Chapter 8 I am Employed

The town was very picturesque. All the buildings were made with a combination of brick and wood. Every single home and business along the main street had little flowers growing in boxes, yards, planters, etc. The streets were clean and there were street lamps even though they were currently unlit. The grass was maintained and there were more than a few trees. It was not really what I was expecting. In my mind, I had pictured something more along the lines of mud and straw huts, dirt floors, and just an overall dirty appearance.

With the horse-drawn carts, it could have been a scene from a small town in 19th century America. I had once been in southern Georgia on vacation as a child and the old antebellum houses with the brick storefronts built around them looked very much like the road leading into Yellow Springs. I was suddenly hit hard with a deep sense of homesickness.

I had been raised by my Grandma for most of my life. I had never met my dad, and my mother died when I was 6. She had been hit by a car as it was fleeing the scene of an armed robbery at a gas station. I didn't have many memories of her, but that vacation to Georgia was our last vacation together.

My Grandma had died right after I had finished my undergraduate degree. I was accepted into grad school and I figured I was so far into student debt already that more wasn't going to make much difference. I'd picked a school close to her so that I could live with her, take care of her, and still go to school. I didn't really have any other family.

My Grandma's brother was still alive with his kids, but he lived on some winery in California. I had met him at my Grandma's funeral for the first time. His daughter had come with him and had told me that he was going senile and that I shouldn't be expecting him to take me in. She was sorry, I'd have to figure out something on my own.

That had been two years ago and I still had mixed feelings about it. I wasn't missing the family I had when I died. I was missing the family I had as a child. Those rose-colored memories only children seem to be able to have.

"Hey, are you listening?" Sturgis placed his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I said honestly contrite. "I was thinking about what a beautiful town this is and it reminded me of home."

"Yes, the town council is very adamant on keeping the main roads nice. It's mostly for the tourists, we've got our poorer and richer sections just like anywhere else. Sadly, we've even got a small homeless population. They work on town projects and the town sees that they are paid, but most of that pay goes back into the town to pay for the residential tax. We've got more than a few people willing to take the easier route and try and steal the funds they need from unsuspecting newcomers. So be cautious. This town might look pretty, but it can also be dangerous." Just like that, he popped my idyllic little memory bubble.

"I was saying though," he pointed down a side street to a storefront with a bright yellow sign. Durmond's said the sign. "That's where most locals go to get their clothes. It doesn't look like it from the outside but they have a decent selection of pre-made clothing for men. They have an in-store tailor too, so if something doesn't fit right it can be altered on site."

"I will be needing a new pair of pants. These were a gift, and now I have a legitimate reason to be rid of them." I sighed, wondering how much a new pair of pants would cost.

Sturgis laughed, "I had wondered about that. Those pants are," he failed to find a nice way of saying what he was thinking. "Let's just say the type of people who wear pants like that are the rich merchant boys who like causing trouble for the fun of it." He slapped my back in a friendly way and pointed out all his favorite stores on our route.

He left me in front of a building that took up an entire town block. It was brick and had large double doors made of a dark sturdy looking wood. There were people practicing in the huge fenced in backyard. Then there was a stable to the side of the building where boys ran around taking care of the horses that had been left there. It was the biggest building I had seen so far and I was suitably impressed.

Inside were tables with people drinking and enjoying their meals. Girls in green waitress uniforms ran around refilling drinks and taking orders. One of the girls hurried up to me since I was just standing there gaping like an idiot.

"Would you like a table?"

"No, thank you, I'd like to register with the Guild?" I made it a question because this looked more like a busy restaurant rather than an office building.

"Over there," the girl pointed to the back of the room where, much like a bank, people stood waiting at little windows behind a counter.

I thanked the girl and stood in line behind a woman with a conical breastplate. One pointy cone was big enough to fit my head. Give her a horned helmet and she would be singing Brawn Hilda. She certainly had the blonde braids and girth to match. Her ax probably weighed more than I did.

