episode_0007

What needed to be done first was clear.

The Adventurer’s Guild.

I had to get an adventurer’s license there.

If I went somewhere and said I was from the slums, I’d be lucky if I just got hit by stones.

If I went somewhere and said I was an adventurer, even if I was laughed at, there was definitely a difference in treatment to the extent that I wouldn’t get hit by stones.

The initial goal I set was to get the qualification of ‘adventurer’ here and head to another town or city to shed the label of ‘from the slums’.

Following Grandfather Leon’s advice, I arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild with my gaze cast down at the floor, and it reeked of alcohol.

It seemed like they were also running a pub.

From here on, I straightened my back, as being looked down upon would cause difficulties in many ways.

The female receptionist sitting at the counter didn’t have the beautiful appearance of receptionists in typical games.

That’s not to say she was ugly; the word plain suited her appearance well.

I approached the counter with confident steps.

I pretended to look elsewhere, fearing that if I looked her directly in the eyes, she might refuse the registration itself out of disgust.

I opened my mouth.

“I’ve come to apply to be an adventurer.”

“…Kid, this isn’t a place to play.”

Kid.

Right, my current appearance was that of a young girl.

The appearance of a young child who had to stand on tiptoe just to reach the counter height.

But even though I looked like this, I was an adult man, and I was a prospective adventurer who had genuinely come to become an adventurer, not just playing child’s games.

“…I’ve really come to become an adventurer.”

“Then you know the procedure, right?”

“…Yes.”

I took out a silver coin from my pocket and held it out. After the receptionist verified the silver coin, she handed me a piece of paper.

To become an adventurer, a simple verification process was required.

The Adventurer’s Guild didn’t want just anyone running around claiming to be an adventurer.

To become an adventurer, one either had to complete 5 or more requests given by the Adventurer’s Guild to build trust, or have someone else provide a guarantee.

In my case, it was the latter.

I presented the letter of guarantee that my grandfather had prepared for me.

Grandfather had truly done everything for me.

Therefore, I had to act in a way that wouldn’t be a nuisance to my grandfather.

It was a given, and I engraved that resolve deep within my heart.

“Grandfather Leon’s guarantee…?”

The receptionist looked surprised for a moment, but as if it didn’t particularly concern her, she took the letter of guarantee and went through the verification process. Before long, she handed me a tag that proved I was an adventurer.

“Alright, I’ll explain it just once, so listen carefully.”

“Yes.”

“If you lose it, you must be able to clearly state how you lost it, and a reissuance fee will cost 3 silver coins. And your tag is wood, right?”

As the receptionist said, the tag I received was made of wood.

The seal of the Adventurer’s Guild was stamped on the lowest part of the wooden tag.

“That means you’re the lowest rank of adventurer, in other words… commonly called an errand runner. So, don’t go around telling people you’re an adventurer. We’ll record each time you complete a mission and promote you when the time comes. There are a total of 4 adventurer ranks.”

“Wood, Bronze, Silver, Gold.”

“Oh, you know them well?”

It was quite displeasing how she said it in an overly excited tone, as if I was commendable.

“If you want to go around proudly saying ‘I’m an adventurer,’ you need to be at least a Silver rank adventurer.”

Her tone was like earnestly cautioning a child who wanted to play adventurer games.

But listening to it, it turned out to be quite useful information after all.

In other words, they only really consider you an adventurer from Silver rank onwards.

When I nodded, the receptionist stared down at me intently, chuckled lightly, and then spoke her final words.

“Well then, I hope you have an enjoyable and romantic adventure.”

“Thank you.”

Even though I intentionally avoided making eye contact, the aura emanating from me must have been extremely unpleasant.

Just the fact that she explained everything with a smiling face until the end was something to be praised.

“Then… Ah!”

“If you’re done, move aside.”

Someone indifferently spoke and pushed me. I was almost knocked over by the immense force, but instead of raising my head to look at the person, I immediately cast my gaze down at the floor.

Unable to understand what was happening, I froze in place and stood still, able to hear the conversation between the man who had just pushed me and the receptionist.

“…Ahaha. Mr. Dex, what kind of request would you like today?”

“…Subjugation.”

“There are no more subjugation requests available for a Silver rank adventurer like Mr. Dex… The one you handled last time was the last one.”

“…Then, as promised, give me your body. You promised, didn’t you? That if I cleared all the monsters in this vicinity, you would offer your body.”

“Th-that was something I blurted out haphazardly because the situation was so severe…”

“You… lied? To me?”

The atmosphere turned grim.

Even though the intensity wasn’t directed at me, my body involuntarily flinched.

Anyway, to ask for her body as compensation for subjugating nearby monsters.

Could it be that the Adventurer’s Guild was so poor that they couldn’t afford to pay subjugation rewards?

I didn’t know about that, but feeling like I wouldn’t see anything good if I stayed here any longer, I quickly left the Adventurer’s Guild.

As I walked out into the street, the stinging gazes rained down on me again.

The people inside the Adventurer’s Guild hadn’t particularly paid attention to me, and although I couldn’t understand what was going on, I decided to let it pass for now.

Now that I had acquired a status, there was no reason to stay in this city.

The people of the outer city in this city knew I was from the slums.

