"Welcome to the Adventurers' Union~~. We are pleased to have you on board, adventurer Garami~~." - Receptionist

The cat-eared girl from before gave me a bronze-colored card with a smile on her face. They must be lower on manpower than I first believed if they're so happy that someone like me is joining the Union.

"Is having bronze that great?" - Garami

I went to Mira, who had been using the quest reward for "bringing me to safety" to sponsor a drinking bout for herself, and asked her about the flashy new card I'd been given.

"Not on its own, but starting one's adventurer career with one sure is." - Mira

"Hmm?" - Garami

"Right, she's got zero social experience. Let's start from the beginning." - Mira

Hey, what was that first half for? There's stuff you should never say out loud, even if it's the truth.

"The Adventurers' Union has a ranking system to differentiate between the adventurers, and these ranks are based on the material of one's Adventurer Card.

"First is the Wood rank, but that's the lower-than-beginner level. It's only given to small kids who want some simple jobs to clear for extra pocket money. The real thing starts at Iron rank, but the people there are either fellows without any accomplishments or lazy bums who barely bother to clear quests.

"As for the Bronze rank, it consists of the guys who's earned their medals and can be considered "proper" adventurers. Either that or geniuses who suddenly decided to join. You're part of the latter group. As for Silver ranks like me, we are the real stars of the Union~. Veterans with both the backstory and power to be considered the main force of the Adventurers' Union~~." - Mira

"There are no Gold rank?" - Garami

"Those exist, but they are at the top of the Union. Like, the commanding group or the super-high ranked people who have even evolved to a new race." - Mira

Evolving is that big of a deal? ...it may be. Thinking about it, I killed tons of monsters in the Water-Knot to gain all the EXP I needed. I'm not sure how any other methods for earning EXP work, but if all the people here want to evolve, whole ecosystems would have to go if they're to repeat my method.

"But forget about that. Garami, what do you say that we party up?" - Mira

"I don't like noisy events." - Garami

"Not that kind of party! A party as in a group of adventurers! Didn't you get the skill scroll with the [Party] skill?" - Mira

Oh, this thing? I wanted to check it with Bloom before deciding whether to use it or not.

According to Mira, [Party] is a skill every adventurer who reaches Bronze rank is given by the Union. It allows one to create a party that consists of up to 6 people at most, and even if there is only one damage/dealer, aka, only one guy who kills stuff in that party, the other members will get some EXP as well.

To go more in detail, the guy who obtained the EXP can then give a bundle of bonus EXP equal to X% (with X being the skill level * 2) of the original value to the other party members. The other guys have to share that bonus EXP, with their contributions in that fight dictating how much they get.

Finally, owning the [Party] skill yourself will give a slight bonus EXP based on its skill level. Mira said it was around 0.1% extra EXP for each skill level, and that is only added after the shares are decided. It's still free EXP, so I can't see any reason to complain. Oh, and the skill levels up automatically as long as you're in a party and farm EXP. Pretty nice, I would say.

"Even the supporters have their work cut off for them." - Garami

"Yeah, probably. But everyone who's fighting monsters should be able to fend for themselves to some degree." - Mira

Mhm, that's a good point.

"So...you wanna fight some monsters?" - Garami

"What? No! Or, not specifically that. You see, some adventurers form permanent groups where they work together to clear quests. Some people may go a step further and register themselves as a Guild connected to the Union, but that's a different story." - Mira

I was wondering how "guilds" were treated in this world, so that's the case. They're like a sub-group that has a connection to the Union. Maybe they could work for different ones and not only the Adventurers' Union? There was something for merchants as well, I believe...

Oops. I gotta answer her.

"Sure." - Garami

"Huh?" - Mira

"I'll team up." - Garami

"Yes!" - Mira

"...why so happy?" - Garami

"Who wouldn't be happy about getting to adventure together with a beauty like you?" said Mira as she grabbed me by the shoulder-gababaya!-!?!?

