When they arrived back at the Outworlders’ Guild, they met up with the still-sleeping Mimiyat. Mimiyat looked quite pissed at being woken up from her slumber, yet she listened to the two of them regardless. She ended up giving them a room in the inn above the guild for the night. She also gave them a little bit of money and lent them some clothes to change into. All of the fees were sent into their cards, making the card feel like an actual credit card. The two decided to spend the rest of the day studying the guidebook. The clock ticked, and soon came time for sleep.

“Sleeping in the same bed as a girl… Never expected this day to come.”

“Can you not say that when I’m changing right behind you? Boys...”

Remy chuckled. “Sorry.”

“Just so you know, I’m not your tool. I won’t do everything you want.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t force you to do anything against your will.”

Remy stood in his place, staring at the empty wall, until he heard the bed squeaking.

“You can turn around, now,” Atilia said while hiding her shyness. She sat on the bed, wearing the pajamas she borrowed from the guild.

“What… what do you think?” She looked away, her cheeks bright red.

“You look adorable.”

“I… how can you say that so calmly?”

“Umm… because it’s the fact?”

“Don’t turn it into a question!” Atilia complained. “Still, how come you never had a girlfriend?” she let out a thin smile.

“No idea.” Remy often wondered the same thing, but it was all in the past, no longer important. He sat down next to her. The two awkwardly stared at each other, before laying down on the bed side-by-side.

“Our hands are touching.”

“You don’t need to narrate everything.” Atilia quipped. She reached out her hand regardless, gripping Remy’s palm. She then slid closer and turned around, hugging Remy’s arm. “So… our plans for tomorrow?” she asked while looking up at him.

“We get the wood, then learn magic?”

“Alright. I should be able to learn it.”

“You sound quite confident.”

“Yeah. I’ll show you how good I am.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

"Same," she said as she crawled closer, resting her head near his chest. Remy patted Atilia’s head. Atilia closed her eyes. They were so close that the two of them could feel each other's heat. The mood became sweeter, accompanied by the sound of the rain. Remy slid his hand to her chin, pushing her face up.

He stared into her dark golden eyes, so clear and beautiful. Atilia pulled her face closer and closed her eyes. Remy’s heart beat faster. He tried calming his nerves. This would be his first, proper one. He closed his eyes, readying his lips, when,

The thunder roared outside the building, causing Remy to shudder. Atilia opened her eyes. "There goes the mood," she grunted. She then looked up, looking into Remy's eyes. She noticed Remy’s slight shaking.

“You’re not scared of the thunder, are you?”

“I’m…”

“You can be honest.”

“I used to be scared of getting cooked alive.”

“Now?”

Remy shook his head. “Still, a bit. Not as bad as before. Besides, I know where I’ll end up. I guess I’m more scared of the pain.”

“Yeah, I guess there’s that.” Atilia smiled, crawling up and resting her head right below Remy’s neck. Remy wanted to nod, but he couldn't as Atilia lay straight below his head. "You're quite light, actually."

"Why thank you.”

“I hope tomorrow’s clear.”

“Me too,” Atilia snuggled up, getting comfortable. She realized that Remy's head couldn't move with her snuggling up so close to his chin, so she pulled herself back, resting her head back on his chest.

"You'll be my body pillow," Remy joked, bringing his hands around her.

"I don't think I mind."

"Good to know. Good night.”

“Good night, Remy.”

* ••

When Remy opened his eyes in the morning. His wife slept peacefully on his side, facing away from him toward the window. Remy carefully got off the bed, heading toward the window. He then kneeled down in front of her. He thought about playing with her a bit. Poking her, maybe, or giving her a surprise kiss. On the cheeks? On her forehead? Or extra sweet, on her lips?

Remy brought himself closer, then stopped. His mind reminded him of the thing that happened a day earlier. He knew Atilia herself said that she wanted to join him, but it felt uncomfortable for him to steal a kiss before she was awake, before she gave him her consent. He decided to let their relationship grow a bit more before doing such early-morning pranks and turned toward the window.

