So I woke up feeling worse than before. Every time I wake up from an afternoon nap I end up with a headache, that’s why I prefer meditating instead of napping. Well, headaches aside, I should really get moving until dusk, there are some shops I haven’t checked and I still haven’t mapped this place yet.

When I finally managed to get out of bed I noticed that the room was darker than before, not much light was coming into the room. It was a little past noon when I went to sleep but I don’t think I’ve slept that much or did I?

Out of concern for my mental and physical condition I checked the watch to see how much I’ve slept and apparently it was seven in the morning. I don’t know how or why but it looks like I wasted a whole day sleeping, one day that I could have used better. Oh well, on the other hand now I can go and get the adventurer card so that’s something.

I left room and after locking up I went downstairs only to find myself in another place. Yesterday when I came in the inn was almost deserted, except for some grumpy men here and there, and now I come downstairs and I see the inn full of happy people. I recognized some of the men from yesterday, they were injured, tired and frustrated, and now they are so lively, and not just a few of them, everybody here was so pumped. Is there a festival going on or maybe yesterday a funeral took place and everybody was sad to hear about someone’s death. Well, needless to say, I and my tired face were standing out in here.

“Good morning, are you feeling better?” Rose greeted me.

“Not really, I still feel a little tired.” I answered.

“Is that so? From what I see you look a little better.”

“My personal condition aside, I am more interested about what’s happening here, the atmosphere changed too much since yesterday, is there a festival in town?”

“I’m pretty sure there is none. The closest one is [The Harvest Festival] but that’s next month.”

“So, if there’s nothing going on then what’s with all this happiness around here, it’s a little strange.”

“It is, isn’t it? This inn isn’t called [Paradise Inn] for no reason. Every customer gets better after a good night’s sleep. It takes a while to get used to it but I believe that everybody deserves a good rest.” Rose happily stated.

“Well, I guess…I just feel out of place, I’m the only one not feeling well.”

“If you are feeling unwell you should visit the Village Elder, he is a good doctor.”

“I will think about it, but first I have to go to the guild.”

“If you’d like I could prepare breakfast, it is included in the price and it won’t take long.”

“That sounds nice but I don’t feel like eating, maybe I will stop by for lunch.”

“I see; that’s too bad. Well then, have a safe trip.”

“Thanks.”

I peeked around before leaving, everybody was preoccupied with something; they were way too focused for this kind of atmosphere, nobody cared that I was monopolizing the owner; this atmosphere is really out of place, something must’ve happened…or maybe it’s just me, if something was indeed wrong then it would explain why I’m feeling unwell. I guess that it’s no use thinking too hard about it, for now I should get my card and do some quests.

When I entered the guild building I noticed that the atmosphere was unchanged. As a normal human I am not exactly happy to see people angry and sad so early in the morning but seeing grown men smile like little kids was equally disturbing for me.

“Good morning.”

When I reached the counter Iona came and greeted me. She was holding a piece of brown wood, about as big as a credit card. A quick scan revealed the material the card was made of, Elder Wood, the wood of a tree with high magic conductibility. On one side it had my name on it and on the other the letter [E] was written on it, God bless magic ink.

“Hello, I’m back.” I greeted Iona.

“I present to you the adventurer card, the wooden pride of an adventurer.”

When Iona handed me the card I pretended to look impressed and curious; acting indifferent towards it would be rude towards however made this and I this is my first step towards being an adventurer, might as well act like I’m excited about it. I found it interesting that despite being so thin this card is quite heavy.

“I was really surprised at first.”

“About what?”

“I thought that you tried to make fun of us when you wrote your age. When I was making your card I was thinking how to deal with you, if it wasn’t for the Elder you would have to suffer my rage.” explained an angry Iona.

“Did the Elder tell you about me?”

“Yes, he explained it to the best of his abilities but I am still a little confused; I haven’t seen somebody so young looking so old before, that’s not a body a child should have.”

“Well, it’s true, I’m surprised you didn’t notice before, when I handed you the paper.”

“I’m afraid that my head was in the clouds that time.”

When she said that she averted my gaze, I guess that the reason she was spacing out was me. I came at the right time and settled things, saving her life in the process; I wouldn’t be surprised if she likes me now.

“Well, a lot of things happened yesterday, it’s understandable.”

“Well, yesterday aside, there are things I need to explain now so pay attention.”

“All right.”

“An adventurer’s rank starts from E and goes all the way up to S. An adventurer advances in rank by completing quests. To advance in rank you need to complete at least ten quests from your current rank. Once these ten are done you have to complete a quest above your rank. Every law has exceptions and so does this one, once certain conditions are met you can advance faster, but I’m not allowed to tell anybody what those conditions are. So, was there something you didn’t understand?”

“I’m fine, please continue.”

“Your rank is shown on the adventurer card. The card is empowered by magic so it cannot be destroyed easily and the ink used when writing is a secret mix only certain people know. We employ these measures to avoid having people mess with the cards or create copies.”

“I see; that’s actually smart. Well, I do have a question.”

“When an adventurer advances in rank we erase the old one and write the new one on the card.”

“That’s what I was going to ask, is it safe to say that this question is asked a lot?”

“Yes, it is...one of many.” Iona responded displeased.

“What do you mean?”

“People tend to ask about certain things during my explanations, things that they would understand if they would listen from start to finish.” I guess that customer support is the same everywhere.

“So, what are S rank quests like?”

“An adventurer that reached S rank is an expert in eliminating powerful demons like a True Vampire for example.”

