I did NOT head to the guild.

I was tired, and while there’d be better inns in the upper city, I was exhausted. I could have taken a potion to perk myself up and go another day, but I hated the side effects. I’d been able to reduce them, using ancient recipes, but they still sucked.

I found a reputable looking inn and entered.

I did gather some attention, but not too much. I was wearing hooded cloak to cover my features, so the most anyone could tell was that I was a woman. The hood was enchanted to make my face nearly impossible to make out, shrouding it in natural-looking darkness. It’d been difficult to set that up rather than just make it shroud the entire thing in shadows.

I was able to get a room, though I was definitely overcharged. I’d neglected to take into account the fact that my currency was different than the local one and get it changed over. I’d deal with acquiring local currency tomorrow after registering at the guild. I had enough stuff in storage to sell, including a bunch of wyvern.

Skipping dinner, I went straight to the room, locking it and securing it magically. No way was I going to risk myself by leaving the place without wards.

The sound of a city waking roused me from my slumber. No attempt had been made to intrude on me, not that I’d given much reason for anyone to do so. I’d just been a weary traveler with no luggage, so I hadn’t gained enough attention to merit anyone’s attention. Yet.

Dipping into my inventory, I readied some items for the day. I was used to pulling stuff out of my storage, but I didn’t know if that kind of skill was common here. It had been difficult to acquire on Valla, but something anyone could do if they put in enough effort, though few were able to grow their storage beyond the size of a backpack. Mine was god-given, so it was basically infinite.

Since this world might be different, I decided to prepare a bag with the items I intended to sell, and not too many at that. Mostly low level items, with a couple more expensive ones to get enough money to live on for a bit.

Besides my luggage, I changed into some clothes that more closely fit the attire of the locals. I had visited plenty of countries and picked up wardrobes for each in order to blend in. I’d also enjoyed days off shopping with my party members. We couldn’t fight all the time, since doing so led to problems. We’d visited markets the continent over, picking up whatever interested us.

I’d made good use of my knowledge from Terra to add my own styles to the world, though not all of them were well received. Valla was full of prudes who didn’t like how revealing my swimwear was. So what if I showed my shoulders and legs!

It was a good thing I’d kept the bikinis till later. If they hated frilly one-piece swimsuits, I’d hate to hear what they said about them. I’d removed them from the lineup after the earlier outrage.

Despite my mind getting distracted in reminiscence, I got dressed quickly. My stomach was complaining about being empty. My clothing was simple adventurer wear. A durable tunic and trousers, leather armor, some enchanted items, and a simple sword.

The sword was nothing special, just a basic steel sword I’d made when learning blacksmithing. It was nice and durable, and completely unostentatious, so it’d be something a veteran would use.

The enchanted items were likewise items that did not stand out, though they had decent effects, raising my defenses more than the leather armor did. The best piece was something no one could see, a necklace pendant shaped like a closed eye that was hidden beneath my clothes between my modest breasts. It would block appraisal-type skills from working on me.

Dressed and ready to go, I went down to breakfast.

This time, I drew a larger number of eyes. The inn was mostly occupied by mid-to-low level merchants, so why was a cute young girl kitted out like an adventurer staying there? Because I’d wanted a good place to sleep. My appearance was that of a girl maybe fifteen years old, who looked cute rather than pretty or beautiful, which is to my preference. With crimson hair and emerald eyes, I knew I tended to look more like a kid playing dress up than a serious fighter.

That was how I liked things. It made people underestimate me.

It also made them more likely to offer me sweets and treat me like a little sister, niece, or daughter, so fewer people hated me when I showed off.

Knowing why I was getting glances or stares, I ignored the looks and found a place to sit and ordered breakfast, passing over the token I’d been given last night to show I’d already paid for it with my room.

The food was pretty good, some seafood soup with fresh-baked bread and a salad. The last was kind of bland, until I reached into my bag and pulled out a small jar of dressing for it. I’d had to pull the item from storage, since I hadn’t placed it in the bag previously, but that was partly what the bag was for.

I gained a bit of interest due to the dressing, but as a port city, there were plenty of interesting items that would come through, including food products. Not that they were likely to find this. I’d made it personally, on another world, so I was likely the only one who had any of it.

I’d noticed that although some plants resembled the ones I knew, many did not, so I’d have to look around to see what was available and adjust my recipes to use what was available.

Though I could also grow the plants I was used to, since I had stored seeds for most things that I could grow. With those and my magic, I could restock relatively easily. I’d intended to see what could be grown back home on Terra with little to no magic, but that seemed unlikely to happen now, if ever.

I’d just have to be careful not to let anything propagate unchecked. Introducing new species into a different place was something that had to be done carefully so as not to disrupt the ecosystem. I’d learned that before I was first summoned, since there were innumerable species of animals and plants wiped out as humanity grew.

It was the animal products that I’d definitely run out of, since I couldn’t store living things, including fertilized eggs or sperm. I’d tried, though I’d rather not go into detail…

After breakfast I headed out.

