The Military System - 5 The Adventurers's Guild and becoming an Adventurer

Beside the main road, a three storey building made of reddish bricks and a wooden roof stood tall. In this world where modern day concrete was not available people had invented a cement similar to the Roman concrete which used a mix of volcanic ash and lime to bind rock fragments. The humans here used a similar blend of ash and some other substances to make primitive cement, however only the rich could afford it as making it was very time consuming and costly. The building had a large doorway 3metres tall and two metres wide above which was hung a symbol of a sword on a shield.

This was the Adventurers’ Guild. From his predecessor’s memories Add knew that this place. As a standard of many fantasy novels, the Adventurers’ Guild was basically a mercenary type of organization, however they were different in the sense that they had strict work ethics. Unlike mercenaries who would do almost any job provided the benefits were worth it, the Adventurers had to follow rules established by the guild, like no partaking in criminal activities etc.

Add had a rough knowledge as to how the Guild worked. It was also the easiest way to earn good amount of money fast, provided you had the skills and didn’t die. Add stepped into the building and saw a bustling scene. At one side of the entrance was a line of reception counters which catered to the dealings of the Adventurers. On the opposite side was a large bar like hall, where many people were drinking beer and making merry.

The people here were almost all Adventures. They had all sorts of weapons like swords, daggers, maces, axes, bow and arrow, staffs, knuckles, shields etc. Some were wearing leather armours, some wore chainmail, some others wore light armour while some others also were covered in heavy armour. Some people were also dressed in thick robes while some were lightly dressed especially some females, showing of their sexy and agile bodies. A few Adventurers had expensive looking armours and weapons. When Add entered some people glanced at him and then returned to their own business. Everyday many newbies who aspired to become Adventurers came here so it was nothing noteworthy.

Add walked to an empty counter whose receptionist was a middle aged lady. Looking at Add who approached her, she gave a business smile and asked

“Hello, how may I help you ?”

“Yes, I would like to register as an Adventurer.”

Hearing this the lady looked at him from head to toe. In her eyes was a young boy dressed in rough clothes with a thin and frail looking body. His only distinct feature would be his attractive looks but they too were neutralised by his cold deadpan expression. Being an Adventurer was not an easy job in anyway. In fact it was a very dangerous job with a high casualty rate. It was the job of the strong, the weak would just die early deaths.

“Uh…are you sure you want to become an Adventurer ? It is a dangerous job you know? You should properly think about it.” She kindly tried to persuade Add, but the later simply nodded.

“But I still want to be an Adventurer.” He said plainly.

The lady sighed. This was not the first time she had seen young people like Add wanting to become Adventurers. Many youths were often blinded by the tales of glory of Adventurers and the profits of being an Adventurer, and became adventurers only to lose their lives in vain. Still the guild accepted anyone above the age of 15 so she could not stop Add if he wanted to become one.

“Tell me your Name, Age, weapon you use and address”

“Add, 15 years old, I normally use Knifes in close combat and as for address it is Germany.”

“Germany ? Is that a village? I have never heard of it. Is it far from here?” The lady looked questioningly at Add.

” Yes you may say so. It is my home, but it is far away from here. Very far away.” A trace of melancholy and nostalgia floated in his cold eyes.

(“He must have had to leave home because of some circumstances. Poor kid”) the lady thought.

She quickly filled a form and handed over a pin and a small grey crystal to Add.

“Here, please put a drop of your blood onto this crystal. It would serve as an identification for you in case of any problems arise.”

Add did as told pricking his finger with the pin he dropped his blood onto the crystal which quickly absorbed it and glowed faintly.

“From now on, whenever you touch this crystal it will glow faintly but it will never glow with the touch of others.”

She then took the crystal back and asked him to wait as she went inside a room. Add was left pondering about the crystal. It seemed it worked with “Magic”. In this world science had not progressed much, barely to the level of the middle ages of Europe. But in its place Magic had taken a dominant role. The crystal for example had some magic runes in it, which could recognise a person whose blood it had absorbed. It would absorb blood only once so, it was a very secure method of identification.

