Chapter 21: Tanaka the Wizard

"Are you sure here is fine?"

Knight Captain Dante Infernius looked at me, concerned. I nodded and hopped off my borrowed horse before handing its reins to the nearest knight.

"Yeah, thanks for the ride. Here is fine."

I had hitched a ride with the depleted Knights of the Blood Company and reached the nearest city. I bowed gratefully to the company of knights as they reined their horses to a trot across the paved street of the city. Without the knights, I wouldn't have reached the city this quickly. Riding a horse was completely different from traveling on foot.

"I just need you to point me toward the nearest mercenary guild," I explained as I glanced around. The streets were wide and huge, and the districts were packed full of large buildings reminiscent of shop houses in Kyoto's famous shoutengai.

Unlike most Japanese light novel stories, "adventurer" guilds or adventurers didn't exist in reality. Adventurers weren't a profession. Instead, Restia was filled with something called mercenaries – people who execute specific jobs for money. Having arrived in this world not too long ago, I was still penniless. I had nothing but the shirt I had on my back, and even my uniform jacket was ruined. Fortunately, I had the Redwood Robe as a cool replacement for my jacket (though it really should be called jacket rather than robe, but that wouldn't sound magical enough).

In the face of such a predicament, I decided that the most practical route was to take up jobs from the mercenary guild to earn some money for living expenses. Thanks to the knowledge I had garnered from the Library of Eden, I roughly had some sense of how Restia operated. Fortunately, I didn't go around asking for an adventurers' guild or I would have made a fool out of myself. It was a pity, but such fictional fantasies didn't always exist in reality.

Well, mercenaries were close enough.

"The nearest mercenary guild is down that way," Dante pointed out. "Just follow the road down, and you'll see a gigantic building with a blue domed roof and golden entrance a few blocks south. You can't miss it – it's literally labeled as mercenary guild."

"Thanks!"

I saluted Dante, but he shook his head.

"No, I should be the one thanking you. For saving me and my men."

"I didn't manage to save all of them…"

I glanced down, but Dante waved my discouraged demeanor away.

"Are you joking? You aren't obligated to save even one of us, yet you saved more than half of my company. I swear, we – the knights of the Order of Blood – will definitely repay this favor one day. Call upon us and we'll come to your aid."

Somehow I knew that he would never be able to fulfil that promise. I couldn't ask them to fight against their own heroes, after all. However, they didn't know that, so for decorum purposes I merely smiled and nodded.

"I look forward to that."

"May our paths cross again!"

Pulling on the reins, Dante turned his horse around and galloped to the nearest barracks, his surviving knights following him. Most of them threw me a salute or a thumb's up before they spun away to follow their commander.

I waited until the last of them were gone before I continued on my quest to find an actual job to make money from. As per Dante's instructions, I walked along the road and passed a few blocks, keeping an eye out for the fancy building he told me to look out for. It didn't take me long before I located the blue domed building with the extravagant golden entrance that had a huge sign with the words "Mercenary Guild" scribbled on its wooden surface.

How conspicuous.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I proceeded to climb the gilded steps and approached the giant door that was framed by what looked like an arcane archway. Before I could reach for the handle, however, the doors flew open and caused me to jump out in fright.

"Ah! Again!"

A beautiful girl with long, blond hair strode out of the guild building, sounding frustrated. A black cloak swept from her shoulders, and white, fleshy thighs peeked out from under her short skirt before being hidden in long, silky thigh-length socks. Placing a hand on her hip, she glanced back with her sapphire eyes at her companion, a handsome knight in silver armor who wouldn't look out of place in Dante's company.

"Why do I need to request for a new party member?" she whined, pouting as she brushed off the front of her blouse.

"We need someone who can heal, Alicia," her male companion replied. Like her, he sported golden hair and blue eyes, but his body was a lot more covered in silver armor. A single large sword hung from his back, and some decorated heraldry that was different from the Order of Blood's hung from armor, most likely the crest of a noble family.

"That's true, Alan, but…"

Grumbling to herself, the girl named Alicia sulked and strolled past the door, only to stop when she noticed me.

"Hmm?"

I had backed away to avoid being struck by the door, and as such my line of sight was aligned with her and her companion. Feeling uneasy by my gaze – and acting exactly like my female classmates – Alicia scowled.

"What are you looking at? Pervert."

