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Volume 2 Chapter 3 - Mithril Class Adventurer

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“Fumu, you seem surprised.” (Orlando)

Seeing Allen frozen as he stared at the paper in front of him that said [recognized as a mithril class adventurer], Orlando squinted his eyes a little.

Reacting to those words, Allen looked up and was so surprised that the words “Obviously!” were about to come out of his mouth, but he managed to purse his lips tightly and stop himself.

The ranks of adventurers start from wood class, followed by bronze class, iron class, silver class, gold class, mithril class, and the highest rank, orichalcum class.

Basically, new adventurers start at wood class, and by completing requests, they accumulate contributions to the Guild and raise their rank.

That said, in the end, this is just ‘basically’, and it is limited to cases where the person who wants to become an adventurer is a complete amateur with no experience in combat.

Those who have received basic training in combat somewhere, those who are from villages with no defensive walls and have experience fighting monsters, and those who have a certain level of military prowess, such as those who have changed jobs from soldiers, can skip the wood class and register as bronze class adventurers by taking a prescribed test when they become adventurers.

The reason for such a system is that the Adventurers’ Guild restricts the requests that can be accepted according to rank.

Therefore, if everyone starts at wood class, even the highly skilled adventurers will only be able to accept simple requests that even a combat novice can complete.

Of course, the rewards for such requests are low, and if there is a restriction that only such requests can be accepted, they will miss out on talented people who want to become adventurers.

However, the Adventurers’ Guild cannot abolish the restrictions on the requests that can be accepted according to rank.

It’s clear that if they do that, adventurers taking on requests that do not match their abilities and failing will happen over and over again, and accordingly, the number of adventurers who will die as a result will be far greater than it is now.

Due to these circumstances, a rank certification system based on an exam at the time of registration was created.

Allen was also well aware of its existence. Because, while Allen became an adventurer at the age of 12 without any experience and naturally started at the wood class without taking any exams, most people take such exams.

In the first place, many people who want to become adventurers are confident in their abilities. There are also quite a few people like Allen who do it as a way to make quick money as their life is tight though.

Allen took out a piece of paper and ran his pen over it, then showed it to Orlando.

[Can someone who has just become an adventurer become mithril class?] (Allen)

When Orlando confirmed the words, he furrowed his brows and let out a small snort. He could sense from his attitude that Orlando was clearly dissatisfied with this decision.

‘Then why would you do such a thing?’ Allen felt this doubt while staring at Orlando, and after letting out a seemingly deliberate sigh, Orlando opened his mouth.

“According to the Guild’s regulation, it is possible to register up to mithril class with the authority of the Guildmaster. That said, it’s only after several difficult conditions are cleared, so in effect, it is virtually impossible to be registered as a mithril class. In my experience, the highest I've ever seen was a former knight registered as a silver class.” (Orlando)

Hearing Orlando's explanation, Allen, who had no idea about this, was impressed. Because his image of Orlando was someone who was fat and obese, sarcastic toward employees, and pushed troublesome works on them, and it turned out he had solid knowledge as a Guildmaster.

Partly because of his resolute attitude when dealing with the stampede last time as well, Allen felt that Orlando's stock was rising within him, and he threw in an interjection before urging him to continue.

“There are three conditions to become a mithril class. You must have experience of traversing a dungeon with 20 floors or more. You must deliver more than 50 million zenny to the Guild, and the last and the most difficult one is that, you must be recommended by royalty or titled nobility.” (Orlando)

Allen tilted his head involuntarily at Orlando's words that he said with a furrowed brow.

He can accept the one about having the experience of traversing a dungeon with 20 floors or more. The Demon Dungeon that Allen often went around was a 30-floor dungeon. It was only natural that the Guild would know about it since he had consigned the sale of the magic stones of its boss, an ogre king, to the Guild.

However, Allen had no idea about the remaining two.

Allen had cleared the Demon Dungeon alone a total of six times so far. For the first five times, he delivered both the magic stones and the horns to the guild, but for the last time, he only delivered the magic stone.

