Chapter 5: Another Start
"Master Aegir, are you truly sure about this?"
"Of course I am! I said this is what I was going to do, so I'm doing it. Besides, I doubt they'll let a kid at the bottom of the ranks do anything too dangerous. Gotta prove myself first."
"Of course, but I feel at least some concern may be warranted. Not to mention, your alias is… hardly much of a change."
"And? I'm far from the only Aegir in the Asura Kingdom. Who's gonna just assume I'm the same kid from the Boreas household?"
I gave Grell a confident chuckle as we strolled along. Today was the day I'd finally gotten everything ready and was heading off to apply at the Adventurer's Guild here in Ars. While my goal was to be as discreet as I could, Grell insisted on accompanying me to at least the edge of the Noble District where it met the Knight's District. While I'd already been here plenty of times to join Leonel at the Water God Dojo for training, I felt that making my debut as an adventurer, and thus as Aegir Greyfeather, was better handled with some added discretion.
To that end, I was dressed far and away from a noble child. A sturdy, well-made yet rough spun dark red tunic edged in black, topped by padded leather chest armor that belted to a leather pauldron on my left arm and further attached to my sword's holster at my right shoulder. Arms covered in light, metal plated leather bracers over sturdy finger baring gloves, with the tunic and rugged black trousers tied up with a larger belt to carry my wand to my left hip while a half-skirt of light chainmail covered by a bright red cloth hung from my right hip. And finished off with thick travel boots and a messy shoulder scarf to fill my shoulders out a bit.
The gear was a lot lighter than what a Water God user would typically be seen in, but since like Leonel I used a blend of it and Sword God, it was better suited to how I fought. Anything bulkier would be too restrictive.
That and there was touki… which I have only now realized I never explained. Eh, I'll go over it another time. Think of it as a kind of natural "magical armor" used by swordsmen that enhanced their movements and swing power along with defense.
Literally just ki from a shonen manga if you think about it. Heck even the fact it was named in a suspiciously Japanese way was intriguing enough. Unless this world has some equivalent to the Oriental region on Earth, no idea where that came from.
Heck now that I think about it, Ghyslaine having a katana despite how clearly European the Central Continent reads as stands out a bit. I wonder…
Back on topic.
To add to my "scruffy young adventurer" look, I was also keeping my hair messier than it normally was and left in a looser tail. A bit of smartly applied dirt and scuff to my clothing and tools, one would almost never guess I was the son of some noble house aside from the butler following me, though Grell was sure to wear a cloak to at least hide his uniform. Maybe some would guess I'm a knight's kid since I was clearly more well geared than some common kid could be, though I'd surely be able to excuse that with my status as a Water God student, plus after this I'd be formally registering with the Mage's Guild as Ingo's protégé. All in all, while I didn't doubt some particularly sharp sorts would catch on, I was pretty confident most people wouldn't care enough to pry.
"Come on! I'm an Intermediate ranked Swordsman and can use most Attack magics up to Intermediate as well. Gotta admit, for a ten year old that leaves me pretty well set to go, don't ya' think?"
"I would be inclined to agree. But, as I said with Ingo, it is experience that also matters. I merely ask you not get in over your head and believe your talents will make things easy for you out there. The last thing any of us at the manor wish is to hear you fell in battle like so many other fresh rookies."
"… not that I doubt Uncle Would care much," Grell gave me a cross look over my crass remark, and all I could really do was nervously chuckle. "I'll be sure to be careful. I promise I won't go taking jobs above my rank unless I'm in a party."
"And make sure if you do join one, that it is a party of people you can trust."
"I know, I know."
I can think of it kind of in game terms to make it relatable. Sure, partying with randoms is good for quickly getting things done, but those are relationships of convenience. And unlike a game, you could get people trying to abuse the system and exploit naïve newcomers. It's best to find a party of trustworthy friends, people who'll have your back when things get rough. Better to "raid" with friends than strangers after all.
