The Adventurer’s Guild. Cosimo could expect a lot from that. However, Timothy had different expectations for the journey.

Isn’t this amazing? After I rode on Timothy and he chased off the bandits and saved John and the woman, whose name appears to be Xana, he turned out to a talking magical beast. A proud one at that. He seems rough to talk to and Xana thought I was insane because he was using some ability called Soul Communication to talk directly to me in my mind, or soul I guess. I really regretted acting over the top and calling him ‘my steed’ after that. However, we cleared it up and he knows I didn’t mean it like that. He thought I wanted to enslave him, but I don’t feel too good about threatening an intelligent being. If he was a stupid beast, I might just have to do things like tie him to a post and try to some sort of animal training montage. That's way beyond my skill level. It's much easier this way, we can just be friends. I made my first friend in another world, and he even gathered food for me while using the excuse of bringing it for everyone. What a tsundere. Then when I asked him if I could sleep on him because the furs in the bandit tent couldn’t compare to his magical anteater fur. I asked him about it mentioning the time where I noticed that it seemed like his body was pushing the trees to the side. He got upset that I was asking about his abilities for some reason but told me after I didn’t let it drop that he can control each individual hair like a muscle using magic. That would explain why the arrows shot at him during the fight yesterday looked like they just veered off as soon as they hit his coat. Amazing. This is a high level companion no doubt. Apparently his species is called Pikefaces in this world as well. I was so excited and overwhelmed yesterday by the sudden death of myself and the transfer by the Japanese God and the realization of my mediocre ability that I must have confused Xana when I called him an Anteater. I need to be more careful in the future, I could easily get labeled insane. Not to mention saying those embarrassing things. I really didn’t want to do that in public. I thought I was alone with a stupid beast so knowing that he’s actually smart made me suffer a bit. Oh, well whatever. From now on, I’ll take it easier. It may be another world, but I’m still the same person I was before in reality back then. When I looked at that bandits corpse still crouching in the clearing in front of the bandit camp in the morning I remembered that. Good thing I have such good luck making a friend like this right from the start. However, it’s worrying me that the Japanese God told me he would give me some money and stuff so I can relax in town. I guess it’s in town somewhere? Why transfer me into a barn? To meet Timothy? I’ll at least have wait for him to sort out the power choosing application so I can dump this mediocre ability, Timothy said something like it ‘changes the nature of a being’ or something like that. I did save Xana’s life though, I feel good about that. Even though it was a cheat power that I choose from the list, it’s still something I did myself right? We’re heading into town now, Timothy said the Adventurer’s Guild can help me figure out how the power works. I’m laying on Timothy’s back entirely stable as he runs under the bright cerulean sky in another world with pinkish clouds drifting here and there. I hold my hand up and watch the sun peek through the gaps in my fingers I feel like there’s nothing I can’t handle. At least, nothing Timothy can’t handle, and he’s friends with me. There’s no helping his dark past, so from this day forward I’ll do my best to support him as we go on a magical adventure in this new world!

“Timothy, I’m so glad I met you! Let’s be friends forever!” 

“Forever? No way. It’s a good thing you don’t sound serious.”

I heard Cosimo laugh at my comment directed into his soul using my skill Soul Communication. It made my heart lighten hearing that. Although from my interaction from him I do not believe he has any ill will, he’s been quite demanding. At this point, until I’m able to figure out more about his abilities I cannot disobey him. Since he does not seem willing to force me I am actually in a more difficult position than before. Were he to be clear and demand I obey I would have no choice but to protect the honor as the last of my tribe and go down fighting. Against humans when I was in the depths of my hatred and despair before chancing upon the farmers in need, Xana and John, I was playing around and letting them push me to their own ends. However, spending that winter caring for the farmers I found my strength again in repaying their kindness. I won’t let humans force me to submit any longer. Or anyone else. Cosimo seems to have the intention of forming a bond, but his power is far beyond mine. Although he denies it. How else could he use Advanced Space Magic and that strange ability that corrupts the nature of a being that allowed him to revive Xana with no cost to the surrounding life? If I had that ability…

