Chapter 2: Herbs or Weeds?

  Garfield debriefed and was handed a slip of paper which served as his temporary guild badge. Until he completed step two of the evaluation, he was a Copper-ranked adventurer. The guild staff told him to return tomorrow morning for further instructions and dismissed him to the main waiting area of the guild hall. He walked over to the request board which listed available jobs. After several minutes of reviewing the board…

  ‘Hm, not many requests for Copper,’ Garfield thought. ‘And I don’t think they can be exploited much for extra income.’

  “Excuse me, uh, Sir Garfield was it?”

  “Indeed.”

  Yttria stepped closer. “I just wanted to say, that was amazing! I’ve never seen such an impressive and well-controlled summon before. I don’t have much experience, but even I know that was above average!”

  “Thanks,” said Garfield. “How did your evaluation go?”

  “The examiner said he thinks I’m at least around lower-Silver level as a warrior. The final determination comes after the test in the field.”

  “Were you also told to come back tomorrow morning?” asked Garfield.

  “Ah, yes. I don’t have much experience traveling on foot so I’m honestly a bit nervous. Oh, how did the guild evaluate you?”

  Garfield responded, “The mage seemed impressed, but he wasn’t a summoner, so I don’t think he was in a position to estimate a rank.”

  “That makes sense,” said Yttria. “Summoners are pretty rare. I wonder what party they intend to send you with tomorrow… Oh! You said you needed money, right? Did you make arrangements to stay somewhere overnight?”

  “No, but there’s plenty of time left today, so I was thinking of accepting a basic request.”

  “Oh,” Yttria replied. “I’m not sure if one of these Copper requests will even pay enough to cover meals and a room for one day though…”

  “That’s all right. Worst comes to worst, I’ll eat the bear.”

  “Eat it!?” Yttria shouted.

  “Relax, I’m joking.” Garfield wasn’t quite joking. ‘Worst comes to worst…’

  “Oh my, you got me good there. Anyway, the guild recommended I acquire a few items to prepare for tomorrow, so I’m going to spend the afternoon on that. Good luck with your request! If things don’t work out today and you are in a pinch, come find me at the Lucky Lotus Inn and we’ll figure something out…” Yttria’s eyes suddenly widened as her face reddened just a bit, and then she hurried out of the guild.

  “Flag. Definitely a flag,” Garfield stated aloud. Another adventurer stared at Garfield for a moment, then moved on.

  Garfield selected the request which seemed the most lucrative: herb gathering. “Excuse me, I’d like to select this request.”

  “Where is your badge?” the Clerk asked.

  “Oh, I have this.” Garfield presented his temporary identification and the clerk nodded.

  “How rare for a solo adventurer to accept a request with a temporary badge. Anyway, this request is indefinite, so you don’t need to register with us. Simply bring the spoils to the vestibule around the side of the building, then bring the receipt to us.”

  “Okay, thanks. Do you have a map of the areas surrounding the city?”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The clerk pointed. “Yes, over there.”

  The employee referred Garfield to the corner of the guild hall he had not visited yet. Garfield walked over and found two large maps attached to the wall: one centered on Bretten which showed the surrounding areas and another which actually showed all of the nations in the region. While nobody was around, Garfield subtly used Mapping: Read Map on each of the maps. The map showing multiple nations was not sufficiently detailed, so his magical aid in the areas further away from Bretten would be limited for the foreseeable future.

  The request was to gather an herb of medicinal value called Drainweed. Maybe it was named that before anyone discovered it was actually valuable? Garfield stepped outside.

  “?Mapping: Display Map. Identify Drainweed?.” A minimap, visible only to Garfield, expanded in front of him until it took up much of his vision. He tapped his finger on the side of his leg a few times until he was happy with the zoom.

  Based on the display, the closest place to collect Drainweed was northeast of the city in the nearby forest. Some Drainweed was scattered around the city, but Garfield couldn’t easily tell if it was growing in ditches or already sitting in jars. He’d have to work on that later. Garfield figured it might be tough to get permission to transit the northern district towards the northern gate, so he proceeded east beyond the Royal Palace.

