“I ain’t no armorer, little bird,” says Han, folding her arms.

It’s been a day since the meeting on the Third Rung.

“I mean, yeah— but I can’t just go out on quests with gear all torn up like that,” I say. “Can’t you at least take a look?”

“There’s plenty ‘o shops out there to get a new set.”

“And that’d be perfectly fine, only I don’t have any money.”

“Fightin’ quests ain’t the only quests out there, y’know,” she says. “You can get yer fill of the day without leavin’ the capital.”

“W...Well yeah, but—“

“—But ye got a taste of real combat an’ now ye think yer too hot fer the busywork, yea?”

“That’s not it, I’m just saying—“

“I ain’t carryin’ yer asses any more, so ye’d better get goin.”

“Wait, you’re kicking us out?” I ask.

“I’m done appraisin’ the dagger, and ye’ve got nothin else to bargain with. So take the bloody thing and screw off.”

Nora and I just kinda stand there looking at each other as soon as we get out Han’s door. I’ve got my ruined armor hung over my shoulder, and I have Kiplam’s dagger folded in a few layers of cloth. It’s all we really have at the moment, so we end up leaving without another word. We soon get out into the main street full of adventurers, and per usual Ratton is not far from the mouth of the alley. He walks up to us expectantly, but when we don’t acknowledge him he then slinks back over to his little floor stall. We’re silent all the way up to the guild hall.

As we stroll up to the front desk, I start to think to myself about what I’ll say. I have yet to actually accept a quest, and for some reason I’m getting anxiety over this. Like, I’ve spent three weeks fighting monsters in the wilds, but human interaction is still a foreign concept.

“Hello, welcome to the guild hall!” says the nearest receptionist. I walk up to them, possibly the same woman that helped us last time. “What can I do for you today?”

“I’ll take the highest-paid job that doesn’t require combat,” I say.

“Certainly. One moment please.” The woman bends down behind the counter and appears to be shuffling through some papers. A few seconds later she stands back up and slides a piece of parchment paper towards us.

“How is this?”

I look down at it, and frown at the fact that it’s all reading without an image to help me along. While I’ve picked up a little of the written language, I’m still far from being able to read it. So, as to avoid looking like an idiot, I shake my head. “Something a little different. Honestly, I’ll go for almost anything as long as it pays enough for a day of provisions and lodging.”

“Fair enough. Can I ask what you would prefer? A transport quest? Or if you are fine with potential minor conflict, I could offer you a missing persons request. Though this quest here is quite the offer. Are you sure you do not wish to accept this one?”

“U-Uh... Y-Yeah, fine. I’ll take it, I guess,” I say. I reach for the slip, but she slides it back towards herself.

“Apologies, but I must see your adventurers registration card before you may accept a quest,” she says.

“Huh? Oh, sure,” I nod. I reach into the pocket of my ratty pants and pull out the card for her to see. “And, uh— Nora here will be doing it with me. Do you need to see her card too?”

“Have you get registered as a party? If not, I can do it right here,” she says. “For that, I will need to see both your certifications.”

“Got it.” I turn to Nora. “Still have it, right?”

“I am not nearly that unreliable, Cyr,” Nora replies. She takes the card from inside her dress and hands it to the woman.

“Splendid! I—“ The woman pauses. “I’m... I’m sorry, but as a Class E Adventurer, Nora Avette has failed to... to complete the required quest output for this month, and has been...”

“...Shit! Goddammit, I totally forgot about that!” I holler, finishing with a peeved, “Fuck!”

“...Without an active certification, I’m afraid she cannot accept any quests... and has been barred from the—“

“Hold on a goddamn minute!” I shout. “The Admiral’s the one who sent us out into the woods for three weeks! How the hell was she supposed to finish quests like that?!”

“I-I’m sorry, sir, it’s only policy that I—“

“T-Then test me again!” Nora exclaims. “I am so much stronger than last time! Test me and you’ll see! I have to be Rank C by now— at least!”