Once we reached the edge of the Knight District, Grell bid me farewell and departed back for the manor. For the first time in ages, I was on my own as I slipped into the crowd on the streets. And I couldn't help but pick my pace up to a trot as the excitement hit me. It took ten dang years, plus eight of dealing with stuffy as hell noble court stuff, but I was finally free to do what I wanted—kind of, but hey that's semantics.
The guild building was in a different part of the Knight's District than the Water God Dojo, more to the west end of it, closer to all the shops and trade paths by the docks. The building was designed to stand out among the typical brick and mortar structures around it. Not as grandiose as the church's in town but certainly standout. A taller three story building of bright white construction to stand out against the drab browns and reds surrounding it, and of course the obvious sign hanging above the large double doors.
And moving in and out were people in all kinds of gear and all kinds of sizes. Though considering I was in the capital of the main human populated continent, as I entered the establishment there weren't really any non-humans to be found. This deep into the Central Continent, I could get it, though a part of me had been hoping to maybe see some people from afar here. Eh, guess that'd come with traveling.
The place was bustling enough I slipped in past some of the regulars pretty easily, and was immediately wowed by the air. Parties of adventurers chattering at tables, some groups up to rowdier events like arm wrestling or messing with weapons or just talking over their meals. A sizable group was congregated around the request board, obscuring whatever postings there may have been, others lined up at the desk to clear whatever services they need. Some retrieving sacks containing quest payments and whatever else.
Though I couldn't say the mood was all up and chipper. At least one group at the desks looked far more solemn than the others, a man had had to be a party leader handing in a couple of slates. Identification cards of some kind perhaps? Maybe they'd lost a couple of party members on the job. Rough… respect to those who fell, and may as well wish that group luck in getting back in the swing of it.
"Don't stand around too much kid, you'll be in the damn way!" I hopped aside as a group almost shoved past me. The leader in the group gave me a brief look, giving an annoyed sigh. "… another damn brat in over his head."
Oi, smartass, I can hear you. Putting that thought aside, I trotted over to the reception desks, getting to the shortest line on offer. After a couple of minutes while other adventurers filed through things, I was up… and more than a bit glad I wasn't exactly short even at my age. Would've been embarrassing to be even smaller and barely able to reach the countertop.
"Well, you're a young one, aren't you?" The receptionist's remark was dry but friendly enough as she leaned on the desk. I did wonder if the cleavage baring uniform was a necessary thing but… eh. "You one of those dojo students here because your master told you to get registered?"
"Something like that, hehe. More personal interest. It's uh… not a problem if I register at my age, is it?"
"Well, how old are you?"
"Ten."
"Hmm… still a bit young but hardly a problem," the woman gave me a look over, clearly sizing me up to gauge things. Her eyes particularly stopped on my sword and wand, items clearly of much finer make than some brash kid with dreams of grandeur would likely to be toting in. "Well, plenty of folks here in Ars would appreciate the help of a young, able looking lad like yourself. Alright then, hold on a moment."
When the woman returned from her quick foray to the back room further behind her, she returned with two things: One of those slate-like cards and a clear, rectangular stone of some sort. The clear stone was inscribed with all sorts of runes and a small magic circle to go with it. Probably a tool meant to inscribe information on that card.
"Put your hand on this card, and tell me your name, age, gender, race, and job… you're clearly not in a party, and you'll start at Rank F like any other newcomer."
"No problem," setting my hand to the stone, it was already glowing and I could feel the pulses of magic activating within. "Aegir Greyfeather. Male. Ten. Human. Swordsmen."
In a flash, the card under my palm was inscribed with a list of information. What I'd provided, and two more slots. Party, which was predictably blank for now. And my Rank… bottom of the rung F, total newbie. But hey, we all have to start somewhere, don't we? I'm not exactly expecting to be thrown into monster hunting and caravan guarding as openers. I bet F Rank jobs are things like searching for lost pets or helping deliver things in town and whatever. Basic things even a child can be trusted with doing safely to earn some pocket change.
