After a while, Lyrel and her daughter went ahead of us. Lyrel invited Lena to join her in the carriage, but Lena is adamant in staying with me. Rather, it seems that she really doesn’t want to go visit her home.
Currently, we’re lining up with the carriages that are being inspected by the Goldoni Guards. As expected, they’re making sure that everyone who wants to enter Goldoni has to be baptized.
To see whether the person is baptized, they have to pour magic power into a magic tool. According to Lena, any type of magic will make the magic tool respond if and only if the person is baptized because apparently, baptized people have their magic imbued with a hint of divinity.
For now, I’m just waiting for our turn in the inspection line.
“Is this really this crowded?”
“No, it’s just everyone is just coming back from summer vacation. Old and new students, families, and even businesses are coming back so it’s more busy than usual.”
“So which one are you?”
“I was on a journey to my Master’s home. Sadly, when I went there, she was out on a quest.”
“So wait, you spent your entire summer vacation on a fruitless journey alone? That’s depressing.”
“Not entirely.”
“What do you mean?”
“…I met… a friend.”
While saying so, she looks away from me. But her ears are reddening giving away her embarrassment.
Though our time together is short, I learned enough about her to know that despite having a nearly emotionless facial expression, her ears are very honest. I realized this when she was talking with her sister-in-law and nephew.
She’s more feminine than I initially thought.
“Well, I’m flattered that you consider me a friend.”
“I should be the one saying that.”
Oh right, I forgot to mention. She’s still sitting on my shoulder for some reason. I kind of forgot that she was and I got used to her weight.
“I just remembered you’re an adventurer, right?”
“I don’t remember telling you.”
“When I used my <
While talking, she touches the 2 iron pieces on my necklace. These are my rank proofs.
“What about it?”
“You can use your adventurer tag as your proof of residence after you go to the adventurer’s guild. There they’ll change that with a Goldoni tag.”
“Does it cost me anything?”
“That I don’t know.”
When the carriage in front of us, moved forward into the gates, it was finally our turn.
With a light hop, Lena jumps off my shoulder and then walks towards the gate. The guards seem to know her because they cleared the path and let her in.
Just as I was about to follow her, the gate guards block my path as if I’d run into Goldoni.
“Hey giant, where’s your proof of residence?”
“I don’t have any. I’m here to become a new resident.”
The guards looked at me straight into the eye. Despite being shorter than me, he doesn’t seem to be scared of me at all.
“You might’ve heard of this before, but you need to be baptized before you can enter the city.”
“I am. I’m willing to show proof.”
“It’ll be 30 nuta for an examination, and another 30 for an entry stamp.”
“60 nuta, that’s expensive!”
“I don’t make the rules.”
This city’s gate tax is a rip-off. 30 for an entry stamp is already a ridiculous amount, but 30 for an examination that doesn’t need real effort to do is madness! This is extortion!
“Excuse me, what seems to be the problem.”
All of a sudden, Lena comes out of the gate and goes to the guards.
“Miss Apostle…?”
As if they saw a monster, the gate guards froze. The next second, they drop on one knee and lowered their head.
On the other hand, Lena seemed annoyed. Even her eyes are glowing in gold as she is using her <
“Tell me, since when did the entry tax got to that amount?”
“It-it was in the middle of summer, Miss Apostle.”
“How much exactly does everything cost?”
“W-well…”
It seems that there’s something shrewd about the knights here. Because when Lena asked the question, they seem to all fall silent.
Lena doesn’t seem amused. She walks past them and towards me.
Putting her palm on my stomach, she looks at me from below with a serious expression.
“In my name as an Apostle of the High Court, I grant you, Arty, the right to execute these guards on your discretion.”
Hearing that, the guards let out a screech and bowed to me. They were terrified by Lena’s words like it was going to be the last thing they’ll hear.
“I-I’m sorry! Please forgive me!”
“Please don’t kill me! I have a wife and son!”
They all have their excuses, but I can really tell that they’re all genuinely terrified.
“Arty, what’s your decision?”
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With a serious face, Lena looks at me straight in the eyes waiting for my answer.
Well I guess I can give one.
“It’ll leave a bad taste on my mouth to see flattened people on such beautiful ivory walls.”
After I gave my answer, Lena got surprised. But immediately, it changes into a warm smile as she understood what my words really meant using her <
“You understand, right?”
