Leona’s adventures

After Kiara led me to my room, I quickly took off all my clothes and got into the bed. I could use a little catnap now. I first pull the covers over me and then I curl up, all nice and snug.

By the time I wake up, it is already the next day. Huh, that took longer than I thought it would. After a short bath I get dressed and don my sword and shield. The ones I came to the capitol with of course. Not the ones I trained with in the castle unfortunately. I had to return those.

I decide to explore the guildhall for now. I come across many interesting adventurers. Most of them got pretty cool armors and weapons and everyone is really friendly. It’s honestly a little unsettling. Usually someone would have insulted me for being a beast-kind already. It even happened in the castle. Yet for some reason nobody even comments on my ears. It’s almost like nobody even cares. I … would love to get used to this. Yeah, I think I’m going to like it here.

I have my first breakfast at the Dark Dragons with my friends; Darx, Shalia and Ryul. Sophie and Ari are there as well. It looks like everyone is enjoying their stay here. As soon as breakfast is done, I head over to the quest board, though. If I’m going to be a successful adventurer, I’m going to need actually good weapons and armor. Like the stuff from in the castle, not this low-quality loot.

While reading the quests, I sense that somebody is staring at me. I look around and notice a woman in black armor. I can’t see her face because she is wearing a helmet. What a weirdo, wearing a helmet indoors. Yet I can feel it is she whose been staring at me. I frown at her and flatten my ears.

“What are you looking at?” The woman suddenly asks.

“I don’t know. What are YOU looking at?” I say reflexively.

“A little girl who doesn’t have proper weapons and armor, I guess.” The woman replies. Well, she got me on the weapon and armor part.

“A little know-it-all who doesn’t know how to keep her nose out of other people’s business, I guess.” I reply.

The woman sneers at me and says, “Go visit the guild armory and borrow some basic armor before you go on any quests.” After that, she simply leaves.

Something about her bugs me and I don’t know what, but it’s making my hair stand up. On another note, we can actually borrow basic armor? I head back to my friends and tell them about it. I remember Ryul got here without armor so he will want to know. Same for Shalia. I wanted to tell Darx as well, but it seems he has already left. Eh, he already had his own sword and armor. He’ll be fine.

Together we head to the armory where we find the local smith. He explains that the armory works a bit like a shop. If we find any armor or weapons, we can bring them here and sell them for some extra money. He will then decide whether they are worth keeping around for other guild members to buy or if they are to be melted down and reforged into something better. Borrowing gear is only for us new members and even then, it is always the lowest grade available. I guess they want to motivate us to work for better gear, but also want us to at least have the minimum protection. The most important thing is that now at least I have plate armor again.

I ask the others if they want to join me for a quest, but they want to get comfortable to the guildhall for now. I can understand, but I want to get my first quest in as quickly as possible. So, I head back to the quest board.

I see that the woman in the black armor is still there. I guess I should thank her for telling me I could borrow armor, but I won’t.

“Looking better already.” The woman says when she sees me.

“Yeah well, you still look like a talking helmet.” I reply.

“My name is Merlara.” The woman says, ignoring my helmet comment.

“So, where are the good ones?” I ask. “I like a good challenge.”

Merlara sighs inside her helmet. Probably rolled her eyes too.

“New adventurers like you are better off building a name for yourselves first.” She then says. “Make some money and buy your own armor before you get yourself in an adventure too much for you to handle.”

“Hmpf. Alright then. What do you suggest?”

Merlara pulls a sheet of paper from the quest board and hands it to me. It is a quest to kill rats in a warehouse.

“Are you kidding?!” I nearly yell out of feeling insulted. “This kind of quest is meant for E ranks! I’m an A!”

“This quest comes from a guy who owns a warehouse in a part of Riledo that is directly controlled by the Dark Dragon guild. All quests in our part of the city, high or low, come here. Lower guilds allied to us, which can’t fulfil high-level quests they get, pass those on to us as well. But low-level quests in our territory are not passed on to them. We take care of our territory. You signed up to be with the Dark Dragons, now take care of our territory.” Merlara explains. “For an A rank like you, this should be an easy quest, easy money, easy popularity.”

I guess it would be satisfying to have my own armor. And when I complete a challenging quest in my own high-quality armor, it would feel that much more satisfying. Ugh, fine. Looks like I’ll go kill 10 rats or something today.

Since the warehouse is in territory that’s directly controlled by the Dark Dragon guild, it isn’t too far. I also noticed an alchemist shop on the way there. I guess I could sell some reagents there after I come back from a real quest. At any rate, the warehouse owner was happy to see me, but not quite as surprised as I thought he’d be. I guess Merlara is right and the A ranks here regularly do low level quests in their home region. Interesting.

The owner leads me into his warehouse and explains that the rats just showed up one day. Since most of the wares he stores here are food, they are causing quite the damage. I can even see a few of them scurrying around, so yeah, there’s quite a bunch. He also tells me to try my best not to interrupt his employees and when it comes to the rats, he says that I gotta catch ‘em all.

Catching these rats is actually quite easy for me. While training in the castle, I learned an interesting spell in light magic, [Divine Chains]. It creates chains of light which bind the target to me. I see a rat and cast the spell on it. Haha, now it can’t run away any more. I chase after it and stab it with my sword. You know, this is actually kinda fun.

I spend the next hour or two hunting rats. The owner was right, there are a lot of them. I decide to lay the ones I caught in a row. To, you know, make it easier to count. There are more than 30. When I am unable to find any more, I notify the owner. He is quite pleased that the rats are gone and gives me a token with my guild’s emblem on it. Once I return to the guild, I hand it over to one of the clerks. Apparently, these tokens are owned by the guild and handed out to anyone who pays the guild for a quest. When some guildmembers complete the quest, he hands them the token as evidence of a job well done. Then the guildmember hands the token, as well as the paper with the quest on it, back to the clerk and he gets paid. My payment for this job is only 40 copper coins. Yeah, killing rats is not very profitable. But they also can’t allow them to breed. I think I did well today.