Oliver peered at my cart, which had, thankfully, fitted through the large doors of the guildhall.

  "... Well, that'll teach me for doubting," he muttered.

  "Pardon?"

  "Nothing. Let me just double check everything is in order, then I'll process your completions."

  He rifled through my collection of monster parts, frowning once he reached the hides at the bottom.

  "Yes, I know," I sighed. "My first time trying to skin a monster."

  "And yet the treant heartwood was perfect. Not a single mark on any of them."

  "Treants aren't quite so... squidgy. Anyway, is it enough to pass?"

  If not, I'd just need to pick up another D-rank quest. There was bound to be one I could complete in a single day, if I wasn't trying to do multiple quests and a dungeon at the same time.

  "Yes, I'll give you a pass, but I can only give you half the reward money."

  "That's fair. Besides, isn't there a reward for ranking up now?"

  "There is indeed. Well, let's get this over with. Please touch the registration device."

  I did so.

  "You really have reached the first growth milestone," muttered Oliver. "Okay, I've confirmed you're an appropriate level and have completed the requisite number of D-rank jobs. Congratulations, you're now officially promoted to D-rank. Give me a moment, and I'll get your ID prepared."

  "My ID?" I asked as I removed my hand.

  Drat. If that last assassin hadn't committed suicide, that would probably have been enough experience to level.

  "Yes. All adventurers of D-rank or above are issued physical IDs. It helps get into cities or cross cantons, where the guards don't have access to your guild information."

  Now that he mentioned it, it was true that Mum had talked about an 'adventurer's tag' when discussing how a lack of identification would make it impossible for me to enter towns. I'd been concentrating on magical identity since, so I hadn't considered that she might have been talking about a physical thing.

  Oliver returned after a few minutes and handed me a silver-coloured plate, along with a small bag of coins.

  "Uh... It's blank," I commented, double checking both sides.

  "Give it a moment," suggested Oliver, and sure enough, after a few seconds, some basic information appeared.

  "Oh! So it's a magic tool for reading the information that the guild stores on someone's Status?"

  "On yours, specifically. They're locked to a single person. If anyone else touches it, nothing will happen. And I advise you to keep it safe. If you lose it, a replacement is one gold."

  "Wow... I certainly will, then," I said, tucking the thing into a pocket. No wonder they didn't give them out to every new sign-up that passed through their doors.

  "So, now what?" continued Oliver. "Taking on C-rank missions ready for your next promotion?"

  "No, next up is clearing every E and D-rank dungeon in the canton," I replied, before being interrupted by a large yawn. "Actually, next up is some sleep. I travelled through the night. And then it's dungeons."

  "Hah. Don't push yourself too hard."

  "I won't. But speaking of dungeons, how do I claim that stipend thing?"

  "Just keep that guild card on you. It'll record experience gain, and I can reward you back here."

  "Oh, so dungeon delving while below D-rank doesn't count?"

  "It does—there are dedicated magic tools we can loan out."

  "Drat. I should have taken one before I left."

  "They weren't ready back then, but why? Oh, don't tell me... Not only did you finish your three missions, but you spent time in the Fungal Garden, too?"

  "Not much time. I cleared it in a hurry, then moved on."

  "... Cleared it. Not much time. I'd ask who the heck you are, but the guild master himself ordered me not to pry, which just makes you more suspicious. Oh well. Good luck out there, and take care of yourself."

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  "I will. Oh, did that princeling ever turn up, by the way?"

  "No," replied Oliver, frowning. "We haven't heard a thing. We suspect he got wind of the upcoming lockdown, somehow, and fled the canton while he had the chance. Odd that his party members went with him, though. A couple of them had ties here."

  "Oh well. As long as I don't need to worry about bumping into him again. Thanks for the help."

  So news of his death hadn't become public knowledge, but it didn't need to be public knowledge for someone to send assassins after me, nor did I have any confirmation they were related to him in the first place. Frankly, I wanted a couple of days' rest before I headed back out, but if I needed to worry about assassins, I didn't have time to waste.

  I made a few stops on my way back to my inn, to return the cart and restock on food supplies, and spared the time for a quick wash, but then it was into bed. The only question was whether I should leave the capital when the gates opened the next morning, or if I should leave before they closed this evening. My Constitution was high enough that I didn't need a solid eight hours every night, but not so high that I could skip a night's sleep completely and still feel sprightly the next day. It was still fairly early in the morning, though, so I could spare six or seven hours now and still be out before the gates closed.

  The bag of money I'd received for my promotion and completing the three jobs amounted to nearly a gold coin, so I could stay in inns outside the capital. I wasn't sure that was a good idea, though. The capital was well protected, and this inn was full of adventurers. On the other hand, I was easy to find here. If I didn't return to the capital for a week or two, how easily could someone track me down? Particularly with [Expert Stealth] to cover my tracks.

  I really needed to investigate how to evolve that Skill to B-rank.