No, I wouldn’t have used it to revive my tribe. I wasn’t able to do so back then with my usual magic. I would have simply sacrificed my own life and not even revived a single one of the fallen. The cost of the Transfer Life spell would be far too much. Humans are very good at reading the potential of beings though, they use something called a ‘Status Checker’ that even converts vague abilities like strength to a concrete number. When I learned of the concept of math I can’t say I wasn’t interested. Was it partly that why I didn’t mind playing along with their slavery game? My curiosity got the best of me, in such a difficult time? Enough of this. I’ll have to wait and see what Cosimo does next. This is more interesting that sticking around those farmers. I really was getting bored. Should I be grateful and play along as his friend, just as I played along with the other humans as their slave? That will do for now. He said something last night that disturbed me though. Cosimo said ‘there must be something you want to do, I’ll help with that!’. Just what was I looking for? Revenge? I don’t know who killed them all. No, at that time I just felt like I was finally free, and it sickened me. Thats why I ran away to the human world. I sighed as I heard Cosimo doing some humming. What a catchy tune. I’ll find it. Whatever it is that’s in this world that I want, I’ll take it. I’ll destroy it. If I have to, I’ll go down fighting against the being on back if I need to. Come, Cosimo, lets see the truth of your power!

So it was like that, the two of them a giant Anteater and a human from another world lying on its back raced towards the city of Aleppo. Aleppo itself was a border city that grew as a trade hub between the city-state of Marscione and the surrounding nation of Grunkirk. There was a sea to the east of Marscione that surrounded it on the north and east entirely, and due to the plains dotted with small hills it was great farming territory.  Marscione was the only national power in the country because to the south and west there were treacherous mountains. Naturally people had found safer paths here and there through the mountain ranges and the easiest paths that got the most attention and geoforming to create convenient trade routes formed a border town at the end of them. Aleppo was one of these, and being a small town they would trade with the neighboring powers Grunkirk and Marscione equally, and the mayor of Aleppo would have to have connections with both to be approved. This was a problem. The mayor of Aleppo, Baqashot, was having difficulties. He had his head implanted on the desk in front of him and was half-crying. If only a hero from another world could see him now, they would offer him some sort of administrative cheat from the modern era devised by trial and error of ages of human failure and perseverance. Really though, even they might have trouble with this one. He pulled his head up and you could see his face was screwed up and his hands were supporting his head dutifully. 

“Cherise. Cherise!” 

He grumbled out loud. It was more of a whine.

“Yes, mayor? The emissary hasn’t left his residence yet. There’s still time.”

“Just… bring me all of the alcohol.”

Cherise knew his mood was sour, so she just went to the cold chest and started bringing bottles. He was always like this when war was about to break out. Granted, Grunkirk was threatening for awhile now so this was nothing new. Incidentally, they had treasure chests that were imbued with chilling enchantment runes to function as storage in this world. Incidentally, the chest in the other room was filled with alcohol. The alcohol was not nearly as strong as earth’s moonshine, designed entirely to only affect the mind’s processes with runes using mental magic engraved on them. The liver and pancreas were spared entirely from negative influence, so drinking was only useful for having a good time and making bad life decisions rather than actually destroying the body over a long, protracted period of time. No hangovers to boot. However, addiction is addiction despite being in another world.

Baqashot twisted off the magically sealed tops quickly and took a heavy load into his mouth. It dribbled disgustingly down his mouth into his thick beard and Cherise stood there patiently. Incidentally, she’s the second most attractive woman in this story so far. The ranking goes:

1)Cosimo’s evil yet forgivable because she’s smiling and cute sister, whose name is Maria 

2)Cherise, who is going to die horribly. This is foreshadowing.

3)Timothy

4)Xana, after resurrection via ‘Mediocre’ 

Xana would be still be fourth because Timothy is prettier even as male and an anteater.

Baqashot stared languidly as he slammed the bottle down. He wasn’t even looking anywhere in particular, just imagining his eventual doom and mulling over it.

