Chapter 39

“So… what should we do now?”

“Just have fun. It’s not like we’re short on money or time, right?”

“Oooh! A wise answer to a foolish question!”

…And so, we played. We played hard.

We explored every corner of the mansion, trekked through the basin and mountains that doubled as our estate grounds, and even went swimming at our private beach from time to time.

Hm? Swimming in weather that barely crept above freezing?

Don’t forget—she’s a Demon Lord. Two hundred years in an ice pit at minus forty to fifty degrees had toughened her up plenty.

As for me, after that brief ascent into Transcendence, I somehow stopped being sensitive to heat or cold altogether. Shia said my “output” probably ticked up a little as residual aftereffects.

Anyway, one week later—

Floating on a tube across the lake that sat in one corner of the basin, Shia looked over at me fishing from the shore.

“I’m bored.”

“…Huh?”

“I said I’m bored! I want to do something else!!”

“Already? Didn’t you act like you’d found paradise a week ago?”

“No, I still love this place, really. But even the best scenery gets dull when it’s just grass and water every single day. It’s not stimulating enough.”

I could’ve lived like this for a year without complaint. But she wasn’t me—she had too much restless energy to just sit around.

I chuckled as I released a fish back into the lake.

“So? What do you want to do? Judging by that tone, you’ve already decided.”

She kicked up splashes with her feet, shouting,

“Let’s go register at the Adventurer’s Guild!”

“…Out of nowhere?”

“You were planning to eventually anyway, weren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but… we were going to use Rivet’s recommendation and start at Silver. If we just show up and register, we’ll have to start as Apprentices, you know.”

“Apprentice? And what’s so wrong with that?”

“…Hm?”

“We’re not doing this for money or fame, right? Just for fun. Then why skip the fun part? Starting from the bottom and climbing step by step has its own kind of romance, doesn’t it?”

“…Actually… that makes sense.”

Her grin widened as she wrapped herself around my leg like a barnacle.

“Then let’s go! I need excitement!”

“Fine, fine. Just let me prepare first. We can’t just storm off.”

“Let’s gooo!”

“…At least change your clothes! You can’t walk into the guild wearing a swimsuit!”

And so, on a whim, we decided to register.

After walking for about an hour and a half, we reached the bustling downtown district built around the 3rd District Adventurer’s Guild—“Guildtown.”

Me, dressed in fine clothes, carrying Shia in an expensive-looking dress on my shoulders—we drew stares left and right. But neither of us cared.

“Wow… it’s livelier than I expected. Look at this crowd.”

“Mm, yes. I can feel something fun brewing already.”

“So… the Adventurer’s Guild building should be… this way?”

We walked for another thirty minutes through the busy streets, and when we finally reached it, I stopped in my tracks.

“Whoa…”

The Adventurer’s Guild wasn’t just a building—it was practically a town.

-Expansive grounds.

-Over a dozen large and small buildings.

-Wide open fields between them, like training grounds.

“I thought it’d just be a couple of big offices. This is… bigger than most villages. And you’re saying there are two more of these in Seol East?”

“The Adventurer’s Guild here has authority delegated from the Count himself—administration and judicial powers. Half those buildings aren’t for adventurers at all. They’re government offices and schools.”

“Ah… I see.”

“Even so, it’s impressive. Far more than I expected.”

After a moment of gawking, we remembered why we were here. I stopped a passing middle-aged man.

“Excuse me.”

The man flinched at my size and attire, bowing slightly.

“Y-yes? What is it?”

“We’re here to register as adventurers. Could you point us in the right direction?”

At once, his gaze shifted—from wary awe to the condescending pity one gives to country bumpkins fresh off the farm.

What an infuriating look.

“Ah… adventurer registration? That’s all? I thought it was something serious. You must be from far away.”

“Yes, something like that.”

“Heh… I see a lot of your kind. But let me tell you something: being an adventurer isn’t as easy as you think.”

“……”

“As someone older and wiser, let me give you advice. Don’t waste your life on childish dreams—settle down like me, live steady. Adventuring’s pointless. Sure, you look strong, but that kind of strength only impresses bumpkins from the sticks—”

CRUNCH.

The rock in my hand shattered into gravel.

The man froze, staring at the fragments crumbling between my fingers.

“…Why’d you stop? Please, continue.”

“Ah-ha… ahaha… see that seven-story building over there? That’s the Adventurer’s Hall. Everything adventurer-related starts and ends there. You’ll find registration at the first-floor reception desk, sir. Well, I-I’ll be going now…”

Clink.

The glass doors swung open, and the sound echoed through the wide hall. At once, dozens of eyes turned toward us.

Rows of tables, receptionists behind them, partitions dividing the lines, and a sea of adventurers clutching numbered slips.

It felt less like a guild and more like a bank lobby. Whispers rippled through the crowd.

“…Never seen them before.”

“From out of town?”

“Those clothes scream money… nobles, maybe?”

“No, look. They’re not dressed for the dungeon. Maybe they’re lost and headed for the admin building?”

“Idiot. Look at his build. No way a guy with that body’s pushing papers.”