“M-Miss, I really am not supposed to—“

“Let them, Miss Laurelle,” says a voice behind us. Pierce walks through and puts a hand on the desk.

“V-Vice Admiral, S-Sir—! What are you doing here...?!” the woman sputters.

“A stupid question, I work here,” he replies. “And I can vouch for these two. The Admiral has taken a liking to them, after all. You would be wasting fine talent by sending her off.”

“O-Oh, I see. W-Well, with your word, Vice Admiral, I suppose we can test the girl again.”

“Test them both,” he replies.

“A-Ah, certainly,” she says, nodding. “U-Um, now then— Miss Avette?”

Nora nods and places her hands back on the contraption over the counter. I look to Pierce, but just as I do he turns and walks away.

“—C-Class B already?!” I hear. I turn back to see the woman staring down incredulously at the contraption.

“She hasn’t really had a chance to test her limits yet,” I say. “But I’m sure this is just the beginning for her.”

“I will get her new card ready, but before I do— Please, Mister Avette, allow me to update your registration.”

Distinguished Adventurer First Class is the highest rank anyone can achieve without recommendation from a member of the higher cabinet. It just so happens that that is what my ranking came out to be. So really, I jumped up seven ranks in a matter of three weeks. This was, to say the least, a bit shocking. Of course, I wasn’t the only one with exponential growth. Just like she anticipated, Nora is now way past what she used to be. Not only that but she’s gone well beyond what she even expected, leaving her as a respectable Class B adventurer. To put it into perspective, only thirty percent of adventurers even make it that far in their whole careers. But here she is, managing it in a few weeks. Not that I’m one to speak. Only five percent become DAFCs, which is somehow even crazier a number.

“Now that that is settled,” says the woman behind the desk, “Would you still like to register as a new party?”

“Yes,” I reply. “Just us two. That’s not a problem, yeah?”

“N-No, not at all,” she says. “B-But I must ask... Doesn’t a quest like this seem... wasteful of your talent? You must keep in mind that these quests aren’t solely for the benefit of the adventurer. And the reason some quests are locked behind ranks is because people out in the world are in dire need of a high-leveled adventurer’s help.”

“Well of course I wanna help people,” I say. “But I really can’t do anything without armor. Y’see, what we have on now is all that’s left. And right now, we don’t have a coin to our name.”

I guess that isn’t entirely true. That strange coin with the angel and snake hasn’t left my pocket this whole time. I know I’ve accidentally forgotten it more than once, but by the time I figure out where I left it, it’s already back with me. I’m not sure if it has value, but something tells me I can’t in good conscience pawn it off only to have it come right back. At least not until I know what the hell it is.

“Well in that case, I could offer you a pest control quest,” says the woman. She bends down and grabs a handful of fliers, then standing back up and spreading them out on the desk.

“And how’s that any different?” I ask.

“Pest control quests involve getting rid of a certain amount of low-ranking monsters. These monsters are normally too small to do any harm to people, but they can cause trouble for the natural wildlife and are known to trample farmlands as they pass through.”

“Sounds better than some lame transport job,” I mutter, leaning into the desk. I obviously can’t read any of the words, but I do recognize the characters used to represent money quantities. Most seem pretty basic, about ten Jeul. Any good meal here is about seven, give or take. That won’t leave me enough to stay a night anywhere. I keep looking. They seem to vary by about two or three Jeul, but I don’t quite see...

“Aha!” I exclaim, swiping a quest from the counter. “This one! The one worth a hundred Jeul! Is it really that high? And this’s still a pest control quest, right?”

She glances at the page. “O-Oh, really? You are really doing that?”

“Is there something wrong with it?”

“W-Well, it’s just that... They had to keep raising the reward because nobody would accept it.”

“Hey, as long as I’m not going up against anything big, then that reward speaks for itself,” I say.

“A-As you wish,” she shrugs, sighing. “I have your party registered. Please check back here when you are finished.”

“O-Oh, alright,” I mutter.

“Can you make any sense of these things, Nora?” I ask, showing her the quest.

We’re sat near the gate between the first and Second Rungs, looking defeatedly at a piece of paper.

