Chapter 26: Need a Weapon?
That said, the higher grade the quest was means the higher the difficulty and danger in completing it, which would end up corresponding to a higher level of reward as well.
However, that’s not something absolute.
Even within the lower ranked quests, there are still some that pay extremely highly.
Those quests are all the type that, although there aren’t much danger or difficulty to speak of, they do tend to take an enormous amount of time or a great deal of luck to complete. There are some that even require certain specific conditions to be present before it could be done.
For example, within the iron grade, there are quests that specify being a weapons teacher for children of nobility. The requirement is that only adventurers with the corresponding weapon skill being a certain level could accept it, and only until the other side managed to learn the skill would the quest be counted as complete. The reward was 30 gold, which was quite generous.
These kind of high reward quests, due to the lack of danger or any real reason that it couldn’t be completed, would generally not be classified as a high level quest, so even iron grade adventurers could accept them.
However, it had been already said, for normal people to learn a skill would generally be something that takes years of time.
Unless the other side was a prodigy, then taking this quest would basically mean spending several years of time on completing it.
And if the taught party was a failure without a bit of talent, then they wouldn’t be able to learn it no matter how many years they’ve been studying. In the end, the result would be quest failure, and not only would the quest taker have wasted a huge amount of time, they wouldn’t even get the reward.
Thus, the rankings for quests only takes into account completion difficulty and danger level.
Due to these reason, the three quests that Vivian’s party accepted together are all the type that can be quickly completed, but do have a certain amount of difficulty.
The rank of these kind of quests all tend to be on the higher side. The rewards would be comparable to the safer, lower ranked quests that might take several years, but at the same time they be dangerous.
However, looking at Vivian and group’s expressions, that kind of quests shouldn’t be anything special for them, right?
If not, then Vivian and group wouldn’t have accepted three at once.
Of course, another reason for accepting three quests at once is because those three quests are all in the same direction.
“The Mangir mountains where salamanders live also has on it a mid sided magic spring, and the road to the northern town of Fresia is also the only way to the Mangir mountains, so these three quests can be completed together.”
Vivian thus explained to Shien, which let him understand that adventurers’ activities are all generally like that, in that they will all aim to accept a bunch of quests at once.
Originally, Shien had though that the adventurer’s process of taking quest would be like a lot of games and novels, where they would accept and complete them one by one. However, in reality, taking a number of quests at once seems to be more the norm for adventurers.
Just like Vivian explained, since there’s a mid sized magic spring on the Mangir mountains where the salamanders lived, and the main road north to Fresia had to be passed through on the way, then why not do all three at once?
With that consideration in mind, then when adventurers accept quests, they not only need to consider their own strength against the difficulty of the quest, but also how to complete their quests in the best, quickest, and most efficient way.
Besides that, adventurers also need to have all kinds of knowledge in order to complete their quests.
Take the three quests that Vivian’s party took this time for example. Stuff like what magic springs are, where they show up, how to skin the salamanders after subjugating them, or even how to exterminate vampire vines. All these kind of knowledge have to be had. Otherwise, even if you’re strong, you’d still have a tough time completing your adventures.
This once more made Shien realize that reality is still reality. It’s different from novels and games. Not just anyone would live by adventuring as a profession.
Under such circumstances, Vivian’s party took the three quest sheets that were done processing and thus left the guild under everyone’s gaze.
……
“Right.”
After leaving the guild but before they started moving towards the direction of Lamdrion’s gate, Vivian turned towards Shien.
“Don’t you need to first assemble your equipment before setting out?”
No wonder Vivian said something like that.
Adventurers need to to enter places full of demonic beasts for their job, and they’ll meet various kind of dangerous groups. When going on adventures, it’s obvious that the better and more complete the equipment are, the better.
Even disregarding something like Vivian’s practically airtight heavy full plate, at the very least you can’t have no defensive equipment at all, right?
Like with Lumia. She wears a set of light leather armor that won’t get in the way of her moving about. Diere also seem to have stuff like breastplate, bracers, and knee-guards under her cloak. Only Melika is left with only her robe, but that robe does emit some fairly strong magical energy, so it’s likely not your average magical equipment.
But look at Shien. Other than that long shaped bundle, all he’s wearing is only an obviously randomly picked out set of black everyday clothes. Rather than an adventurer, it might be more appropriate to call him a sightseer.
Doing something like going out adventuring like that, no wonder Vivian ended up giving that kind of suggestion.
“If you’re lacking money, then I can help you out some if it’s within what I’m capable of.”
The meaning behind Vivian’s words were quite clear, that is that she could lend some money to Shien for the sake of equipping him.
Shien was a bit hesitant facing that though.
Actually, it’s not like Shien didn’t consider this issue at all.
It’s just…
(Even disregarding the fact that the protection from the Holy Sword wouldn’t let me get hurt, even without it, with the [Physical Resistance] and [Magical Resistance] skills, I don’t think I’ll need any defensive equipment at all.)
Shien had already maxed out those two skills, and even though they’re not quite as broken as the Holy Swords ability to reduce all damage by 99%, from Shien’s point of view, unless he’s facing some super scary big shot, it would be hard to deal any real damage to him.
In that case, what’s the point of defensive equipment?
However…
“Putting aside armor, I do need a weapon.”
Shien let Vivian know.
“Weapon?”
At that moment, it’s not just Vivian, but even Diere, Lumia, and Melika. who have all remained silent up till now, found it strange.
Vivian thus asked with a puzzled tone.
“Don’t you already have a weapon?”
What Vivian meant was obviously the long bundle that Shien was carrying.
No matter how you look at it, that’s obviously a weapon inside, right?
However, Shien just rubbed his nose.
“This weapon of mine isn’t very usable, so it’s better if I don’t use it.”
Shien just said something like that.