"…"

What was it with me and girls? Was it a curse I had? Even though this was the first time we met, she already thought I was creepy and disgusting. And I didn't even do a single thing. Perhaps it was the way I was looking at her? What was wrong with the way I looked at her? Was it my glasses? My eyes? My expression?

"Ah, Alicia!"

As Alicia stomped off, the guy named Alan chased after her. He turned to me and bowed apologetically.

"Sorry. She's in a bad mood, so please forgive her lack of manners."

"No worries." I waved him away. At least there was one guy who had the decency to realize that I was being treated unfairly.

I watched the girl and guy leave the guild before sighing. The girl certainly was beautiful, almost like a princess from a dream or fairy tale, and the guy was no slouch in looks either. He was such an ikemen that most of the girls in my class would fall head over heels for him at first sight. It was just a pity that the girl's attitude sucked.

Typical…this is starting to sound like a clichéd manga or light novel.

Perfect characters didn't exist in reality. Well, I wasn't interested in creating a harem or whatever nonsense, so I decided not to dwell on it too much. Chances were, I would never run into that girl with a rotten attitude again. Rather, I would prefer not to run into any girls at all. I was cursed or something – every girl other than the goddesses hated my very existence.

Besides, for what I plan to do, it's much better if I move around solo.

Scratching my head, I glanced at the open double doors. The fact that the handsome knight and beautiful magician (I guess) walked out of there complaining about needing party members meant that I was in the right place. This had to be the mercenary guild that Dante was talking about. If the couple from earlier needed to form a party, then they must be considering taking a job from this place. And a job was the one thing I needed right now.

I stepped into the guild house and paused when I caught sight of the occupants. I wasn't expecting a harem of beautiful girls or youngsters running about and looking for quests…actually, I didn't even know what I was expecting. But bitter reality slapped me in the face when I caught sight of a bunch of muscular, middle-aged men with beards, mustaches or scars huddling over the tables. There were women too – but middle-aged women with rough skin, ponytails and hostile scowls that sent chills down my spine.

To all them pretty would be stretching it. The best word I could use to describe them was comely, but even that was flattering them.

"Huh? What do you want, brat?"

One of the older women – who resembled more like her male comrades than a lady – growled at me. The only reason I could tell that she was female was the two huge bulges from her chest, that was barely held in by a tattered leather tunic. She had completely no fashion sense, or she just didn't care about her appearance at all.

That suited me fine.

"I'm looking for a job."

"Huh? A greenhorn brat like you?" she sneered. Ignoring her, I walked past and toward what looked like the reception desk.

"Um, excuse me, sir?"

I approached the bald, dark-skinned man behind the desk.

"I'm looking for a job…I don't mind doing mercenary work…"

"Huh?" the muscular receptionist boomed as he towered over me. "Are you aspiring to become a mercenary at your age?"

"Yeah, sorry. Circumstances forced my hand and I really need some means of earning money."

"Hmph." The receptionist sighed and shook his head. Relenting, he sat back down and retrieved a scroll and a pen. As he put pen to paper, he glanced up at me. "Well, okay. Let's start your registration. Name?"

"Tanaka Tomoyuki."

"Age?"

"16."

As I answered the receptionist's questions, there was a furor among the other mercenaries at the tables inside what seemed like the dining hall of the guild.

"Oi…he says he's 16."

"He's young enough to be my son," a thickset man with a beard chuckled. Ignoring them, the receptionist continued.

"Class?"

"…necromancer?"

He gave me a stare as if he thought I was joking. When I didn't smile or respond, he shook his head and just scribbled in the scroll.

"I'll just put wizard then."

Seriously? Did you have something against necromancers or something? Are you discriminating against us? I was telling the truth, you know!

At least that was what I wanted to say, but I doubted he would take me seriously. So I essentially became Tomoyuki the Wizard. Or Tanaka the Wizard.

Meanwhile, the other mercenaries continued to chatter, sending glances in my direction. Bloody hell, they were still talking about my age. Evidently, mercenaries were for more experienced veterans who had been through countless battles. Ex-military, rogues, former criminals…hardened warriors who had seen much of the world and survived whatever dark forces conspired to throw against them. A kid like me who was still wet behind the ears strolling up and asking for a job would cause heads to turn and surprise them.

However…

"He doesn't look like a noble."

"Yeah, he doesn't look rich or spoiled."

"He's different from those other kids earlier. No guardian, no bodyguard to escort and protect him from the actual dangers?"

