"Outrageous!" A voice screeched throughout the barracks, drawing the heads of many to a singular door situated in the back of the room.
"It seems like Chief is at it again, I wonder who screwed up this time hehe." one of the guards chuckled before going back to his paperwork.
"Just be glad it ain't you or me, what do you think the punishment will be this time around? Sewer duty?" Another asked
The two laughed between themselves as Nino became smaller and smaller as the angry lady in front of him seethed, if she was a dragon Nino dare say that she would have been breathing fire. He could already see the steam escaping from her ears.
"I want to say that I am the Hero and I'm in need of a weapon to fight the Demon King. I was sure it was located in the fountain... are you sure its not there?" Nino asked cautiously.
"Hero this, Hero that! Are you a bloody idiot? What even is this demon king you speak of? I may not be well versed in monsters, but demons don't exist around these parts. The closest things that have horns is that quack doc that runs that stupid herbalist hut and the last I checked he was busy smelling bad if that is crime enough for you." The angry lady pinched the bridge of her nose shaking her head.
The angry lady was an alright looking woman, to Nino at least. She had tawny blond hair that fell in a simple pony tail. her sharp stone grey eyes complimented her hard glare that she was giving him. Her body seemed muscular and he couldn't tell what her size was due to the bulky armor that she wore.
"Look, Captain Ysurta. I know I may have been a bit presumptious but I just woke up in an unfamiliar surrounding, I have no clue where I am nor the customs that are appropriate here... can you at least cut me some slack?" Nino apolgoized hoping it would remedy the situation.
Looking up, Nino felt hope shower his very being. It was possibly that they were charmed by his maganimousity.
Captain Ysurta eyes were like orbs of blizzards. "This fucking..." Captain Ysurta released a sigh before slamming her fist on the table.
"Listen here you brat. We have rules in this village that you failed to follow. Public disorder, defacing a public structure. Even an attempt at seducing the guards."
"Seducing the... what! When have I ever did that?"
"You tell me, I can't exactly put it down as a bribe since you didn't offer anything so I'll go with the next best thing."
"I thought this was a simple negotiation! This is abuse of power!" Nino cried.
"And you are obstructing justice. Accept your punishment or be exiled from this village." Captain Ysurta growled.
"But I have to repay that Faun for healing me. I can't do that if you exile me." Nino argued.
"That certainly changes things doesn't it. Fine, I'll change your punishment to community service, complete the quack doc's request as well as two missons from the adventure's board with difficulty of at least D-Rank."
"I'm not even registered as an adventurer, how would you know what Rank mission I would have to complete." Nino complained.
"That fountain was built to honor our late king, one that you so happen to defile with that body of yours. Technically I would have issued multiple Rank C missions but looking at your combat specs and that haughty attitude of yours. I think I'm doing you a favor." Captain Ysurta spat.
"Leave my sight, I can't bear to look at your sorry figure any longer. "Ben, Nina, escort this sorry escuse of a person to the adventurer's guild."
"Hey! I'm right here you know!"
"I know, now get moving!" Captain Ysurta grinned, malice dancing in her smile and eyes.
The old guard from before entered as well as the young female guard that was his partner.
"Sorry for the captain's attitude. She has to put up a hard facade else everyone will become complacent." Benford apologized.
"I feel she is right to scold you like that. To think you'd enter the fountain of all things... how despicable." Benford's companion badmouthed.
"Be nice Nina, you know how it is with outsiders. I remember when Glenwood showed up sticking like a vat of horse dung. His strange actions offended people for weeks, not to mention that time with the Caith emissaries! If it wasn't for his medical knowledge I'm sure the mayor would have expelled him from the village already."
"So why is that fountain so special? If its not holding a legendary weapon or technique that is." Nino asked.
Nina rolled her eyes as if to say 'here we go again' and Benford just laughed at his innocent question.
"A history lesson will do. The village of Sedatt belongs to the kingdom of Orveth that makes up the majority of the southern-central region. Be it simply we are it's north-western-most territory. When we reach the Adventurers' guild I can show you more about it. But simply the last king we had was King Jyrnath the Kind, named simply because of his policies that improved the livelihood of outlier villages and the poor." Benford explained.
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"Some of his other policies included the acceptance of other species such as the Faun you saw. Previously we'd be reluctant to even let him approach the gates much less serve the guy any food or water. I can imagine some of the places here still close their wares to other species.
"One of the big changes that help this town is the negotiations with the Caith located in the West. You see, this village makes use of lumber, hunting and foraging to make-do with expenses but a stable food source is what we lack. To the west is the Kaizeb Plains which houses fertile soil and suitable farming lands that can easily feed this village many-times over. One problem is that it is occupied by the nomadic Caith tribes that call it their home and any disruptions to their natural home is often met with force."
"Hold on hold on... slow down a bit that's to much information!" Nino exclaimed, putting his hands into a T shape.
"You've mentioned the Caith before, who are they exactly?"
"The Caith are a group of nomadic tribes that live in the Kaizeb plains. There are many different types of Caith but the one that normally come to our humble village are the Torael."
