After getting kicked out of the Demorian house, Leon and Noel made their way out of the walled mansion and into the sprawling city of Dias, where their first stop was the adventuring guild.
The reason was simple. They were broke, without a single copper coin to their name. Getting kicked out meant they could only take the clothes on their bodies with them, and nothing else. It was all the property of the next lord.
Both of them found that to be stupid, and they knew for sure that it was the doing of one of Leon's older brothers. Those salty bastards! He should've been able to take his and Noel's belongings, but if they tried to argue or linger, they might've gotten beaten and thrown out by the guards.
"Those fools, to think they would do us like this." Noel growled with a raging red face, and Leon could already see the veins on her forehead almost blowing up.
"Calm down, Noel. There is nothing that we can do about it now. We should focus on earning a bit of money before sunset; otherwise, we're sleeping on the street." At that moment, they were already standing in front of the adventurers' guild, looking at its massive and ornate wooden gate.
Leon pushed the door open after a brief moment of hesitation, and Noel followed him with a hostile glare that resembled that of a wild dog. The adventurers' guild was filled with all kinds of people, and looking weak in front of them only meant getting used and consumed.
Everyone inside the guild glared at them, looking hostile for a second as they recognized Leon's by his white hair and red eyes. But not a second later, they all paled as they locked eyes with Noel.
"Wait! That isn't the Blood Hound, is she?" One adventurer whispered, and another immediately smacked him on the head. "You fool, Blood Hound died decades ago."
With a forced smile, Leon walked past them all until he reached the reception desk, and there, a beautiful woman looked at him with a smile. "Lord Leon Demorian, am I right?"
Leon looked at her face for a second, and then sighed. "I'm not a Lord anymore, and I don't think I can use the Demorian name either. I'm just Leon now. I want to register as a new adventurer, and please, don't ask me any questions for now."
She looked at him with a sad face for a second. She could already tell that he had lost the succession war and got kicked out of the Lord's family. He probably won't live long fighting monsters, but it wasn't her job to think about that.
She gave him the papers and threw a glance at the not-so-friendly looking maid behind him. "And you, young lady. Are you registering as an adventurer as well?"
"Of course, wherever master goes, I'll be by his side." She stepped forward and started filling her papers as Leon filled his. Just then, the receptionist noticed something strange.
"Oh, my. Cromewell... do you by any chance know of a woman called Lucia?" She asked with a gentle tone, and Noel glared at her. "She was my mother. I guess you know her name, as she was an adventurer."
The receptionist blinked several times. "She wasn't just any adventurer. She was Lucia Cromwell, the Blood Hound. A B-ranker who mainly hunted bounties, bandits, and other adventurers on behalf of the guild." She looked a bit sad. "She died on the job..."
"I know..." Noel glared at her. "Can you finish our registration now? It's already noon, and we need to get to work." She wasn't angry at the receptionist's questions, but worried that if they didn't take a quest quickly, her master, Leon, would have to sleep on the street tonight, or worse, outside the wall in the forest.
Minutes later, the receptionist brought them both their guild cards. They were both F-rankers, the lowest rank, as that's where everyone starts. To rank up, they need to complete at least ten quests of their rank and one quest of a rank above their own.
The ranks S, A, B, C, D, E, F, and each letter had its meaning. F meant fledgling, E was experience, D was dependable, C was for competent, B for Best, A for astonishing, and S for special, which only the best of the best can dream of reaching.
To make a living, it is said that you need to become at least a Dependable adventurer and take quests regularly, but even then, an injury can spell the end of your adventuring career.
That means that they need to at least rank up twice to be able to make a stable living. But for now, their only hope of living under a decent roof was taking an E-rank quest and finishing it before nightfall.
Sadly, that is currently impossible. It was against the guild's rules to let a new adventurer take quests higher than their rank for their first three quests, which the guild uses to assess their basic abilities and reliability.
What was more frustrating to Leon was that they couldn't even take basic elimination quests like goblin slaying or slime hunting, because those are considered a risky first quest by the guild, leaving him and Noel only with the option to gather wild herbs, look for missing pets, or clean the city's sewers.
Gathering herbs took a lot of time, which they didn't have. Looking for missing pets can take days, and there is no way they'll clean the sewers. If they can't even get a roof above their heads now, there was no chance in hell they were seeing a bath any time soon.
But still, there was hope. He was still a Lord even if he failed the succession war. He knew this entire region like the back of his hand, knew all of the nobles and their political struggle, and even how the market operated.
Leon didn't intend to linger in his father's region any longer than he needed to, but at least for now, he'll hang around and abuse his knowledge to get some funds to eventually leave.
"Master, do you have a plan?" Seeing the smile on his face, Noel felt relieved, as he had looked like a walking corpse just minutes ago. Maybe getting kicked out freed him, and now he has no responsibility to care about besides survival.
Leon reached toward the quest board and pulled the cheapest, least desired quest of them all. {Wild Materials Gathering: The guild would buy whatever materials you gather.}
"Noel, tonight, we're going to feast like Lords."