Chapter 149: New Town
Lake didn't just barge into the town on the off chance there was something weird going on there. And he felt like this was a good decision because as he got closer he saw there were quite a few people walking around on the streets like there was no danger of anything happening to them.
He had purposely gone in the opposite direction to where all the smoke could be seen on the horizon of the capital so he guessed this place might just still be normal but he felt the more likely thing was that this place was currently occupied by one of the two sides of the war.
The easiest way to figure out which one was what kind of clothes were being worn by the people on the streets but so far he was yet to see a robe let alone one of a color that would give away who was currently running this town. That being said, there were still other things he could use to figure out If it was the Temple of Light or the Demon Lord's army.
The easiest thing to notice was that there were living people here from what he had heard that wasn't really the Demon Worshipers style. Of course these people could be Demon Worshipers themselves and weren't wearing the normal outfit they normally did. Deciding he needed to get a better look into the town, Lake headed for a nearby tree and started to climb.
His plan was to see what guilds this town had in its center because if he could see if they were still running he would know the town was most likely fine. He might also get lucky enough to see a Temple of Light here and if he did he would know this town was definitely fine for him to enter, it would also explain why these people were acting like they were safe.
At the top of the tree Lake was able to see the center of the town well enough that he could see a crowd of people there and just Like he had hoped there were people in white robes there, that being said there wasn't any signs of an actual temple, just the members. It was enough for him though, and he quickly got down and started to walk into town.
As he was walking towards the center of the town Lake couldn't help but think he could use these people to earn Exp by stealing stuff instead of killing but he decided to hold off until he understood the situation here better. The last thing he needed was to end up being caught pickpocketing because he hadn't realized there was someone on the Level of Lucas keeping the peace here.
Plus the two jobs he had been hoping to level today couldn't really be leveled up through theft only kills. Getting into the center of town Lake took a few seconds to look at the Light Temple troops standing in the center of the town square before looking at the guild buildings people were lined up in front of.
Like normal there was both a Adventures and Fighters guild and it reminded him that he had meant to find out the difference between the two. He guessed now was a good time so he walked over to one of the people in line in front of the Fighters guild and asked. "What's the difference between the Adventures and the Fighters guild?"
After he asked Lake remembered why he had never asked in the past back then he had been afraid to look like he didn't know anything about this world on the off chance someone got suspicious of his background but now he really didn't care. He was a lot stronger now and he also knew people knew about people from other worlds even if it was rare so even if they did find out he would be just fine.
"The fighters guild focuses on people fighting other people, the Adventures guilds about fighting monsters. There's also a Hunters guild but that's more of a food thing like the Farmers guild."
"Does that mean there's jobs for hunting bandits inside?" The man nodded and said. "There are but you need to become a member first." It seemed the man had taken him asking to mean he wasn't a member which was correct. "What's the joining process like?"
"There's a few different testing methods you can choose from usually but at the moment there's no test. The guild needs as many members as it can get at the moment so all you need to do is go in and ask to join. It's that line right there." The man pointed at a shorter line next to the one he was in and Lake went to join it as he thanked the man for the information.
After about a ten minute wait Lake was at the desk and he repeated the same thing he had heard three people who had been in front of him say. "I would like to become a member." A second after he had said this he received a badge and was asked to sign his name, after that was over the person behind the counter said. "These are some missions a lot of beginners like to take but if you are confident you can step into that line to get something that pays better."
Lake took a glance at the piece of paper that they had pulled out to see they were mainly guard jobs that paid five gold a day and a few escort jobs that paid slightly better depending on how long you were on the road. Both offered a bonus for any fight you got in but Lake was after something that paid better so he turned them down and went and lined up in the long line.
It was long but it was moving pretty quickly so he wasn't too worried about the amount of time he was wasting by doing this. It would be worth it in the long run because he was sure the missions would tell him exactly where he needed to go to find Bandits. Then not only would he finally be able to start earning Exp but he would get the money from the mission as well.
He wasn't sure how much to expect but any would be better than the none his original plan would have gotten him, plus he could keep whatever money the bandits had so if today went well he might be able to make a dent in that one million gold he needed.
After waiting through the line Lake eventually got up to the desk that had all the missions posted around the window. He already took the time in the line to go through the different posted missions and had pretty much made up his mind there was only one thing he didn't understand and needed to ask about.
"Hello, how does this difficulty system work?" Next to every mission there was a thing that said how hard it was but he didn't understand the system. The mission he was thinking about taking said its difficulty was 90. It was pretty high compared to some of the other missions that were posted but nowhere near the highest that was 220."
"It's the estimated stat total of each enemy you'll be fighting, but be careful you'll be heavily outnumbered if you plan to go by yourself so don't think you'll be ok just because yours is a little higher than that." After Lake heard this he decided he could probably handle more than just 90 and chose a mission that was at 160.
Clear out the Black Cave Bandits
Difficulty 160
1,200 per head
Estimated number of bandits 17
Lake chose this one because he had night vision and if he was to kill all of them it would give him 20,400 gold. Plus the thing said it was close so if he was quick he might be able to come back for another mission. Pointing to the mission he wanted, the Lady behind the counter gave Lake a look and it seemed she thought he could handle it, she said. "Ok here's a detailed map, and don't worry about bringing any proof of how many you kill just bring the leaders head, you wont get a bonus if there's more than posted."
Lake thought that was unfair so he asked. "Why's that?"
"I know that's how it works at the adventurers guild with them asking for ears or noses or whatever from the monsters you kill so they can pay you for each one you kill but the fighters guilds always had trouble with people bringing back extra hands from any corpses they just happen across so we just go off of the number the scouts say there are at the location. The information is pretty fresh so you don't need to worry about there being that many more than it says here and you know the bandits die all the time so you might have less to kill than it says here."
Lake was satisfied with this answer so he said thanks to the lady and left. Once he was outside he opened the map and started to figure out where he needed to go. He had never used a map before so it took him a second but once he found out which road he was on he quickly started towards the cave.
The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr(e)𝒆webnovel