I was called up to the counter. Once again I had reason to be grateful for Poker Face. The middle-aged woman who called me had long curly horns and a long wispy goatee. She was a goat, or rather a goat person. I met my first non-human and she was a middle-aged goat. The games always had an austere elf or a clumsy fox girl at the guild counter. I got a middle-aged woman with a beard. Sometimes life just didn't want to cooperate with fantasy tropes.

"Whaaaat, caaaan I help you with todaaay?" I paused for a second holding back a laugh. Come on Poker Face don't fail me.

"I'd like to register with the Guild and I have some monsters I would like to sell. Can I do those both here?"

"Yes, maaaay I haaave your identificaaaation caaard?" I handed the woman my new ID and to be safe the special dispensation Sturgis had given me.

"New members must taaake the exaaam."

"Exam?"

The woman explained that the exam was similar to the All Seer, but it tested your skills and abilities instead of verification of identity. It wasn't as though it printed off a paper with all your stats on it like the All Seer. It was more of an overall assessment, then the exam stone would print off information about possible positions you could hold within a party.

This information was important in party organization. Essentially, it was an aptitude test. Would you be a good healer, magician, infantry, ect. Most people can perform more than one role and knowing where you had the most potential helped in focusing on where someone could focus their Exp distribution.

The exam also assigned new recruits within the Guilds ranking system. It was a fairly standard system, A being the best-ranked adventurers, H being complete newbies. You couldn't have newbies going off and trying to take on A ranked quests. So you could only accept quests at or below your current ranking if you had a party of 3 members of the same rank you could choose to do a quest one level higher.

You had to take an exam to upgrade to rank E. Rank E Guild members were able to take on bandit exterminations and could be hired as merchant guards. Rank F members wanting to upgrade to rank E were given a mentor of a member D rank or higher. This mentor helped transition the rank F into the responsibilities of rank E. Basically, the mentor had to determine if the rank F member could kill a human being.

Killing monsters and killing people are completely different. The mental strain was too much for some people. The mentor did their best to help guide the rank F member, but sometimes it didn't work out.

When this happened the person who wanted to upgrade to rank E would still be allowed to take on Rank E monsters, but they wouldn't be allowed to take on any contracts involving protection of people or bandit extermination. If they got strong enough to upgrade to rank D, they would be able to take the mentoring exam again or they could continue on and be a purely monster based adventurer. It was simple and, unlike the goat woman herself, fit nicely within the adventuring guild fantasy trope.

She brought out a small box, and within it was a palm-sized crystal ball. She had me pick the ball up and hold it in my hand while she turned over a little sand egg timer. We both waited for the sand to fall down. Then she had me put the ball back into the box. She then left the counter taking the box with her to the back. Hey, hey, hey, she seriously had goat legs! Oh, Poker Face help me now.

I waited for her to come back. Other customers came, finished their transactions, and left. Some people handed over slips of green paper to the Guild workers and got paid. Some people went over to the front wall, looked over a signboard, wrote something down using the pen and paper provided, then talked to the Guild member behind the counter. That was what I assumed was the quest board.

"Excuse me, sir?" A middle-aged man appeared with the goat woman. He had salt and pepper hair and the beginnings of a paunch, but you could tell he had been well muscled in his youth. He looked like an old football player after they retired. "We would like to discuss the results of your exam in my office."

"Is there a problem?" It wouldn't surprise me considering what had happened at the gate.

"No, sir, there are potentially sensitive matters to discuss that Mildred isn't qualified to handle. Please follow me." The man gestured towards the entrance to the back room. He held open the door and led me down a hall with conference rooms, then up a flight of stairs. Then another hall with offices on either side, some with plaques reading hospitality services, maintenance, washroom, break room. Some without plaques at all, but with open doors and people busy working at their desks.

The office he led me to was at the end of the hall and had two windows. His door plaque said Guild Head. Standard desk, chair, two guest chairs, shelves, stacks of memos and invoices were piled on the corner of the desk in a box. Very neat, no signs of personal items, but welcoming in that the atmosphere of the place seemed worn in. His nameplate said Dunbar- Head-Adventurer's Guild III- Yellow Springs.

