"Here we are! Welcome to Brooks!"
Oh wow. Is this really a town? Screw a city, this is more like the capital of a country!
In front of me is an enormous star fort, something straight out of Tolkien fantasy, I'm basically looking at Gon*** from Lord of The *****.
If I weren't informed beforehand by Ralph that it was a town, I would have thought I was in the center of the continent.
Aside from the massive buildings with fantasy motifs, my sights are drawn to the various people roaming about.
There are the classic elves and dwarves.
Some beefy half-orcs and those with giant blood.
Tiny gnomes and cheerful halflings.
Ah! Can't forget the beastkin! Furries would get a nosebleed seeing one of the wolf girls.
Then there are some lesser-known creatures. I spot something that I can only describe as a bipedal ant. Weird stuff.
To top it all off, roughly a third of the people here are carrying weapons and armor.
This place is the definition of an adventurer's hub.
"Quite the sight, eh?"
I glanced at my farmer companion, who smiled amusedly at my reaction.
Ralph, or Mr. Ralph, turned out to be a pretty nice person.
He answered any questions I had to the best of his knowledge.
Including the basic history of the world.
In the past, the Frontier was a vast stretch of neutral territory no nation wanted due to its monster problems.
Thus, it effectively became a buffer zone.
Over time, cities and adventurers popped up, new resources were being uncovered, treasures from ancient ruins were found, blah blah blah.
Gist is, several nations tried to take over and lay claim to the frontier, but they all ultimately failed, either due to the skills of adventurers or the rampaging monsters.
Safe to say is politics of religion and other nations are unlikely to make their way here.
Meaning this is a great starting place for me to hide and make a debut as a great adventurer myself.
We are let pretty easily into the city by the guards, who greet Ralph quite jovially. Seems they might be old military, that or Ralph frequents the city often.
I inquire about this, "Do you come to Brooks frequently?"
"Hmm? Yes, it's one of the best places to do business. I'm a rancher, you see, and plenty of people want meat or long-lasting provisions. I always make a killing here!"
"How far away is your farm?"
From the forest where I first met Ralph, it took roughly three hours for us to get here. With the lack of transportation, he shouldn't live too far.
"A couple dozen miles. Hovering at about eighty, maybe more, give or take."
His answer shatters my estimations.
"A couple dozen miles!? You make this trip daily!?"
"Once a month. Why so surprised?"
Oh, never mind, I was overthinking it.
"How long does it take for you to travel?"
"There and back, a day and a half, if I include the time I spend delivering my wares and having some fun, three to five days." He replies nonchalantly like it's no big deal.
Huuuh!
A couple dozen miles!? A horse can barely make that distance in those time constraints!
I look at Ralph with newfound respect.
"Yup, the return trip is usually faster since I'll be carrying less than when I arrived."
We walk for a while, passing several buildings and shops selling fantastical items like it was Aslope Alley from Larry Sotter.
Finally, we arrive at the guild, a large marble, three-story building that looks more like a museum or a bank than some gathering for mercenaries and sellswords.
Honestly, I thought it'd be a bit more rustic, smaller and tavern-like.
But I also like this design. Reminds me of the guild from the dungeon-crawling series in which the MC is a dual-wielding rabbit.
I part ways with Ralph. He promises to meet me again at the guild so he can repay his debt to me.
I don't refuse his goodwill, especially if it's cash, which I lack currently.
Moments after Ralph goes about making his sales and deliveries, I push open the double doors and enter the halls.
The first impression I have is of a clean three-star hotel and lobby. Nothing too fancy, but very neat and presentable.
There aren't many adventurers right now. I check a large clock hanging off to the side. I'm near-sighted, so I can't see the digits that well, but it's close to one. I check my own watch; it shows a time close to one as well.
Interesting, seems the time in this world runs parallel to earth's.
Not that it's useful in any way, it just means I don't have to bother tuning my watch. Though I am worried about it running out of power and dying since it's a digital one.
I shake myself free of the thoughts of time and watches.
I'm in an isekai world for goodness' sake, and I care more about my watch than registering as an adventurer?
My mind must still be addled from being teleported to the abyss.
