I didn’t know how long I slept, but when I woke up, it was as if I was released from the piled-up fatigue on my shoulders. While the bed was sticking to me like glue, I persevered and rose.

Yawning, I changed to the Lavish Set and looked outside from the windows; the sun was already visible over the city wall. The people were out and about like the morning risers they were. I couldn’t continue to sleep since I had a promise with Cornelia to register at the guild.

Once I dressed up, I donned my backpack and sword and got out of my room but didn’t find anyone else present. Thus, I walked briskly down the stairs and was immediately greeted by a middle-aged man wearing a white beret sitting behind the reception counter, “Morning there. Have a nice sleep yesterday?”

“Oh, morning. Who are you?”

“Yahahaha! Don’t be too tense.” He appeared amicable and, on closer look, had a rather buff build. “Name’s Steve, owner of this inn. You’re Vincent, I heard?” So, Tina’s dad?

“Uh-huh. Pleasure meeting you, Mr. Steve. Right, I recall that I can get breakfast.”

“Indeed, certainly! Come, let me show you the dinner place.” Steve ushered me to the room on my left.

Following behind, I saw that the room led straight to the dinner place or barroom. It was adequately lighted with lanterns placed on the wall like a side lamp, and windows to the outside brightened the interior further… There was even a fireplace in the center of the wall.

Suddenly, a cute voice called out from behind me, “Morning, big brother!”

I glanced at the source and found Tina waving at me while cleaning up a table. “M-Morning, I guess?”

“Getting along well, you two?” The owner, Steve, chuckled. “Take a seat wherever you like — I’ll have your food ready.” He then went to another room that seemed to be the kitchen.

“Please wait a moment. Once I clean this table, I’ll serve the food,” Tina told me.

“Sure.” I gave a perfunctory nod.

I spotted a clean, empty table nearby and sat down, waiting for my food to be served. The place was pretty crowded right now, so I was quite lucky to find an unoccupied table nearby.

Sounds of people chattering, clattering of plates and tableware, and even the pouring of water filled the place. It had been some time since the last time I went into a place like this, sitting while working on my project and drinking tea or coffee.

“Hey, did you hear about the newly discovered dungeon to the west? I heard that it just became a protected dungeon and was assigned 3-star difficulty.”

“Yeah, though only Bronze-ranked adventurers and higher are allowed to enter. Alas, with us being Iron rank, we can’t enter just yet. A shame… All those untouched riches…”

“Better off not thinking about that. Being a 3-star dungeon means that it contains strong monsters and deadly traps.”

“Agreed.”

“…”

Ah, I see… Dungeons have difficulty, huh… I should aim for the lowest possible rating if I were to open up my dungeon later.

While at it, I inspected the adventurers around with my [Developer Interface]. This was a perfect time to gather data when the sample was within reach, and I wasn’t going to let this chance go to waste. Most adventurers here had around F to E evaluations, with some at about D. And those that called themselves Iron-ranked were the ones that ranged at E evaluation.

Going by logic, Bronze-ranked were those with around D evaluation. But despite having only a D+ evaluation, Leon was a Silver-ranked adventurer; this was highly likely because he was close to C-, and he had a strong Vocation to boot. So pure strength alone wasn’t the whole indicator here.

My daydream was abruptly cut off when someone put a tray on my table.

“Sorry for the wait!” It was Tina as she put down the dishes.

The breakfast consisted of a bowl of yellow grain soup, a piece of white bread, a plate of salad, and a mug containing white substance — not forgetting the whole wooden tableware that came with them. While not overly fancy, they were looking neat and pleasant to the eyes.

“Thanks a lot.”

“Hehe! I’m just doing my job. Ah, I must hurry and help my dad!” Tina scurried to the kitchen to continue serving the food. What a hard worker.

