Chapter 8:
That Time More Experienced Adventurers
Made Fun of Me
400 LP → 700 LP
AFTER LOLA TREATED ME to that visual delight, I was surprised to notice that my LP had gone up by 300 points. I guess that encounter did have an erotic quality, and Lola was pretty darn attractive. Maybe the amount depended on how into it I got.
“On the topic of requests, what are you looking for?” Lola asked, taking psychological shelter in a return to her normal, businesslike tone.
“Well, I need 300,000 rels by next week. Is that crazy?”
“It’s not…impossible. Our D-Rank members have jobs that pay that much.”
Which meant I needed to go up a rank, and I’d need to start by completing several E-Rank jobs.
“I’ll let you in on a secret,” she said. “Each job is assigned a points total, and once you accumulate a certain number of points, you go up a rank. However, the point values aren’t public, and any excess points earned when you go up a rank are rendered void.”
So the point values of two E-Rank requests might be different. I guess it wouldn’t be fair to award the same amount for picking litter and exterminating monsters.
“Okay, let me get this straight. For the sake of argument, let’s say that E-Rank requests are worth between 0 and 99 points and D-Rank ones are worth between 100 and 199. If the bar for advancing to D-Rank was 100 points, then the most efficient way to get there would be completing two 50-point E-Rank tasks. On the other hand, 10-point tasks might be easier to complete, but they would take more time.”
“Mr. Noir, I shouldn’t have expected any less of a noble like you. You catch on quick.”
From the look on her face, it seemed like I’d earned at least a little bit of respect. Good. My mother had drilled reading, writing, and arithmetic into me from a young age.
“But I should warn you, you’ll be docked a significant amount of points if you fail to complete a request, and there may even be additional charges for any trouble caused.”
They must’ve implemented that rule because of adventurers who abandoned requests on a whim or took jobs with no intention of completing them. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Adventuring attracted some less-than-savory personalities. A number of the upper-class nobles didn’t have a very high opinion of the profession either.
“If you put your trust in me,” Lola said. “I can have you at D-Rank in five days.”
“Please do!”
“It might be a little hard, though.”
“Even so!”
I had to earn that 300,000 rels, no matter what. With the skills I had, I figured I’d come up with something. I was trying to stay optimistic.
“Very well. I’d suggest starting with this one.”
Lola showed me a request ticket for a delivery of six goblin wrists. It paid 8,000 rels. Not a lot, but it was probably pretty decent for an E-Rank request. I decided to trust Lola’s expertise. Goblins were plentiful and appeared all over the place, so it was unlikely that I’d have to go home empty-handed.
“I would recommend going to the Arrone Plains. You’ll find many weak, isolated individuals there.”
“Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.”
“You have three days to complete the request. There are no fees for failure, but if you want to make it to D-Rank, you’ll want to finish it today.”
“I’ll get it done if it kills me.”
“Well, try not to actually get yourself killed, okay?”
“Of course not.” I was known to have a bit of a yellow streak. Crashing headfirst into danger wasn’t really my style.
“Good luck. I have high hopes for you, Mr. Noir.”
“I’ll do my best not to disappoint!”
Lola gave me the receipt. I thanked her and left the guild hall. On my way out, a paper posted on a wall near the reception desks caught my eye. It had a bar graph and scores of some sort. There were a number of names on the page, too. Lola’s was among them. I had to wonder what it was for. Are the other names those of the other receptionists? What are they getting points for? I decided I’d ask when I delivered the goods.
I hurried through the town’s southern gate and off to the Arrone Plains. It was just a few miles, not much farther than the hidden dungeon. That said, it was already afternoon, so I had to hurry or it’d get dark, and the dark attracted far more ferocious monsters.
When I arrived at the plains, I spread my arms wide and took a moment to watch the breeze dancing through the grass, drinking in the soothing atmosphere.
“The breeze feels really nice today.”
Not that I had time to relax much after that. Since I needed six wrists, in theory I only needed to take down three goblins. I started wandering around looking for my prey, but the plains were disappointingly empty.
While there may not have been any goblins, I did find myself confronted with what looked like a party of adventurers—two men and two women. I used my Discerning Eye just to be sure, and I was right. The four of them were all in their twenties and not much higher level than myself. Maybe a pair of couples? Or maybe they were all just colleagues.
