On our first day in Baim, we went sightseeing with a guide.
We were shown which shops lined the areas we'd likely visit, which establishments were popular in Baim, and also which places we shouldn't stop by.
Of course, there was no way to cover everything in a single day.
As adventurers, we were mainly introduced to the Guild, weapon and armor shops, restaurants, inns, and real estate agents.
If we were going to spend our time in Baim staying at an inn, even a decent one, it would be devastating.
Our expenses would spiral out of control.
Unless you were a solo adventurer, a small party, or an adventuring group that earned exceptional pay per job, there was no way you could sustain an inn lifestyle.
Once you reached the scale of a mercenary company, some even maintained their own bases within Baim.
There were all sorts of circumstances, so you couldn't make a blanket statement, but if Baim was your home base and you were staying long-term, inn costs would pile up fast.
Even if you earned a small fortune, equipment maintenance and replacement, plus daily expenses, would eat right through it.
Adventurers, like anyone else, grow old and retire.
You needed savings for that time.
In other words, real estate agents were a necessity for adventurers.
The eight of us heading toward Baim's Eastern Branch were a little surprised to see Baim's residents bustling about busily from the early morning hours.
Central had plenty of people too, and had given that same impression of being busy. Comparing it now, though, I could appreciate the calmer atmosphere it had.
Aramsass was much the same, except over there it was an academic city, so mornings were filled with students heading to their academies.
Darion was smaller in scale as well—there was plenty of vitality, but compared to Baim the difference was unmistakable.
I noticed many adventurers heading toward the Guild. I'd heard the eastern Guild was a dispatch-type branch with few adventurers, but maybe that wasn't the case? I was thinking that when—
"Hey, about that group over there"
Aria called out, so everyone followed her gaze.
A well-equipped group was heading toward the Guild.
Judging by their weapons and the way they moved, they were clearly no ordinary adventurers. Among adventurers who tended to travel light, these ones wore metal armor.
Aria spoke up.
"They look awfully imposing. Could they be a mercenary company?"
There were roughly twenty of them, with support personnel trailing behind.
You could certainly write them off as a small mercenary outfit.
But the one who spoke up from inside the Jewel was the Fifth Generation.
*"Some kind of knight, no doubt. Not from Banseim, I'd wager—but is there actually a country out there that turns knights into adventurers?"*
He wasn't the only one with questions.
The Fourth Generation, too.
*"It does seem unnatural. Then again, there are countries with policies different from Banseim's, so it's hard to say for sure."*
In Banseim, having knights become adventurers was not well regarded.
It inevitably left a bad impression.
Then Miranda tapped my shoulder with a finger.
I turned to look and saw a tall woman yawning, heading toward the Guild the same way.
The thing was, other adventurers were giving her a wide berth.
"Wow, the adventurers around here really stand out. Where I'm from, you'd call these top-tier, but in Baim they're just a dime a dozen."
Miranda said that while scanning the area, and indeed there were plenty of capable-looking adventurers around.
There were quite a few who gave off an entirely different vibe from the usual crowd.
Clara was walking nearby, being careful not to let her large staff bump into the passersby around her.
The ground was neatly paved with cobblestones, but the scraping of metal and the sound of countless footsteps made it hard to hear voices.
"There are a lot of adventurers here, so it might just look that way. They say it's because of adventurers like those that Baim attracts so many commissions."
Whether commissions attracted adventurers, or whether adventurers attracted commissions… just as I was pondering that, a commotion broke out right in front of us.
Looking at the adventurers making a ruckus, the people around them were giving the area a wide berth and heading toward the Guild.
One side was a group that looked like freshly minted young adventurers, while the other was led by a bearded adventurer in his thirties.
I thought the bearded, thoroughly villainous-looking adventurer was the one stirring up trouble, but—
"All you've got to say is 'sorry for bumping into me'?! You think you can push us around just because we're new to Baim?!"
The adventurer with the greatsword wore nothing on top but a tank top. However, around his waist he had metal armor, and his boots were fitted with metal greaves.
His outfit was unbalanced, but the young followers behind him were, to put it plainly… rather poorly equipped.
