Chapter 312

The Guild headquarters was packed when Bell arrived.

Adventurers crowded the counters with monster stones, reports, maps, and arguments, while employees moved with the frightening efficiency of people who had already dealt with a hundred problems that day and expected another hundred before dinner.

Bell stood just inside the entrance clutching his cabbages and suddenly felt very small.

‘Okay.’

He took a breath.

‘This is where adventurers begin.’

Bell approached an available reception counter and waited until the young woman behind it finished organizing several documents.

When she looked up, her expression softened slightly at the sight of his travel-worn clothes.

“Welcome to the Guild. How can I help you?”

Bell swallowed his nerves.

“My name is Bell Cranel. I just arrived in Orario today, and I’m trying to become an adventurer.”

The receptionist nodded and reached for a form. “Have you already joined a Familia?”

Bell’s enthusiasm immediately collapsed.

“No.”

She paused.

Bell tried to smile through it. “That’s actually the problem.”

The receptionist looked over the boy in front of her more carefully.

White hair.

Red eyes.

Cheap equipment.

No visible Familia emblem.

Two damaged cabbages tucked under one arm for reasons she wisely decided not to ask about.

“How many have you tried?”

Bell hesitated.

“Today?”

Her eyebrows rose.

“That many?”

Bell laughed awkwardly and scratched his cheek. “I’m starting to think I’m not very popular.”

The receptionist almost smiled, but his situation was common enough that she did not make light of it.

Orario attracted hopeful newcomers every day, and many discovered quickly that a Familia had little reason to accept someone who brought no experience, money, rare skill, or obvious talent.

She pulled out a smaller registry.

“There are still Familias accepting beginners. Some are new, some are small, and a few have patron gods who care more about personality than an existing record. I can give you several names, but you’ll still have to approach them yourself.”

Bell leaned forward so quickly that the cabbages almost rolled from his arms.

“Really?! Thank you!”

Several people nearby glanced over.

Bell immediately shrank back, face turning red.

“Sorry.”

The receptionist covered a smile and began writing.

Bell watched the list grow as if she were handing him a treasure map.

One name meant another chance.

Then another.

His exhaustion from the day faded.

He had not travelled all the way to Orario to quit because several doors closed in his face!

The receptionist finished the list and slid it across the counter.

Bell accepted it with both hands.

“Thank you very much!”

“Good luck, Bell. And one piece of advice—don’t choose a Familia only because it’s famous. Your god and the people beside you are the ones you’ll be trusting with your life.”

Bell’s expression became more serious.

He nodded firmly.

“I’ll remember that.”

He turned away from the counter and immediately studied the names.

Most meant nothing to him.

That was probably good.

Bell had already learned what happened when he aimed straight for the largest Familias in the city.

He made it halfway toward the exit before someone rushed through the Guild doors and collided with him.

Bell’s papers flew everywhere.

One cabbage escaped.

“AH!”

He lunged for it, missed completely, and watched in horror as his dinner rolled across the floor.

A small figure caught it with both hands before it reached the street.

Bell stopped.

The girl—no, something about her felt different from an ordinary girl—had long black hair tied into twin tails and bright blue eyes.

She wore a simple white dress that looked far too clean compared to Bell’s dusty travelling clothes, and the cabbage in her hands appeared almost comically large against her small frame.

She looked down at it.

Then at Bell.

Bell looked at her.

For some reason, both of them seemed equally embarrassed.

The black-haired girl carefully held out the cabbage.

“I think this is yours.”

Bell hurried forward and accepted it with a deep bow. “Thank you! Sorry about that!”

The movement sent the Familia recruitment list slipping from his other hand.

Her blue eyes followed the paper as it landed face-up between them.

At the top, in large letters, the Guild employee had written:

FAMILIAS CURRENTLY ACCEPTING NEW MEMBERS

The girl’s eyes widened.

Bell noticed something clutched beneath her arm at almost the same time.

A stack of handmade recruitment notices.

HESTIA FAMILIA — MEMBERS WANTED!

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

Then the girl’s entire face lit up.

—

Bell discovered very quickly that killing one Goblin did not mean he had learned how to fight Goblins.

