10 The Guild

[3rd Person POV]

Steve stood in the empty church as the sun's first light peeked through one of the holes in the collapsed roof. He had been up for well over an hour, contemplating a few things. Firstly, was whether or not he should register as an adventurer. He was interested in at least seeing what was in the Dungeon and he wasn't confident about sending Bella into it alone. Especially not on her first day. On the other hand, if registering meant releasing information about his status, that would cause a serious problem.

For the past 7 years, the strongest adventurer in Orario had been 'King' Ottar of the Freya Familia. He could just imagine the uproar when, out of nowhere, a Familia with no known resources, no history, and only two members, suddenly had an adventurer 2 levels higher than the best in the city. One nobody had ever even heard of. The chaos would be legendary, and neither Hestia nor Bella would be able to handle that. Not yet at least.

He would know more today, after they had spoken with the guild officials. If he had to wait to register, that would be fine. There was plenty that he could do on the surface to help prepare his new Familia for the fallout his existence would cause. The biggest being the state of their lodgings.

This church, or rather the basement, was Hestia's home and that meant it was her Familia's home. That wouldn't do. The state of the dilapidated building was pitiful. He'd wandered around the property already, trying to figure out if it could be saved. The lot had been given to Hestia by the goddess Hephaestus as both a gift and a means to stop Hestia from mooching off her. In terms of location, the church was actually in a pretty good spot.

The lot the church stood on was far larger than the church itself, which made for easy expansion. The lots surrounding it were either empty or had abandoned buildings which meant they could be bought at lower prices to expand even further. It was also fairly close to everything a Familia needed access to. The abandoned area was surrounded by on all sides by important areas. The guild building, the market square, the Dungeon, even the storehouses were nearby.

As for the church itself, it was in pretty rough shape. There were more holes in the roof than there was actual roofing and two of the walls looked like they were about to collapse. The only reason they hadn't was that there was no roof left for them to support. Still, the basement was secure, and the foundation was strong. He had money. More than he knew what to do with if he was being honest.

It made no sense to him to keep his money to himself when he could use it to better his own, and by extension Bella and Hestia's, living conditions. Steve could even do the renovation himself using his Minecraft power but he still need to asked Hestia permission to do it.There was a space to the back of the property that looked perfect for a forge, and he had the materials to make alchemy and enchanting tables. He even has this crazy idea of turning the Dungeon into XP Farm.

He was torn from his thoughts by the creak of the basement door opening behind him. Out came a practically giddy Bella, dragging a slightly groggy looking Hestia by the wrist. Steve chuckled at this.

"I take it you're ready to get started, then?" He asked.

"Of course I am, Steve-san!" Bella said excitedly.

"Let's get going then and maybe we can grab some food on the way to the Guild." Steve said with a smile.

After Steve mention food, the stomach of the girls started growling much to they embarrassing and his amusement.

GUILD BUILDING

[3rd Person POV]

Steve eyed the adventurers around him as they walked into the guild building. There weren't many out at this time, but a decent number of early risers were already meeting with advisors and prepping for their daily trip into the Dungoen. There didn't appear to be any signs specifically for registration, just a bunch of counters with guild officials standing behind them.

Moving to one of the open counters, he observed the official. She had elven ears, but they were considerably smaller than those of a normal elf in this world. A half elf he believe. With brown hair, green eyes, and glasses, she seemed a bit young. Especially for a half elf. Stepping up to the counter, he addressed her.

"Excuse me."

"Yes?" the official reply.

"We were hoping to talk to someone about registering a new Familia." he said.

"Certainly, it doesn't require much, just a few forms." She said.

"We also had a few questions for the Guild that are best done in private. Are there any private area's where we can talk?"

Steve said seriously as the woman seemed startled at this.

"Oh, Of course! The Guild has several rooms for dealing with sensitive business. Please follow me."

She led them into a back room and, after closing the door, she sat down on one of the couches.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Eina Tulle, and I am one of the Guild's advisors." the girl now known as Eina introduce herself.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

Steve said as he sat down opposite her. Bell and Hestia sat beside him.

"My name is Steve. This is Bella Cranel and this is Hestia, the goddess of our Familia." Steve introduce himself along with Bella and Hestia.

"It's nice to meet you. So, these are the forms you need to register a Familia, as well as new adventurers. You said you had private business to discuss though, would you like to handle that first?" Eina asked.

"That would probably be best."

"You see, Bella and I are new to Orario. I am rather experienced as an adventurer and have been teaching Bella for a few months now, but there are some issues with my status, specifically my level, which would cause problems for the Familia if they were made public. Especially for a Familia as small as ours. I know that certain information about adventurers is made public by registering. Is there any way for me to enter the Dungeon and continue teaching Bella, but not release my information to the public?" Steve asked.

"Hm. Lying about your level is highly illegal and usually results in severe sanctions against a Familia."

"Can I ask what exactly you don't want known? I give my word not to tell anyone, even my colleagues." Eina asked.

Steve had expected that and had asked

Hestia to make a copy of his Status that didn't show his skills or magic. Handing over the sheet, he watched as first, Eina's eyebrows disappeared into her bangs, before her face suddenly went very pale.

"I..is…is this accurate?" Eina asked shakily.

"I am willing to let you examine my Falna to confirm it, so long as you do not attempt to look at my skills." Steve told her.

