe, comfortable house, manufacturing excuses for myself.
But things were different now. I'd gathered all the money I needed to become an adventurer. I'd already harvested all the herbs from the safe nearby areas anyway. There was no reason to delay any longer.
Alright. Decision made. As of today, Yunoa & Meruru Herb Merchants was going out of business. I resolved to go to the guild this very day and become an adventurer.
The sword at my hip was still completely unfamiliar, and it kept distracting me as I walked. Meruru, wearing the new robe I'd just bought her, was bouncing along beside me with obvious delight.
"So this is what's left of the money..."
Before heading to the guild, we'd gone around the weapons shop, the general store, and the armor shop, and bought everything we needed. The weapon had been the biggest expense. Since I lacked skill, I figured using a decent sword might make up for it a little — so I'd picked up each blade on display, choosing the one that fit my hand best and wasn't too heavy. For armor, I'd gone with whatever was easiest to move in rather than whatever offered the most protection. There had been magically enchanted armor that could protect the entire body, but the price was so absurd I'd just looked and left. At the general store I'd bought a few healing potions just in case, and I'd gotten Meruru a new robe as well.
A white-brick building standing tall in the heart of Kubel's busiest downtown.
"So I actually came..."
I took a deep breath in front of the door, then patted Meruru's head about three times to try to settle my nerves. Then I opened the door and stepped inside, and the adventurer guild scenery I'd only ever imagined unfolded before me for real.
Adventurers of every kind stood before a massive bulletin board, studying the requests with serious faces. A counter handling the guild's various business, and a pretty receptionist... wait?
Among the receptionists at the guild counter, I spotted someone who looked vaguely familiar. A beautiful woman with a cherry-blossom-pink bob. She gave off a somehow sacred, warm atmosphere — and yet, for some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling she might not be wearing any underwear...
"Tina?"
"Ah? Yunoa! Is that you, Yunoa?"
When I walked closer and called her name, Tina greeted me with a delighted expression. She'd said she was looking for work, but I never expected her to become a guild receptionist. She'd cut that long hair of hers into a bob. She's not a Saintess anymore, so she's probably wearing underwear this time.
"What brings you to the guild? Have you been well?"
"I'm here to register as an adventurer."
I had a lot I wanted to say out of sheer happiness at seeing her, but I cut straight to the point. Tina was working, so it was better not to make unnecessary small talk.
"In that case, please read this document, and sign here and here with this pen."
Tina smoothly pulled an adventurer registration form from under the counter and handed it over along with a pen. The document was packed with tiny print covering an adventurer's duties, precautions, and so on — so dense it was hard to even read. I'd seen this kind of document in my previous world. The kind of thing like insurance terms or a privacy policy. The content was important, but it was such a pain to read that you ended up skimming it and just signing anyway. With these, once you signed, they usually explained the actually important parts verbally.
"I've signed everything."
"Alright, received. Yunoa, I have a few questions for you."
Tina took the signed document and, without even looking at it, stashed it somewhere under the counter as she spoke.
"Have you received training at any institution such as a knight order training camp, an academy, a swordsmanship school, or a magic college?"
"No."
"Does your family include a Gold-rank or higher adventurer, or the founder of a swordsmanship school or magic school recognized by the kingdom?"
As if.
"No."
"Do you have any wartime experience, mercenary experience, or experience winning a battle against a monster?"
"No."
"Lastly, for reference in party recruitment and request assignments... what class would you like to register as with the guild?"
"Swordsman?"
Why so many questions? Having to answer no to every single one was starting to give me a bit of an inferiority complex. Couldn't be helped. It was the truth.
Tina finished her questions, scribbled something on a form, then pulled something out from under the counter. It was a metal badge about two finger-joints in size, engraved with a shabby bird-head emblem that could have been a sparrow or a chicken — I couldn't tell.
"Registration complete. Yunoa, you are Novice rank."
Wait. I thought Bronze was the lowest rank.
And just like that, I became an adventurer.