Chapter 7: CH. 7 | City Guild

"Party Porter?"

Theo turned to look at Michelle, "What’s that?"

"Party Porter, the sixth member of a party, an optional role. The job’s simple, collect loot items and tag along with them into the dungeon," Michelle answered.

"From what I know, there aren’t really any requirements to become a Party Porter. That’s probably how Theo could get some work and gain experience as an adventurer," Yasa added.

"True... but hardly anyone hires a porter these days, most people prefer holding onto their own loot, and on top of that, adventurers aren’t always kind to party porters," Michelle said.

Yasa nodded in agreement. She raised her beer and took another sip, then added that Theo could probably also find work somewhere that had nothing to do with adventuring at all.

"What do you think, Theo?" Michelle asked, glancing at him.

Theo went quiet for a moment, then turned his gaze toward the window of Yasa’s apartment.

He really had gotten unlucky ending up classless, that condition was holding back his progress. Still, Yasa had thrown him a line by suggesting Party Porter.

Maybe he really did have to start from the bottom first, and if the chance ever came, he’d have to climb up from there and not stay stuck as a Party Porter forever.

"I can’t let my abilities go to waste. If Party Porter is the only option on the table, I’ll take it," Theo said firmly, looking at Yasa.

"Good, you’re not just handsome, you’ve got guts too," Yasa said, giving him a sweet smile, "I’ll try reaching out to a few friends of mine at the guild, in case they need—"

"No," Theo answered.

Yasa and Michelle both turned their full attention back to Theo. Their eyes narrowed, curious about his response right in the middle of Yasa’s sentence.

"I’ll find a party willing to take me on my own."

Yasa and Michelle exchanged a glance, then nodded, going along with what Theo wanted. Yasa told Theo he’d need to go to the guild and register himself as a party porter.

"Once you register, the guild staff will post a listing on the recruitment board, and you just wait until a party wants your services," Yasa explained.

"Registering as a Party Porter costs ten copper."

Michelle turned to Theo, "You can borrow the money from me. Once you get paid, you can pay me back a little at a time."

Theo smiled. He stood up and thanked them both, without them, he probably would’ve struggled to find his way at all.

Since neither of them had a place to stay that night, Yasa offered her own room for Theo to sleep in.

She explained that she and Michelle would figure out sleeping arrangements later.

"It’s fine, I can sleep on the couch. You two can take the bed," Theo said.

Yasa gave a faint smile, took another sip of beer, and leaned in closer to Theo, "Tell me, Theo. Would you want to be my boyfriend?"

"Yasa!" Michelle said, her voice rising.

"Haha," Yasa laughed, "Just kidding."

Theo didn’t know how to respond. Yasa really was pretty, but after what happened at the door earlier, he figured she wasn’t exactly his ideal type for a girlfriend or a wife.

Still, he was glad to have met someone like Yasa, the type who always managed to lighten the mood.

"Since you two showed up so late, you probably haven’t had dinner yet, right?" Yasa asked, standing up.

Michelle agreed, then looked back at her friend, "Yeah, why?"

"I was thinking of taking you two around the city, grab dinner out somewhere," Yasa answered, "Don’t worry about money, it’s on me."

The woman beside Theo turned to him. Theo said nothing, just smiled, and both of them agreed to Yasa’s offer.

"All right, let’s go."

***

The next day.

He woke up after spending the whole night sleeping on the sofa. It was a lot more comfortable than the floor, but nowhere near as good as an actual bed.

From the direction of the kitchen, he heard the sound of someone cooking. His eyes opened slowly and looked over, and there was the woman with long black hair, Michelle, of course.

"Michelle?"

"You’re up? Looks like you didn’t get that weird dream again, huh? I can tell from your face when you woke up," Michelle said.

"The weird thing is, that dream just disappeared for no reason. I haven’t seen it at all today."

Michelle stopped cooking and walked over to the table in front of the sofa, setting down bread, fried eggs, and slices of bacon for Theo.

Theo looked at it and felt his mouth water at the appetizing spread, though there was only one plate, meant just for him.

"You’re not eating?" Theo asked.

