Adventurer Registration (Lol)
Practicing magic.
A simple statement, but in some ways a rather difficult one.
Practicing magic required the right conditions, after all.
It had to be done in a space where no harm would come from casting spells.
And such spaces were mostly located outside Barukh.
Granted, there were practice areas inside Barukh District 3 as well… but they were absurdly expensive.
I did have money—just not that much of it.
"You could've given me a little more, you know."
I knew Sylvia had handed over everything she had on hand, but I was still running a bit short.
She'd burned through her funds on experiments, so all I had was a mere 100 gold.
Not that 100 gold couldn't last me a year, I suppose.
But the war against the Demon King wasn't going to wrap up that easily in a single year.
He had countless demons and monsters under his command, after all.
Which meant, inevitably, I was going to have to work.
"Ugh. What a chore."
The reason I'd lived as a beggar was my profound hatred of working.
Granted, having no real skills to speak of played its part too.
Lost in such thoughts, I checked my Subspace Pouch.
Inside were exactly five items: Fundamentals of Magic, Volume 1, all the way up to Advanced Magic, Volume 2.
Sylvia must have slipped them in before I left.
Her way of telling me to study, presumably.
Part of me wanted to simply preserve my body with mana, pour every last coin into lodging, and coast for three years… but that was far too much the life of a deadbeat.
I'd feel a little guilty about it, anyway.
And having discovered I possessed this kind of talent, going back to my old ways was no longer an option.
It wasn't some trash-tier aptitude like martial arts—I had a genuine talent for magic.
An extraordinary talent, at that.
So it made sense to find work related to magic.
Joining a Mage Tower wouldn't be a bad idea either.
With that, I tucked the books back into the Subspace Pouch and stepped outside.
Chirp, chirp—
Morning had come, and the sound of birdsong drifted through the air.
Hm.
A fine day for job hunting.
*
And so I wandered all over town looking for work.
I never once dropped Sylvia's name in the process.
I didn't want to be a bother to her.
Not that there was any real need to trade on her name.
The moment I demonstrated completing a spell formula in the blink of an eye and channeling mana into it, most people acknowledged my skill on the spot.
It's a bit awkward to say about myself, but I was a reasonably capable mage.
My behavior notwithstanding.
That said—
"Ugh. Not a single comfortable job out there."
Finding work that involved magic wasn't the problem. The problem was that everything came with a mountain of tedious responsibilities.
All I wanted was something simple to do.
Well, it stood to reason I'd get stuck with the complicated stuff.
Being able to use magic meant, first and foremost, that you were sharp.
So I drifted about aimlessly with these thoughts in my head.
And then.
A commotion spilled out from a certain building.
"Hm?"
I was sure I'd heard this kind of noise somewhere before.
That is to say… it sounded like a tavern.
A place overflowing with booze and meat.
So I stepped inside cautiously.
There might be work to be found in a place like this, after all.
Creeeak—
The moment I opened the door and slipped in, a wall of raucous noise hit me.
Countless people drinking, as far as the eye could see.
Women were serving the drinks.
And on one wall hung a board of postings.
"Hm."
This, it seemed, was an Adventurer Guild.
A place where adventurers ranked up and took on quests.
Work that required no complicated thinking—just walk out and smash some monsters.
Convenient, in a word.
It struck me as a rather good fit for me.
So I slipped inside and made my way toward the counter.
Behind it, a woman with golden curly hair was guarding the front desk, head nodding drowsily as she dozed.
Hm… should I wake her?
She was sleeping far too earnestly for that.
Was it really okay to wake her?
Debating this, I tapped lightly on the counter—tap, tap.
And then—
"Eek…!"
The employee jolted upright with a most peculiar sound.
If I had to guess, she was a receptionist.
So I spoke up.
"Ah, hello. Would it be possible to register as an adventurer here?"
I asked as politely as I could manage.
And she replied—
"Oh, yes, of course. The adventurer registration fee is 1 gold… did you happen to bring it with you?"
"…1 gold?"
"Yes. You see, there have been people who insisted on becoming adventurers without any real ability and ended up permanently maimed—or worse, sent to the grave… so as a guild, we have no choice but to charge a registration fee."
