To The Adventurer’s Guild

 

The new Adventurer’s card had the name, Locke.

The job was Warrior. I had a Devil King sword after all, so I might as well use it.

 

After the card was issued, Goran said:

 

“This card has information concealing magic cast onto it. This will ensure that only the name Locke will appear.”

“What do you mean?”

 

Goran explained. It was impossible to fake an Adventurer’s card.

And so they could not use a fake name.

 

“But, it says Locke instead of Ruck?”

“That’s because your full name is Ruck Locke Franzen.”

 

Apparently, I have a middle name now.

 

“So I fixed it so that only your middle name is displayed. Your true name will appear if the magic is deactivated.”

“And my job?”

“Your first job is Great Philosopher, Our Saviour, The Great High Sorcerer and you are S Rank. Your second job is Warrior and you are F Rank.”

 

Normally your first job’s rank was your Adventurer rank.

 

“Can’t you get rid of the ‘Great Philosopher’ stuff?”

“We cannot. It is a name that the guild gave you.”

 

I did not like it. I felt like I was being bullied.

They had lost all control once they thought I was dead.

 

“We cannot lie on these. But we made it so that only your second job will appear.”

 

It was impossible to fake the cards, so Goran had devised a way to make them draw less attention.

I was grateful for that.

 

The Adventurer’s card contained all kinds of data.

If you had parents, it had their names, occupation and social status.

Your place of birth, number of monsters killed, quests accepted and success rates, and the total amount of reward money earned.

 

Of course, normally they would not show up.

Because it was all information you did not want others to know about.

 

It was not something you could just view by going to the reception counter either.

It had to be run through a special magic device they only had in large guilds, if you wanted to display it.

And the machine was only used for rank promotions and demotions or for expulsions.

 

Goran had used this system to alter the amount of information that was hidden.

And so an official card with only accurate information could still display an F rank.

 

“Thank you, Goran.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s nothing at all.”

Goran said bashfully.

 

◇◇◇◇◇

 

After that, we went over to Goran’s house and drank excitedly late into the night.

When it was dawn and Goran and I were thoroughly drunk, Eric went back home.

With such an important post as king of the country, he probably had plenty of responsibilities waiting for him the next day.

 

I decided to spend the night at Goran’s house.

It had been so long since I last slept in a comfortable bed.

 

◇◇◇◇◇

 

“Mr. Locke! Mr. Locke!”

 

I awoke to the sounds of banging on the door.

I felt as if I had had a long and relaxing sleep.

 

But I immediately noticed how hungry I was.

 

“Mr. Locke! Mr. Locke!”

“…Locke? Oh, right.”

 

The name Ruck had become too well-known now, and so they had decided to use Locke instead.

Goran had agreed to not tell anyone, and so the people of his house all knew me as Locke.

 

A servant was banging ruthlessly on the door.

 

“Yes. What is it?”

 

I opened the door to see a butler. Probably Goran’s butler.

“Thank heavens. You are alive.”

“Yeah, I’m alive, alright.”

“We were so worried. You did not leave your room for a whole week.”

“A week?”

 

I was in shock as the butler continued.

 

“Yes. The master instructed us that we were not to wake you up. And so we waited… But one week was long enough to make us start to worry…”

“Is that right…”

 

It’s no wonder they became worried then. I would worry about Goran if he slept that long.

Though, if I were really dead, my body would have rotted quite a bit after a whole week.

 

Still, a whole week of sleeping, huh?

I must have been really tired after that decade of fighting.

 

“I am so sorry to have troubled you.”

“No, no. Please do not worry about it.”

“Is Goran around?”

“Yes. He wishes to have breakfast with you now.”

 

The butler led me down to the dining room.

 

“Ru…Locke! You’re finally up!”

“Morning. Sorry for worrying you.”

“No, no worries. Want some breakfast?”

 

What had been prepared for me this time was more rice water.

I had accidentally fasted for a whole week.

And so they decided that solids were dangerous again.

 

“Thank you.”

“Locke, is there anything you are thinking of doing now?”

“Not really.”

“I see.”

 

But I was very curious to see how the world had changed.

What should I do in order to find that out?

I thought about it for a moment.

 

“I know. Since it’s been a while, I would like to go on an adventure from square one.”

“Won’t you be bored? You need strong enemies and…”

“I’ve had my fill of strong enemies.”

“I, I guess that’s true.”

 

Fighting strong enemies for 10 years was enough to make me sick of them.

And Goran had tasted it enough to understand how I felt.

 

I was an Adventurer 10 years ago. I had always been an Adventurer.

It would be best if I could go on an adventure while experiencing the changes in society.

 

After breakfast, I thanked Goran and was about to head for the Adventurer’s guild.

On my way out, the gatekeeper bowed to me.

 

“Ru…I mean, Mr. Locke. I am deeply sorry about what transpired the other day.”

“Oh, it is just your job. I have no hard feelings.”

“I am grateful that you think so.”

 

He said and bowed once again.

I had already told him that I was Ruck. However, it seemed that Goran had told him to keep quiet about that.

And so he called me Mr. Locke. I was grateful for that.

 

I left the gatekeeper and headed for the Adventurer’s guild.

 

The last time I came here, I was forcefully dragged to the back by Goran as soon as I entered.

This time I got a chance to carefully scan the general floor.

How nostalgic. The quest board with all the postings brought back so many memories.

 

As it was 10 years ago, I started by looking at the advanced quests.

It sure was peaceful now. There were no postings for dragons or devil kings.

It was good. I was happy about that.

 

And with a sense of relief, I looked down at the beginner quests that even an F ranker like me could accept.

 

“Gathering herbs… I don’t mind, but the reward is high…”

 

I was a fake F Ranker.

I should leave the safe quests to young people. Especially if the pay was good.

I felt that I should choose the tedious, dangerous ones with low pay.

 

“…This one.”

 

After examining them, I decided to accept a goblin hunting quest.