“Hmm…where am I?”

Upon awakening, an unfamiliar ceiling came into view. It seemed that while unconscious, I had been placed on a bed. As I tried to sit up, I felt dizzy and unable to stand. Unable to do anything else, I lay still and heard a clicking sound. Looking towards the source of the sound, Guldo-san entered through the door.

“Oh, looks like you’ve woken up. You pushed yourself too hard and collapsed. We carried you to the Guild’s medical room and had you examined. It turned out to be malnutrition, so we had you rest in a private room… Are you okay?” Guldo-san spoke gently to me.

I felt a bit sorry. “Yes, I’m fine now. More importantly, I’m sorry, Guldo-san. I collapsed during the exam… Does that mean I’ve failed?”

“No, you passed the exam. You scored more than 300 points in the end. But listen, you need to take care of your health. If you want to continue as an adventurer, that’s the most important thing.”

“I-I’m sorry. I forgot to eat since coming to the capital.”

“Jeez…I’ll bring you some soup now, so just sit tight,” Guldo-san spoke in an exasperated manner and left the room.

As I waited quietly as instructed, Guldo-san returned with a tray carrying a bowl of soup. Since I couldn’t hold the spoon, he fed me instead. The soup had a lot of vegetables and was delicious. Later, Guldo-san told me to rest a bit more since I wasn’t fully recovered. Several hours passed, and I woke up again feeling completely refreshed after having eaten soup and slept well. I got out of bed and looked at myself in the mirror in the room. I realized that I had yet to see my face since regaining my memory.

“Whoa, is this really me?”

The reflection showed a small, silver-haired boy. In my past life, I had never dyed my hair, so it was quite surprising. My facial features were not those of a Japanese person as in my previous life, but instead looked more like they belonged in a fantasy world. It may sound strange for me to say it myself, but I think I look pretty well-proportioned. I estimated my height to be around 130-135 centimeters. I was quite skinny, so it made sense that I had developed malnutrition.

Taking my eyes off the mirror, I gaze at the beautiful cityscape of the royal capital from the window of the room. Although the sun was already setting, the light from the buildings and streetlights made it feel not too dark.

Come to think of it, there is also a lantern-like tool hanging from the ceiling of the room I’m in, illuminating the inside of the room. It doesn’t seem to be powered by electricity. It’s probably producing light by converting magic. Most likely, most of the tools are also powered by magic like this lantern. As I pondered about these things and stared at the view outside, the door to the room opened with Guldo-san entering the room.

“How are you feeling now?”

“Yes, thanks to you, Guldo-san, I’m all better now. I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble.”

“No, it’s fine. I was able to work for the first time in a while today, so it’s all good,” Guldo-san said with a smile.

Suddenly, I became worried about something when I saw his bright red hair. “Um, is silver hair rare around here?”

“Hm? Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no…there’s no deep reason or anything, but I saw people with red or green hair in the city. But I didn’t see anyone with silver hair.”

Guldo-san pondered with his arms crossed and answered slowly,” “Well, silver hair is said to be a rare color. There probably aren’t many people in this big royal capital with that color. But you don’t have to worry too much about hair color. Silver hair isn’t just limited to Lark, I know someone else with silver hair too.”

“I see, I didn’t know that.” I felt a little relieved after hearing Guldo-san’s words. There was no weird reason just because it was silver.

After that, Guldo-san treated me to dinner out of his kindness. I had refused at first since I had been treated to lunch as well, but I was told that a kid should not be reserved, so I was taken to the guild’s cafeteria. Guldo-san made me sit in a chair and went to place an order.

While I was waiting, a man in his late 30s with a slightly aged appearance walked over to our table. “Hey, kid, you’ve got guts. I haven’t seen Guldo talk to a kid in a while.”

“Guldo-san is a good person. Um, well, his face is a little scary though.”

“Haha, yeah, that’s true. But like you said, I think he’s the best guy in the capital city.”

While we were chatting, Guldo came back from behind the man and poked his head. “What are you doing?”

“Well, the cooks at the cafeteria said that Guldo was with a kid, so I came to check. Oh, sorry for being late with my greetings. I’m Fritz. I’m the head chef at the adventurer’s guild cafeteria. Nice to meet you,” Fritz extended his right hand, and I firmly shook it.

“Nice to meet you, Fritz-san. I’m Lark.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too. Well then, back to work.” With that, Fritz returned to the kitchen.

Guldo leaned in and whispered to me, “Did he say anything weird?”

“No, he didn’t say anything.”

“I see. He likes to joke around, so don’t take anything he says seriously… Oh, by the way, I forgot to explain about the guild. Can I talk about it now? I was planning to explain after the exam.”

“Yes, please,”I nodded, and Guldo-san explained about the guild.

The basic rules were similar to those of typical games. Adventurers basically lived by accepting requests from individuals or organizations and receiving rewards upon completion. Adventurers were ranked from A to E, with A-rank adventurers being highly regarded by the country as top-tier adventurers. The guild was an organization created to support adventurers, and this building, its headquarters, was equipped with various facilities. When registered as an adventurer, the fees for using these facilities would be reduced or even waived in some cases. Guild finished explaining and started searching for something in his pocket.

“Let’s see… ah, here it is. I have something to give you.” He took out a necklace and a small needle. The top of the necklace had a copper plate with the inscription E. “This is a proof-of-membership necklace for the guild. It can exempt you from tolls when you show it when you go to another town, or even serve as your ID when you go to other countries, so don’t lose it. Also, you have to bleed to register yourself on the plate. Do it quickly with this needle.”

I received the necklace and needle from Guldo-san and pierced my finger with the needle as instructed. When I let a drop of blood fall, the plate faintly glowed, and my name was inscribed under the E inscription. I noticed that the plate had a familiar shape, and asked Guldo-san, “Um, does this plate change color?”

“Ah, that’s right. From D to E it’s copper, from C to B it’s silver, and A, the highest rank, is gold. The materials are all the same magic metal, though.”

“I see…”

As expected, this necklace seemed to be the same one that my benefactor wore to help me. My benefactor’s plate was silver, so I wonder if they were a B or C rank adventurer. As I remembered my benefactor, Fritz-san came to the table with a steak and soup set. I interrupted my thoughts and started eating, thanking Guldo-san. After finishing dinner, I returned the dishes with Guldo-san.

When we finished cleaning up and were about to leave the dining room, Fritz-san appeared from the other side of the return window. “Get along with Guldo, Lark.”

“Go away!” Guldo-san picked up a spoon that was nearby and threw it at Fritz-san. The spoon hit Fritz’s head at an incredible speed, causing him to fall backwards.

On the way back to the reception desk, Guldo-san sighed. “Ugh… Fritz thinks he can take advantage of me because I’m playing with the kids for once…”

“Are you disliked by children, Guldo-san? Your face does look scary.”

“It’s not that I’m disliked, but they avoid me. Most kids get scared and run away at first glance. Even adult adventurers tend to go to the other receptionist rather than me, a guy like me…” Guldo-san said sadly as he stroked his scar on his face. Afterwards, he later told it was already late and asked me to stay overnight in the infirmary, so I accepted his offer and returned to sleep.