"I…yes, I'm sorry but I must confirm this."

The Half Elf seemed a bit overwhelmed. Steve pulled his clothes up over his head unnoticed by him as it cause Bella to blush for saw his toned body again. The Miner turned his back to Eina as he'd asked Hestia to leave his status unlocked, just in case they needed to do this. After a moment, Eina spoke up again. In a quiet voice she said

"You can put your shirt down. I…Well, I can certainly understand why you would want to hide that…"

She looked like she might faint much to Steve to sigh tiredly.

"Anyway, is there any way for me to register but keep this hidden? Without breaking the law?"

Steve asked with a sigh as he put his shirt down and turned to face her again. The question seemed to break Eina out of her stupor.

"The level of all active adventurers is publicly announced at registration, along with each subsequent level up but…"

"The information on retired and semi-retired adventurers is removed from the noticeboards and kept in a file here in the guild. If you register as semi-retired then you could still enter the Dungeon, with restrictions, but your information would be placed in a file at the guild, rather than on the notice boards. The file is a public document so the information would still be available, but only if someone went looking for it."

Steve nodded at this. That sounded perfect. If nothing else, it would give them some time before someone discovered the document.

"If I register as semi-retired, what restrictions would I be under?" He asked again.

"Semi-retired adventurers often function as teachers for newer members of their Familia. Like you're doing with her." Eina said pointing to Bella.

"The restrictions aren't too bad either. Semi-retired adventurers are allowed to enter the dungeon but only until the safe zone on the 18th floor. They are also forbidden from participating in Guild issued quests, Familia expeditions, or War Games. If you participate in any of those, level up, or so much as set foot on the 19th floor, you will be automatically moved to active status, and your information will be placed on the notice boards." Eina explain to Steve who nodded understandly.

The restrictions seemed rather harsh but, they also made a great deal of sense. As a new Familia with only one active member, they were unlikely to be issued a quest or challenged to a War Game and expeditions were out of the question until they had more members. Steve was a bit bummed about being restricted to the first eighteen floors though. They were for Level 1-2 parties. He was level 9. While perfect for training Bella, if he went into the Dungeon alone, they would be utterly boring. Still, this deal seemed like the perfect way to accomplish their goals.

"I see. Can you give me a time to think? Also, please register Bella here first." He said as he need a time to think about it.

"Very well. First we need to register your Familia, then we can do your personal registrations." Eina said.

"I believe that's where I come in." Hestia speak as Eina looked at her.

"Yes Goddesss Hestia. First I need you to…"

What followed was several hours of tedious bureaucratic paperwork, by the end of which, both Hestia and Bella's eyes were spinning while Steve looked fine as usual. He had done many thing before, so this not much compair to him mining all days searching for Ore and other.

Since Bella already had a decent weapon for a Level 1, she only needed to pay for the guild issued starting armor. Eina went ahead and registered herself as her advisor. Also, since Bella was their Familia's only active adventurer, she was registered as the Captain much to her disagreement. In the end, Steve promised her that he will become the Vice Captain much to her joy and the Miner confusion.

Before they could leave though, Steve had one final question.

"Would it be possible for us to buy or, at least access a copy of all the information the Guild has on the Dungeon?"

The fact that Eina's eyes seemed to shine when he asked that question should have been a warning of what was to come.

What followed was a long explanation of how the Guild did not sell copies of the information, but it was fully accessible in the Guild Library. Few adventurers ever accessed it though because, in Eina's words, they were "A bunch of idiots with a Deathwish." She clearly had a problem with adventurers being reckless. He should probably try to make sure that Bella don't be an idiot. As the mentor and senior, she would likely be madder at him than Bella if the girl did something stupid.

Still, with that information in hand, Steve sat down with Eina and Bella and spent the rest of the day, and all of the next, going over every scrap of information the guild had on the first 10 floors of the Dungoen. Eina had extracted a promise from them that they, especially Bella, would not set foot on a new floor without first doing thorough research on what they would find there.

Meanwhile, after an extended conversation with Hestia about funding, Steve had given her a decent amount of money and asked her to buy a building material. At the same time, asking her permission to did the renovation and thankfully been approved as Hestia know about Steve's Max Level Building Skill.

The three of them had spent their third and fourth days after registering going over the plans with Steve. They ended up buying all the lots around them in preparation for expansion. They all wanted the Familia to grow to a pretty decent size, maybe even rivaling Freya and Loki someday, so they had made the plans with future expansion in mind.

For now, they would turn what was the old church into an entrance hall, with a dining hall, a large kitchen, living areas, a library, and a central open courtyard all branching off of it. The living quarters were to be on the second floor, and they had decided that 20 bedrooms was a more than ambitious enough start for them. Steve also decided to build a private building on the back of the property to house the forge he has along with his enchanting and brewing item.

Finally, on the fifth day after their trip to the Guild, they received word from Eina that their registrations had gone though. They had clearance to enter the Dungeon.

Now, Steve and Bella standing in front the Dungeon entrance. Bella has excited look while Steve chuckle at the girl behaviour. He then looked at the Dungeon as he looked at it with amuse gaze.

'I wonder, what kind of being lie on the deep of the Dungeon. This gonna be interesting.' He wondered.

[To Be Continue]

[See You Next Game]

(Author Note: Should I make Steve as Semi-Retired or Active Adventure. The decision is up to you Reader-san.)