“I can’t read,” she mutters. “I was never taught. Esmeralda couldn’t read either.”

“Man... If only there were some sort of, I dunno, a translation booklet between this chicken scratch and literally any other written language I know,” I sigh. “What’s even the point of knowing English, Kana, and Hangul here? Answer: there is none.”

“Why don’t you ask Felm?” she says.

“Who? Oh... that officer kid or whatever, right? Why specifically him?” I mutter.

“Because he’s standing over there,” she replies, pointing.

“Eh? Ah— so he is.”

Felm notices us before I have a chance to get up. He smiles, and waves as he walks towards us.

“Cyrus! L-Lady Nora!” he exclaims. Felm wears a sort of tunic that goes down just past his knees and has white fur woven into the lower part. He’s still got on that circlet that shows through his hair. “How nice to see you both!”

“Eh? Oh, yeah. Nice to see you too, I guess,” I reply. I lift up the quest and show it to him. “Hey Felm, you seem like the kinda guy who’s literate, wanna tell me what this says?”

“You can’t read, Cyrus?” he asks.

“I can read, just not in this dialect,” I huff. “I-I mean, where I’m from, we use a different reading language. Mind helping us out?”

“A quest?” he says. He leans in to peer at the browned parchment. “Hmm... a pest control quest. Oh, of course.” He leans back to stand straight again. “It doesn’t give any specifics on what it is you need to get rid of, but it does give directions. In fact, it’s on a farm just past the outer walls.”

“You mean Benny’s farm?” I say.

“Hm? Benny? No, it looks like a... mister... Clement,” Felm replies. “A pumpkin farmer. Hmm.....”

“What’s with the hum?” I say.

“Mh... It sounds like a lot of fun,” he mutters.

‘This guy...’ I think to myself.

“Oh, I know!” he exclaims. “Hey hey, Cyrus?”

“Just call me Cyr,” I say.

“Cyr, how about I come with you?” he asks. Again, he looks to Nora for just a moment. “I know it’s your quest and all, b-but I don’t need any reward from it!”

“Aren’t you a captain of the Royal Guard?” I mutter.

“W-Well yes, but... But I don’t actually have my own squadron yet, so I’ve just been doing odd jobs for all the other captains... And today is one of my only days off, so I thought...”

This kid just shouts ‘naivety’ from where I’m standing. He seems so peppy compared to literally anyone else I’ve met here. Or maybe it’s innocence? Whatever it is, he’s not the kinda person I’d expect to be a captain of the royal guard.

“Well...” I mutter. “If you’re fine with using your day off on this, then I guess...”

“Yes! T-Thank you, Cyr!” he exclaims, bowing. “A-And Lady Nora— A pleasure to be working with you!”

Nora nods hesitantly.

When we met up with the pumpkin farmer Clement, he revealed that the pest that invaded his farm were a crap-ton of slimes. At first, I was excited. It was my first small-time enemy in this world, and it reminded me of all those fantasy games I used to play with slimes being early-on enemies that take no more than a few swipes to best. But just like the Wyverns in the mountains, these slimes were nothing like their their game counterparts. Only I didn’t realize that until going up against my first one.

The pest control quest quickly turned into a chaotic free-for-all as we scrambled to avoid the viscous bastards that spat sticky goo at us in heaps. They were many, so many that they all just seemed to meld into masses of slightly different colored blobs. And the smell— They smelled like a mixture of rotting fish and old compost. The odor climbs through your nasal passages and causes your eyes to water and the bridge of your nose to feel like you just ingested a spoonful of wasabi. With it, I couldn’t focus long enough to even draw upon any of my power. The slog was long and hard, and we could only really kill one of them every minute or so if we were lucky. But when we weren’t, which was most of the time, we got slapped with the nasty conglomerate that is a slime’s sludge. I got a bit in my mouth and I puked up just about everything left in my stomach. But finally, after four hours of this, the last slime was vanquished and our job was done.

