Chapter 118 : Chapter 118
Chapter 118
“……I expected the registration process to be complicated and difficult, but I did not imagine it would be this simple.”
Standing beside Aquila, Heinen murmured as he examined the registration certificate he had just received.
On the small plate, no larger than his palm, the name ‘Heinen’ was inscribed clearly, and on one side was engraved the lowest rank that every newly registered adventurer was assigned.
His reaction was understandable.
All they had done was pay the registration fee and drip two or three drops of their own blood onto the inscribed plate.
That procedure was not to measure one’s abilities.
Rather, when blood fell upon the magical formula engraved into the plate, the certificate became bound to the one who provided it, preventing others from misusing it.
“I heard that there used to be an examination to determine rank. Is that no longer the case?”
Porzelin, too, lifted her gaze from her own certificate bearing her name.
The staff member, who had been smiling, stiffened at the corners of his mouth as though that were an outdated tale, then replied kindly,
“After the current Guild Master took office about seven years ago, the guidelines were revised so that anyone who pays a set amount may register as an adventurer. By offering equal opportunity in this manner, the barrier to becoming an adventurer has been lowered, allowing a greater variety of people to pursue their dreams. One may also raise one’s rank by undertaking quests and accumulating achievements.”
He recited the prepared explanation fluently and bowed his head.
“Does that conclude your questions? If you have further inquiries, please use the counter over there. There are others waiting behind you…… Yes, next!”
Porzelin seemed about to ask another question, but as the staff member briskly called for the next person, she was forced aside.
She still looked unconvinced.
“……For something called equal opportunity, the price was rather steep.”
Moving to a quieter corner, Heinen reflected on what he had heard.
The registration fee amounted to roughly a month’s worth of food expenses for a single-person household. It was only natural to question how “equal” such an opportunity truly was.
“They are no different from merchants now. They buy goods from adventurers at low prices and resell rare materials at exorbitant ones. They also charge high brokerage fees for quest mediation, which has earned them no small amount of resentment.”
Having paid all the fees with the money he had brought, Aquila stuffed his certificate into his inner pocket.
Across twenty-nine regressions.
If he were asked to list the matters he found most troublesome or never wished to be entangled with again, a single day would not suffice. Yet among them, the Adventurers’ Guild proudly ranked near the top of his ‘most irritating’ list.
Their talk of granting privileges to adventurers was nothing more than polished rhetoric. In reality, they were a group concerned solely with their own profit.
Heinen and Porzelin looked at him.
“While quests may be entrusted to other mercenary guilds, many dungeons are managed by the Adventurers’ Guild.”
“A monopoly, then. But in that case…….”
Heinen trailed off.
“A pack of thugs.”
Porzelin, however, stated it plainly.
The holy knight of the Grand Temple of Portplum cast her a brief sidelong glance but offered no reprimand, merely nodding quietly.
Aquila shrugged lightly.
Still, with the Temporary Dungeon Closure of the Black Forest Dungeon and the surge of adventurers eager to enter at least once, the registration procedure seemed to have grown even simpler.
They intended to extract as much profit as possible from this opportunity.
Furthermore, the character of the Adventurers’ Guild varied by continent. In the East, where especially difficult dungeons produced many rare materials, there was an even more mercenary streak.
“……There was a time when I admired adventurers, but it seems much has changed from what I once heard.”
Porzelin murmured, still gazing at her certificate.
Lexenbert Fad Reschenhardt had once run from Igrail and traveled across the continent.
That was likely the era she had admired.
“Even so, it is not bad for us. With the certificate, we can apply for dungeon entry.”
Those who called themselves adventurers came from diverse pasts.
And unless a serious incident occurred, the guild did not pry into one’s history.
There was no need to disclose one’s identity.
In that regard, it was undeniably a free status.
Though that freedom attracted many ruffians.
‘Considering the state of Labyrinth City, Labyrinth, that says enough…….’
In any case, as it was still early and few people were registering anew at such an hour, they had completed the process swiftly.
But the important matter came next.
The long line stretching outside.
The queue for entry into the Black Forest Dungeon.
And Aquila required one more person.
“If possible, I would like to recruit an archer.”
“Ah. Someone capable of using that arrowhead.”
“Indeed. We are swordsmen, and you, Quil, wield magic.”
Porzelin nodded as she slipped her certificate into her pocket.
In truth, their composition was not poor.
Heinen served as both tank and healer, Porzelin handled close-range combat, and Aquila wielded magic from a distance.
Of course, Aquila was also a swordsman capable of using aura and possessed various concealed talents such as hunting skills and herb crafting, but for now, he was a mage.
“Even if we recruit an archer, persuading them may be difficult……. Otherwise, if we secure a decent bow, I could manage it myself.”
“……You can shoot a bow?”
“Well, somehow.”
Aquila shrugged.
Though his current body lacked the physical strength to draw a bowstring directly, he could pull it with magic.
