Dungeon of Niflheim

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Adventurer’s guild

The dwarven receptionist took the forms with a grain of salt before demanding the 1 silver coin each for the registration. Once she received the money, she handed the forms to a colleague who brought them to the back room.

“We’ll print your cards shortly; in the meantime, I’ll give you an introduction about adventurers.” It was mandatory for her to say this to any new applicants. Frost felt it was rather strange that they’d hear this after registering and not before, but he didn’t ask. Maya had already given him a basic run down of how they operated anyway.

“First off adventurers are classified into ranks starting at the lowest G-rank to the highest S-rank. Since the two of you just registered, regardless of your abilities you’ll start at G-rank. Your rank determines what quests you can accept e.g., G-ranks can accept G-rank quests. You can only accept higher rank quests if someone of that rank is within your party or if you have a full six-member party then you can accept a quest one rank higher. The guild does not endorse any criminal activities, if you chose to engage in such, your guild membership will immediately be revoked, and the authorities will be alerted. Next when accepting a quest if you fail to complete it you will be subject to penalty fees and if you do this 3 times in a single month, your membership will be revoked” The dwarven receptionist gave the long lecture without an ounce of enthusiasm, she didn’t like Frost and Maya the moment they walked in, especially Maya her beauty only irritated her.

“To be promoted to the next rank you need to achieve a minimum of ten quests of your current rank and complete a gateway quest. Also, when applying to go any higher than E-rank, a combat and theory test will also need to be successfully passed. Any questions?”

“Just one, what’s a gateway quest?” Frost could feel the receptionist’s animosity towards him and Maya, but he needed to bear with it. The receptionist clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“Gateway quests are quests that must be completed for you to increase in rank, for example the g-rank gateway quest is to hunt goblins or slimes. This proves your combat prowess is enough to rank up.” Just as she finished speaking her colleague arrived with the completed guild cards. The receptionist took them and handed them to Frost and Maya.

“Congratulations for registering with the Furano branch, quests are available on the boards over there. Just come over with the request sheet once you’ve chosen...oh and if you lose your guild card there a 2 silver coin resubmission fee.” The receptionist then waved her hand as if to shoo them away.

.....

“Tsk” Maya clicked her tongue and looked at the dwarf with scorn.

‘How dare this little dwarven bug act this way in my presence.’ She had the urge to teach her a little lesson but was stopped by Frost giving her a glare.

“Thank you miss” Frost remained polite as he thanked the rude receptionist and dragged Maya away towards the quest board. He then looked at his guild card

Name: Frost

Rank: G

Registration: Furano, Northrend empire

Weapon: glaive

Magic: ice magic user

The details were relatively simple, but it functioned as a basic ID for the entire world. With this they wouldn’t have to pay tolls to enter towns or cities and they could cross territories legally. Not that he really cared about the legal part, but it would save them a lot of hassle in the future.

“Y...young master?” Maya whispered in annoyance, she had to teach that little dwarf a lesson.

“We’re acting low key remember, low key.” He responded with his finger over his mouth. he didn’t want to cause any scenes.

“Besides aren’t you forbidden from fighting unless my life is in danger?”

“Ah.... good point” Maya forgot that since she became a guardian, she was restricted to an observer role. She decided to hold her tongue for now and allowed Frost to drag her towards the quest board.

“Let’s grab an easy quest to start with.” They split up to search. The quest boards were neatly organised into their ranks, areas just for G, F etc... there was also a special board that contained permanent quests that were always available. Hunting goblins was considered a permanent quest, you didn’t need to take down the quest sheet to accept as there would always be a reward. Once Frost and Maya had found a quest, they liked they reunited.

“A request for red dwindle plant, minimum of ten stalks required, 5 coppers per stalk, G-rank.” Frost picked a simple gathering quest, no risk of danger. Maya however picked the permanent frost goblin hunting quest.

“This one’s better; kill frost goblins, minimum of 3 kills, no maximum, requires right ear for proof of kill, 8 coppers per goblin ear, 10 if including the magic crystal”.

Frost frowned as he stared at Maya, for some reason he felt off about hunting frost goblins, so he avoided taking that quest.

“What, you don’t like it?” Maya tilted her head as she asked looking very cute, she failed to realise his feelings on the matter.

Frost let out a sigh and shook his head.

“No, it’s fine, we’ll do both.” The goblin quest was certainly more lucrative if they hunted more than the minimum, so he didn’t have any logical reason to refuse.

“Yeah!” Maya smiled and fist pumped the air full of joy, to her going on a quest with Frost was more of a date than anything. Two quests would take longer which meant more time together.

They then brought the red dwindle quest sheet toward the reception, unfortunately it was only the female dwarf on duty, and she didn’t hide her frustration.

“You picked yet?”

“Yes, we’d like to accept the red dwindle gathering quest as well as the frost goblin hunting quest.” There wasn’t any rule saying they couldn’t accept 2 quests at a time.

“Tsk, 2 quests rather arrogant for a newbie ain’t ya. You’ve only got one day to achieve them otherwise they’ll count as a failure, you alright with that?” The more she looked at Maya and Frost the more annoyed she got.

“Yes please” Frost’s mouth twitched as he spoke, even he was struggling to maintain his calm demeanour let alone Maya. Her white tail was started to puff up and her arm was tensing around his.