After the little chaos and rain the day before, it could be said that this was their first proper day in this new world. A fresh new start. He pointed his hand toward the curtains covering the window.

“Form, Wind!” The curtain shook, his spell not enough to push them away. “Form, Wind!” he called out again, the curtain refusing to budge. But, in their brief moment of fluttering, he could see the sun rays piercing through.

I hope it’s sunny…

Remy turned back toward Atilia. He loved her wife’s sleeping face. She was truly beautiful. He wanted to hug her and mess up her hair so much, but he didn’t want to make her comfortable. He sat down next to her, pushing her left and right.

“Atilia, wake up. The sun’s shining… I think.” He hadn’t opened the curtains, saying that based only on the little sun ray that passed through.

“Don’t wanna…” she began rolling around.

“Woah!” Remy reached out and stopped her from rolling off the bedside. The sudden stop finally woke her up. She pulled herself up and sat on the side, looking toward him, her eyelids fluttering open and close.

“Do angels need a lot of sleep?” he asked. Atilia stretched her limbs and shook her head.

“Nah. It’s my first time waking up as a human, so I thought why not enjoy it? I need less sleep than a normal human, though.”

“Is it because you’re an ex-angel?”

“Yep. I may lost most of my powers, but that doesn’t mean I lost all.” Atilia hopped off the bed.

“Woah, watch out.”

Remy dodged to the side, standing back up. Atilia almost hit him. “Sorry, wasn’t paying attention.”

She stood up straight, looking straight at his eyes. Her dark gold eyes looked beautiful, as precious as real gold. There was a conversation long, long ago that he read by accident on an in-game chat. Surprisingly enough, it was in a shooter game that was usually toxic. Two players from different teams had a rather chill conversation.

Someone asked about how to get close to a girl, and the other player recommended trying to compliment her. He wasn’t sure about how valid that suggestion was, but he thought there was no harm in trying.

“Remy?” Atilia looked at him, her feet tapping the floor.

“You…”

“... Me…?”

“Umm… You look beautiful today…”

“Aww… thank you… Although I’m sure I’m not as pretty as you think.” Atilia laughed. “I just woke up, after all.”

“I think you’re beautiful even when you just woke up… or maybe you’re cuter?”

“Don’t turn it into a question.” Atilia clenched her fist and jabbed at his stomach.

“Haha, yeah…”

All of a sudden, it was Atilia’s turn to stare at him. Remy thought she was trying to think of a compliment to return, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she reached out and grabbed Remy’s shoulder. She closed in and landed a kiss on his lips. Remy stepped back from shock, his back landing on the wall, yet Atilia didn’t let go. Remy could feel the heat rising, but did his best, savoring the sweet taste of her lips.

After a while, she let go, her face red. She touched her lips and let out a soft smile. “Hehe… let’s get changed.”

Remy could only nod. Atilia took their clothes and handed Remy’s over to him. Remy turned toward the wall and was about to undress when he heard Atilia’s voice.

“I’m going to change.”

“Alright.”

“I’m going to change…”

“Okay?”

“... You’re not the slightest bit interested?”

“I have a feeling you’re red right now… Far redder than before.”

“Whatever! Dummy!” Atilia fumed, followed by the sound of her rustling clothes. Remy laughed wryly, unaware of how red his own face was.

“I’m… done.”

Remy turned around, finding Atilia back in her dress, her pajamas folded in her arms. She glanced at Remy before looking back at the floor. “Dummy. Besides, isn’t it normal for couples to want to see each other change?”

“I mean… we just met yesterday.”

“Whatever.” She turned around and headed for the door, Remy catching up behind her. The two descended to the guild. They looked for Mimiyat but couldn’t find her. They chose to approach a different guild receptionist. Once the receptionist saw the approaching couple, she let out a bright smile and greeted them.

“Good morning. How can I help you?”

“We want to return these.”