So an S rank is expected to kill someone like Astrid, a demon whose power I wasn’t able to measure. It’s safe to say that you have to be high level to reach S rank. The guy from yesterday wasn’t that powerful so I guess that the gap is between A and S ranks.

“Now the next part is going to be about quests, right?”

“Yes. There are three types of quests: quests taken from the message board which can be found on the second floor, quests given directly by the guild, which are mandatory, and urgent quests. Urgent quests are usually given by people on the spot, obviously in case of an emergency. Usually upon completing a quest the adventurer receives a reward but please keep in mind that there are quests with no rewards.”

“Could you give me some example for the last two types of quests?”

“The guild can and will force an adventurer to take part in searching for a fallen adventurer, this being an example for the second type...for the third type the best example would be a scenario where somebody comes running into the guild hall asking for help because his child was kidnapped.”

“The last example was a little dark but it got the message across. So, is that it?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, I guess I should go and take a quest.”

I tried to keep my mouth shut and hear the whole explanation and ask questions after it’s over but now that I reached the end I don’t really have anything to ask, her explanations were simple and easy to understand.

Just as I was about to head to the second floor Iona called out to me and told me to wait.

“Ah, I just remembered, the Elder wanted to see you, he requested your help. The Elder is an important person so this is qualifies as a mandatory quest.”

“Ok then, where is he now?”

“He should be waiting by the gate at the village’s entrance.”

“Got it. Then I’m heading off.”

“Good luck.” Iona replied.

“Thanks.”

As instructed I left the guild hall and made my way to the village entrance. In front of the gate the Elder was waiting holding a bouquet of flowers, eight red roses. I don’t know what the tradition is in this world but in mine having an even number of flowers in a bouquet meant that the receiver is dead, I’m guessing that he wants to give them as an offering or something.

“Hello Alexander.”

“Hello. That’s a beautiful bouquet.”

“Indeed it is, our florist grew these beautiful roses.”

“Excuse me for asking this but will we be visiting a grave?”

“Yes, my wife’s grave, she loved red roses. When she was still alive I used to bring one for her every month. It has been one year since she died but I had to leave the village for eight months and I couldn’t bring her the flowers.”

“If that’s the case then it’s better to get going.”

“Then please follow me.”

We left the village, walked around the wall until we reached the back and from there we walked straight forward following a road. I call it a road but it’s more like a patch of ground without any grass, it looks like we are heading towards a hill.

From what I can see my assistance is unnecessary, there are no trees only small bushes so the chance of getting attacked is low and the only animals I’ve seen were rabbits.

“Aren’t you going to ask why I told you to help me?” the Elder asks me out of the blue.

“I thought that it would be rude, especially after hearing about your wife.”

“Twenty years ago the number of demonic beings started increasing and it’s increasing even now. At that time I was an average adventurer and a man of medicine so I experienced it firsthand. Ten years ago I became the Elder after the old one died protecting the village from demonic beasts and since then I tried to keep the village safe. One year ago my wife went to the cemetery to clean the gravestones when she was attacked by an undead, the previous village elder.” said the Elder in a sad voice.

That’s beyond horrible; not only for the Elder and his wife but also for the memory of the previous elder. I know that the magic of demonic beasts and demons can possess corpses …Right now pity is the only thing I can offer him.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

I fear that if I don’t change the subject he will stay dejected for the rest of the trip, maybe I should ask him something more serious, about the monsters. He says that there should be demons and other demonic animals around here and yet I haven’t seen even one.

“I haven’t seen any monsters around, are there adventurers or knights patrolling?”

“The lack of demonic animals is indeed strange. For unknown reasons the village is safe. Weak monsters hate light and fire, that is the reason why they are not seen during the day.”

“I know that monsters like dark places but the fact that I haven’t seen one bugs me.”

“An adventurer was attacked by monsters in a nearby forest yesterday which confirms their presence in the area; it’s likely that they are afraid of something or are preparing for something else entirely.”

“I doubt that demonic animals have that kind of intelligence.”

“Do you know how demonic animals are born?”

“Yes; animals that come in contact with leftover magic or demonic magic are often corrupted by it and transformed into demonic creatures, unfortunately the same thing applies to humans. A person who practiced magic all its life has a higher chance of becoming a demonic being than a regular human; once that happens they will hunt in order to absorb magic and become stronger.

We continued walking until we reached the top of the hill where the cemetery was located. The cemetery was surrounded by an iron fence with a gate where the entrance was located. I can’t say exactly how big it is but there are at least one hundred gravestones and some wooden crosses and at the end of the cemetery I could see a…silhouette. So there was the silhouette of a female human in a black frilly dress, or the remains of one. While getting closer to the cemetery I could see that she was facing the other way, some of her black, long hair was missing and some bones were visible, in other words it looks like I found an undead or a strange demon.

My vision is better than a normal human is so I can’t be sure if I am seeing an undead or not. The strange thing is that the closer I got to the cemetery the more nauseous I become, I feel like there is something that’s trying to keep me away from this place, the mana here doesn’t like me; I should be ready to fight in case something goes wrong. The Elder was dressed in leather clothing, not going to get much protection from that and to top it all the only thing he had besides the bouquet was a pouch, not very useful.

“Is there something wrong?” the Elder asked me, his eyes full of concern. I guess he saw that something was wrong with me.

“I am not sure yet but we might have to fight with an undead.”

“An undead, so soon?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It is too soon for one to appear in the area, if you really plan on fighting it be careful.”

“Understood.”

I have no idea what is happening here but somebody will have to answer some questions after this is over.