"That slate is your Adventurer Card," said the receptionist. "It serves as a form of identification and proof of your registry and allows you access to services provided here at the Guild and our affiliates. The Guild will replace it in the event it ends up lost, but do try not to lose it. In the event it's lost, your rank will be reset to F, and you'll be issued a fine according to the local branch's rules."
That's a pretty steep punishment for losing a card. I'd imagine it takes a lot of work to climb the ranks at all, so getting knocked back down to the bottom if you lose your Card is pretty harsh. But, these things gotta be a pain to replace, so I guess it's a form of the guilty party compensating the Guild for needing to replace it at all. Ingo can probably tell me a lot more about magic items and their value.
"Good to know. Thank you very much."
"Of course. Also, do know you can only take jobs that are up to one rank higher than your current. That means that for now, you can only undertake jobs rated for F and E Rank adventurers."
"I'm also guessing if I'm in a party it'd only be with people of the same rank as me, right?" I turned over the card to see if there was any other info on the back, but only it's own smaller rendition of the magic circle on the main stone.
"Parties share their rank. Though yes, a party can be made up of those within different ranks, but common practice is to not go any lower than one rank below the party leader. Jobs for parties are also allowed based on the rank of the leader themselves. So, say you are a C Rank adventurer but are in a party with an B Rank, then your party could take on an A Rank mission while you are still of a lower rank."
"That makes sense. Alright, thanks for the tips! I'll be coming back with my first job before you know it."
"You may be a bit… disappointed…" The teller gave me a sympathetic look, and I could already feel my excitement starting to deflate with that expression alone. "I'd suggest… taking a look."
With that expression following me, I made my way to the job board to give it a look over. And felt immediately deflated at the lack of postings that were on the board. What few there were already looked to be taken up, and all that was really left were jobs labeled for F to C Rankers, which weren't exactly the most demanding or glamorous of hunting jobs.
Tasks as simple as finding a lost pet or helping a merchant or other seller with chores around their shop or cleaning up some warehouse of pests at the docks. AT BEST there were a couple jobs to hunt some pest monsters the Knights couldn't bother with. Hardly the kind of work one would need a highly trained swordsman or mage to handle.
It did start to click as I read the few jobs there were over, none of which went higher than D Rank. We were in Ars, the largest capital in the world and home to the Asuran knights, an order that could surely handle things any other town would use a hearty stock of adventurers to handle. Crime within the city, and dangerous beasts without.
Who'd need to send out high rank adventurers when you had people with that kind of experience around? All they'd be good for then is handling the mundane things the Knights can't be bothered with.
… and so there was that word again. Experience.
Grell certainly had a point there. A kid my age who was both an Intermediate swordsmen and mage was certainly impressive, sure. A mark of potential talent if I could reach Advanced in record time—and was due to do just that for my magic all too soon—but really, what good would this talent be without the experience to apply it? Just as Ingo said, I knew how to cast magic, but did I know how to use it? And I am sure the Knights at the dojo would say the same thing in regards to my swordplay.
It was one thing to spar, one thing to practice, one thing to learn. It was another to use, to apply, and to actually use these skills practically.
And I was a ten-year-old being driven by the memories of a past life of some average high school kid who's claim to fame so far was the fact he learned lightning quick and was a lot better at certain basic skills than most anyone else my age naturally was. I was far from experienced both in this life and my previous one.
Besides, it wasn't like I could take any of those higher ranked jobs to begin with.
For now, I'd be content just running around doing chores and getting to know some of the regular folks here in Ars before I went about really doing the classic adventurer thing. I suppose the climb up the ranks is just going to be slow and steady.
And right now, I had a magic instructor to visit now that I was done here.
This was one step, onto the next.
"So, what were your thoughts on Ars' illustrious Adventurer's Guild?"
"Illustrious, sure… lacking in work, definitely…"
Ingo gave a raspy laugh in response to my clear deflation after today's revelation. The old mage leaned in his chair, a smirk showing through his beard while I sat across from him with my sword in my lap, not at all pleased with his patronization.