“And these are… Oh.” She examined the clothing returned. “I’ll return this to the staff.” The receptionist brought the folded clothing to the rear of the building. It took a while. Atilia decided to check out the quests available for that day. There were a couple on the board, unlike the day before, when it was almost completely empty.

“Maybe we arrived after all the quests were taken?” William murmured, standing next to her.

“Maybe…”

The receptionist returned. She looked quite confused, her eyes searching for the two. Atilia reached out and took Remy’s hand, bringing him back to the receptionist's desk. The receptionist inspected them, the confusion on her face as clear as day.

“Umm… sorry, but who approved the clothing rent yesterday?”

“Mimiyat.”

“Oh, no wonder.” The receptionist heaved a heavy sigh, her hand on her face. “Argh…,” she groaned. “Just to make sure that everything is alright, what else did you do with her yesterday?”

“She rented us those clothes and a room," Atilia said.

“Alright. Definitely, totally, one hundred percent wrote that down,” she said sarcastically. Her previous bright expression grew grim. Atilia then continued her words.

“She also gave us a quest.”

“A quest?” The receptionist turned her eyes back to them. “What quest?”

Atilia pulled out the quest paper and the silver key, handing them over to the receptionist.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“We were planning on taking this today,” Atilia explained. The receptionist returned to her desk and did a quick check.

“It’s… completed.”

“Completed?” Atilia inched closer, wanting to take a peek.

“Let me guess, Mimiyat gave zero explanation about how the quest system works?”

Remy and Atilia looked toward each other, before shaking their heads.

“So she did say something... Let’s look at it this way. What did she tell you?”

“Umm… Get the key and cut some wood?” Remy looked at Atilia, unsure whether he was remembering the right thing or not. Atilia nodded. “That’s the gist of it. Was she supposed to say anything else?”

“I…” the receptionist furrowed her eyebrows, clenching her fist. “I… sigh… I had enough of her,” she grunted. She rose from her chair and stepped toward the rear of the building, leaving Remy and Atilia standing in front of the desk. The two exchanged gazes.

“... What was that?”

“I don’t know.” Remy shrugged.

“Bad customer service, eh?”

“Not sure if I can call it that.” Remy chuckled. It took a while before the receptionist returned to them.

“Please do not worry. As of today, Mimiyat is no longer a part of the guild,” she said with a cheerful grin on her face, a grin not often found on the faces of people who had just fired someone else. It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted off her back.

“Eh? Is she that bad?”

“She never did her work properly. A lazy ass if I ever see one. Anyway, back to the issue at hand.” The receptionist sat back down in her seat.

“Let’s start this the proper way. My name is Cathirina Jikas, and I am Purwa's branch’s guild captain.” She let out a proper smile, a far cry from the anger she had shown a moment earlier. She wore the complete guild uniform, the same one Mimiyat wore. An extra piece of shoulder armor decorated her right shoulder. She had medium-length black hair with bright red glasses that matched her red eyes. The way she dressed reminded Remy of a proper class captain.

“I’m Atilia Artinia, and he’s Remy.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Glad to make your acquaintance. As an apology, I will guide you to your new life here in this world. Please follow me.”

She called one of the other guild staff over and exchanged words with him. He nodded and took her place. She grabbed a bag and inserted it into the pocket of her uniform, before motioning the couple to follow her.

Cathirina led them out of the guild and down the main road, heading south. As they went out, the gray skies greeted them. The sun shone high in the sky, but many clouds floated near it. They blocked a portion of its light, creating beautiful light pillars that shone on the world below.

“So this is the proper tutorial,” Remy mumbled as he looked at the sights around him. It was quite hard to believe that he was, indeed, inside a different world. Then he remembered something.

He walked closer to Atilia and whispered into her ears, “I can say things like that, right? Knowledge about the other world isn’t banned?”

“It’s fine. Most people here already knew the truth about outworlders. Oh… and… sorry about yesterday.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know… me abandoning you?”

“It’s fine. Actually, it feels more like I abandoned you, instead.”