I scooped up the thick grain soup with a wooden spoon and put it in my mouth. Creamy, not overly salty… and a bit sweet… There were even tender meats hidden within that melt in the mouth. What a bliss. With a bit more seasonings, it’d definitely come on top even in my world.

Next was the white bread. It had a texture similar to a baguette, but crunchier than I thought at first — palatable though; it took me a bit of effort to chew and force it down my throat. Hm… others dip this inside the soup, perhaps…

I copied what other people did before taking another bite. Surprise, surprise, the texture got limper and merged well with the soup, which reminded me a bit of garlic soup bread.

“Yum. The soup tastes great. How about this drink? …Mm! A yogurt!" I’d been thinking of drinking something sour since coming to this city and to think that it would happen so soon.

For the thing that I set aside for last — the salad — I had my fork-wielding hand stab a piece of tomato-looking fruit and stir it with strange green leaves, then I smelled it. There was a trace of vinegar smell: sour and pungence. Putting it in my mouth… it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought; I wasn’t a fan of vegetables in the first place, but I ate it to the last bite. Aw, if there’s mayonnaise, it’d be perfect.

Overall, I was satisfied with this inn’s food, sanitation, and service. Five stars. Absolutely!

“Big brother, how’s the food? Is it to your liking?” Tina, having finished serving the dishes, came to me and asked.

“It’s certainly tastier than anything I ever had around. Mm-hmm, especially with the soup and the bread.” No need to hold back in my praise since I didn’t lose anything doing so. Still, if Lorelei was here, she would be eating everything regardless of the taste…

“Right, right! My dad is an amazing cook! In fact, he’s second to none in the city!” She stood tall and let out a big smile as though she was the one that made the food.

Pleased, I told her, “Please tell my appreciation to the chef.”

“Gladly!”

With breakfast done, I walked out of the inn.

Blinding light flared up in my eyes, making me instinctively squint and have my hand blocking the light. As my eyes adjusted, I saw the crowded street packed with people dressed in old-fashioned clothing — tunics, cloaks, jackets, pants, and boots — walking by the street.

No matter how many times I saw the townsfolks, goosebumps appeared all over my body like I had time-traveled to the Renaissance or something. Then, to my shock, a three-meter-tall horse with a sharp horn on its head trotted slowly while pulling a towering carriage with vigor. Taking a deep breath, I held myself from moving much; the tall horse was a tamed hybrid surprisingly.

“Yahoo! Vincent! Over here!” It was a bit sudden, but I spotted a girl about my age in the distance. Her long hair bounced merrily as she frantically waved at me. Of course, the girl was none other than Cornelia.

While shaking my head inwardly, I strode toward her. “Have you waited long?” She didn’t tell me what time we should meet in the morning, after all.

“Nuh-uh. I waited while eating in the eatery nearby. Have you had breakfast yet?”

“Sure have. And it was great.”

“You bet! Thanks for my recommendation that is! And considering you ate in this inn. Say, why did you bring your backpack? Isn’t it heavy?” She sauntered behind me to check for my backpack.

“Ah… Nah. It’s actually lighter than what it seems. Anyway, let’s go to the Adventurer’s Guild. Lead the way, guide.”

“Then let’s go! Full steam ahead!” She raced ahead before I even knew it.

I closely followed behind in speed walking because running in the midst of a crowded street was a bit too much for me. But as lively as she was, she didn’t mind other people’s curious glances. Nevertheless, she gradually slowed down after finding out that I didn’t run along with her.

“C’mon! Step up!”

“Um, let’s just walk, shall we?”

She shrugged. “In the morning like this is the perfect time to get an exercise, but sure, walking while breathing fresh air also has its own charm.”

I finally understood why she was many times stronger than me now, being so full of energy. Still, I realized that it would be exhausting for people to move faster than normal even though they had many times the normal stats — their minds not being able to cope, either.

While on the subject, since there were many people here, I conducted a self-survey about Vocations through [Developer Interface]. I didn’t really get the chance yesterday, so I wouldn’t squander it. And thus far, I noticed that only one among four or five people had a Vocation.

