Now that I think about it, following a stranger might be a bad idea. Karkos might be lying to me, and he might be planning to actually eat me.
Thankfully, my worries are unfounded as we arrive at a large building. Looking at the windows alone, I think it's a fifteen-story building.
Karkos steps forward before me, standing in front of the wooden door before he reaches out besides it and presses something. I peer at it and see that it looks like a doorbell.
"Lizsss, thisss Karkosss. Open up."
After saying that, it takes a few moments before I hear footsteps behind the door. It opens with a creak, and from beyond I see a tall woman with horns that I can only compare to a taurus. She wears a black jacket, and beneath is a red shit with the words "Love & Death" beneath it. She wears asymmetrical pants, and there are a lot of chains and spikes on her overall outfit that it honestly hurts to look at.
"Hoh? Karkos huh... and this one?"
"Her namez Arusshi."
"Right... what's with her?"
"Shez lost and have nothingz to ssstay at. I think ssshe'z a Drifter..."
"Alright. I'll take care of the lass then."
After speaking to each other, the tall demon woman's red reptilian eyes point at me.
"Are you fine staying here, girl?"
"Yes."
"... Come in then."
With her permission, I enter the entrance and look at the interiors. Just the initial room looks somewhat gaudy. It has this mix of simplicity and a business-like structure, just like a local hotel. A small flight of stairs leading to elevators and stairs that leads to the next floor and above. Below the slight incline before the small stairs is a floor with tables and chairs that looks wide enough for people to eat on, and on the side just near the entrance is a counter.
I look behind me and notice Karkos absence. Before I can think about that, I hear the tall woman speak.
"That guy already left. He asks me to give you this."
It surprises me noticing her beside me. How did she get near me so fast without me noticing?
I try not to show my shock and offer my free hand before feeling something light yet blocky. When I look at it carefully, I find out that the one she gives me is a smartphone of some sort.
"This city is unlike the other communities who still barter to themselves. We use e-money for our transactions, so you need something like that." The tall woman shakes her head. "Really that guy... what a soft-hearted idiot."
I don't know how to react to this. Karkos is a lot better than what I think of him.
"Ah... thank you?"
"Don't thank me. Thank that crocodile. He's a busybody who does this occasionally."
After saying that, she walks around until she is behind the counter that is near the entrance to this building.
"Okay, so your name is Arusshi?"
"It's Rikuhachima Aru. Aru is my given name."
"Huh... so you might be from the Kuni Community."
I actually want to say I'm from Kivotos, but stop myself. I know I just introduced myself as someone from Kivotos awhile ago, but I really feel like it's a good way of introducing myself as Aru.
I shouldn't make things confusing to the one letting me stay.
"Age?"
Aru's age? If I recall correctly...
"I'm 17."
Yeah, I think that is what is written on her profile.
"Okay, now I just have to take a picture of you."
I just nodded and let her point her own phone at me. I stand properly, face straight, and try to look confident before the flash occurs.
"Alright, that's all. Welcome to Cradle, Aru. Now I'll be leading you to your room then."
"Right, thank you, Miss..."
"... Ah right. I almost forgot." She turns to me with a small smile on her face. "Name's Lizbeth."
Seeing her offering her hand, I accept it. Her hold is firm, so I try to match it and find out that Aru's not that physically strong.
Ouch... She really has a strong grip.
"R-right, it is nice to meet you too."
"Hoh, good grip. You look like you lack muscles there, but you can certainly hold your own. I like you already!" She grins at me.
Okay? I guess?
After that, she leads me to my own room. We take an elevator to get to the fifth floor and go to a room, which she says is empty and has not been in use for a long time, but she still maintains because it is her own business. She tells me to use it while I am still homeless.
Well then, I guess this is the start of my Isekai life.
----------------------------------------
[Avatar (Rikuhachima Aru) entering sleep mode!]
When I think of sleeping with my back lying on the bed and having a passing thought of disconnecting from my body, I suddenly find myself back in this world of eternal darkness.
... No, not really. I can still see Aru's beautiful figure sleeping peacefully in the comfortable hotel bed. It's like I am stuck in a third-person view of her figure as she sleeps, or more like I'm in an out-of-body experience commonly seen in those supernatural movies that involves astral projections and dreaming.
I can still feel my connection to Aru, but it is now distant. I have this instinctual knowledge within my mind that I can strengthen this connection once more and awaken Aru again.
I don't do that, as I want to look at something else. I think of opening my status window.
(Status)
Silver Ticket: 0
Golden Ticket 0
Rainbow Ticket: 0
Character Token: 0
(Avatar Lists)
[Blue Archive]
Rikuhachima Aru - C Tier
I see. So it is still there. I thought I would be stuck in Aru's body forever.
