Opening people’s minds to the concept of a fluffy café was still a challenging objective, though. But was there anyone out there who didn’t enjoy being surrounded by fluffy creatures? No! There couldn’t be! He wanted to bring comfort and relaxation to the people working for corrupt—well, he wasn’t sure there were any corrupt enterprises in this world, so at the very least to hardworking people. To accomplish all of this, he would first need to build up some savings.
After wrapping up his registration, the receptionist presented Taichi with a Tamer Card.
“This is proof of your membership with the Tamers’ Guild,” said Chartelle. “It will act as your personal identification, so be careful not to lose it.”
“Noted.” Taichi studied his card. Next to his name was the classification F-Rank and the name of the city, Rellim.
“You can use that card at other guilds as well. Your rank is shared between all of them.”
As Chartelle explained it, all people registered with a guild were ranked somewhere between S and F. Rank was the indication of one’s strength and indicated what difficulty of mission they could accept. One could accept missions as high as one rank above their own, which meant Taichi was eligible for F and E rank missions.
While Taichi was drinking all this information in with a look of awe on his face, Chartelle pointed to his card and said, “Now listen, because next I’ll be explaining the most important part. This is something you can do with all guild cards, by the way. Try pouring some mana into the card.”
Huh? How do I do that? Taichi froze at her words. He could use skills, so it stood to reason that mana and magic existed in this world. But how could he access it? All I have to do is recite the skill name in order to use it. He’d thought it was a conveniently simple system for that reason. For lack of any better ideas, he tried to imagine himself using a skill. The card immediately lit up.
Taichi choked out a gasp. “Whoa!”
There were no visible changes to the front, but on the back, glowing letters spelled out Taichi’s personal information. It showed everything—even the skills that Taichi hadn’t listed on his registration. Just as he was starting to feel uneasy, not wanting anyone else to see this, Chartelle interjected, “Please don’t show it to me. If you pour mana into the card, it will show you all of your personal information. To turn it off, you need only pour mana into it again.”
Taichi quickly did as she instructed and was relieved to see his list of cheat skills disappear. Phew.
“But why does the card have this...function?” asked Taichi.
“In general, there is no need for you to show your full information, but there are exceptions, such as the person making a request through the guild asks it of you, or if you commit a crime. In the former circumstance, you may need to prove you have the skills necessary to fulfill their request. People can lie, after all.”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
This world was full of monsters. Death lurked as close as one’s own shadow. It probably fostered more trust between those making requests and those fulfilling them when the latter had a way of accurately displaying their skillset and job. No one could force Taichi to show it to them if he didn’t want to, however, and he very much doubted he ever would.
“The guild will never force you to display your information, so you don’t have to worry about that.” Chartelle turned away, pointing. “Over there you can find our mission board.”
The board in question was hanging on the wall to the right of the entrance, with requests pinned to it. Most were extermination requests, but under F-Rank missions were requests for help with livestock.
What do they need Tamers for? They think all we do is look after animals? Well, Taichi couldn’t really complain about that, since his intention was to run a café featuring any and all fluffy creatures.
“Thank you for all the explanations. I can’t do battle, which is why I want to run a cozy café,” said Taichi.
Chartelle nodded to herself. “I figured you would say something like that. It’s unfortunate, though—since you have a Wolfking, I was really hoping you would take some battle missions.” She gave him a pointed look, but no matter how she tried to convince him, Taichi wouldn’t budge.
“I can’t. I would die,” Taichi emphasized.
“Well, when you put it like that, I can’t really argue.” Reluctantly, she backed down. “I’m pretty sure your Wolfking could protect you, but I also can’t say for certain that there’d be no danger involved. I guess I’ll have to respect your decision.”
Since Taichi had finished his registration and initiation into the workings of the guild, he decided to address his next matter of business. “Oh, right. Chartelle, is there somewhere Luke and I can stay? All the inns I’ve visited so far have turned us away.”
