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Chapter 06: Blame the Receptionist

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Next to the reception area of the inn Blue Moon, there were many people having bread and soup for breakfast. On one of the table, a youth whose face was half-covered was having some trouble eating the food that was prepared to him.

The youth was Neraz and the reason that he felt troubled was because the break in front of him was the same rockbread that he had eaten yesterday. He was fine eating it when there was no other choice but now that he had arrived at a place where there should be better food, he’s a bit reluctant to eat it.

“What’s wrong kid?” the inn owner came and asked him, seeing his troubled face.

“No. Nothing really, it’s just that, eating this rockbread is a bit troublesome for me,” replied Neraz to the owner’s question.

The inn owner’s name was Greg. He had been running the inn since his father died and handed it to him. His grandfather was the one who started the inn business and now, it had become the family business. In the area, his inn would be considered as cheap but with good services.

“ Rockbread? Could it be that you’re not used to eating normal bread?” asked Greg with an amazed face.

“Umm… Well… Kind of. Do you have anything else? I’ll pay if it’d cost more than what I had given to you,” Neraz looked at Greg’s face with an imploring expression.

Greg sighed and said to Neraz, “We do have them but, let me tell you something. Do you see how the people here eat the bread?”

Neraz looked at the people around him and said, “They dipped it into the bowl of soup before eating it.”

“That’s right. By doing that, it’d soften the bread crust and you could easily eat it,” nodded Greg.

“Really?” asked Neraz sceptically. “Sure it’d soften but I don’t think it’d have much of an effect.”

“Now, now. Just try it first will you. Only after trying would you know whether it works or not.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Neraz did what he was told to. He dipped a part of the sliced bread into the bowl of soup and put it inside his mouth.

“!? Surprisingly, it’s softer than I thought. It’s like the usual bread that I used to eat,” Neraz munched on the bread with satisfaction.

“It’s better right? Anyway, I’ll be in the back. If you have anything you need, just tell Anne.” Greg said and left.

“Okay.”

Anne was Greg’s daughter. She had brown hair like Greg but it was long and braided. Her figure can’t be seen clearly since she wore loose clothing. Earlier, when Neraz was still sleeping, he heard a knock on his door so he was forced to see who it was. The person was Anne. She was told by Greg to wake him up for breakfast.

Anne was the type of girl that seemed shy at first glance but was actually easy to approach once you talk to her. When dealing with a customer, she’d use a polite tone and would always smile. One could say that it was because of Anne that the inn was filled with people.

“Hey Anne,” I talked to her after finishing my breakfast.

“What is it?” she asked with a smiling face.

“Do you know here I could get something like a job around here?”

“Hm? Could it be that you’re new around here?”

“Umm… yeah. I just arrived yesterday so I don’t really know much about this place,” Neraz told her.

“I see. Then you might want to check out the Adventurer’s guild.”

“Adventurer’s Guild?” Neraz parroted Anne.

“Yes, well, the guild offers miscellaneous jobs to their members. If you’re able to finish it, you’ll be given a reward based on what you did,” explained Anne.

“So they’re like some sort of job-finder company huh?”

“Well, I guess you could put it that way,” wryly smiled Anne.

“I see. Well then. I guess I’ll go give that place a visit. Mind telling me the direction?”

“Go left after exiting this inn. Then there would be a junction and you’ll need to go right. You’ll see a large building there and that’s the Adventurer’s Guild. You won’t miss it, trust me.”

“Okay. I’ll be back later.” Neraz waved at Anne and left.

Following the direction that had been given to him, Neraz made his way to the Adventurer’s Guild. Daytime in the city was really different from night time. Now that there were many people on the street, the silence that he felt last night seemed as if it was a lie. He could see merchants promoting their items and customers haggling for a lower price.

He passed by an empty lot and over there, he saw children playing with each other. Some boys were playing with wooden sticks to imitate duelling knights. Girls were seen talking with each other as if they were noble ladies who were having a tea party.

Occasionally, he would see tramps and beggars but there weren’t many. Their worn clothes were dirty and had patches here and there. Their haggard faces showed the hardship that they had went through and their eyes were as if they had given up on life. Neraz was only able to let out a pitiful sigh as he saw them. He could help them a little bit but that was not his obligation so he ignored them.