"It's just the way it is in Ars. It's a rare day to see an adventurer higher than D Rank since all the Knights handle anything serious that happens to be nearby. You want real work? Take trips to the countryside once you've found yourself a party."
"That may be what I have to end up doing. But, guess that can wait for once I'm a higher rank. Not like I can do anything but the scraps of jobs the Guild gets by comparison."
"Good to keep your expectations tempered. Trying to rush on ahead when you have the time to wait will accomplish nothing. And speaking of accomplishment, it's time to cover the other thing that needs to be done, yes?"
My downcast expression changed to a grin as Ingo rose from his chair, the mage tucking his staff under his arm.
"I was sitting here thinking I was about to get a lecture. Finally time to handle some Advanced magic!"
"Indeed. Come along, let's get back to the range."
Ingo took the lead out of his study and through the halls. The Mages Guild was a lot more rustic than say the Adventurer's Guild or Water God dojo. Old walls of greyed stone and woodwork, not much in the way of decoration. The main features were of course the myriad workshops meant for the attendees to study their fields in. Most of the people here were the sorts you could expect, that being grizzled older men dressed in fancy robes and their young apprentices.
Considering how rare it was to possess the ability to use magic anyway, just seeing this many mages congregated in one spot was impressive enough.
The range Ingo led me to was the very same one I had met him on. Though today it was a tad livelier, a few of the apprentices lined up to go about their spell slinging under careful supervision of their masters, others watching on the side to merely observe. Finding the first empty spot we could, Ingo made sure we stopped at a zone with a good berth between me and the other apprentices.
"Now, considering your affinities…" Ingo drew a book from his satchel, flipping through a few pages. Hazarding a guess, it was likely a more in-depth spell manual than what I'd been exposed to so far. "Let's go with something among the fire spells: Exodus Flame, the next spell up from the Ex-Flame you showed me."
"Got it."
"I'll set the manual aside, take a moment to read the incantation, and maybe a few of the other Advanced spells while you're at it."
Giving a nod, I stepped over to the pedestal Ingo set the book on. The page he'd opened it to was the diagram for Exodus Flame, the image being of a mage dwarfed by a ball of flames as large as a boulder. Definitely the kind of thing that'd take some leverage to cast and use in battle. And definitely not that useful for a Mage Knight who'd be in the thick of it. But, this was more about being recognized for the rank more than anything.
"Alright then…" scanning my eyes over the incantation a few times, once I felt settled by it, I drew my wand and took a ready stance at the edge of my area, eyes locking to the target at the end of the range. "Raging spirit of flame, bastard of hell! Rise to the land of man and swing your fist! Strike down my sworn foe and consume them within darkness!"
Can I take a moment to point out this is the most chuuni sounding incantation I've said so far in my years of practice?
With each word I spoke, the fireball forming before me grew and grew. Bigger and bigger until it was multiples my size, the heat washing across the area as the flames swirled and intensified. And still focusing my eyes on the target as I raised my wand, I couldn't help but grin in excitement at the rush of heat I felt moving through me. And then…
"Exodus Flame!"
The flaming sphere rocketed forward, trailing ribbons of fire spewing from it as it rushed across the dirt floor of the range. It didn't simply crash into the target, it slammed it so hard it went past and right into the wall, the warding magic circles carved into them flashing as the spell exploded against it. The only sound in the range was that explosion, which turned to silence as the air blew about the smoldering remains of the poor target I'd blasted to dust.
"Ahahahahaaaa!" Ingo clapped as he laughed, strolling to my side as he observed the scorched gouge my spell has left in the ground on its path to the target. "That has to have been one of the finest Exodus Flames I've seen in ages! You're first cast of it and it went excellently!"
"That was the first time he'd used the spell?!" A girl's voice caught my ear. I turned to see a girl about my age, giving me a flabbergasted look as she bounced over, pale brown hair neatly done to leave some strands to frame her face yet leave the rest tucked under a cap. The sturdy clothes she was wearing had more than a few belts on them, at least a couple carrying vials with various fluids in them.