“He is a big monster, after all. Fortunately, we have our own inn here at the Tamers’ Guild, available to our members. It’s two thousand Chel a night, which makes it much cheaper than your regular inn.” As Chartelle told it, many Tamers ran into the same problem that Taichi had, which was why each branch across the various cities and towns erected spacious buildings to accommodate their members.
“Oh, then I’d love to stay at your lodgings!” said Taichi.
“All right. How many nights will you be staying?”
“For now, I guess five will do.” He plucked a large silver coin from his wallet, using it to pay for his stay. This left him with only one large silver coin and five small silver coins. It made him uneasy to have so little to his name.
I’d better look for a job or do something, or I’ll be broke before I know it.
“All right,” said Chartelle. “I’ll lead you to your room.”
“Thank you.”
She slipped out from behind the counter and started down the nearest hallway with Taichi following close behind her. This corridor faced the guild’s inner courtyard. He spotted a large tree within and all sorts of flowers, as well as a small spring. It wasn’t that large, but it was probably somewhere around one hundred and sixty square feet. It was populated by several dog-type monsters. Taichi assumed they belonged to the personnel.
“Do you want to go out and play with the others, Luke?” Taichi asked, glancing at his wolf.
Luke’s expression soured. “I told you not to lump me in with those pups! A proud Fenrir such as I would never deign to play a primitive game of fetch.”
“That’s a shame.” But your tail is wagging again, Luke. If he bought a ball, he suspected Luke would indulge him in a game, and that made him choke out a laugh.
“Anyone registered with the guild is free to use the courtyard however they want. There’s a well out there too,” said Chartelle. “You’re welcome to go out there whenever.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course, you’re one of our precious members! If there is anything you have questions about—anything at all—you need only ask and I’ll be happy to answer.”
Taichi couldn’t help but make a face at her overeagerness. There was something that had been niggling at him for a while now. It was about time he came out with it. “Um, Chartelle, are there...not many Tamers in the guild?”
Chartelle’s face froze. That, combined with her lack of an immediate response, more or less confirmed what Taichi suspected from the beginning.
After a long, extended pause, Chartelle finally breathed out, “Well, I guess it would be a stretch to say we have ‘many’... But, you know, Tamer is a wonderful job! You get to fight alongside tamed animals, and you and your partner can compensate for each other’s weaknesses. The only downside—a wee, little downside—is that it can be hard to tame stronger monsters. By which I mean, it’s a job more geared toward veterans.”
One could tame a weaker monster and train it up, but there was a limit to how strong it could become. To tame a stronger monster, they would have to be sufficiently equipped or accompanied by a group to survive more dangerous areas where such monsters could be found. Finding a proper group as a Tamer was near impossible if you didn’t already have a strong tamed beast. All of that made being a Tamer a real challenge. Not many people picked it because of that.
“Now I understand,” said Taichi. “I can see why it wouldn’t be a popular choice.”
“Yes, unfortunately. That’s why I was so excited when you came! I hope you’ll remain a member of our guild for a very, very long time to come!”
“Of course.” Taichi wanted to run his own café and live a cozy life. Luckily, his dreams didn’t conflict with his guild registration. He wouldn’t be forced to undertake any dangerous missions.
Oh, that’s right!
“I have some monster materials. Does the guild buy those?”
“The Adventurers’ Guild buys materials,” explained Chartelle. “Job guilds only purchase materials which are relevant to their job. In our case, we’re happy to buy fruits and other vegetation that monsters enjoy eating.” That meant each guild would only buy certain materials.
“Since mine are all monster materials, I’ll drop by the Adventurers’ Guild,” he decided.
“Yes, you should do that.”
It had slipped his mind until now, but he and Luke had collected other monster materials besides the ones from the dragon. Luke had defeated many that attacked them on their way out of the forest. According to Luke, those could be sold too. Taichi had quite the collection in his pack. If the Adventurers’ Guild was willing to buy them all, he would be sitting in a much better financial position.
Once they arrived at his designated room, Taichi rested a bit before heading back out for the Adventurers’ Guild.