The reason is that he wanted the horn to be used to repair Allen's beloved sword, which was now Eric's sword.

The sales value of the magic stones and horns was approximately 6 million zenny per delivery. Although the price dropped slightly after multiple deliveries, it was still at least 5.5 million zenny. The last sale of only the magic stone was 3 million zenny.

In other words, no matter how you look at it, it's nowhere near 50 million zenny.

And more than anything, Allen had no idea of any recommendation by royalty or titled nobility. ‘In the first place, I don’t have any noble acquaintances,’ Allen thought that far when he suddenly realized.

(Could it be, the recommendation came from Count Lilac? No, but either way, the amount of money shouldn’t be enough for the delivery part.) (Allen)

“The dungeon with 20 floors or more is the Demon Dungeon. There may be others that you have traversed, but the Guild is not aware of them. Next, regarding the delivery of 50 million zenny or more, this is from consignment sales of the Demon Dungeon and things like the dragon puppies from the stampede. Many of them were in good condition because they had been frozen, but accordingly, it took a lot of time and labor to dismantle them. The amount of money you’ll get will be after deducting that, but you’ll still get a considerable amount that you can obtain at a later date.” (Orlando)

After listening to Orlando's explanation, Allen nodded his head. ‘Now that I think about it, didn’t I use Ice Coffin to freeze the dragons just before they headed for the exit in order to save Iseria?’ while thinking that.

After saving Iseria, Allen was worried about Eric and went straight to him, and the frozen dragons completely disappeared from his mind. He ran away as soon as things were under control, so he didn't remember even just a shred of it until Orlando told him about it.

“The recommendation came from Count Lilac. If you are going to work as an adventurer, he has asked me to assist you to the best of my ability.” (Orlando)

Allen could see that there was something bitter in Orlando's face as he said that. He waited a while, but then, sensing that he had no intention of saying anything else, Allen took the letter in his hand and stood up.

Thinking that there would be nothing to do even if he stayed here any longer, he thought it would be better to leave.

And just as Allen turned his back to Orlando, he heard the sound of the sofa creaking behind him. Allen stopped in his tracks as Orlando stood up and called out to him.

“I'm sorry. I know that you're the savior of this city, and that you didn’t desire to become mithril class. And that, in a sense, I'm alive thanks to you.” (Orlando)

There, Orlando paused and closed his eyes. He has a pained expression on his face that Allen couldn't see.

“But... But what was my life as an adventurer? What were the days I spent risking my life with my comrades? I feel like the position of mithril class adventurer that I finally gained after my comrades were injured and collapsed has become so light, I still can't sort out my feelings. I'm really sorry.” (Orlando)

At his words that were filled with emotion as if he were crying, Allen couldn't say anything. Because he understood that feeling all too well.

Being an adventurer is a dangerous job. Even Allen, who has always prioritized safety in this job, has come close to death more than once or twice.

It's not hard to imagine that much more happened in the process of Orlando becoming a mithril class. And that may include someone's death.

Allen thought about whether he should turn around and say something, but after thinking about it a bit, he decided against it.

Because he thought that if he were in Orlando's position, he wouldn't want to be seen right now.

However, Allen couldn't just leave things like this. While still having his back to Orlando, Allen opened his mouth.

What came from there was a low voice so deep it feels like you’ll sink into it.

“It's not just adventurers who cross the line of death. I just happen to not be an adventurer, that's all. It doesn’t change the weight of your life. So be proud of yourself, for the sake of your fallen friends too.” (Allen)

After saying that in a changed voice, Allen left the Guildmaster's room. While inwardly thinking to himself, ‘Who the hell do you think you are, acting so high and mighty.’

Unaware of Allen's thoughts, Orlando fell to his knees in the room where he was left alone, his hands covering his face, his voice muffled, he continued to cry as the tears overflowed.

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(T/N: Sigh, these chapters are way too hard to translate, the translation feels so bad.)

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