"Bronze quests are usually those that are deemed to have little to no danger levels, involving tasks such as gathering herbs or other plants for clients, looking for missing children or pets, delivering items to locations that aren’t very far away and so on.

Next, Silver quests, these involve low level Monster exterminations, simple escort missions, somewhat long distance deliveries and tasks like that. Generally, fairly simple step ups from those classified as Bronze quests," Explained Rosary, as I nodded to indicate that I understood.

"Got it, so Bronze and Silver mostly involve menial tasks and glorified bodyguard or postmen jobs," I surmised wryly.

"Well, whenever a postmen has to deliver messages or packages to a different town or village, especially if it’s one that’s far away, they’ll usually hire Gold or higher ranked Adventurers. Though, exceptions can be made for specialists," She informed me.

"Hm? Specialists?"

"Yes, those who are only good at certain assignments. For instance, an Adventurer could be ranked Silver, but their abilities when it comes to Monster hunting would normally be Gold ranked, but they’re unable to rank up due to a lack of proficiency in other tasks.

Like, say, they’re bad at fighting while having to protect someone, or they don’t have a good eye for plants so they aren’t good at resource gathering. We take several factors into account when assigning ranks, you see," She replied objectively.

"Huh? But all I did during my exam was fight, so doesn’t that mean that those other factors that should apply to my final rank weren’t taken into account?" I pointed out with a frown.

"Oh, no need to worry about that, I believe that your starting rank was appropriate. A lot can be determined from a person’s fighting style and preferred methods," She responded, a bit vaguely.

Right, she was somehow observing even while I was out of her direct sight...I’d dearly love to know which Skills she has, but she probably wouldn’t tell me if I asked. I mean, I certainly wouldn’t reveal mine if someone asked me.

"Well, if you say so. Anyway, tell me about the quests available for the top three ranks," I prompted her.

"Very well. Gold quests involve a lot of Monster extermination and Magical Beast hunting, as well as the occasional hunts for criminals. And if Demi-Human settlements are discovered, extermination quests for those are issued as well. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Additionally, there are more high profile escort and delivery quests available as well. Of course, there are many various different types of quests, but the ones I’ve mentioned tend to be the more frequent that we receive."

Demi-Human extermination, huh? Yeah, not a fan of that...I’ve never encountered a Demi-Human so far in this world, but that’s probably for the best. I mean, how would you react to meeting a member of the race that’s trying to hunt you to extinction?

"Hey, if you don’t mind me asking...what’s your opinion of Demi-Humans?" I inquired, letting my curiosity get the best of me.

Despite this world’s prejudices, it’s not like the people are incapable of individual thoughts and opinions. So, I’d like to know what she thinks.

"Huh? O-oh, uh...well, they’re hostile towards us, so it’s kill or be killed. Anyway, shall I get to the Platinum and Diamond quests?" She replied as she averted her gaze before composing herself.

Well, that was kinda weird, she wasn’t very subtle about avoiding the question. Hm, but if nothing else, at the very least, she seems to have some mixed feelings on the matter.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead," I nodded in response.

"Platinum and Diamond quests are actually pretty simple...well, not in terms of difficulty, of course, but in terms of what to expect. Similar assignments to what I mentioned for Gold quests but with higher levels of difficulty and danger are what mostly make up Platinum and Diamond quests, but there’s a significant additional qualification...those at Platinum and Diamond rank can take on Labyrinth exploration quests," She informed me.

Oh. That’s too bad, I was hoping to check out a Labyrinth at some point.

"Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if a Gold or lower ranked Adventurer went into a Labyrinth?" I asked her.

"Huh? Well, uh...there isn’t a penalty or anything, if that’s what you mean. However, in the event that you accomplish something in a Labyrinth that would normally meet the requirements of a Platinum or Diamond quest, the Guild won’t accept it as complete, as we don’t want to encourage those who aren’t strong enough to explore the Labyrinth."

"Okay, but there won’t be any consequences, right?" I surmised in response.

"No, there won’t be. But I highly advise against it. You may be strong, but you’re too inexperienced at this point. You would probably have a relatively easy time on the upper floors, but Labyrinths can be highly unpredictable and unforgiving to those who are I’ll-prepared for it," She warned me grimly, before adding, "Well, that said, there’s only one Labyrinth in Obsidian, to the northwest of the capital. It’s a fair distance away from here, the only Guild that issues Labyrinth quests in this nation is the Kaygee Town Guild. But seriously, don’t risk it, you could end up dead."