“Hey, you, are you new to the adventuring gig?”
I was a little startled when one of them called out to me. They were all smiling and seemed really friendly. Something about this group of attractive men and kind women made me feel like I could trust them.
“I am,” I confirmed. “I came to hunt some goblins.”
“I thought as much. You find a lot of weaker ones here, so we get a lot of newcomers showing up.”
“Have you seen any around?”
“Before I answer that, tell me, who are you with?”
“Odin.”
My response abruptly wiped the smiles from their faces, and replaced them with expressions of pure, unadulterated hostility. The men spat on the ground and started posturing—licking their blades—while the women were quick to vocalize their disdain.
“Wow, Odin? If you were trying to make us laugh, you did it.”
“Nice guild you got yourself attached to. I thought you looked like a scrawny little weakling.”
What is with these people? Who does a total 180 like this? I wondered. Perhaps they were members of a rival guild. “Um, if you don’t mind my asking, what guild are you all part of?”
“Lahmu, duh. It’s produced tons of legendary adventurers, like Iris the Great!”
Oh boy. It was guild rivalry after all. You hear about this sort of thing among the nobility too. As a member of a lowly baronet’s family, it wasn’t something I had a lot of direct experience—no one thought it worth their time to posture at the likes of me. But, to some people, being part of the right clique is more important than life itself. Either way, I didn’t care for their sudden aggression.
“You know,” I said. “We may be members of rival guilds, but don’t you think you’re being a little rude?”
“Wow, this kid sure is uppity.”
“Maybe he’s just a little confused. I mean he did show up here alone, despite being a total newcomer.”
“I bet he’s an Oliva fanboy. Pathetic, really, considering what trash she was.”
“Don’t you say another word against my master!” The words boiled right out of me. Oh crap. I let it slip again.
I was worried that I’d accidentally divulged my relationship to her, but then I remembered that, as far as anyone else was concerned, my master was long dead. Consequently, I was met with uproarious laughter.
“Your master? Oh my god, this kid is delusional!”
“Yiiikes! I mean yikes, kid!”
I was actually mad. Like, really, seethingly mad. It must’ve shown on my face.
“Hey, guys,” said one of the men. “I think we teased him a little too much. Don’t worry, kid, I’ll tell you where to find some goblins. You just have to take us along with you—we really wanna see how Odin’s adventurers fight.”
He promised they’d stay out of my way and even offered to help if I got myself into trouble, but I knew what they were really after. They wanted something to laugh at. I decided to go along with it. I had another show in mind.
“You know, I think I’ll have to take you up on that,” I said.
“Awesome! All right, follow us.”
I followed them, and they took me somewhere where there really were goblins. One wandered right into our path.
“Packs are pretty dangerous for new adventurers, but you should be able to handle one lone goblin, right?” one of them said.
I didn’t respond right away, as I wanted to use my Discerning Eye. If the goblin was unusually strong, I could end up dead or grievously injured. I’d happily take a little teasing to avoid that kind of problem. However, the goblin turned out to be extremely weak. A Level 12, with no skills of particular note. Lola’s information must’ve been spot on. It was a green goblin too; they’re said to be the weakest type.
“All right, I’ll do it,” I said.
“Just try not to embarrass yourself, newbie.”
I approached the goblin, with only a single frustrated glance back at the snickering women. The second the goblin noticed me and attacked, I summoned up a big Stone Bullet. The three-foot diameter stone smashed right into the creature’s face.
“Gah?!”
The impact knocked the goblin off its feet. It looked kind of brutal, honestly. If that had been me, my nose would’ve been broken and my teeth smashed in.
The goblin stopped moving, so I approached with caution. Once I was sure it was unconscious and not playing dead, I swiftly pierced its heart with my sword.
And that’s how I killed my first goblin. Once I harvested its wrists, I returned to the dumbfounded Lahmu adventurers.
“W-wasn’t that stone a little…”
“But…how? That was a Stone Bullet, wasn’t it? How was it that big?”
“What?” I said, feigning disbelief. “You don’t know how to make Stone Bullets bigger?! Huh. I thought you were more experienced than me! Wow, just wow.”
I teased them as revenge for their earlier treatment and struck a triumphant pose as they stewed. I wasn’t going to stand for any more bad-mouthing of my guild or my master.