As we enter the guild, we find that it seems that almost no other adventurers other than us have come to visit, just as I expected.

The inside of the guild, which is like a restaurant and bar, is quite s.p.a.cious.

Still, there are many adventurers in this city; during busy hours, so many people gather in this building that it starts to feel too small. The adventurers that are currently standing around are looking at the few request forms that are hanging on the quest board.

That’s because new quests are posted after midday. The reason for that is partially to make the bar that’s a part of the guild thrive.

Quests are generally first-come, first-served. Getting relatively good work when the new quests are posted means inevitably coming to the guild at noon and dropping money for food at the bar. The reason it’s not done in the morning is because lunch-time is when hunger firmly sets in, causing the adventurers to place more orders, and because a lot of people combine breakfast and lunch into one meal.

The reason that most adventurers begin moving just a little before noon is because if they haven’t already accepted a request, their schedules are flexible and they are unable to oppose the temptations of laziness, and this system is likely promoted to match this behavior. But in the end, the guild needs to sustain itself as well, so they’re not doing anything wrong.

“Now then…”

After quickly looking around the guild once more, I head towards the reception desk once more. The reception desk is made of something resembling plywood, and each booth has a single receptionist sitting in it.

There are two types of people among the receptionists lined up in the Adventurers’ Guild. You have what are known as the beautiful female receptionists, and receptionists who are so muscular that it’s difficult for them to be doing office-type work, exuding an intimidating presence.

Adventurers are casual people, so a lot of them are ignorant when it comes to culture and manners, and there are many who live by the logic of strength.

That doesn’t mean that all adventurers are like that; higher-rank adventurers have more experience and realize how useful it is to have connections and interactions with others, so fewer of them have these qualities. But the unfortunate reality is that as a whole, many adventurers are vulgar people.

That’s why the guild has selected their employees like this so they can hold the reins in a way, preventing these kinds of adventurers from acting forcefully.

The numerous beautiful female receptionists are apparently there to help relieve things. It would be problematic to intimidate those that come to accept requests, and in a way, these receptionists are even more effective for holding the reins on some of the young, inexperienced adventurers.

As I head to the second closest reception desk, a female receptionist calls out to me with a businesslike smile.

“Good morning. What business do you have with us today?”

I get the feeling that Minnalis’s eyes have become a bit reproachful, but I pay her no attention.

Why should I have to go and spend a sad morning sitting next to a filthy man? I don’t really care about their looks, but in this situation where I can choose anyone I like, I don’t see any reason for me to choose to go to an enormous man that looks like he raises the temperature of his surroundings by five degrees Celsius. I’m not a h.o.m.o, you know.

“Me and this girl want to register as adventurers,” I say.

“Register as adventurers?”

The receptionist’s gaze runs quickly up and down, as if she’s evaluating us.

The way she looks at people is too conspicuous. She’s a newbie.

“My apologies, but registration as an adventurer is only possible from the age of fourteen onwards,” she says. “Until then, you can become apprentices, and although your ranks won’t increase, you can accept safe, miscellaneous tasks in the city. You will not receive the privilege of being exempt from city entrance fees, but you can partic.i.p.ate in the elementary-level adventurer training course held by the guild, free of…”

“Ah, no, I’m over fourteen,” I tell the receptionist. “I’m seventeen years old, and she is sixteen.”

The reason it took me a moment to respond is because I’ve physically experienced over twenty years of life, but since the age displayed on my Status is seventeen, this is probably the correct choice.

“Eh?” The receptionist blinks in surprise and gives me a spectacular expression of astonishment. I’m already used to this kind of reaction from my first time through this world.

She’s too inexperienced; both her behavior and the way her gaze is completely fixed on me show that plainly. It’s easy to see exactly how she looks at someone and what she thinks of them. Of course, it’s not like my face looks young. This is truly the magic of j.a.panese people.

To be honest, I’m completely used to it already so I don’t think anything of it. But it looks like I’ll need to have a word later with Minnalis, who is having to even use her Audacity skill in what appears to be an attempt to suppress her laughter.

