The adventurer guild's door is always wide open in its operating hours, making the air circulate well. With plenty potted plants and even planted trees in the hall, it makes a homy place even for the elves.

Or, in my case, for half elves.

I step briskly to the guild's counter. One of the clerks there approaches me even without being prompted to.

"Hi, Al, nice work today," the clerk says with a smile.

I nod at him. "I'm here to submit the quest items."

I take out the large leather pouch containing the magic cores of the magic beasts I've slained as the part of the quest, then I put it on the counter.

"Right! Hold on a second, let me confirm your quest first... A C-ranked quest, Pest Subjugation of Abandoned Manor, right?" the clerk says after scurrying among the scrolls. "There's a 3-day time limit, but you're finishing it up in just one day? Wow."

"Yeah, I want to rise my ranks as soon as possible." I shrug while saying that.

The clerk nods amiably and looks at the leather pouch on the counter. "The cores are a lot more than the quest's requirement. I cannot add extra rank points for you even if you brought more of them back with you, Al, sorry."

"Nah, I know the rules."

I don't really expect much from C-rank quests. They are usually recurring requests, just like the one I took yesterday.

As a D-rank adventurer, I can only take quests one rank higher. The quests would give me rank points and designated rewards in return. My short goal right now is to become as high ranked adventurer as possible.

"Help me exchange them with coins instead, Bri," I call the clerk.

Brioche, the clerk, beams happily. "Certainly! Let's count the magic cores... Oh, thanks for cleaning them up," he says a little bashfully.

I know many adventurers never bother to wash the magic beast's blood off of the cores when they have to hand them over to the guild. I love my hygiene, though. 

The clerk's expression grows more astonished. "This is... heaven-base core of C rank monster! An even an earth-base core of A-rank...!!? How... how...?" He looks a bit frightened in that moment.

"There's a lair in the basement of the manor that contained an A-rank humanized Ant beast and a powerful guardian. I defeated it and took the core," I say simply, the way it is, taking out the earth base A rank core. It's the size of a baby head, and the dark purple swirl is so dense that it's actually beautiful. But the jade blue color of the heaven base C-rank is denser, even though it's smaller. 

Yet I can see the clerk's face grows paler. "Are you okay, Bri?" I ask.

For some reason, he sports a healthy blush upon my question. "S-sorry for being so unprofessional," he stammers, before taking a deep breath and calming down. "...I'm a clerk, so it's normal to see adventurers defeating a beast of their own rank. But you skipped three ranks! That's amazing, but... are you okay, Al?" he asked, returning my question. His eyes stares at me scrutinizingly.

I can feel the concern, so I stand up straighter before replying, "I'm no less of a man than I was before the quest." Or less a half elf, to be precise. "Don't worry. I started late as an adventurer, but I'm already quite strong."

I scratch my head. It's a bit strange to tell a stranger not to worry about me, but this clerk has been treating me kindly since the first time we get acquainted. 

"They'll make quite a sum for you. In my modest calculation, you can get at least 500 gold coins, most of them from the heaven C-rank core and the earth A-rank core," he says.

"Then give me that 500 coins, and you can take the rest," I tell him. My body is itchy from the sweat and I want to take my bath already. I don't want to wait around to a mediated negotiation, as it'll just drag things out. I'm quite happy with that number, after all. 

"What? No, I cannot do that! I already get some cuts from the guild, there's no way I can take cuts from you too..."

"It's okay. I was lucky, so let me share a bit of my luck with you, okay?" I offer a smile this time.

"B-but..."

"Take it as a friendship token between us, don't stand on ceremony too much."

"Th-then let me take the s-sum," he stammers again before disappearing into the door behind the counter. 

It must be quite a sum for him to be that nervous, but I don't mind. I like obtaining more coins, but he might actually need it more than I do. 

•°•°•°•°•

"Thank you for waiting. Al, here's your reward and the coins you exchange the cores for. Because you didn't bargain, the finance sector didn't make it difficult for me either." He smiles sheepishly.

"Thanks, Bri."

"Oh, and apparently your points are enough to raise your rank. Would you like to do it now?"

I shake my head. "I'll do it tomorrow, along with taking a new quest. I want to rest now, so... See you around, okay?"

"Certainly! And, Al, thank you."

I nod and take the pouch with me, tying it to my belt below my cloak, and leave the counter.

I wear my hood and walk down the streets. 

My feet bring me towards a lavish establishment. The tall outer walls seem imposing. This is one of the most highly secured establishment in the capital city of Rozenier.

Coincidentally, this is also my home. There is a canal around the establishment, leading to the large river that runs through the city.

I just turn in the last corner closest to my room when something catches my eye.

There's a small figure looming over the large river from one of the main bridge in the city. I don't know what on earth the figure is doing, but it looks dangerous, because the body of that figure keeps leaning forward and forward all the more, and no one seems to notice that. No one is at the bridge at this hour, after all.

"Hey, careful!" I shout, but that small figure doesn't seem to hear me. "Tsk, human!"

There's no other way, I have to yell in their ears, it seems. I make a different turn than what I intended and run towards the small figure, but before I can reach them, his flipped body has fallen forward. Straight to the river.

My eyes widen and I try to run faster. 

"What on earth!?" I get to the riverbank's direction, toss my cloak and belt with all the belongings attached to it, then dive into the large river.