“Yes!”
The guards answered. When they stood up, none of them can look at us.
“I’ll overlook this for now. Do this again, and I’ll have him execute everyone here.”
“Yes!”
I think I had the wrong impression of Lena. I wasn’t expecting her to be quite ruthless with her words. It’s actually pretty scary.
Lena then looks at the one knight holding a transparent orb.
“Have him do the test.”
“Yes, miss Apostle!”
In a hurry, the man approaches me with the orb and offers it to me. Since it is kind of small, I only touch it with my finger and focused my magic on it.
Slowly, the orb glows faintly as it responds to my magic. So I guess I really am qualified.
“So what’s next?”
“Your permit will be processed in the Adventurer’s Guild, let’s just go there directly.”
And with that, Lena and I proceeded into Goldoni without me paying anything.
When we finally got inside the gate, I got welcomed by a really busy street. There were stalls everywhere, shops, restaurants, and even jewelry shops lined up in this street. Everything was on the move.
Because of my height as a Mino, I could see everything.
“I’m sorry for the unsightly welcome earlier, but allow me to welcome you to the busiest street of Goldoni, Faria the merchant’s street.”
“I’ve heard of this place when I came here. They say that this is the closest everyone got in Goldoni.”
According to the people outside Goldoni, Faria is the only place in Goldoni where commoners and nobles that aren’t baptized are welcome to come in a few times a year. Once in a while, Faria has a festival that allows everyone to come. However, once you try to get in to Goldoni through Faria, it’s a crime that’s punishable by imprisonment or even forced slavery.
While trying to walk into the crowd, Lena gets pushed back to me because of the density of the people walking around. Maybe because everyone was busy, they didn’t notice that an apostle is among them.
“Are you alright?”
“I-I’m fine. It’s normally like this in this place.”
Despite getting pushed back like getting blown away by the wind, Lena still tries to go through the crowd by herself.
I can’t help but pity her for trying.
“I think it’s better to do this.”
Without waiting for her reply, I grab Lena by the collar and put her on my shoulder. Looking at her face that’s looking at the crowd, defeat was plastered all over it.
“I usually had guards clear a path for me here…”
“Be my guide for now.”
“Okay…”
Immediately, I walk into the crowd with her on my left shoulder and my giant hammer on the right. Maybe because of my size, everyone moved out of my way in a hurry like my steps creating ripple on water.
Everyone was looking at me, it was as if it’s the first time they saw someone of my size. I mean, there are quite a variety of races here.
“Why is everyone looking at me?”
“Minotaur is a race that is a rare sight here. They usually just stay in the mountain villages or back in Spiked Cliff Valley.”
Despite the gazes and attention I gathered, majority of the people just continue with their daily lives after a quick glance at me.
After a while, I finally reached a part of the road where the crowd has thinned out. Here, there are less shops and more tall buildings. Looking at the beautiful carpentry of these buildings, I’m guessing they’re important ones.
“Go left on the next corner. The Adventurer’s Guild is there.”
While saying so, Lena slides down my arm and walks ahead.
“Where are you going?”
“I’ll be heading to the Academy.”
“I see… thanks for guiding me here. I’ll see you around.”
“See you around as well.”
After that, she waves goodbye and disappears into the crowd of people.
Seeing her disappear kind of made me feel kind of lonely.
***
As she instructed, I went to the place she pointed out. When I turned to a corner, I found a building with a Guild Emblem signage just above its entrance.
Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of people here. Most of them are wearing adventuring and hunting gears, some of them are wearing robes signifying that they are either magicians or sorcerers. But for some reason, a lot of people here are covered in cuts and bruises like they were just in a fight.
As I am approaching the Guild building, everyone was looking at me. Probably due to my size, most of them backed away and clearing my path. Though I get that they’re intimidated by me, I feel kind of isolated.
For some reason, a woman wearing clean uniform approached me while putting a smile on her face. Since she was small like
“Good afternoon, sir. What business do you have with the Guild Office?”
I see… She’s a representative of the guild.
I take off my tag and hand it over to her. After receiving them, she understood and looked like she was glad that she did.
“My name is Teho. I’m a representative of the Adventurer’s Guild East Branch Office.”
“I’m Arty.”
“Are you trying to be a resident here?”
“Yes.”