“He’s a warrior, obviously. Can’t you tell?”

“Bronze? Silver? Don’t tell me he’s Gold.”

“Wanna bet? I say Silver.”

“Bronze.”

“No Gold? Fine, I’ll take Gold then. Long shot.”

“If he were Gold, he’d be upstairs already, not waiting in line.”

“…And what’s with the girl on his shoulders?”

“…Dunno.”

“Cute, though… kind of hard to make out her features.”

“You bastard. Don’t even think about it. You pull something while she’s in a party, and I’ll kill you first. Drop your party, then talk.”

“Relax, it’s a joke. I’ve quit that kind of thing.”

“Peh. Disgusting.”

I frowned. Half the chatter was about Shia.

I’d dialed down her earring’s concealment effect because she didn’t like being ignored, but this was too much. Maybe I should set it back—

Yank!

Shia tugged on my hair, grinning wide.

“Heeheehee! Behold, my conquering beauty that shines through perception wards!”

“…Yeah, you’re gorgeous.”

I chuckled at her smug delight. Fine. If she enjoyed the attention, I’d let her have it. If trouble started, I’d deal with it.

I tuned out the rest of the whispers and waited in line.

Five minutes later—

“Welcome, adventurers. What brings you here today?”

The receptionist was a young woman with two prominent horns curving from her head—a dragonkin.

I tilted my chin and smiled.

“We’re here to register.”

“Registration, is it? Very well. Please present your adventurer’s rank token. If you don’t have it on hand… you can state your previous guild and rank, and we’ll verify it from here.”

“Mm… I’ve never been an adventurer before.”

“…Pardon? Never?”

“Yes. First time.”

“So you’re saying… you’ve never been an adventurer at all?”

“That’s right.”

“…I see. Then were you perhaps with a knightly order, or a mercenary band?”

“Nope. Just a total beginner. But I heard registration is possible regardless.”

“It is… but in that case, you’ll have to begin as an Apprentice.”

“That’s fine. Sign me up.”

The dragonkin receptionist glanced me up and down, her eyes briefly lingering on the physique visible under my coat, then leaned forward to whisper quietly.

“…If you wish to conceal your past, you could undergo direct evaluation by a guild examiner. We’re always hungry for skilled adventurers.”

“No need. Apprentice is fine.”

“B-but… Apprentice is exactly that: apprentice. The only quests available will be menial collection jobs or observation reports with meager pay…”

“Perfect. I like picking herbs.”

Her brow furrowed in puzzlement, but after a moment she handed me a form.

“…Very well. Please fill this out.”

And that was how Shia and I became apprentice adventurers.

[Apprentice. Seol East, District 3 Adventurer’s Guild.]

I looked down at the crude wooden tag we’d been issued, the word Apprentice carved sloppily into it, and let out a dry chuckle.

“Even for apprentices, this is embarrassingly half-hearted.”

The dragonkin receptionist winced.

“It’s the lowest rank, after all. Anyone with all their limbs and enough strength to swing a sword can get one. But starting from Red Copper, you’ll be issued a proper metal plate with anti-forgery wards. Those can even serve as identification.”

“Fair enough. Complaining wasn’t my intent. Anyway—this means we can take quests now, right?”

“Yes. Over there, the quest board. Choose whichever you like and bring it here.”

I thanked her with a nod, then carried Shia on my shoulders toward the large wall-mounted board marked Apprentice Quests Only. The thing was massive—four meters wide, a meter and a half tall—and covered in pinned requests.

“Feels like the apprentice board has more quests than all the others combined.”

“Well, of course. Apprenticeship is just a fancy name for ‘odd jobs.’ Oh, this one looks decent.”

Shia stretched out her hand from my shoulders and plucked a sheet from the top.

“What’s it say?”

“Collect five types of medicinal herbs, as many as possible. Found often around Mount Haren. Deadline: two months.”

“Mount Haren? You mean… our backyard?”

“If there’s no other Mount Haren, yes.”

“…That’s practically free money. What’s the pay?”

“Depends on how much we bring. Meeting the basic quota earns 300 sel.”

“…Three hundred? Not three thousand?”

“Mm-hm.”

“…What are we supposed to do with that?”

“Apprentice pay. If you want real money, you hunt monsters in the labyrinth.”

“…Right. Low risk, low reward. How much guild credit?”

“Let’s see… two hundred contribution points.”

Contribution points—the Guild’s measure of service. Without enough, you can’t rank up no matter your strength. And the reverse was true as well.

“Two hundred’s not bad.”

“It isn’t exactly a safe zone, after all. You know how monsters prowl near the mansion now and then.”

She was right. Our estate sat far out on the edge of District 3, not like the Guildtowns where monsters were culled regularly. The isolation explained why the land remained empty despite its prime location.

“Alright. Keep that one. Let’s check for something more fun too. Pay doesn’t matter.”

After browsing for a while, we ended up with three quests in hand:

-Collect five types of medicinal herbs from Mount Haren.

-Inspect and report on the sealing wards of an unapproved labyrinth entrance in District 3.

-Investigate monster ecology on Mount Gilphon.