In the World of Sword and Magic as Space Marine

Chapter 3: First Quest

Chapter 3: First Quest

William was glad that his power armor came with temperature control or he would be dying with sweat and back pain. William's plan was to be alone target with goods, but the problem was his size, so Tom decided to cover William with a large blanket and instruct him to show signs of struggle to attract the bandits.

When William finally arrives at the fallen oak tree, four bandits jump out of both sides of the road and try to grab him but fail to move the target. It was at this moment William removed his blanket, grabbed a bolt pistol and fired his gun while shouting "For the Emperor!".

This led to four dead corps with blown heads, remaining bandits were frozen from shock and William took this advantage to fire 6 more rounds, removing a total of 10 bandits including the bandit leader in 5 seconds flat.

By the time William starts to reload his weapon, four bandits realize that they lost their leader and start to panic. William finished his reload and finished the remaining bandits. When Tom and the rest of the people arrived, William moved the fallen oak tree and moved 4 bodies to the side of the road.

Herman asked William "What was that loud noise? Was it your doing?" and William replied simply with "Yes."

It only took a few minutes to collect all the bodies of bandits and their ID tags in their neck for reward money, and since it was William who defeated them all, the loot and reward money goes to him. William now has 18 gold, 45 silver and 76 copper coins in his possession, which solve his current financial issue.

The caravan continues their journey and finally arrive at the Iron Guard Bridge after sunset, Herman and William went to the patrol office to turn in the slain bandits' tag and report the incident. A few questions and a vouch from Herman, William received a total of 65 gold coins for 22 bandits and 11 gold coins for bandit leader total of 76 gold coins. According to Herman, one day for the inn is about 25 copper coins and 100 copper is equal to one silver and 100 silver is equal to one gold.

William also learns that since the war between the two kingdoms ended 3 years ago, there has been a lot of bandit activity, so the king personally ordered the increase of bounty reward as long as they have evidence to prove it. (This is why Herman vouch for William during questioning).

The caravan will continue their journey the next day and manage to arrive at their destination much earlier than expected. The group arrived in the afternoon and went to the inn to stay for the night, Tom and his merchants planned to meet their business contact tomorrow morning, meanwhile, Herman's party completed their quest and decided to have a little downtime.

For Herman and William, they will head to the adventurer's guild to find answers and register William as a novice adventurer since he shows great potential. After a big dinner and a few half dozen ales, William went to the barn to rest since the inn's floor and bed can't support his weight, but he did get a discount for the inconvenience.

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The next day, outside of Adventurer's guild building,

William stares at the door and shows no fear but excitement. When Herman and William entered the guild building, then the place turns quiet instantly and everyone stared at two new people who just entered. Maybe because it's a new face in the building or 7.5-foot-tall a heavily armored giant just entered the building with each step sounds like a warhorse.

At the receptionist's desk, receptionist Mia did her best not to freak out when a giant black knight entered the building. She tries to stand professionally and hold her position as a veteran receptionist.

"Good morning, welcome to the adventurer's guild, Greenhill branch, how can I help you?" Mia said with a smile and a welcoming voice.

"I'm here to register this young man into the guild, I'm Herman, leader of Fireblades and I can vouch for him."

"Yes, of course, please fill this form and the registration fee will be 10 silver coins."

William removed his helmet to show his face since he didn't want to be rude, when Mia saw William, she was surprised as he looked like a regular human (Black hair, brown eyes and strong jaw).

After filling the form and processing it, William received his guild medallion, according to Mia, the guild medallion can be used as a border pass for an adventurer. It is also imbued with magic to track kill records. There are two reasons to imbued with magic, one is to keep in the track so there is no mishap with who slay what and the second reason is to record any murder or criminal act which it can be used as evidence.

Herman explains to William that most of the application fees go to the production of medallion since it is a magic item, so the guild pays an award for retrieving a fallen adventurers' medallion.

With the registration process done, William was told that he is now an adventurer and good to start his own quest, which can be found in the quest board.

"You are now adventurer; you can choose to come with us on another convoy or you can go on your own path. It is up to you but remembers to take care of yourself and don't trust anyone, that's my advice as to your senior." Herman gave his last word of advice to William. William was unsure what to do but he knows this is his adventure and must find an answer to how he got here.

"I will go on my own and I will earn my place next time when I see you," William said to Herman.

With a smile, Herman said, "William, I'm rank C, you are now E, which is beginner, you have a long way to go before meeting us on the same road. Come on, we need to get you a few things before starting the farewell party tonight."

When William and Herman left the guild, the crowd of adventurers began to talk about the newcomer. Mia was hesitant to process William's paperwork as some of the information didn't make sense, such as William put the class a [Space Marine] with a note saying he specializes in mid-range and melee combat.

The other problem is how she has to explain this to the Guild Master, a giant man with full plate armor register as a novice adventurer and he isn't a knight or some noble, but a commoner, there is no easy way to explain this to higher-ups without digging more information on this new adventure.

William only bought a few items such as dry food, waterskin, shoes and spare large cloths. After finishing his shopping, two men went back to the inn to meet up with the rest of the group. That night, William, Herman and Tom's party have a big celebration to give William a farewell and welcoming of joining the rank of an adventurer. By the end of the night, thanks to his Space Marine biology William didn't get drunk from the large amount of alcohol he consumed, but he did gain a drinking reputation equal to the dwarf.

The next morning, William bid farewell to Herman and Tom as the caravan left the Greenhill, afterward he headed to the guild building to start his first job as an adventurer. At the quest board, William was looking for options, as quests for rank E are mostly typical such as herb picking, helping guild staff, and minor jobs within Greenhill. Interesting quests such as hunting monsters are given when the adventurer ranked is D or up and the only way for William to hunt at rank E is to join the rank D party.

William thought it would be difficult to find a party willing to accept him as he is a new guy, but it turns out that his first impression from yesterday and the drinking reputation from last night's party gave him the most wanted newbie. So, within 5 minutes, William joined a party temporarily in exchange for carrying heavy loads of supplies.

The small party is led by a young fighter named Sam with his 3 other party members, Jones an archer, Andrew the heavy ax, and Kol the rogue. When William introduced himself, he was bombarded with questions from the party members which he tried his best to answer without giving it too much information.

The Sam's party's quest is to eliminate a band of goblins near the lumberjack site, it is a simple and clean quest which most of the adventurer prefer because goblins hunting is easy money, but it also an important quest because out of control goblin population can lead to horde which it can turn rank D quest to B rank. After a quick introduction, Sam's party head out to their destination with William carrying 7 days' worth of food and other essential supplies in his inventory.