I can hear the city bustle outside. I wash myself and complete my prayers, then leave to explore the town.
Flyers advertising the adventurers' guild are on every notice board. It's clear that adventurers are needed. I don't fully understand the currency of this world, but what I have now can't be much. I find the adventurers' guild and enter.
Crowds are gathered around the job boards, leaving me to approach the help desk unnoticed.
"Welcome. How can I help you?" The receptionist is cautiously pleasant.
"I would like to join the adventurers' guild."
"Certainly! Here is your registration form. Will you need your magical aptitude tested?"
"No, I don't need it. Thank you for offering."
Pleasantly surprised that I can read and write this world's language, I submit my registration form. She makes some holes in a copper card and presents it to me.
"Here is your guild badge! There is no registration fee because of the recruitment drive. Your basic training will also be free of charge. Training is required before you can join a party or accept any jobs. Please head downstairs to register for training."
"Thank you very much."
I find the stairs and descend a long stairway. Wood yields to concrete, and concrete yields to cavern wall. At the bottom of the stairwell, I am dwarfed by a great open cavern. Many adventurers are assembled for training exercises.
"Listen up! You might not all be itching to fight on the front line, but sometimes the front line comes to you! I don't care if you're a mage or a priest, nobody passes basic training without knowing how to use a shield!" A weathered middle-aged man is leading the lesson. He spots me at the stairs. "What are you waiting for? Grab a shield and file up!"
After a very physical lesson in shield usage, the trainer has us call out our offensive skill. After hearing sword, spear, and pyromancy repeated to the point I forgot what the words meant, my turn comes up. "Unarmed." The crowd murmurs, as though they'd never heard of this skill before.
"Unarmed? Did you say unarmed? Old Rick's gonna like this!"