"Who have you gone and brought around to the guild, Ingo?" A woman approached after the girl, a husky chuckle coming from her as she pat the child on her head. "Forgive my student for that, she was watching the boy since you two walked in. Should've seen her face as he was casting!"
"T-Teacher!" the girl whined, puffing out a cheek.
"Let's say… an aspiring young adventurer with talent to spare," Ingo pat me on the back. "This lad is Aegir Greyfeather, and as you clearly say, an Advanced Fire Mage despite his age. I decided to take him on at the behest of an old friend, since prior teachers he's had were hardly up to snuff."
"My, ten years old and already an Advanced Mage, quite the accomplishment," the woman looked intrigued, and perhaps not convinced that was all to Ingo's story about me.
"I'm also due to become Advanced Rank in the Water God style soon. I've been a student at the dojo since I was seven, and I'm a pretty fast learner!"
"Ahahaha, don't go getting too confident now kiddo. Overconfidence is the death of the young," The woman again pat her student's head. "I'm Amarys, and I guess you could say I'm more of an alchemist than a typical mage like Ingo here. I specialize in using my magic to craft potions, poultices, other things that healing magic doesn't quite cover."
"I didn't know people did alchemy," My brow was raised in surprise, and the girl stormed up to me in turn.
"It's an older practice, but it's still worth learning!" she said, a gleam in her eyes. "Alchemical concoctions may not be as strong as high tier magic, but they enable people to do things without needing to call a mage! Sure a healer who knows things like healing spells and detoxification magic can just clear up an injury or certain illnesses, but what about cases where you can't? Mages are rare after all, and their services don't come cheap!"
"Calm down a bit, Lyria, the boy looks a bit off guard," Amarys yanked the girl back by the collar, shaking her head as she snickered. "Sorry about her. Lyria's more than a little enthusiastic about alchemy. She's pretty average as a mage, but she has quite the mind for chemistry. Unfortunately that kind of talent tends to go unappreciated in a world like ours. If a mage can do it better, why bother with things like medicine and the like?"
"That's not true!" Lyria protested. "All of your customers say how amazing your brews are! Half the peasants in Ars would be sideways with issues if it wasn't for your help! Only those nobles have the money to pay for expensive healing magic whenever they need it," the girl then paused, her head snapping around as she looked me in the eye. "You have two names! You're a noble too, aren't you?!"
"It's just an adventurer alias," I kinda forgot last names aren't that common in this world, at least on this continent. Having one means you're either a noble or have enough recognition that there's some cause behind you having one. But most people should buy the excuse I'm just hyping myself up by "faking" having a last name.
Anything to divert people from finding out I'm a Greyrat.
"Are you sure?" Lyria narrowed her eyes, clearly not convinced.
"It's not that unusual for an adventurer to use one," Amarys in with the save. "Perhaps the boy has simply read adventure novels one too many times and figured he would follow suit. Besides, more people would pay attention that way."
"Something like that, yeah," I just decided to go along with that explanation.
"Though good luck getting much good work here in Ars," and now we're back to what I know already. "With the Knights around, all the lucrative work is basically nonexistent."
"Yeah I noticed…" I gave a dragging sigh, Ingo and Amarys snickering.
"It's not like he could do any of that work anyway," Lyria cut in next. "If he just started out then he's only F Rank. And besides, who'd hire a kid to do monster hunting jobs anyway? It'd be stupid!"
"Can we not rub salt into the wound?"
"Yes, and perhaps now we can get to some practice while the daylight is still going strong," Ingo stepped in. "Do remember what we agreed upon when it comes to my mentorship."
"Roger that. Miss Amarys, Lyria, nice to meet both of you. I hope I'll see you around while I'm learning from Ingo."
"I'm sure you will," Amarys chuckled, Lyria bowing her head a bit, still giving me a suspicious eye. I could only chuckle awkwardly. Seems this alchemist wasn't quite ready to buy my excuses just yet.
