After passing through the gate, we find ourselves in the middle of a lively street. There are many Stores and restaurants lined up along the roads. Further down, many street stalls are selling all kinds of things to passing merchants and adventurers. The scene makes me feel a little excited, so many odd things for sale. So many things to do! This is precisely how a fantasy world should be.

“At the end of this street is the Adventurers guild. We’ll want to get you registered there first before we do anything else.”

“I see, is there any downside to registering?”

It would be a huge pain if I suddenly found myself obligated to work for the guild. It’s just a side gig, I swear! I don’t have time to be forced to adventure. An adventurer should be free!

“Well, it costs 5 silver to register. Afterward, it’s a good place to make some decent money. It also makes traveling to other cities a lot easier. Since it’s the easiest guild to join, a lot of people just join for the basic perks even if they have no intention to actually do the work.”

So, being an adventurer can be in name only, huh? Well, that certainly makes things easier for me.

After walking for maybe ten minutes, we finally make it to the adventurer’s guild. It’s a large wooden building with a sign bearing the head of a dragon. As expected of an adventurer’s guild.

“A dragon, huh?”

“Yeah, they are the highest-ranked monster of the guild. Those who can slay a dragon are considered the highest rank of adventurers.”

“so, there’s nothing stronger than a dragon?”

“No, there certainly are stronger things, but they are rather solitary existences. There’s only one of each kind normally. Dragons are rare on their own, but there are still many.”

“Alright, well, we probably aren’t going to be dragon slayers any time soon. Let’s head in.”

We walk through the simple doorway at the entrance of the guild. Looking around, I see pretty much exactly as I expect. On one side is a bar with a few gruff-looking guys day-drinking. On the other side is a small counter where a receptionist argues with a swordsman. In the corner is a large board covered in short papers, presumably the quest board. There’s a staircase running up to a balcony above the receptionist’s counter. A doorway stands at the end, leading to the behind-the-scenes area of the guild. The guild is certainly exciting to visit, but I feel like the adventurers will get annoying fast.

“We’ll go see the receptionist, then she’ll take us to a back room to perform orientation with you.”

“You really know a lot about the guild, huh?”

“Well, yes, I am an adventurer, after all. That much is required.”

We walk up to the counter where the swordsman is arguing with the receptionist.

“That’s what I’m saying. These are high-quality materials, so they deserve at least 5 silvers each.”

“I agree with you, they were certainly worth that much last week, but due to everyone’s hunting, their price has gone down. The best I can give you is three silvers.”

“Why are you so intent on screwing me over! I’m a gold rank, a gold rank! I risked my life for these, you know!”

This really isn’t any of my business I won’t butt in. Hopefully, this argument ends quickly.

“Excuse me, sir, I have some other guests to take care of. The offer is three Silver, take it or leave it.”

Things look as though a fight is going to break out at any minute. Just when things are getting to their worst, a large man intimidating man walks over. I notice around his neck hangs a shiny dog tag made of a purplish metal.

“Is there a problem here?”

The swordsman who was troubling the receptionist looks at the tall man and suddenly runs a little pale. From the looks of it, this man must be a higher rank?

“No, there’s no problem. I’ll take it. Three Silver, right?”

“Thank you very much for your business.”

The receptionist gives the swordsman three Silver and then bows to the adventurer. The swordsman grumbles a bit as he walks off. The man with the dog tags also leaves. We finally get a chance to approach the counter.

“Do you have to deal with this every day?” I ask, making a little small talk.

“Well, pretty much. It’s fairly common for adventurers to try to negotiate the prices with us. Usually, I’m pretty firm, though. What can I do for you?”

“Well, I’d like to register as an adventurer here. I’m partying up with Elli here.”

Elli gives a small nod.

“Exciting! A new adventurer, are you planning to take quests?”

“Yes, of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, a lot of people have signed up just for the perks. We’ve begun cracking down on it lately. You’ll have to complete at least one quest a month to stay an adventurer.”

I give a glance at Elli; this isn’t what she told me. She looks the other way. Oh well, I suppose it’s something recent. It’s not like completing one quest per month is that difficult or anything.

“That’s fine. I’m sure I’ll complete a lot more than just one quest per month.”

“That’s what I like to hear! I’ll take the registration fee, and then we can head back to do some orientation. My name is Kera, by the way.”

