After finishing my meal, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle whatever problems this world had for me. It was almost time for me to meet up with Lori at the guild, so I headed back in its general direction.

I passed by several strange shops and even stranger people as I made my way from the main thoroughfare to the Adventurer's Guild. It seemed like every other shop was trying to sell magic items or accessories to adventurers, and many were even hiring new adventurers out of the corner of their stores. One store where a guy in a dark purple shirt showed off a magical sword caught my attention for a split second.

He had two of them on display. One of the swords was black, and the other was red. He waved the red sword around in a showy fashion, then pointed the black sword at an adventurer dressed in brown.

"Okay so you're up for the test? See this here?" he asked the adventurer, holding the red sword close to his head. "This is a special enchanted weapon! Now, watch this..."

I shook my head and returned to meet up with my sister. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the brown adventurer suddenly fall backward onto the ground. He hit the floor hard enough to cause a small crater to form beneath him.

The adventurer just collapsed and didn't say anything, and then the store owner took a few steps back and gave him a confused look.

"I wonder what happened there?" I muttered as I headed down the street. I shrugged; it wasn't any of my business, after all.

It was well into the evening now, and the lamps on the street all lit up with a yellow fluorescence that illuminated everything. The lights reflected off the windows and doors, casting long shadows across the city streets below.

It was beautiful—and terrifying. The city here reminded me so much of home, but it was like blending multiple earth cultures together. There were buildings shaped like malls and churches, temples built onto small islands, and arches that seemed like they just shouldn't work. The architecture came in combinations of golden ratio geometries, as well as silver ratio Asian geometries at the same time. Everything looked foreign, yet familiar at the same time.

Shaking my head, I began to ponder for a second about how I got to this point. What exactly happened to me? Did I die? How did I wind up taking over this girl's body? Just how dangerous is the world I've found myself in.

My entire experience here had turned into such a frantic, surreal whirlwind since I'd woken up two days ago in the Liddells' home. I'd gathered that Charles Liddell was a low level, regional lord from context clues, and that Alice was some kind of magic prodigy. But, Charles was on the hook for a few million dollars' worth of converted business debt...something in the tens of thousands of gold pieces? How did things get that bad? What kind of lord lives in a suburban house?

Sure, it seemed that adventuring paid extremely well. Without the hiccups we'd encountered along the way, it would have been something like five thousand dollars' worth of purchasing power for a six hour job. The pay wasn't bad in the slightest, but the danger and risk along the way was a little too much. I'd been attacked by bandits TWICE on my first day in this world, for crying out loud! Once I got back to their hometown, I'd sit down, do my research, and figure out what exactly was going on.

I stopped and paused, staring up at the royal palace off in the distance as I followed a canal back to the adventurer's guild.

[https://i.imgur.com/qhZLbB8.png]

I made my way back around the final two or three boulevards back to the Capital Adventurer's Guild. A crowd of adventurers and townspeople gathered near the entrance, talking excitedly amongst themselves. I made my way through the crowd and into the reception room. I looked at signs that said 'Registrations open' and 'free equipment repairs.'

There was quite a bit more going on inside. Some people were waiting in line for a table while others were waiting to have their equipment inspected and repaired. A number of the adventurers were also doing paperwork at the reception counter.

I spotted Lori at one of the tables. She looked a lot happier than when we first met up. "Well Alice-chan! You've formally made it to Rank C. Congrats!"

"Is something like Rank C such a big deal?"

I turned away for a second to look at the room, and when I looked back to Lori, she had glasses on and was in a schoolteacher's uniform.

...Okay then!

Lori laughed heartily, pushing up her glasses, "All adventurers here have to take a certain level of examinations and/or training before they can get access to the Adventurer's Guild, starting at E-rank. Rank C adventurers have proven themselves to be capable of handling things that threaten large townships. Which you did! Drunk off your butt at that!"

I blinked. I definitely wasn't expecting an answer like that. 'C-rank' just sounded so unimpressive on paper. But Lori explained further. "E-rank is for those who are good enough to help out with minor cases, like missing cats, robberies or other petty crimes."

She flexed one of her athletic biceps through her clothes with a wink, "Achieving B-rank, on the other hand, means we can handle threats to large cities or even national security. Your rank in one kingdom's guild carries over through the International Adventurer's Association so there are all kinds of perks!"

Her explanation got me just a little more interested. It seemed like there were a lot of different ranks, and it all depended on how capable someone was. I blushed a little when I realized just how ignorant I was of this world. No wonder they would entrust her with that magic jewel worth thousands of dollars.

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How did a girl like her make it up to such a high rank, though? That was what really mystified me.

I turned back towards the back of the guild to spot an anomaly.

Some people walked out of the reception room carrying a mysterious wooden box. A young woman dressed in brown led them towards the door.

She passed the parcel to a middle-aged man, then headed to the adventurers in the line. The woman handed off another box to a man wearing the same brown clothes as her.

