Chapter 2: You have to do it if you want to make a living.
At dawn just before sunrise, Ivan opened his eyes as if someone had woken him up.
There was nothing like an alarm clock, but after falling into this world and suffering for years, he could wake up like a habit.
People around the world generally start the day early and finish the day early.
There were lights that moved by mana as well as sunlight and candles, but it was not enough to light everyone. Naturally, the daily routine was set according to the movement of the sun.
Click!
“Did it stop raining?””
Ivan, who opened the window and reached out, nodded satisfactorily.
The rain that was pouring like that yesterday stopped and there was no cloud in the sky. It’s a relief. If it rained like that today, I would have spent the day as it was.
It was difficult for most common people to earn a day and make a living. Ivan wasn’t that different.
The clothes I left to wash yesterday are not dry yet. Ivan took a new clothes from the inventory and left the room.
“Ha ha! Where I’m going today is…”
“I drank so much yesterday that I’m dizzy…””
As a place to start the day early, the first floor was already busy with people. Among them, Ivan, called the maid from yesterday.
“The room is neat and nice. The food was good. I want to stay for a long time.”
“Hehe, our inn is pretty good. How long are you going to stay?”
“For now, about a month. I’ll decide on the extension by then.”
“Long-term guests can get a discount, so they only need five silver.””
Ivan took five silver coins out of his arms and held them out. Upon receiving the sparkling silver coins, the maid guided him to his seat with a more friendly smile.
Breakfast menu could not be ordered separately, and it was unified into one. A bowl of thick stew with a loaf of rye bread, a little butter, and a little salad if necessary.
The rye bread was hard, so I couldn’t just chew it. Still, if you put it in a warm stew, it will be softer.
The rye bread here was not particularly old or anything. Originally, rye bread turned so hard and tough after decades of cooling down after baking it.
“Should I eat white wheat bread tonight?”‘
Soft wheat bread was a little more expensive than hard rye bread. It was the opposite of Korea. Rye harvest was very low in Korea, so the price of rye bread was rather high.
Nutritional, healthy, diet foods. Well, that’s the case with that name.
With that thought, Ivan chewed up and swallowed the stew. It didn’t taste bad. Basically, it is a place with cooking skills.
After finishing the meal, Ivan slowly headed to the shopping district. A weapon shop that comes out when you go a little further from the main street.
Ivan pretended to take it out of his backpack and opened the inventory and lined up some broken swords. All of them were acquired by overpowering the robber yesterday.
“I want to sell these.”
“It’s all messed up. Not only is it broken, but even the normal one is not properly managed.”
The owner, who was looking at the sword, shook his head and said.
“I can only afford these for scrap metal. To use it properly, you have to melt it all and make it again.”
Ivan, who thought so, didn’t say much and looked around the store.
It could not be said to be a great craftsman, but it was a good thing.
You should not compare it with the items of the game days. The objects Ivan carried around at that time were likely to appear in myths anywhere.
‘If you had only that item, your fate would have changed.’
Well? When I first opened my eyes in this ruined world, I almost starved to death without a piece of bread.
Ivan, who wandered inside and looked closely at the weapon, chose a barrel of arrows and an axe.
The axe looked about between Tomahawk and Francisca type, and it looked good for one purpose or another. Of course, it was good to throw it into someone’s head.
“How much are these two?”
“The price looks similar to the scrap metal you brought, so just take it.”
When I heard such words, it was disappointing for no reason. Ivan had to pack another cheap sword to leave the store.
This time, Ivan headed for the mercenary guild.
Just like an early bird catches a bug. The request is renewed every morning, so the faster you move, the better you’ll get.
Although he moved quickly, there were a lot of mercenaries already, perhaps because I stopped by a weapon point. It was different from last night when it was quiet. The weather is nice, so everyone came out early to work.
‘Long distance escort isn’t that great. Goblin hunting? This is a little confusing.’
Someone talked to Ivan as I was looking at the bulletin board for a new request.
“Huh? You brought a satchel with robbers’ head yesterday and you’re going to work right away?”
When I turned my head, it was the receptionist whom I talked to yesterday. He seemed quite old-fashioned and relaxed, while others were busy moving.
“Taking the request now doesn’t mean we can leave right away today. I’m here to see if there’s a good request.”
“Haha, honey-like requests are taken by people like ghosts.”
The giggling receptionist looked around and said.
“I checked the neck you brought yesterday. Your sword was quite sharp. All five of them were cut smoothly at once.”