“Certainly. Now then, could I ask you to touch this crystal, please?” The receptionist produces a baseball-sized crystal ball that’s known as an Age-reading Orb.

As its name suggests, it’s a magical tool that reads the age of the person who holds it in their hand, and although I don’t know the details of how it works, it turns red when the person holding it is younger than fourteen, and blue if they are older.

“If you touch this, it will turn red if you are below fourteen years of age, and blue if you are above,” the receptionist explains. “This age limit is something that has been agreed on by every nation, so please understand that no matter what kind of social position you may be in, this rule must be obeyed.”

The fact that she went out of her way to add that last part probably means that she suspects that I’m trying to become a n.o.bleman or something.

It seems that she did once see the slave mark on Minnalis’s neck, so there’s no mistake.

Slaves are generally expensive. Even the clothes that Minnalis is wearing, I paid a considerable price for them in the royal capital, so they’re well-tailored. In other words, I should appear as someone who doesn’t really face difficulties when it comes to money. That’s probably why this receptionist thought that I was the foolish son of a n.o.bleman ignorant of the ways of this world, unaware of the Age-reading Orb’s existence and trying to use my powerful influence to make things go my way.

In fact, that kind of thing is apparently not that uncommon. Pigs who have been raised in privileged families try to have their way with everything, mistakenly thinking that this will work in the outside world.

But knowing that this is a reasonable evaluation of the situation doesn’t change the fact that it feels unpleasant to have this seen by my partner.

The receptionist is smiling at me during our interactions, but the fact that she’s looking down at me is clear as day.

Minnalis seems to have seen this as well; she has undone her Audacity skill and her expression is one of slight displeasure.

Wait, calm down, this is actually convenient, isn’t it? I tell myself.

The two of us look young; I should have expected that we would be looked down on to some extent. And we didn’t come here to show off how strong we are; we’ve already accomplished our goal of not attracting any unnecessary attention. With that said, it is still irritating.

Once I calm down and take the Age-reading Orb from the receptionist, it gives off a clear blue light inside my hand.

“Minnalis,” I say, flinging the Age-reading Orb across.

“Yes.” Minnalis catches it in both hands.

The Age-Reading Orb gives off a blue light in her hands as well.

“I apologize for my rudeness,” says the receptionist. “But that Age-reading Orb is among the more valuable of the guild’s equipment, so please handle it more carefully.” She sounds displeased.

It seems that this receptionist is a very proud person. The fact that she has been given the responsibility of being a receptionist despite not having much experience means that she’s probably quite the hard worker, but honestly, the thought of intimidating her with some light overwhelming pressure did cross my mind.

Well, it’s not difficult to imagine the brawny, macho, combat receptionists would come flying in if I were to make any direct moves, so I can’t do that.

“Ah, my apologies. It did not appear to be such a valuable item to me. I thought you would not mind me treating it the way the guild treats adventurers.” I give the receptionist a smile with my poison-injected words.

“…”

I haven’t released any mana or used any skills, but I’ve indirectly told her that I can see exactly what she’s doing, and it seems that she’s caught my drift.

“No matter,” I say. “I wonder if you could hurry and bring the registration forms, Receptionist-san?”

“Y-yes, I will bring them now.” The receptionist hurriedly withdraws towards the back of the building.

“Goshujin-sama, your method was somewhat lukewarm; it seems that it would have only made her more frustrated instead,” says Minnalis. “Should you not have gone a little further?”

“No. Why do you think we came here so early in the morning? If we performed any physical pressure on the receptionist, that would go to waste now, wouldn’t it?”

“That is, well, true. But the thought of being looked down upon by a blind pig is…”

I get the feeling that Minnalis-san is a little stricter than usual. The receptionist’s att.i.tude irritated me as well, but to be honest, I don’t really care as long as she doesn’t make things difficult for us.

“These are the adventurer registration forms,” the receptionist says as she returns. “We can arrange for someone to fill it out on your behalf for one copper coin; will this be necessary?”

“No, there’s no need for that,” I tell her.

I hand one of the two forms to Minnalis and fill in the blanks.

We hand the forms to the receptionist when we’re done.