Now that I thought about it, they looked familiar — they were the same adventurers who had been causing a stir when we arrived in Baim.
He had healthy, tanned skin and a muscular build that made him look strong. But the villainous-looking adventurer he was tangling with seemed thoroughly exasperated.
His equipment was well-used but appeared to be well-maintained.
Most importantly, his arms were thicker than those of the youngster he was confronting — he had a trained body, and the companions he'd brought along were adventurers with equipment to match.
"…What's going on here?"
Just as I was thinking they were the impressive ones, Shannon snorted derisively at the sight.
"Those guys would get one-shotted in a fight."
Eva turned to Shannon for confirmation.
"Huh? The one with the greatsword is stronger? I'd kind of like to watch."
At that, Novem shook her head.
"The opposite. She'd be beaten in an instant. The one with the greatsword seems like he might be able to hold his own to some extent, but... your companion."
Their equipment was completely different, so it wasn't even a contest.
I couldn't help but wonder how the man had gotten involved in a situation like that in the first place.
The bearded adventurer offered an apology.
"My bad. I wasn't paying attention either. I'll apologize properly, so can we call it even and I go on my way? You guys have business at the Guild too, right?"
He genuinely looked like he wanted no part of this.
I quickly understood why he wasn't pulling any pride or save-face nonsense.
The adventurers nearby were talking.
"Got accosted by a cheerful one first thing in the morning, huh?"
"Being cheerful is a good thing. If she lives long enough, she'll grow into it."
"Went to the Guild early in the morning, only to get caught up in something like that and waste time. Tough break."
Since the nearby adventurers were saying things like that, the bearded man was probably being treated as just someone who had bad luck — nothing more.
If we'd been in a different place, it might not have been strange at all if this had escalated into a real fight.
As we tried to avoid the dispute and head toward the Guild, the adventurer carrying the greatsword looked our way.
I followed his gaze and saw Monika, dressed in her maid outfit. When I turned to look at her, she deliberately pressed both hands to her cheeks and flushed red.
"Oh my, what are you doing in a place like this? If you want to whisper sweet nothings, wait until we're alone..."
"...Where did your robe go?"
I'd told her to wear her robe since it stood out, but Monika had taken it off.
She shrugged both shoulders.
"The adventurers and passersby around here didn't seem to care, so I took it off. I'm proud of my maid uniform. I can't stand hiding it behind a robe, and I don't see any reason to, either."
One could only wonder why the ancients had created such Automatons.
The bearded adventurers, too, looked in the direction the greatsword-wielding adventurer was gazing.
I grabbed Monika's hand and hurried us away from the scene.
As soon as I took her hand, Monika said—
"A romantic escape, just like this~"
"I wouldn't mind escaping reality anytime, but come on—let's get moving!"
I wanted to fire back with a retort, but if I stood around saying things like that, we'd end up getting tangled up with some weirdo. The rest of the group followed behind me.
Seeing this scene, the Fourth Generation spoke up.
"There are all sorts of adventurers here. Looks like an interesting place."
The Sixth Generation said—
"What kind of Guild is this place? I hope it's nothing like Aramsass."
The Third Generation chimed in—
"Our guide mentioned something about training, but I wonder what it's like? Well, I suppose that's something to look forward to once we get there."
Then, from behind us—further behind the greatsword-wielding adventurer—
—a commotion rang out.
"Albano! It's you again?!"
"Whoa, whoa—don't blame me for this, Crate!"
I thought to myself—
(It really is lively... or rather, what's the word...)
The people of Baim call the Guild on the east side the "Eastern Branch."
The Guild building was enormous, yet it was fully equipped with lodging facilities and baths.
Seeing how well the services for adventurers were set up, I could tell just how much profit they must be pulling in.
The Guild on the east side had its reception desks separated by purpose as well.
There was a dedicated reception for home transfer applications and new recruit intake.
There was also a separate building like a warehouse for bringing in kills, and having the reception on the first floor might have been another one of Baim's quirks.