"Please sit," he said pointing to the guest seats. He had been carrying a small stack of papers and he placed these in the center of his desk in front of him. "My name is Dunbar and I am in charge of this branch of the Guild. Let me get right to the point, young man." He leaned back and steepled his fingers. I was getting the feeling I was being confronted by the principal in grade school. Amoris just seemed to enjoy getting me into trouble. It was all her fault, I was certain.

"Your exam results were surprising. You have an amazing amount of potential considering you are just at level 11. In fact, even though you are just at level 11 the exam has recommended placing you directly into Guild Rank D. It's not unheard of to skip ranks when first taking the test, but your level is low for such a high placement. Taking this into consideration, I would like to ask you to provide some more details about your abilities and skills. This is entirely voluntary of course. I understand that most people would be reluctant about disclosing such things. I can, however, guarantee that any information you give me will not leave this room. If you choose not to tell me more about yourself I'm afraid that in good conscience I can't authorize a level 11 jumping to rank D."

"Do I have to tell you everything?" I thought that I should probably keep my racial abilities secret until I found out what I was first.

He paused, then considered. "If you can tell me why you think the exam gave you a D rank without disclosing the information you want to keep to yourself, that is fine."

"It probably has something to do with my Blessings," I said frankly.

"Blessings, you have more than one?" His eyebrows went up in surprise and he leaned forward.

"Yes, I was given four Blessings from Amoris and a gift." I held up my bracelet when I said gift. "This isn't an actual Blessing, but a gift, though it's easier to explain it as a Blessing."

"What is it?" He asked looking at the cuff.

"This isn't what I think gave me the rank D, but it's called an Inventory Bracelet."

"Hum," he nodded, "I have heard of those. The Guild Master in the capital has one. Very useful item. However, that wouldn't be any reason for you to be elevated to rank D. Items aren't taken into consideration with the exam. Will you tell me about your other Blessings?"

"The first one is called All Map Exploration. I can access a map of the territory I am currently in. Towns, roads, streams are all part of the map. It will show me my current location, the location of monsters, and the locations of people. I can search for specific items or monsters using the map and I will be shown where they are located."

"That is a very interesting Blessing!" The man smiled and laughed. "That would explain some of the potential party positions that were suggested, but please continue."

"Amoris gave me my Blessings," I began. "Um, I don't know if you've ever actually seen her, but she can be a bit..." I paused trying to think of a good way to say it without offending either the Goddess or Dunbar. After all, I didn't know his religious affiliation.

"I've never met her myself, but I can guess your meaning. She messed up her Blessing didn't she?" He gave a wry smile. So Amoris regularly messed up her Blessings. No wonder she needed a cheat sheet.

"She had intended to give me my third Blessing, but messed up the wording and gave me both my second and third Blessing simultaneously. My second Blessing decreases the amount of Exp I need for my next level up. The third Blessing increases the amount of Exp I get when I kill a monster." I intentionally left out the part of both of them being determined by my current level. I had a feeling that that information didn't need to be known.

*Skill Gain- Discretion~

What kind of skill was that? Closing the pop-up I reminded myself to look at it later.

"That would most likely be it," Dunbar muttered. "If you gain extra Exp then that would give you more Exp to allocate than the normal person. You probably didn't focus on raising your level, but your overall stats instead. Am I right."

"Mostly, my last Blessing is more complicated to explain, but simply put it allows me to micromanage my Exp distribution."

"Can you explain that a bit more? I mean even I can decide where my Exp is distributed. You don't have to go to a temple you mean?"

So the people of this world went to temples when they wanted to distribute their Exp. I guess they would need a way to distribute it considering not everyone had Gamer Glass.