“I think it’s really going to happen this time. Before, the Grunnies were okay with Marcies tariffs. Since that guy took power though, its all been downhill. Really, I wish someone could just take him out. Just walk in there and kill him and maybe take over the city, become a benevolent dictator, lower the taxes and start a pax marsciona, you know what I mean?”

“Yes, sir.”

Cherise was dutiful and kind and wonderful as a human being. Her homicidal fantasies towards Baqashot was fueling her writing and it was a stable job so her practiced business smile will never waver.

“It’s like, that Dun guy,” 

Dun is the emissary from Dunkirk, a major military faction in Grunkirk. He was the one Cherise was talking about earlier who was going to leave, and give the order to start the invasion.

“Just what does that fat bastard expect me to do? Tell Marcies to shove off? No, no, I can barely function on the taxes as is, I told him that, why doesn’t he care? Why does no one care? This is going to be a war at this point, a war. We’re going to be a staging ground, I’m going to probably get killed with a puppet put in place to keep everything running smoothly, and hell, those damn adventurer’s,” he stopped to breath in more alcohol.

“Those damn adventurer’s are just gonna sit there and just get even more money. Its already untaxable! Grunnies don’t tax’em, Marcies don’t tax’em, why do border towns like us get all the taxes! Not to mention they have enough crazy bastards with their ridiculous magics and sigils and sword arts and shit like that that they could defend the town for once. Whats an army or two? Would Dun even think about attacking if I could get the adventurer’s on my side?”

“It’s quite sad, sir.”

“Just… let Dun go. He’s not the type to listen anymore. I can see it, he’s after fame or money or I don’t know what. Tell Pizmonim to fire the guards. There’s only one choice here, and its to flee.”

“Um, sir. I know the situations difficult but Marcione isn’t even answering to bribes anymore, Lattakyia is the nearest border town but there’s no way they’ll accept you knowing that Dunkirk forces are occupying Aleppo. You have to stay here and attempt to placate them, it's the only chance I see for any of us.”

“Cherise…”

He looked at her with shiny eyes. He knew she was tired of him, but he kept her around because she didn’t quit. To think she was honestly thinking of a way out of this for him. 

“It’s unfortunate but with this being such a difficult issue, not even the adventurer’s will get involved no matter how much money you give them. I suppose you could cast away your name, disguise yourself in a crowd, and leave all your money to a trusted individual in order to smuggle it to another nation outside of Grunkirk…”

“Cherise, don’t kid me with that one. I’d have to leave the money with you, and you’d probably just stay here and blow it on whatever,” he gestured with the bottle in his hand and took another swig.

He slammed the bottle down. 

“I’ll end it here. I’ve been running for far too long, if they want to kill me in my city I’ll go down bowing down as hard as possible offering myself as a supplicant to their cause.”

The light from a nearby window cast a shadow on half of his face. He thought he looked cool as he stood up and said that, but Cherise was busy dreaming of the red stone district and didn’t even notice.

“I’m heading to Dun. Alert him with a bird, I’m gonna bow my head and give him the keys to the city. Here’s hoping that fat bastard is still here eating some crab,” he did a mini toast and drained a newly opened bottle for good luck.

========

“Heh, so this city is called Aleppo? Why does that sound familiar…” Cosimo was scratching his nose. He had an urge to pick it but didn’t want to look uncool, this was another world after all so it might be normal, but he didn’t want to embarrass himself yet.

He sat cross-legged on his steed and stared up at the massive walls, huge thick chunks of some alabaster like white with engraving across the entire circumfrence. It was like a giant canvas, or a page of a novel covered with writing. As Timothy slowed down as they approached the entrance gate and he could see that there were lines of pictures carved in the stone. They were layered on top of each other, like if you could read it right to left in a line. Each band of lines has separators, like the panels of a manga or frames of a painting.  

“I wish Maria could see this, maybe the Japanese God will take her here someday… Hey Timothy, what’s with the carvings on the city walls?”