If that is the case, then I think I can use the Gacha and acquire new avatars for myself. I wonder how it will work. I only have a single consciousness. Will I have to abandon one of my avatars to control another?
Anyway, this is a good discovery. Learning that I am still technically awake even if my current body is sleeping is a nice thing to learn. I will immediately know if someone is sneaking up on me while I sleep and deal with them if the time comes.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Other than that, I can access my cheating ability from this emptiness. I think I have to think of a name for this kind of space soon. I don't want to keep calling it eternal darkness or emptiness.
Anyway, going back on topic, this ability let me use one of my favorite things in my life. The power to pull the gacha. There is one thing missing, though.
How can I get a ticket?
I can't do a spin. I need a ticket or at least ten tokens if I want to pull. What kind of gacha is it if I can't even pull anything?
It might as well be a decoration!
So that is the next thing I have to do is find a way to acquire a silver ticket, at least along with other real-life things. I still have to learn more about this world, and then find a way to live comfortably as Aru.
----------------------------------------
[Link to Avatar (Rikuhachima Aru) has been reestablished!]
When evening comes, I link my consciousness back to Aru. I feel rather well-rested even when Aru's body sleeps in the same position during the absence of my consciousness.
I look outside and see that it's already dark. That is natural. I did go to sleep when the day was still out awhile ago. I look to the side and see my gun standing with it's barrel and leaning on the side of the drawer. I have this urge to check it, so I just let my body do it's work while thinking about what else I have to do.
So other than trying to find ways to get tickets for my pulls, I need to learn more about this world. After that is to find a stable income, and then finding a permanent residence other than this. I can't just become a freeloader in this place. I will be disrespecting Aru if I force myself to stay here out of the goodwill of this building's owner.
With that all planned, I return my attention back to reality and realize that I am done with the basic checks on my rifle. I still recall what I am doing there while I am making a brief to-do list in my mind. Even though I don't have Aru's actual memories with her body, her body seems to instinctively know what she usually does on a daily basis.
There are some urges within my mind like checking my appearance and maintaining a villainess persona, checking my rifle, building up infamy in this new world, and more than anything else, finding Aru's friends. I hope it won't take long because I plan to use the Gacha more and acquire avatars.
Anyway, after the simple check on my rifle, I am finally prepared for the day... err, I mean night.
I leave the room and use the elevator to go back to the first floor. When I got there, I saw some people with some inhuman features sitting on chairs and eating something. A delightful aroma hits my nose, and with that as the spark, my stomach grumbles.
"You're finally awake, girl."
I look at the counter and see Lizbeth leaning on her hand, her arm on the counter, as she looks at me with a smile on her face.
"Right... good evening."
"Haha... are you nocturnal? Not like it's surprising for a mutant to have that kind of condition."
"No. Just felt tired this morning."
Actually, I just mess up with my ability and force Aru's body into sleep mode, but I can't really say that without causing more confusion.
"I see. That is normal if you got Drifted."
That term again. What does it mean?
"What do you mean by that? I don't really understand what you mean by Drifter."
"It's fine. That's natural for those who got Drifted. While I explain it to you, would you like something to eat? You got straight to bed without eating, so I think you might be hungry right now."
"Yes. If that will be alright..."
"Of course it's fine. There is no need to be shy here, girl!"
With that, she leads me to a free small table before going behind the counter and calling out to someone. After that, she goes back to my table while I make myself comfortable on my seat and lean my rifle on the wall just beside my seat.
With that, she explains to me about the Drifter and other things that I didn't even ask her. First is about the Drifters.
This is common knowledge in this world. Outside the city is an unstable force that messed up the entire laws of the world. They simply call these eldritch energies, the same energy that caused the collapse of the old civilization they simply called The Fall.
Due to the unstable laws outside this city, there are times when things just happen and cause supernatural effects on certain areas at random. One of the things it does is drag people out of reality and throw them to a weird dimension they simply termed the Otherworld. Those who got dragged to the Otherworld were called Drifters.
From an outside perspective, they look like they got sucked by something in reality. Those who got caught up by this event were termed Drifted, as they have been thrown out of reality with a low chance of getting back. Even if they get back in this reality, most of the time they will go mad or simply lose their memories. Of course, there are also irreparable changes within them, like loss of limbs, permanent paralysis, blindness, and many more.
It is why people adapt to this and even make their own countermeasures so they don't get dragged to the Otherworld. Cradle have many of these countermeasures up their sleeves. A few of them are even publicly available. Newbie rankers can even rent one if they want to start hunting monsters outside the city.