"No, I can allocate any Exp I gain from monster kills and quests however I wish. Though, Exp gained by training or studying will go towards that skill instead. It's useful in that if I am in an emergency situation I can immediately allocate saved up Exp towards whichever skill or ability I need at the time. For example, I was recently attacked by a Red Wolf who used paralysis on me. In order to escape, I allocated Exp towards paralysis resistance."

"I see, I see," he was nodding and thinking about it. "Being able to boost your stats in any situation would be advantageous. More than once, when I was in the field, I had wished for more strength or power. With your Blessing, you could literally make that happen. Still..." He let his thoughts wander off.

"Are you literate," he suddenly asked, "can you read and write?"

"Well, yes." I was able to read the papers at the gatehouse and I could read the words on the signs I had seen so far. I figured I was literate.

"Will you mind writing down your ability and skill levels for me? Only the ones you feel comfortable disclosing of course. I would like to ascertain just how you've been distributing your Exp."

"That's not a problem." I picked up the pen and paper he handed me.

I wrote my name at the top and copied my stats for him leaving out my Racial Abilities.

Eri Veritas

Max HP- 2335

Level-11

Exp-202

Physical Power- 220

Stamina- 278

Defense- 348

Agility- 489

Intelligence- 84

Magic Power- 8

Metal Rain Lv 1

Healing Hands Lv 1

Paralysis Resistance Lv 3

Skills

Staff Fighting Lv 2

Basic Sword Lv 2

Skull Bashing Lv 2

Martial Arts Lv 2

Spear Lv 1

Stalking Lv 1

Jumping Lv 1

Running Lv 2

Pain Tolerance Lv 3

Deception Lv 2

Poker Face Lv 1

Etiquette Lv 3

"If I would make a recommendation," Dunbar stated. "I would start leveling up some of your magic. The healing skill is rare and very valuable within a party. I've never heard of Metal Rain. Is it an attack magic or a smithing magic?"

"It's an area based attack magic."

"I don't know how it works, but a wide range attack magic like that would also be very useful within a party."

"I want to keep some Exp put aside for emergencies, but the next time I have some extra to spare I will take your advice."

"Looking at your stats, you certainly are above average for a normal level 11. These stats would easily be for a person around level 20. However, you really don't have very many combat related skills." He put the paper down and looked out his window in thought.

"Even with everything you've told me, I still can't give you level D status. I believe you have some really incredible potential, but you currently lack diversity in your skill set. May I ask how many abilities or skills you are keeping hidden?"

"Only two skills," I answered.

"I see, I had thought that if you were keeping 10 or 12 skills secret I might consider it, but with only two..." he paused again and rubbed his hand over his knee a few times.

"I am going to suggest something. It's only a suggestion, but I hope you will consider it." He looked me right in the eye. "I want to offer you a job with the Guild."

"I'm here to join the Guild," I answered.

"You misunderstand, adventurer's while members of the Guild are not employed by the Guild. Each adventurer is more of a freelancer. What I am offering you is a job being directly employed by the Guild. I want to offer you the position of Surveyor. We currently only have three people in Yellow Springs with enough skill to perform the Job. Two of them are with the guard and aren't allowed to hold a position with the Guild at the same time. They both do some scouting for us as regular adventures from time to time. The third person is a priest and, unfortunately, he's only able to work for us part-time. Two years ago our full-time Surveyor was sent to White Rapids to assist in a Purple Mandrake subjugation. He decided to stay there and get married. Left us without a full-time Surveyor."

"Um, I don't mean to interrupt, but what is a Surveyor?"

"Right, I guess being new to the Guild you wouldn't necessarily know. Every town, city, or really any place with people needs to know what monsters are around them and how many of them there are. That's where the Guild steps in. The Guild, among other things, pays adventurers money to subjugate monsters. In exchange, the adventurer brings us valuable monster material which we sell at a profit. However, if we end up with too many types of the same monster then the market value drops. If we have multiple adventurers showing up wanting to sell parts from the same monster type we have a problem. To control the market value we set up quests.