“Don’t talk to me in the city unless necessary. Pikefaces like me don’t usually have soul communication. If they use the Status Checker on me the guild would regard me as a rare hunt I’m sure, and I don’t want to kill them all if necessary. The carvings are the history of the city-state of Marscione, I overheard a old man talking about how the nation wanted a place to record their history so that even if the people died and the city fell they would still preserve proof they existed on the city walls. If anyone took over the city, even they would be able to understand the pictures and appreciate their worth as art, and so they wouldn’t destroy them and instead use them as a tourist attraction. Instead of protecting the walls by making them tougher, they made them prettier. Quite interesting.”

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“Oh, thanks. You’re right about not talking to you, I made Xana think I was crazy yesterday. You’re quite curious about humanity aren’t you?”

“I just- It seemed like if a people were to  lose everything, then having something that could survive even in another culture or race would be amazing. Like the something from the people themselves defied death.”

“Woah, that’s deep. Almost like how I resurrected Xana the other day.”

“Nothing like that. I’ll be at ease if the Status Checker can explain what that ability is as well…”

Cosimo slid off of Timothy’s back to stand in line. Beasts of burden and carriages were left to the side as a small customs office was set up in front of the gate to check people. At this point, Cosimo was lucky that Xana had offered him some money and her crystal of identification. With that, he would at least be able to get by with a story that he was a farmers son here to purchase goods. Usually this was unforgivable without a crystal of identification, but using that excuse he could also purchase one for himself. It seemed rather important due to what he heard from Timothy. He also asked on the way here about him riding on a Pikeface, to which Timothy replied,

“Why  don’t you just tell them you’re a monster tamer?”

That was the first time he heard Timothy use a mocking voice via Soul Communication. He didn’t know what was wrong with that, of course monster tamers existed in a fantasy world.

He didn’t know that monster tamers did exist, but that they were rather uncommon. There was a similar occupation, ‘Enchanter’ but they usually dealt with items. Usually, that is. It was unfortunate that being a monster tamer was a rare enough occupation to attract the attention of another rare occupation that would lead to Cosimo meeting his first harem member. 

But for now, he walked up to the guard with the spear checking identification and handed over the crystal, a four point star.

“Hmm, this belongs to a ‘Xana’ according to the identification checker. Are you her son?” 

Cosimo balked a little at that but kept smooth in his mind. 

“Y-yeah, I’d here to buy… seeds.”

“You seem a little nervous. Is that Pikeface over there your’s? I saw you riding in on it.” 

The guard decided to drop questioning about the seeds as this kid was clearly a bumpkin with no sense as any farmer would have decent enough cultivation magic to extract seeds from their own crops. Couple that with his strange clothing that was basically just a white sheet and the guard could only take him for a retard that this Xana was exploiting.

“Y-yeah it’s mine. I’m a monster tamer.”

Monster tamers didn’t exist to that guard. He dismissed the kid as a retard. There was no known way to exploit the bonding instinct of beasts known as ‘monsters’ in this world. At least among the people of the northern continents. Of course, that didn’t stop them from being able to use them as beast of burden or mounts, but training for combat was too much. 

“That’s nice. It twenty rukh to get in.”

The kid, Cosimo, pulled out a few coins. He was staring at them. He randomly picked a coin that looked like a penny and handed it over.

“Twenty rukh. I need three more of those coins.”

He was being patient.

Cosimo quickly handed them over. The guard smiled, he was a good person today for being patient with a retard.

He watched the kid walk into the city with no shoes and a pikeface following him. 

“Well, at least he has a well trained beast at his side. A dumb kid like that, they probably shouldn’t of sent him into a city with one that obedient, thats worth a lot of money,” he told it casually to the obviously evil and completely cunning fellow near him who was a fellow guard by day, villain and thief by night. He gave grin of mischief.

“Heh, pikeface like that would be enough to retire on. It’d be a shame if someone stole him.”

“Yeah, I hope he doesn’t get into trouble, this city is pretty rough.”