Ah well, I'll just have to roll with the punches. Sometimes it can't be helped.
And so the routines of "Aegir Greyfeather" started the day after that.
With the only jobs that I could take from the Adventurer's Guild being the absolute bottom of the rung chores, my aim was to just take the pace slow and steady until I could start taking jobs outside of Ars, even if it meant going further than the proximity towns.
When I wasn't running around doing odd jobs at the docks or at whatever shop actually felt like hiring me for a helping hand, I was at the Mage's Guild, refining my spells with Ingo and helping him to properly codify the method of Silent Casting I made use of, which in turn helped my further refine said method as I started learning more and more Advanced spells.
Some days we'd end up being greeted by Amarys and Lyria, since Ingo seemed to be a helpful hand of theirs when it came to the alchemist's trade with his deeper knowledge on spellcraft.
And when I wasn't doing that I was at the Water God Dojo, furthering myself as a swordsman in efforts to catch up with my brother and perhaps more.
As had become all too familiar to me, days moved on into weeks moved on into months.
While we're here, let's explain how Adventurer Ranks work in terms of actually rising up them. It is, predictable, purely based on the amount of work one's done for the Guild.
EG, you promote from F Rank after doing either ten F ranked requests or taking on half as many E ranked ones in a row. This method resumes with the required jobs increasing each time. So to go from E to D, either you clear fifty F jobs, twenty-five E ranks, or ten D ranks in a row. Obviously as you go eventually jobs of low enough rank would become pointless to your count, encouraging those with the right skill and experience to not hog up any menial work for the newbies, meanwhile newbies can't just nab high rank jobs above their skill level.
The path can either be slow and steady by keeping to your lane or be daring and strike above your rank to aim higher faster.
The short end of this is I was E ranked inside of a couple weeks.
With the amount of busy work that had to be done in a city as large as Ars, finding postings for E ranked work was easy to come by. Those jobs being simple menial labor meant they were easy to come by since obviously bothering the Knights with say, finding your lost cat or clearing a warehouse of pests was hardly a thing to ask of sanctioned soldiers.
So, who better than young upstarts who needed some extra coin?
Being in Asura, the pay was also simple enough. Basic F and E jobs paid out a copper or two depending, at best you'd get a large copper coin with ten smaller coppers, and a few more come higher jobs. Considering the work on offer, the most the handful of C ranked jobs the Ars Guild had paid out one silver.
I'd learned the conversions in school, of course. Ten coppers make a large copper. Ten large coppers make one silver. And ten silvers make one gold. Simple, classic coin scaling anyone with a basic understanding of numbers could manage even without a "proper" education.
Of course, other countries tended to have their own currencies, and I'd particularly been taught how to count the conversion of Millis coins. Interestingly, Millis made use of bank notes alongside coins, so Millis coins were worth less than Asuran coins. No need to go off about it here, just a fun note to make. Useful in case I even find my way to the Millis continent.
And so we come to where I was some months after becoming an adventurer proper. But now, I'd started gaining a bit of a name in the Guild, at the least enough to be recognized whenever I was strolling in to get a new job.
"Haaaagh… getting to D Rank is gonna take ages…" One of the only postings of a D Ranked job I could find ironically enough came from the Mage's Guild—which at this point I was also E Ranked in—and it was just a typical reagent gathering job out in the forests. Hardly risky work even if it was potentially near monster dens. "Taking the slow path to D Rank may be the best option I've got here…"
Ironically it feels like this is where my luck has run dry a bit. If I'd still been in Roa then perhaps it'd be a different story, able to join a guild branch whose liveliness could match the flow of work it had. Here in Ars? The attitude in the guild was of people trying to kill time with what scraps of work they could actually get. It wasn't a lack of work that caused it, but a dry well of anything lucrative.
