Black Haired King Chapter 4

It’s been 3 days since I’ve left Baron Glemond’s territory.

After I left, I got into a coach and arrived the neighboring town,『Requiem』.

This was one of the territories of the Earl of Kentry, and it had an adventurer’s guild, something Glemond's Barony didn't.

I had only listened to my elder sister’s explanation, so I didn't know the details. As for as I knew, their job entailed being a jack of all trades.

From picking up garbage around the city, to hunting monsters outside of one to guarding n.o.bles, there were many different types of requests.

Well, at my current level, I was not going to be fighting any monsters anyways.

What I was thinking of now was to take up some odd jobs as I polished up my swordsmans.h.i.+p.

And with that thought, the coach stopped.

So this is 『Requiem』, huh?

One of the most prosperous towns in the area…

I paid the coachman 3 copper coins.

The “beku” — a type of currency— could be used in any country on this continent.

You had small coppers, a regular copper coin, a large copper; and similarly for Silver. For Gold, you only had regular and large sized, followed after by white.

1 Small Copper → 10 Beku, 1 Copper → 100 Beku, 1 Large copper → 500 beku.

1 Small Silver → 1,000 Beku, 1 Silver → 5,000 Beku, 1 Large Silver → 10,000 Beku.  

1 Gold → 50,000 Beku, 1 Large Gold → 100,000 Beku.

1 White Gold → 1,000,000 Beku, 1 Large White Gold → 10,000,000 Beku.

Only n.o.bles and merchants used White Gold coins and Large White Gold coins.

Of course, I’ve never seen them myself.

An adult could eat 2 meals per day for only 1 Large Copper coin, and if you economized, you could get by with a single Large Silver Coin a month.

The compensation I received from Gelman was exactly 1 Gold Coin.

I guess it was so that I don’t get involved with the Glemond family anymore.

Well, that's basically everything I have.

I do have a little money my mom saved up but, I wanted to use that sparingly.

As I thought of such things, I arrived at Requiem’s gate.

It seems this is where they check your identification papers…

Only, I didn't have any. So, I'll have to get some new ones.

According to Elder Sister, the adventurer’s guild card can be used as a replacement for one's identification papers.

「Next!」and so, my turn arrived.

I walked up to the guard and removed the cloak I was wearing.

The guard looked at my face and frowned.

「Oi, kid. Identification?」

「I don’t have Papers, so I was thinking of working at the Adventurer’s Guild.」

「You want to become an adventurer? Hah! You trying to get yourself killed?

Well, no matter how many black hairs die, it wouldn’t be a loss huh. It’s 1 Large Copper in exchange for a temporary ID. Once you’re registered in the adventurer’s guild, come back here, I’ll give you back your money.」

「I understand.」

I took out 1 Large copper and gave it to the guard.

The guard hands me some sort of wooden tag like thing.

I guess this is the temporary ID.

I could hear people whispering in the surroundings, but if I worried about it day after day, it would get annoying.

So, I hurried in.

After pa.s.sing through the gate, unlike outside the gate, the city itself was lively.

The voices of shopkeepers advertising their goods.

The happy voices of kids playing around.

The voices of drunk men even though it was only noon.

All sorts of sounds could be heard.

The street was wide enough to fit 4 Carriages, and near the gate there were street stalls, farther in is the residential area.

While I was looking around in amazement…

「….That guy’s a black haired」

「Don’t get close to him!」

「Jeez, giving me the creeps.」

…….Obviously, no matter where I went, treatment for being black-haired was the same.

I ignored such voices and tried heading for the guild.

Only, I didn’t know where it was.

As for those nearby, they were just whispering unpleasantries and generating a wide berth. (hinting that there was no one to ask)

What to do. While I was thinking such..

「Ara, Boy. What’s wrong?」 (bouya, probably a baa-chan)

A woman with a very lascivious appearance approached me.

She had blonde hair with a bun/ponytail on the right side, wearing a dancer's cloth.

Well, I’ve never seen a dancer, I’ve only read about them in books.

「Iya, It’s just that I don’t know where the adventurer’s guild is.」

「Ara, is that so? In that case, I’ll show you.」

And as she said that, she started walking in another direction.

Is it alright if I follow her….

I was a little uneasy but, it’s not like there were any other people who were willing to help me, so it couldn't be helped.

I follow her with a bit of caution.

According to what Elder Sister said, the adventurer’s guild is in a place that’s convenient to enter, usually on the main street.