I followed their progress, curious about what they had brought with them. When the man in brown finished taking the boxes from the adventurers in the front, he went to his side of the counter where another middle-aged man sat, opening up the first box. His mouth dropped open slightly at sight inside, then he nodded to the other man, who quickly closed it up again. The man in brown took the other box from the woman and headed to a table in the corner by himself. He looked down at the box sitting on the table for a moment, then stood up, leaving the guild.

I looked around, confused, and saw that the adventurers who had left with those boxes were all gone now. I frowned and turned to Lori. "What's going on?"

Wait, when did she get back in her armor? Nevermind.

She tilted her head towards me and asked, "What's what?" as she put one finger on her chin.

I narrowed my eyes and whispered, "I'll check it out. One second, Lori."

I'm petite and inconspicuous, and this was setting off all the alarm bells that I could have in my head.

I pulled over the hood of my robe and made my way into the back of the main hall. I stopped cold.

I spun around to find the man in brown talking to some adventurers. They were clearly adventurers like me, but something was very wrong. They were wearing the same outfit and uniforms and didn't seem happy. I couldn't understand the conversation, but it had an ominous tone.

I peered over and looked at the man in brown, and I froze in shock. I didn't know what he was doing or why he was here, but it was the same man I'd seen back in the forest at Rivershire Crossroads. It was Zlatan, one of the ringleaders of the thieves we'd broken up.

Zlatan was a tall human man with pale yellow hair and blue eyes. He looked like a caricature of a Caucasian man that you sometimes see in anime.

I stared at him for a few seconds, trying to process what I saw. Then he noticed me looking at him and looked my way. I looked away from him as fast as I could, keeping my face obscured by my hood. The man in brown gave a slight shrug, then headed towards the stairs with two more of the men I had seen.

A chill ran up my spine. Something was not right! Something terrible is going to happen in here, that's for sure. I hurried back to where Lori waited for me at the front.

The man in brown came back up and passed the boxes to the Adventurers' Guild's manager, who looked relieved after receiving them. He thanked the man in brown, then left. I frowned. There was definitely something strange going on here. What did those wooden boxes have in there?

As if reading my thoughts, Lori spoke up, "Hmm, hmm! Something deeeeefinitely doesn't feel right about this!"

"Yeah," I replied softly, "but what do you think it is?"

I didn't want to get involved, but if there was going to be a terrorist attack or something right there, well...

I thought back to my poor mother, sobbing in the moonlight at 2 a.m in the morning. She worked tirelessly to raise me, denied of both love and time from the loss of my father.

I didn't really want to admit it to myself, but If a lot of people were hurt or died here over something I saw, and I didn't help I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. At the very least, I had to figure out what was happening and report it to the city guards.

I glanced at Lori, and she smiled reassuringly while sticking out her tongue, "Don't worry, I've actually been watching them since they arrived and started moving. I'll bet fifty bronzeheads that we aren't dealing with a real manager here."

Huh?

"Come with me, let's see what they're up to."

My stomach twisted nervously as Lori led us both out of the building. We walked along the main street, then crossed to the side alley of the Adventurer's Guild. My legs felt weak and shaky, and I wanted nothing more than to run home and hide under my bed.

But no matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise, I knew that wasn't true. I couldn't just run away; if something terrible happened, I would never forgive myself if I just ran away and let everyone else die because of me.

So instead, I kept my pace steady as I marched alongside Lori.

We reached the end of the alleyway, and Lori pointed to our left, saying, "Over there!"

I followed her gaze and found ourselves staring straight into the Adventurer's Guild back alley. All kinds of crates lined the wall behind the building.

Zlatan was standing next to a stack of five identical wooden boxes on a wagon, and three other men were busy stacking the last box onto the top. As soon as they completed the job, they moved aside, allowing Zlatan to approach the boxes.

There was a....catboy, an elf, and another dark-skinned human. The catboy was almost entirely human-looking, but he had a mane of orange hair, matching cat ears, a long lion's tail, and heterochromatic blue and green eyes.

I watched intently as he picked each one up and opened it, revealing a variety of weapons and tools. Each time he lifted something out, he scrutinized its condition, then set it back on the floor. Finally, he placed all the boxes neatly on the ground before leaving.

He paused for a moment, looking back at the boxes on the ground. Without warning, he grabbed one of the wooden boxes, which began glowing brightly. It grew brighter and hotter until it became bright enough for me to see the contents without squinting.

I gasped aloud as I recognized the items inside. These weren't ordinary weapons and tools; this was the equipment the Adventurers up front were turning in for 'repairs.' I turned to look at my sister. Judging from the smug grin she was giving me, she wasn't surprised either.

Now, where was the nearest guard station?

We didn't have to get inv-

"Alright time's up let's do this!" Lori suddenly shouted. Zlatan's head turned to snap at her.

"Wait!" I shouted after her.

"HEY ASSHOLE!"

She charged in, throwing up a cloud of dust behind her.

Dammit, Lori!!!!!