Money is a bit of a problem, well I have a good amount in my stash, but I need to find a job eventually.
So, I decided to visit the guild building of the town. Ruckus told me I should register as a hunter. The jobs given to them are fitting to me, as he said.
Hunter guild is located in the middle of the town, and it is the fourth largest building after the mayor's mansion, barracks, and House Of Dandelions.
The building itself has an exotic look that separates it from the rest of the town. Trophies from deadly hunts hang on the walls of the building, hunters with different equipment hang around.
The atmosphere around this build feels similar, something I felt when I visited a mercenary camp once.
The atmosphere created by people who are doing dangerous jobs for money and glory is unexpectedly cheerful.
That's enough nostalgia.
I entered the building, and suddenly all the eyes inside turned towards me.
I ignored the looks, but the mess inside didn't escape from my attention, shattered glasses, broken furniture, unconscious people lying around.
But the loud and annoying reason for this mess is something even easier to detect.
The kid I dueled against two days ago, what was his name, Achi? He created a mess, but I am impressed how he managed to beat down all these people.
But he was still fighting against someone. Both he and a tall guy was clashing their sword with each other and screaming while doing it.
I decided to ignore everything and directly move towards the counter. I didn't bring my weapon or my armor. I am just here for registration.
I put my arm on the counter. "I am here for registration. Can I learn the price and the process?"
A woman, young but still in her twenties, greeted me.
"Thanks for choosing our guild building. Can I learn the reason why you are here for registration before I start the process?"
"I'll be straightforward, I need a job, and my friend Ruckus told me that guild has jobs that are fitting for me."
She pulled out a piece of paper as she heard Ruckus's name. "Well, a friend of mister Ruckus is a friend of mine, and I suppose you are the stranger who saved Madame Veronica from the bandits."
"Yes, the very same person," I answered her question.
"Then everything is okay. I will be taking two gold coins for the registration. Just tell me your name, and we will engrave it on your paper."
I almost told her my real name but managed to stop myself before word came out from my mouth. "Edward, Edward Blade."
I pulled out the money needed for the registration and finished the job.
"Now, mister Blade, because of my job. I need to inform you about the basics of being a hunter." She pulled out a small notepad. "A hunter needs to report its every action after accomplishing a mission, and a hunter must share the stated amount of treasure from its quests to the guild."
I nodded with my head. "Go on."
She smiled. "These two are the most basic rules of being a hunter, now if I need to give you a short explanation of everything else." She pointed to the paper she filled for my registration.
"This here is your rank, mister Blade, everyone doesn't matter how strong they are starting from rank -E, and they can climb up to rank S even though there are only one or two S ranked hunters in every kingdom."
Everything is quite simple if I think about it. "Then my ranks show both my strength and experience in the job, right?"
She clapped her hands. "Absolutely, and not only that but the higher a hunter's rank, the higher his payments."
"Everything is understood, and if you allow me, I want to take a job and go for that right now."
She looked at the floor. "So, about that, we don't have any missions you can go alone right now. You need to have at least one partner with you."
Everyone inside turned their looks away.
"I suppose not many people like to work with a newcomer around here," I said what I was thinking aloud.
"I can." a loud voice echoed inside the guild, then the young hero jumped next to me from the second floor of the guild.
Achi, the boy I dueled at the mayor's house, and the boy I heard from Victoria.
Is he someone I can trust?
The girl that just did my registration smiled and clapped her hands. "That's wonderful, I got a job for two people, and I believe you and the sir young hero can handle it."
I will give it a shot.
"Then I will be honored to do this quest with the young hero."
Achi's joining to my quest took the interest of many people inside the guild, and suddenly a crowd of hunters circled us.
All of them are excited to join the young hero on a mission.
"Okay, okay, I wasn't expecting you all lazy dogs to be that excited. God, will you break a tooth if you work this motivated at least once a month?"
The girl looking at registrations moved to a backroom of the guild and brought out a large poster that she placed on the ground and then unfolded.
"Here is your hunt! Bring me the head of these three trolls, and everyone joining the raid will be rewarded with two golds plus one gold for every head bringer."
Every hunter inside is fired up, and I wasn't expecting them to be that much, but two gold appears to be a good deal, but what makes these trolls unusual anyway? Are they any more threat than Goblin Champion?
"Then, if you allow me to, I will be leaving to buy equipment for this quest. I will come one or two hours later at worse."
I left the guild and directly headed towards my room. I will buy some equipment for the fight if I can.
But there is someone following me from behind.
"Will you stop following me?" I turned towards my back.
