Act 2: Chapter 18: Philia's Registration Card
After resting for the rest of the day in the inn, I visited Manarak’s adventurer’s guild along with Pomera and Philia.
It turns out, it was possible to create 《Adamant Ore》 from lower-ranking ore with alchemy by using Philia’s 《Dream Sand》 as the catalyst.
The problem was… we don’t have enough money to conduct the alchemy experiment.
Thus we came up with a plan to get more money by finishing commissions for the adventurers.
At the level Pomera, Philia, and I was, any kind of commission should be a walk in the park for us.
Thus, the more commissions we completed, the more money we could get for the alchemy experiment.
… But then, doing that might pull unwanted attention from the other transferees or those dangerous 《JinMaRyuu》.
I mean, we did run across that mysterious mage in a robe who treated Philia’s magic like child play right after I came to this city.
We should cut corners to avoid standing out in a bad way and becoming targets for dangerous people.
Manarak’s adventurer’s guild was more elegant and stylish compared to Aarburgh’s adventurer guild. The stone flooring was polished beautifully to the point of showing our reflections when we walked on it.
Even their personnel were at least pleasing to the eyes– not thug-like people.
Naturally, since the name of this was the Magic City Manarak, you can find mages every now and then.
「Since we’re C-rank adventurers now, we should be able to pick a commission that give us a lot of reward.」
I muttered as I confirmed the adventurer’s card which I received back in Aarburgh.
「Considering Kanata-san, I think we can finish C-rank commissions in no time…」
Pomera told me so.
Unfortunately, that’s for the adventurer’s guild to decide.
Moreover, there was nothing bad about playing safe by gathering money with safe commissions.
「Philia too! Can Philia become an adventurer, too?」
Philia asked me with gleaming eyes full of curiosity.
It seems she wanted to become an adventurer… screw that, she might be just curious what being an adventurer means.
「You can. Well, since the registration fee is on me, let’s create a registration card for you too, Philia.」
Philia raised her arms in delight when I told her so while patting her head.
「YAAAY! THANKS, KANATA! PHILIA, HAPPY!」
… But, reality was harsh, the receptionist straight out rejected my request when I wanted to register Philia.
「No, are you seriously trying to register a child who isn’t even ten years old as an adventurer?」
「Eh, could it be that… there’s some sort of age regulation?」
「There’s not but still… It’s not a praiseworthy act to register such a young child. Someone who registers a child like you comes out every once in a while and they pay those children to register in order to gain more identity card that they can use freely.」
The guild’s staff told me of such a fact with a bored look on her face.
… It seems you’ll always meet those kinds of scumbags no matter where you go.
Though it was a bit rough, it seems that the adventurer’s guild kept a record of adventurer card registrations.
I did hear of such a case in which the people who became a proxy for accepting a commission did get punished with their adventurer card being revoked back in Aarburg.
Honestly speaking, C-rank commissions could only be accepted by C-rank adventurers or above, but there was a loophole in this rule, in which C-rank adventurers could get an intermediation fee by accepting a C-rank commission and giving it to D-rank adventurers.
I’ve also heard cases of buying another adventurer’s achievement to raise their rank and many more.
It was hard to deal with this kind of cheating with the current system.
Thus, the guild’s staff was entrusted with the job of reducing that kind of practice.
Well after further consideration, it was more like common sense rather than a rule, thus I’ve got no choice but to give up on registering for Philia.
「PHILIA IS MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS OLD! PHILIA, ISN’T A CHILD MON!」
「Calm down Philia-chan! There there, okay?」
Pomera tried to soothe Philia.
She was rather desperate since she knew that she couldn’t stop Philia if the latter threw a tantrum.
「Are you… going to take that child to monster subjugation? You’re not trying to make her into your meat shield right?」
「It’s okay. Philia-chan is STRONK!」
「Yeah yeah, Saint Lyfia did beat a dragon at the tender age of ten but, even someone like me can see that she’s a complete amateur.」
Philia lowered her gaze for a moment upon hearing the guild’s staff remark, seemingly dejected, but raised a face beaming with a smile right in the next moment.
I stretched my arms in front of Philia to stop her from doing whatever she was going to do the moment I saw the look on her face.
「Philia-chan, no progenitor dragon please!」
「Gravibu-」
But then, Philia pointed her finger.
「No 《Graviburn》 either!!」
Though it might be just the right attack when you consider its small AOE, the guild would still get destroyed as a result.
Rather, even a small portion of Philia’s power would definitely cause a huge uproar if it was known by the public.
Color already drained from Pomera’s face as she held onto Philia.
「K-Kanata-san… isn’t there any other way around?」
She asked with a timid voice, on the verge of crying.
Any other way around… is it?
「… Philia-chan is really strong in spite of her age, but I also have no intention to take her to the battle too often. She’s a genius indeed but she’s far too young. She has the ability to become an adventurer, there’s actually no rule that forbid her from becoming an adventurer either, and we’re going to take a break after this…」
I took out a few additional coins aside from the one required for the registration fee and pushed it toward the guild’s staff.
The said staff person didn’t say anything for a moment and then, their lips turned into a grin.
「Huhm, I guess it really can’t be helped since you’re saying so. I’ll trust you for now.」
The staff quickly took the coins while making small guts pose.
… And here I was expecting them to get enraged, only to find out that these guys were willing to overlook this matter with a bribe.
Will this guild really be okay if this matter spreads outside?
In this way, we could finally register Philia as an adventurer and got a registration card for her.
「YA~Y! Now, Philia is an adventurer too!」
Philia was making merry while raising her registration card.
I heaved a sigh of relief. At least this guild was safe from destruction for now.
「And then, we’re also going to take a commission, but… do you have a suitable commission for C-rank adventurers?」
「There’s… well, rather it’s a priority commission for C-rank adventurers and above. There’s a large-scale black spider’s 《Monster Parade》 in the forest near this city.」
「Black… spider.」
Hearing that, I recalled a certain incident on the way to Manarak.
Our group was raided by monsters on the way toward this city.
It seems, there was a sudden rise in monster appearances in the surrounding of Manarak.