"Hm."
That explained it.
If that was the reason, then the fee was justified.
1 gold did seem awfully steep… but if I was going to be an adventurer, it was worth the investment.
Besides, I'd come all the way to another world—surely I had to try the adventurer thing at least once.
With that thought, I fished a gold coin out of my Subspace Pouch and set it on the counter.
Sliiide—
"1 gold received. I'll proceed with your registration. May I have your name and occupation, please?"
Name and occupation.
In this other world, those two things were said to be the most important of all.
Which was precisely why they went on your adventurer registration.
"My name is…"
I hesitated.
Should I use my name from my original world, or make one up on the spot?
Astonishingly, I still didn't have a name in this world.
There'd never been an occasion to pick one.
So I pondered.
What kind of name would suit me best?
After a good long while of deliberation, a fitting one came to mind.
"Yujin."
My real name was Seo Yujin, so I'd simply take "Yujin" from it. That should do.
"Yujin, then… and what would your occupation be?"
The golden-curled employee asked, looking me over.
She was doing her best to appear composed, but having just woken up, she couldn't hide the drowsy droop of her eyelids.
So I decided to wrap things up quickly.
"I'm a mage."
"…A mage. Understood. Mage registrations require verification—could you wait just a moment?"
"Ah, sure."
Presumably this extra step existed because there were adventurers who faked being mages to register, joined someone's party, and then stabbed them in the back.
Mage adventurers were a valuable resource, after all.
It was a hassle, sure, but double-checking like this prevented accidents. All good.
With that thought, I waited a while.
Then a man in fine, expensive-looking clothes came down from upstairs.
He took one look at me and—
"He's a mage, all right. Approve him. One glance is enough—you can tell just by looking."
"Ah, yes, sir."
He glanced me over once and promptly went back up the way he came.
I felt a flicker of doubt, but the sight of his bald head made it all make sense.
The man had clearly studied magic extensively in his day.
People who poured themselves into that sort of study tended to go bald at high rates.
All that stress, you see.
Thankfully, my own hairline remained intact.
While I was musing over this, the golden-curled woman approached with an apologetic smile.
"Haha… I'm so sorry for doubting you. There have been so many ugly incidents lately that we have to be careful with things like this…"
"Ah, no, it's fine. By the way, what's your name, if you don't mind me asking? I'll probably be coming here often, so I should know who to look for."
I smiled as I said it, and the golden-curled receptionist smiled back.
"I'm Esilly…!"
"Ah, got it. Nice to meet you."
Esilly.
A lovely name, really.
It suited her face, if anything.
"That's a pretty name."
"Oh! Thank you!"
With the pleasantries exchanged, I received my silver plate from Esilly.
Adventurer ranks were determined strictly by track record.
The lowest rank was the copper plate.
Above that, the silver plate.
Above silver, the gold plate.
And above gold, the platinum plate.
Four ranks in all.
From what I knew, new adventurers were supposed to start with a copper plate—but since mages were a precious commodity in the adventurer world, I was apparently starting at silver.
Not that I was complaining. Pure profit, as far as I was concerned.
It meant I wouldn't have to run around grinding out achievements to rank up.
With that in mind, I asked Esilly.
"So where do I go to pick up quests? That's what I'm most curious about."
"Ah, the quests are posted on that board over there. Take a posting from the board and bring it to me, and I'll evaluate the quest's grade against your own rank and determine whether you're approved or not—that's the procedure."
The procedure was surprisingly well systematized.
Impressive, honestly.
I hadn't expected things to be this organized.
Intrigued, I asked another question.
"And what happens if I'm denied?"
At that, Esilly gave me an awkward smile.
"…Then you simply can't accept the quest. From the guild's perspective, there's nothing more dangerous than random riffraff taking on quests and failing them."
"Fair enough."
And with that, our conversation wrapped up, and I stepped back out of the tavern, silver plate in hand.
The quests could wait until tomorrow, after all.
Thinking this, I snapped a photo of my silver plate and connected to the Gallery.
Then I made my post.
…Because it seemed I'd be needing help from the adventurer seniors of the Gallery, after all.