The second one nearly proved that by burying a stone knife in his stomach.

He threw himself sideways just before the crude blade struck, but the edge still scraped across his leather chest guard and sent him stumbling to the floor.

The Goblin gave an excited shriek and rushed after him, clearly delighted by how badly its prey had lost his footing, but Bell kicked out in desperation and caught it squarely in the chest before it could climb on top of him.

The monster staggered backward, giving Bell enough time to scramble upright and grab his knife with both hands.

His heart was pounding so hard that he could hear it in his ears, but he forced himself to remember everything Hestia and the little Guild booklet had told him.

‘Watch the body. Don’t stare only at the weapon.’

The advice had sounded extremely reasonable when nothing was trying to stab him.

The Goblin lunged again with its knife raised, and Bell saw its shoulder move before the attack came down.

Rather than throwing himself backward like before, he stepped outside the swing, caught the creature’s wrist with his left hand, and drove his own blade beneath its ribs.

The Goblin screamed and clawed wildly across Bell’s cheek, leaving a hot line of pain behind, but he gritted his teeth and stabbed again until the monster collapsed.

Its body began dissolving a moment later, leaving Bell panting over the Magic Stone that remained behind.

“Okay… that was better.”

A low growl came from the passage behind him before he could enjoy the victory.

Bell turned and saw a Kobold already rushing forward.

“WHY ARE THERE ALWAYS MORE?!”

The creature leaped, and Bell ducked beneath its claws before abandoning any thought of standing his ground.

He sprinted through the passage instead, hearing the Kobold’s claws scraping against the Dungeon floor close behind him as it pursued.

His grandfather’s stories had included plenty of heroic chases.

They had somehow neglected to mention how difficult it was to think while running for your life.

Bell rounded a corner into a wider stretch of passage and finally saw an opportunity.

Instead of continuing to flee, he stopped beside the wall and waited while trying to control his breathing.

The Kobold came around the corner expecting its prey to still be directly ahead, and Bell stepped out from the side before it could adjust.

His knife plunged into its exposed flank.

The Kobold howled and struck him across the shoulder hard enough to make him stagger, but Bell managed to keep hold of the weapon.

He rushed back in before fear could convince him to retreat, drove the blade beneath the creature’s jaw, and felt its body go limp.

By the time the second corpse disappeared, Bell was left with two more Magic Stones and an aching shoulder.

He crouched to collect them with a tired grin.

“Two more.”

His cheek hurt, his shoulder hurt, his knees were covered in Dungeon dust, and he had spent a large part of the last fight running away.

He still felt absurdly proud of those stones!

…

Bell returned to the surface before noon, although convincing himself to stop that early required more discipline than he expected.

Part of him wanted to continue until his backpack was full, especially after discovering how little the smallest Magic Stones were worth, but his arms had already begun trembling from fatigue.

The Goblin’s knife had also come much closer to slipping through his armor than he wanted to admit, and Hestia’s request that he come home safely remained fresh in his mind.

He had promised her.

That mattered more than squeezing another handful of valis out of his first morning.

Bell entered the Guild with his small pouch of Magic Stones and immediately found himself intercepted by a Half-Elf woman carrying a folder against her chest.

She had brown hair, emerald-green eyes, and the kind of polite expression that somehow became increasingly frightening when she noticed the fresh scratch across Bell’s cheek.

“Bell Cranel?”

Bell straightened. “Yes?”

“My name is Eina Tulle. Your adventurer registration was processed this morning, and I’ve been assigned as your Dungeon advisor.”

Bell brightened immediately. “Oh! Goddess Hestia said the Guild would assign someone to me. I didn’t know it would happen this fast.”

“It normally happens before the rookie goes into the Dungeon.”

Her smile never changed.

Bell began sweating anyway.

He glanced toward the Dungeon entrance behind him and then back at the scratch Eina was staring at.

“I only went to the First Floor.”

Eina closed her eyes for a moment and took a slow breath, making Bell suspect that this information had not improved his position nearly as much as he hoped.

“Come with me, Bell.”

He followed without protest.

Something about her tone suggested that fighting another Goblin might have been safer.