Free Web Novel“Miss, this isn’t allowed... little sister can’t register as an adventurer until she’s of age.”
The receptionist looked about twenty-four, her wavy brown hair cascading behind her back. Her delicate features carried a gentle, kind smile. Even though she wore a plain linen dress, it couldn’t hide the proud curves underneath.
After speaking, the receptionist’s gaze moved from Jasmine back to Vieya. She gave a wry smile. “Adventuring isn’t like the storybooks, full of wonder and excitement. It’s an extremely dangerous profession. Even though the Hero has recently purged the outer edge of the Monster Forest, it’s still not safe.”
She sighed, voice filled with persuasion.
“I know you’re a gold-ranked adventurer, miss. But if you encounter a high-class monster straying out from the Forest’s core, maybe you could escape—your little sister would be in danger.”
To the receptionist, the aloof noble-looking girl before her was almost certainly sneaking out from home with her little sister to play.
If not for the fat, well-fed black cat trailing behind, she might even have suspected that this cold and distant noble lady was planning a cruel “heir struggle”—tricking her clueless little sister into the Forest and dumping her in a monster’s den.
You couldn’t really blame her for thinking so. After all, such cases weren’t rare in any city.
“She’s not my sister. She’s my daughter.”
Vieya shook her head, already prepared as she pulled a document from her pocket—the papers Lilian had helped amend and seal yesterday. freewebnovёl.ƈom
“D-daughter!”
It wasn’t just the surrounding adventurers—even the receptionist was thrown off by the words coming out of the mouth of this girl who looked younger than herself.
Was this even ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ possible?!
She herself was about to turn twenty-five, hadn’t even dated yet.
And you’re telling me this white-haired brat who looks seventeen or eighteen already has a child old enough to run around?!
That’s got to be illegal!
The crowd erupted.
Every neck craned, every eye turned, whispers and chuckles rippled as if this were the most fascinating thing they’d ever seen.
“...”
“...”
Seeing the stir among the adventurers and the receptionist’s stunned face, Vieya pinched her forehead and added,
“Don’t judge by appearances. Times change—open your eyes to the world. ...Sigh. Anyway, just look at the document.”
“Special approval from the Church...”
The receptionist’s brows knit tightly after only a glance. In a world where gods and demons both existed, no one dared forge a Church seal or name.
Especially not a document with divine script annotated.
“Can it be done?” Vieya asked quietly.
“Y-yes, it can!”
The receptionist gave her a nervous look, then apologized. “But you’ll need to wait a little. Uploading the information to headquarters takes some time.”
“Thank you, then.”
Vieya smiled, then took Jasmine to find a seat in the hall.
“Mama... what are you looking at?”
“The commission register. More formal guilds like this provide them free, but they can’t be taken out. And only gold-ranked adventurers or above can take the jobs listed here.” Vieya shook the little booklet in her hand.
“Other lower-reward, low-risk jobs aren’t in the register—they’re posted on the public board for anyone to pick up.”
Vieya pointed toward the task board in the hall, smiling.
“Things like ‘finding a cat’ go there. The pay is tiny, maybe not even a single silver.”
Sitting on her mother’s lap, Jasmine listened intently, her lively eyes fixed on the register, as if determined to memorize every commission and its details.
“See, commissions and adventurers both have ranks: bronze, iron, silver, gold... Only adventurers of the right rank can take the corresponding jobs. You can take lower ones, but never higher.”
“And besides the local bounties, this book also lists world-class commissions. World-class commissions are shared across all guilds.
For example, this bounty on the ‘Hellcat’—you can take it here, or even in the eastern territories. Mm, the reward’s pretty generous. Even I’m tempted...”
“Meow!” Let me see!
The black cat, unusually quiet all this time, suddenly leapt onto the table, shoving her furry head between mother and daughter.
In the center of the bounty poster was a black-and-white sketch of a lively girl with fluffy cat ears and a soft tail. Her cheeks were round with a touch of baby fat, her face all harmless innocence—if you ignored the three blood-red characters screaming WANTED above.
Who would expect that the very subject of this bounty hadn’t slunk back into the Monster Forest, but was instead sitting brazenly in the Adventurers’ Guild hall?
“Meow, meow?”
“Mama, she’s asking how many coins this is worth, and how many dried fish she could get?”
“One million gold.” Vieya spoke softly, then glanced at the cat’s face and added with a smile of encouragement, “And the value’s still rising. You’d better keep it up, good girl.”
“Meow?”
The cat tilted her head. Somehow, Vieya’s eyes didn’t look like those of a good person.
The Adventurers’ Guild was, after taverns, one of the fastest places for information to spread.
The wait wasn’t long, though several groups came over to invite Vieya to party up.
Vieya had no intention of joining a team. Alone, she took all the benefits—why split them?
After several refusals, the other adventurers in the hall understood. However young and pretty she was, this girl was an ice block. They stopped wasting their time.
Suddenly—
A clatter of hurried footsteps echoed from the hall entrance. The noisy bustle instantly hushed, so quiet that even the sound of Jasmine licking her candied haw could be heard.
Jasmine froze, afraid to lick again, craning her head curiously toward the newcomers at the door.
“It’s Fairy’s Wings! That jade-ranked adventurer party!” someone whispered.
“Didn’t they take a world-class commission? Why are they back so soon—could they have already finished it?”
“No way. I know the one they took. It went deep into the Monster Forest. The Forest’s depths—the place where that Hero once fell. No chance...”
“Look at their faces—they must’ve failed. Something must’ve gone wrong, so they’ve come back to regroup.”
“Miss Vieya, your papers are ready...” The receptionist hurried to the counter carrying a newcomer’s starter kit. “Normally registration requires a silver coin deposit, but since you’re gold-ranked you can sponsor a newcomer for free...”
Her voice trailed off as she, too, noticed the group slowly approaching the counter.