“Kaito-san and Minnalis-san, your ages are seventeen and sixteen, your races are human and rabbit beast-person and both of you use swordsmanship in combat. Your party name is ‘Scorn Road?’ Is this all correct?” the receptionist asks.

“Yes, we will go with that,” I say.

“Then I will make your Guild Cards with these details. The preparation of Guild Cards takes a little time, so please feel free to sit down over there while waiting.” The receptionist points at a sofa next to a bookshelf. “The bookshelf contains some books with the details of what being an adventurer entails. If necessary, someone can explain these to you out loud later, but it seems that you have no problems reading and writing, so it would be splendid if you could read them while waiting. There are also monster guides with details such as the body parts used as proof of their extermination and their known weaknesses, as well as guides on medicinal and poisonous plants with details such as how and where they grow and what precautions need to be taken while harvesting them. Please read these if you wish. Now then, please excuse me.”

Having told us everything she can, the receptionist leaves.

Since we do have some free time while we’re waiting, I do as the receptionist suggested and take a small pamphlet from the bookshelf.

The pamphlet in my hand is about adventurers. During my first time through this world, I used the appraisal ability of the Eight-eyed Transparent Tome Sword on the common kinds of monsters, medicinal herbs and poisonous plants and recorded their detailed data in the sword.

During my first time through this world, the fact that I was a Hero was found out and I was half-given special rights and placed at the highest rank without doing anything, so I don’t know the detailed workings of the adventurer occupation.

With that said, this stuff isn’t new information.

By completing Jobs and raising your rank, you can accept more requests.

Adventurers are not charged when entering or leaving cities.

Even when travelling across a nation, as long as it is not during a war, the guild confirms your social status so it is easy to go through.

But there are some things that I didn’t know.

In addition to individual adventurer ranks, there are apparently also party ranks that evaluate parties.

Even if all party members are E-rank adventurers, if they can use their coordination to work as well as D-rank adventurers, their party rank becomes D, and they can accept D-rank requests at the guild instead of being limited to E-rank requests.

And though I didn’t know this because I was a Hero during my first time through this world, only those who have been evaluated to be D-rank or above, whether it be as individuals or as a party, are allowed to enter the dungeons that are jointly managed by the nations and the guild.

This is a troubling fact.

We’ll be going into dungeons one day, but we can’t afford to raise our rank too much in one go and draw attention to ourselves. I should probably discuss things with Minnalis later to figure out what we should do.

Once I’ve gone through the pamphlet, I turn it over to see a pyramid drawn on the back, detailing the standards by which the guild evaluates ranks. A rough description and the color of the plates that the adventurers of each rank receive upon registration is written here.

From the top rank of SS, going by order:

SS (White): The heroes of legends and fairy tales

S (Black): Powerful, superhuman individuals

A (Red): Incredible geniuses

B (Yellow): Highly skilled individuals

C (Green): Veteran adventurers

D (Blue): Qualified adventurers

E (Gray): Learning adventurers

F (Purple): Amateurs

Apprentice: Cannot register

It’s something like this.

Apprentices don’t receive plates, so there is no color for them written there.

Now that I’ve finished looking at this as well, I close the pamphlet and return it to the bookshelf.

Still, things are going pretty well. Was I overthinking things after all? I wonder.

A little while later, I realize that I’ve carelessly triggered a flag. No, I’m forced to realize it.

“Gahaha! How lucky for us to find an Aural Rabbit!”

“Yeah, though it was real good at running and hiding.”

“Let us hurry and receive our payment; I am looking forward to see how much it is worth!”

Three men with excessively loud voices have entered through the guild’s doors.

The moment I glance at them, I feel a sensation like an electrical shock pa.s.sing across my skin.

“Goshujin-sama?” Minnalis calls out to me, as if having sensed the change in the atmosphere around me.

“… Ah, it really is like a curse of the cliché,” I murmur quietly with a small smile.

The only relationship I have with them is that I had a few drinks with them before.

But there is one detail that is particularly important to me.

… During my first time through this world, they treated me as criminals like everyone else and attacked me.