Ch 6

Going back to the inn with my new clothes in hand, I quickly put them in my room and headed to the guild. It was almost afternoon by then, much later than I had originally planned to go.

When I arrived and went inside, I saw Emma at the counter, just like yesterday. Since she was the only receptionist working at the moment, I walked directly over to her.

“Hi, I came to pick up my card”

“Ah, good afternoon, Mr. Nyx. I’ve been expecting you; your adventurer card is right here”

After saying that in a somewhat formal way, like yesterday, Emma reached under her desk, as if she had been expecting me, and handed me a copper-colored card.

I took the card and examined it. It was about the same size as an ID card from my past life. As I held it, the information I'd written down yesterday glowed on the front, with a drawing of an unfamiliar flower in the background, which I assumed was probably this particular guild's emblem or something along those lines.

I then turned the card over and saw a magic circle engraved on the back. Huh? What is that?

Giving back the wooden tag, I asked about the card.

“Yes. It's a new magical item created by the Mages' Guild last year, and it can be used by people who have no mana.”

I stared at the card in my hand, hardly believing that something like this had been developed. This thing was closer to an artifact than a magical item.

It’s strange that I haven’t heard of this when I was still a noble because most of the nobility would have hated the idea of commoners using magic.

Magical items can only be used by mages since they require a direct supply of mana to work, so mages are the only ones who could use them.

Artifacts, on the other hand, are items that can only be found in dungeons or ancient ruins of an advanced magical civilization. They are way more powerful than a magical item and don't need a direct supply of mana to use, meaning anyone can use them.

If someone managed to sell one of these, it would be worth a small fortune. They were incredibly rare and couldn't be reproduced because all the knowledge required to create them had been lost to time. The magical technology we have today was nowhere near the level of that ancient, lost civilization.

When I was living back at my family's estate, we only had two artifacts despite being a marquess household.

“Won’t the nobles be opposed to it?”

“No worries, Mr. Nyx. We have the support of this kingdom's royal family, which is why we've started implementing them across all of our branches here.”

Why is she telling me all this?

It seems that the creation of this card was kept secret from the nobility until the guild began introducing it. The Adventurer Guild has considerable influence, so the nobles can't really do much to stop them.

If I could learn how to make my own magical item, I could have a way to use magic.

So then, maybe my dream of using magic can be revived after all. It was crushed when I found out I couldn't use magic, but perhaps there's still hope.

But first, I should get information on who made it.

“Who is the person who created this?”

“I’m afraid that person is kept hidden, so I don’t know, but they are from the mages guild in the city of Acton, where the Dradevow dungeon resides and where the main adventurer guild for this region is located.”

The city of Acton… I think I know where I’m going to go next.

Taking a moment to think about that, Emma then asked me, “May I ask if you're planning to do a quest today?”

Hearing her ask that, I decided against it. Instead, I thought it would be better to spend the day at the library learning as much as I could about adventuring.

So I said, “No,” and told her that I planned to use the library instead. It was already afternoon, which felt a bit late to start a quest, and I wanted to gather some basic information about adventuring before taking one on.

“I see, the library is downstairs, and the librarian's name is Mable, Mr. Nyx”

After thanking Emma, I went downstairs to the library. When I opened the door, I saw a girl around my age with green hair and eyes sitting at the only desk in the room, reading a book.

The room was filled with shelves of books, making the already-small space feel even more cramped.

Is this place even considered a library? It's pretty small, don't you think?

“Umm, excuse me, do you know where the librarian is?”

“That would be me.”

She didn’t take her eyes off the book as she replied.

Well, that is a surprise; she looks too young to be a librarian.

“Sorry, but aren’t you a bit young?”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

She still didn’t take her eyes off the book as she replied, and I then asked her, choosing to ignore her rather reserved personality.

“Can you please tell me where the books about monsters, plants, and adventuring are? I want to read them.”

Those are the first types of books I'm going to read instead of books about magic because they'll be more useful to me right now. There's no point in reading about magic when I can't even use it.

Unexpectedly, Mable looked up from what she was reading and turned her attention toward me, a look of interest on her face.

