Early the next morning, Solam and the others arrived at the Adventurers' Guild hall. When Solam entered, he found that the guild was nowhere near as lively as he had imagined.
The Adventurers' Guild occupied a two-story building. The first floor was a large hall, with a huge blackboard in the center listing various quests. The city hall's long-term quests were written at the top, while below them were privately posted jobs. These came in every variety imaginable, from finding lost cats and dogs to dealing with monsters and bandits.
Those high-level quests were among the privately posted jobs. After all, unless there was a major disaster or wartime emergency, city hall quests generally did not pay very well.
Private jobs were different. Many nobles posted quests here. Most matters within their territories had to be handled by themselves, since those lands were their families' private property. Unless something enormous happened, city hall generally would not interfere. Thus, high-level quests were usually posted by people like them.
The rest of the hall was laid out much like an ordinary tavern, except the alcohol here was outrageously expensive, so there were not many people around. Solam learned from Maris that the Adventurers' Guild was more like a place for distributing information. The two sides of a commission could negotiate face-to-face here, but most quest issuers entrusted the guild to find qualified adventurers for them, since the guild knew the local people well.
The reward was generally negotiated in advance between the quest issuer and the Adventurers' Guild, then conveyed to the adventurers, who could decide for themselves whether it was worth taking. The guild also supervised the completion of quests. If either side raised an objection, the Adventurers' Guild had the authority to arbitrate. If either party broke the agreement, the