Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 81: Elf

Jer guided me to the Huntrice without further explanation, other than his apparent hesitation.

"Do you want me to come with you inside?" he asked, stopping before the door of the most modernistic building in all of Cintre.

"I don’t particularly care, to be honest," I said. "Do you not like the Huntrice? Or did you have a fight with someone in there as well?"

The latter was a joke, but Jer grunted. "I am not all that prone to fighting other people. Monsters, sure, but that’s about it." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"That’s not the issue." He let out a heavy sigh. "The issue is that the Huntrice is a place mostly used by humans. All humans and some other races have to register with the Huntrice. It is a law, which is also why my father was confused about why you were not already registered. I don’t care. I just don’t want to go inside because...well, because everyone visiting the Huntrice is a Hunter of some sort..."

I raised an eyebrow at him, but realized what Jer was getting at before he could explain.

"Is it because you look like a Minotaur?" Jer winced when I voiced my thoughts aloud, but he did not deny my accusation. "Just so you know, I think you look impressive. Definitely not like a monster or anything."

The young demihuman smiled weakly in response.

"Anyway, you can stay out of the Huntrice. It’ll be fine if I go in there alone," I reassured him. "But I’d appreciate it if you could tell me what to expect. Fern told me to sell carcasses in the Huntrice. Is that easy as a newly registered Hunter, or will they cause some trouble? In the first place, what currency is the Forea Alliance using? We...well, we didn’t really have a need for currencies in the grove."

I sincerely doubted the Zetrian Empire’s currency system would apply in the Forea Alliance. That’d be too easy.

"I can do that." Jer nodded a little more energetically than before. "The Huntrice is an organization that spreads across the entire Forea Alliance. There are hundreds, if not more, branches of the Huntrice, forming an information network. Information is also a kind of currency the Huntrice buys and sells for the right price, of course."

That much resembled the Order, except that the Order was also a training ground for the empire’s Powers. The Huntrice didn’t seem to be like that.

"Once you register with the Huntrice, you can sell just about everything to them. Their pricing is different from merchants because they communicate with other branches to maintain relatively stable pricing for most goods. Still, things that cannot be found elsewhere in the Forea Alliance tend to earn a good amount. Not as much as some merchants would pay, but the Huntrice gives you merit points to increase your Rank if you sell enough goods to them."

Jer went on to explain a lot more about the Huntrice, such as their focus on eradicating dangerous plagues. To do so, they use the Hunting Board, where missions regarding culling, harvesting, and much more are posted daily. Only Hunters, members of the Huntrice, are allowed to accept those missions. Even then, they are only allowed to take missions of the same Rank or below their membership Rank.

The young demihuman also informed me that I was going to be an F-rank Hunter since I registered only now, and that it would take most new Hunters a little while to reach the next Rank. But since I was older than the average newly registered Hunter, it was more important to solve a few missions successfully. That way I could rank up faster than others. Depending on the goods I was going to sell at the Huntrice, I may or may not advance to the next Rank shortly as well.

Jer was confident in my rapid advancement, and he made sure to let me understand that I should increase my rank as quickly as possible. After all, for humans and some other races of the Forea Alliance, their Rank at the Huntrice was like a status symbol. That, or they had to be part of a House or working for one. That, however, was also seen as the strength of another being. After all, they were not strong and respected. It was their House others respected, not the humans and others themselves.

From the conversation with Jer, I learned that while humans were accepted, they had to work hard to be accepted in society. An F-rank Hunter was barely acknowledged. They were given worse deals at the Huntrice, and I did not doubt it would be any different with merchants and others. Only upon demonstrating their value to the Forea Alliance by fulfilling missions or selling valuable goods would they be acknowledged–as E-ranks.

"How much is an iron chip?" I asked while musing over everything the young demihuman had just told me in the last few minutes.

"An iron chip is not worth much. Two iron chips are one bread, seven should be enough to buy a room for the night at a cheap inn. Ten iron chips are one copper, but I already told you that." Jer nodded slowly as if everything he’d just said was painfully obvious.

Maybe it was to others, but the Zetrian Empire used differently sized coins to represent different values and uniquely engraved slates with numbers for larger purchases. Chips, copper, silver, let alone gold or Essencium, weren’t things I had dealt with before.

But it was still helpful to know that ten iron chips were one copper and that 100 copper were one silver. I had to keep that in mind when selling the Eserian’s monsters.

Taking in all that Jer told me, I stepped into the building.

Inside, I was greeted by a warm waft, no less than half a dozen humans and an elf standing behind a wooden counter on the other side of the room.

"Welcome to the Huntrice. How may I help you?" the elven man greeted, hinting at a bow.

"I am from the Eserian Grove and would like to register as a Hunter."

The elven man’s smile cracked ever so slightly at my words, but his eyes lit up as I followed up with the next part.

"I was told to sell carcasses of the Eserian here."