Nino pursed his lips as the trio kept on walking. The town was lively, bustling even. Nino became aware that many of the people that were wandering around were mostly human. A few other species were wandering around, a few of the creatures walking around were pig-like, standing on two legs with their tan and dirt colored hides alongside the tusks that protruded from their mouths, most of them wearing some sort of cloth tunic and loincloths.
Sitting at a cafe were two panther-beastmen, their fur a sunset orange, standing on their hind legs, each of them dressed in hide cloaks sipping their cups gingerly. Not to far from them was a smaller
Nino took note of the sparse appearences of the two species as he walked through the town following the two guards leading the way, their numbers were numerous enough to warrant interest, but one could tell that this village was mostly human in inhabitence.
"Here we are!" Benford announced, waving a hand toward the wooden building before them.
Nino took in the sight and sighed. It was nothing like he imagined it would be. The medium-sized wooden building with few windows made of stained glass, each dipicting a monster.
A large set of wooden doors stood at the end of a four-step stairway that led into the building even if the edges were intricately carved to show humanoid figures, probably some legendary heroes or the founder of the adventurers.
"Is this not to your liking?" Benford asked, his voice tint with worry.
"I was expecting more of a... large grandiose building made of marble flanked by statues and the likes." Nino grimaced, earning him a scoff from their third traveling companion.
"Oh so this ain't good enough for you? Not satisfied by our local guild then? Why don't you skedaddle to the capital where you can stop befouling our village!" Nina humphed before stomping away.
Benford gave Nino a sad smile before speaking. "I'll apologize for her, she can be rather fiesty but she is a good kid at heart." Benford chortled as if to push away the sadness and anger from before.
"As for guiding you to the guild, we are here so I'll leave you to it. I have someone I need to go comfort." Benford waved before departing, leaving Nino to his own devices.
How should I make my entrance? How will they rate me? Will the hidden powers deep within me manifest?
Nino strode through the doors, throwing them open with a loud bang, revealing a two-story room. In the center of the room stood multiple dining tables where various adventures of all shapes and sizes sat, eating, talking, planning and more. On the western side of the room was a counter where the adventurers must have gotten their food since multiple people were running around cooking food and placing them on the counter for people to pick up.
On the eastern side laid two set of stairways, one going up and the other going down. And in front of Nino, on the very back wall were the request counters where the receptionists stood.
His entrance only drew a few eyes though most of them looked away almost instantly.
It's fine, they don't know that I'm the hero! I haven't made any notable achievements yet so of course they wouldn't know of me just yet!
Nino strutted to the counter, smiling toward the receptionist, a young female human with auburn hair, who smiled back.
"How may I help you today sir?" she asked calmly, professionalism radiating from her very being.
"I would like to register to be an adventurer." Nino's smile grew wider.
"Alright, do you have any letters of recomendation or proof of mentorship?" She asked.
"recomendation? mentorship?"
"It would seem that you do not. Would you like to register as an E rank adventurer or would you like to do a trial for us to determine your capabilities?"
"I'll just take the E rank, I'm sure it'll go away soon." Nino confidently exclaimed.
The receptionist only smiled at his resolve and handed over a few papers for him to fill out.
Nino breezed through it as the receptionist came back with a bag.
"Thank you, this is your guild issued sword, for E Rank Adventurers we provide them with a wooden sword so that they can get a feel for the sword, when you promote to D-rank we will provide an iron one. As for your armor we are happy to give you leather armor for you to familiarize with how you will move in it. We can upgrade this to Iron when you approach C-rank. We also have belts to hold three potions, as such we have issued you two low-grade health potions and 1 low-grade stamina potions. The bag is for you to hold monster loot." The receptionist explained, pointing to each item within the bag.
"If you want to practice in the training grounds just take the stairs down." the receptionist pointed toward the stairs on the eastern wall.
"It's alright, I just have to do this request for Dr. Glenwood." Nino waved a sheet in front of the receptionist.
The receptionist took the paper in hand and her eyes roamed across it. "Everything seems to be in order, do you need this paper to identify the herbs you will need?"
"Better to be safe than sorry, I'll take it back thank you."
"Let me make a copy of this for the guild then everything will be in order." The receptionist grinned before her hands started to glow.
Her hands sped across the paper within seconds before she blew across the paper.
"Copy done, here you go sir!" handing over the paper she waved goodbye.
"Alright! Its time to complete this request!" Nino cheered before dashing out the door.
"Will he be alright Kie? Isn't he a definition of a novice who never swung a sword before?" one of the other receptionist commented, watching the newcomer go.
"I'm sure he will be fine Ino, at first I thought he was an arrogant upstart but he was surprising..." Kie, The receptionist who registered Nino, responded.
"Really? How?" Ino asked
"Lets just say I have a good feeling about him."
"He's going to die isn't he." Ino sighed
"What makes you say that" Kie was provoked.
"You say that you have a good feeling about those who are going to die. You did that when you met my grandma last month!"
"Whoops" Kie chuckled.
Nino you are an interesting individual. How far will you struggle before you die.