With my goal set, I walk up to the front desks, I go up to one of the empty booths.
Okay, a brown-haired receptionist who's easy on the eyes, with a unreadable professional vibe and several admiring adventures stealing glances at her.
Half the Isekai Bingo sheet is full, at this rate, I'll soon get a Bingo.
I greet her and state my purpose: "Hello, I'd like to register as an adventurer."
She gives a professional smile, "No problem. May I please have your name first?" Her voice is just as trained and fake as that perpetual 'I'm smiling cuz this is my work' face.
No point trying to chat her up, she'll probably dislike that more. Bet there's plenty of chatty adventures who get on her nerves around here.
I subtly look in the direction of the adventurers who've been looking at the receptionist, tense with a hand on their weapons. Their faces, which had an airy high school crush are replaced with glares.
Okay, alright I get it, you lot can have her. I'll just take care of my business here and leave.
"Shin."
The receptionist jots it down on some documents.
"What is your role? Are you a warrior, mage, scout, etc."
"I'm a magic user."
"I'll put it down as mage for simplicity if that's fine with you."
"No problem."
"Alright." She fills in my job and follows up with another question, "Are you affiliated with any organizations?"
"Organizations?"
"Places like the Mage Towers, Merchant or Artisan Guilds, Schools, etc."
"Umm, none, I just came from another world."
"Hmm, I see, an Otherworlder." She nods to herself, "I guess I'll skip the background questions." She scribbles something down. "Last question. How old are you?"
Are Otherworlders so common in this world you can just pass it off like it's nothing?
"Sixteen."
"I see, alright." She nods, "Everything checks out."
I ask her the important question, "Does that mean I'm an adventurer now and can take on quests?"
She shakes her head, "Not officially yet. Although the guild is very accepting of Otherworlders, some discussion and paperwork are required before we can issue your badge."
"Okay, when can I expect my membership to be approved."
"One week." she replies.
One week!?! I have to be homeless and penniless for a week!?!
"How am I supposed to make a living then?" I cry out, completely flabbergasted.
The damn receptionist shrugs, "Figure it out yourself."
What a rancid attitude! She's literally a customer service representative!
Usually in stories, the Guilds just give you membership. Bureaucracy isn't even a thing in most of those cheap reads!
A familiar country voice comes to my rescue, "Come on now, Karen! He just arrived from another world with nothing but the clothes on his back. He needs a gig to support himself, can't you cut him some slack?"
"Mr. Ralph!? What are you doing here!?"
"I sell adventurers' provisions as well. You'll never find any jerky better than mine in all the Five Realms!"
After explaining his presence, he continues convincing the aptly named Karen to help me out: "So, Karen, think you can skip past some of the paperwork and let this guy start out immediately?"
Unlike her namesake, Karen acquiesced almost immediately. "There are a few records in the past of Otherworlders in similar situations, so I can make a few concessions." She faces me next. "I can give you a provisional license, but I'm afraid some of the services, aside from Request-related matters, will be restricted to you until your reputation within the Guild builds up."
"Perfectly fine by me!"
"Alright then, wait one moment."
Karen takes out a wooden token from a drawer and hands it to me.
"This is one of our provisional adventurer tags. Be sure not to lose it. You can now take on requests that match the substance of your tag. If a request catches your eye, you can take it off the board and bring it back to me."
She points to a board in the back. A few adventurers are looking at it, scrutinizing which quest they ought to take next. Or rather which request, since that's what the guild girl calls them. Request, quest, same thing.
I go up to the board she's pointing at and find a section filled with requests labelled 'Wood.' I take a closer look at the requests in this section.
"Slimes, Big Rats, Horned Rabbits."
Looks like all the basic mooks are here.
There's also a few menial ones like find a lost cat or clean the drainage systems, but I ignore those.
Now let's see. Which monsters are closest?
Actually, no. Which one will be the easiest for me to kill?
I ain't going in a sewer for some fat rats, and Horned Rabbits might be a bit too agile for me to hit.
Guess this just leaves me with the OG monster of OG monsters.
"I'll take the Slime Extermination Quest."
I come back to the front with the request in hand and put it on the counter.