After sometime the receptionist lady returned with a small metallic plate and handed it to Add. The card was made of some greyish alloy, on which his details were engraved along with the crystal which was somehow attached into the plate. Luckily for him, his predecessor had obtained some basic education about reading and writing at the orphanage otherwise he would be in a troublesome situation. Being illiterate is never a good thing. Add however, was quite surprised to see the uncanny resemblance of the language to archaic English of Earth. Though the letters and symbols were different, the sounds and grammar were very similar. He wondered if it was plain coincidence or something else.

“Well then, with this you are officially an Adventurer. You will need to pay one silver coin as the registration fees.”

“Can I pay it later, you see I am a little tight on money right now.”

Add said. He was literally broke at the moment. To his relief the lady nodded.

“Of course you can pay it later. But in that case you will have to pay 50 copper coins extra. The guild will give you a seven day gap starting from today to pay the sum. If you cannot pay within the given time, then your registration will be cancelled. And to re-register you will have to pay 2 silver coins.”

“Ok I understand.”

“The let me tell you the workings of the Adventurers’ Guild. This plate here is your Guild card, its the proof that you are an adventurer. If you lose it, then you will have to pay one gold coin to replace it, or start form scratch again.”

“Next is the ranking system. The Adventurer’s are divided into 7 ranks namely S, A, B, C, D, E, F, with F-rank being the lowest, while the S rank is the highest. All adventurers start with the F rank. Quests are similarly ranked as S, A, B, C, D, E, and F, based on the difficulty they pose. As a rule, an Adventurer can accept quests at his own rank or one rank higher, so that every Adventurer has a fair chance of obtaining quests suitable for them and also for their safety.”

“For being promoted to the E rank, you have to clear 50 quests of the F rank or 20 quests of the E rank. Similarly you can be promoted to D rank by completing 50 quests of the E rank or 20 quests of the D rank. But to be promoted to C rank and any rank above it, you have to pass a test conducted by the guild.”

Then she pointed to a large rectangular board hung on a wall. On it various pieces of paper and parchments were pinned.

“Over there is the Request board. It has all the various requests the Guild receives. Most Quests have a time limit for completion, however occasionally some quests have no mentioned time limits as well. The time limits are set by Guild on the instruction of the Request makers. If an Adventurer is able to complete a quest in thegiven time, he/she will have to pay a fine. To accept a quest you have to bring the related notice to any of the receptionists and report to the same receptionist once you complete the quest. Sometimes, in cases of emergency the Guild itself gives some quests to the Adventurers. If the Guild lists thenames of any Adventurers in a quest, then they must participate.”

Her face suddenly became serious.

“I must also inform you that any form of violence inside the Guild is prohibited. Also, killing fellow Adventurers is a crime, punishable by death in the worse case, unless it is in self defence. The last time a greedy guy murdered a fellow Adventurer for his wealth. The Guild master got to know of it and he chopped up his arms and legs and hung him above the door of the guild for 2 days and nights until that guy died. So keep that in mind.”

“Lastly, there are many benefits of being an Adventurer as well. You get free passage in and out of most of the towns and villages. The Guild is spread over many kingdoms so it help you to move around easily. We also purchase any materials like monster bodies, body parts, rare minerals etc., at a price a little more than the market. And we offer an extent of protection to our members. Unless you have done something really bad, the Guild will back you up.”

“So that was all, do you have any questions ?”

Add listened to her explanations and lightly nodded. Becoming an Adventurer was not the simple thing as many books and novels mentioned. The death always loomed over them, especially the lower ranked and weaker ones. The Guild rules were acceptable and the system was pretty proper.

“No, I do not have any questions for now. I should accept a quest now” Add lightly spoke and moved towards the Request Board.

“Choose wisely young boy, don’t bite more than you can chew.” The receptionist lady reminded him.

Add walked over to the board and realised that the board was quite big at least 5 metres by 2 metres. Still requests were overflowing from it. Looking through the hundreds of papers and parchments he was a bit lost as to which quests he should take. But just then his eyes fell on a particular quest.

“So be it…ill choose this.”