“Kazuki, nice to meet you.”

Elli hands her five Silver. To which Kera responds.

“Oh, sorry, hon, we actually raised the price to seven silver.”

Elli reaches into her pocket and pulls out two more Silver. She attempts to smile through it, but she’s clearly frustrated by how much money she’s had to spend so far on this endeavor. We haven’t gained anything, but we’ve certainly managed to lose money.

“Alright, before we get started, you have some paperwork to complete. Exciting, isn’t it?”

Kera hands me a small packet of paper and an ink pen. It occurs to me that though I can understand writing, I can’t exactly write. It’s embarrassing that I need so much help. I’m sure Elli is questioning whether or not I really can help her now. Sorry, I’m such an embarrassment!

“Uhh, Elli, I can’t write in this language. Can you help me out?”

She looks at me, confused for a second before a look of understanding shows on her face. Seems she got that it’s a fault for coming from another world.

Together we work to complete the paperwork. It was reasonably easy information. My name, my level, my race. The only difficult task is my class.

“What should we put for class?”

“Well, there are a lot of different classes you can choose from. It will affect the skills you can learn and how you level up. It’s fairly important. Let’s start by figuring out what role you intend to play in battle.”

That is an excellent question. What role do I intend to play? I’m certainly not a front-liner taking the battle. A mage, maybe? My magic stat is pretty high. But considering my [Overdrive Lv.1], perhaps taking a high regeneration role would be best, maybe a healer? Maybe I could heal Elli’s mother. That would certainly be one solution to her problem. Regardless a support role would probably fit me better. Alright, we’ll go with that.

“Some sort of support role.”

“Well, what kind? A bard that buffs their allies, a healer focused entirely on healing, a class that focuses entirely on utility?”

“Is there a class that does both healing and more general magic?”

“Honestly, your best bet for an all-round support mage is the [Support Caster] class. They aren’t particularly strong with attack magic or healing magic, but they can do both, and they stand on their own fairly well.”

“Alright, we’ll go with that!”

Elli writes down the class on the paperwork. I then part ways with Elli, and the receptionist takes me to the back-room. There is a small chalkboard, or rather a slate, and a few chairs gathered around us. Looks like here I am in adventuring school. At the back of the classroom is a machine that seems to have intricate markings on it, seemingly a magical device. I wonder what it’s for.

“Please wait. This will take a few minutes.”

Kera spends about 5 minutes fiddling with the machine and glancing at the paperwork. She looks like a mad scientist right now. Soon several magic circles appear floating above the machine with what seems to be a card in the center.

“Please come over here.”

I walk over, and Kera instructs me to place my hand on the guild card within the magic circle. As I do, I feel a slight burning in my soul, similar to when I received [Overdrive Lv.1] though this feeling is much less intense. After a short time, the magic circle fades, and I know it’s complete.

“Please check your status to verify that it properly assigned your class.”

[Display Status]

[Name: Kazuki Hirano Lv. 1] [Race: Human] [Class: Support Caster Lv. 1]

[Stats]

HP: 958/958

MP: 532/532

Strength: 53

Dexterity: 72

Magic: 101

Physical Defense: 62

Magical Defense: 35

[Skills]

[None]

[Unique Skills]

[Overdrive Lv.1]

[Universal Translation Lv.1]

I can clearly see that my class is now listed as [Support Caster]. Still, everything else seems relatively unchanged, even my skills. I give the receptionist a short nod, to which she smiles.

“Welcome to the guild. You are now officially an Adventurer. Now it’s time to talk about the laws and regulations that apply to adventurers.”

I gulp. I’m definitely in for a long day of otherworldly education.

“Let’s begin by talking about adventurer ranks. There are seven ranks in total. Starting out, we have common ranks, Copper, Silver, and Gold. After that, there are the metal ranks Mithril, Orichalcum, and Adamantium. Finally, at the top of all of those ranks sits the Dragon rank.”

“Why is the dragon rank not part of either category?”

“It’s a rank that is obtained by special recommendation only. You can’t get to it through normal means.”

“I see. How do you rank up?”

“Both the common ranks and metal ranks require you to complete quests. However, the metal ranks are also required to take on special rank up quests and complete a test with a guild master. Each quest earns you prestige, which is marked on your card. Of course, each rank requires a different prestige to rank up. But in general, each quest is marked with a level of prestige. Naturally, higher-level quests give better rewards. Additionally, you may only take quests up to your rank or the rank of your party.”

