Chapter 74: My New Career... Child Labor Much?

Author's Note: Hello again, my amazing readers! We celebrated the coming of the 100th Chapter last Wednesday with Luscia so, we are back with Alex for the last chapters of the volume! This Friday, tonight, will have these two chapters released before we start the next volume next week. And, finally, the surprise I've been preparing will be unveiled on that day. So, I hope you enjoy!

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Phew.

That... was a bit more eventful than I previously thought. So, a short recap was that I only wanted to say thanks to some adventurers. Then, when I arrived, I was able to do exactly that but, some trouble occurred in the form of a guy who was looking for a fight. Of course, I was the bigger man and let him off with only a few insults and kind of accidentally registered in the Adventurer's Guild only to prove my point.

Yes, an experience that I will never forget, nor will anyone who witnessed it ever let me forget it. Something that I would never have predicted in my entire life. But, hey ho. This might seem pretty bad but, I think that this is something that could be turned into an amazing opportunity that can not be missed.

The first benefit is... obviously, money! I've been to many places so, I could possibly find some sort of exotic product and sell it for a high price, like what I did before with the Magistrate Moth silk. Money will be essential for my journey around the world as they could be useful in many other ways aside from buying necessary equipment.

The second benefit is that this could be the kind of attention I was looking for. Just famous enough to not be suspicious but not too suspicious to attract the attention of almost everyone. An adventurer is famous amongst other people with the same job and people who are somewhat associated with them. However, they aren't as locally popular as knights as they are the ones who actively protect the city.

Only very high ranking adventurers would have their names known to everyone in the world, such as the only 7 existing S-Rank adventurers in the world. Pretty much everyone knows them, even me who hasn't been able to see or read anything since I was 5.

The last benefit would be the fact that if I was an adventurer, I would still be able to go to places not accessible to the general public, if I was good enough. Plus, I could potentially get hired by nobles to protect them and I could also get close with them, giving me more connections. However, all of those previously described benefits will only come true in the best way possible if I become a higher rank.

Thankfully, the earlier quests you take should be much easier as I don't think the Guild would be sending new people to take on Dragons or Hydras or whatever. Still, I can't believe I was able to get a job when I am still only 9 years old. If mother and father were here, they would probably be happy for me. Though, isn't this technically child labor?

I guess not. I mean, I signed up for this job willingly so, I should also take it seriously. Alright, now that I'm done thinking, let's go around the city. I mean, I promised Calido that we will have a nice day exploring the city for a breath of fresh air. And yes, I will still do it, even though he betrayed me earlier.

Speaking of that traitor.

(Hey, we're out of the Guild. Your fear of other people shouldn't be going off right now so, let's enjoy ourselves already.)

(So, you are finally done talking to yourself instead of me? Good. So, how about we have some fun already?)

(Yes, we're getting to that part. You can come out as well, you know?)

After saying that, I felt Calido crawl out of my inside pocket and back on to my left shoulder. Oh, and by the way, I already shrunk myself down to my regular size when in the cover of darkness so, the only thing you'll see here is just a small boy with his pet red lizard.

...

Alright, that is still very suspicious but, at least I have the ability to hide from people when I want to, right? Even if someone tries to get me, I could easily hide from them inside of their own shadow. So, there is absolutely no reason for me to worry when today is a day of relaxing. And so, me and Calido embarked on our quest to finally have some fun for a change in the new city we found.

There were many things we did during that time. We went to nearby stalls but, of course, we had absolutely no money as I left Quaran without getting all of my money back at uncle's house because, well, do you know anyone who brings their money to a competition that has high stakes? (I think people can relate with me on my choice)

Anyways, to put it in simple terms, regarding our money, we have no money. And that is why, I am very glad I took the job of being an adventurer. Well, even though I call myself the next Hero of this world, I was actually seriously contemplating whether I should take some food or run away without paying. I mean, yeah, I have morals and ethics but, weren't they created by humans as well?

However, after a very long internal struggle, it should be easy to guess that I didn't go with that idea. I'm too much of a good guy to do something like that, even though no one will ever find out as the guilt would haunt me forever. So, instead, I came up with an ingenious strategy to get some money. Every city should have a hierarchy, right?

That means, there will be nobles with lots of money. And, no, I am not thinking of 'borrowing' money from them. Since many people walk their streets as, well, there are lots of people in a city then, there is bound to be some coins just lying around. I can do the same thing I did in Vulcan. I call it my 'Art of Scrounging'.

And just like that, I went snooping around that area, closely observing every part of the street for something. I didn't want to take long as I promised Calido a fun day so, after an entire hour, this is what I was able to find. I looked at my hand and counted 5 Copper Coins, 2 Silver Coins, and 1 Gold Coin.

I'm pretty sure this is less than what I had before, according to the conversion that receptionist lady back in Vulcan told me. Though, I'm still grateful that I was able to find that much money just by looking at the ground. People should really start paying attention to their money bags as you would never know when a kid dressed in black suddenly starts looking at the floor and ends up rich because of that.

When my toiling finished, that was when our day of enjoyment started. I was definitely NOT going to use up all of the coins I found as, let's be honest here, I was genuinely lucky to have found just a few of them. When I told that to Calido, he just said that it's okay and that no matter how little I spent, he would still be happy nonetheless. What an amazing guy. I mean, lizard.

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(The next day)

Ah yes, what an amazing day it was yesterday, Ordering food from food stalls instead of chasing them down was actually kind of fun, though it did take some of the fun out of it. I think I should stick to buying the cheaper foods and find the more expensive ones myself. Oh and, despite what I said before, I actually spent a bit more than what I wanted.

I think I was sort of on a money spending high as I think I was paying closer attention to whether Calido was happy or not. That was my reasoning as I looked at my pitiful 1 Silver and Gold Coins still left in my pocket. Um, well, the past is the past and we shouldn't dwell on it, right?

I was thinking all of this while waiting for Calido to wake up. Also, for your information, we are still sleeping in the wilderness as I don't have a place to rest in the city yet. That is why, today will be the day I launch my career as a successful adventurer. I will take the easier quests, do them as perfectly as I can to receive extra rewards, and repeat until the day is over.

After waiting for maybe around half an hour, Calido finally woke up. He sleeps so much longer than me, which is most likely a trait he always had as I don't ever remember waking up so late.

(C'mon, Calido. We're going adventuring today!)

(Oh, really? Wait, shouldn't we get your information first or something?)

(I thought of that already. We'll just ask our location right before we start exploring the nearby forests for resources we'll need to get our rank higher.)

(That's good. You're always thinking of everything we're going to during the morning, aren't you? You should at least sleep a bit more.)

(No thanks. Once I wake up, I don't think I can go back to sleep again.)

That was how we thought that this fateful day would be just another day but, it was anything except that.