BXBX NOVEL Volume 1, 11: 1st Class Adventurer, Cradle?
Volume 1, Chapter 11: 1st Class Adventurer, Cradle②
「D-Do you have money with you, Knight-sama? 」
「Ah. Due to a certain circumstances, I didn’t carry any with me now.」
Aside from the initial confusion and disconnect, Fiona and Lambert easily got along with each other.
Despite Fiona’s apparent ease with Lambert, both Llyod and Lily kept their distance from him, never talking unless necessary. Their unwillingness to participate, besides leaving them as the only conversants, both Fiona and Lambert still enjoyed the conversation between them.
And, the reason for their geniality with each other was because of Lambert’s interest in Fiona’s resemblance with his former Liege, while the latter’s reason was because of her blatant curiosity over Lambert’s full-plate armor.
「Then, you should at least take the token of gratitude the villagers have prepared for you…with the meager amount of money I possess, I fear I can’t give you an appropriate reward.」
Fiona said, rummaging into her tool bag, trying to find something to offer Lambert. However, before she could take out anything from the bag, Lambert stopped her.
「I don’t mind. It’s not like I saved the village for that reward in the first place.」
The village chief did indeed offer some rewards to Lambert for subjugating the bandits and saving them, but Lambert had refused to accept it.
After all, he felt that the citizens had paid him back by paying their taxes. In the first place, protecting the peace of the Kingdom of Regios and its citizens was his sworn duty. One that had already deeply ingrained itself to his bones.
And while the Kingdom didn’t pay him any salary now, this matter was simply a logic that had already been etched deep within Lambert’s consciousness.
That being said, right now, the most urgent thing he needed to do was to look for a way to earn some traveling expenses for himself.
And it was obvious to him that those villagers needed the reward money more than Lambert did. They still needed to rebuild their village after all. Moreover, Earl Aubock, the mastermind behind this scheme, was still alive.
Thus, the chance that another misfortune might befall the village again still loomed. Furthermore, the bandit’s leader had said that there were a few other villages with similar situations as this one.
Lambert’s job was far from over.
And there’s another reason why he stopped Fiona from giving him a reward.
The current Lambert didn’t really need money. He’s an undead after all. He felt neither fatigue nor hunger. Thus, money wasn’t really all that important to him.
「… How are you going to enter Ainsaz without money, knight-sama? 」
「I’ll manage it somehow. I can sleep anywhere and hunt for my meal.」
「That’s…… No matter how big Ainsaz is, many dangerous people wander at night, and what are you going to do with your luggage? I mean look, even if you hunt for your meal, the only way to eat is by grilling them…」
「It is still a lot better than the time when I was on the expedition. Far better than eating in the valley of death, or cold town, or being attacked by the likes of bandits, etc, etc…」
「Ahahahha…… I see now… 」
Though at times Fiona couldn’t make sense of Lambert’s remarks, she’d still managed to somehow throw in an appropriate response.
「But you’ll be troubled in one way or another without money. And since you’re my benefactor, I’ll be troubled- That’s it! Since you will not receive any reward from me, how about I introduce you to some job? 」
「A job? 」
「Yes. We are part of the Adventurer’s Guild after all. And the recent partnership between companies and guilds guarantees an easier opportunity to find a job. And since Knight-sama is quite powerful, I think you can easily rake in some money after working for a while. It shouldn’t take that long for a simple registration of your name as long as you have my recommendation.」
Adventurer’s Guild did its business in the form of providing manpower, or in other words, adventurers, to people who needed a job to be done. The guild then would take a small amount of the rewards as a mediator fees for introducing the adventurer to the job.
A big guild had close to one hundred adventurers registered. Due to its sheer size, the guild was structured into headquarters and branches. But, the guild that Fiona and her companions belonged to,『Spirit’s Dusk』, was just a small time guild, with only ten members registered in it, including Fiona and her pair of companions.
「O-Oi Fiona… That’s……」
Lloyd, who heard their conversation, decided to cut in. After all, though Lambert had suppressed his undead miasma, his uncommon aura still surrounded Lambert’s figure. And this, if one were to be blunt, made him an eerie person to one’s sense.
「But, Knight-sama seems to be poorly informed about this area… And it’s slightly worrying to part with him without at least doing this much…」
While he was not interested in Fiona and Llyod’s quarrel, hearing Fiona’s words slightly stirred Lambert’s feeling. He had no idea about the current situation in theKingdom of Regios, but he might get a rough grasp of it once he worked as a proper citizen.
[ED: I want to add ‘it was only logical’ to this paragraph so soooo much. But, I’ve to hold my hand.]
「And most of all…… This man doesn’t look like someone who is used to doing adventurer jobs.」
「I know what you mean, but I’ll be the one who is responsible for him. It’ll be too pitiful to let him go in his current penniless condition.」
「Hey, saying something like that is… EEH!? 」
Lambert had made his decision.
In the first place, Lambert’s objectives weren’t that grand. All he wanted to do was to watch over the result of his Liege’s work in this united Kingdom…and perhaps investigate Earl Aubock’s actions along the way.
But, the current him was really lacking in terms of information. That’s why, at the very least, he wanted to understand some basic information before he started the investigation on Earl Aubock.
「Let’s go to our guild, the『Spirit’s Dusk』once we enter the city.」
「But, let me ask one question first…」
「What might it be? 」
「Uhm… Can you explain to me the structure of the Adventurer Guild? 」
「Y-You’re starting from that…」
At this most recent evidence of Lambert’s lack of knowledge, deep within her, Fiona doubted Lambert’s presumed identity, but she decided to keep her suspicions to herself. Llyod, however, was clearly displeased with Lambert’s question.
Lambert’s question was only natural since there was no such thing as Adventurer Association during the time he was still alive. When he was still alive, almost all the people with some degree of combat abilities were employed by nobilities or royalties somewhere. And, even the wanderers, who didn’t wish to stay in one place for too long, grouped together and formed mercenary groups.
At that time, adventurers were minorities.They were treated like an outcast amongst other outcasts. In fact, the majority of adventurers of Lambert’s era were weirdos who couldn’t work together in a group and only had so many skills. Furthermore, since they had always wandered around the savage land, out of 100 people, less than ten percent who called themselves adventurers could survive more than one year.
As such, it was only normal that Lambert simply couldn’t imagine that they had become part of the majority in this era, with various guilds with different names being set up in just one city.
「Adventurer Guild is a place where adventurers gather together for information and jobs. Each guild has its own rules, policies, and specializations. 『Spirit’s Dusk』 specializes in subjugating monsters or dangerous animals that will harm the villages…and after the recent contract with the company, we branched out to to gather monster materials such as meat, bone, or skin inside of the dungeon.」
「Hoo, I see now.」
The knowledge about dangerous places had raised the survival rate of the adventurers. And because of their surplus war potential, they had the undivided attention of the nobility…
Lambert laughed wholeheartedly as he could finally guess the rough situation of the Kingdom of Regios after the unification war from hearing Fiona’s story. And even though he was laughing, his laughter evoked an eerie feeling since it echoed inside his armor.
「Though there are six guilds in the city of Ainsaz, our 『Spirit’s Dusk 』 is a small one…… No, that makes us more flexible… The Guild Master is also kindhearted… Or rather, too kind of a person, thus the procedure of your registration won’t take a long time. We also get all kinds of easy job from our neighbors…」
Fiona tried to tell him the advantages of joining her guild but ended up telling him its glaring flaw. But, for Lambert, whose original intention was to gather more information, the small sized guild and its flexibilities were a huge boon for him.