The spacious hall had signboards on display, along with a map of the Guild interior. Looking at it, there was a guide written for adventurers who had come to Baim, the east-side Guild—the Eastern Branch—for the first time, or for those aspiring to become adventurers.
"So the new recruit and home change stuff is on the second floor, huh."
Starting from the busy Guild entrance, I began making my way toward the second floor.
Adventurers looking to change their Guild home, just like us.
People hoping to become adventurers here in Baim.
As we headed upstairs, glances kept flicking our way.
(...Well, can't be helped, I guess.)
The reason we were drawing looks was probably because everyone besides me was a woman. On top of that, one was a young girl, another was in a maid outfit... If someone asked what kind of group we were, "street performers" would honestly be a reasonable answer.
(Oh, maybe we could even make a living doing street performances.)
Looking at Eva, the elf, she tilted her head.
As I turned to face forward, I noticed that the stares I was getting were different from those directed at my companions.
They were looks tinged with jealousy, and looks laced with pity.
The Third Generation's voice came through from the Jewel.
"Lyle is popular no matter where he goes, isn't he."
Since he was trying to needle me, I rolled the Jewel between my fingertips.
When we arrived on the second floor, a line had already formed.
At the neat reception desk, staff members were giving various explanations to adventurers.
Looking at the staff, every single one wore the same uniform while attending to the adventurers.
The Seventh Generation spoke up.
'They've spent quite a bit of money on this place. I've never been to Baim, but... somehow, I was imagining something worse.'
I agreed with the Seventh Generation on that point.
From what I'd heard, Baim was supposed to be a dangerous place.
It was only my first day, so maybe I just hadn't understood yet, but still, the atmosphere was nothing like what I'd imagined.
When I went looking for the counter to process a home base change, a staff member called out to me.
"For home base changes, please come this way."
"Ah, thank you. There sure are a lot of people."
After a brief greeting and some small talk, the guild staff member gave a wry smile.
"Baim has a large population, and there are many adventurers who come from other places as well. Back in the day, the counters were narrow and procedures took forever."
When I presented the two Guild Cards for all seven of us, the staff member looked at Monica.
I let out a sigh.
"She's not human. She's an Automaton."
The female staff member then held my Guild Card up to a device. I wasn't sure what she was doing, but she nodded after seeing the result.
"There's a bit of a gap in the records, but you were in Aramsass, weren't you? I didn't expect to see an Automaton this soon."
I figured information about Aramsass had already made its way over, and the staff member continued explaining.
"There aren't many adventurers who go from Baim to Aramsass, but the reverse is quite common. Besides, Professor Damian is famous here too. The porter puppets he made for carrying luggage... there's been a recent trend of adventurers heading to Aramsass to get their hands on them. It's incredible, really. What kind of scholar is he, exactly? Do you know him?"
I decided to give a vague nod of agreement.
(So even the story about the Porter has already reached here? That was fast)
To the female staff member, who seemed interested, I said—
"Yeah, he was a good person. A bit eccentric, though."
Hearing this, the female staff member nodded happily.
"You know Professor Damian? Ah, but I suppose he's famous back there too, so it wouldn't be strange if you did know him...? Anyway, I'll proceed with the registration now."
While the female staff member hurried through the paperwork, the Fourth Generation inside the Jewel remarked exasperatedly.
'Well, you're not lying, are you? He certainly was a good person for Lail. He taught you magic and gave you an Automaton, after all.'
The Third Generation added with a laugh.
'The "Sleeping Beauty Kiss" was the best, wasn't it? But calling him a bit eccentric is a bit of an understatement—he was quite the oddball.'
I decided to ignore the voices I could hear coming from the Jewel.
After confirming the Guild Cards of all seven members, the female staff member took one of the two cards.
The party registration was completed simultaneously, and I received the Guild Cards back.
"That completes the registration. I'll be holding an orientation for the Baim Adventurers' Guild, so please attend. It'll be in the back room. Since you've only just changed your home base, there must be many things you don't understand. I'm sure there are many differences compared to other guilds, so please, please do attend."
After returning all the Guild Cards, I nodded.