“Most people coming down here usually ask me for information about their quests. It’s rare for people to come here to read. I don’t recognize you; are you new?”

Nodding yes, “I just registered yesterday. My name is Nyx.”

“Hmm… Nyx, that's a strange name.”

Mable put her book down and got up, telling me to wait for a bit. She then walked around the room, which would have been cramped for a normal person but was perfectly comfortable for her, and pulled several books from the many shelves that were filled to the brim with books.

In doing so, she asked why I wanted to read them.

“I don’t know a lot about adventuring, so it’s better that I know than not know, I guess.”

Hearing my answer, she had a barely noticeable smile hearing my answer.

Remembering my encounter with the horned rabbits, I realized that most of my knowledge about adventuring came from my past life. I wasn't taught much about the outside world before I ran away, which would definitely prove to be a problem later. I'm not dumb enough to assume that I already know everything about this world.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks.”

“Just give them to me after you're done.”

Now, with the books in hand, I sat on the opposite side of the desk from Mable, who was still reading, and began reading the ones she had given me.

I stayed in the library, silently reading with Mable till she told me that it was closing time for the Adventurer Guild for the day.

“Okay, then. Can you save these books for me until tomorrow? I’m planning to come back later in the afternoon after I finish a quest.”

“That’s no problem.”

“Then see you tomorrow.”

After thanking her, I went up to the first floor and left the Adventurers' Guild. Once outside, I took a deep breath, enjoying the cool night air.

Huh... it was already dark. I didn't expect to spend that long in there.

Oh well. I stretched my arms and legs, working out the stiffness from sitting and reading in the library all day, before making my way back to the inn.

I managed to finish the book on general information about the guild and read about a third of the book on plants before deciding to call it a day.

From what I learned, the Adventurers' Guild works pretty much the way I expected an adventurers' guild to work in a fantasy world.

And no wonder Emma was startled when I showed her the white-horned rabbits I’d killed.

The ranking system goes from F to S. An F-rank is equivalent to someone with little to no ability to fight. E-rank is equivalent to an average person with some training. D-rank is equivalent to a knight, while C-rank is equivalent to a mid-ranking knight. B-rank is equivalent to a high-ranking knight, A-rank to a knight captain, and S-rank to what the book describes as a knight commander.

The same ranking system is also used to determine the danger level of monsters.

To better put these rankings into perspective, going from C to S, a C-rank monster can threaten a small town, while a B-rank monster can threaten a large town. An A-rank monster can threaten an entire city, and an S-rank monster could threaten an entire region.

Of course, there are rankings even above S-rank, such as SS- and SSS-rank monsters. However, these monsters are so rare that the book I had just read only mentioned them in passing, without giving any real comparison of their strength.

As I made my way back to the inn, I noticed that the town’s nightlife was just as lively as the day.

The only difference was that all the day shops were closed and replaced with bars, taverns, food stands, and other establishments which, let's just say, I’m not old enough to go into.

Hearing my stomach rumble after skipping lunch today, I checked my coin pouch to see how much I had left. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to buy a snack.

I looked around for the nearest place to grab a quick snack and spotted a food stand selling meat skewers.

“One meat skewer, please.”

I opened my coin pouch and handed the vendor a copper coin.

“Coming right up.”

As I waited for the skewer to finish cooking, I found myself staring at the meat on the grill. The aroma slowly filled the air, making my already empty stomach rumble even louder.

“Here you go”

When it was done, I took the skewer and bit into it. Once again, I was amazed by how good commoner food tasted. The meat was incredibly juicy and flavorful. I couldn’t believe he had managed to make it taste this good using nothing but salt.

After finishing my meat skewer, I made my way back to the inn.

By the time I arrived, dinner was already being served. I noticed that the items on the wooden board had changed. The breakfast options that had been listed earlier had now been replaced with dinner options.

So seeing that, I decided to order a bowl of beef stew with bread, which cost me three copper coins. Once I finished eating, I headed straight to my room.

Tomorrow, I’d better start taking on some quests and saving money. I’d already spent most of the coins in my pouch today.

For now, I’m tired, and I want to go to sleep.