Achi, a little shocked about my sudden turn, began trying to give me excuses.
"Please don't get me wrong, I wasn't thinking about anything bad, but I just wanted to see where you are going."
"And your reason for that? Is privacy not something we can have." I began walking towards the kid to increase the pressure.
"Of course, you can have privacy. I am a hero. I will respect that."
"And does your acts match with your words? Fix me if I am wrong, but you were following me a minute before."
Achi began panicking. "No, actually yes, but I am sorry, please."
He is a child, the great hero who is supposed to kill me and the evils greater than me.
I put my hand on his shoulder. "Now, please tell me the thing you were wondering that much about me?"
I waited until he stopped panicking and began telling things that meant something.
"Well," He was sorry because of my words. "I wanted to see where you will be preparing. I must say you are an interesting character that standouts from most."
Now I am interested. "What makes me stand out from the most. Will you tell me that?" I asked with a calm voice.
Achi's panic completely flew away, and now he was excited as he was back at dinner.
"First of everything, it is the armor you are wearing. A nobody doesn't just wear a cloak made from the pelt of a strong monster! Great Graywolf, right? And secondly, you are pretty strong compared to the other hunters in this town. Of course, there are only very low-level hunters around here, but that doesn't change the subject."
That's a problem. How can this kid know even the name of the monster I killed for my cloak. I wonder if that's because of him being a hero, I will keep my cool and ask him in a friendly manner.
"You have pretty sharp eyes, but how could you have known what monster I killed for this cloak. Not even a single person noticed that."
Achi laughed. "Well, that's because of a secret I am going to say to you." He began whispering. "We heroes have a neat special skill called identity that allows us to know many details about items and creatures we see, but keep it between us, okay?"
I nodded and began moving towards the House of Dandelions to get my equipment and money for things I buy for the hunt. "Come one, move."
Achi happily screeched and began following me. "If only I could be this excited for this world as he is," I whispered my thoughts to the air.
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We arrived at the House of Dandelions in a short time and entered my room. Unexpectedly, there wasn't anyone inside.
"And I only ordered that dog to wait for an hour or so until I let him out. Thankfully nothing is stolen."
I opened my wardrobe and picked my equipment.
"It will be a waste if I wear this good shirt under that armor. I should wear the old one."
One thing I completely forgot while I took my shirt off was that Achi was inside with me. Well, we both are males, and I am not undressing, only taking my shirt off.
But the problem is not that it is the barrage of questions coming from this overexcited kid after seeing the tattoos and countless scars on my body.
One, two, three, he began.
"Look at all that scars! One, two, three... ten, and there is even more! How long have you been fighting to get all of these scars, and is that a tattoo? I didn't know people in this world had these detailed tattoos."
Achi touched the wolf tattoo covering both of my shoulders.
"No touching, if you can." I pushed his hand away.
"Sorry," Achi said. "But please tell me, what does that tattoo mean?"
A sign of rank, and the one I have is the highest ranked one.,The Alpha Graywolf. I wanted to answer Achi with these words, but it will only start more questions.
"It doesn't have a meaning, only because it looks great and back to all my scars, I am a warrior. It is only normal for me to have all of these."
I began pushing Achi out of the room before he started his second question barrage.
"Now, if you allow me, I need to take more clothing off to wear my armor. Please wait for five minutes until I finish what I am doing."
I shut the door and locked it.
"Finally, some peace."
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I finished wearing my armor and moved downstairs and moved next to Ollie for some questions.
"Good workings Ollie, did you see where my puppy moved. I ordered him to watch over my stuff before leaving."
Ollie was busy with customers, and I only got a quick answer.
"Small girl, mayor's servant, they took your puppy to play outside."
I nodded and left Ollie alone with his tasks.
"Now, Achi," I am heading to the marketplace, but you don't need to come with me if you want. I will move directly to the guild after I make a quick purchase.
Kid nodded with his head and left the tavern.
"Good thing I will be alone for a while."
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Walking inside the town is pretty monotonous, and why the hell a medieval town is this large anyways?
I can grumble later, but now, I put my eyes into something inside the marketplace.
"You! How much for those." I grabbed a harpoon sitting on a desk. These harpoons still had a rope tied to their back, and their tip was sharp, but I doubt if the cannon supposed to be throwing them is still sailing in somewhere.
"Ten silvers for each!" A man shouted back to me.
That could be a good deal, but my guts force me to bargain for a better price.
"Great, but where did you get these. There arent any seas nearby?"
The man who shouted at me didn't answer back this time.
