<h4>Volume 3, Intermission: Pale’s Lecture on the Adventurer’s Guild (1/2)</h4>


    After leaving the Goblin King to set off on her personal journey, the blind Pale Symphoria traveled from Germion Kingdom to the Holy Shushunu Kingdom.


    “Oh~… So this is Rishu, capital of the Holy Shushunu Kingdom,” a young, aspiring adventurer said as a robed girl with a staff looked around her restlessly.


    “They seem to ept all religions around here… Ah, it’s the goddess, Zenobia’s, symbol!” The little girl folded her hands in front of her modest chest and offered her prayers.


    The young man wryly smiled and turned to Pale who was behind him. “Ms. Pale, do youe here often?”


    “Yes, I’ve worked on many quests here.” Pale nodded with reservation.


    The young man’s eyes twinkled as he nodded. “First-rate adventurers really are amazing!”


    Pale could only wryly smile to those twinkling eyes as she changed the topic.


    Pale met these two while she was hurrying to the Holy Shushunu Kingdom and ended up lending them a hand while they were fighting on the ins against some monsters. After that they decided to travel together.


    “This city is where the first adventurer’s guild was built. Right… Why don’t we drop by that store over there and talk while we refresh ourselves.” Pale pointed to the signboard of a grandiose restaurant fitting of a capital city.


    “Oh, that…”


    “Umm… I don’t think we can afford to eat there.”


    The man and the little girl said as they nced at each other.


    Pale smiled. “Don’t worry, it’ll be my treat. Consider it my thanks for traveling with me.”


    ◆◆◇


    The Holy Shushunu Kingdom was situated east of the Germion Kingdom.


    Unlike the western Germion Kingdom that ruled with might, the Holy Shushunu Kingdom was a religious country.


    Just as its name implied, which meant either forbearance or tolerance, the Holy Shushunu Kingdom has taken it upon itself to provide protection for all religions.


    It didn’t matter whether it was the greatest church of the continent, the worshipers of the ancestral god, Ativ, or the Kushain faith that worshiped a holy man, or the believers of the goddess of vengeance, Altesia, herself, or the adherents of the healing goddess, Zenobia. In the Holy Shushunu Kingdom all religions are epted except for those that seek to harm others.


    The Holy Shushunu Kingdom is also famous for its military might, which allows it to stand against other countries.


    It is particrly famed for its army that focus on mobility on the ins, such as the mana guards (sorcerer cavalry), or the archer knights, who are directly under the royal family. As a country that boasts excellent mobility on the battlefield, it is undoubtedly one of the leading powers in the region.


    Even the tyrannic Germion Kingdom has no choice but to acknowledge its strength and prefer a cordial rtionship.


    The Holy Shushunu Kingdom was also a key point when traveling, for south of it were the recently unstable free cities, north of it was the Kingdom of Orphen, wherein the Ivory Tower could be found, and east of it were the small countries that sheltered the elves: the small country, Fenis; the agricultural country, Guralio, and the iron kingdom, Elfa. Lastly, there was the Holy Kingdom Alsas and the Oceanic Kingdom Yalma.


    As a kingdom connected to various kingdoms, the Holy Shushunu Kingdom naturally gained poprity among the guilds.


    The adventurer’s guild was established about 100 years ago under the proposition of the leader of the then biggest mercenary corps, the hero Guine Oren, to secure useful personnel and elevate the status of those who would be known as adventurers.


    The adventurer’s guild could be said to have been established mostly due to the cooperation of Guine and the heir of a great merchant by the name of Halbert Lark.


    At that time, the merchant guild was founded and it monopolized technology and provided protection for its merchants. The merchants joined hands with the royal family and the nobles, and they monopolized the goods - namely, weapons, armor, foods, and processed essentials - and regted their price.


    In so doing, the merchant guild ended up pushing away all unaffiliated merchants from the city.


    The nobles, the royal family, and the people in power worked with the merchant guild to hire craftsmen for cheap, and then sold the end products at a high price. They also hired mercenaries for cheap to gather ingredients from monsters to manufacture certain goods.


    It was then that the 10-year war between the Holy Shushunu Kingdom and the great eastern kingdom, Ranserg, came to an end as thetter copsed. After that the city overflowed with mercenaries, and many small countries began popping out.


    It is said that the impetus for Guine’s undertaking was the death of his friend who died while doing a job for the merchant guild.


    The merchant guild’s high-handed tactics deeply oppressed the people and brought chaos to society, so the hero, Guine, took it upon himself to use his connections to gather the wandering mercenaries and form the adventurer’s guild.


    As for why it wasn’t called the mercenary guild, it is said that it was due to Guine’s inclination for challenging new things.


    Guine formed a contract of monopoly with the then rising merchant, Halbert, and opposed the merchant guild. Guine gathered craftsmen, ingredients, subjugated monsters, and in the end, even dabbled with the war mercs.


    As for Halbert, he gathered the unaffiliated merchants and worked with Guine to go against the merchant guild.


    The war between the merchant guild and the united front of Halbert and Guine continued on for the next 10 years, when finally, the merchant guild waved its white g.


    They had no choice but to surrender, as there were many resources in unexplorednds that they could not get. Try as they might to offerrge sums in exchange, the adventurer’s guild always managed to get them first.


    After 10 years the merchant guild and the nobles that worked with them were all ruined.


    A certain influential person once threatened Guine to have the new fields vacated.


    In response to that, Guine said, “Let there be war then. In 10 years you will fall under the might of our numbers.”


    The next day, 100 adventurers from that person’s fief appeared before him to give him a piece of their mind.


    It is said that noble quivered in fear and apologized.


    Guine could get away doing such reckless things because many of the influential people were survivors of the 10-year war.


    Guine literally used his body to protect many of the influential people in the frontlines, so he was not in a position that he would lose to some half-baked noble.


    Guine had many war friends that money couldn’t buy.


    Another reason why the adventurer’s guild stayed strong was because crushing the adventurer’s guild would result in the mercenaries wandering the streets again.


    Mercenaries always wielded their weapons, so them wandering around would cause public order to worsen. Because of that the people in power decided it was best to keep them off the streets to save on expenses.


    Moreover, the adventurers under Guine were famous, for most of the famed mercs joined the adventurer’s guild.


    The One-Armed Mercenary, Yeots Garth; the Magic Swordsman, Hellberme; the Archer King, Falm Gastia; the Fire Wizard, Isaac.


    With names that dazzled like the stars gathered under their banner, the adventurer’s guild had a might that a mere noble’s army couldn’tpare to.


    After the adventurer’s guild defeated the merchant guild, they began working in every nook and cranny of the country.


    They filled in for the country to do jobs it didn’t have the manpower to spare. Of course, that meant more expenses for the people, but it was better than nothing.


    Especially, the subjugation of monsters, though that in and of itself showed just how poorly the country was doing financially.


    Other than that they also worked in various jobs such as developingnds that might be profitable, exploring dungeons, looking for missing children, or even the delivering of mail.


    Eventually, the work of the adventurer’s guild spread from the Holy Shushunu Kingdom to the nearby countries, such as Germion Kingdom, the small countries, the free cities… etc.


    The monopoly contract with Halbert was called off after the adventurer’s guild reconciliated with the merchant guild.


    The adventurer’s guild then worked with the new merchant guild through profitable endeavors such as selling them the spoils of the adventurers. Like this the two guilds grew together in a mutually beneficial rtionship.


    Presently, the adventurer’s guild was arge organization that could be found in almost every country.