She was being quite insistent—there must be some adventurers who didn't bother attending.
Heading to the back room, we found that several other groups of adventurers who had changed their home base were already assembled.
Near this meeting-room-like space, it seemed an orientation for newcomers was being held, as we could hear voices carrying over from somewhere.
The voice belonged to an adventurer carrying a greatsword on his back.
...While attending the orientation.
(That guy came to Baim to become an adventurer? He's got guts.)
I had chosen to gain experience elsewhere because jumping straight into Baim would be too harsh.
Still, I did wonder if it was necessary to be so rowdy at the orientation.
(Also, we keep running into each other.)
After finishing the orientation, we headed down to the first floor.
Everyone's expression was more dissatisfied than I had anticipated.
Especially Aria's—
"Hey? What do you mean, jobs are assigned to us?"
The main source of dissatisfaction was that they couldn't choose their own quests.
Countless jobs flowed into the Baim guild.
And even though adventurers might want to pick the ones with better conditions, they weren't allowed to choose freely.
Novem tried to soothe Aria.
"It can't be helped. The number of requests for Baim is vast, and if we let people choose... Well, there might not be enough adventurers to take them on like before, for one thing."
If the conditions weren't very good, adventurers wouldn't accept the quests.
The guild also tried to avoid taking on such requests, but there were always a few borderline ones that slipped through.
Clara looked at Aria.
"However, adventurers who have accumulated a certain amount of experience probably won't be assigned menial tasks, so it should be fine. The real issue is that this is a dispatch-type system."
The gazes of my companions turned to me.
Being a dispatch type meant there would be times we had to move outside of Baim.
If that happened, travel time would become a loss.
I cleared my throat.
"No, but look... our goal isn't to become adventurers—it's Ceres. If this place doesn't work out, we could always move to the west side."
At my suggestion, Monica was quick to respond.
"Three months at the minimum? You said there were restrictions on changing your home base within Baim, right?"
Those restrictions had been put in place precisely to prevent people from switching so easily.
Then Shannon spoke up.
"Regular quest completion is also a requirement, but what does that exactly mean?"
I answered honestly.
"...I may have been a bit too optimistic about this. I'm sorry."
When I apologized, Eva chimed in.
"Huh? Is it really that big a deal? I don't know much about adventurers, but I hear all the time that the methods differ quite a bit depending on your home base."
As she spoke while pushing her hair back, Miranda offered an explanation.
"The Guild assigns quests on you. Your own planning changes accordingly too. For adventurers who don't take quests, it might be a bit rough."
If all we wanted was to challenge the Dungeon managed by Baim, there would be no problem even without accepting quests.
However, the Fifth Generation said,
"You haven't even taken any quests yet, and you haven't earned a single coin in Baim. Wouldn't it be better to try it first and then decide? If it doesn't work out, you can just change your home base immediately."
That was an entirely constructive opinion.
"Well, let's keep this as our home base for a while, carry on, and see how things go. Shooting it down without even trying won't get us anywhere."
When I said that, Clara nodded.
"That's right. There may be some kind of benefit we haven't considered yet."
Eva was.
"Since some adventurers use this as their home base, you can't say it has no benefits at all, right? Unless there's a reason why it can't be changed."
This was more troublesome than I'd expected.
While thinking that, a voice called out to me.
"Hey!"
When I turned around, there was a man standing there with a greatsword strapped to his back.
"Me?"
"That's right! You, aren't you getting a little too full of yourself?"
I thought he looked familiar, but I never expected him to approach me.
Sensing the man's mood, he didn't seem friendly.
Behind the adventurer with the greatsword, his companions were watching us—no, watching my companions other than me.
A voice came from the Jewel.
It was the Third Generation.
"Ohhh, so that's it. You're all beautiful women. Can't blame him for being jealous, I guess."
The Fourth Generation was exasperated.
"What? He called out because he was jealous? That's rich."
The Fifth Generation's voice was irritated.
"I hate guys like this. Any decent adventurer wouldn't bother, but this guy's a rookie... Seriously, guys like this are so annoying."
The Sixth Generation was laughing.
