Dream Life Vol II Chapter 39.2: “The Guardian”

　I was at a loss,

“Is it a permanent commitment in forming a party, or is it a one-time thing?” (Zack)

“I basically act solo. But I like you. I thought it would be interesting to see what happens from here on out.” (Beatrice)

　I held back a sigh that threatened to escape.

“I’m still a student at the academy. I can’t go into the forest every day, and I don’t intend to change that. So, if you want a permanent party, let us pretend we never had this conversation.” (Zack)

　When I refused to join a party with Beatrice, the adventurers around me sighed.

　I don’t know the details, but it seems that many of them want to work with her.

　Beatrice also expressed surprise, which was followed by a look of dismay.

“I don’t know if you know this, but I have a lot of people who want to work with me.” (Beatrice)

　Then, she shrugged her shoulders with an exaggerated hand gesture and joked, “You just dumped me.”

“Well, that’s understandable. So, you don’t mind working with me from time to time, is that it?” (Beatrice)

　I nodded,

“I understand. I, Beatrice will be your guardian.” (Beatrice)

　I bowed to her and said, “I look forward to working with you.”

　As we left the training hall, Beatrice began talking about my guardianship at the guild’s reception desk.

　Tina, the receptionist, eyes bugged out when she heard that Beatrice would be my guardian.

　Beatrice took out her orb – a magical device for identification – and began the procedure.

　Then she beckoned me over and said, “Take out your orb.” I take the orb I made in the village of Rathmore off my arm.

　Tina looked at my orb and told me, “You can use this orb to register as an adventurer.” She then told me that the orbs made in the village are often low-priced versions that do not have enough information to be registered, and that sometimes it is not possible to transfer the information as an adventurer. In that case, a new orb must be made. However, the orb from the village of Rathmore seemed to be a fairly decent one, and Tina was a bit surprised when she heard that it was registered in a small village.

(I wonder if Grandpa even thought about these things and put in the proper equipment. It must have been pretty hard when he was poor…) (Zack)

　Since I now have an orb from the Magician’s Guild and one from the village of Rathmore, I will have three when the orb from the Adventurers’ Guild is added to it. I was thankful to my grandfather that I only needed two.

　At the reception desk, Tina explained to me about the Adventurers’ Guild.

　I had already heard about it from Liddy, and it was all stuff I already knew.

　The Adventurers’ Guild is a mutual aid organization for adventurers.

　Its headquarters is located in Pericritor, which we passed on the way here, and it is said that the guild was originally formed by the Merchant Guild to efficiently exterminate the monsters that haunt the roads and towns near the city.

　Therefore, the Adventurer’s Guild mainly deals with the extermination of monsters and pests, but they also handle the collection of medicinal herbs and minerals if requested, as they can take advantage of the adventurer’s skills. In addition to this, there are investigations of ruins and investigations of monsters in the forest, etc., but since the Mercenary Guild handles escorts such as merchants, they are not handled by the Adventurer’s Guild. This division of jobs is related to the method of assigning ranks, which she explained later.

　The Adventurers’ Guild not only mediates various requests from clients to adventurers, but also purchases medicinal herbs and parts of monsters that it has collected.

　The guild’s commission is 20% of the total, and 30% is tax. However, in order to make it easier for adventurers to understand, the fee is discounted from the beginning. This is a deduction from the guild’s paycheck, just as taxes are deducted from salaried workers’ paychecks.

　If a client fails, he or she must pay the guild twice the amount of the fee – the same amount as the client pays – in order for the guild to compensate the client for his or her failure. For this reason, the guild often does not issue requests to those who are willing to accept requests that are not adequate with their abilities.

　In addition, if the annual remuneration does not reach 1,000 Crona (about 1 million yen), the difference must be paid to the guild. If they fail to pay, they are expelled from the guild, but this is done to prevent the guild from being used to evade taxes, since the guild pays the taxes on their behalf. Incidentally, in a typical city, citizens other than adventurers and mercenaries are required to pay nearly 50% of their income in taxes, which means that adventurers are taxed more favorably.

　There are ten ranks of adventurers, from the first to the tenth, but rank does not limit the requests they can receive. Rank only indicates the adventurer’s contribution to the guild, not simply his or her ability. For this reason, there is no problem if an adventurer of 10th rank accepts a request equivalent to that of 1st rank. Of course, because of the aforementioned penalty fees, guilds are unlikely to grant requests that are not in line with their own skills.

　In order to move up a rank, one must accomplish a hundred requests set at the same rank as one’s current rank. This is counted as the same one time whether you take it as a party or as an individual.

　If a request is one rank higher than your rank, it is counted as ten times, and if it is two ranks higher, it is counted as one hundred times. In other words, if you successfully complete a request that is two ranks higher than yours, you will be promoted to a higher rank in one successful request.

