Leave a comment

“Don’t worry about it. Taking care of trouble inside the guild is also part of my job. Are you two adventurers?”
“Well…we only registered yesterday. But we can barely find any requests we can do together.”

There were usually piles of entry-level requests for newcomers, but at the same time, there was always a surplus of newbies. It was always a tall slope in the beginning, but after a few requests, those with sharp minds would figure out certain stuff and quickly rise through the ranks. These two had probably still not noticed at what times most of the requests were put up.

“Why is the guild so harsh on beginners? Even if new adventurers like us work our hardest, we can barely make it through the day, you know?”

The one complaining like that was the young boy who had protected the girl from the drunkards earlier. Knowing how bad his words could sound, the girl looked flustered trying to make him stop, but he was too enraged to stay silent.

“I don’t think we’re particularly harsh. We always balance the rewards so regardless of rank everyone gets a proper wage.”
“But still..! There aren’t enough requests in the first place! It’s impossible to live only by fulfilling requests!”

Many of the adventurers who heard his shouts shrugged and shook their heads. They all had been newcomers once, but overcame that phase and became independent of the issues the boy complained about. If they could not find a request at the guild, there were always options to work as a day laborer and live through the next day with that money, and even if that did not work they could just go to a nearby forest to hunt and forage. But hearing these two complaining about the lack of requests while refusing to put in that effort was simply something to shake their heads at and ignore.

“Stop it, Rick! You’re being so rude after she helped us!”
“But Amy, do you want to keep struggling to live then?!”
“Alright, keep it calm you two! If you make too much of a ruckus I’ll have to take you out like those drunkards!”

Remembering those two, they quickly cooled off their heads and trembled in silence. …But why did even they have to react that way?

“Do you want to go inside and talk about this?”
“”…””

The two nodded in silence. I sighed and turned to look at Camille, apologizing with my gaze as I took the two to the guild’s break room. Usually, adventurers never got to see past the front desk, so the two constantly looked in all directions with curiosity. A half-smile appeared on my lips as I watched them act like that, then I served tea for the three of us and we sat down. They seemed ashamed of themselves as they slowly began to sip on the tea.

“So…you’re Rick and Amy? You said living as adventurers is too harsh?”
“…Yeah. We thought a big city like this would have many jobs for us, but still…”

Rick’s hand gripped the cup more firmly. They had probably come to Surfour thinking they would find a lot of work and smoothly rise up the ranks as adventurers.

“In truth, there are many jobs. Lately, the number of monsters keeps going up, to the point adventurers come from other cities to pick up the slack. But that also caused an influx of new adventurers like you two, so that makes it look like there aren’t many requests.”
“I knew it-”
“But everyone is in the same boat, you know? Have you two put any effort into getting the requests done faster than others?”

Rick looked triumphant for a moment, thinking he had gotten his point across, but I raised my hand and stopped him so I could finish speaking. They had probably left some remote town with aspirations to become adventurers, there were many others like them. But that meant they lacked a sense of how people lived in the city, being too soft unlike the highly competitive adventurers here.

“Effort…you mean like training to fight or using magic? So if we were to kill a powerful monster does that mean the guild would-”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m talking about more fundamental things, like lining up on the front gates before the guild opens, or making connections with stronger adventurers. There are only so many requests we can let beginners handle, so those who get here early in the morning take most of them. That’s why those who come in past noon like you two barely get any.”
“That’s…”

They were lost for words. This was one of those things that were hard to figure out for certain people.

“And I mentioned connections with stronger adventurers…but don’t limit yourself to adventurers. Try to meet more people in general. If you become friends with other adventurers they might invite you to join them for easier jobs, or might share items they have a surplus of. But there are other people you should talk to as well, if you become friends with the owner of an inn, they might charge you less to stay overnight, or they might give you food for free. If you get closer to the receptionists in the guild, they might inform you about unpublished requests as well. It might take some effort in the start, and it’s probably different from what you expected the life of an adventurer to be, but I’m sure you can see how it could make things easier. That’s the type of effort you’re lacking. If I had to be blunt, you should only expect to survive purely off your work as adventurers once you reach Iron rank. In bronze, you’ll have to get used to hustling.”
“…”

Hearing the reality of this job explained so explicitly left them speechless. They probably had many dreams and expectations of the city when they left their hometown. I felt bad for them, but there was nothing more I could do. But throwing them out to fend for themselves would leave a bad aftertaste for me, so I came up with a good idea.

“Anyway, I’m sure there was a reason why we met today, and you probably have nothing to do for now, so do you want to do a small job for me? I promise you won’t regret it.”

The two nodded instantly. There were still the two hundred gold coins I got in Barius, I had finally thought of a use for them.