"I’m planning to go pick up my favorite bread with Yasa later this afternoon. I made you breakfast because you’ve got to head out this morning, right?" Michelle asked.

She reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out thirty copper coins, far more than the guild’s registration fee.

"That’s way too much, Michelle."

"What kind of adventurer shows up at the guild without buying gear first? Go get yourself some equipment, then register while you’re there," Michelle said.

Theo hesitated, then accepted the money since, honestly, he did need it right now.

He looked up and promised Michelle he’d pay her back quickly, that he wouldn’t make her wait long.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Michelle said, "Hurry up and eat, then get ready."

The young man finished off everything on his plate, then went to shower and get ready. Once he was done, he said his goodbyes to Michelle and headed out of the apartment on his own.

He reached the main street that morning, bustling with townspeople heading off to their jobs.

According to what Yasa had told him the night before, the guild was located near the city center.

From the fountain statue, all he had to do was walk fifteen minutes north until he found the one large building in the area. Yasa said he’d recognize it easily enough.

As for buying gear, it seemed like the shops for that were clustered right near the guild.

I should probably head there first to check it out.

Theo walked alongside the other townspeople toward the guild’s location. But partway through the walk, his system panel suddenly popped up, showing an Authority Quest.

The young man was startled enough that his eyes locked onto the panel, still walking as he read it.

[2nd Authority Quest:]

[Objective: Use the Foresight Skill against a monster for more than 5 seconds]

[Reward: 50exp || 100 authexp]

[Status: Incomplete]

The panel made it clear that Theo needed to use the Foresight Skill against a monster for more than five seconds.

With an objective like that, he didn’t have much choice but to join a party as a porter.

He was so focused on the panel that he walked straight into a group of people dressed in white armor.

Theo hit the ground, the system panel fading away as his attention snapped to them.

"Watch where you’re going, damn it!" one of them snapped.

"I’m sorry."

Theo saw that they were a knight party, all of them wearing blue and white armor and carrying swords. A woman stood at the front, shorter in build than the rest, but clearly the one giving the orders.

"Leave him. We’ve got a mission to get to."

They followed her order without hesitation and walked off, leaving Theo behind.

Theo couldn’t help but stay curious about them, their white armor gleamed with a bright shine, their swords looked top quality, and the sharpness in their eyes screamed experienced adventurers.

He could only imagine the day he might look like them, striking and admired by everyone around.

There was no time to daydream. Theo pushed himself up and walked briskly toward the guild office.

From a distance, the guild building came clearly into view, bustling with adventurers moving in, out, and around it.

Just as Theo had guessed, there was a row of equipment shops lined up around the guild, about twelve of them, four of which were crowded with adventurers.

Fighting through that crowd wasn’t worth it, better to find a quieter shop.

He decided to head into one of the quieter equipment shops on the left side of the row, stepping inside and getting greeted right away by a teenager who looked about the same age as him.

"Welcome. Is there something you need?"

"Yeah," Theo answered, "I’m a new adventurer, I’m looking to buy some gear."

"In that case we’ve got a few package sets. You can take a look right here," the girl said.

Theo walked up to the counter and looked over three equipment packages.

The first one cost ten copper, with basic but perfectly serviceable gear for a starting adventurer, while the third cost thirty copper, with a much fuller set, suited for taking on tougher monsters.

With his limited funds, Theo went with the first package. That way, he’d still have some money left over for emergencies down the road.

"All right. I’ll go get everything ready, so please wait a moment."

Theo waited there, occasionally glancing outside to watch adventurers moving through the guild’s front yard.

They wore all kinds of distinct outfits, each suited to their own needs and their own class.

Right as he was waiting, his attention shifted to the side as a party of five walked in, three men and two women.

"Excuse us, we’d like to buy some things," the man in front, clearly the party leader, said.

The girl came back carrying Theo’s gear and asked him to try it on. Meanwhile, she also went over to the new group to ask what they needed.

Theo found that the gear fit him well. After paying, he walked out of the shop alone and headed into the guild.

The inside of the guild was fairly busy, the staff clearly swamped handling mission registrations for each party, with a line stretching out long and winding.

Guess I’ll just wait until the line clears out.