  At the gate, the guards were on high alert, likely because of the “divine beast” incident at the western gate. The guards didn’t seem to recognize the temporary guild badge but eventually let him leave the city. He proceeded northeast on foot.

  “?Mapping: Display Map. Identify Animal Hazards?.” The minimap expanded again and showed Garfield that the nearby forest didn’t have dangerous beasts or the like. When he navigated to the first specimen of Drainweed on the edge of the forest, he decided he needed a bag.

  “?Summon Item of Fancy: Infinity Satchel?.” Garfield crouched down, pulled the herb up, and placed it into the bottomless bag. As he stood back up, his back kind of hurt.

  “Screw this. ?Summon Creature of the Forest, a Beast, Mellow Macaques, x5?.”

  Five cute primates appeared. At Garfield’s command, they scattered in each direction, collecting Drainweed. With each delivery, Garfield cast ?Identify Item? and, nine out of ten times, it was actually Drainweed… not too bad. At the end, Garfield took advantage of the satchel’s other ability: easy stowage on one’s own body.

  “You five, you live here now. Avoid humans.”

  The Macaques cooed and then climbed up into the trees. They could alert him telepathically if they observed anything worthy of his attention. Garfield returned to the east gate of the city on foot.

  “Maybe I should just ride my bear? No, let me hold off for now… I don’t want to attract too much attention.”

  At the east gate, Garfield presented his temporary guild badge to gain access to the city again. As he walked through the gate, Garfield thought, ‘Good, I didn’t have to summon a hydra avatar this time.'

  At the guild hall, Garfield approached the vestibule where ‘request items’ are collected. A gruff man, presumably the appraiser accepting items, gestured for Garfield to approach. “Which request and what items?”

  “Drainweed for the herb collection quest,” Garfield answered

  “All right, place it on that counter.”

  Garfield unsealed his Infinity Satchel and dumped out herbs until the volume dumped roughly matched the apparent volume of the satchel. He was pretty sure there was more but he didn’t want to reveal the secret of the Infinity Satchel today.

  “Wow, that’s a lot! Hang on.”

  The appraiser weighed the herbs as he visually inspected them. He then slid them into a bin and stepped away to write up a receipt.

  Garfield took the receipt into the main hall of the guild. “Here is my receipt.”

  “Oh, it’s you,” the clerk said. “Wow, that was pretty quick. Let me see your badge again.” The Clerk finished processing the paperwork and retrieved some coins from nearby.

  “Your pay is 8 small gold, 1 silver, and 8 copper. That’s incredible work for one afternoon of herb gathering…” The clerk slid several coins in front of Garfield. “In addition to your pay, you receive credit which counts toward promotion in the future. However, you have a temporary badge so we won’t process the change to your guild record yet. We’ll take care of it after your final ranking is determined.”

  “Thank you,” said Garfield. ‘Hm, 8 small gold… Is that a lot?’ he wondered.

  Garfield departed the guild hall and wandered a bit until he found a quiet alley. He took out one small gold coin and the silver coin. “?Identify Item?. ?Identify Item?.”

  Well, they were really made of gold and silver respectively. They didn’t seem to have a serial number or other way to detect counterfeits, but since they were already made of precious metal, that probably wasn’t necessary.

  “Well, this is my first day in the city, so I think I’ll help myself to a welcome bonus. ?Duplicate Item, x4?.”

  Four more small gold coins fell into Garfield’s hand. He had no idea what that was worth, though. He decided it was time to search for an inn. “?Mapping: Display Map. Identify Inns, Color Code By Price For Basic Solo Accommodation, Filter Deaths Greater Than Zero In Past Week?.”

  Basic inns charged about nine silver per night, and the few fancy inns charged several or many times that. The Lucky Lotus Inn Yttria was staying at seemed to charge two small gold per night (20 silver coins). Garfield navigated to a nearby inn of the 9-silver variety. As he left the desolate alley, one set of human eyes quietly watched him go.