Next, we seek the Adventurer’s Guild said to be located behind the fountain. What I saw was a huge building with a round metallic symbol on top of the double door. The symbol’s shape was that of a shield with four silvery wings; one would be blind to miss that.

“That symbol is overly catchy.”

“Pfft. You sure are good at joking. It’s a liberator’s symbol — since the Adventurer’s Guild ultimately has liberators as its core.”

“Is that so?” I didn’t understand much, but it seemed like general knowledge.

However, the building did indeed look magnificent compared to the houses in the area, maybe because this was the central hub for adventurers and liberators in the region. Yeah. Considering the place, it sounded probable.

I was about to push the large double doors slowly but was beaten to the punch by Cornelia with her big swing. Luckily, not much looked our way, and the people inside seemed to be busy staring at the tall wooden board with stone edges at the side.

“Stop staring dumbfoundedly over there! C’mon in!” Cornelia pulled me inside like she owned the place.

I was stunned at the interior as it felt strangely familiar. There were several counters at the back looking like a business office… with likewise a place for people to gather around and even a small bar on the second floor, which was visible from here, all in one.

The people around were dressed like what I had in mind for adventurers. Warriors in plate armor, rangers with bows and arrows, and even mages with staffs and mantles. But something was lacking over a typical fantasy that I had in mind: Every one of them was a human; I didn’t spot the classical races like dwarves, elves, beastmen… Where were they?

We proceeded inside to one of the counters and lined up in a short queue. Finally, I got to see clearly the tall, weird board at the side—

“Wait… is that… a hologram?” I pointed while blinking in confusion.

Unlike a billboard that used paper to place a written request, it projected a hologram. An “over-technology” even compared to what I’d seen so far.

“Holo-what? That is a ‘quest billboard’ — a place to take on or lodge a quest or file a report. A first-timer like you would think that it was magic that caused it, but no, I don’t think that magic is the reason behind how it works, or at least mostly.”

I asked her who created such a thing, and her answer was the same as the guard, Jonas: It was an ancient artifact and just recently widely used after someone managed to crack how it worked.

“Ooh. No wonder.”

Not long after, it was finally our turn.

Wearing a serene smile, the receptionist that received us was a girl a bit older than me. Her immaculate outfit was impeccably kept, her brown hair woven into braids with a ribbon. As she looked at me with her light-brown eyes, she appeared more mature than her age suggested and somehow resembled Tina at her older age.

“Welcome—”

“Tia! Long time no see!” Cornelia went and reached out for the receptionist’s hands.

Contrary to what I’d expected, the receptionist named Tia didn’t act flustered by the abrupt move. In fact, she accepted it as though she had known that it would happen.

“It has indeed been about two months since the last time you came to the guild. Are you intending to come back to adventuring now?”

“Ah, not yet. I still have more inventions that I must create thanks to this guy.” Cornelia nudged at me like she had been waiting for that.

Huh? Did I inspire her in any way? I furrowed my eyebrows… Maybe my smartphone or some slip I said all this time had done the deed. After all, I didn’t shy away when she asked about things related to steam engines — it was all in order to establish trust between us.

“May I help you, sir?” Tia inquired with a slightly polite tone.

“Hello there. I’m here to join the guild.”

“I see. Can you read and write Common?”

Crap. I forgot that I couldn't write! I wasn’t thick-skinned enough to say that I couldn’t even do such a basic thing, since it wasn’t that long ago that I was a college student. But this so-called “Common” seemed to be the name of their language.

“…Sir?” Her sweet expression momentarily slipped by my silence.

“S-Sure, no problem.”

Reassuming a smile, she handed over the registration form and a set of ink and quill. “Then, please fill this out.”

Thanks to the automatic translator, I was able to understand what was written on the registration form with no difficulty whatsoever, but that didn’t mean I could write their language, either.

Just when I was about to ask Cornelia for help…

“Oh shoot! It’s past nine! I gotta go now! Catch ya later, Vincent! Bye, Tia!” No different than yesterday, she vanished as soon as I wasn’t looking. Is she doing this on purpose? She must be, right? Right?!

But how did she even tell the time? I looked at the wall behind the counter and found a big mechanical clock hanging on the wall. That was unexpected.

With a bitter smile, I quickly brainstormed an idea, and something came to mind. “Um, would it be possible to use something similar to the quest billboard?”

According to Cornelia, since one could input data or information straight through the billboard, the existence of something similar wasn’t a far-fetch possibility. For that reason, I went ahead and tested my luck.

“That’s certainly an option — and it will instantly send your information to all branches of the Adventurer’s Guild in the kingdom. However, it will increase the registration fee, is that fine?”

“Fair enough.” I didn’t know that using something like this came with its own convenience. But what could I expect? Except for some novel technologies “never” seen before, their administrative level was pretty much stuck in the Middle Ages if not for this thing.

Promptly, she took out a slate that had numerous small sections over it like a keyboard from a rack behind the counter. She then pasted the registration form on the slate, and shortly the exact same word-to-word writing was projected by the slate. So neat. It worked just like a scanner machine.

“Please, type in accordingly — you only have to touch the sections to do that. If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask.”

“Hmm… just like a printing press?”

“Printing press? A machine for copying books? I don’t think that it’s that similar.” Tia shook her head.

