"The Adventurer's Guild is a universal organisation that is present throughout all kingdoms of Ethyros, the known world. Of the three present Kingdoms, the Guild has it's main headquarters in Caen, the Capital of Carinthea, while its least influence is present in Drogendom. But in the last two centuries, the guild's present has steadily grown, uniting all adventurers across the world under one umbrella."
As Mat read through the dossier provided to him by the talkative, yet sincere receptionist Mathilda, he found himself trying his best to understand all the information he could absorb. What astounded him the most was the fact that despite having magic, the world's exploration only resulted in them finding three kingdoms in one continent.
Apparently, to the West of Ethyros was the Infinite sea, and to the east were deadly, frozen, never ending mountains of ice and snow. Mat almost scoffed just reading that. One continent? You've gotta be kidding me. Is this some Xianxia plot device?
*"The adventurers in the guild can choose from nine major classes, them namely being: Summoner, Daggermeister or Assassin, Swordsman, Mage, Shield Maiden/Mate, Berserker, Ranger, Alchemist, and Oracle. Although these are the classes adventurer's guild widely categorises adventurers in, they are non exhaustive, and include subsidiary classes under them that while not recognised, are widely known professions. For example, black smiths, or artisans, who generally either come under the berserker or alchemist class depending on their weapon of choice. Since the adventurer classes are made to categorise adventurer's on that basis of their potential in combat, it is deliberate that the classes are more affected by their method of combat than their profession."
Mat flipped through page after page, looking at the symbols and insignia of the classes that the guild recognised. And indeed, just as he'd guessed before, the nine icons on the guild's logo and the adventurer's badge were the same as in the book corresponding to each class.
From what he'd read, the guild divided adventurer's on the basis of class and rank. The ranks followed the same hierarchy as the nation's currency for the first three levels, the levels being Bronze, Silver, and Gold, while above that was Earth, Heaven, and Demigod. It really is like a fantasy RPG novel.
Mat who'd read many such stories in his previous life while adventuring across the world of course related them to this world. Am I part of an isekai story too now? Am I breaking the fourth wall now? He couldn't help but mock himself and the situation.
Reaching the end, Mat found the small list of illegal organisations that were listed by the guild. Apparently, most of the members of these organisation were either criminals, or somehow related to many organised crime incidents. Some of them were even internationally recognised terrorist organisations.
In the Kingdom of Gothricia itself, the place where he was in, there were two major organisations that originated from here. One was the Black Iron Cross and the other was the Blood Motherhood of Darkness. The guild's introductory dossier didn't go into too much details regarding those, just writing two lines about them being heretic off shoots of the Church of the God Almighty, the largest religion in Gothricia.
There was certainly a good amount of general knowledge in the papers, but in the end, general knowledge is always general knowledge. It's too general and wide to be compiled in a single book length.
Aside from these were maps of the nation, the county of Noxville, and the paths that lead to the different main cities of the kingdom.
In the continent of Ethyros, there were 12 great aristocratic families that held control over large territories across different countries. The kingdom of Gothricia was formed by the coalition of 4 of such great houses at the end of the Second Epoch.
Of the four great houses of Gothricia, House Flormen of Elves who lived to the north eastern mountains, and ruled over their fief of Frozen county were the oldest, after which came the now defunct House Noxleigh, who's territory and power was equally divided among the three remaining houses after their immolation. The other two houses were the Vampires of House Karkush of the North West, who ruled over the Crimson County and controlled the only ports in the small coastline of the almost entirely landlocked Gothricia.
The king of Gothricia heralded from the House Gothric of the Grim County, which was also the youngest house in the kingdom. At a first glance at least. In fact, according the knowledge the guild provided, they were actually founded by the old patriarch of the House Grimm of the Second Epoch who previously ruled over the Kingdom of Grimm.
They're really pushing out their family's name huh? They even call the capital after their own clan's name. How try-hard. Mat couldn't help but sigh at such blatant attempts to leave their name in history.
Even though the House's name changed, their habits didn't. Shaking his head, Mat went through the pages one by one, and grasped as much as he could, whether it be about the different humanoid species that lived across the world, or the currencies of the kingdoms.
Gothricia, for example, had three levels of coinage. In fact, while the "coinage" term used, surprisingly, this country actually preferred using paper currency for most transactions.
