I hate this.
My arms feel like complete jelly, and it's only been the first day. What the hell made me agree to this in the first place?
Oh, right. The money.
5000 eris.
And of course, I blew 3 fifths of it on food and drink. One thousand went to a place to rest in.
Pfft, place? This isn't even a proper room—it's some goddamn stables. The kind where horses would stay in, sometimes with manure nearby. And my so-called "bed"? A pile of hay.
I counted the few bronze coins in my hand—only a thousand eris left. Maybe one or two more painful shifts, and I'd have enough to register as an adventurer.
"Haa," I sighed, keeping my voice low. "Why does life have to be so hard? Isekai characters aren't supposed to fight for their life or work their asses off like this."
Seriously. It paid around three or four times more than the other jobs, but I'd genuinely rather risk my life fighting off slimes, goblins, and other fantastical creatures. At least those things would be more exciting than swinging a pickaxe for hours and hauling rocks all day.
I turned around, trying to get comfortable—as comfortable as you could get on a pile of hay, anyway.
Eugh, what the hell?! I instantly covered my nose.
Manure.
I swear to god, I'll become an adventurer as quick as possible and figure out a better way to make money, and quick.
This was absolutely ridiculous. I couldn't keep living like this—sleeping in stables, stinking like… well, like manure. I didn't even have a blanket.
What would Winter be like? If nights in what seemed to be Spring were this cold, I wouldn't even want to imagine how miserable I'd become in the colder months.
Certainly not a pleasant thought.
Either way, I'll try to at least get a good night's sleep.
Nighty night, and lights out.
-------------------------
"Get your asses moving, everyone! Those ores aren't going to mine themselves!" a gruff voice yelled.
Surprisingly, my arms felt almost completely recovered when I woke up. Swinging away like that for hours straight should normally leave you aching for a week straight, but here, I felt almost... fine? If anything, I felt slightly stronger and somewhat eager to go through hell once again.
I'm not a masochist either, since I hate suffering.
"You, new recruit."
Eh?! Does he mean me?
"Me?" I called out, glancing around in confusion.
"You can take it easy for today, and work only 4 hours instead of the 6 you're required to do. We didn't expect you to follow through the full six hours yesterday, especially since you're a lady."
...Is he implying I can't take it because I'm a girl? Either way, I'm not complaining about having to do less for the same amount of coin.
I stared at the guy for a moment, before giving him a thumbs-up, my expression deadpan.
He blinked, probably expecting me to argue or prove him wrong, but I wasn't about to refuse the opportunity to do slack off a little. Who was I to refuse such an offer?
With that settled, I grabbed a pickaxe and made my way to the mining site. The usual routine awaited—swinging, cracking rocks, hauling ore, all that tiring stuff.
By the end of the shift, my arms felt really sore, but not to the point of being like jelly. Progress, I suppose?
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and stretched, feeling my muscles protest with a dull ache.
Then, the overseer approached me.
"Good job today, recruit. Here's your pay—5000 eris. Keep it up, and you might even get a bonus," the overseer said, tossing a small pouch of coins my way.
M-Money...!
"Thank you, sir!" I muttered, holding onto the pouch as if my life depended on it. I swear, if there's anything that excites me the most in life, it's either money or gaming. Money mostly, of course.
Kachiiing!
"S-Sure," he said, looking at me as if I was some kind of money-obsessed goblin from the Lord of The Rings. It wasn't entirely wrong, though.
My precioous!
"Just take your leave. You're free to go."
"Hai, sir," I said, giving a half-hearted salute before turning on my heel and heading out of the working area.
Right, so... As of now, I am the proud owner of 5000—no, 6000 eris, if I add the other thousand that I've saved up.
The Adventurer's Guild and the market place should both be about 9 or 10 blocks away, so I had a choice to make—register as an adventurer first, or grab some food to celebrate my hard-earned money.
Of course, there's no contest! Food comes first!
As long as I still have 3000 eris, I can still register and figure out how that stuff works, perhaps even start going on quests.
Once I become strong enough, I'll figure out a way to use magic and return home—assuming that's even possible to do. I don't even know if magic circles exist in this goddamned world.
I walked for a while, and finally, I've reached the sweet, oh-so-sweet marketplace.
Here I am.
Uuuuu... The scents are so tempting. Stalls were selling grilled meat, some kind of cotton candy looking sticks, baked bread, and... holy crap, I didn't notice before, but they even have pastries, like tarts and pies.
Are pastries even possible in a medieval setting? I don't know much about cooking and neither about history, but I think my friend Marie would probably know a bit more about this stuff. She's the one who liked cooking, after all.
However, I need something quick to eat, and filling. The grilled meat skewers are calling for me, and they're just about 500 eris per skewer. I'll probably take like two or three, and use the remaining money to register as an adventurer.
...I haven't eaten anything since I've woken up, so that's even more of a reason to go after these skewers.
I made my way to the stall, and stood in the small line of two people.
God, listen to that sizzle. If this was a cartoon, I'd be flying over like Tom after smelling a fresh pie.
The first person ahead of me ordered quickly, and then the second. Finally, it was my turn.
"What will it be, miss?" The vendor asked, his arms crossed.
I didn't even hesitate, "I'll take three skewers, please." I asked, salivating.
"Comin' up."
The middle-aged man quickly got to work, placing the skewers with the cube-shaped meat onto the grill.
It felt like forever, but the smell alone was worth it. Watching it go from red to golden brown with those sizzle marks was very satisfying, too.
After one last turn and a minute, he finally took them off the fire and handed them to me, along with a small paper plate.
"Here ya go. That'll be 1500 eris, miss."
I fished out two silver coins from the pouch on my pocket, "Keep the change, please."
He gave me a small smile, "Thank ya kindly. Know that these are the best meat skewers in town, and you definitely won't find a better stall than this one."
With that, 2000 eris was gone, leaving me with 4000 eris.
I haven't spent much time in this place, but I know by now that bronze coins are worth 10 eris, silver coins are around a thousand each and gold coins must be like 10000 eris. No idea if that's it, but I'm slowly getting the hang of this.
At least my stomach was full, which was good. Now... the registration fee is 3000 eris, right? That means I could go right now.
It's a little steep, but I should manage with 1000. I can stretch it if I use it on grains, in case I don't succeed at being an adventurer.
From the bench I sat on, I took a look at the guild a few tens of meters away from me, and its emblem.
Becoming an adventurer would be ideal, especially if I get any buffs or anything like that. Like stats, levels or something. That'll help me with my current part-time job, especially if I can't kill monsters on my own.
Yeah, I don't believe I can kill goblins, horned rabbits or whatever. I'm basically just a normal human, with zero combat experience and no cheat to speak of.
Either way, current objective...
Register as an adventurer.