　On the other hand, mercenary guilds also have ranks from the first to the tenth rank, but these are simply classified according to their Occupation Level, such as Swordsman or Archer, and are thus divided almost according to ability.

　This is the difference, but simply put, it is just for the convenience of the client’s side. When adventurers subjugate monsters, they may use traps as well as weapons and magic to kill them. Adventurers who use traps are difficult to level up, so if a level system is used, these adventurers will not be valued. In other words, the system reflects the opinion that it is easier to understand how many requests they have completed by looking at their achievements rather than a simple level comparison.

　On the other hand, mercenaries mainly protect their clients rather than hunt monsters. They are not asked to deal with specific targets, as is the case with requests to adventurers, but rather to be capable of dealing with any situation. Therefore, the reason for this is that the level at which one’s ability is known is better suited to the client’s needs. If it were a simple matter of just one level, it would be easier for the client to make a request if there was a range of levels. For this reason, they decided on the classification of ranks.

　Adventurers and mercenaries alike receive preferential tax treatment and can freely travel to and from national borders. However, they are also required to maintain a high level of discipline.

　If an adventurer or mercenary commits a serious crime, he or she is immediately expelled from the guild, and it is common for him or her to be reduced to a criminal slave. In the case of nonvirulent crimes such as murder, assault, robbery, etc., punishment is at the discretion of the guild branch. If they have caused damage to the other party, they may be forced to work and repay their debts by using a magical device called a Slave Collar.

　In addition, if a person breaks the contract when joining a guild, such as intentionally committing murder or robbery, or intentionally violating the contract, the information will remain in the orb, so that the crime cannot be hidden if the orb is checked.

　This is said to be the same even if the orb is re-created, because the record of the act remains in the person’s magical stone, but we don’t know what actually happened because it has not been made public.

　This is all I know about the Adventurers’ Guild and the Mercenaries’ Guild.

　In a few minutes, the information will be added to the orb created in Rathmore Village.

　When I received it, Beatrice took out a half silver coin (5 C = 5,000 yen) from her pocket and paid the registration fee. I thought I could pay the 5 Crona fee by myself, so I offered to pay it myself.

　But she shook her head and refused to accept it, saying, “Don’t embarrass your guardian.”

“You are now a tenth-rank adventurer. In a normal town, you would accept the request together with your guardian, but this town is special. If it’s a monster you hunted yourself, you can come and report here as you wish.” (Beatrice)

　Beatrice says and puts her hand on my head.

“Now that we’re all registered, is there anything else you want to ask me?” (Beatrice)

　That’s when I cut in for Sharon. I felt bad that I was the only one who became an adventurer, and she was the only one left who isn’t.

　I felt it was wrong of me to ask her such a favor after having turned down Beatrice’s offer to form a party, but I thought I would just say so.

“I have a friend who is a magician named Sharon. She is ten years old like me, but she is already a level nineteen wind magician. May I ask you to be her guardian?”

　Beatrice shook her head and said, “I have to see your strength.”

　I thought that was indeed true, and said, “Yes, you’re right. I apologize for my rude request.”

　She looked into my face, keeping her hand on my head.

“Can’t you do something about that formal way of talking? You speak casually to Lydiane. I’d like you to talk to me the same way.” (Beatrice)

　I glance over at Liddy. She looked away as if she didn’t know what was going on.

“Okay, Beatrice. Call me Zack, not boy or you. Like this?” (Zack)

　When I said that, she nodded satisfactorily, saying, “That’s good.”

　I became an adventurer at only ten years old.

　I had become an adventurer, a staple of the fantasy world. I forgot about the bullying I had been subjected to at the academy and was filled with joy at the thought of it.

　After we left the guild branch, Liddy spoke to me in a sullen voice.

“After all, you want to be friends with beautiful women, don’t you? She’s a beast folk you’re interested in, and also there’s that tail. You’ve been staring at it looking captivated.” (Liddy)

　I tried to argue with her, “You’ve got it all wrong,” but she attacked me further.

“When I first saw your face, you were admiring it. She’s a gallant beauty, the type you don’t see around you. And those breasts. Men like big breasts, so I don’t blame you.” (Liddy)

　I was silent, knowing there was nothing I could say that would make her stop.

 “Well, that’s okay. She doesn’t seem like a bad person, and if you’re in this town, you should be able to connect with that type of person.” (Liddy)

　Liddy seemed to be thinking the same thing I was. But she was just bending over because she was looking down – just from my point of view.

　I went around in front of her and looked her in the eye with a serious expression on my face, “You know, the person I’m going to give my Magic Crystal to is Liddy,” I said. She looked a little embarrassed by my words and smiled, “I know,” she said.