The second thing that became apparent to Ryuji as he looked around the guildhall, was that he was going to have a hard time doing most of the things he wanted to do here. As Ryuji looked around, he saw several signs but he couldn’t read the language at all. That was going to be a major hindrance to his plans. For now, he needed a good cover story but he would need to learn the language as soon as possible.
As he looked around, he was being jostled by the people behind him trying to get to their destinations. Ryuji spotted some benches against a nearby wall and made his way over to them. As he sat on the bench, he was only able to observe the areas of the guildhall between people but it was enough for him to get a general idea of the place’s layout.
There was a wide-open area the entire width of the building just inside the doors. After a few wooden posting boards and some benches against the walls, the area began to split into different sections. On the right side next to the bench that Ryuji was sitting on was the entrance to the tavern. Opposite that was a row of counters where guild employees stood helping lines of customers. Between the two in the center of the hall was a broad flight of stairs leading upwards and more people were coming down from there than there were going up. Ryuji guessed that the second floor must be for higher-level mercenaries or perhaps housing of some kind. Behind the stairs on either side was a wall with a door leading further back into the guild building.
The entire setup was well laid out and everything went fairly smoothly. Ryuji could see that there were some unruly people here and there but for the most part, everyone was just there to take care of their business and move on. With a bit of anxiety about the whole situation and a little more about the language Ryuji got up and made his way toward the counters.
As he approached the counter area, he saw that there were several counters and that the lines for each were fairly long but there were a couple on the far side of the lines that didn’t have many people in them. As he looked closer, he noticed something else about the people in the longer of the lines. Most of them were holding slips of paper or parchment. The people in the shorter lines were not and that led Ryuji to believe that the shorter lines might be for signing up while the longer ones were for quests.
As Ryuji approached the two shorter lines, he chose to stand in the longer of the two. That would give him a little longer to come up with a reason that he couldn’t read. Not being able to read was probably common enough but probably not to those who looked like nobility. Since he couldn’t pretend to be a barbarian, he considered the possibility of telling them he was from another country but decided against that rather quickly. As he got right up to the counter he ran out of ideas and just decided to say he forgot how.
The clerk behind the counter was a young boy about twelve years old. At first, Ryuji was surprised by this but then it occurred to him that this was a low-tech culture so the age of adulthood was probably lower as well. He was wearing the same uniform as the rest of the clerks so he had to be an employee and he had helped the people in front of Ryuji so he knew his job. There was no reason not to trust his capability.
The slightly tan and rail-thin boy looked at him with eyes full of enthusiasm poking out from under a drape of light brown hair and spoke in a clear and practiced tone. “How may I help you today? Are you new to the guild and here to register?”
Ryuji decided to play the confused victim card, because he didn’t really have much else he could do. “Well, yes? I think so anyway but you see, there are a few problems. I don’t remember my name for one. When I woke up outside of town I just came in as quickly as possible and got a room for the night. For all I know, I may already be a member of the guild. One more thing that is more troubling than that, I remember how to count but I can’t remember how to read.”
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The boy looked at him with wide eyes for a moment before the next guy in line coughed and brought him around. “Okay sir, I’ll ask you to stand over there by that door and somebody will be out in a minute to get you.”
Ryuji did as he was told. As he was walking away the boy yelled next and the line shuffled forward. Ryuji stood at a door next to the clerk's windows and waited. He wasn’t sure whether the boy had believed him but he knew he had no alternative if he wanted to join any guild. It didn’t take long before the door opened and a cute girl stuck her head out and motioned him to follow her inside the back of the registration area.
They made their way to a small room in the back where she asked to see his guild pendant or his identity pendant. He looked at her with a puzzled expression so she pulled out a necklace with a small iron pendant on it and as he looked at it he could tell it wasn’t like his. He felt around on his neck and pulled out the necklace and held it up with a blank expression.
The moment the girl saw it she got a worried look on her face. “You say that you don’t remember anything? *Ryuji nodded his head* Would you mind if I took a look at that for a moment?”
He wasn’t sure what she was about to do but if she were to try to swipe it then what could he do? He shrugged and handed it to her and she examined it carefully before pulling out a weird device that could only exist in a fantasy setting like this. It was a pair of large crystal clusters with a thin crystal sheet between them. She set the device on the table in the room and put the pendant on one corner of the screen. She waited for several seconds as lines of information moved over the screen.
The moment it was done she looked at him with surprise written all over her cute western-featured face. “Sir, what did you say your name was?”
Ryuji got the feeling that this might have been a mistake. “I don’t know. I’ve been calling myself Ryuji after a birdcall I heard when I woke up but I have no idea what my actual name is. Sorry.”
The perhaps sixteen-year-old girl shook her head and motioned him over with a slender arm. “I think that the magic of your pendant has been distorted in some way. I’ve never seen anything like this!”
As the girl said the last part, she placed his pendant back on the corner of the screen and what Ryuji saw shocked him though he did his best to hide it. Fortunately, the girl was watching the screen and not his face. What followed was a series of documents. First up was his birth certificate from the hospital in Shibuya, followed closely by his graduation papers from each of his schools, and finally, by the awards that he got in various classes.
As the last of these documents scrolled by, the girl looked at Ryuji again and asked the million Yen question. “Do you know what any of that is? I’ve never seen personal documents like those. I also have no idea what that weird language is all about.”
Even though Ryuji knew what each one said and what they all were he couldn’t say so. “No, as I said I can’t seem to remember how to read and I can’t read that either. I can almost remember what some of the signs around the lobby say but it just won’t connect. So what do I do now?”
The girl, who was wearing the same uniform as the rest of the employees, brushed her light golden hair aside as she looked at his pendant in front of her and brought her hand to her chin in thought. She was a little shorter than him when he was human so she was a full head shorter than his current body. She thought for about ten seconds before seemingly reaching a decision.
As she turned to him, she put on a bright smile that seemed to light up the room but there was something else in that smile that he couldn’t place. “Okay sir, Ryuji, was it? An odd choice for a name but I’ve definitely heard stranger. Well, I guess that this means you’ll be needing all new documentation but I must say I’m surprised that they didn’t do this at the gate entrance. Now before we proceed, I need to inform you that there will be fees involved for the documents as well as for my services.”
Suddenly Ryuji was able to place that look, the same look that certain pretty girls got when talking to the richer boys at his school. That was a look that said please be my meal ticket, not that Ryuji minded because he would have plenty of money for anything he wanted to do. So trying not to be too flashy about it this time he pulled out the half-filled pouch.