The Martial Unity

𝗏xt.𝗇t

Soon enough, they reached the Adventurer’s Guild standing prominently in the central ward of the town. The rush and the population density only grew, and Rui and Kane almost bumped into other Martial Squires despite sky-walking in the air!

“This is ridiculous,” Rui murmured. “I know that the Shionel Confederation probably has the highest Squire population density, but still. They’re everywhere right now.”

The two of them squeezed their way into the Guild, making their way over the support counter.

“Excuse me, we’d like to register as adventu-“

“The adventurer’s registration counter is in the left wing of the guild,” She curtly interrupted him. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No, thank you fo-“

“Please move along, there are other customers who are waiting,” She interrupted him yet again.

Rui and Kane quickly shifted aside with surprised expressions. It wasn’t that they were entitled arrogant little brats, it was just that they were entirely unaccustomed to being treated with rudeness by a customer service employee of an organization.

“Well, I suppose the value and esteem of a single Martial Squire have probably gone down ever since their population has spiked in the country,” Rui noted.

“She must be dealing with hundreds of us every day,” Kane chuckled.

The two of them headed towards the left wing of the guild, joining yet another massive queue formed for the adventurer registration in the adventurer’s guild.

“Oh come on,” Kane groaned. “We just got out of a huge line prior.”

“Have patience,” Rui sighed. “This is inevitable.”

The fact that several months had passed since the opening of the Shionel Dungeon, and there was still such a rush to register as adventurers meant that his predictions about the Shionel Dungeon were correct. The fact that its clearance rate after nearly half a year was still low meant that there was plenty of time before the dungeon actually ended up being cleared, and plenty of time that it would remain open.

The fact that it wasn’t a fleeting matter like the Serevian Dungeon, as well as its open nature to all Martial Squires meant that the influx was far greater than one might normally expect in these circumstances.

Rui and Kane spent nearly an hour before they finally got their turn. A copy of their transit pass obtained from entering the Shionel Confederation through the transit port was provided to ensure that the two of them didn’t migrate illegally before they were directed to separate isolated rooms and provided thick stacks of paper constituting the application form.

The questionnaire was remarkably thorough and made sure to record all the essential data surrounding his identity, followed by his purpose of application as well as the ‘settings’ of his adventurer account.

Both he and Kane had already decided to not take any missions, thus he ticked the ‘do not display profile, or make profile publically available’ option, which would ensure that the Shionel Adventurer Guild would not announce their presence in the Shionel Confederation.

There was a promotion system in place that promoted the presence of prominent and powerful Martial Squires as well as the most successful ones. The system existed because there were a huge number of Martial Squires coming from a huge number of places, and the market that would be commissioning these very Martial Squires. The unfamiliarity between the clients from across the East side of the continent and the Martial Squires across the East side of the continent was problematic, and thus the promotion system and the public profiles helped.

Martial Squires, dubbed as ‘adventurers’ were ranked from E to S. With Rank E adventurers referred to the weakest of Martial Squires, and Rank S adventurers referred to the strongest of Martial Squires.

They had to undergo a brief ranking test where their rank would be confirmed and broadcasted on their public rankings page.

Thankfully, Rui and Kane chose to opt out of the publicization system and didn’t need to undergo any test that would reveal their skills.

(‘Assuming the ranks scale linearly with the grading system of the Martial Union, then I would probably be ranked at Rank B,’) Rui noted. (‘Kane would probably be ranked at Rank D, maybe Rank C.’)

Soon enough, their application process ended, and both of them walked out of the guild with an Adventurer license in their possession.

“Why do they deviate so much from the norm when it comes to grading systems?” Kane frowned. “Seems redundant to not stick with the basic numeric grading system that most nations use universally. It’s what everyone is used to, right? Forcing people to adapt to this new bullshit is just annoying.”

“It’s deliberate,” Rui replied. “They’re trying to create a distinct system, and have the Martial Squires, who will probably be spending quite some time in the nation, get used to it.”

“Why do that when they’ll be returning home after?” Kane sighed with exasperation.

“Because they don’t want them to,” Rui replied. “Their goal is to culturally and normatively tie down at least a portion of the Martial Squires who have entered the nation from abroad.”

Kane’s eyes widened. “I see, the vast number of foreign Martial Squires who have entered the nation can be potentially poached. Thus they’re trying to create a distinct and unique system to get the Martial Squires familiarized and comfortable with it, in hopes that some stay.”

Rui nodded. “Of course, I’m sure they’re well aware of the fact that this is a long shot. However, given that this was a low-effort measure, any success at all can be considered a win. Not all Martial Squires come from large and powerful nations like the Kandrian Empire, there are many from smaller nations who could potentially be swayed by the Shionel Confederation. It is a Sage-level nation, after all. Besides… It isn’t even that unique.”

“Hm?” Kane glanced at him.

“I heard that the Panamic Adventurer Guild that caters to the Beast Domain as a whole also has a similar system that the Shionel Adventurer Guild has copied to a certain extent.