The villainous guard gave a sneer as his hard working comrade turned around to handle the next entrant. Oh, that boy would be in trouble indeed. The checker said he had Xana’s identifier as well, she was a farmer that the corrupt guard Villanos knew well. He scammed her husband John once by directing him to sell his crops to a short charger. It was easy enough to recommend a good place to sell which was actually giving you far less than you would get just selling on the street. This wasn’t the only reason John and Xana were unable to get through the winter without selling their land, but it didn’t help. He snickered. Xana didn’t have a kid. He remembered her saying how she wanted to have one when things were stable. Even then, he’s way too old. Too perfect. She must have given the pikeface to a random dying kid and gave him clothes and money to get started in the city. To that kid, that beast must have been keeping him alive.

“Heh, Looks like someone’s about to lose their new best friend. I pity him.” 

Villanos snickered again and got back to his job. He would be busy tonight.

====

I made sighed when I got past the gate and felt a sudden ominous aura from behind me. It was probably nothing, so I just kept walking. I wanted to ask Timothy about money but I immediately remembered his warning. I thought it was strange though, the guard just let it go that Timothy wasn’t wearing a bridle or anything. Its another mystery. The city was full of rounded, white huts and there was a popularity of domes. I kept close to Timothy as he promised to lead me to the guild, so I was self-conscious when I saw people staring at me. Not only was I almost naked with just a sheet for clothes and no shoes, I was following a pikeface who had no restraints. Standing out, isn’t that normal for a world transfer story? I breathed a sigh of relief. As long as everything fits the pattern, everything will be okay. It’s good the road is well-paved too, I was amazed by the detail work in the stone masonry. Well, they have magic here so it's probably much easier to decorate things intricately. The entire city was full of the same alabaster white stone with dome like tops, and looking closely I could see little designs like the vines of tree etched all over every building. Across the ground were leaf and loam designs, I even saw some worms and bugs designed in too. That's quite the detail there. There were tasteful partner color stones like beige and light brown to mark the sides of the main roads, with the buildings creeping up to three stories before ending in the dome capping. Up ahead was a building completely out of place though. It was full of windows with glass and shiny metal buckling with rivets driven into a wooden frame. It was mostly wood, I don’t know why it looked like metal was just added onto it. Plating? What, for defense against attack? Beyond that there was no etching at all, in fact the wood used was treated almost like it was entirely clear and the little swirls characteristic to wood weren’t there at all. As I got closer, I saw full length swinging wooden doors and a few types going in and out. There was a guy with an axe as big as him, bald with a scar across his face. He was hefting it on his shoulder easily. The wooden door could swing either way looking at the people going in and there was a patio with tables and chairs with people eating food. My eyes were caught by a interesting looking girl there. Sitting at a table in front of a patio, a girl with a light chest and soft features and a heart shaped face. Brown eyes and messy brown hair that reeked of bedhead, with dark circles under her eyes and a long fat ponytail that looked like a squirrel's tail. It looked like it was being held together with a shiny golden ring at the nape of her neck. Her clothes were tight and she was wearing a corset with a undershirt of thing looking matierial with a cape that went down to right above the small of her back. She was lying on the table like a log with her eyes devoid of light and chin facing forward. I wanted to help her instinctively, but I kept on walking. She’s definitely quality. I rated her immediately as cute, but obviously my sister was still number one in my heart. Feeling that tug, I got scared when she suddenly looked at me with those lightless eyes with dark circles under them. I looked away and patted Timothy, then headed in. For some reason, I saw Timothy’s gaze direct towards that girl as well. Something inside me told me that she was dangerous. I felt a strange pain in my ribs as I walked into the swing doors and walked into the guild. That was where my sister stabbed me yesterday. I didn’t even take a look at it, shouldn’t I be fine though since I can walk? When I remembered squirrel tail girl, I felt the same pain again. Just what is this feeling?

“Hello, welcome to the Aleppo branch Adventure’s Guild. Is this your first time here?”

Oh, she’s courteous. I feel better now, its a girl that cleanses the heart. Just good enough to wash away squirrel girl’s memory.