"Those spoilt kids didn't seem to bring along protection either…"

"But they have money. They have excellent weapons and equipment. This kid looks completely broke and unequipped."

For your information, I had one of the best defensive equipment in all of Restia, the Redwood Robe. Not that I was going to show that off to a bunch of grizzled, cynical middle-aged men. I didn't want to get robbed.

"Do you have any special skills?"

The receptionist continued to interrogate me, paying no heed to his comrades.

"Um, yes. Magic. Necromancy…summoning the dead…Regeneration"

The receptionist raised an eyebrow, but merely noted summoning and healing. Well, in a way, he wasn't incorrect…

"All right then."

Once the application was filled out, the receptionist casted some sort of spell to create a card. He passed the card, which featured my photograph (when did he take my picture?!) and personal information. I took it and stared at it dumbly.

"This is your guild identification card. Don't lose it, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll do my best to safeguard it."

I immediately placed the card in my pocket. The receptionist nodded in approval.

"Right now, you're Porcelain rank."

"Porcelain?" I almost snorted in laughter. That sounded so fragile, as if it could break any time. I wondered if it was an insult, but from the knowledge I gained from the Library of Eden, I knew it was the most basic and lowest rank.

"Yes, sir," I said instead. The receptionist had looked like he was expecting me to protest, and was relieved when I accepted the rank without arguing.

"If you want to earn money, then go to the sewers and hunt rats, or go to the forest and collect herbs. Simple stuff. When you get a bit more experience and honed your combat skills enough, you can move on to hunt goblins. Bring the remains back and the guild will purchase them at the appropriate price."

"Yes, sir. I understand."

I almost saluted. The receptionist glanced at me strangely, and then nodded as realization dawned on him.

"Were you serving in the knight corps?"

"…not really, but I did fight alongside them once."

"Ah, that explains it." he nodded understandingly, then gave me a pat on the shoulder. "Good luck!"

"Thank you, sir."

I turned away, my mind churning and calculating what to do next. If I remembered correctly from what I read in the Library of Eden, this was the standard system for mercenaries. Complete quests and I would gradually rank up. As my rank increased, the types of quests that were available would broaden for me. Higher-ranked mercenaries were allowed to take quests of increasing difficulty, which would in turn pay more.

"I'm Porcelain rank now, huh?"

Taking my card out of my pocket, I glanced at it again. Reaching out, I conjured my blue holographic window and swiped it to locate the eBook I was looking for. Having the Library of Eden inside my mind, I was somehow able to convert it into an online reading service that displayed the books electronically on my blue screen.

"Mercenaries…where are mercenaries…ah, there it is."

Finding the book I was looking for, I tapped the title, Mercenaries: a study of the underground vocations, and opened it.

"Where are the ranks?" musing to myself, I scanned through the table of contents and located the page. But instead of flipping to the page, I directly tapped on the word "Ranks" in the table of contents and the system automatically brought me to it.

Immediately, a list of ten ranks were displayed for me to see.

Platinum Rank

Gold Rank

Silver Rank

Bronze Rank

Copper Rank

Chrome Rank

Steel Rank

Iron Rank

Obsidian Rank

Porcelain Rank

So these were the 10 ranks, listed from highest to lowest. As expected, I started from the bottom. Despite having killed and devoured a Demon Lord and a Guardian of a temple, I ironically was assigned the lowest rank.

Well, it wasn't as if I was eager to claim fame or anything. If anything, it would benefit me more if I kept a low profile. My former classmates would never imagine that I was operating under their noses as a bottom-ranked mercenary.

For now, I have to find a way to survive. To do that, I need money. I guess I'll start with something easy first.

I wasn't exactly eager to visit the sewers to hunt rats. I had just escaped from the sewage about two days ago, running for my life after devouring the Demon Lord. I had no desire to repeat the experience. The place was dark, disgusting, dank, and stank like hell. That said, if I had no choice, I would go to the sewer to hunt rats. In the worst case scenario, I would unleash my zombies into the sewer and clear them out within a week.

Unfortunately, with the current restrictions placed upon my summoning skill, I needed to find corpses to reanimate first. Yet another unpleasant task.