“How do you think slimes work...?” I mutter, wiping Kenkui off in the grass. “I mean, it’s like... It has no vital organs, you know? It’s just a blob.”

“No idea. Ask Shank. He’s a monster fanatic,” huffs Felm.

“Who the hell’s Shank?” I ask.

“Another Captain,” he replies. “A little creepy, but he knows everything about monsters.”

“Huh,” I say. “Good to know, I guess.”

Nora steps up next to me and looks out at the open pumpkin patch.

“This place is a disaster,” she mutters. “Cyr, you were too reckless.”

“Hey now,” I grumble.

“If I see another slime again, someone will have hell to pay,” she glowers. “I want a bath. Is there a lake nearby?”

“We all want a bath,” I mutter. “...Y’know, now I understand why the lady at the counter was talking weird about this quest.”

“Yes. Yes, I suppose we do,” she replies.

We stand there in silence another few moments, stuck in a daze as of what to do, faces plastered with slowly solidifying slime goo and with regret piercing our entire being.

“So... Was—“

“Adventurers! Oh, Adventurers!” hollers a voice.

The old farmer named Clement hobbles down an old dirt road towards us with a crooked wooden cane in-hand. He’s a pale skinny figure with silvery-white hair, sunken eyes, and a wrinkled, drooping face. He has on an old leather vest and a big straw hat with a green cloth stripe around it. He stops about halfway to us to catch his breath before steadily making it the rest of the way.

“The job’s done,” I say. “At first I wondered why a pest control quest would be worth so much Jeul. I don’t anymore.”

“I... Yes, I truly do apologize,” the man replies apologetically. “They came nearly three months ago, yet nobody I asked would get rid of them for me. They have eaten up all my crops, you see. They have a particular liking to pumpkin.”

“...I guess the right thing to say here is that I’m happy to have helped,” I reply, rubbing the back of my neck. “Though... I’ll admit I don’t think I would’ve taken the job if the reward wasn’t what it was. I can’t afford to.”

“There is no fault in that,” the man chuckles. “Now, I suppose you all are probably looking for a means of cleaning off, yes? Well, if so then I have quite the treat for you.”

“Hey, so... what is this place you’re taking us to?” I ask, trudging just behind the old man, my boots grimy and making sloshing noises with every step. Nora is close behind me, followed by a disheartened Felm.

“You will see, just give it a few moments... just beyond this hill here,” he smiles, looking back to me.

As we clear the hill, shrouded in forest, we come across a clearing. This clearing, as I look closer, isn’t one with grass and bushes, but is instead filled by water with steam rising up from it. It’s hidden by a stretch of reeds on almost all sides and a rock face on another. The smell of sulfur seems to drive away even the putrid stench of the slimes.

“It’s a hot spring,” I gasp. “A... A natural hot spring...”

“This spring was discovered by my father nearly a hundred years ago now,” says the old man Clement. He’s sat cross-legged on the dry portion of a large rock that dips down into the water. The three of us are in the water right next to each other and face him. “I had always thought of sharing it— but of course I didn’t want just anybody to relax here.”

“Why’s that?” I ask.

“Well, this bath here sits atop a vein of crystallized mana. As such, its properties would be highly sought after. It dissolves any filth that touches it, so you don’t even need to wash beforehand. No doubt the empire would try to monopolize it, what with it being so close to the walls. Instead, having those who deserve it is only fitting.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” I say.

The man slowly gets to his feet, but not before setting a leather bag on the rock. “I am afraid I must return home for the time being. Here is your reward, as promised.” He pauses. “Ah, and if you fancy supper, please feel free to stop by on your way back into the city.”

He disappears down the forested path. Soon later, Felm turns to me and smiles.

“What’s with that look?” I ask.

“Hm—? O-Oh, I mean no disrespect, Cyr! I was just...”

“I’m just messing with you,” I reply. I take a moment to myself to bask my face in the steam as it crawls up my cheeks and clears out the sully of the slime stench in my nostrils. I can’t help but chuckle a little. “...Feels nice, right Nora? Felm?”