"I guess gathering in the forest will work out for today… could line up with some more research with Ingo when I'm done…" Looking the request paper over, I took particular note of the requestee: Amarys. "Huh… she did mention she was working on some new medicines. Guess she's running low. Hehehe… may as well help out!"
"Help out with what?"
"WHA?!"
As I was turning to head for the desk, the paper in my hand about went flying as I jumped from suddenly being faced by somebody.
A young man, probably in his late teens. A face I'd mark as average but still decent looking with scruffy black hair and sharp green eyes. He had the build and garb of a swordsman. He looked just like any other adventurer really, but he had an easy smile on as he chuckled at my surprised reaction.
"Ah, sorry about that, was just curious what you were mumbling about."
"Ah…" Thankfully I hadn't quite ruined the job listing, though the paper did suffer some crinkling up between my fingers. "It just kind of happens I know the person who made this request. I figured it'd be easy enough."
"Mind if I take a look?" Wouldn't hurt, so I handed the young man the slip. "Hmm… wait, sure it's a D Rank gathering job, but this is pretty deep in the forests. And it's been a while since the knights' last patrol of the area you'd be looking for these herbs. You sure this is a request you want to take on?"
"Hehehe, I may be young, but I'm a lot tougher than I look y'know?"
"Hmm… wait… scarlet hair and eyes… oh! You're that kid who joined up a few months ago! The won who hurried on into E Rank before everyone knew it! It's… Aegir, right?"
"Yeap. Aegir Greyfeather. Intermediate Swordsman and Advanced Mage, at your service."
"Advanced… but, you can't be much older than ten!" The young adventurer gaped as I smirked at him.
"If you need proof, you could always ask my instructors at the Water God Dojo or Mage's Guild."
"N-No, I believe you… the heck are they teaching kids these days?" All too amusing to see people be surprised like this. Being a rare case is fun sometimes. Granted I was still working on silently casting Advanced spells, at best I was on abridging the incantation for now. "Ahem… well, even if you are skilled, taking on a solo job is pretty risky. How many D Rank jobs have you done since advanced to E rank?"
"Like… two others? But they were just cleanup jobs after the knights were done with the serious stuff. And those were group volunteer jobs."
As was often the case. Whatever scraps of hunting jobs the Guild got were always cleanup acts in the aftermath of the knight patrols that swept the areas of the nearby forests and smaller towns in the capital territory. It was a rare day even a C Ranked job to hunt some goblins or anything actually somewhat dangerous rolled on in. So usually it was the Knights contracting the guild to send out as group to clean up stragglers and the like.
At the least they were willing to pay alright since they were usually "each volunteer is paid a sum for their service" type of request.
"You're not getting in over your head, are you?" It was reasonable for the young man to express that kind of caution. He likely was worrying I was getting in over my head because I was just confident in my talents.
Which… well okay that was definitely what it looked like to him.
"I promise I can handle myself fine. I've been picking up some North God tricks lately. It's nothing major, but it's been enough to help."
"Still…" The young man put a hand to his chin, mulling something over with himself. "Alright, how about this? See, I'm the leader of a small party, and we've been looking for someone to fill out our numbers a bit. A swordsman and mage combo is unorthodox, but it sounds like you can fill two spots. Whaddya say? Mind if we help you with this job as a trial run?"
"That's a surprise offer to make to someone you just met."
"Hahahaha! Maybe, but I have a good eye for people. So, how about it?"
"Well, I have been thinking about trying to find a party, eventually…"
"Then it lines up!" The young man held out a hand towards me. "The name's Nyle, and I lead the party called Blue Roses. We're… well, we'll be famous one day!"
"Hehehe, might be hard to do that in Ars," I took his hand, giving it a firm shake. "And again, I'm Aegir Greyfeather, the Mage Knight who's be known across Asura and beyond!"
"Mage Knight? Hehe, that's got a good ring to it. Nice to meet you, Aegir."
It may take plenty of time and a lot of work, but hey, like I've been saying, I'm fine taking the slow path if I need to. That's just the way things have to be sometimes.