"And you expect ten silvers for these." I placed the harpoon back and began moving away from the counter, but suddenly the shouting of an angry man stopped me.
"If you are going to take my precious time only to annoy me, we are going to have a hard time, now who is the asshole!"
A skinny man, shorter than me, jumped inside the crowd. I assume he isn't a hunter or a knight, but I say more of a street thug.
I moved next to him. My ice spell is ready to use, and my sword is unsheeted and hidden under the cloak if he tries anything funny.
"It is me, who you are calling asshole."
The short man stopped speaking, and his face turned pale white.
"What, you stopped talking so suddenly?"
The short man began screaming and started to run away. "Trolls" He stumbled as he stepped to a small hole on the ground and almost fell. "They managed to pass the walls!"
I turned to my back, and for fucks sake, he was right. Three beasts, big as the bear I killed but carrying massive clubs as their weapon.
They are destroying buildings, stealing what they can, and mercilessly mashing anyone stands front of them into a pud with their weapons.
"And the job found me while I expected to find a job, how great." I waited until the frightened crowd moved away and left no one behind.
But at that time, trolls moved to other places as well, thankfully, away from each other.
I began tracking one.
I hope Arthur and other hunters can kill the other two without more civilians dying.
"Crimsons Sword." My speed increased, and after a short run, I reached my target.
Here it stands in front of me, a troll! Almost four meters tall, covered with thick body hair and a face so ugly that could force even a mother to touch her children with gloves.
"Crimson Sword." I activated one more Crimson Sword and rushed towards the troll, then leaped towards him.
I landed on the troll's back and stabbed his back with my sword, but his skin was thick enough to stop even this claymore.
"Fuck, too damn protected." I pulled the sword from the troll's back and jumped away before he managed to react to my sudden strike and attack me back.
With anger coming from pain, the troll began screaming and swinging his massive weapon around, eventually damaging the nearby buildings.
I rushed towards the troll once more and stabbed him from the chest this time, but my sword didn't move half the way in as it did on the troll's back.
Troll began attacking me with his weapon and claws, but thankfully, his impressive strength and powerful defense cost him his speed.
I evaded all the incoming attacks and attacked the troll one more time when I got the opening, but the results were the same.
His skin is too durable for me to damage him, and the longer I fight, the more I take the risk of getting hit by one of his attacks, which will be a game over for me.
But thankfully, an ally is close.
"I came to the rescue!" Achi suddenly jumped to the battle and dashed towards the troll without even thinking. Thankfully I pulled him away from the troll.
I began scolding him. "Do you consider thinking before jumping to a battle!"
"But I just gained my momentum! If you didn't stop me-
"If you think you can survive an attack from that massive club, then go on. I let you take the first hit, but we both know the answer, now stay behind for now and let me think something."
He didn't argue back.
"Now, this thing has almost an unpenetrable defense, at least with my striking power, but it also lacks the speed."
An ampule lit on my head.
"Achi, be ready to use what you used against me in our duel against that beast. I will annoy him to create an opening for you. Crimson Sword."
I dashed towards the troll and used the slowed time to my advantage.
Hypothetically, long as I don't attack him, time will stay slow, and that is what I want, annoy the troll.
I slid under the troll and waited until it turned towards me, but the flow of time turned to normal shortly after the troll finished his turning.
"Now!" I shouted, and Achi was fast to respond to my command.
Achi pulled out his weapon from thin air, then began screaming. "Crystal Flow, Crystal Slash." He shouted out with all his lungs.
Achi's body and his sword began glowing blue as before, then the young hero leaped towards the troll and raised all the dust and snow from the ground while doing so.
As Achi's sword clashed with the unprepared troll's body, an enormous blue light sparked and threw the troll away, breaking his balance.
"Good strike Achi! Leave the rest to me." I leaped towards the stunned troll and climbed on his back.
I raised my sword to the air, ready to cut his head clean off. "Good night."
I slashed my weapon towards the troll's neck and cut it halfway through it.
"My attack was weaker than I expected." I slashed my weapon one more time, and this time, I cut the troll's head off from his body for good.
"We came for the rescue!" A crowd of hunters, rangers, knights flooded the area as the troll's body collapsed to the ground.
I jumped away from the troll's body and grabbed his head from the ground.
"Thanks for the help, young hero. You can keep the trophy." I threw the troll's head towards the Achi.
He managed to catch it but fell to the ground because of the head's weight.
"It is still impressive how even someone weak as him can make astonishingly powerful attacks only with skills, very frightening."
I cut the left hand of the troll and began moving towards the guild to claim my prize.