When he reached the area where Anne said the guild would be, he was really shocked to see the building. There stood a 10 metres tall building. Its height was almost double the other buildings surrounding it. There were many people entering and exiting the building. The people wore equipments that were suitable for a fight and most of them had swords or daggers on their backs or waists. There were also people wearing robes holding staves that had crystals on the tips.

Neraz prepared himself mentally before entering the building. In his mind, when he entered the building, the brawny guys would glare at him because his face had never been seen before. Since he’s a newbie, he thought that they’d want to bully him so he needed to prepare for anything that might happen.

After taking a few deep breaths and chanting ‘I’ll be okay, they won’t do anything dangerous,’ over 50 times in his mind, he pushed the door to the building open and took his first step inside. What greeted him were people waiting in lines and some looking at the wall where there were many papers that were probably request by people displayed there. There was no glaring or bullying at all.

Feeling relieved that what he thought would happen didn’t actually happen, he let out a sigh and went to a line where people were waiting their turn to use the guild’s service. He made sure to line up on the line which said ‘New Adventurers’.

There were not many people on the line since most adventurers here were veterans. Most of them seemed to be no older than 20.Their faces showed enthusiasm on becoming a new adventurer.It doesn’t seem like women were being discriminated for being adventurers. since the ratio of men to women who was registering to become adventurers were about the same.

The ones lining on the same line as Neraz, all of them had shiny brand new weapons. It was obvious that they had never been used before. When comparing them with the veterans, the difference in experience couldn’t be more clearer.

After a few minutes had passed,it was finally Neraz’s turn. He stood in front of the counter and looked at the receptionist. Her wavy red hair was hung loose until it reached her back.She wore the guild staff uniform that all staffs wore but when she wore it, it somehow emphasized her perfect curves. She had on a business-like smile all the time when dealing with the soon-to-be adventurers, including Neraz.

“Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild. How could I help you?” greeted the woman.

“I’m here to register-” by this time, Neraz was reminded of something.

‘Shit. I had totally forgotten about it. What if she asked me to show my proof of identity? Dammit. I’m fucked if she does. Let’s just hope that an ID isn’t needed to register.’

“Um… what’s the matter? You wanted to registered as a new adventurer right?” the receptionist asked with a worried yet agitated expression.

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“No. Nothing. It’s just that I remembered something important. Anyway, can I ask you something first before registering?”

“Sure.”

“Uhh… when registering as an adventurer, is there… umm… a… a need to give a proof of identification?” suppressing his fear, Neraz asked the question timidly.

Hearing his question, the receptionist looked amazed for a second. Then, she made a smile that she doesn’t usually show when handling the adventurers in the guild. She was trying her hardest to suppress her laugh. After she had calmed down, her eyes showed a mischievous glint and she said;

“That’s right. You need to have an ID before registering as an adventurer. If you don’t, you’ll be treated as a runaway criminal and be brought to jail,” she explained seriously.

“...”

“Well then, let’s get on with the- eh? Where did he go?”

During the explanation, the receptionist kept her eyes closed. That was why she didn’t see Neraz who ran away right when he heard the word ‘treated’ because he was afraid what might happen to him.

‘Shit, shit, fucking piece of shit. If I’m treated as a criminal, there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to live peacefully in this world. I gotta keep a low profile for now.’

In his hurry, he still controlled his speed so as not to gouge the ground like what he did in the forest. He entered and exited many alleyways and almost killed some alleycats by stepping on them. When he finally stopped, he doesn’t even know at which part of the city he was in.

“*Pant, pant* Shit. Now I’m lost. How do I get back to the inn from here?” he pondered while leaning on a wall.

He randomly walked around the area just as he did last night but with a difference of time. The road in the area wasn’t as wide as the ones that he was in before. This time, he could see a lot more people with poor clothing. That was not all. The people here, compared to the ones walking around near the guild, they were incredibly thin. They’re so thin that you could see their bones. Some were sleeping on the ground and there were even people that ate shit off the ground.

“Oh God. Where the hell is this place? Is this even the same city that I’m in?”

He kept walking and saw a lot more poor and famished people. The houses that he saw were battered and were falling apart. He felt that if he were to give those houses a push, they would definitely be destroyed. The area was surely not maintained properly as rubbish could be seen everywhere and there was a strong rancid smell.

