The Adventurer’s Guild was housed in a massive building right in the centre of Kronshire. Its exterior reminded me vaguely of the Diet building back at home, with its stone pillars and stone steps that led up to the large wooden swinging doors that guarded its entrance. Numerous people of varied appearances filtered in and out through those large doors. Male, female, young, old, even human and non-human. I saw a couple of individuals sporting pointed ears alongside other individuals who possessed animalistic characteristics. There were also a few dwarves walking around, as well as some other small individuals who looked like human children but had glowing, concentric eyes.

Yep, this is definitely a fantasy world, all right.

I cautiously stepped into the building and was greeted by the sight of a large, sparsely-decorated hall. On the other end of the room was a row of counters, behind which sat numerous women and men, each dressed in a similar manner – a buttoned, collared shirt paired with long trousers. Each counter had a board on it with a three-digit number. On both sides of the row of counters were a pair of doorways, their doors open, but I couldn’t see or hear anything from beyond those doorways. Just in front of the counters were rows upon rows of chairs, about half of which were occupied. The whole place felt very quiet.

Actually, rather than an [Adventurer’s Guild], isn’t this atmosphere more like a bank?

A light cough interrupted my thoughts. To the left of the door was another receptionist, sitting behind a table.

“Ma’am, can I help you?”

“Ah, y-yes, I’d like to find out more about the Guild and what you do.”

“Information and Administration, then.”

The black-haired receptionist consulted a clipboard, then passed me a slip of paper with the number “203” on it.

“That’s your queue number. Please take a seat and wait for your number to appear on the board. The counters you’ll want to look out for are those on the left side of the hall.”

This is totally a bank, isn’t it?!

I managed to supress my incredulity and thanked the receptionist, then moved to take a seat among the chairs, watching the boards on the leftmost counters. The highest number displayed was “184”. I resigned myself to a long wait and sighed. My gaze wandered about, settling on the crowds at the sides of the hall.

On the sides of the hall were a myriad of notice boards, with various papers pinned to them. People of all races were crowded around these notice boards, occasionally speaking to one another or pointing at specific notices. They were keeping a low volume as they spoke, adding the imposing silence of the hall. It was a rather stark departure from my mental image of an [Adventurer’s Guild] as a cramped place filled with rowdy adventurers.

What’s with this sense of disappointment, isn’t a neater place like this preferable?

What’s with this feeling of ‘I wanted it to be messier’? It’s like I’m a slob who gets scared by neatness.

I’m not a slob, okay? If I say I’m not then I’m not.

The sound of a bell rang out. Surprised, I looked toward the counters, and saw that one of the receptionists was writing on her board. When she turned it back to face the chairs, the number on it had changed, increasing by one. There were no traces at all of the previous number – did she erase it with magic?

The bell rang out several more times, with the numbers counting upward, and after a good while of waiting, one of the counters finally displayed the queue number “202”. I heard the bell and stood up, beginning to move to the counter from which the bell had rung. The receptionist noticed me walking over and smiled at me, then turned her board around.

[407]

…This really is a bank, isn’t it?

I slumped back down in my seat, my earlier enthusiasm completely gone. When the bell rang again and my number finally did come up, it was all I could do to drag myself to the counter, bleeding lethargy from my manner. The receptionist – a different girl from the one who’d smiled at me – gazed at me over her glasses with a look of concern. I flushed red and quickly took my seat, avoiding the receptionist’s concerned glances.

“How can we help you today, Ma’am.”

Ah. Actually, what did I want to ask about again?

I only wanted to take a look at the inside of the Guild, but had ended up getting swept up by the atmosphere.

Ahhh, this is bad, I don’t have anything I actually want to ask. I’m not from this world, you know? If you ask me to think of something to ask the Guild, of course I wouldn’t know how to start.

Not good, not good. Let’s just start with something as general as possible.

“Tell me about everything.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Wait, isn’t that a little too general?! She probably thinks I’m trying to pull a prank or something. Gah, need to find a way to reverse this. Think, think!

“Tell me everything about the Guild. What you do, what services you provide, that sort of thing.”

The receptionist narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

“Ma’am, do you have an actual question, or are you just here to waste my time?”

Eh? Why?! I thought that was a wonderful recovery, though?!

Ah. It’s that, isn’t it? The Guild is obviously a really big organisation, based on just the building along. Of course, anyone living in this world would know all about it. So obviously if I ask this kind of question, she’s going to assume I’m joking around.

But I can’t help it! I’m not a resident of this world, after all!

Argh, I can’t think of a way to reverse this situation. If it’s come to this, then I’m left with no choice. Go, my secret weapon!

Rather than answering her, I silently showed her my identification. She looked at me sceptically, but glanced at it nonetheless. Then her eyes widened in astonishment.

“Oh, my. Lady Valkyrie, please forgive my rudeness.”

Her manner changed completely. What an amazingly convenient class. It was almost enough for me to stop hating it by virtue of being related to my name.

Almost.

“Still, though, Lady Valkyrie, if you’ll pardon my asking, why are you asking about the Guild in this manner? Surely the gods would have told you all you needed to know?”

I take it back, this class is a pain. I rapidly considered what excuses I could concoct to explain my ignorance of this world. The solution I hit upon was extremely sketchy, but I judged that I would be able to bluster my way through by leveraging the reputation of my class.

Hm? Why not just tell the truth and frame it as the gods choosing me from another world?

Because it’s a pain to explain the concept of multiple worlds.

Besides, for various reasons, doing that would feel like a defeat.

“I am a… special case. I woke up several days ago, with no recollection of anything save my name. I knew nothing of this world, or of this land, or even of myself. I was a blank slate. I have been endeavouring to fill out that slate.”

