Maxwell passed me two ids and passports he made for us. Our names were different on it, my name was Stuart, and Rin’s was Jeffrey.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to reveal your identities yet, especially without your memories. You both had enemies, especially you Keith.” I nodded, it would cause problems if I can’t identify who hates me or not, but Stuart really. I was also given a coat with a hood and put it on.

“Register me too, I want to look around.” Rin requested, I nodded.

Leaving Maxwell’s home, I head to “Quest or Not”. I spotted it on my way to the museum last night so getting there was pretty easy. Opening the door to the building I examined the room. Maxwell is right this place is tacky. Bright signs that looked like glorified book titles were hanging over booths. “Registration”, this sign had bright orange fonts and cyan background. It looked like a five-year-old made it. The person in the booth was wearing bold and quite uncomfortable looking armor that was covered in feathers. “I haven’t seen you around before, did you come here to register.” The feather man greeted me after noticing me staring. I walked towards him and handed the passports and ids. I filled in the basic information and waited for him to come back. He handed me two badges.

“These allow you to take quest’s anywhere in this country, both you and your friend are right now ranked 1 the lowest rank, which means you can’t take dangerous quest’s.” he instructed before pointing to a sign that reads, “Giver of Quest” with green letters all swirly and the border was pink. “If you go there, you can accept a quest, and who knows, maybe you can get a reward that has an armor as cool as mine.” he then flexed for me to I assume be astonished about his armor or something, he looks like a crow honestly. I bet there's a smug smile under that helmet.

Deciding that my time here would be boring I decided to start a quest. I walk towards the booth, there was a woman there who had armor similar to the man, except she looked like a chicken. “Excuse me miss, what all quests are available.”

“P-please show me your badge.” The chicken girl raised out a shaky hand. I handed her the badge.

“I-it’s going to take a while, please be p-patient.” She said as she quickly ran to the back. I honestly would be nervous too if I had to wear that. Her helmet was covering only the top half of her face and looked like a white chicken head. Her mouth was still visible along with her long blond hair. Her expression shows that she’s beyond scared, her mouth keeps quivering also. I waited for a while, I heard sounds of struggle in the back, and soon she came out.

“I-I’m sorry for the wait, I started yesterday and not sure where most things are.” She pulls out a bulletin board.

“These are all the quest rank 1’s gets to take.” I examined it.

Deliveries

Locating missing items

And cleaning people’s rooms?

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“These are all chores, what gives?!?!” I vented out my frustration.

“Sorry but it’s illegal to send out new mercenaries to do dangerous jobs.”

“Really well who made that rule, how am I supposed to make money.”

“The one that helped build this city, and the king of all mercenaries.” She then pointed to a grandee picture hanging over the entrance of this huge building. She had a look of admiration and respect in her smile. I turned to look at where she pointed and froze.

Eyes as sharp as a knife, a sneer that showed he saw things he shouldn’t have. He donned a general suit. There on the painting showed.

“Keith Cunningham, of course.”

…

Me.

“Because of all he experienced he didn’t want people who aren't suited for the job to jump headfirst into dangerous situations, so he made the ranking system.” I pulled my hood lower and looked back at her. “O-oh Keith Cunningham, wow I can’t believe such an idea would come from him.” She tilted her head to the side and looked at me confused.

“Why did you meet him before he died?” she asked, before becoming intrigued and leaned over the desk awaiting a response. I backed away a little not wanting her to accidentally see my face.

“I guess you can say that. Ahem, I think I’m going to accept a quest tomorrow or something.” I looked back at the picture one more time before leaving.

“There’s no way I’m that guy.” I huffed as I kicked a pebble across the street as I ran my hands through my hair beneath the hood. Maybe I took control of someone that looks like me when entering this world. I can’t just assume I once existed here. Yet something deep down inside of me is telling me that’s not true. I continued to walk to Maxwell's house but caught sight of a hooded figure following a cat that had a flower in his mouth. This doesn’t concern me, so I just continue my trip.

When I reached Maxwell’s house, I heard the sound of metal being strike coming from the garage. Not having anything else to do I entered the garage and saw Maxwell making what looks to be a sword.

“You didn’t tell me I would be getting chores.” I complained. He stopped hitting the sword with his hammer and looked at me. He then took off his welding mask and grinned at me.

“Come on, I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Besides, you came up with the rule.”

“Well, is there any other rule I came up with, or anything I should be careful of.”

He thought for a moment and went to a shelf, pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me.

“Rules of Umbrage.” It said, All the rules were basic like do not steal or rob and whatever. It then showed the rule I just learned about in Quest or Not. But one rule caught my eye. No one shall enter Keith’s house even after death.

“What’s in Keith’s house?” he shrugged.

“Dunno, no one has ever entered it. In Fact, no one can, some strange force is keeping the door closed and the house in shape, heck there’s a barrier surrounding that place.” He was about to put his mask back on, but I stopped him with a question.

“How do you know I’m the same Keith everyone is so fond of.” he rolled his eyes.

“Rin asked the same thing. The answer’s simple. Only you two would have zero effect on the pressure I constantly give off.”

“What does that mean?”

He didn't answer and just went back to working on his sword. Seems like there really is no way of telling whether I really once lived here, or just didn’t possess a corpse. I opened the garage door to leave.

"Hurry up and get your memory back old friend." I heard Maxwell whisper before going back to striking metal. I nodded before leaving.