On top of that, it was as rare as a hen’s teeth to find someone with more than one Vocation (with three being entirely nonexistent), and among the few that I found didn’t have strong Vocations — most were even unrelated to one another. For instance, there was this one guy with [Quick Calculation] and [Ballet Expert]. Would he do math while dancing? Of course not…

Unsurprisingly, as if to mock my ignorance, I got a mild headache and inner exhaustion shortly after. “Ugh… My head.”

“You alright?”

“…Yeah… no problem…” Using my Vocation too often did put me in total “spiritual exhaustion” or whatever people called it.

But I was still not satisfied until this question was answered: How did people get their Vocations examined? When did they get it? I tried asking Cornelia in a subtle and roundabout way, and the answer was beyond my expectation.

So basically, if people had a Vocation, it would manifest when they reached three to five years old and could be examined through some kind of slate (similar to the examination slate). This slate was usually available at the Adventurer’s Guild or any governmental office. She said that ordinary folks living in villages got their chance to examine their Vocations in a once-a-year or more examination which was conducted in their respective villages — a kind of tradition or festival.

Before long, the city plaza was within sight. My first thought about the place was that it was huge, twice that of a soccer field. The plaza’s shape was round with two wide roads leading here which formed an inverted "V" when viewed from afar. Stands were plentiful, circling a few meters away from the large fountain in the middle. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought that it was a bazaar or some sort.

“Hm-hm? Shocked?” Cornelia smiled widely as if that was the case.

“A bit. What’s up with that statue atop the platform in the fountain?” I pointed at the large water fountain in the center that had a knight statue with his sword pointed to the sky and holding a shield. The statue was very iconic, to say the least. So far as to make me subconsciously take a picture of it with my smartphone.

“That’s the statue of the Integrity Knight, Kasmond — the founder of this city and living legend of his time. What’s that in your hand, Vincent?”

“Oh, this. You can say that it’s a tool for taking a photo— Ah, I mean, a picture of things.”

“Cool! Lemme see, lemme see!” It seemed that I’d triggered her inventor’s flame. Unable to restrain her enthusiasm, I let her examine my phone while also taking a selfie of both of us. Now that I thought about it, I never took a photo with Lorelei.

“It’s so freakin’ amazing! This thing is!” Eyes sparkling, she inspected every inch of my phone in my hand, trying to figure out how it worked.

“Ha-ha, for sure. But enough of this. So where’s the Adventurer’s Guild?” I pocketed my smartphone before her eyes swallowed it.

“You see, it’s right in the opposite direction of the library, which means at the back of the fountain.” She pointed at a certain large building made out of marble with an imposing, unique book-shaped plaque — a gimmick to lure people.

“Wait, you said a library? Can I go inside?”

“Yeah, about that…” She rubbed the back of her neck and explained the restrictions of going into the library.

It seemed I couldn’t get inside without enough privilege or receiving permission. Then what was the point of having a library here?

“Do you wanna go to the library?” she asked, then put her right hand over her puffed-out chest. “Hehe. I may not look like it, but I have a pass inside. It’s just some low-level pass, though… But no worry, I have an acquainta— Ahem, a friend inside whom I have a close relationship with, so it may work… somehow.”

“N-No… it’s fine. It’s not anything urgent.” I stopped her since that would be inconveniencing her and her “friend.” “But how did you get the pass anyway?”

“Well, if you’re at least a Bronze-ranked adventurer, you can get one — no restriction for liberators, however. Plus, you can also get this from different guilds and the government; you may even bribe to get one. It’s not a pretty hard goodie to get. Naturally, it’s only limited to the first floor.”

So there’s another floor, huh? However, looking from the outside, it doesn’t look like it has a second floor… then underground? But from what she said, liberators were all Bronze-ranked and above usually, so obviously beyond my reach right now.