System Change

Derek had a big grin on his face as he strolled into the inn. Unlike the other inns he had visited in the merchant district where there were only stuck up businessmen and no bars, this inn had it all.

The current clientele were definitely on the adventurer side of things. There was not a single person he could see that did not look like they knew how to fight. Even though a few of the people were wearing storage rings, they still had their weapons strapped to their waist or back. To Derek, this was a sign that they would be ready to fight at a moment’s notice. Also, this most likely meant that they had grown used to having their weapons in place.

If all that was not enough to figure out what kind of inn this was, then the fact that every adult he could see was wearing a silver adventurer’s badge would make it abundantly clear. Hell, there were even a couple people with gold badges.

Derek’s gaze looked over the entire floor of the establishment. Dozens of tables were spread out where the rowdy bunch of adventurers sat. On the right side of the floor was a bar being manned by two bartenders. A couple servers walked back and forth from a back room, serving different types of food. And on the left side of the room seemed to be a ‘check-in’ counter with a bored-looking woman seated behind.

Derek and company walked over to the bored woman. “Do you have any rooms available?” Derek asked.

The woman looked up from whatever she was reading. A slight surprise fell over her face when she saw the trio. “We have one.” She said and looked from Derek to Thomas. “Will that be enough?”

He was hoping for separate rooms, but it did not really matter to him. He did not sleep much, anyway. With the news of the dungeon soon to spread, and Torith being the closest city to it, Derek figured that it would soon be hard to get a room at any inn. “Fine by me.” He said. “If another becomes available in the future, I’d like it too, though.”

She nodded. “Fine.” She said. “And how long do you plan on staying?”

Derek thought for a second. “I’d like to pay up for two weeks. I may stay longer or shorter, but two weeks is a good start.”

The woman nodded again, then pulled out a notebook. “Name.” She stated.

“Derek Hunt.”

She frowned in confusion and muttered. “Where have I heard that before?” She shook her head and began writing in the book. “Okay, for two weeks, that will be seven gold.”

Derek brought the gold out and placed it on the counter.

The woman took it. “You can get free breakfast in the morning, but all other meals, and all drinks cost extra.” She reached under the counter and pulled out a key. “Your room is number 214 on the second floor. Just go up those stairs and you can find it yourself.” She pointed at the stairs to her left.

Derek took the key from her. “Thank you.” He said. Then, he turned and headed up the stairs to take a look at his room. Thomas and the bunny followed after.

Once up the stairs, Derek looked around. There was another set of stairs leading up to the third floor, and there was a hall with doors on the inside wall. Derek noted the room numbers as he walked down the hall. 201, 202… Looks like the same layout we used for our hotels back on Earth. Eventually, he reached the end of the hall and turned right to continue. About midway through, he found his room number.

He put the key in and turned it. Then he walked inside. The room was much more spacious than the one at the village, as was to be expected. The bed was quite big, too. In the corner was a desk and a chair. There was also a wardrobe with two drawers on the bottom meant for clothes. It made sense, as there were not many people with storage rings.

“Well, this is good enough for me. Good enough for you?” He asked Thomas.

Thomas nodded. “It’s fine. More comfortable than my home.”

Derek tossed Thomas the key. “You keep the key, I don’t sleep much. Besides, we won’t have any stuff inside, so we don’t need to keep it locked, anyway.”

Thomas accepted the key with a nod.

“Alright, you do whatever you want for now. I’m going to go do some stuff.” Derek turned and walked out of the room.

Back on the first floor, Derek walked over to the bar and sat down. A brawny bartender walked over with a mug and towel in hand. “What can I get you?” He asked.

“Give me whatever is strongest.” Derek replied.

The man lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “You sure?”

Derek only nodded in return.

The man changed the mug in his hand for a small glass, which surprised Derek. Then, he grabbed a bottle from under the bar and began a slow pour. A caramel colored liquid filled a quarter of the glass.

Derek reached for the glass, but the man stopped him with a finger on the rim. “That’s a quarter gold.”

Derek chuckled and tossed the man a gold coin. “Fill it up the rest of the way.”

The bartender took the gold coin with a smile and filled the rest of the glass up to the rim. “Good luck.” He said and watched Derek with anticipation.

Derek took a sip. If he had to describe it, he would say that it was like a fine whiskey mixed with two parts battery acid. It burned and stung, but somehow did not seem to cause any damage inside his mouth. Interesting. He thought. He turned up the glass and finished the rest of the drink off. All the while, the bartender was staring at him in shocked surprise.

Derek waited for multiple minutes before sighing. I guess not even this is enough to affect me with my Vitality and Endurance. Derek tipped the man a few silver and stood to leave. It was time to check out the Adventurer’s Guild.

A while later, Derek was standing alone in the lower district of the city. He was standing in front of the Adventurer’s Guild, the biggest building in the lower district. It was even bigger than any of the buildings in the merchant district.

Derek walked inside to take a look. It was just like all the Adventurer’s Guilds he had seen and read about in the past. There were six counters, each with a person standing behind, helping clients. Around the area were tables for adventurer’s to sit at while their leaders did what they needed to do.

There were four different boards with papers pinned to them. One was outlined in bronze, one silver, and one gold. The other did not have an outline. Derek went over to that one and looked at some of the papers. He chuckled when he read a few. They were quests like ‘Help Mrs. Green clean her shop’ and ‘Help find lost pet.’ They were for those that had not reached a minimum level to become a full-fledged adventurer.

The counters were the same as the quest boards. Each had a plaque representing adventurer rank. The counter on the far right seemed to be where citizens would go to post a mission, and the counter on the far left was registration. That was what Derek was looking for.

Derek walked over to the counter and was greeted by a cute, dark brown-skinned lady wearing big, round glasses. “Hello, sir. Welcome to the Torith Adventurer’s Guild. How may I help you today?”

Derek smiled. “I am looking to register. I was hoping you could help me.”

The lady smiled back. “You can call me Nia, it would be my pleasure to help you today.” She said. Nia took out a small stack of papers and a writing utensil. “Now, this is the basic contract you will have to sign to in order to become an adventurer at our guild. Do you understand?”

Derek nodded. It made sense.

The woman began pointing out lines in the papers, explaining each one to Derek. “This states that you must never actively move against the Adventurer’s Guild as a whole… This states that you must do your utmost to be a respectable person, as to not tarnish the name of the Adventurer’s Guild…”

The list went on. There was nothing that Derek did not expect. The contract was so basic, that Derek could think of loopholes to get out of every single point if needed. It all made sense why, even with Wallace’s character, he was still a member of the guild.

“Violating any of the preceding rules could result in termination of your contract and expulsion from the Adventurer’s Guild. Do you understand?” Nia said.

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Nia signed the paper, then slid it over to him. “Please sign on the line next to my name.”

He took the pen-like writing utensil and signed his name. He waited for a notification saying that he had made a contract, but it never popped up.

Nia took the papers, glancing at his signature. “Alright, Mr. Hunt.” She said, then pushed a button on her counter. “Someone will be with you in a moment to verify your contract and get you situated within the guild. Thank you for coming. You may wait here or choose to have a seat, I will let you know when you are needed.”

Derek laughed, here he was, thinking that joining the Adventurer’s Guild was turning out to be extremely simple, but it turned out he was only speaking to the receptionist. “Thank you.” He said. Then, he turned and walked over to a bench against the wall and sat, waiting for the real process to begin.