Modern Weapons Cheat in Fantasy World-Chapter 16: Curiosities

Marcus returned to the Adventurer’s Guild and walked straight toward Elaina. He handed over the parchment and the proof.

The pouch landed on the counter with a soft thud.

Elaina looked up from the ledger she had been writing in.

"Good afternoon adventurer! You are back already" she said with her ever-present pleasing smile.

Marcus slid the parchment toward her.

"Quest completed."

She raised an eyebrow slightly but took the pouch first. She loosened the string and poured the contents onto the wooden counter.

Seven small dark spheres rolled across the surface before stopping near the edge of the ledger.

Elaina leaned forward.

Her eyes moved from one core to the next as she counted.

"One... two... three..."

She paused for a moment, then finished.

"...seven."

She looked back up at Marcus.

"The report estimated six to ten," she said. "Looks like you cleared the whole cluster."

Marcus shrugged.

"They were all in the ditch."

Elaina picked up one of the cores and examined it under the lantern light. The surface was smooth and slightly reflective.

"Intact," she murmured.

She placed it back down and pulled the ledger closer.

Her quill scratched quietly as she wrote.

"Slime cluster extermination," she said while writing. "South pasture drainage. Berm outskirts."

She flipped the parchment over and stamped the back with the guild seal.

The wax pressed flat with a dull click.

"Verification complete."

She reached into the drawer beneath the counter again and pulled out a small leather pouch. The sound of coins clinking softly came from inside.

"Elimination reward," she said.

She opened the pouch and counted the coins onto the counter.

"Fifty... one hundred... one hundred fifty... one hundred eighty kinah."

The small stack of copper and silver coins sat between them.

Marcus swept them into his palm and dropped them into his own pouch.

"First completed quest registered under your name," Elaina continued as she wrote another entry in the ledger.

Her quill moved quickly this time.

"Experience recorded."

Marcus leaned slightly against the counter.

"You know I have been wondering, you know to level up, you need to complete more quests like this right? And it’s kind of boring for me and I wanted some real challenge if you know what I mean? Like facing monsters taller than me, or shorter ones so long as they are feraciously dangerous. It’s just that the quest from the E-rank tabs are kind of like...how should I say this..."

"I know, and I understand," Elaina said, cutting him off. "But that’s how it works. You complete an E-rank quest and then the more you clear, the more experience you get, and the more experience you get, the faster you can climb."

"But aren’t there instances where you can rise up through the ranks to the point you’d skip a rank? Like E to C for example."

"Well, there are instances if there are emergencies," Elaina said.

Marcus raised an eyebrow.

"Emergency?"

Elaina closed the ledger and folded her hands on the counter.

"Yes. Situations where the guild cannot afford to wait for rank requirements. For example, if a monster suddenly appears near the city and the available adventurers are not enough."

She gestured lightly toward the quest boards.

"In those cases, the guild may allow lower-ranked adventurers to participate in higher-rank quests."

Marcus tilted his head slightly.

"And if they survive?"

"If they perform well enough," she said, "the guild may issue a field promotion. Sometimes a rank skip."

Marcus crossed his arms.

"That’s what I was talking about."

Elaina gave a small nod.

"But those situations are rare. And dangerous."

Marcus leaned forward slightly.

"How dangerous?"

Elaina reached into a stack of documents beside the ledger and pulled out a thin parchment.

She tapped it lightly on the counter.

"Last year," she said, "a C-rank wyvern was spotted near the trade road west of Berm."

Marcus’s interest sharpened immediately.

"A wyvern?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"Eliminated by a B-rank party from another city."

Marcus nodded slowly.

"So if an E-rank like me showed up?"

"You would have died," Elaina said flatly.

Marcus chuckled under his breath.

"Fair enough."

She pushed the parchment back into the stack.

"The guild ranking system exists for a reason. E-rank quests are designed to test reliability."

"Reliability," Marcus repeated.

"Yes," she said. "If you cannot consistently complete simple tasks, the guild cannot trust you with dangerous ones."

"Well I guess I will wait for that emergency while doing some mundane quest from people who couldn’t do it themselves," Marcus chuckled and then realized something.

"Wait, I know I’m keeping you with my questions, but I’m curious about something. How does this Adventurer’s guild earn anyways? I mean, looking around, a nice building, a lot of staff, your company must be earning a lot from it."

Elaina tilted her head slightly.

"You are not wrong," she said. "But it is not as simple as you might think."

Marcus rested his forearms on the counter.

"I figured as much."

Elaina pulled the ledger a little closer and tapped the cover with her finger.

"The guild earns from several sources. The most obvious one is the commission from quests."

"Commission?" Marcus asked.

"Yes. When someone posts a request, they pay the guild first."

Marcus frowned slightly.

"So the farmer who reported the slime cluster—he paid the guild?"

"Correct," Elaina said. "He deposits the reward and a small administrative fee. The guild keeps the fee, and the reward goes to the adventurer who completes the job."

Marcus nodded slowly.

"That explains the basic jobs."

Elaina continued.

"But that is only a portion of our income."

She gestured toward the hall behind him.

"You see how many adventurers come and go every day?"

Marcus glanced around.

Several groups sat at tables drinking while others stood near the quest boards arguing over requests.

"Yeah."

"Adventurers pay registration fees," Elaina said. "There are also renewal fees every year to maintain guild status. They are free in the first year, just like your cause, it’s free."

She continued. "Then there are monster materials."

"Materials?"

"Yes," Elaina said. "Cores, hides, claws, venom sacs, horns. Adventurers bring them back, and the guild buys them."

"And then resells them."

"To alchemists, blacksmiths, enchanters, and merchants."

"Alright... that makes sense."

Elaina nodded.

"For example, those slime cores you just turned in."

She pointed at the seven small spheres still on the counter.

"The guild pays you for eliminating the slimes, but we also keep the cores."

Marcus blinked once.

"Oh."

"They are used by potion brewers and mana researchers."

"And if I may ask, how much exactly do the adventurers guild earn in a year? Like give me figures."

"Figures?" she repeated.

Marcus nodded.

"Just a rough idea."’

"The Berm branch?" she asked.

Marcus shrugged.

"Sure."

Elaina gave a small shake of her head.

"The Berm branch is minor. A provincial guild like this earns perhaps three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand kinah a year after expenses."

Marcus blinked once.

That alone already sounded large.

But Elaina continued.

"However, if you want a better picture of the guild’s scale, you should look at the capital."

Marcus leaned slightly closer.

"The capital?"

"Yes."

"The Adventurer’s Guild headquarters in Blussel, capital of the Kingdom of Renshade. That single branch processes over two hundred thousand quests a year and generates over forty million kinah annually."

Marcus whispered. "That’s a lot."

"It is indeed a lot."

"Uhm, Elaina, I have more questions like this, would you mind after your shift we can discuss my curiosities? Please? I’ll pay for dinner. It won’t be a date or anything. It’s going to be like a business meeting."

Elaina pondered for a moment. "No problem, so long it’s just that."

"Thank you!"