Karen briefly looks it over and gives me the green light. "A suitable level." She stamps it and takes it away, "Please be advised that termination or failure of requests will be recorded. If too many terminations or failures accumulate, the adventurer will be subject to an interview and investigation, potentially resulting in a rank decrease or revocation of their adventurer's license. The area in which the request you took takes place is a local farm."
"A farm? How far and in which direction?"
"It belongs to a man named Horace, he—"
Ralph interrupts the guild girl, "I can guide you there, Horace just so happens to be my neighbor. By the way, this might be a bit of a rhetorical question, but you don't have any place to stay, do you?"
I briefly ignored his words about Horace being his neighbor and answered his question: "I'm afraid not, I'm completely new to this world. Perhaps the Guild is generous enough to offer food and lodging?" I say, glancing over at the receptionist.
She doesn't bat an eye and continues to give me her business smile.
Looks like she really is the professional money-grubbing type. Good to know, I'll try to find a different receptionist next time.
Just as I was worried about finding lodging, Ralph threw me a lifeline, "Why don't you stay at my farm?"
'Yes!' I thought to myself, but I don't accept immediately. I play it modest, "Really!? I'd be extremely grateful! But are you sure you're fine with me staying over?"
"No worries! If it weren't for you, I might not have made it out in one piece."
"Alright then, I'll gladly take you up on your offer."
"Great! I can take you to my ranch right now."
Right now? Doesn't he have to sell all those-, whatever the things in his sack are?
"Don't you have other errands to run?"
"Not really, today's my lucky day. There was a shortage of food recently, so the guild bought all my jerky."
"Good for you, but won't it be a bit late? I'm not sure about the local security, but travelling late is ill-advised."
"Don't worry!" he laughs, "Without any goods, I can run quite fast! If I'm really serious, we'll be able to arrive before dinner!
"If it's no trouble, then I'm all for it, but can you wait for a few minutes? I still have some questions I want to ask."
"No problem, I'll wait for you outside."
Ralph takes his leave, and I turn back to Karen, "Is it possible for me to take multiple Requests?" I ask.
"At your current rank, no. You need to be at least Bronze-rank."
"Bronze?"
"There's ten tiers." She explains, "The lowest is Wood, your current tier. The highest tier is Hero.
In between these tiers are Tin, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mithril and Orichalcum."
Interesting, most novels follow the alphabetical system of F, E, D, C, B, A and S. Guess this series uses something completely different.
I follow up on my first question with another, "How do I rank up?"
"There are two methods. The first is based on your merits. If you complete enough requests with satisfactory performance, the guild will reach out to you. This is the slower of the two methods.
The second method is swifter. Should an adventurer believe they performed well in their field, they must undergo an interview. After that, they'll engage in a mock duel with one of our on-site instructors or an available adventurer the guild approves."
"So, I just have to defeat the tester and I'll be promoted?"
"No, mock duels will be judged based on the standards of the Guild. The criteria cannot be divulged.
It's also recommended to take on at least ten exploration and/or extermination requests before attempting a promotion."
"Can I take another promotion exam if I meet the qualifications?"
"Also no, there is a cooldown period of one month until adventurers can take the promotion exam again.
This rule is in place to control competition and prevent surges in requests so the qualified can advance and requests aren't fought over. Only in extreme cases when the adventurer achieves great merit can they be considered for another swift advancement."
"Alright, that'll be all."
I leave the guild and reconvene with Ralph, who is standing next to an empty cart.
Upon my arrival, he brings up an interesting subject: "Before we go to our farm, I want to take you to our village. There's an adventurer's outpost where you can lock in the Requests you've completed."
"Adventurer's outpost?"
"Yeah," Ralph nods. "Consider it a branch of the guild back in Brooks. Small villages like ours have these outposts where local adventurers can base themselves and respond quickly to any requests villagers have."
After about two hours of travel, we arrive at the village. Honestly, calling it a village is misleading (once again). It's a lot more like a small walled town than what one would expect from a starting village in this kind of setting.
Ralph guides me to a building resembling a cross between a tavern and a saloon.