“Yes,” Nora nods. “The water makes it feel like all my worries are being lifted off my shoulders.”

“That, but...” I pause. “I was more referring to something else.”

“What were you referring to, Cyr?” asks Felm.

“Nobody bothered to help this old guy, just because fighting slimes is kinda sucky,” I say. “Even though the things were threatening his very livelihood, nobody bothered. I’d hate to know what would’ve happened if he couldn’t have afforded to fork over this kinda reward.”

“How could that make you feel good, Cyr?” Nora mutters.

“Because we did help. The guy can keep living without worrying about those little things eating up his crops,” I reply. “We helped, even when others wouldn’t. That’s worth feeling good about, right?”

Felm nods adamantly in agreement. “Yes, of course!” he exclaims.

“Honestly it really makes me think,” I say. “People could be suffering a lot more than this, but it could be completely overlooked because they can’t afford to pay a proper wage.”

“Hm, I... Never really thought of that,” says Felm, putting a hand to his chin in pondering. “Yes, I think you might be right. Most people, say in the First Rung, can hardly afford to pay their housing taxes, much less offer a reward to an adventurer.”

“You thinking what I'm thinking, Nora?” I ask.

"I think you know me well enough to answer that question yourself,” she replies.

“I'm sorry, am I missing something?” asks Felm.

I slam my fist on the guild receptionist’s desk.

“Alright, gimme every quest that's been on the board past its due,” I demand.

The lady at the front, not even the one from last time, looks at me confused.

“Pardon?” she asks. “All of what, you say?”

"Every quest nobody's bothered to take,” I reply. “Preferably ones who're too low for anyone else to bother with.”

“Can I ask... what your intention here is?” she asks.

“Oh, just shitting on this country's definition of a hero,” I reply. “Err... Never mind. I just need those quests. As a Distinguished Adventurer First Class, it's safe to say that's well within my capabilities.”

“Yes, I suppose that is all good and well, but—“

“Just don't think too hard about it. We'll get those quests done. All of them.”

The woman hesitates for a moment before reaching down below the desk and pulling up a thick stack of parchment.

“I-Is that—“

“Yes, all eight hundred and seventy six quests taken from the main pool which have been dismissed as of yesterday due to lack of interest. Does this still seem like something within your abilities, Mr. Distinguished Adventurer First Class?”

I look to Nora who just shrugs, giving me little feedback to go off of.

“Yeah,” I say, turning back to the counter. “We'll take the lot.”

“Fine, but do consider that a few of these may be high risk and low reward,” the woman sighs.

“Thanks for the concern, but the both of us here can handle ourselves,” I reply, swiping the stack from the table and being momentarily shocked by its heft before awkwardly pinning it under my arm. I reluctantly bring my head back up at an angle to face her. “...We're pretty strong, y'see...”

“Clearly,” she mutters.

“Might wanna check that attitude, lady,” I shrug, making a show of swinging myself around towards the door.

“And you might want to try to act normal,” Nora mutters to me as we exit.

With Felm as our translator, over the course of one long night we managed to write in English all eight hundred and seventy six quests. Honestly, I'd prefer to fight the slimes than write that all again, but now that's all behind us. And through it, I learned quite a bit about the written language this world uses.

So apparently, it isn't all too different to Japanese or Korean in the sense that it uses certain symbols to convey certain word parts. The only difference is that it sometimes takes in different segments than what I'm used to, like how the Japanese symbol for ‘shi’ is split up based on what comes before and after it. So learning the symbols is really all I need to do before I can accurately read and write in their language. Granted, that’s easier said than done, but the foundation is all there, regardless.

“Alright, I'm turning in,” I yawn, tossing myself into the larger bed of the room we rented. “Thanks, Felm, but I've got nothing to pay you back with right now.”

“Not at all, I’m happy to h... happy to...”

He collapses asleep onto the floor. I turn to Nora, who’s also conked out at the foot of the bed.

“Well... I guess we can start questing after a quick nap,” I mutter. I end up falling asleep as well. I don’t wake until much, much later in the day.