The receptionist frowned, then nodded in understanding.

“I see… it must be part of your [Divine Mission].”

“Indeed, that is the conclusion I have reached as well.”

Uh. [Divine Mission]? What’s that? Is it tasty?

Well, at least for the time being, I’d managed to convince her that I legitimately didn’t know anything about the world, and that I wasn’t trying to pull a prank, so I didn’t really care. Small victories.

“The [Adventurer’s Guild] is, as the name suggests, an organisation dedicated to facilitating and enhancing the livelihoods of Adventurers. Speaking very generally, you can consider Adventurers to be Jacks-of-all-Trades. The Guild takes on any requests and evaluates them based on difficulty and time expenditure, assigning them a difficulty ranking. Rewards for completing a request are largely provided by the clients, but the Guild itself has funds which it employs to set rewards for requests that come from the Guild. Any questions thus far?”

“Uh, yes, where does the Guild get those funds?”

“The Guild takes a 5% commission on all requests that it processes. Additionally, all Adventurers affiliated with the Guild are required to pay a nominal monthly membership fee of 1 gold. Failure to do so for two months in a row, or four months cumulatively, will result in the revocation of Guild membership, thus depriving defaulters of the services we provide. This gold is then taken and re-invested, building up a decent amount of funds.”

“Can you give me an example of the services you mentioned?”

“Certainly. In addition to serving as a valuable liaison between potential clients and Adventurers, the Guild also offers a bank service and a courier service, available to all our members free of charge. Furthermore, we also have standing agreements with regional governments – the Guild can help you apply for a visa to enter a foreign country if necessary. Every branch of the Guild also has a market within it – if you pass through the two doors behind this counter, you’ll see the market for this branch. Guild markets are open at all times, and merchants gather to buy and sell various wares. In addition to smithies and alchemists for your combat-related needs, there are also numerous tailors and merchants who specialise in curios, as well as information brokers. Anything that an Adventurer might require is provided for within these halls. Furthermore, all Adventurers will receive a discount on all products in the market based on their rank.”

A bank and postage service. Immigration help and a market. Why not just go the whole way and sell insurance, too?

Well, that was obviously out of the question. Adventurers probably died too often to risk selling them insurance.

“Ah, incidentally, we also have an insurance policy available to our members, though it is not free. For a monthly premium, our members can elect to be insured against death. What this means is that in the event of their dying in the line of work, those listed as their next-of-kin will receive monetary support in the form of a lump sum, based on the size of the monthly premium.”

Wait, seriously?!

“That said, not many people apply for this benefit, due to the high price of the premium. Also, we don’t cover death by illness, so claims can only be made in the case of death in the course of natural disaster or combat. A lot of the Adventurers also consider it bad luck to apply for these plans, so this last benefit is largely underutilised. There’s also the issue that claims can only be made if an eyewitness is able to support that the claimant’s death is due to combat or natural disaster.”

Ah, I see- wait, doesn’t that mean that in the case where there are no survivors, a claim can’t be made? Also, claims can’t be made for illnesses? Doesn’t that mean that the Guild can just insist that the claimant died because of illness and not battle?

What’s with this super sketchy-sounding policy?!

Let’s quickly change the subject before I get drawn into any shady contracts.

“Ah, uh, ahem. You mentioned ranks. Could you explain a little more about them?”

“Adventurers are separated into 10 alphabetical ranks, from G to SSS. All Adventurers start at G rank, and can attempt quests up to one difficulty rank higher than their current rank, though doing so is highly unadvisable. Climbing in rank gives you access to more benefits within the guild – the size of the storage unit allocated to an SSS-rank Adventurer is incomparable to that provided for a G-rank one. Furthermore, the Guild markets are also separated into ranks based on price and item quality of products sold, and entrance to the higher-ranked market stalls are only permitted to higher-ranked Adventurers. This arrangement serves to create a sense of exclusivity and motivate our members to aim for higher ranks. It serves a practical purpose as well – many of the highest-ranked items are likely to be unaffordable unless one is able to consistently take on and clear S-ranked requests.”

“So how does an Adventurer increase in rank?”

“By completing requests, one earns a certain number of points. Quests that exceed an Adventurer’s current rank awards more points, while those below an Adventurer’s current rank award fewer points. Once the point threshold for one’s present rank has been attained, one may promote to the next rank. Certain ranks have additional conditions for promotion other than the points, and there are also ways to skip ranks, but as a basic explanation, points are the main way to increase one’s rank.”

“…I see...”

…Is it just me, or is this receptionist lady looking at me a little expectantly?

Don’t tell me, you want me to become an Adventurer?

I’m a Valkyrie, you know? I don’t have the time to run errands for humans like you, you know? I have a [Divine Mission], you know? I don’t know what it is, though.

Ah, but if you’re so insistent on me becoming an Adventurer, then I suppose I don’t have a choice, do I?

After all, what kind of heavenly messenger would I be if I turned my back to people who need my help?

“Where can I register as an Adventurer with the Guild?”

Becoming an Adventurer is a part of fulfilling my [Divine Mission]. I’m certain it is. Even though I don’t know what my mission is.

That’s all, okay? I’m only applying because she’s so desperately begging me with her eyes, okay? Even if you say that her eyes are completely emotionless and uncaring, you’re just imagining it. I’m sure she’s begging me to do it.

I’m not applying just because I think Adventurers are cool, or because I always wanted to become an Adventurer in a fantasy world since I was a little girl, or because I think that if I follow the template and become an adventurer in another world then I’ll end up meeting a beautiful female knight with blond hair and an amazing sword style who will steal my heart away and give me the romance I’ve always admired, okay?

If I say I’m not then I’m not.