The Adventurer's Guild in the town was a small wooden building. It was more like a tavern with an attached long desk. The job postings for the area were mostly simple gathering requests and a few for hunting animals, but there was one emergency quest to kill the [Striped Fenia]. The request recommended a party of at least [Tier 4] adventurers.
A receptionist smiled at the group from behind the counter. Her eyes were particularly fixated on Hikari and Kurayami, but the one to address her was Saber.
"Can we have a private room to make a report? This matter is urgent."
The woman's eyes widened, but like a true corporate trooper, she nodded. "Come, right this way."
Another younger receptionist moved in to replace her as the group was led towards the back. In the adjacent hallway there were only three doors. It reminded Hikari of the small pub she would sometimes visit in her previous life. The atmosphere was similar, too. In the lobby, there were a couple early drinkers, but in the back, the place was undisturbed.
The room they were led to had a table with barely enough seats for all of them and only room for a medium-sized bookshelf. It seemed mostly for decoration. The shelves were almost completely devoid of books, only housing three. The walls lacked paintings, and the window lacked glass. Instead, wooden flaps opened inwards to let in the remaining light of day.
Hikari strolled over to the bookshelf with her dragon while the others sat down. She didn't mind the shocked gasps of the receptionist behind her as the others explained the situation. She ran a finger down the spine of a hardcover, silently reading the titles of the three books. A Brief History of the Adventurer's Guild, Common Herbs: Volume 1, and How to be a Safe Traveler. I wonder if books are considered expensive here?
The receptionist's loud voice reeled Hikari in. "Is it true, Miss? You defeated that monster by yourself?"
Hikari shook her head and gestured to her dragon. "That's not quite accurate. After all, it was this one who defeated it."
The receptionist's chair skidded against the ground, creating a grating whimper. Her happy eyes bore into Kurayami. "Thank you, Miss..."
"Oh." Hikari nodded towards her dragon. "She's Kurayami, and I am Hikari—a normal priestess."
"In that case, I am Hilda. Thanks for healing them. By the way, are you two already registered?"
Hikari shook her head. "If we aren't registered does that mean we can't get a reward?"
Hilda tilted her head at miss normal priestess. "There's no rule saying you can't. Is this your first time at a guild?" Before Hikari could answer, the receptionist corrected herself. "I apologize. However, it's highly recommended to get a membership with your skills. Not only that, the guild is willing to put out bigger rewards to members."
"Is this the type of thing where we would have to start at D-rank?"
"D-rank? No, at the minimum you would be registered as [Tier 4] adventurers."
Hikari placed a hand to her chin. So even that's different? "Just in case, what is the rank of that cat?"
"The [Striped Fenia] is considered a [Tier 4] monster, bordering on the fifth tier. That's why the emergency request had the recommendation of at least a [Tier 4] party." Hilda appeared thoughtful for a moment. "It's rare for high rank adventurers to come here, so we put word in to the capital branch. However, with the time it takes to travel, it would have taken ages for the thing to be slain. That's why, on behalf of the guild, thank you for subjugating it and healing their wounds. You two really are life savers!"
Hikari only had to prove subjugation with the animal's carcass. Next to the guild was a warehouse for butchers. The monster's skin was tough, so the hide was worth several gold coins depending on the condition. Instead of accepting that reward, Hikari was allowed to keep the books from the back.
It turned out her intuition was correct. Each book was worth no less than 2 gold coins, and the book on herbs was 5 coins by itself. Since the hide was evaluated to be 10 gold coins, Hikari was given 5 silver as compensation.
The denominations of Amalin were easy to understand. 1 silver was 100 copper coins, and a gold coin was 10 silver coins. In Hikari's mind, she estimated the price of bread to be 4 copper coins a loaf. Accordingly, the price of a book is simply outrageous. With her measly sum of 5 silver, she could have bought 125 loaves of bread!
Hikari had asked what the value of gold coins from [Gensuba] was. However, the receptionist had no way to tell. She only said that the gold was very pure and hard for her to judge. Hikari would have better luck trying with merchants in the capital.
Her and the dragon were signed up as [Tier 4] adventurers. In the kingdom of Amalin, the highest rank achieved was [Tier 7]. However, since Hikari forgot to check the level of that cat, she had no idea what the highest tier amounted to in terms of levels. The highest level among the adventurers she traveled with was the level 8 priestess, and they were considered a [Tier 2] party. Hikari could make some guesses about [Tier 7], but it gave her a wry smile.
The people in this world had no concept of levels. This was a deduction Hikari made, since none of them mentioned it. It begged the question how the elf could see them.
Once they exited the guild, Hikari declined the perverted priestess's offer of staying with her in the church.
"I guess this is goodbye?" Saber asked.
"Wait."
Hikari reached into her inventory, surprising the dragon. Kurayami looked like she wanted to stop her master, but she didn't. Hikari found a low level item inside. It was something most players had encountered very early on in their online play-through: [Bracelet of Protection]. Most parties equipped their front liner with the accessory for starter quests.
She passed it off to Saber. "Please take this, and try not to get stabbed again."
Before he could stop her, the priestess ran off with her dragon. Hikari couldn't help but feel a little mischievous as they arrived at the inn. A night stay in this town cost 50 copper coins, but there was no way Hikari could sleep on such a hard bed in a small room. Instead, she covered the bed with a camping bed from her inventory. Even though it had gotten late, her body and mind didn't feel tired at all, but she knew she could still sleep.
"Master, why did you give that bug a precious item?"
"It was a wish to keep him safe, or you could call it a bit of meddling on my part."
The dragon looked confused. "If Master says so. Can I sleep with Master tonight?"
Hikari's face went red, and she realized she'd only brought out a singular bed. It's normal for pets to sleep in the same bed, right? Yes, this is completely normal.
In the dark of the night, a dragon girl smirked with a dangerous glint in her eye. The elf who'd managed to fall asleep was none the wiser, despite being wrapped in a warm tail.