A really fast one

Riding over the long and wide bridge, Jay was again astonished of the craftsmanship.

The massive construction that led over the valley of heroes was quite crowded so Jay decided to dismount and call his horse back. This caused quite the commotion, to which Jay learned that magic beast mounts had been more rare than he had anticipated.

Bending into the crowd after the commotion, Jay crossed the rest of the bridge while inspecting the statues adorning it.

The last statue on the left, opposite to the statue of a slim elven woman with a robe, was a statue he once pondered about. It was Alexis' statue.

The tall and busty beauty was depicted pretty well, though her tan and sharp eyes were missing of course. The fist weapons on the statue were something Jay had never seen with Alexis, as well as a Stave the statue had on her back.

As he arrived at the second gate, Jay had to queue in a line for entrance control.

Last time he simply rode in with Tharynn.

It didn't take him long though.

With his adventurer ID he had no problems entering and not even a fee or tax was demanded.

Striding along the busy main road through the trade quarters, Jay had his first stop set.

After some time strolling stalls, he arrived before the big building he was going to enter.

Updating his record and reporting to the Adventurers Guild was his first objective for the day. May be he could even rank up as he had been pretty active and accomplished some feats while he freed the northern Eldrin Forest of the Defiers and the cult.

Jay was going to adjust his further schedule depending on how log his stay at the guild took.

Entering the big hall, Milly immediately spotted him. Ignoring the Adventurer in front of her counter she waved Jay over while yelling his name.

Waving back he walked over to her.

She looked more energetic and contrary to last time she even had a couple of adventurers lining up in front of her counter.

"Hey, we were in da middle of redeeming a quest... " ???

A giant and burly adventurer took a step to the side and in between them, blocking Millie's and Jay's sight.

With his arms crossed he turned around and faced Jay.

"Who do you think you are, Huh? Piss off and get back in line!" ???

"Um,...sir? This man is my first exclusive adventurer. I'd like you to pardon us, I'll have my colleague take over.

Would you like to follow me to a private office?" M.

The last part was directed to Jay as Milly left her counter and went to the left where Jay had seen the meeting rooms last time he was at the guild.

As they reached the corridor and faced each other directly, Jay was once again surprised by her small figure.

"What was that about? I never signed anything or did you simply lie to the musclebrain?" J.

"N-No...I'd n-never do that. Guild employees have to be honest with their customers!

...Nicole...the vice master assigned me to be your exclusive guild staff.

With this you won't have to queue any longer for service and can do business with the guild in our private rooms for free.

I-If you'd like someone else to be your contractor, feel free to say it. I also have no idea why you were assigned to me. Normally something like this is possible only once you reach rank D. " M.

"So, are there other profits for me to sign this contract, aside from having my personal, beautiful Guild staff?" J.

With a small yelp, Milly turned around and walked along the corridor to the next free room.

Fumbling with her key as she stood in front of the door, Jay was sure to see even her ears getting red.

Muttering "P-please enter... " she stood to the side and Jay entered the room.

Two big couches and a wooden table were all that was inside the room. From the distance of the doors and the relatively small size of the room, Jay was sure the walls were extremely thick.

As Milly closed the door behind her, the noise from outside was cut off instantly while a small shimmer ran over the steel plated door.

"This is one of the private meeting rooms you can use as contractor. It is sealed with a strong barrier and noise canceling to prevent eavesdropping.

As for further boons, you can use the guilds banking system to redeem and retrieve money from each branch all over the world. If you'd like I can open an account for you." M.

"And what about you? Isn't there any bonus for you on contracting?" J.

"Well, there are quite some benefits for the guild staff that gets contracted.

As the Adventurer rises in rank, so do we. Once he reaches B rank, a Adventurer can move to the upper floor and acquire high ranking quests.

At the same time the Guild staff will move there as well, getting higher payment with lower workload.

What's more, one percent of what each adventurer stores at most on their account is paid as a bonus for the contracted staff. That's why the ladies on the upper floor try to get promising new recruits and also why only from D rank upwards, contracting is possible." M.

"Oh, then of course I'll sign that contract." J.

With eyes wide open, Milly sat on the opposite couch facing Jay. Blinking two times she fell back to her fumbling around while rummaging through her pocket.

It seemed to be a magic storage as the scroll she pulled out had no way to fit in anyway else.

Reading through the contract took Jay a while. It wasn't like the scroll was long or too much was written on it, but he simply was still far off from accustomed to this new language.

Reaching out for the quill after he finished reading, Jay signed the scroll.

"I'd like to deposit some coins if you're okay with it..." J.

"O-Of course! Then how much will it be?" M.

Thinking about it for a moment, Jay took out two of the big gold coins he found in the royal satchel and held them towards Milly.

The small girl went pale and fell back onto the couch which she just rose from.

"T-Those... You're joking, right?" M.

"Hmm? Why? Is there something wrong with them or can they not be used anymore?" J.

His first guess was they no longer were usable since he found them on people dead since centuries.

He thought it was a shame as he had quite the number of them in his inventory.

Glad that at least the normal coins still worked, as he had already used some of them, Jay was about to put the gold back into his pocket and from there to his inventory.

"Don't you even know their worth? Those are two hundred gold!!!" M.

"No, to be honest I had no idea... As those are only two gold for you, how about..." J.

"Stop it right there! How fucking rich are you? Only two gold?... Do you have any idea how much that is to me?" M.