"The value of the monster parts have several factors. Rarity, the higher the population numbers the less we need to pay for them. Value, some monsters are more valuable than others because their parts are highly prized. Risk, the more dangerous a monster means higher risk for the adventurer. Towns and cities will subsidize the Guild for these types of quests. While the value of the monster parts could be low, nobody wants one of the really nasty monsters living nearby. Sometimes the town guard will team up with the Guild to take out these monsters in a combined quest.

"Monster Quests are issued for two reasons. If there is a particularly dangerous monster nearby, or if the population of a certain monster exceeds normal limits. We can control the market value of a certain monster by issuing the quest of culling the monsters. We pay the adventurer's slightly more than normal value for the monster parts in these quests. The parts are placed into storage and slowly sold to maintain market value over time. This keeps the market fairly stable, which is good for us, the adventurer, and your average person. The monsters get killed, adventurer's get paid more, we can maintain a steady market value.

"That's where a Surveyor comes in. A good Surveyor can estimate when a certain monster population is about to rise, approximately how many there are, and where you can find them. They bring these estimates to us, and we can determine how much we are going to pay adventurers for a certain type of monster. It is also a Surveyor's job to locate any potentially dangerous monsters in the area. This information is given to the Guild. Then we can act accordingly on this information.

"Information is money for us. As it is we are losing money because we only have one part-time Surveyor. He can only go out a few times a month scouting, but what we really need is someone who can go out a few times a week and determine if there has been a population boom. As you know some monsters have very short periods between birth and full growth. The Green Tailed Apes, for example, only take two weeks to fully mature. If our Surveyor can only go out a few times a month we could possibly see the ape population double in that time.

"You with your All Map Blessing, you would be able to give us exact details about all the monster populations in the territory without even leaving the building. I am prepared to pay you the standard Surveyor's pay, plus bonuses for every C ranked monster and above you discover.

"You, will have to have some training with our current Surveyor. Personally, I believe that you could benefit a great deal by getting this training. You will be able to expand your skill set and learn valuable skills that will keep you alive if you plan to become a high ranked adventurer. If you decide to take the job and the training I am willing to immediately elevate you to E rank. I will be doing so knowing you are gaining valuable skills. However, if you chose not to take the job and the training I would start you out at G rank."

"The higher the rank the higher the quests we can take right?" I finally asked. His explanation had been long, but it cleared up how the Guild was run.

"Yes, I wouldn't recommend you taking on any level E quests by yourself without your trainer. You also won't be permitted to take on any protection quests as you haven't taken that exam. When you level up, you can take it. The Surveyor doesn't necessarily need to be able to kill humans, so even if you decided to not take that route it wouldn't affect your position with the Guild."

I really didn't have anything to lose in taking the job. I had a lot to gain. A steady income, someone who would personally lead me around and teach me. It was obvious that the stronger I became, the more likely I was to survive in this new world. I could live off selling chocolate and become a merchant, but Amoris had said that in a few years her priests would be able to produce their own chocolate. If I wanted something with potential job growth, allowed me to gain Exp, and taught me new survival skills I should take the job. I only hesitated over one issue.

While I planned on staying in Yellow Springs for a while, I wanted to travel. On Earth, I had very little chance to travel. While the United States was huge I had never gone further west than Michigan, let alone out of the country. I had always wanted to travel more, but money, an aging grandmother, and responsibilities of college always held me back. This was my chance to change that.

"My plan was to stay in Yellow Springs only on a temporary basis. I wouldn't want you to put in the effort of having to train me only for me to leave in a few months."

"That is unfortunate for me, but not really a problem for the Guild in general. If you took this job you would be an employee of not just the Yellow Springs Guild, but all Guilds. You could go anywhere there is a Guild and be employed. Being a Surveyor for the Guild doesn't mean you have to stay in Yellow Springs, you could go anywhere. While I'd prefer it if you remained, you would still be a huge asset to us as a whole."

"Alright then, I'll do my best." I stood up and shook Dunbar's hand.