“I did say I wanted to come here to explore, so…”

“Yeah… But, seriously, don't worry about it.” Remy felt the awkwardness in the air, so he looked around for something else to talk about. The rain seemed to last until some time after dawn, as there were still a lot of puddles scattered on the streets. “Can we use magic to clear the puddles?”

Atilia looked downward. She stopped, extending her right hand toward the puddle below. “Form Ice!” she called. A light blueish thing zapped from her extended hand. The thing struck the puddle and turned it into ice. It didn't remove it, however, just froze the puddle.

“Woah… You can use magic?”

“I mean, as an ex-angel, I have some of my stats boosted.” Atilia tried kicking the ice puddle with her feet. It slid away.

“So you can already use magic, miss Atilia?”

“I… got some help.”

“How much magic can you use?”

Atilia thought about it for a moment, before shaking her head. “I don’t know. I could probably do more than beginner spells, but I never tried it.”

“Ah, I see. Don’t worry. You’ll understand it in no time.”

Once they walked out of the gates, the hustle and bustle of the busy city was replaced by the calm sounds of nature. The chirping birds and the rustling leaves sound clearer. By that time, Cathirina began her explanation of the magic system.

“Well, to put it simply, here in this world, our magic required something called life force. We convert our life force into magic.”

“That sounds quite ominous.”

“Because… it is,” Cathirina spoke as if it was a simple fact. “Using too much magic may tire your body, and could even result in death. Your life force replenishes when you sleep or rest, so you need to be careful of your life force usage, especially when you’re just starting.”

That doesn’t sound fun.

He played games that used such systems before. In those games, he had a gauge or a number that showed how much magic stamina he had left. Using too much would mean he couldn’t use it anymore, but it wouldn't result in death. No such gauge things here. He needed to guess, and maybe pay attention to the signals his body sent him, something he wasn’t that good at.

“The general rule is the more complex the spell, the more life force it uses. Beginner spells won’t use a lot.”

“Can you increase your life force with training?”

Cathirina shook her head.

“You can’t?” Atilia asked. She looked back at her hand, the same hand she just used to unleash the ice spell.

“Don’t worry, Miss Atilia. Your previous form spell doesn’t use much life force."

"Good to know."

"And, while you can't increase your life force, you can reduce the life force you use on each spell. The more you train, the more efficient your brain becomes in regulating the precise life force needed. It becomes less likely for you to go overboard. You can adjust your magic precisely to the strength you need."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Cathirina then continued her quick explanation about the magic system. Most of it, though, was already listed in the guidebook Kathy gave to them. There were details here and there that weren't mentioned, though, like the thing about life force. Remy paid extra attention for fear of missing something.

After a while, the three arrived in front of a row of trees.

“Alright, we’re here,” Cathirina said, but beyond them, there was nothing but rows and rows of trees. They didn’t look like the Mahorka trees from their previous quest, either. Remy took a quick look at the guidebook. They had pale brown branches, similar to the Taratayaman trees in the guidebook.

“These are Taratayaman trees. They’re ideal for basic things like furniture, but also for what your world calls ballistic missiles,” she explained, ever so casually. Remy and Atilia stared at her, unsure of what they had just heard.

“... You know what ballistic missiles are, right?” asked Atilia. Cathirina nodded in response.

“It’s a guided weapon that can attack targets from a long range.”

The term ‘ballistic missile’ seemed to be too specific for the weapon Cathirina described. That said, it wasn’t entirely wrong.

“The logs had seeds in them that, when applied too much pressure, can split and explode. When making furniture, we removed the seeds. When using it as a weapon, we cut the front to make it more aerodynamic. We then use either magic or a specific weapon to launch them. Once they crash into the ground, they’ll explode.” Cathirina smiled as she explained, using her hands to help visualize what it would look like. It sounded simple, but Remy found it hard to imagine what launching logs at the enemy would look like. He could understand sending giant boulders with catapults, but not sharp logs.

“They’re light, but pack a real punch, that’s why handling them is a serious task, but don’t worry, we’re not here for them.”