The currency of Gothricia had three denominations: Crin(s), Sil(s), and Grin(s), where a Crin was equivalent to a copper coin, a Sil was equivalent to a Silver coin, and a Grin was equal to a Gold coin. They were guaranteed the value by the King, and has his promise of paying the bearer the certain amount that the currency note symbolised. Looking at the printed pictures of the bills, Mat's heart stirred.
As for the incremental values in the currency, one Grin was equivalent to 20 Sils, while one Sil was equivalent to 10 Crins, which made a gold coin have the same value as 200 copper coins. This also applied to the paper bills.
Having grasped most of the information, Mat stood up and went to the receptionist again. Handing her back the dossier, he asked, "Is there any quest available for a beginner like me? I'm certainly new to the town, and I'm not very experienced with how things go in the cities, so if there is something simple available for me, I'd like to take it."
The green-haired woman looked down at him again, before nodding and picking out a tome that was places somewhere out of most people's sights. She opened it straight to the first half blank page, which was marked by a small, intricately designed bookmark that was sticking out at the top.
She carefully looked through the entries, and looked back at him.
"There is one, it is to find a lost cat. It's simple enough, but it is already taken. Would you like to still take it? I must remind you though, the reward is small, just 15 Sils. And it has already been picked out by those two gentlemen sitting in the lounge over there."
She pointed at the two gentlemen from the left corner of the reception desk, where the two men that Mat has previously noticed were sitting, as if they were waiting for something, or someone.
Turning back to him, she continued speaking, "I would recommend that you talk to them, and if possible, then join their team for the quest. As far as I have seen, they are regulars who come here pretty much every day, and they also have another team mate. It seems like she is not present today, hence it being just those two today. From what I have seen, they're quite nice individuals, hopefully if you ask politely enough, they'll choose to help you with the quest, and you might even get a guide for your first day here?"
This lady spoke very optimistically, and very helpfully, in more detail than Mat would generally expect people to. Is it because I look like a child younger than my age? Mat couldn't help but wonder.
"I shall do so, hopefully they agree. Thank you lady Mathilda, you're very helpful."
Mat spoke to her with a grateful smile, giving her a little bow.
"Aw, you're such a polite child! Fret not, it's my job, hehe~"
The lady said with a glittering smile, making him feel optimistic towards the day, and his possible new life in this world.
Closing the conversation, he casually walked back to the place he was sitting at, and stood in front of the two adventurers, one blonde, tall, and thin, while the other being short, black haired, and androgynous looking.
"Hi. I am Mordain, pleased to make your acquaintance."
Mat cringed at himself on the inside, as he looked at the two people with a polite small. It had not been this awkward for him to start conversations before. At least he'd like to believe that. Did dying undo my communication skills?
Clearing his throat, Mat continued speaking while the two men were now looking up at him, with him having gathered their attention.
"Ah, I'm sorry for my rude interruption. Good afternoon gentlemen, I hope I am not disturbing your conversation. I am a new adventurer who just registered, and I only came to Duskendale today. I learned of the pet search quest from Lady Mathilda, and wanted to take it. I also learnt that you two had accepted it already, so I was wondering if we could cooperate on it?"
As the two men heard his words, the taller and thinner men's lips curved up in a grin, and he looked back at his younger partner who had shoulder length black hair.
The older looking man with a receding hairline looked up at Mat again, and said simply, "That is exactly what we were hoping for. You see, we usually work in a team of three, but our teammate got injured in a previous mission, and she is still healing, so we decided to take it easy today, and go with a simple quest. And if we could guide some new adventurer with the principles of adventuring, it'd be even better! So, certainly, we look forward to working with you."
As the man spoke, Mat's lips unconsciously curved up. The shorter man beside this person also nodded.
"My name is Otto, and this is my friend Rickert. How about we go and have you accept the quest at reception? Then we can hurry out and find that cat?"
The man pushed out his right hand.
Looking down at it, Mat followed suit by shaking hands with Otto and Rickert.
"Alright, let's go." Mat answered affirmatively.
They all walked to the receptionist, where it seemed like the lady had already prepared herself for this outcome. She quickly took his badge, and registered his acceptance of the quest.
Taking back his badge, Mat walked out of the guild premises with his new team, the tall Swordsman Otto, and the short Berserker Rickert.