Fortunately, I had a far less undesirable option. Searching for herbs in the forest. I could skip the steps and go straight for hunting goblins, but that would draw too much attention to myself if I went and hunted them solo. Furthermore, I wasn't going to underestimate the enemy just because they were goblins. Goblins were still among the most dangerous monsters in Restia. They might be weak individually, but they usually gather in tribes and were cunning, ruthless and cruel. Even the most experienced mercenary would find himself outwitted and surrounded by a screeching pack of goblins if he wasn't careful.

Not to mention that there are plenty of stories where newbie mercenaries go out in a party to hunt goblins for their first quest, mistakenly believing them to be easy prey…only for them to get wiped out. The men get brutally slaughtered, and the women raped. Goblins are terrifying creatures, indeed.

Even though I had killed a Demon Lord and a Guardian, I wasn't going to get carried away and think I could get away with goblins. For one thing, the Demon Lord had been fatally wounded and incredibly weakened by the heroes before he stumbled upon me, and I had the help of Dante and his entire company of knights when fighting Asura. I wasn't delusional enough to think I could have soloed either of them by myself.

Herbs it is.

Pushing my unnecessary glasses up my face, I proceeded toward the forest. This had to be the easiest job ever…and while it paid pittance, it was still enough for me to procure food, water and some clothing for today.

Unfortunately, as usual, I underestimated my task.

"Where are all the herbs?!"

Scratching my head, I conjured my blue holographic book to refer to a herbology book, but there was nothing in there to clue me in on how to find herbs except a vague "found in the forest". A throwaway line that didn't help narrow down possible areas. Even if there was, the forest was so large that it would be impossible for me to find specific herbs. It was literally searching for a needle in a haystack. Or finding a tree that was hidden in a forest.

Worse, I didn't even know what kind of herbs the guild was looking for. I regretted not asking the receptionist earlier. How stupid of me. I had grown overconfident, thinking that this would be a simple task because of the complete lack of danger, but even after a couple of hours, I was nowhere near completing the quest.

I don't believe it. I'm going to fail a quest as easy as collecting herbs!?

Truly, to underestimate the missions in another world and dismiss them as easy was a fatal mistake.

"Ugh…looks like I'll be hungry for today. Or I might have to hunt something."

Now that I thought about it, it didn't seem that the mercenary guild accepted meat or wild animals as quests. Killing a wolf or rabbit and bringing it back to the guild wouldn't earn me any money. Rather, I didn't need to be a mercenary to hunt wild animals. I might as well be a butcher or hunter. Actually, I should say the same about herbs. Why did collecting herbs fall under the purview of mercenaries? Couldn't farmers or children handle that?

I found out the answer a few minutes after fruitless searching. When I thought collecting herbs was in no way a dangerous activity, I was sadly mistaken. As I stumbled past a tree, I encountered danger in its very visceral form.

"Hu…"

A creature was huffing as it leaned against a tree. It was green, humanoid and the size of a small child, but by Lyia was it ugly as f. With a weird Mohawk stretching across its otherwise smooth and bald scalp, and warts exploding throughout its skin, the goblin leaned against the tree, breathing heavily as it clutched its torso.

"Ah, hello."

I didn't know what to say, so I greeted the goblin.

"H…human!"

On the other hand, the goblin jolted upright and screeched in panic, perspiration pouring down its hideous face.

I studied it, but didn't move. So this was a goblin. It was as ugly and ferocious as the books had me believe. Wild intelligence gleamed in its demonic eyes, and it snarled at me, reaching for a dagger with one hand, while the other continued to press on the side of its torso to stem the bleeding. Evidently it had been grievously wounded.

Even without Absolute Appraisal, I could tell that it was a fatal wound. There was so much blood leaking from the injury that the goblin would evidently perish from blood loss in another few minutes. Hell, I could see its intestines. The goblin was desperately pressing its guts back into its body to keep them from falling out.

Hunting goblins, huh…

I recalled the receptionist's instructions. But as cruel and ruthless as goblins were, according to the books, to take advantage of a wounded goblin and kill it for money seemed…inhuman somehow. I couldn't blame goblins for being the way they were – such murderous instincts were hardwired into their biology. I couldn't blame a goblin for slaying the way I couldn't blame a shark for preying on fish or a tiger for hunting buffaloes.

If I killed the wounded goblin like this, I felt like I would lose my humanity…and become the very monsters I swore to take revenge on. I was better than those bastard classmates of mine, those so-called heroes who abused the weak and exploited the vulnerable. If I acted the same way they did, then how could I justify my revenge?