Now it was Jay that was dumbfounded.

He had no idea what worth the gold he had was.

Until now he only ever paid his Wingblade and a few copper for food here and there.

Now that he thought about it...

"A gold is more than I earn in nearly a year, this is plenty! Please don't go around showing something like this. People are getting killed for less every day." M.

"Thank you. For your concern as well as the lecture... Then, how about this one here?" J.

Taking out one of the platinum plates he had and setting it on the table, Milly eyed it.

After picking it up and inspecting it she looked at Jay sternly, then shook her head.

"You're kidding me right? I'm out on this one. There's no way the guild can handle it in these times.

You should take it to the bank, even though they charge a fee for each transaction. Just for your information, a platinum plate like this is ten times one of the gold you gave me..." M.

"Oh, thank you. Yeah, I'll do that then... " J.

"If you would lend me your guild Card, I'll update it and deposit your money. We already received some reports about you, but do you have any letters or tags on you?" M.

Reaching back into his pocket, he retrieved everything he was asked for from his inventory and placed it on the table.

Jumping up, Milly took everything and rushed to the door with a spring in her steps.

"Excuse me then..."

Nearly ten minutes later she slipped back through the door and walked over to Jay.

She was pale and back to her meek attitude as she placed the crystal orb she was carrying on the table.

"I-I'm sorry, but I was asked to.. t-to reevaluate your status. Can you p-please put your hand on the orb again?" M.

The orb he was asked to put his hand on was bigger than last time and looked like black and white liquids kept swirling inside.

It was mounted on a endorsed stand and held by three arms.

Nodding with a smile he reached out to touch it.

The surface was cold and upon contact the swirling of the liquids increased while Jay felt like a tiny bit of his mana got drained.

After a little bit of time the movement inside ceased and only a black orb remained.

"T-Thank you. I'll have to bring the tool back and get your card updated. I-If you want to move out a little feel free to do so. Though I'd like you to stay close by as it will take one hour at most..." M.

"No problem, I'll do just that. But why does it take so long? I thought updating went pretty fast last time?" J.

"Oh... Yeah, that was different from now... ~Till the-hen~" M.

With the door slamming shut behind her, Milly was gone in the blink of an eye.

Whatever it was with his guild card, it should be nothing bad as he would have been asked to wait in there other ways.

Walking out of the door, he strode towards the great hall that was more crowded by then.

The Guild offered three meals a day for a small charge to members. The palate was nothing special but most of the adventurers were of low rank and got by only so so with their appropriate quests.

Jay was going to eat something of the stalls on the main street he passed on his way to the Guild.

They were more expensive as they aimed for the merchants that gathered there, but also tasted better.

Near the guild's entrance Jay had to stop though.

He had spotted two people he knew but hadn't expected to meet here.

In front of the bulletin board for quests he saw a small, light blue haired head reading through some quests while the taller one with curly dark hair stood next to her.

The slim ears on top of her head kept turning to all directions until she suddenly turned around as Jay stood directly behind her.

"Hey there, beauties... looking for some pastime quest?" J.

Shanti simply went for a hug while Jeany turned around and looked up from the tag in her hands.

"Yo, Jay... Nah, we're just taking some side jobs for today. Want to tag along?" Jeany

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to decline. I have to wait her for a bit longer and am pretty occupied.

So, I take it you took some quests in the surrounding area?" Jay

"Yeah, just some Murlock activities along the shore to the south.

We're planning to leave in the next hour and camp for two nights. I guess the trip there will take most of the time, so the day after tomorrow we'll be back." S.

"Yeah, how about meeting the day after tomorrow night then?

Asher's gonna welcome you too. It's our last days in the city as well... " Jeany

"So you're already leaving? Then sure, where do I have to go to?" Jay

"Come to the pig and whistle in old town. We're staying there..." S.

Leaning a little forward to his ear Shanti whispered "...and you won't need a room for yourself."

After this they said their goodbyes and Jay left the building. The two women had to register their quests at first and went to queue on a counter.

The skewer he was eating minutes later was a relevation for Jay.

Though the meat was simple cattle and the marinade didn't look too complicated, it was extremely tasty. He guessed it had something to do with the cooking skill the owner of the stall had.

Getting him some skewers that looked nearly identical from a stall further away from the plaza, Jay instantly tasted the huge difference.

Though the prices differed by nearly double, the cook of the latter stall didn't have the corresponding skill.

This resulted in a massive gap in flavor.

Jay wanted the cooking skill as well, if he would be able to eat something like this where ever his adventures took him.

Strolling back towards the guild, the small lavender haired Milly came running towards him. She had been tasked to fetch him and bring him back to the guild where he was to receive back his ID.

Passing her a skewer, the two leisurely walked back to the guild and towards the private meeting room they had been in before.

Seated there on the rightmost couch was Nicoletta with crossed legs, while tapping with the fingers of her left hand on her upper knee.

In the right hand she held a sheet of paper she was reading. After Jay and Milly had entered and closed the door behind them, she turned her head towards them and smiled.

"Nice to see you again. I'd like to give you your new Adventurer Card and have a small talk with you, if you won't mind..." N.

Taking a seat opposite to her while Milly stood next to Nicoletta, Jay smiled and gave a small nod.

"Same for you. But what is it that makes the Vice-Guildmaster want to talk with me?" J.

"Oh, nothing all too serious.

It's just that you skipped a rank again and even broke this branch's record to go from F to D rank by months..." N.