“That’s great! An Iron 2 rank is always welcome here in Goldoni.”
“Why is that?”
“There has been a lack of Iron ranked adventurers in Goldoni as of late so any newcomers that are Iron Ranked and above are greatly needed.”
While saying so, she looks at my tag on the side as if she was reading something there. Come to think of it, representatives always do this when they look at an adventurer’s tag. I wonder how this works.
“Hmm… it seems that you’re about to be promoted to Iron 3 rank?! Will you be doing quests today? I can arrange one that can immediately rank you up after finishing one!”
“I won’t be doing any quests for now. I want to find a place to spend the night in.”
“Oh how rude of me! I’m so sorry.”
Looking around, I feel like there’s something odd happening here.
“Are you not going to invite me inside?”
When I asked that, her smile broke and became obviously forced.
“I’m deeply sorry. The guild lounge is currently under maintenance. Please allow me to compensate for the inconvenience by removing the residence relocation fee.”
While she said that, I took a peek of what’s inside the guild building.
Though dim, I could see broken stools and tables, the wares are all over the place and there are even places that are burned. What the heck happened?
Looking around, everyone avoided eye contact to hide their embarrassment. Humans…
“It might be rude of me, but can I ask a question?”
Out of nowhere, the representative asked me while checking my tag.
“Go ahead.”
“I think the tag’s identification is wrong. It says here that you’re a Minotaur. Are you one?”
While looking at me, she gazes at my forehead and even the sides of my head. I think she’s looking for my horns.
“Though half, I am a Minotaur. I’m hornless.”
When I said that, the surrounding people were awed and noisy. But after one stare from Teho, they all fell quiet.
Then out of nowhere, a guy wearing a dirty apron walks out while scratching his head. He had a paper and pencil on hand and is still writing on it.
“I just finished totaling the cost of the needed repairs. If you want everything to look brand new, it’ll cost you 700 nuta, but if you’re fine with surplus furniture, we can at least halve the cost. Even so, it’ll take more than a week to finish the repairs.”
When the man mentioned the cost out loud, every adventurer and hunter in the vicinity became gloomy. I can only guess what happened.
On the other hand, Teho drops and hugs her knees while burrowing her face on it.
“The upper management is going to be so mad!”
Then like a bolt, she glares at every one of the adventurers and hunters responsible for the destruction.
“You, every one of you! If you don’t pay back what you destroyed by the end of the week, I’ll have you all sold out of Goldoni! Remember that!”
“Yes, madam Teho!”
After screaming at them, they all ran away leaving us and the whole street abandoned.
“You have it hard, huh.”
“Please tell me you didn’t change your mind about your residence here.”
“I’ve seen worse.”
Hearing my reply, she lets out a sigh of relief and then stands up. When she received the bill from the man, she looks at me with an apologetic look.
“I have to apologize again. Normally, you can get your adventurer tag updated today, but our resident tag smith is currently out. Can you visit tomorrow?”
“That’s fine, but can you appraise my hunter’s spoils? I also have proofs.”
While I say that, I give her a piece of rolled paper and the small pouch on my waist. Though on her hand, the small pouch is anything but small.
After receiving it, she opens the paper and checks the contents.
“Hmm… Mountain Ash Wolf subjugation… Foul Ghoul clearing… Rock Golem clearing… All are C-grade quests.”
Then next, she opens the pouch and pulls out the proofs.
“Ash wolf canine… ten of them, the ever rotting ghoul flesh, and Golem cores. Yes, this is enough proof.”
Immediately, she rushes into the building with the paper and pouch. After a while, she comes back with a new pouch and hands it over to me.
“That’s 40 nuta for now.”
“40? But wasn’t all of that worth 70?”
“I would have given you your money’s worth, but given the state of the guild building, I can’t give you the exact amount for now. How about I’ll give you a city map and I can even recommend you some cheap in that has good service? I’ll even put a good word for you. I promise. I’ll give the rest of the money when the other adventurers finish their quests.”
When she says it like that, I can’t turn it down or complain about it.
“Fine, but I want my tag as soon as possible. I don’t want to roam around the city without it.”
“Of course! How about I give you a temporary resident proof? It’s made of wood but it would be better to have one than none, right?”
Sigh… I wasn’t expecting to have my first day in Goldoni to be this disappointing.
I should’ve expected this.
-End of chapter-