Surviving as a Trash Bard in a Game

Attention and gazes gathered around me again.

I felt good.

However, there was something more important than my feelings right now.

That was the reason.

Why was so much attention and so many gazes focused on me just for asking how to raise my rank?

I started to feel uneasy.

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Ah… you came here without knowing.”

“Yes.”

“There are two ways to raise an adventurer’s rank. One is to solve requests, as most of you know, and the other is… to win a duel against an adventurer with a higher rank than yourself.”

So that’s why the people around me looked at me with surprised eyes.

Certainly, if I challenged a silver-ranked adventurer with this body, the only scenarios that came to mind were either becoming a corpse or waking up in an unfamiliar place after being knocked out with a single blow.

‘In the first place, you can receive a request one rank higher than your own. Is there really a need to raise it?’

Well, if Skyler was aiming for a gold-rank request, it would be an obstacle.

No matter how I think about it, a scroll-user who isn’t even a proper mage being able to handle a gold-rank request… it’s a little suspicious.

It’s true that I want to raise my request rank, but gold-rank requests are usually high-difficulty requests recommended for four or more people. At my current level, I would die immediately.

They are on a different level from silver-rank requests, which involve starting with exploration or observation, hunting animals that pass by, or hunting a few goblins.

The easiest gold-rank request I could think of was for four people to subdue an entire monster habitat.

It is only when people start to go beyond the human category in many ways that they are called gold tags.

“For now, can I see the requests for bronze and silver ranks?”

“Yes. Just a moment.”

Skyler said she would look for requests separately, but wouldn’t it be easier to go for lower-difficulty requests if I chose them myself rather than letting her choose?

Of course, the reward would be lower, but my safety is my top priority.

If I earn a little less money, should I just play music on the first floor of the adventurer’s guild and beg?

‘…If I just openly ask for money, maybe they’ll give me some. Or maybe I could make a short-term contract with a store while I’m staying in this town and get paid per performance.’

I thought of several ways to make money, but no matter how I think about it, my thoughts keep flowing towards playing music.

Is this an occupational hazard… or rather, the influence of the status window?

Strictly speaking, it might be the influence of the instrument. I felt a little strange after receiving the instrument. Both hypotheses are quite plausible.

Anyway, back to the main point.

“…There are a lot.”

“Well, of course.”

I could really feel the difference in scale from the town I was in before.

Asking for all the bronze and silver-rank requests might have been a mistake in the first place.

‘When am I going to look through all of this?’

Could I even carry all of this with my current strength?

‘No, that’s definitely impossible.’

In the end, I had to swallow my shame and ask the guild receptionist once again.

“…Could you reorganize these by focusing on gathering and reconnaissance requests?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m sorry…”

The receptionist responded with a smile until the end, but I could sense the cold gaze hidden behind it.

She started to reorganize the huge mountain of requests, grunting.

…The stares are piercing.

I could feel the attention towards me from behind increasing. When I first entered the adventurer’s guild, it was positive, but now there was a slight negative tinge mixed in.

I don’t want to be this sensitive to other people’s attention…

After a while, the receptionist brought a slightly smaller pile of requests, sweating.

Whether she was trying to show that she was angry or trying to give me a hint, the requests were placed with a ‘thud,’ unlike the careful placement from before.

“Th-thank you.”

“Yes. Please use our services again.”

I said it out of courtesy, but there were thorns in her words. I could definitely feel that she didn’t want to see me again.

Embarrassed, I quickly took the requests and sat down in a corner.

It felt like the thickness of about 100 sheets of A4 paper… about 0.5kg in weight.

I thought this much would be okay with one hand, so I let go with the other hand, but the center of gravity immediately swayed. Fortunately, I managed to regain my balance in time.

Certainly… come to think of it, my arm and hand felt sore even after holding a fork and knife for a while.

Just how weak is this body?

I walked briskly to a table in the corner and immediately placed the bundle of requests on the table.

‘I don’t know when Skyler will come. I guess I’ll just kill some time.’

It felt like time passed faster when I was reading something. I made an excuse to look for requests, but in reality, I didn’t have the authority to accept a request on my own.

That kid would be really annoyed.

Blood was flowing from my nose.