The longer he stayed there, the more the unpleasantness of being there grew within him. He wanted to quickly get out of that area but he does not know where to go.

When he turned towards a bend, he suddenly felt that danger was approaching him so he immediately leapt towards the side and when he looked at the place where he stood before, there was a throwing knife stabbed into the ground.

He looked at the direction where the knife came from and saw a person covered in a dark brown clothing that was standing on a roof of a crumbling house. Though the person was clearly standing there, he felt like that he can’t see him yet at the same time, he can. He was perplexed at this weird phenomena that was happening in front of him, but when he thought that this was a fantasy world, he felt that everything made sense.

“Who are you? What are you doing here at Midnight Cat’s area?” said the person with an androgynous voice with a demanding tone.

“You’re asking me who I am? Then why don’t you introduce yourself first? It’s impolite to ask someone else’s identity without confirming yours first,” Neraz calmly answered the person without showing that he was actually nervous.

The person was able to launch a sneak attack at him. Even though he doesn’t have any detection skills like those characters that he read in novels, he was confident that someone wouldn’t be able to attack him in surprise. The knife earlier was a close call.

When the person heard Neraz’s answer that person wanted to immediately attack Neraz but suddenly stopped. The person watched Neraz carefully and then said;

“You. Follow me. There’s somebody that wants to meet you. After seeing you dodge my attack earlier, you wouldn’t have any problem catching up with me right?” said the person.

After hearing what the person said, Neraz laughed, “Hahaha. Are you kidding me? You tried to kill me earlier and now you wanted me to follow you? What a joke. You said that a person wanted to meet me. If so, then he’s the one that should come here.”

“You…”

The two glared at each other for a moment. The surrounding area was silent at this time. If there were any sound made, the balance between them would be broken and something dangerous would ensue.

“Stop it!”

Suddenly, a voice of an old man was heard. The person on the roof was clearly shocked after hearing the voice and as for Neraz, he increased his vigilance further. He was wondering where did the voice came from. It felt like it was transmitted directly into his mind.

“Twenty, return immediately.”

“Yes!”

After the person, twenty, heard the voice, his body immediately disappeared and the only one left there was Neraz. At least, that was what Neraz himself thought.

He turned around and his body bumped with someone else’s. The person was taller than he was so he had to tilt his head to see the person’s face.

It was an old man with half bald white hair and his face was filled with wrinkles. He had a goatee and his eyes was sharp and seemed like it knew everything that there was inside the world. Seeing those eyes, Neraz instinctively felt fear.

”Kid. As you said, when you want to meet someone, you’re the one who has to go to the person. It’d be rude otherwise. Now, I’ll introduce myself. My name is One. The reason that I want to meet you is because I have a feeling that you’d be an interesting person. That’s why, would you follow me for a while? There’re a few things that I wish to talk with you.”

Neraz was really anxious. He was wondering why would the person wanted to talk with him? There’s now way that it was just because he was interesting. That was what Neraz felt. However, Neraz didn’t dare reject the old man. This was because;

‘I could die. This old man could kill me easily. he doesn’t even have to use much effort to squash me like a bug.’

Having feeling the pressure that the old man exuded. He could never hope to even run away from the old man. After contemplating for a while, he finally nodded to the old man’s ‘request’.

“Fine, I’ll go with you. But don’t you even think of doing something funny.” that was all he could muster as a sign of protest.

The old man turned around and walked. Neraz silently followed him from behind.

“That’s right, what’s your name?” the old man suddenly asked.

Being suddenly thrusted a question, Neraz was shocked a bit. It took a while for him to answer, “It’s Neraz.”

“Neraz huh? Is there a meaning behind it?”

“Who knows?”

After that, they walked until they reached a decrepit house where the old man supposedly lived in.

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Damn I'm sleepy. Scribble this, scribble that. I wonder if the sending isn't satisfactory to you guys. Tbh, I felt that there's something wrong there, but, whatever. You'll just have to wait for the next chapter.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it.

p/s: If you see any 1st person pronoun in the narration, tell me about it. I was alternating between this chapter and the one shot for valentine which was written in 1st person pov so there might me something mixed. Tell me if there's any kay? Now for some sleep.