Ritania Kingdom, Arkheim.

In the wake of dusk, the tender sunlight revealed the background of shimmering piles of snow and a crowd of people who had already surrounded a part of the city. The situation was rowdier than the usual morning the citizens had. Several onlookers who had to start their early duty stared at the place of event curiously.

Managing to sneak their way out without the notice of the bell keeper, they walked several miles from their location to a crowded building.

“Before we get into the business, we should introduce ourselves first. My name’s Millie Millefleur. You can call me in whichever way you see as fitting. ”

“Heann Silwest.”

Within the place of warmth that contrasted the cold weather outside, waves of crowds pushed against each other in a rigorous way even though dawn came not too long ago. In a glance, every nook and cranny of the place was polished in a way they would shine inside the cozy room. Plainly speaking, Heann was astonished. Glancing, he saw the person who brought him to this place held the same expression as he did.

“I don’t think I’m planning to lose my life anytime soon. I don't think I should be here.”

“We should think of the benefits and profits.”

"No, really. Why am I here?"

"You're homeless and unemployed."

"Right… thanks for the kind reminder."

They could only watch and stand still at the entrance. While the building itself was fascinating enough, hearing myriad shouts and clattering armors clashing with each other had them petrified. Reluctantly, Heann stepped back and gazed at his companion.

Collecting his determination, he clenched Millie’s hand behind him and heard a hopeless shout before he immediately departed towards the chaotic line of people. When he looked carefully, the majority of the crowds carried their own weapons and donned shining metallic armors- if not, a light armor such as vests at minimum.

While Heann himself, on the other hand, wore a feeble cotton shirt and unflattering brown pants that he brought from his lost home, making the journey to the line more arduous and painful when clashing against the armors.

With the last push of his body and the pull of his hand in the demanding tug-of-war situation, he finally arrived at the counter, followed by Millie who looked frazzled with her disordered hair.

Arriving before many neat lines of people, they queued up accordingly to one of the counter’s lineups.

“How may I help you?”

Facing the staff who looked level headed, he was instantly asked by the mature beauty behind the counter.

“I’m here to register as an adventurer.”

“Very well. There will be a fee that’ll come along for your registration. Is that alright?”

“How much are we talking here?”

“1 gold.”

When the staff monotonously revealed the exact price, Heann annoyedly turned to Millie who was currently trying to catch her breath.

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“Hey, you didn’t tell me anything about the fee.”

“Oh, right. I forgot to tell you.”

“Putting that aside, do you have any money with you that I can borrow?”

“What are you talking about? I’m bringing enough money to pay for myself. Bringing you here with me is an unexpected situation.”

“Then how am I supposed to pay the fee!”

“Wait, wait!”

As she said that, she frowned and showed an enlightened expression before she rattled the humongous bag she was carrying and pulled out his precious bear coin bank.

“Use this.”

“Don’t talk as if it’s your own money! That is the only thing I have for me to eat for this month!”

“I’ll pay you back later, okay?”

Reluctantly receiving his bear coin bank, he emptied his coin bank and turned back to the lady behind the counter with countless silver coins in his hands. Since Heann only had small changes, he had to compensate with a bigger quantity, 100 silver coins.

“Here it is.”

Giving the sum of money and counting them rapidly, the staff asked him to fill in a series of procedures concerning his personal background and information on a sheet of white paper which he complied accordingly. Giving the paper to the client, she then checked it before she set it aside.

After a long time waiting for Millie to finish her part of the procedure awkwardly, the staff took out two badges from the desk drawer before giving the items to the both of them- which they took and patched the badges tidily on their shirt.

“You are now officially an adventurer. Here’s your starting badge that will state your status and rank. To advance further, you may collect your point that you can receive after submitting what the quest that you take requires. Currently, with the iron badge you’re holding, the both of you are E-ranked adventurers and you may only take E-ranked quests until you’ve advanced further to another rank.”

Explaining the details comprehensively, the staff looked at them with a composed smiling face as she fluttered her hair backwards.

“Well then, welcome to the adventurer’s guild. To pick your desired quest, you can walk to that bulletin board over there. Ah, to be noted, you may only take one quest per person by taking the quest’s poster to one of the quest staff. For now, because of the circumstances, we will only showcase the E-ranked quests.”

“As expected, there are only E-ranked quests all over the board. It’s mostly harmless for now.”

“Shouldn’t we be glad, then? Because of this, we’re all starting at the same point,” Millie tiredly exclaimed beside him.

“You don’t look glad, though.”

“Don’t mind me. I’m just not used to crowds.”

Heann wasn’t too fond of crowds either. While he could handle small gatherings, mass gatherings like this overwhelmed him. To add, the drain of stamina kicked in suddenly because they didn’t have any night sleep. Tired, both of them agreed to take a breather.

Outside, the ray of sun clearly grew brighter, indicating a different tone of time that has passed during their long activity. Noticeably, the tender warmth that seeped through his skin intensified slightly when compared to the couple of hours after dayspring, warm enough to brush off the cold of the winter slightly.

“Hey, where will you settle down for the day?”

“Don’t know. I’ll probably look for a place from someone I know for free.”

“You can stay at my place.”

Because she was hiding her face, he couldn’t tell whether she was being serious or not.

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah. Why not?"

"Well..." Heann hesitantly started. "You're a girl... and, you know... I'm a guy."

"No problem. You’ve helped me enough for today. Besides, we’re fellow adventurers, right? We’re basically comrades."

Despite looking crazy with her messy hair, Millie showed him a distorted and silly smile from her fatigue. If not for her being a lightweight the whole time, he could probably feel some sort of camaraderie with her right now.

“Ah, not entirely free, you know? You have to do chores and other stuff concerning the house.”

“I’m okay with that."

“There’s only one problem though. You spent all the money on that coin bank of yours, right?”

“Yeah,” he apprehensively replied. “What’s wrong?”

“Actually, I don’t really have anything to eat at home,” she said nonchalantly. “We’re probably stuck with taking several E-ranked missions to eat for now. That basically means that I can’t pay you back. Well, at least not now.”

Sighing due to the fatigue, she never noticed the concealed anger of the young man beside her who was gritting his teeth.