*Toss*, *CRASH!!*

"Ouch...again!?" - Mira

"Sorry..." - Garami

I need to fix that bad habit. Paying for broken furniture all the time is going to kill my wallet. Mira looked happy despite the air trip and crash landing just now. She's got guts. Or...

"You swing that way?" - Garami

"No, I swing swords. But honestly, as long as they're either a cutie or a beauty, I don't care what the gender people have." - Mira

I was thinking if she's a masochist, but...I've gotten enough of Mira's fetishes for one day.

Since the party had been decided, Mira dragged me to the quest board to take our first memorial quest together. I'll tell you, I did EVERYTHING in my power not to freak out again. It helped that Mira didn't try to grope me as she dragged my arm.

"...there are lots of requests for rare minerals." - Garami

Around 60% of the board consists of those. The other 30% or so is for requests related to ships and fixing the city. The last batch is for normal adventurer stuff, though lots of it is connected to the sewers. Beating mutated rats and such.

"Karion did lose much of his work when the tidal wave struck." - Mira

"What work?" - Garami

"As you already know, Karion is a golem creator. Back when the lake was dried up like an old cookie, Karion spent all his creations and magic stones building ramps and elevators so that people could safely go to the ground level and back to the city. You could say that it was all Karion's contribution that prevented this city from turning into a ghost town." - Mira

"Wow. That's impressive." - Garami

"The downside is that building golems take up lots of rare materials that cost more than you'd believe. When the lake returned, the tidal wave flushed all of Karion's hard work away along with his confidence." - Mira

"That's too bad." - Garami

"Yeah. Especially when a little genius came along and crushed the few golems he had left like it was a game for her." - Mira

N-now I feel like I shouldn't have made such a game outta the test...

"But the hard work he did for Velantas earned him the rank of Union Master here in the city, so now he can just post quests to refuel his stock." - Mira

Being the boss has some perks. There are some downsides such as that ocean of paperwork we saw in his office, but that's not my problem.

"Karion's not someone we should worry about. Let's focus on quests! This one could be good. You may find it easy enough for your first quest." - Mira

What's that? ...scouting of the sewers required? "There has been found evidence that new monster species may have made the sewers their lair. Please discover proof for this statement", it says. Isn't this...

Holy crap. The reward's AWESOME! I want this!

"I know about this." - Garami

"If Garami didn't know about the art of scouting, you'd-" - Mira

"Not that. I think I know what they are looking for." - Garami

I grabbed the paper from the board and went to a free counter to report. When they asked what monster I'd seen, I ignored the large encyclopedia they brought out and instead showed them the spider's page in the Kigal-Note.

"-!!? I-is this for real? Y-you are not joking here, Miss Garami!?" - Receptionist

"Joking?" I replied while tilting my head. "Why would I joke about that?"

Hearing my reply, the receptionist's face turned paler than it already was. Hey, is she alright? I'm starting to worry about her health...

"P-please wait for just a second! Union Master! Union Master Karion! We have an incident!!" - Receptionist

Soon after the receptionist ran up the stair, a loud "THAT GIRL AGAIN?!" could be heard from the floors above.

"Garami? Are you trying to get a reputation as a troublemaker?" - Mira

"Why do I need to make them when they're attracted to me?" - Garami

"Wow... That is the most negative show of pride I've ever seen." - Mira

I know. I hate it myself...

---

Soon after that, Karion had me (along with Mira, since she's my party companion) lead him to the monster spider's lair...and we made an immediate retreat. Because the big ol' spider was making havoc against something. Yes, "something". Not "someone". It was fighting some card troopers after all.

The sparks were flying! Bodies are torn apart! Poison flowing through the air! Skeleton-like curses everywhere! It's a pure hellscape! So we fled like rats before a lion!!

