The Adventurers' Office.
Towered-above the neighboring shops, each stone arch and pennant in the sigil of the Sun Empire. The moment I opened the doors, the far-off thrum of the guild's soul page network surrounded me, testing for my presence.
[D-Rank Adventurer recognized]
Well, that was convenient. I didn't even have to stand in line. A clerk beckoned me over and handed me a gleaming bronze badge. "Welcome, D-rank. First mission, eh?"
"Something better. No gathering of herbs," I said.
She grinned and tapped her soul page. "Here. An C-rank mission. As a high ranker you shouldn't have any problem solving this. Green Leaf village in the dwarf kingdom. Letter for a blacksmith."
I glossed it; a piece of cake. Crossing the dwarves' land was entering a trade route, but it was within my capability. I consented, took the letter from the issuing blacksmith, and headed towards the merchant caravans.
I passed by a fellow wearing a dark blue guild uniform beside the mission board, his emblem denoting him as an Valkarion Academy liaison. He looked up at me as I walked past.
"You look familiar," he told me.
"Lucifer," I told him, extending a hand. "You work for the academy?"
"Academy's guild, yes. We handle things between Haven and the Academy. I'm also under the Principal's network."
My uncle. So the academy here had an actual massive connection, perfect.
"Have your guild master take this," I told them, pulling up my soul page and providing them with my identity token.
" For future convenience."
He greeted me without hesitation, although his eye lingered a fraction of a second too long on me, nearly as though trying to find a memory that he did not have.
Outside, I found a merchant caravan headed for the nearby dwarf kingdom. There were wagons loaded with crates of steel, wine barrels, and wool bundles. The leader, a bearded man with a crossbow slung on his back, nodded when I showed him my guild badge.
"B-rank? Good. You'll ride up front. We've been having problems with highway robbers lately."
I got into the front wagon, horse sweat and dust clogging my lungs. The road stretched out before me; rolling hills, clusters of trees, and way off in the distance will be the Green Leaf village.
As the caravan departed through the city gates, I sat back on the bench and let the wind pound my face.
A new world with new rules. And a title nobody dared to mention.