They went deeper, hiking through the dense forest, careful to not hit the Taratayaman trees around them. Remy didn’t move through spaces like this in his previous life. As a result, he fell quite far behind. Cathirina, being the guild captain, was probably a seasoned adventurer herself. Navigating the forest wasn’t a hard thing for her. Atilia’s smaller body and her own skills made going around not too hard for her, either.

Remy acted carefully, doing his best to not touch the trees next to him. The guidebook mentioned the explosive properties as well, although not what they were used for. It stated that the trees wouldn’t explode from a simple touch or push, but Remy didn’t want to take risks.

The two girls ended up stopping to wait for him a couple of times. It took a few more minutes before they finally reached their destination.

“Here we are.” Cathirina spun around, showing a little field filled with crops behind her. It was a twenty by twenty-meter field, with a wired fence surrounding it. The fence had the warning ‘do not step over’ written on it. Inside grew small, blue crystal flowers.

“Today, we’re harvesting crops,” Cathirina said with a little clap.

“So, after not getting the tree quest, we’re getting crops, eh? Ready to do some real labor?” Atilia elbowed Remy’s sides.

“Sorry for involving you in this.”

“What do you mean? Even hard labor is better than doing nothing up there.” She giggled, following Cathirina into the field.

She’s cute.

Remy followed behind the two.

“So, how do we harvest these?” Atilia asked, her hands on her hips, standing in front of the lines of little flowers. The flowers had several light blue petals surrounding a blue ball.

“These are Icetal flowers.”

Hearing that name, Remy once again took a look at his guidebook. Cathirina looked at him curiously.

“Is that a guidebook?”

“Ah, yeah.”

“Can I know where you get it from?”

Remy was about to answer when Atilia cut him off. “A friend,” she answered, not giving any explanation.

“I see… It’s nice having reliable friends around. Anyway, the demons came from a realm called hell through a rift located in the northernmost part of this world. From the information other outworlders had provided us with, we learned that this ‘hell’ is an extremely hot place, a place to punish sinners. The demons’ bodies allowed them to survive that realm, but when moving into this much, much colder world, they couldn’t handle the cold well.”

Curious, Remy looked at Atilia. Atilia seemed to understand what he was asking, and answered,

“You may not believe us, but trust me when I say that a quick glance at those… sinners, and you immediately understand why they’re there,” came her answer. It was one different from what he expected, though.

“That’s not what I’m asking?”

“Miss Atilia, is there by any chance you’re close to the subject?”

“I know some things. Among them is that if exposed to cold, the bodies of demons could be destroyed, and that would send them back to hell. The problem is, demons could rebuild their bodies in hell. So, if we wanted to stop their invasion, we needed to find a way to seal the ‘rift'.”

“You’re quite knowledgeable about this, miss Atilia.”

“I have my secrets.”

“Don’t worry, I will not pry,” Cathirina reassured her.

“Back to the topic. These icetal plants can be destroyed when enough pressure is applied to them, similar to the Taratayaman trees. In the case an outworlder or a warrior is stuck in hand-to-hand combat with a demon, and they find themselves losing, this plant acts as a valuable escape option.” Cathirina kneeled in front of one of them. The temperature surrounding the plants didn’t seem to be affected. She took one of the flowers and brought it up. She proceeded to drop it straight to the ground, shattering it into small pieces. Remy shuddered at the sudden drop in temperature, as if all the heat from the sun had vanished in an instant.

“Brrr…”

“Generate Heat!”

“Generate Heat!” the two girls said at the same time, their bodies glowing yellow. Atilia then extended her hand and touched Remy’s back. “Generate Heat!”

The spell began heating up Remy’s body. The yellow glow engulfed him as well.

“Thanks.”

“Count it as an apology for before.”

“It’s fine… really.”

“I don’t know you can use intermediate magic, Miss Atilia. You’re really impressive.”

“I just read about it before. It’s nothing.”

