Mission Boards

"Can you guys do the rest by yourself? I just found an incredible mission," Owen says.

"Does it have a time limit?" I ask.

"No, but I can't call dibs on the mission or anything like that. Whoever brings the asking items first gets the rewards."

"Does that mean I can do the high-level missions if I just bring in the items?"

"No. They won't take your items if your level is too low. That's to deter crusaders who are starting out from doing things way above their abilities to earn more but risk losing their lives."

"Right, that makes sense. Yeah, we should be fine from here. Go ahead and complete your quest," I say.

"Thanks," Owen says and sprints away without so much as a wave.

We are now left alone in the line to the registration. I now finally understand why we are attracting the attention that we are. It's neither because of my hair nor Faye. The reason is probably that we are not even close to being appropriately dressed for the occasion.

Everyone else here is either armed and ready for war or too poor to afford protective equipment. We clearly don't fall into those categories. We look more like we are here to conduct business than to crusade.

"Faye, you know how to fight, right?" I ask.

"Me? I know how to use the bow a little," she says.

Just a little?

"Really? Remember that boar you shot back in Alventyr? The arrow went through the rib cage right into its heart. That takes some pretty well-honed skills," I say.

Faye begins shifting her weight from side to side and fidgeting with her hair.

"He-he… I got lucky, that's all," she says with faintly cherry cheeks.

This girl… can't even take a compliment normally.

"We will get you a bow, then." I turn to Astra. "What about you. Can you fight?"

"No." She shakes her head without hesitation.

"Can you use your miracles to fight or something?" I ask.

"Yes, but I won't."

"What? Why?"

Astra hides her right hand with her left, and the one behind starts glowing.

I hear her voice in my head say, "I still don't have good control over my powers yet. These little tricks I can do no problem, but anything involving destroying stuff… let's just say it might not have the effect I desire."

Vague enough, but I guess having a Goddess who can't control her powers kill things is maybe not a good idea.

Astra speaks out loud, "Krissy, how do you know we will have to fight? Not all the missions involve killing things."

"But all the crusaders look like they are preparing to fight something," I say and glance around the lobby.

"That's because they are going into the Pitted Woods," Astra says, "We don't have to do that. In fact, we probably won't be able to do that since we are new."

"Right."

Owen did say he was not going to fight ogres. Then what else is there?

I whisper the zoom-in command into the lens and look over to the D boards. Most of the missions are foraging or delivery. What kind of crusaders are treated like interns?

The pay isn't well, either. They are about a few iron slabs to copper coins. Well, for the difficulty of the jobs, I guess the effort is worth about that much.

"So, what will we do, then?" I ask.

"Won't that depend on our ranks?" Faye says.

"If we reveal our true strengths, we can probably just pick the S+ missions," I say.

The ones posted on that board are slaying packs of dragons and King Ogres.

"Hey, Lohikaarmi, you are on that board," I say and point to the S+.

"How can you read that? It's so far away." Faye asks.

"Oh, right, it's some tool I got back where I came from," I say, "I will read it for you."

"FIVE PLATINUM SLABS FOR THE EXTERMINATION, OR TWENTY PLATINUM SLABS FOR THE SUBJUGATION OF THE INFERNO DRAGON. Then some small texts regarding some details," I say.

A drawing of the Inferno Dragon is attached to the bottom, just like with every other specific target on the board. It's not a great depiction of Lohikaarmi. I can see how it's vaguely similar, but I would have no idea what it is if there wasn't a title above it.

I guess it makes sense, seeing that most people don't exactly return in one piece after meeting her closely.

"Twenty platinum slabs?" Faye exclaims.

"Yeah."

She leans toward me and whispers, "Does that mean we can claim the rewards for that mission?"

I chuckle.

"Probably not. It's on the highest rank, plus, it says below that we have to give the dragon, dead or alive, to the church."

"Oh, never mind."

"Master can give me away if you so wish," Lohikaarmi says.

Jeez. She is really ready to give up everything for me.

"No," I say, "For one thing, I don't trust anyone else to give you orders, not even Astra. I am guessing you have the ability to flatten the Grand Cathedral if you want."

Faye winces at Lohikaarmi's resolute nod.

The line gradually disappears from in front of us, and we are now at the reception desk. A young woman formally dressed in black greets us with a slight bow.

"Good morning, how may I help you?" She asks.

"We would like to register as crusaders at the shrine," I say.

"I understand. And will you three all be joining into the same party?"

"Hey! I am down here, too!" Astra jumps up with her hand bobbing over the desk.

The reception lady looks down at her. "I am sorry, miss, but you are too young to register as a crusader."

"What?" Astra says.

"You are welcome to tag along with your… brother?"

I nod.

"But you can not complete missions by yourself," she continues.

"Oh, that's fine. I will just tag along, then," Astra says.

"Great. So, same party?" The lady asks again.

"What are the benefits?" I ask.

"If you register as a party, you will receive a party rank, which is the average of all of the members. When all the members are present, you are allowed to complete missions within the rank of your party, even if they are higher than your individual ranks."

"Sure, that sounds good."

She turns to one of the women sitting behind her. "Naomi, can you take these people for an assessment?"

Assessment?

The woman looks up from the paper she was writing on. "Sure thing."

The reception lady turns back to us and says, "The registration will take place there. I have to ask the little miss here to stay behind if you don't mind."

"Alright," I say and bend down beside Astra, "Don't do anything stupid, got it?"

"Ye." She gives me a thumbs up.

The woman named Naomi walks around from behind the reception desk and over to us.

"Follow me, please," she says.