This time, I did head to the guild. It was time to make some money.

---

It took a bit of time to get to the guild hall. Not because of it being complicated, but because the morning traffic just sucked. The ships that had docked last night had started transporting the goods this morning, so there were tons of carts to dodge, as well as the people guarding them getting in the way.

Add to that the fact that today seemed to be a market day, it just made things worse.

Eventually I found the guild, only to run into more traffic issues. The place was tiny for some reason, so the line stretched out the door. Well, one of them. The other was for people exiting so I was able to catch a glimpse inside before reaching the end of the line.

I got a lot of glances when I did so, but no one bothered me. I love when there’s no cliché incidents where people try to bully me. Though getting some recognition by dealing with such things easily can also help out in certain situations.

“Eh? I ain’t seen you before. You joining the guild, or did ya come from somewhere else?”

I may have thought I was home free too soon. Turning to look behind me, I saw a trio of guys. Two had spears, though they had long daggers as well, almost long enough to qualify as a short sword, but not quite. The last had two daggers and a bow. They were well built, as could be told through their clothes. After all they were sticking to their bodies closely as the three looked to have recently taken a dip in the ocean, unwillingly from the few scratches they had.

“I just arrived in the country and I doubt my ID would be accepted, so I’m joining. I have experience hunting.”

“Then welcome to our humble nation. If you’d like, I could show you around, maybe take you to dinner?”

He didn’t look like a bad sort, though he wasn’t hiding that he was flirting with me. He didn’t look half-bad, or give off creeper vibes, but I wasn’t interested in romance right now.

“Thank you for the offer. I’d like to take you up on it, but I wouldn’t want to impose on someone who might be seeking more than I am willing to give at this time.”

“It’s no imposition, just showing a newcomer around, teach them what’s what. Wouldn’t want you running into troubles before you get the lay of the land. Oh, I should introduce myself. I’m Gavin.”

He was clever enough to get what I meant. That made me relax somewhat.

“It’s nice to meet you, Gavin. I’m Rynn. While we’re waiting, is there anything I should know before joining the guild? Where I came from may have done things a little differently.”

I flashed my old guild card.

“May I look at it?”

Since nothing important showed, just my name, age, race, and rank, I had no problem showing it to him. He took it from me and inspected it.

“Huh, never seen a guild card like this.”

He pulled out his to show me. It was larger and thicker. Where mine was the size of a business card, his was almost half again as large in every dimension. It also seemed to be made of a different material.

“What country did you come from? I don’t recognize the language.”

“I came from Valla,” I decided to name the world rather than the exact country, “It’s a long ways from here, and took a while to get here. Don’t know that I’ll ever go back. Things got… complicated.”

He handed me the card back and I tucked it away.

“Well, you’re here now, so let me make things as uncomplicated as we can for our newcomer.”

He proceeded to tell me how the guild worked. Unlike Valla, ranks were numbered rather than lettered and scaled from zero to ten. Rank zero was for non-combatants as well as newbies just signing up. They weren’t allowed to take any requests outside of the city unless accompanied by a higher rank.

To get out of this rank, one had to prove their skills in a combat test, as well as have completed ten requests. Many of the rank zero requests were the equivalent of day labor; trash pickup, cleaning various things, running errands, construction work and so on. Outside of those there were some crafting related ones which required skill, which is what I intended to aim for.

Upon reaching ranking up, more options opened up, but there was a rule to hopefully prevent people from dying needlessly. You could only take requests at the same rank you held, unless you were joining with someone of a higher rank.

The guild worked as a go-between to offer training in various things for a fee. Most of the trainers were either older adventurers, or those who were injured. While combat training was the most common, there were people who would train others in various skills and crafts, from the serious to the frivolous. This included etiquette, as the higher ranked one was, the more likely they would encounter nobility.

Some guild facilities, not this one, offered various other amenities such as renting rooms for sleeping or crafting, dismantling, libraries, storage, or shipping packages. This place was solely for getting registered and taking or turning in jobs. There was another, larger facility in the upper city, but since there were many workers here on the docks, it was more convenient to have a small branch for basic stuff rather than making tons of people walk halfway across the city twice a day.

I listened carefully. While most of the stuff was similar to on Valla, sometimes minor details were different. One of the things that was most different, besides the rankings, was that one could take certain training courses and exams to have marks added to the card proving the adventurer’s knowledge on certain subjects.

By doing this, one could qualify for special assignments only open to those with the marks. These specialized assignments tended to bring in more than standard ones, and receptionists would often refer guild members with qualifications to requests that suited them. Special requests were not posted with others, and could only be viewed by request after verify the card holder had the qualifications.

Of course, given the size of this branch, anyone inquiring would be referred to the main hall in the upper city, though there were a few exceptions.

As he told me all of this, the line slowly crept forward. It was actually moving at a faster pace than I’d thought, so maybe most of the people already knew what they were going to do, like there being daily quests they tended to go for. I didn’t intend to hang out here in the merchant’s district long, since I preferred work on land, while this place had a lot of requests for work at sea or grunt work.

