Currently it is 8am, as me and Sakaguchi-san arrived outside the freedom guild; I took a moment to admire the beauty of this supposed 'guild'.
The guild building was rectangular in shape, with the long, central portion of the hall made up of the nave. Here the interior reached its fullest height. The nave was flanked on either side by a colonnade (a row of columns) that delineated the side aisles, which were of a lower height than the nave. Because these side aisles were lower, the roof over this section was below the roofline of the nave, allowing for windows near the ceiling of the nave.
As Sakaguchi-san told me this is the branch of free guild which was set up by her acquaintance; headquarters being located in the kingdom of Ingrassia.
"Since you are from other world you naturally don't have any identification papers; I will take care of that also whatever happens do not tell anyone that you are from other world as it may cause unnecessary trouble for you" I nodded at her words as we entered the guild.
As I expected this place clearly gives the fantasy vibes as there were adventurers chatting and strategizing while some were picking quests from I assume to be the quest board, while we were heading towards the guild receptionist.
"welcome to the bulmund branch of free guild; my name is Maria, how may I help you Seijin-sama" the receptionist women who seem to be in her mid-30s said professionally albeit sweating nervously also I think seijin means 'saint', well considering Sakaguchi-sans popularity it is understandable.
"this person is my acquaintance from ruberios; unfortunately he lost his identification papers to some monsters, so instead of returning for new documents I recommended him to register here instead".
"hello my name is Abhi, it's a pleasure to meet you" I greeted her politely.
"ara~ ara~ Abhi-kun what an unusual name, so would you like to register yourself as an adventurer here?" she smiled sweetly and casually ara-ara'd me *sob* I can't get married anymore. I didn't show anything on my face though, just simply nodded.
"ara~ then let me give you a brief overview of how the guild works, first comes the type of adventurers; as mainly there are three kinds of quests you can take which includes subjugation, escort and search type quests depending on which type you excel in please fill it in the form which I will give you carefully as it will determine which type of adventurer you will become in the future. Oh but don' t worry it's not like you can't take any quest other than the specified ones, it just so that we can recommend you quest based on you preference.
Second comes the ranks; as a beginner you will start as F-rank adventurer and can only do F-ranked quests, in order to increase you rank there are two ways first is through quest completion which means you a complete certain number of quests and then take a rank up test, while the second is through merit for which you have to complete a 'special' quest which might be issued to you specifically or to anyone capable enough I will explain them later.
The lowest rank is F which goes all the way to A, to make the ranks more clear A ranks are known as champions and are incredibly strong as well as popular like you may have heard the name of 'conqueror of flames', which B ranks are also strong as well but they are not that well known outside their region. And please remember in any circumstance you cannot take a quest higher that you rank unless you team up with a party and the team meets the minimum requirements or you pass the strength test.
These were ranks for humans; now for monsters ranks from F to B are similar but after that comes the special ranks,
first A rank; they basically includes from high ranking monsters like kijins to the level where they could be considered a 'threat' on a regional level like an arch-demon for which on minimum a saint is to be dispatched.
Then comes calamity class monsters which includes demon lord seeds; they might topple the government of a small to mid sized country if left unchecked,
Above it there is disaster class which includes demon lords who needs a entire countries military to neutralize the threat,
then is calamity class which includes true demon lords; which require multiple countries to unite or ten great saints.
And above all else is catastrophe class; which includes true dragons, against which entire world has to unite to even stand a chance of survival. Which concludes the ranks.
Please do remember that failing to complete a issued quest multiple time might result in demotion of your individual or party rank.
And last but not the least 'special' quests are quests which are issued by countries or nobles to specific people or rank groups; the difficulty may vary depending on the person issuing the request but they do have rather good returns like a country may grant you the title of a noble or you can ask for riches or such you know what I mean?
Fufufuf with that I hope the basics are clear as for other things you will learn them eventually. Now please fill this form"
After that long ass explanation she finally gave me the guild application form which I filled in english; apparently english is also written here, after handling over the form to her she crosschecked it and after few minutes of waiting she gave me my official guild card with F-rank; subjugation and search type as specialty. With that we bid farewell to Maria-san.
"what kind of weapons do you prefer?" she asked as we were heading towards a popular blacksmiths workshop.
"not really sure. But can I find a katana here?"
"hmm… not really sure. Guess we are about to find that out"
Entering the shop we were met with a sight of neatly arrange weapons ranging from knifes and daggers to battle axe and war hammers along with shining knight like armour and shields. Sitting on the counter was an muscular man who seems to be in his mid 40s?
"welcome how can I help you?" he greeted us
"well, I am looking for a weapon do you happen to have a katana?"
"ohh! That weapon we definitely do have some. Please follow me" he led us towards the section where various kinds of broad swords and claymores were kept.
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"this is one the best we have right now please check if you would like it"
I quietly urged Sakaguchi-san so check as I am totally about what a good weapon is, she took the katana a gave a few swings and as expected of a veteran she gave her opinion quickly.
"this is good, too good I would say rather it is difficult to find a weapon of this quality in a place like this. Where you got this from?"
"ah customer-sama surely has good judgement; it came few years ago from Ingrassia you see this was made by a dwarf but since there are not many people who use this type of weapon, it was not sold despite its clear superior quality so we are selling it at discount price of 20 gold coins"
Damn that is super expensive and I suck at negotiating but I totally can't afford it "no 20 is too expensive how about 18 I won't giv-"
"3 gold coins" Sakaguchi-san and said something unexpected.
"n-no mam 3 is too low how abou-"
"2 gold coins" she denied mercilessly.
"wait-wait please wait mam its fine, let's go with 3-" he said while clearly while sweating buckets.
"1 gold coin" she didn't seem to be complying though.
"ok ok mam final 1 gold coin" he gave up completely . "would you like something else" he asked. what did I just witness.
Few minutes later we were done with shopping and in total I bought a katana, 2 kunai, a light plate mail and surprising a red hiori. Which account for total of 3 gold coins.
"Sakaguchi-san thank you for paying for me" I thanked her as we were searching for a restaurant for lunch.
"hmm.. No need, you have to return it though" she said mischievously.
"eh? I thought you were sugar mama though? Wont I get it for free?"
"no, rather I might as well charge interest on it"
"no-no please don't do that or I might seriously get in trouble you know?"
"fufu putting that aside, do you know anything about using a katana?"
"umm.. not really" how is a normal person from 21st century is supposed to know how to use a katana?
"then after lunch we will take a break and I will teach It to you" with that we entered the restaurant as was looking forward to the supposed training.