Nevertheless, he needed a skilled archer for one reason alone.
The Demonic Dragon resided within an event dungeon.
Ordinarily, one would wait until it unleashed a single breath attack, relocate, and then shoot the sleeping dragon with a Mithril Arrowhead coated in poison.
Acquiring the poison formula had been the difficult part; once obtained, subduing it had been simpler than expected.
‘……The moment I enter the dungeon, the sleeping dragon will surely awaken.’
Just as the magical beast Fenrir had awakened the instant he entered the field.
And awakening was not the only problem.
Its breath.
Only Aquila could initially deploy a barrier capable of blocking it, which meant he required someone else who could properly fire the arrow in his stead.
Just once.
If it struck true, even an undead monster would fall swiftly.
“When you say you can manage somehow, Quil, it makes one feel as though anything might truly be possible…….”
Heinen still wore an expression suggesting he had more to say, yet once again he swallowed his questions.
“……Perhaps it would have been better had we come with Lady Fiana.”
“The Blue Scale Descendants do not leave their homeland. I did not press the matter.”
Heinen and Porzelin nodded.
The Blue Scale Descendants had fought Fenrir because it threatened their home. Should it awaken fully, it would endanger the forest.
“In that case, our course is clear. First, we must register for dungeon entry despite the long line, then search for an archer. We will not be able to enter immediately.”
Porzelin glanced around the crowded interior before looking toward the line beyond the doors.
“And we should check whether Merdin and Lady Dalia have found the culprit.”
Heinen agreed.
Though no commotion was audible from outside, they too had to join the queue.
Heinen and Porzelin stepped forward first, with Aquila following behind.
Was it merely his imagination, or had the roles shifted?
It had been Aquila who hurried them into registering before they changed their minds, yet now the two seemed unusually composed, leaving him faintly perplexed.
“……It is rather late to ask, but you are not opposed to entering the dungeon?”
Aquila called after them.
“And another thing. You do not even ask why I must personally deal with the new boss monster?”
The two swordsmen exchanged a glance before looking back at him.
“Then allow us to ask honestly. If we opposed you, would you refrain?”
“No. But Porzelin, I expected you to object.”
“Because it is dangerous for you, Quil?”
“Yes.”
Emerging outside, Porzelin chose her words carefully as she regarded the line.
“……After you mentioned to Lady Dalia that you were interested in the dungeon, we spoke among ourselves while you were asleep.”
Aquila’s brow twitched upward.
After two nights sleeping rough, he had fallen into a deep, uninterrupted sleep the previous night.
‘Spoiled.’
He clicked his tongue inwardly and nodded for her to continue.
“We heard a general explanation of what you have experienced. Including that matter of the blessing.”
The Dragon’s Prophecy.
It seemed Heinen had finally explained it.
Porzelin’s gaze briefly touched the left side of Aquila’s chest before lowering.
“Have you ever witnessed the blessing your father wields?”
Her eyes, clear as glass, shimmered as though drifting through some distant memory.
“I have,” she whispered softly. “And so, when one hears such words, those of us who remain in Igrail cannot help but follow, even without being told the reason.”
Aquila fell silent for a moment.
Those who followed Lexenbert possessed something bordering on blind devotion.
He could not define it precisely, but to him it resembled the unbounded faith of fanatics.
He did not point it out.
For someone who needed to clear the main scenario by any means, such loyalty was not unwelcome.
He required pieces he could use.
“And the young master is even more special, Lord Lexenbert always said—”
“Ah! Found him!”
Suddenly, a shout cut through their conversation.
“You! You are the one who stormed into the magic tool shop yesterday and assaulted its owner!”
At that voice, Porzelin snapped her head around.
It was unmistakably Dalia.
‘……Why is it that in a world like this, whenever something important is about to be revealed, a new incident arises to interrupt it?’
Aquila swallowed a sigh.
Through countless regressions, he had encountered this pattern repeatedly.
Whenever a key word emerged, it was as though interference ensured he would not grasp it all at once.
“Huh? Who are you to shout in someone’s face like that?”
The irritated retort was all too familiar.
Heinen’s expression hardened immediately.
“……It appears they have found the culprit. Let us go.”
“Yes.”
When they turned toward him, Aquila had little choice but to move as well.
Even if he remained, Porzelin would not resume the interrupted story.
‘……The greatest blessing. It must be related to that.’
Once spoken of, it would eventually come to light.
Aquila hurried after them.
He scanned the faces in line absentmindedly—then abruptly turned his head.
“Ah!”
“Hmm?”
He had just spotted someone approaching from the other direction.
At the same moment, that person noticed him, eyes widening in shock.
As Aquila and the other called each other’s names almost simultaneously, Heinen and Porzelin reached the end of the line and approached Dalia.
“Lady Dalia.”
“Oh! You are that customer from before!”
“……Bejiana?”