"It's the privilege of youth! Reckless, charging in blindly, spinning their wheels. It's fine, isn't it?"
The Seventh Generation spoke in a flat tone.
"People like that are everywhere. Ignore them. Don't get involved."
Everyone had chimed in with their opinions, so I decided to follow the Seventh Generation's advice. I gave a vague smile and moved to leave.
"Is that so? Well then, I'll be off. Come on, everyone, let's go."
As I turned to leave with my companions, someone grabbed my shoulder.
The grip was so tight I could hear my joints creak. I narrowed my eyes and glared at the person.
He was smiling, and the Second Generation's Skill told me the other person was activating one of their own.
(Increased strength? Could be a front-line type. Though it's also possible they're a support type.)
I said one thing.
"That hurts."
When I said that, the other person replied:
"And? The people around here are all too cowardly. I want to test my skills, but nobody will fight me. You're from out of town, right? Then fight me. That way I can see how strong an adventurer you really are."
His eyes kept darting toward Novem and the others — it was obvious he was aware of them.
The people around us had picked up on the tension in the air, and eyes were gathering on us.
And then—
"Hold it right there! Private combat between adventurers is prohibited!"
A tall young man with slicked-back black hair stepped between us.
It was an adventurer carrying a greatsword on his back.
"Who the hell are you?"
The tall young man introduced himself.
The young man, straightening his back with an almost courteous air, introduced himself boldly.
"I'm Crate Benini. I work here as an adventurer. As a fellow adventurer, I can't just stand by and watch private brawls!"
He seemed like the overbearing type.
But just as I was breathing a sigh of relief, grateful for the interruption—
"That's exactly why we should settle this in a proper match — a fair contest to test each other's skills!"
I looked up, unable to hide my surprise at Crate, who was wearing a self-satisfied expression like he'd just delivered the perfect line.
"Huh? A match? Wait, what!?"
Seeing my shock, the greatsword-carrying adventurer—
"Sure, I'll take you on. I'm Erhard Baumann. Besides, killing some scrawny guy would leave a bad taste in my mouth anyway."
The other party was eager to go along with it, so I turned around to look at my companions.
Aria and Miranda—
"Just get it over with already."
"Why not? It's just a match — no one's going to die. If you get hurt, I'll heal you properly... while sticking right by your side."
Clara and Shannon—
"This kind of storybook development is actually quite thrilling. You see it all the time in books, but it rarely happens in real life, so I'm getting a little excited."
"A duel over a woman or something? I can't read books, so I don't really get it."
"No, it's the classic trope of a veteran adventurer picking a fight with a newcomer. Doesn't it make you dream?"
"I kinda don't get it, but if that's the case, doesn't that make Lyle the bad guy?"
—Everyone was having a grand old time.
The people around us, who had probably assumed this was just a spat between rookies, were looking our way and laughing — all because this young man had suggested we settle it with a match.
Eva was next.
"Like, Lyle totally has it, right? He's got it! But, when it comes to singing and storytelling, I think this kind of thing is really important! You should absolutely participate!"
This girl was telling me to fight in a match for the sake of her song.
Monica, for her part—
"I wanna see what a Chicken looks like when he's being cool~"
She started humming and bobbing her twintails back and forth.
(Her voice is good and she's annoyingly on-key, which only makes me angrier!)
Novem wore a troubled expression.
"Um, please be careful not to hurt your opponent too badly."
Novem, worrying whether I'd injure my opponent, really was kind and wonderful as always. But she never actually told me not to join.
Laughter rang out from the Jewel.
The Successive Heads spoke one after another.
"He's got it! Lyle definitely has it! Wherever he goes, it's always like this!"
"He doesn't really get up in people's faces, so this is actually pretty fun."
"Adventurers don't usually get this kind of thing, huh? Well, as long as he gets beat up, I guess that's fine."
"This is getting fun, Lyle!"
"He seems like a Skill user, so it should be good experience. Lucky you, Lyle."
I shook my head from side to side as I thought to myself.
(Why is nobody stopping this? Worse, why do they all look like they're enjoying it?)