This system is straightforward to understand. There’s nothing incredibly tricky about it. Despite how seemingly obvious it is, I’m incredibly interested in it. I quite like this world so far.

“Some quests deal with other humans such as bandits. These are only given to gold rank adventurers and above due to the unpredictable nature of people. Still, there are many regulations when it involves the subjugation of humans. Sometimes you may inadvertently run into dangerous people that mean to do you harm, in which case you may resort to force even if you aren’t a gold rank. However, you will be thoroughly questioned upon finishing the quest, don’t think about committing any crimes. I do recommend you be careful.”

“Alright, got it. I’ll make sure I’m careful.”

The orientation continues for quite some time as we cover the logistics of taking and completing quests, basic monster knowledge, and how to butcher in the field. I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the local area after this orientation. I’m quite excited about getting out to do some adventuring.

As long as I have the receptionist’s attention, now may be an excellent time to inquire about the local geography. If I can get a head start picking a location for my dungeon, things should go a lot smoother later.

“Since I’m not from around here, I was hoping we could take a look at a local map. Is that a possibility?”

“It’s not often that a new adventurer asks about the map! I like that you are prepared. Follow me. I’ll show you the map room.”

Map room? Just how big is this map for them to have a ‘map room’?!

I follow Kera to a room on the second floor. As we step inside, my jaw drops, the center of the room is a large table with a giant map on it. I was not expecting such a large map. On top of the map are several pieces of paper with quests on them. There are also many colorful counters on it.

Besides the large world map, many smaller maps show the city individually, and some display the floor layouts of dungeons. I am beyond impressed at the quality put into all of these maps.

“Having an accurate map is very important for planning and strategy. Most publicly available maps aren’t known to be accurate, so that’s why we take this map room very seriously. Any guild member can come to visit the map room as long as they’re with a member of guild staff.”

“This is truly impressive.”

I want to put a map room like this in my dungeon one day. That would be really cool. Maps are the spirit of those who create!

“You can see the many markers and quests posted on this map. We do our best to track groups of monsters on this map, in addition to keeping track of recent casualties. As you might expect, location plays an important role in the ranking of a quest. If our ranking is off, it can easily lead to the death of many adventurers. We must take it very seriously.”

“That’s very reassuring.”

I take several moments to look over the map, trying to find a place that meets my conditions. It has to be near a river and away from other dungeons. It also has to be the right distance from any nearby settlements. My eyes follow along all the rivers searching for the right area.

“Is there anything, in particular, you’re looking for?”

“Nothing, in particular, just trying to learn the layout of this region. This stretch of the river seems strange here to me. By most logic, there should be a settlement along this stretch of river. It’s fairly long and uninterrupted. Wouldn’t it make sense to build a town here?”

There’s an area on the map to the east that seems like a perfect place to build something. Still, it is eerily empty. What could cause people to avoid such a strategic location? Well, maybe I found my answer, it’s named the [Dark Forest].

“I’m impressed you can see the potential in that area. Certainly, if someone could make a safe town there, it would definitely prosper. Unfortunately, that area tends to be quite packed with dangerous monsters. travelers often opt to take a much longer route to avoid going through that forest since it’s much less risky that way.”

“Are the monsters there because of a dungeon or something?”

“As strange as it seems, dungeons actually help regulate monsters. Areas with few monsters tend to have large dungeons beneath them, and areas that overflow with monsters are generally far from dungeons.”

“Do you know why that occurs?”

“Dungeons tend to absorb mana from the area, while the total monsters may be the same when dungeons are present. The monsters tend to be within the dungeon instead of covering the surface. That area you pointed at has no known dungeons for quite a distance. Additionally, since there aren’t many nearby settlements, there aren’t any adventurers going there to keep the numbers down.”

Hmm, it seems that dungeons’ nature is much more complicated than the [God of Order] pitched to me. That being said, I think planting the dungeon seed in that area would probably be an excellent place to build a dungeon. It’s the best candidate so far. Well, except for the potential death that could occur trying to get there, working with Elli will give me some good experience for that journey.

“Do you have any other questions for me?”

I’m sure I could talk all day, but I mainly just want to get started adventuring.