"Good mornin', Ami; are you here to pick out a request?" Miss Lorna asked, pleasant as ever.

I nodded my head, "Y-yes, please." I looked up at her; I can't quite look her in the eyes, but at least I can look at her.

She smiled, "That's wonderful. The requests you can take are on the board over there. The one emblazoned with an F. You shouldn't find any that are too difficult for you. If you form a party with at least one guild member of a higher rank, you'll be able to take E rank requests, but… That's probably impossible for now, huh?" She studied me, not with an expression of pity or concern but one of simple curiosity.

"Y-yes… Sorry," I mumbled, but she seemed to hear me regardless.

"Oh, hon, that ain't nothin' to apologize for. You just take your time, alright? Rushing is how you get yourself killed. That reminds me. How's your head feelin' today? You're not feeling dizzy or nauseous at all, are you?" Her tone with thick with worry, and something about it reminded me of my mother.

"I'm fine. I-it wasn't as bad as it looked."

"Hmm… If you're sure, hon. But, Ami, if it starts bothering you, make sure you let one of know. Some injuries have a way of sneakin' up on ya. Now, back to your request. You can take as many requests as you want, but you have to be able to complete them within their allotted time frame. If you fail a quest, you'll receive a penalty. Fail too many, and you'll be unable to take any requests for a time. Your fail to success ratio is taken into consideration for whether you're eligible to rank up or not. For F to E rank, you'll have to complete at least fifteen F rank requests, maintain a success ratio of at least 70%, and complete an appropriate rank-up request supplied by the Guild."

She hadn't mentioned any of that yesterday, but not all of it was new information. I had managed to gleam bits and pieces of that from listening to Adventurers talk as they passed by me. Someone like me may as well be invisible to any ordinary person… Or maybe just a piece of the background. Certainly, there weren't many that considered me to even be human like them. It wasn't always like that, but I was determined to make sure it would always remain that way.

"Alright; may I look at the requests now?" I asked her, unsure if she would suggest I wait again. Not that I can really afford to wait much longer… With no money for food and nowhere to spend the night, I can't be sure how long I'll be able to make it without taking some requests. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how I've made it this long…

"Just one more thing. Take this," Miss Lorna pulled out something that glinted in the light and passed it to me, "I forgot to get it to you yesterday. You don't have to wear it, but it's recommended that you keep it on your person. At the very least, you'll need it for your interactions at the Guild."

I looked at the item she had handed to me. It was a small, chain necklace, with a bronze bar on it. The length was adjustable, so it didn't have to be worn as a necklace. I slipped it onto my wrist to wear as a bracelet, and Miss Lorna very kindly helped me adjust it to ensure it fit properly.

"The bronze bar represents that you are currently an F rank. E rank members also wear a bronze bar, but once you've become D rank, you'll get an iron bar to replace it. C rank is steel. B rank is silver. A rank wears gold. S rank wears platinum. Alright, with that out of the way, hon, go on. Go pick out your first request; select the one you want, and then bring it back here." And with that, she shooed me away and begun assisting the person who had lined up behind me.

I cautiously walked over to the board, careful not to make eye contact with anyone or look in anyone's general direction for too long. It wouldn't do for me to leave a bad impression already, and I'd hate it if someone thought I was trying to pick a fight with them. There were a few people standing in front of some of the other boards, but no one was looking to take requests from the F rank board. Which kind of makes sense. The higher rank the request, the harder it would be but the more worthwhile the reward.

I looked over the requests on the board in front of me. They were all for various tasks, such as manual labor, finding a lost cat, helping out at the church, and so forth. The reward for all of them varied from four bronze to as much as seven bronze coins. Just for one request! I wouldn't have to worry about food again! If I complete three requests a day… I can even get a room at a decent inn! I grinned with delight as I looked about the requests. For now, I settled on taking two of the requests: Finding the lost cat and helping out at the church. I pulled the papers from the board.

"Hey, Ami! Good afternoon," a voice said from right next to me.

I jumped, dropping the papers, "Waah!" Heat immediately crept onto my face after I let out such an unladylike shriek. "G-good morning, Ruven…" I turned to look at him as bent down to pick up the papers that I had dropped. He looked over them before whistling.

"Wow, I didn't know you were interested in the church. And finding a lost cat? There's no way that's going to be easy. Delton isn't exactly a small place, you know."

I shook my head, "Cats… are easy. A-as long as you don't startle them."

He ruffled my hair before handing my back the papers, "Oh yeah? I guess you're kind of like a cat then, huh? You're not hard to find, but you disappear when startled."

"T-that's rude."

He laughed heartily, "My bad, my bad. So why the other request then? Are you actually suuuper religious?"

I tilted my head to the side slightly and thought about his question before replying, "N-no, I don't think I'm… p-particularly pious… The reward for it is higher than the other requests."

It's true; assisting at the church was worth a whole seven bronze coins. While the request didn't give much detail as to what they needed assistance with, it did promise that it wouldn't take longer than a couple hours. Having never had the opportunity to make so much in such a short period of time, how could I pass it up?

"Oh, I see. Yeah, that makes sense. I've taken a few requests like that when I was short on coin," He closed his eyes before nodding a few times. Then, he peaked open one eye before grinning at me again.

I looked away; my heart beating faster. Something about him… makes just a little uneasy, I think… I thought about mentioning the blessing that had appeared in my other category, but I decided against it. He's nice… Which means he wants something from me. I just don't know what yet.