The food has come when she is done explaining about Drifters and is transitioning to other knowledge that should be relevant to me. The one who serves the meal is a cute girl who also has horns and, unlike Lizbeth, is just a few inches taller and has a skin as red as tomato. The sclera of her eyes are yellow, and her eyes look like those of a cat, and her hair is a bob cut with the same kind of horn as Lizbeth's one.
I thank the girl before briefly looking at the array of meals she prepares for me. It's a soup that is slightly viscous and milky, and it has the scent of corn in it. Along with it are slices of bread, three slices of bacon, and a sunny side up egg on one plate.
It's a bit weird eating something like this at dinner. I vaguely recall usually eating rice at lunch and dinner.
Well, whatever. I can't complain about free food. So I start eating while listening to other stuff Lizbeth wants to share with me.
"By the way, guns are pretty expensive in this city."
"... What?"
I felt as if lightning struck me at that revelation. Without stopping, Lizbeth continued as if she hadn't said something that shocked me.
Guns are not necessarily expensive on their own. It's their maintenance that is very expensive. Just the bullets alone will cost a hefty price if I want a constant supply of them, and a custom order will further add to that cost. Gun repair is also costly because the technical job isn't really that popular with the people living in Cradle.
Almost everyone wants to be a Ranker. A Ranker gains a lot of salary and benefits for the city. Those at the top can even rule a district of their own or a city outside Cradle if they can afford and maintain it. So everyone risks their life to become a Ranker.
More than that, those in the Top 100 will get the right to live at the top of the World Tower. It's the irregularly stacked metallic spire that I can see even at this part of the city. She says that the tower is a utopia compared to everything in this world. Anything a person wants is possible so long as they can live inside there.
I wonder just why people don't enter there if the world outside this city is so crappy and inside is supposedly a utopia compared to everything. Something is fishy there.
Not like I am interested. She says competition to enter the tower is fierce. Much fiercer than dealing with the actual threat outside this city. I don't want to join that competition. That is counter to my desire to simply have a stable life and take care of my favorite characters' bodies.
"Anyway, if you want to continue using that fancy toy, you will need a higher income than just staying in this junk."
I felt offended she called Aru's gun a toy, but I held myself back. It is kind of true. She told me about Ability Users and how, most of the time, people have superhuman capabilities that they can dodge gunshots easily. If that is the general power level of the citizens here and they are still considered weak to this city's standard, then I wonder how strong those Rankers are.
"I suggest you become a Ranker. I think you will fit right in."
"A Ranker?"
That is one way, but I want to explore my options first before committing to it. So I ask her about what it means to be a Ranker.
"For one, you have a duty to protect people at times of crisis, but more than that, you will be eligible to compete for a chance to enter the Tower."
"... Sorry, I am not interested in that."
"Well, even if we exclude the Tower, there are many benefits to becoming a Ranker. For one, your standing in the city will rise up. You will have access to facilities only available to them, and then you can join an Association for another."
"Association?"
"Yeah... see this?"
She takes something from the waist pocket on her jacket and then shows it to me. It's a badge that has a cool symbol of a demon's face in fire.
"This is an Association Badge that indicates I'm part of an association."
I see. So that is why she is urging me to become a Ranker.
"Are you trying to recruit me?"
"Oh, I like your gaze." She grins at me.
My gaze?
Ah right... Aru naturally has a scary gaze when she becomes serious. I think I unintentionally did it.
Whatever, it's not something to worry about. It's just one of Aru's quirks that I like, so I will accept it and just move on.
"Anyway, lass, this might look like I am trying to coerce you to join me, but there is no need to be wary. I am simply here to help you. You might not remember, but a support network is rather important in this time and age. Being alone won't cut it."
"... I want to check my options first before making a decision."
"Okay, just take all the time you want. Do you still want to hear your other options?"
With my nod, she continues as if the tension awhile ago is nothing.
Other options she presents to me are becoming a factory worker, a grunt, or someone working in the entertainment district. I ask her to elaborate what she means from the latter part, and when she explains to me in detail what it means, I immediately cross it inside my mind.
No way am I going to sell Aru's body to strangers! Ew! That's disgusting!
She laughs at my reaction much to my annoyance before she continues telling me other minor facts about the city. The currency, common expenses for an average person in this city, exclusion zones, and many more. Even when I am done eating, she talks to me a lot like a friend. Just babbling about whatever as she talks to me.
Hmm... it looks like she genuinely wants to help me. Though I can't really decide right now. I need to think about this through and actually look at the things she tells me I can do to start earning my own keep.
There are a lot of things to think about, but it is an informative time for me. I thanked her after noticing that only we remain in this room.
Tomorrow, I have to check my other options first. Verify first before committing to something. That is a good principle to follow to be safe in a new, unknown world, I think?