I roughly wiped it with the end of my sleeve. It was a black cloak anyway, so it wouldn’t be that noticeable.

How much time had passed?

I picked out three useful requests and returned all the other requests to the receptionist.

‘…Two reconnaissance and one gathering, I guess.’

Luckily, there were three requests that even a weakling like me could handle.

Well, I hope no one says the bad words that there were only three requests I could handle out of over 100 requests.

My conscience pricked me, but I could ignore it.

The conscience of a modern person was as light as a feather and a unique creature that could disappear like a chameleon when the owner wanted it to. I didn’t feel particularly guilty.

In the first place, with this beautiful and cute appearance, the pretty girl filter is activated!

‘…It’s like a higher species.’

For example, if an old man is a nuisance in a party? He’s a being that must be immediately expelled. A cancerous lump in society!

But if a pretty girl is a nuisance in a party? Well, yeah. That’s possible. Being an airhead is one of the many attributes of a pretty girl.

‘I must be losing my mind.’

No matter how much free time I had, when I organized the delusions I had while waiting for Skyler, I suspected that I might be insane.

I’m starting to feel sleepy.

Can’t she come a little faster?

‘She said she would look for doable requests on the note… Isn’t that obviously saying she’ll visit the adventurer’s guild?’

It’s getting late. It means it’s getting closer to evening.

I’m hungry, and it’s getting dark outside… Should I just go back to the inn and wait?

It was a good idea. I was tired and exhausted anyway, and if narcolepsy or my clumsy habit kicked in, I would be the one in trouble.

Honestly, it was a miracle that they hadn’t been triggered until now.

‘…If you ask why I keep wandering around in such a dangerous situation.’

The answer is always the same.

If you stay still, nothing will happen.

I was the type of person who couldn’t stay still, and even if I focused on something for a while, if something else that caught my interest appeared, I would quickly get sidetracked.

I’ve been told that I might have ADHD, but when I got tested, they said I didn’t.

A weirdo within the normal range.

That was the kind of ambiguous person I was.

If you keep walking forward one step at a time without stopping, you will eventually reach your desired destination.

I don’t remember when I heard it or when I saw it. But it was a saying that had been stuck in my mind and had become my principle of action.

Anyway, back to the main point.

‘Should I go back now?’

My body was stiff, and my joints were screaming from sitting for so long. I was sure I had set my age to be in my 20s, but my body felt like an 80-year-old grandmother’s.

If I did any intense exercise, I wouldn’t be able to move the next day.

Just as I was about to leave the guild.

Suddenly, an adventurer rushed into the guild, panting. Everyone’s eyes and attention were focused on the adventurer who had just entered.

He opened his mouth.

No, he shouted loudly.

“The Mad King is here!”

With just one sentence, the crowd stirred. Everyone’s lips moved incessantly, pouring out questions like waves.

However, the man who could answer those questions collapsed shortly after.

A single arrow made of light was lodged in his back.

…It was incomprehensible.

But the only thing I understood was—

‘This is not good.’

Skyler, who hasn’t returned.

The adventurer who collapsed with an arrow of light in his back.

The last words that the adventurer uttered before collapsing.

Lastly, the Mad King.

The situation is being pieced together like a puzzle in my head.

My head, which was heavy and throbbing until a moment ago, was now spinning rapidly.

It was different from when I was free from the influence of the status window.

It felt like resonating with something… a feeling of regaining something.

The door of the adventurer’s guild was smashed.

Bang.

With an explosive sound, a man was thrown into the guild building.

He managed to break his fall, but he had several wounds on his body.

He was bleeding.

I could immediately recognize the man’s identity.

“…Skyler?!”

“Wait, why are you here—”

And then, the air suddenly became heavy.

Thud.

The sound of someone’s footsteps could be heard.

Speech was not allowed.

The freedom of the body was taken away.

Arrogantly, and nobly.

The man with the face of a king looked at us.

His white hair shone with a subtle golden light under the sunlight, and the cloak made of black beast hide devoured the light on his shoulders.

His eyes were as transparent as a mirror and shone as white as winter.

His appearance was that of a young boy, but no one could say he was young.

He planted his sword on the ground.

“…It seems that following my intuition was the right choice after all.”