"This right here is the outpost. Once you complete your request, you can come here, they'll give you the rewards and report the request's completion back to the guild in Brooks."
My ears only pick up about half the things he says.
I am too busy admiring the aesthetics.
This place looks a lot more like an adventurer's guild than the one in Brooks.
I take a peek and see several rough-looking guys, playing cards, sharing spirits and engaging in tomfoolery.
With a blink of an eye, the tomfoolery devolves into a brawl with a meek freckled guild girl trying to de-escalate the situation.
Having seen enough, I follow Ralph on a tour.
After he showed me around town and pointed out several places like the blacksmith's and apothecary's, we continued the journey back to his ranch.
It wasn't long until we arrived at our destination, less than an hour. Turns out several farms were based around the village. Oh, right, the name of the village is Tros, I almost forgot to mention.
FYI, for most of the journey from Brooks, I was riding on the cart. Quite fun, honestly, with the speed it was going.
Don't get any funny ideas about me oppressing the weak. It was Ralph's idea to have me ride his cart.
Moving on: the sight of a ranch, grazing cows and low stone walls comes into view.
"Very nice farm. It's incredibly peaceful."
"Yeah, I hope it stays that way for a while longer."
We stopped in front of the ranch house, a wooden building, one storey tall.
I get off the cart and hear young voices call out in excitement.
"Dad!" Two kids looking after some cows drop their herding sticks and rush over to us.
Ralph holds out his arms, "Rufus! Millie! I'm back!"
A woman with an infant tied behind her back walks over with a pail in hand. She smiles and welcomes Ralph: "You're home early. What's the occasion?"
"There's someone I want to introduce you guys to." Ralph wraps one arm around my shoulder and brings me into the center of attention for his family, "Meet Ren, this guy saved my ass from some goblins. Ren, this is my family. The two young ones are Rufus and Millie, the beautiful lass with little Shaun is my wife, Jess."
The kids greet me with excitement, while Jess profusely thanks me for taking care of her husband.
With introductions out of the way, Ralph explains my situation: "Ren's not from around here and is looking for a place to stay. I'm hoping we can house him for a while until he finds somewhere to settle."
"No problem! Unfortunately, our cabin's a bit small. There's a shack where we store some old tools, there should be a spare mattress and some blankets inside."
That evening, I ate dinner with them, beef stew and mashed potatoes. An excellent combination when mixed together.
After dinner, I entertained Rufus and Millie for some hours. They begged me to tell them tales of my adventures.
It seems in this isekai world, Otherworlders tend to be renowned adventurers or great heroes.
Unfortunately, having recently been isekai-ed, I've achieved no great feats other than goblin extermination and escaping the Spanish Inquisition. The latter's not that impressive if they're anything like Monty Python depicts them to be.
Thankfully, the childcare skills I developed during my volunteer hours in recent years were put to good use.
"Settle down, kids, I'll tell you all a fairy tale."
"A fairy tale? What kind of fairy tale?" Rufus, the bolder of the two siblings, asks.
"A fairy tale from my world, one that you never heard of before."
The kids settle down around me with eager eyes.
With a slow, deliberate tone I had mastered by now, I regaled the children with the tale of Cinderella, a classic back in my world.
Their ears were hooked onto every word, especially Millie's, who was completely enthralled with the protagonist and her rise from rags to riches.
"... then they lived happily ever after."
After playing with them for a couple more hours, Ralph and Jess put the two to bed, along with little Shaun.
Ralph takes me to a relatively spacious and newly built shed. Inside is an old mattress and tattered blankets. Off to the sides are spare tools and covered crates.
He bids me goodnight.
After the door closes, I reminisce about all the shit that happened to me. Getting isekai-ed, chased by religious fanatics, fighting goblins. Can't believe everything happened in the span of a day.
'Yawn!'
Wow, the fatigue from experiencing all those events is hitting me like a truck. That and the delicious dinner. All natural and organic ingredients, not a hint of preservatives or artificial flavors.
Stripping down to my underclothing, I crawl into the mattress and pull the blankets over me. The second my eyes close and my head hits the pillow, sleep steals my consciousness away.
I must say, the mattress is more comfortable than I thought.