Remy remembered seeing various ‘generate’ spells under the intermediate section. He assumed using one wasn’t as simple as extending his hand and chanting the spell. Atilia had only arrived recently in this world, much like him. It was impressive that she could use an intermediate spell. He couldn’t even control a beginner spell.

“Us playing around with heat like this wouldn’t mess with the plant, right?” Atilia asked to make sure. Cathirina shook her head.

“These plants aren't sensitive to heat, they’re a lot better compared to those demons, at least.”

“Don’t the demons wear some kind of armor?”

Remy thought about what demons with armor might look like. Demons' bodies probably looked different to humans. But, in fiction, they often wore similar-looking armor. Covering most of their bodies in metal armor or something.

“Yes, but if unleashed at point-blank range, the cold would be enough to serve as a distraction and could even go as far as killing them. Regardless, this is a great weapon to have during a fight.” She then kneeled down next to a different flower. She took out a bag from inside her pocket. Holding the bag in her hands, she whispered a spell, “Generate Frost!”

The little bag turned light blue inside. She cut the flower below the petals and put it into the bag.

“They have a higher resistance to pressure when inside a cold environment. Your first quest would be to help me gather all these Icetal flowers. Please be careful, though. They’re still prototypes.”

“Prototypes?”

“Yes. These are plants created with magic,” Cathirina answered while handing two scissors and two separate pouches. Atilia used magic to cool down the two pouches, then handed one to Remy along with the scissors. The two began cutting the plants, careful to not break them. Remy handled it as if he was dealing with live grenades or mines. He knew the flowers wouldn’t be able to kill him, but he did so anyway. Cathirina trusted him with this quest, and he did his absolute best. He followed Cathirina’s example, cutting them beneath their petals. He cut them with care, not wanting to damage them, and then brought them one by one into the pouch.

It took the three of them around ten minutes to complete the field.

“Now, we let these plants regrow their flowers while we return the ones we cut to the Outworlders’ Guild. We’ll have our scientists examine them.”

They headed back to the city. With nothing else to do, they began talking about various things. Some of them were important things that should have been told to them when they arrived. Mimiyat missed, or more accurately, purposely ignored many of them.

“About the quest system, Mimiyat was on duty yesterday. She’s supposed to be the one hanging up new quests… but you two know how that went.”

“So does that mean there’s supposed to be a lot of options?”

Cathirina shook her head in response. “We’re open throughout the day, but the guild only posts quests from six in the morning until eight in the night. Every day, at six, people crowded in front of the board looking for the best quest that came during the guild’s off time in the night.”

“Doesn’t that mean they’re missing out on the quests that arrive during the day?” Atilia asked.

“Yeah, but getting a bit of money during the day is still better than hanging around the guild all day for that one ‘lucky’ quest that may never come. And, when it does come, there may still be a party or two waiting out, so your chance in the lottery is pretty low.”

“Oh… is that why there wasn't much yesterday?”

“How many quests did Mimiyat offer you?”

“One tree-cutting quest and one… what is the other one, again?”

“Mixing cement,” Remy answered, not bothering to explain the context behind it.

“Yeah… There aren’t as many quests as people hoped, so most outworlders end up heading to the front lines. There are some more, though. Not literally just those two.”

I guess even in this world, we need to wake up early. Remy kept the thought to himself.

“How about quest deadlines?” Atilia asked. It reminded Remy of his games, as most of the quests in single-player games didn’t have a deadline. A player could take one and leave it for all eternity, and it wouldn’t go away. The same obviously couldn’t happen here.

“Urgh… Mimiyat.” Cathirina then asked for the quest paper they received yesterday.

“There should be a time limit underneath the quest description. Your quest yesterday had a deadline of three hours. If you failed to complete it in that amount of time, then your quest would be available to others. Whoever turned the quest in earlier, gets the rewards.”

“Wait… so does that mean someone cut down those woods in the middle of the rain yesterday?” Atilia gasped. Cathirina nodded.

“Well, there are spells that can protect you from the rain.”

“Ah, no wonder.”

The three continued discussing various things, and after a long walk, arrived back at the guild.