Frothing at the mouth, the goblin held its dagger as it tried to lunge at me. Unfortunately, it was too weak from the blood loss and it was all it could do to stand and lean against the tree. If I so much as pushed it, it would topple over. I was sure of it.

I approached it and held up a hand. Closing my eyes, I tried to use Regenerate on the goblin.

It worked…sort of. The wound closed up, and the goblin recovered. Within seconds, there was no trace of the fatal injury that had brought it to the brink of death. After checking its body, the goblin glanced at me, astonished.

I returned its glare with a smile and held up both my hands to show that I meant no harm. The goblin wasn't stupid. It understood I was the one who healed its wounds and saved it. Now, it should probably feel gratitude and return the favor or something…

"Kreeee….!"

With a shrill shriek, the goblin lunged at me, stabbing with its dagger. I barely managed to avoid the slash from its rusty – and most probably poisoned – blade. Drawing my staff, I parried the next blow and cuffed the goblin at the side of its head. Staggering, the goblin shook its head before it pounced on me again.

…only to have its head blown off by my Doombolt.

I stared at the dead goblin in dismay and shook my head. Well, I couldn't say I was surprised. I was expecting it, even. A goblin was a goblin, no matter how you dressed it up. It wasn't going to change its nature miraculously just because I saved it.

Still, I was hoping that my Machiavellian Charisma would at least convince it to cease hostilities and attempt communication…

I sighed. I was probably hoping for too much. Restia wasn't a kind, nice world full or rainbows and unicorns where everything could be solved by the power of friendship and love. It was a cruel, unfair world filled with betrayal and murders.

Well, at least I have something to bring back to the guild for cash. It's much sooner than I thought, but I'll take it.

When the alternative was to starve, I would much rather draw unwanted attention to myself. I could survive being stared at or gossiped about. But I needed food and shelter to survive, as well as equipment.

"All right, let's…"

I trailed off when I heard the bushes rustle. Within seconds, I found myself surrounded by a chittering horde of enraged goblins. Drawing their daggers or notching their bows, they prepared to slaughter me.

I sighed and placed my staff on the ground. I just couldn't catch a break, could I?

On the bright side, I should at least earn enough to last me for a week…

*

The receptionist was astonished when he saw me lug back a horde of goblins.

"You slaughtered a tribe of goblins…by yourself…on your very first day?"

I had a bit of help from Corrupting Darkness, which wiped the whole pack out within thirty seconds, but I doubted the receptionist would want to hear the grisly details.

"I got lucky."

"Kid, this goes beyond the question of luck! Not even Obsidian or Iron ranked mercenaries can kill a horde of goblins on their own!"

"As I said, it was just a fluke."

I tried to calm down the amazed receptionist, who still couldn't believe his eyes. He tallied up the kills, and then conjured a small magical window.

"This is the amount of reward that will be credited to your name. You can use your identification card to purchase whatever you need."

"That's convenient."

So basically Restia had its form of credit and debit cards, huh? That was much better than carrying cash around.

"Good job today, kid. It seems that we were all mistaken about you."

Chuckling, the receptionist pounded my back. I winced, but didn't complain. Instead, I smiled and endured it.

"Well, it's late tonight, so I'm going to retire early…is there a place I can stay temporarily?"

Even though I could see that I had earned quite a substantial amount of gold, I doubted it would be enough to buy a house. The receptionist thought for a while, and then nodded.

"There's the Blue Moon Inn down the corner from here." he pointed out of the door and then jabbed his thumb to his right. "It's cheap and affordable, especially for newbie mercenaries like you. With the amount you've earned, you should be able to stay there for a week and still afford new equipment, weapons and food."

"Thanks."

Tsukishima Tomoyo's staff should be a high quality weapon, a legendary item that was fit for heroes, so I wasn't lacking in that area. As for armor, I had the Redwood Robe, which was probably another legendary item, so I didn't need that either. What I did need was fresh clothes, personal hygiene stuff like soap, proper shoes or boots and other miscellaneous items.

"Hu…"

I stifled a yawn. Whatever I needed, I could worry about tomorrow. For now, it was pretty late at night and I was completely exhausted. I wanted to go to bed and sleep.

"Thank you, sir."

Expressing my gratitude to the receptionist, who was busily closing up the desk and boarding up the guild house, I left the place and headed straight for the Blue Moon Inn he pointed me toward. All I wanted for now was a soft bed to lie on.

I could worry about tomorrow when I woke up the next day.