  Yeah, if I was going to leave the capital, it was best to do so today. It was best to stay on the move as much as possible, and preferably ensure I'd evolved [Dagger Expertise] before I returned. My attackers this time around obviously weren't expecting me to have [Dagger Expertise] or [Stab], and I needed to ensure I kept exceeding expectations.

  And, if I was going to sacrifice sleep, there would be no such thing as too much Constitution. If I cleared multiple dungeons before returning to the capital again, I'd certainly gain more levels, so I could spend my remaining stat points right now.

  I blinked, the Mark having been completely unexpected.

  A very concise description, but a most welcome effect, given my situation. Presumably, bodily needs meant things like water, sustenance and, importantly, sleep. It was a shame the effect was 'very slight', but I'd take what I could get.

  Also, it implied I'd get a Mark for each Stat that reached one hundred. I could get another one every level. Another set of bonuses with which to surprise any future attackers.

  Feeling inordinately pleased about the unexpected windfall, I lay down to sleep, waking up less than six hours later and feeling fully refreshed. Stats really were a blessing.

  After that, it was a simple matter of getting dressed, grabbing my pack and departing. I'd long since made my plan of which dungeons to visit. The royal canton contained a total of thirty dungeons. The Deep was the only one that the System had granted S-rank, but below that were a pair of A-rank, five B-rank, seven C-rank, seven D-rank and eight E-rank. I'd cleared two of the E-rank dungeons, which left thirteen more that I wanted to deal with on this trip. Thirteen more Marks to gather.

  It was unlikely I'd be able to carry much loot back with me, but hopefully that wouldn't matter; I'd get paid for every experience point, and by the time I got back, should be able to afford some far nicer armour and weapons. Claiming my levelling reward would blow my cover, but Oliver knew full well something was up already, so not that much would change.

  "Right. Let's do this!" I exclaimed to no-one in particular, before leaving the inn and heading out of the city, rushing down the road while leaning on [Expert Stealth] to ensure there was no trace of my passing.

  I'd plotted my route through the dungeons largely to minimise travel time, but there was also an element of safety and compatibility, with the dungeons least likely to kill me towards the start of my itinerary. That meant that my first target was a nearby E-rank dungeon by the name of the Goblin Den.

  I'd had plenty of experience with goblins. What would a few more do?

  The dungeon was only a couple of hours away, in the centre of a small village. The proper kind of village, with humans in it, rather than goblins.

  It seemed rather odd that this canton kept building things on top of dungeons. I still had no idea why the royal palace was built on top of a dungeon that no-one could clear and that spat out quantities of monsters that took an entire army to deal with once a decade. An E-rank dungeon was less inexplicable; I'd seen the small camp around the Fluffy Meadow, and it was easy to imagine that camp growing over time, gaining permanent residents, and eventually becoming a village. Maybe that would have happened, but Lord Cargellen discouraged it; the canton specialised in food production, and a village in the middle of a forest would have no space for fields. I didn't want to guess what the nobility was thinking.

  In any case, I picked up a few interested gazes from villagers as I approached the dungeon—marked by a rather obvious goblin statue, placed behind an ivory white staircase—but no-one said anything until I reached the entrance.

  "Please register your entry before you enter," said one of the villagers, holding up the same sort of device as the guard outside the Slime Pit.

  "Oh, sorry. You didn't look like a guard, so I assumed I could just walk in."

  The guard of dubious provenance sighed. "We like to keep track of those who go in, in case they don't come back out. Especially idiot kids who wander in alone."

  "Yeah, that's perfectly logical," I agreed, not taking offence. It wasn't as if he knew my rank or level. "But I did the Fungal Garden last, and there wasn't anyone there."

  "The Fungal Garden? Wait, what do you mean you 'did' it?"

  "What it sounds like," I answered as I tapped the device.

  The guard's eyes practically popped out. "D-rank?!" he exclaimed. "But aren't you...? No, never mind. Go on in, Robin."

  I just grinned as I walked down the ivory steps.

  They didn't last long. Six steps down, and the colour changed to a muddy brown. The sharp angles became rounded, the steps slightly slanted, and pitted as if by decades of weathering. The air took on a certain unwelcome quality that I'd previously only had the fortune of encountering in open outdoor spaces.

  I'd thought the ivory white decor didn't match the fact that the dungeon was filled with goblins, but apparently it was only the entrance. Perhaps it was supposed to signify something, that goblins were corrupted, broken forms of something greater. Or that they corrupted anything they touched.

  Who built the dungeons, anyway? Who or what was responsible for their decor? That was something else no-one had ever mentioned. Supposedly the System assigned their ranks, but that implied the System wasn't what had built them.

  Not that it mattered, in the end. All that mattered was that I gained levels and Marks. The staircase bottomed out into what appeared to be a natural cave passage, with bracketed torches much like the Slime Pit fixed at intervals. And down that passage would be a nice collection of gibbering bags of experience points. It was time to claim them.