“Tch fine hand over your guild cards” Frost and Maya did as requested. The dwarven receptionist took their cards and pulled a magic device from under her desk. It looked like a notary stamp but lacked ink. She stamped the gathering quest sheet and then their two guild cards, she did the same for the frost goblin killing quest with a prepared quest sheet kept in a nearby drawer.

Frost could feel a slight trace of mana connecting his guild card to the quest sheet.

‘How fascinating, the functions of magic devices are truly limitless.’ Just seeing this one device greatly broadened Frost’s knowledge on the subject.

“Here, you have until 3pm tomorrow to deliver the requested items, good luck I guess.” She handed back the guild cards before ignoring them once again. Maya’s fur couldn’t help but stand up in fury as she took a step forward.

“Maya! we’re leaving now.” Frost quickly placed his hand on her shoulder with some force before dragging her away. The dwarven receptionist hmphed, disappointed Maya didn’t make a move on her. she was confident in her strength and wanted an excuse to fight unaware that Frost just saved her life.

As they walked out of the guild hall, lots of the men ogled Maya as she passed but none of them moved from the seats, well apart from one person.

“Hey, you’re newbies, right?” a young human man blocked their path. He looked like the typical young adventurer, armed with leather armour and an iron sword. He had short brown hair, matching eyes, and an average face.

Frost didn’t feel very good right now and questioned the young man’s intentions, giving him a cold and unfriendly stare. The young man felt a chill down his back and laughed awkwardly.

“Sorry I don’t mean you any offense, just wanted to have a quick chat.” The young man gestured for the two of them to join him at the table he was just sitting at.

Frost looked deeply at the man’s face and into his eyes, trying to see if he had any untoward intentions. This silence lasted a few seconds before Frost felt a tug at his arm. He looked down and saw Maya nodding towards him.

He sighed before speaking

“Sorry... we’ll take you up on that” Frost smiled gently; Maya’s nod told him that this person wasn’t a threat and that he could relax.

The young man let out a deep breath, the pressure being emitted from Frost was quite unbearable. He led them to his table.

“My name’s Ron and I’m a D-rank adventurer.” Ron outstretched his hand in greeting. Frost’s eyebrows raised slightly at his information.

‘He looks to be in his late-twenties yet he’s already D-rank...not bad.’

“I’m Frost and this is my companion Maya, nice to meet you, Ron.” Frost shook his hand with a smile and Maya nodded her head gently.

“First off I’d like to apologise for Jaina, she’s a bit prickly but a good person at heart.” Ron looked over at Jaina in the distance before sighing. Frost followed his gaze and saw the gentleness in the man’s eyes.

“Prickly is an understatement” Maya muttered causing Ron to awkwardly laugh.

“Yeah, I guess so, she’s gotten a lot worse since her mother passed away a few years ago but that’s no excuse” Ron bowed his head in Jaina’s place. He along with most of the adventurers had watched Jaina grow up, so they were all rather lenient with her behaviour.

Hearing that her mother passed softened Frost and Maya’s anger, they agreed to forget about the treatment they received.

“As an apology I’ll help you out with some adventuring advice. What quest did you accept?”

“We took two, the frost goblin hunting quest and a quest for stalks of red dwindle.” Frost answered back without hesitation.

“Hoh two quests, that’s a bit risky for your first adventure, are you confident in your battle strengths? You shouldn’t underestimate goblins even though they’re G-rank.” Ron spoke with a concerned tone, like a senior speaking to their junior.

Frost looked at Maya and couldn’t help his lip from twitching.

‘Confident in our battle strength pfft’ although he thought that he could feel the genuine concern coming from Ron and felt happy.

“Yes, we’re fairly confident in our strength, goblins won’t be a problem. Plus, we don’t have anything else planned for today so two G-rank quest should be doable”.

“Ok then as long as you’re confident, but if not, try to expand your party. Although the reward money would be further divided, no amount of money is worth losing your lives” Ron spoke sternly to make sure they understood the seriousness of his words.

“Thank you, we’ll do so if needed.” The more they spoke the better Frost felt about Ron. He reminded him of Leo with his good nature.

“Do you know where to go for the quest?”

“Uhh I guess we’d enter the Northrend Forest and look.”

“Where in the Forest, what section?”

“Eh section?”

“Haaaaa” Ron let out a deep sigh at Frost’s response.

‘They don’t even know where to look’ Ron suddenly felt a rush of anger towards Jaina, it was her responsibility to properly aid newcomers. She should have given some advice about the local area as well as extra details about their quests. Without such information there would be very little chance of them completing the quests on time. The guild master always stressed the fact that newcomers should be assisted as much as possible in order to grow into fine adventurers.

‘She’s gone too far this time’ he sighed once again as he made a decision to speak to the guild master about her behaviour otherwise, she’ll end up doing something she’ll regret, and the guild will pay the price.

Ron pulled out a large, folded parchment from underneath his leather armour. He unfolded it completely and placed it on the table. It was a map.

“Take a look, this is a map covering Furano and the surrounding 100 kilometres” Frost and Maya looked at the map in wonder. The Northrend forest as well as parts of the Glacial mountains including their dungeon were there, divided up into different sections using a number system.