As we entered the building, Gavin’s friends headed to one side to check the wall, which was covered in pieces of paper that were the available requests. Paper seemed to be common and cheap, which boded well for me, as I liked to read. They found what they were looking for and pulled off three pieces. One for each of their group.

If there was a limit to the number of people who could take a request, that number of sheets were posted under the request with just the quest’s ID number. If the quest was ongoing, or had no specified limit, one would just remember the ID number and tell it to the receptionist. If the quest was for one party or person, then the whole sheet would be taken to reception.

I looked over the various requests, not finding any that interested me. Lots of fishing, gutting, and other day labor stuff that didn’t interest me.

Until I saw a quest for a pair of wyvern claws.

Should I? I had enough to fill the request, not even counting the ones I just took down yesterday. I mentally hemmed and hawed, then decided to go for it. I grabbed the quest sheet.

“What quest did you grab? You did make sure to check the ranking, right?”

“It’s a material turn in quest for some materials I have on hand.”

Per what Gavin had said, these type of quests were usually marked rank zero, since it’s possible to get the stuff from merchants, though doing so was rarely profitable for the one who took it. I hadn’t actually checked the rank when I picked up the paper.

Ack! It wasn’t zero… maybe I could talk them into letting me do it anyway? I’d try, and claim to have not noticed the ranking if it came to that. I mean, I could drop it on the counter with the items to begin with.

Finally I reached the counter and started getting registered. There wasn’t much to it, just fill out a paper, they enter the stuff on their tool that works like a computer, put my hand on an orb so it verifies that I’m not a criminal, and then drop some blood on the card I’d get.

There was the matter of a fee, since the card was a magic tool, even if it was something easily mass produced. That was when I made my play.

I placed down the request, along with the requested items, which I’d pulled from my bag.

“I have foreign currency I could pay with, but I can complete this request right now, if you’d like to take the fee out of the reward.”

The receptionist moved the claws off the paper and picked it up, before her eyes widened. She turned to a coworker who was passing by carrying something another adventurer had turned in.

“Frank, can you ask John to come out here real quick. I have something he’ll need to take a look at.”

“Sure thing, Carol.”

He continued on his way, and shortly after he’d passed into the back room an older man with glasses came out and over to us. She didn’t speak, merely handed him the paper and waved at the items between us.

He glanced at the paper, then at the claws, his eyes glowing briefly to let me know he’d used an ocular skill, in this case appraisal, or something similar. Sometimes there were inspection skills limited to specific areas.

“They meet the request. You must be skilled to take one of those down.”

“She didn’t say where she got them, and is just signing up, will it be fine?”

“Hmm? Well, I don’t think it matters as long as the client gets their item, so go ahead.”

Carol plugged away at the computer while John turned his eyes back towards me, with them glowing slightly. I felt my pendant warm slightly, as it does when resisting a skill.

“Well that’s rude, shouldn’t you ask me to dinner before trying to peer at my soul.”

Having been caught, he quickly apologized.

“My apologies, I shouldn’t have done so. Were you the one to take down the beast, or was it another? And if you did, why are you only joining us now?”

“I’m not certain if it was me or my companions who killed it, though I can do so myself. As far as joining the guild, I came from another country far away that had a different guild.”

I pulled out my card and presented it to him. Maybe I could get a higher rank this way?

He took it and looked it over, even inspecting it, but then shook his head.

“I can see this is similar to our cards, and while I’m sure our craftsmen would like to research it to improve our cards, I couldn’t ask that of you. I do not recognize the language, but regardless, you’ll have to work your way up from the bottom. I should technically not allow you to complete this quest, but since it’s just a turn in quest, I’ll allow it.”

I took back my card.

“Thank you for your time and assistance.”

He nodded and headed back to where he’d come from, taking the claws with him. Carol had headed off to a different room, returning shortly with a small purse of coins.

I took it from her and peeked inside, verifying the amount before thanking her and heading towards the door. Gavin was waiting for me there. There was only one line to get in the door, and three receptionists, so people went to whichever became available first. Registering and turning in a quest took longer than just accepting one.

“Would you like to walk with me for a bit? I’ve got some time before I have to meet up with the quest group.”

I accepted and we got to walking. He pointed out interesting places, as well as giving warnings about certain ones. Haggling was a thing here, which did not surprise me. He gave me some tips for how to deal with some of the merchants, though quietly, since he didn’t want to draw their ire.

After a while a bell tolled, signaling the time. It was probably around ten, and had rung twice, so I guessed that it rang every two hours or so. Most societies that had to rely on bells to tell the time weren’t too fussy about perfect punctuality.

But in this case it did mean Gavin had to be off. Whatever quest he’d taken, I hadn’t asked, was a group one meeting after the second bell. I waved him farewell, having already discussed having dinner together earlier.

Alone again, I decided to do some more in depth browsing of the local goods.