I, uh, I think I should take her advice for the time being. After all, while I am intrigued and curious, I don’t have any specific reason for needing to go to a Labyrinth at the moment.

"Right, I’ll keep that in mind. Anyway, I’d like to take on a quest now...are there any Gold ranked Monster extermination quests?" I inquired, deciding to get to the matter at hand.

"Actually, yes, we’ve got quite a few such quests. There’s been a problem with Monster outbreaks recently, most of our highest ranking Adventurers are currently out dealing with several such outbreaks," She replied, as she headed back and went through a pile of papers with quest details printed on them.

After a few minutes, she walked back over to the reception desk with a small stack of papers, setting them down on the desk before me.

"Let’s see here...," I muttered, as I skimmed through the details of each quest.

"I should inform you, these are all only quests that are approved for solo Adventurers, I haven’t included any in which a party or a team is recommended for. Do you need any help reading it?" She asked me.

"Oh, no thanks. I’m good," I replied, as I continued going through the options.

"We usually have a number of Monster extermination quests available in the forest to the west and northwest of this town as well, but most of the Monsters recently sighted in that forest, especially to the west, have been killed. Those were all relatively low level Monsters, but still," She remarked, as I nodded in response.

Hm? Wait a sec, that’s where Prysm and I traveled through after escaping the capital. Aw, man, if I hadn’t killed all those Monsters then, I could’ve gotten paid for it.

Oh, well, it’s not like I had a choice. They seemed pretty hungry and intent on attacking us, so it’s not like I could’ve spared them even if I wanted to.

"Huh, that’s strange," I mused nonchalantly.

"But that’s not even the strangest part. A merchant traveling here from the capital showed up with some fairly bad injuries, though nothing life-threatening. He was attacked by bandits, and strangely, despite having no combat experience whatsoever, managed to fend them off.

However, he has no memory of it, and while he did notice a few things missing from his cargo, it was strange that some of his more valuable items had been left untouched. There’s a lot about it that doesn’t quite add up," She frowned with a bewildered look on her face.

Ah, crap, guess I didn’t do a good enough job of covering my tracks. Still though, it doesn’t seem like she suspects me of it...I did say that I came here from the east, and this all happened in the west, so...looks like I’m safe.

Okay, let’s put that out of mind, time to narrow down these options. For starters, let’s set aside the Magical Beast hunting quests, I don’t want to kill creatures that won’t attack me unprovoked.

Sure, I’ll eat them if they’re being served in a restaurant, it’s not like me not eating them will undo the fact that they’re dead, after all. That said, I’ll only kill those who would try to kill me, be it an animal, Monster or a human.

That just leaves two quests that meet that criteria...a Monster extermination quest to the south of the town, by a large lake. A group of aquatic Monsters known as Reptiliasaurs have appeared there.

If I remember right, they’re creatures that have crocodile-like heads, their necks and tails resemble that of a snake, they have turtle-like shells and iguana-like legs.

They’re technically amphibious, not aquatic, but they prefer to be in water than on land. They’ve got powerful, crushing jaws, their fangs and claws contain a deadly venom that first paralyzes their victims and then slowly kills them, and they can constrict and strange a target with their necks and tails.

Their shells are supposed to be highly durable, and on land, they can run up to speeds of thirty miles an hour. So, yeah, they’re pretty damn dangerous. But some of their body parts are also highly valuable as medicinal ingredients, and their shells are used as materials for armor, so they’re pretty useful once they’re dead.

As for the second option...it’s a Monster extermination quest to the northeast of the town, where a flock of flying Monsters known as Griffins have appeared.

You probably know what those are, they’re creatures with bodies of a lion, except for their heads, front feet and wings, which resemble those of an eagle.

Hm...since they can fly, I’ll probably have to go pretty high up the mountain to get them within my reach, that’s probably gonna be a huge pain. Meanwhile, the Reptiliasaurs are a lot more aggressive, so just showing up near the lake should be enough to draw them out.

"Okay, I’ve decided. I’ll take the Reptiliasaur extermination quest," I remarked, as I held up the paper.

"Sure, that’s fine. We can provide you with a cart to bring back the bodies once you’re done. There’s a strict penalty for leaving corpses behind, you see, as that can start epidemics and diseases once they start to rot," She informed me.

"Right, got it," I nodded affirmatively, before adding with a smirk, "But no, thanks, I won’t be needing a cart."

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