“I’m a son of farmer from the countryside. I heard anyone could get an identification crystal here and check status.”

“Ah, so then first you have to register. We can do both at once, the status checker,” she pointed to a handheld barcode scanner from a supermarket with a little window on top, “will read your staus and imprint it on a identification crystal. You’re new to this, so you can then go ahead and use that identification crystal to take out loans, store money in a bank, make purchases, add and cast unique spells, open safe deposit boxes, and register for a local identification which will allow you to register for a farmer’s license. That’s what you’re here for right?”

Farmer’s need a license here? Better fake it for now, I don’t know about local identification but this seems good enough.

“Yeah, is there a list of things the identification can do? I also need some local information.” 

“This is an ‘Aleppo Guide for Retards’ and ‘Adventuring for Retards’, both are five rukh”

“Isn’t that name a little…”

“It’s a very popular series. Its all in images so anyone can understand.”

“Literacy doesn’t seem very common, in fact, I don’t know why I can talk to you at all.”

Oops, I slipped there, I got too casual. How will take that though?

“That’s normal though, this really is your first time in a city. Long ago, a great wizard cast an extremely powerful spell that united all languages of the world. So anywhere you go, anyone can talk to anyone. There’s even rumors that some people have a skill called Soul Communication that can talk with living beings who normally can’t speak.”

Ah, she’s great. I wonder why that spell would affect me though, or was this the work of the Japanese God? Either way, I better buy those books. It seems like it destroyed the literacy culture of this world though, oh well.

“So, there’s still regular books with written language in them right?”

“Oh of course, you must have heard of official documents. Its common practice to develop a language for secrets of the state, because only the rich have enough time to devote to learning written words. Also for entertainment.”

“Okay, thanks. I’ll buy both those books.” 

“Then lets do the status check. Hold out your hand.”

I held it out and she held the scanner device pointing down towards the top of my hand and clicked the trigger. I heard little high pitched tones like a friendly sounding geiger counter then a final tone that suggested it was done.

“I’ll transfer this to a identification crystal. One of the things you can do is review your status with it, it’ll say how to do it in the book.”

I bet these books sell really well.

She clicked in into a small machine nearby and I saw a little light flashing on and off rapidly in small box there. 

“It’ll be done soon. Did you also want to register with the guild? You can do that with the identification crystal. It’s five rukh to register.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that too, here’s the money.” I’m glad I had that experience with the guard earlier, although I guess this lady could have helped me too.

“Another thing,” I had to broach this topic as well, “how do I know more about specific abilities that I have? Does the guild test for that?”

“Thats another function of the identification crystal. It’s very important for you not to talk about your status with others you know, people that know the absolute strength of their opponent often get cocky and will take it as a excuse to target someone. It’s a common thing that once people reveal their abilities to each other, that they are often exploited.”

“That sounds harsh… but isn’t it common for people to show off their skills to get jobs and the like?”

“Reputation and a history of accomplishments are really important for that, but the element of surprise is key to being an adventurer. You’ll die horribly if you underestimate anyone, especially if you think level is everything. Many are like that at first, so don’t be like them. Not to mention that even among skill holders and what the status can tell them, often it doesn’t predict the full range of capability. Like if your strength is ninety, and you need at least seventy to lift a certain boulder, even if you put in all your strength you still might not be able to lift it because you simply don’t have a good enough grip or aren’t using your body properly.” 

She cautioned me. Rather mother like isn’t she?

“Also- Ah it’s done,” with a ping, she pulled it out of a swiveling box and touched it to a bigger crystal on the other side of her. 

“I’m registering you now, and, here you go.” 

She handed it over. 

“Did you need anything else?”

“No, thanks a lot.” I pulled away after being polite and toyed with crystal. This one was six sided. I wonder why there was a difference. There was a pub inside the guild here that served food to my right and I was hungry, but I remembered squirrel tail girl and immediately beat a retreat. I was scared because she was still on the patio, but I shook my head because it was dumb to to be worried about a stranger. With this book I should be fine-

Hey, where’s Timothy?