It seemed that their printing press technology was still stuck in the Middle Ages and not the more conventional one I was familiar with. Perhaps the appearance of this “keyboard slate” attracted more people in favor of ancient artifacts, but I didn’t mind and started reading the form.

It got me surprised that the form was only about simple information: name, sex, age, hometown, class, abilities, and in the end, Vocation. Still, it got me wondering what I should put for my hometown and Vocation.

Whatever the case, I first typed in my name simply as “Vincent” since only wealthy merchants and noble families had last names. Moving on, the following two were easy enough, while my hometown was…

“The northern kingdom?” Tia raised an eye at me, her shoulders lifting a little. “Is it among the Northern Alliance? Such a faraway place… but the people there are known for their white-colored hairs… So an immigrant?”

Wait, it’s just something I came up on a whim… Ah, I’ll just fake it till you make it. “Right... About class and abilities, is it fine to input anything?”

“That is affirmative. But by any means, just include that is related to combat or support.”

“Okay.” So nothing like “making funny jokes” and stuff, huh?

Finally, it was about Vocation. I didn’t know whether I should just be honest and all, but that seemed to be anything but a good decision here, so I asked her whether it was fine to just input a simple description of my Vocation.

“Yes. But keep in mind that when you’re promoted to Iron rank, there will be an interview by the guild.” She teasingly added, “So fake information wouldn’t escape our grasp.”

“Oh.” It wasn’t a problem to explain a bit regarding my Vocation’s ability, but I would avoid putting in two. Simple description about [Programming] it shall be, then. Nevertheless, I only explained that my Vocation was capable of enhancing stuff and making some changes here and there.

All filled up, I handed the finished form to her, who looked it over with a nod.

“…Okay, I see no problems here. Sir Vincent, right? Then by following the regulation imposed here, please pay 250 Zernial for the registration fee. The total has been added with the fifty Zernial fee of using the slate.”

I dug up the coin pouch taken from the pocket inside the mantle. There were still a lot of coins inside and paying this didn’t seem to reduce the weight in the slightest. Heh, not too expensive, I guess.

“Now then, usually I can immediately issue your adventurer medal according to your adventurer rank, but you can take an acceleration test by facing our available instructor to skip a rank.”

“Rank?” I’d been hearing about adventurer rank since the first time coming to this world, but I wasn’t sure about the details.

“Oh my, I figured that most should have known this. Shall I explain it to you then?” Her hands folding, she offered me a smile.

“Fill me in, please.”

Without delay, she started expounding about adventurer rank meticulously, which took a while to finish. Fortunately, there wasn’t anyone lining behind because the guild had become more vacant as time went on. And to summarize what she said into a structure from the highest to lowest, basically:

Diamond: This rank was merely there as a symbol — impossible to reach. Platinum: Only the top and most revered adventurers attained this rank. Better not to think about it. Gold: Top adventurers in most kingdoms. Silver: Required talented adventurers to get here — not many reached this nowadays. Bronze: Typically where veteran adventurers achieved in their lifetime. Iron: Real adventure began here. Marble: Achievable after doing some quests and errands. Wood: Where adventurers started.

“So, I can get straight into Marble rank if I take the test?”

“Indeed.” She replied with a firm nod. “But if, and only if, you can pass, and Marble rank is the limit. This is a program set to give a chance for talented adventurers to rise quicker.”

“All right, I’ll do it then!”

“Very well, kindly wait a few minutes as I will prepare the place and inform the instructor.”

Tia instructed me to wait nearby so that she could find me easily, so I went to check out the quest billboard that had been mildly emptied of adventurers by now.

There were many types of quests on the quest platform, ranging from simple chores to the “popular” gathering precious herbs and even killing dangerous beasts in the forest. And as might be expected, the quests were divided into ranks depending on their difficulty.

It appeared that Wood-ranked adventurers could only accept quests that were unranked or without difficulty, alone. To accept an F-rank quest, they must form a party of two at minimum to be eligible; this system was such a pain in the neck. Although luckily, it was possible to immediately advance into Marble rank.

Furthermore, the Adventurer’s Guild was pretty accurate at gauging monster difficulty with only some minor discrepancies here and there. For example, those that should have been E-rank were placed at D-rank, and vice versa; the difference shouldn’t make too much of a problem depending on the monster in question.

“What’s this? Slaying a dragon is an A-rank quest?” I mused.

From what I remember, only lesser dragons were A-rank since the real, powerful one was a rank higher. So the guild was either downplaying the difficulty, or they lacked information. Whichever the case, the information about the dragon felt a bit lacking, and who would be able to take it down anyway, since it required a party of Gold-ranked adventurers at the very least.

“What? Never seen a dragon, newbie? Gahaha! This one here has once sighted a dragon hovering above the Great Elion Forest in the course for the Obsivel Mountain Range,” bragged a man with a big stature from the side, a large claymore on his back.

“Dragon hovering above the Great Elion Forest?” Uh-oh, if one such creature were to force its way into the dungeon… It gave me a cold chill just thinking over it.

“Certainly! But it’s more than seven years ago. I am the party leader of Gale Wind, Raklum, a soon-to-be liberator. Never saw you around here… You’re new here?” the man that called himself Raklum asked, turning his face at me. At a closer look, he had a robust, muscled face that seemed to not fear anything.

“I-Indeed.”

“Good, good, can’t never have enough young blood. Wish you luck in your adventure. All the best.” He turned and strode out, lifting his left hand as if saying farewell.