If you get taken to a back road, run!

We end up walking for 10 minutes.

「Here it is, this is the adventurer’s guild, boy.」

Oo, this is the adventurer’s guild huh? On the signboard there is a sword and a s.h.i.+eld crossed together.

「Thank you very much.」

I said, filled with grat.i.tude.

I’m sorry for doubting you.

I apologize like so inside my heart.

「fufu, it’s fine you know. Well then, later…」

And with that, she left with a wave goodbye.

There are people just like Mom and Elder Sister who, even after seeing my hair, are fine getting close to me, huh?

I couldn't help getting a little happy over that.

I see her off until I couldn’t see her anymore, and then I enter the guild.

On the first floor of the guild, there was a reception desk where you one could receive things or make requests.

That’s where the guild’s employees work.

Further in, there’s a board with a ma.s.sive amount of papers attached to it.

Those were probably requests.

There’s a lot of them, huh?

The second floor seemed to be a bar.

I could hear the sounds of men laughing from the second floor.

They seem to be having fun this noon.

As the thought came to mind, I realized I didn’t have any friends my age.

Elder Sister and Mia were different, and Balt probably only ever saw me as a target to torment.

I wonder if I’ll be able to make friends with any fellow adventurers I form a party with when I take a request. Comrades…while thinking as such, I got excited.

I embraced those feelings, and with that, I arrived at the receptionist.

「Yes, next in line….huh?」

While she was cleaning up doc.u.ments, she had called for the next person, which is me. When I got close to the desk, she looked up and seemed startled.

More like, rather than at me, her gaze was to my hair.

「Bl-Black hair……Cough! Umm, how may I help you today?」

「I want to register with the adventurer’s guild.」

「Registering with the guild right. Then, please fill out all the required items on this form.

Can you read and write?」

「Yes, I’ll be fine.」

I look at the form and the fields are: Name, Birthplace, Weapon specialty, and magic attribute.

I fill in everything other than magic attribute. (same as element)

「Here you go.」

「Yes. …Your handwriting is pretty.」

For 3 years, Elder Sister strictly taught me how to read, write and calculate.

Hard things like what merchants did was impossible, but simple calculation for trading was fine.

The Receptionist looked over my form, and when she saw the last field, she looks at me.

It was definitely the field about my element that she looked at me.

「I understand. With this, you’re fully registered. The registration is free the first time, but a replacement if lost will cost 1 large silver coin. If you lose your identification more than 5 times, you’ll be disqualified as an adventurer so please be careful.」

「I understand.」

At first she was surprised, but considering she was at work, it was probably why she wasn't looking at me strangely. Even though it was because she was working, I’m still a bit happy.

「Is there anything you’d like me to explain about the adventurer’s guild?」

Although Elder Sister explained it briefly, I did want a more in-depth explanation.

「Yes, Please and thank you.」

「I understand. Then, I’ll begin the explanation. Firstly, Adventurer’s have a ranking.

Once you register, you’re an F rank.From there on, there’s E, D, C, B, A, and S. For this rank to raise, you can either do 40 requests 1 rank below you, 30 requests of your current rank, or 15 requests 1 rank above yours. 」

So for me, I’d need to either do 30 F rank requests, or 15 E rank requests, huh?

「You can only receive requests that are either your current rank, 1 rank below or 1 above.

You won’t be able to accept any requests other than those, so please pay attention.」

「So, does that mean a higher rank can’t receive a lower ranked request? For example, a B rank person receiving a D rank request?」

「Yes. It’s to prevent those from higher ranks from monopolizing requests that lower ranks can accept. Well, it’s not like anyone would do that. Even if they received a lower rank request, their rank wouldn’t increase, and the reward is low since it’s a lower ranked request, so there’s no merit in doing so.」

I see~. Indeed, even if you could receive requests 2 below your rank, it would still be better to just receive ones that are of your rank or 1 higher.

「Do you have any other questions?」

「No, For now I think I’m Ok.」

「I see. This will be your adventurer’s card. Like I said before, please be careful to not lose it.」

「Yes, Thank you very much.」

I receive my guild card from the receptionist.

With this, I’m an adventurer.

「Then, if you would like to receive a request, those thing’s posted on that board over there are requests. F rank requests are on the right, please confirm them.」

「Yes, Thank you very much.」

I thanked the receptionist who taught me with kindness, and turned around to the request board. I still needed to look for an inn to stay at, but I wanted to check the list of request there first.