Hey, I'm not joking. Things were just that dangerous at the giant spider's nest. I don't know why, but tons of city guard-disguised cards were walking into the spider's parlor with no hesitation or fear for their own lives... Do cards even have a life span?

After putting some tunnels' distance between us and the battlefield of curses and poison, while I was busy trying to help Mira to start breathing again (that giant spider's not easy on people's minds), Karion turned to me and asked:

"Garami! How did you ever survive your first encounter with that beast!?" - Karion

Oh, that? Is he assuming I'm at the same level as the giant spider? So rude!! ...is it?

"I didn't. I just threw the card there and fled." - Garami

"Card? What card?" - Karion

Whoops. Seems like I forgot to mention that part of my story from before~. It was not because I wanted to save the spider as a potential secret weapon in case the whole city was corrupt~. And don't look at me as some villian-in-the-making~. I've scrapped those plans~. Call it me being "blinded by greed" instead~~.

Anyway, I gave Karion a quick summary on how I specifically dodged the card guards before, by noticing that they may be tracking me with that bugged card and threw it into the monster spider's lair while staying clear of it myself. And then...

"ARE YOU COMPLETELY INSANE!?" - Karion

"Wh-what now..." - Garami

"Miss Garami, even if you were in a pinch back then, you shouldn't risk your life so many times! You have to be more-" - Karion

And a sermon was suddenly unleashed on me. Why? ...it must be that. The backstory to why I was in the Water-Knot that I came up on a moment's notice was that "my village was destroyed, so I had nothing to lose by diving into the Dungeon". Karion cried a little when he heard my story, even if he tried to hide it. Mira didn't seem to believe me though.

Now that I think about it, it was lucky that Gust didn't tell them I wasn't "humanoid" when I met him. Good going there, birdie. I'll only half-kill you for that, you info-spoiling jerk.

"-you got that?" - Karion

Is sermon time over? Sweet.

"But I used a skill to throw it into the beast's lair." - Garami

"Didn't you hear anything of what I said? A Kodokumo Emperor, that giant spider, is a beast when it comes to detection-!" - Karion

"Because of the web, it spins covered with mana? I know that." - Garami

"You-!! ...you know that?" - Karion

"Yes. I can see it." - Garami

"...that is an impressive ability. As expected of someone from the same race as that person..." - Karion

Who's "that person"?

"As for the spider monster, it far surpasses what we can do on our own. The sewers are made with mana-coated bricks, so I couldn't use them for golem materials even if I wanted." - Karion

"But would you?" - Garami

"Far from it. Here is an important lesson when it comes to adventuring in closed, underground areas such as these sewers, young adventurer Garami: messing with the walls can make the whole place fall on your head." - Karion

Trust me, I know that. I've almost got several Dungeon floors crashing into my head because I didn't follow those rules...but the Black Baron-idiot was the one who started it all!!

"We should plan a raid with only the highest-ranking adventurers. Anti-curse and antidotes will cost too much, so asking the guards... Luckily, that thing doesn't seem too keen on moving, and the egg-laying season for that kind of monster is still far..." - Karion

The elf suddenly went into grumble mode after that. It seems like quite the amount of work to exterminate giant pests even in this world. Sounds rough. And did I hear something among the lines of "raid"? Is this a video game?! I'm not participating in that! I only got 1 life on me!

"Why're they so hung up on bothering the spider?" - Mira

Someone's finally decided to wake up. About time-

"THAT'S IT!" - Karion

Wh-wh-what now!?

Karion looked like he had a eureka moment before walking back toward the entrance while writing on a notebook he pulled out. Huh?

"And as for you two...get suited up and prepared for anything. Those scraps of cloth won't do you any good in the near future." - Karion

"Scrap of cloths!?" - Garami

That little-!! Has he any clue how long it took to make this stuff? I'm gonna pulverize him-!! ...hey! Don't leave me when I'm angry at you!!

"Garami has a shorter fuse than you'd expect..." - Mira