To be honest, with his fellow villagers raising so many death flags for him when he left, Lynn had actually worried for a moment that he would run into some general of the Demon King's army blocking his path right outside the gates, sending him on a “free trip back to town.”
Fortunately, there was no Demon King in this world.
Lynn didn't encounter any real danger along the way either. The most thrilling moment was probably just seeing a wild snake hanging from a tree.
It wasn't until he was far from the village that Lynn finally shook off the melancholy of parting.
There was no such thing as having the best of both worlds. If he wanted to grow stronger, he had to make sacrifices.
At the end of the day, having witnessed the prosperity of his previous life, Lynn had never been content to waste his life away in a small village; even without the activation of the 《Monster Identification Manual》 as a catalyst, he likely would have chosen to become an adventurer eventually.
He had arrived.
Lynn looked up. Not far off, his destination was already faintly visible on the horizon.
The closest large human settlement to Lynn's hometown was Wingen Town, about a two to three-hour walk to the north—a free town established with the joint permission of the southern human Kingdom of Vallenia and the northern Elven Kingdom.
To defend against monsters, Wingen Town had erected stone walls six to seven meters high, which was why Lynn could see the grey town from so far away.
A guard wearing chainmail and holding a halberd stopped Lynn. “Hello. If this is your first time in Wingen Town, please register your identity here.”
Truth be told, although this world's culture and customs were very similar to the Western Middle Ages of his previous life, there were no exorbitant taxes like entry fees, and the people's standard of living was somewhat higher than in the medieval period.
Having trekked for several hours, seeing a town again for the first time in years gave Lynn a slight sense of returning to the civilized world, and even his physical fatigue seemed to ease a little.
Next, he needed to purchase a set of equipment, become an adventurer, and begin hunting monsters.
...
A few days later, at the entrance of Wingen Town.
“Captain, are you sure you want to let this guy join the party?”
A long-haired man with brown hair and a visibly well-trained physique pointed at Lynn in confusion.
At this moment, the two stood in stark contrast. The long-haired man carried a longbow on his back and had a skinning dagger for close combat tucked into his waist, clearly a well-equipped ranger.
As for Lynn, he barely had any equipment on him at all!
Just a spear and a set of tattered, second-hand leather armor!
Where did this savage come from? How did he dare pretend to be an adventurer?!
But Lynn had no choice. Life in the town was expensive, and once he arrived, he finally realized that his meager savings wouldn't go very far.
To save money on equipment, Lynn hadn't even gone to the Adventurers' Guild to register yet!
As for why he wasn't using the shortsword he brought from the village, Lynn could only say that he couldn't handle it yet.
As a low-level adventurer, he had to respect the physical law of “an inch longer, an inch stronger.” The sense of security a spear provided was far beyond what a shortsword could offer.
With such terrible equipment, it was only natural for the long-haired man to doubt him. If Lynn were in his shoes and saw himself, he would probably think the same thing—
What kind of oddball did they drag out of some corner?
The captain being questioned by the ranger wore a set of studded cloth armor and carried a staff on his back, looking like a traveling monk.
The monk, named Gan, spoke up helplessly to persuade him, “That's enough, Hal. Think back to when you first arrived in town. Weren't you just like him?”
Hearing this, Hal's face flushed slightly, though whether from embarrassment or anger was hard to tell.
Although he wanted to argue, the monk wasn't wrong.
Back then, Hal and his childhood friend, Solon, had arrived in town with big dreams of becoming adventurers, only to find that no party was willing to accept them!
The reason was simple: as mere villagers, they couldn't even scrape together enough money to buy a decent set of gear!
Back then, it was the monk who had taken them in. He had left his own party to go on adventures with Hal and Solon, helping them grow step by step to where they were today.
His childhood friend Solon, clad in iron armor with a shield in hand and a knightly longsword on his back, was clearly a knight.
Solon the knight also chimed in, advising the ranger not to be so harsh on the newcomer.
Hearing his close friend Solon say this, Hal, though still reluctant to let a “liability” like Lynn join, could only yield to the majority.
In the end, he could only huff at Lynn, “Kid, this isn't a game. Don't think you can be an adventurer just because you got lucky and killed a few goblins.”
The ranger had actually asked around about Lynn.
He heard that this guy had come from a small village, and since arriving in town, he hadn't registered as an adventurer or taken on any quests. He simply hunted goblins.
He didn't touch any other monsters, targeting only goblins.
Furthermore, he never engaged groups of goblins, only ambushing those that were isolated.
The ranger had even heard that the goblins around town lately didn't dare to travel alone anymore; as soon as one was separated, this guy would catch and kill it.
This guy was a literal goblin slayer.
Although Lynn could understand Hal's attitude, he was still a bit speechless.
What's wrong with killing a few goblins?
Fortunately, seeing that the matter was settled, the ranger didn't make things any harder for Lynn. During an adventure, discord within the party was the ultimate taboo; even if there were massive conflicts, they had to wait until the quest was over before parting ways.
...
“When is the employer getting here?”
The four of them stood at the town entrance, waiting for quite some time without any sign of the employer who had issued the request.
Actually, Lynn himself hadn't wanted to take on an escort-type quest, as his primary goal was still to hunt monsters.
Escort quests simply took too much time.
But since he wasn't the party leader and had only recently joined as a temporary member, he had no way to influence the monk's decision.
Still, accepting this escort quest wasn't entirely a bad thing.
For one, the employer's request was very peculiar.
Her escort request was simply to have the adventurer party guard her while she cleared out a goblin nest, which gave Lynn the opportunity to continue hunting goblins.
Additionally, and very importantly, this employer was rich.
Seriously wealthy!
Normally, the reward for killing a single goblin was around thirty copper coins. According to the kingdom's exchange rate of “1,000 copper = 10 silver = 1 gold,” that could only be exchanged for less than half a silver coin.
On a single quest, an adventurer could typically only kill four or five goblins, which meant the payout would only amount to one or two silver coins.
But this time, although the employer was accompanying them on the quest, she wouldn't take a single copper of the quest reward.
On top of that, she was paying each of the four, including Lynn, an extra five silver coins as an escort fee!
This was an incredibly lucrative job.
Under the onslaught of such generous pay, Lynn had succumbed without hesitation.
Fortunately, the employer didn't make them wait too long. While the setting sun was still hanging in the sky, a carriage pulled up in front of them.
“I'm sorry, my tutor ran a bit late, so I'm a little behind schedule.”
Before she even stepped out, her voice reached them first—a clear, melodious female voice drifting from the carriage.
So their employer this time was a girl? And she seemed to be a student, too.
Rate on N.U.