Human head was tougher than you thought. After cutting it off at smoothly, he seems to have realized that it was not an ordinary skill.
“If you’re someone who use sword just like eating rice, you should be able to do that. I didn’t cut the head of some kind of dragon, you overpraise.”
“Heh, that’s true. But these days, there are so many people who can’t do it.”
He grumbled, saying, “There are too many people who start mercenaries because don’t want to do farming yet they don’t even know how to use a sword properly.”
“Most people die after not holding out for a long time or go back home with their arms and legs cut off. Yeah, it’s okay to continue or give up. However, if there are many such people, the success rate of the request decreases. There are a lot of people who went to catch monsters and came back without using a sword.”
Several mercenaries around him flinched and escaped. As he said, I thought they ran away from home because they didn’t want to farm.
“You’re fighting because you don’t like farming? Does it mean that you want to die because your life is boring? You’re immature.”
Mercenaries were not very cool jobs. To find your dream, you have to be a knight. What kind of person is a mercenary?
According to Ivan’s experience, most of the mercenaries were scammers and gangsters, and trash for psychopath killers.
There were only a few really proper ones, and the rest were morons who were risking their lives that they might never know when to retreat.
A mercenary who receives an escort request to prevent robbery and sometimes becomes a robber if there is no robber.
Of course, trust was a very important value for mercenaries, and some trusted mercenaries boasted high ransom.
However, that also meant that there were so many naughty mercenaries who built walls with honesty, faith, and trust.
“There are too few useful people these days.”
“I don’t know if that’s the case.”
But how can this man come up to a person he’s not even close to and talk to so much? Is there anything wrong with him? Are you itching to talk because you’re too sociable?
Ivan squinted at him.
“I don’t think you just want to chat. What do you want?”
At the question, the receptionist smiled and said.
“Ivan Esirsson, a mysterious adventurer from the North. I’ve heard of your story. I remembered only after you left yesterday.”
“I didn’t know my reputation was so great.”
“Was it true that you caught Hydra in the west?”
“I did catch it. It didn’t grow up properly. It only has three heads.”
Hydra was the ones whose heads were lifted one by one as they grew up. He said that if you finish growing properly, you will have nine heads, and some said that there are more than a hundred heads.
Compared to such mythical monsters, Hydra with three heads was just a bit fierce snake. Ivan didn’t think it was something to brag about anywhere.
“Even if it only has three heads, a Hydra is Hydra. If you’re an ordinary warrior, it’ll be hard to get close to it because of its poison.”
“It’s probably the same with weak warriors.”
“Everyone may look weak to a strong warrior like you. My… my…”
Then he seriously changed his expression and said.
“Come inside. There is a request that is perfect for a strong person like you.”
He introduced himself as Billy Angate. I thought he was an ordinary receptionist, but here he called himself Billy Angate, a position to become a branch manager of the small army guild.
“If you’re to become a branch manager, then you’re a branch manager. What’s with that vague position?”
“Do you want to know about the internal organization chart of mercenary guilds? Then I’ll tell you.”
Not an interesting story.
Ivan sat down and talked about work.
“What’s your request?”
“The monsters in the eastern forest suddenly became ferocious. Please go inside and find out the cause.”
“Is there a reason why you think so?”
“Well, I don’t know, but there was a strong mana response in the eastern forest a while ago. A wizard will come out of the blue tower. You can move together with up to a few people from our side.”
Ivan did not answer hastily and began counting in his head.
“Hmm…”
In fact, it was a request that was not very attractive. It looked dangerous on the look at it. And he’s the magician of the magic tower.
‘You have to deal with those cranky guys?’
In the meantime, all the wizards Ivan had seen were those without screws somewhere.
If you belong to the magic tower, you are the real ones among those wizards.
“Do you have to take the magician of the magic tower?”
When Ivan asked sadly, Billy nodded.
“How are you going to investigate without a wizard when it might be related to the movement of mana? And this is a request from the blue magic tower. I know they’re uncomfortable, but it’s impossible to go without the wizard.”
Then Ivan’s expression hardened automatically.
‘Do I have to reject it?’
A co-worker who is uncomfortable with the awkward request. It was best to avoid it if possible.
At a time when Ivan’s heart was gradually leaning toward rejection, Billy took out his purse and said.
“Oh, I didn’t tell you about the commission. As expected, the amount is good because it is requested by the magic tower. One gold coin. What do you think? Do you like it?”
“…When are we leaving?””
One gold coin and 100 silver. It’s the amount to play around for months. The price of the lives of 100 robbers.
It was too much to refuse.