Therefore, there were significant limitations on doing anything here.

My grandfather had told me that starting over in a completely different place would be more comfortable.

Taking his words to heart, I paid for a spot and got onto a cargo wagon heading to another city.

After traveling for two days, I arrived at a nearby city.

The height of the city walls was lower than the previous city, Dirran, and there wasn’t a clear division between the outer and inner city walls.

It was a small city, about half the size of Dirran, but it had everything it needed.

Naturally, the first place I sought out was the Adventurer’s Guild.

This time, it didn’t smell of alcohol, perhaps because they weren’t operating a pub alongside it.

When I approached the counter, an elderly woman introduced me to two requests.

Herb gathering and rat extermination.

Herb gathering was a request that was always available because herbs were always insufficient no matter how much was gathered.

Rat extermination was a simple request to deal with rats inhabiting the basement of a certain mansion.

The former was something I could do anytime even if I didn’t do it now, and the latter was a problem that someone else might solve if I didn’t do it now. So, naturally, I chose rat extermination.

The reward was 60 copper coins.

About 60,000 Won (Korean currency equivalent).

It wasn’t an expensive request, but I wasn’t in a position to be picky.

I only had one silver coin left on hand, and if I got lodging, I would literally be penniless.

I accepted the request form and crossed the hill to arrive at the mansion, which exuded an old-fashioned atmosphere.

Looking at the mansion, I took a deep breath, then knocked on the door.

With a clatter, a clean-dressed man came out, looked me over, and then confirmed the request form in my hand.

“Have you come for the rat catching request?”

Polite tone, low voice.

Instead of replying with words, I nodded, and the man led me to a storage room.

“There are many rats in the basement. They are quite fierce and numerous, so cats haven’t been able to handle them. We’ve called upon an adventurer, so please take good care of it.”

Perhaps because I had only received gazes filled with disgust and belittling words for months, excluding my grandfather.

Being treated so politely felt rather awkward and unfamiliar.

“Do you have any questions?”

“…Why were the rats left unattended like this?”

I was asking because he told me to ask.

Since I initially wondered why they hadn’t taken action before they multiplied so much, I voiced my question, and the man slightly furrowed his brow.

Seeing his expression, I trembled slightly, wondering if he was angry. The man then realized his expression was scary and managed it, and told me why this had happened.

He wasn’t originally a person who lived here.

He had purchased the mansion and moved in recently, but the previous owner had neglected the storage room, and he discovered it late, leading to this situation.

“The previous owner was bad…”

“Indeed. Well then, I’ll leave it to you. When the request is finished, please knock on the mansion door again.”

“…Thank you.”

I was grateful because I hadn’t expected to be treated so well.

As I walked down the street and talked with the man just now, I realized something.

If I didn’t look them in the eye, the unpleasant feeling seemed much weaker than I expected.

But why was it like that in Dirran?

Was it because the people there were particularly ill-tempered?

No, rather than that, the people of Dirran’s outer city knew I was from the slums.

In other words, it dawned on me that perhaps the unfair things I had experienced so far weren’t due to some characteristic of mine, but because I was from the slums.

“Hoo…”

I drew my sword.

When I opened the door to the storage room, stairs leading down were visible.

The smell of rotting food, maggots, and excrement permeated the air.

“…Ugh.”

How long had it been left unattended?

The squeaking of rats could be heard from all directions.

There seemed to be at least dozens of them… It felt like it wasn’t worth the 60 copper coins, but perhaps because of that, the request remained until I received it.

Thinking that, I went down the stairs.

The wooden stairs made an unpleasant creaking sound with every step I took.

Among them, there was also a terrible squishing sound.

I didn’t even want to see what I stepped on and deliberately ignored it. When I reached the bottom, I started to see the rats.

First, I lit the lamp hanging on the pillar.

When the light was lit, my vision widened, and I immediately brought my sword down on the back of the first rat I saw.

Squeak-! It let out a dying cry.

A sticky sensation was felt at the tip of my sword, and nausea welled up.

Just managing to suppress the urge to vomit, Crunch-! A terrible pain shot through my ankle, and I fell down just like that.

“Agh-!”

I rolled on the floor, and strange filth got on my body.

But rather than being disgusted by that, understanding the situation was the priority. I swung my sword to chase away the surrounding rats, then looked at my injured ankle.

A rat was clinging to my ankle, biting down.

I grabbed the rat, threw it against the wall, and it splattered and died.

“…Fierce, they said, but did they mean they attack people?”

Seriously, it felt like this wasn’t a 60 copper coin job.

I bit my lip and gripped my sword tightly until it creaked.

A swarm of dozens of rats glared at me from the darkness.

I glared back at the swarm of rats.

The fight that began like that started around noon and ended as the sun was setting.

My legs were bitten in various places, but I somehow managed to subjugate them.

I was worried about the infection of the wounds, but what mattered was that I had accomplished it.

That evening.

The original reward was 60 copper coins.

They said I handled the job well and added 10 more, so I received 70 coins.

However, I used silver coins for treatment and washing my body.

The result of the first request, accompanied by a persistent foul smell that wouldn’t wash off no matter how much I washed, was, surprisingly, a deficit.

“…Damn it.”

It was unfair.