"Forgive me for my late introduction. My name is Dewa Emon. It is a pleasure to meet both of you. Also, I'm sorry about the others... Although I won my fights on pure luck, I might have been able to save the others."
"Others?" (Emiko)
Emiko looks around, seeing all the bloodshed from both the orcs and the guards assigned to her. Her eyes turn wide, and her perplexion goes pale. It looks as if she might puke at any moment. Well, any kid would...
"W-we should leave immediately. I'll send someone to pick up the bodies so their families can bury them or do what they want with them. It's not far, but monsters still lurk around. Our cart is damaged, and we have no horses anymore. Please, Dewa Emon, will you escort us back to the kingdom?"
"Huh? Uh, I would, but you see..."
I tell the knight and the princess about my fake endeavors. Both are tearing up, seeming to believe my story.
"Forgive me for bringing up such a sad subject for you... Though, most of my questions about you are now cleared up."
"Emon, don't worry! I'll make sure you enter the kingdom for helping us!" (Emiko)
"Huh? You don't need to go that far, Princess. Knowing your..."
Before I could finish my sentence, Emiko puffs her cheeks as if angry.
"Emiko... Please call me Emiko."
"Hmm? I couldn't do that, P..."
"Emiko!!"
"Eek! (Sigh) Okay, Emiko..."
"Yay!"
Emiko smiles after I call her by name. I have to admit; she's cute...
"Alright, let's depart, so the bodies don't spoil. Plus, it's getting rather late."
I take a peek at the sky and find that it's almost midnight. Wow, how did it get so late!?
Nodding to Mary's comment, we depart to Alfred's capital, the town that I tried to get into. Once there, the guards stopped us but immediately panicked once they noticed Emiko.
"Princess?! W-what happened to your cart! Your clothes are also not in the best condition. Where are the other guards?!"
"Please calm down. Orcs attacked the princess and her party. Sadly, all but me and the princess survived. It's thanks to this boy, Dewa Emon."
Both of the gate's guards look at me with surprised expressions. For some reason, it seems that my name surprised them more than me saving them.
"Dewa? What noble family is that from? Wait, maybe you are from a different kingdom?" (Guard 1)
"Dewa Emon, thank you for saving the princess. Also, please forgive our rudeness earlier! We didn't mean to be rude to a noble such as yourself!"
Noble, huh?! I'm no noble, I think... Not in my past life either, though I guess I was rich enough to be one...
"No, no! You have it wrong. I'm no noble. So please, stop apologizing."
"Huh?" (Both guards)
Both of the guards look at me, surprised. Mary and Emiko stare at me, confused too.
"I-is something the matter?"
"Forgive me if this sounds rude, but nobles typically are the only ones with a full name."
"Hmm? That's weird."
"Is it? I don't think so. Wasn't the town you and your family lived in was like that?"
"Uh, no. We were typical citizens of the town. I mean, we had more money than others, but I don't think that made us nobles."
"Ha... I think you are one, just doesn't realize it."
"I might have been, but everyone in the town had full names."
"Oh, really? I'm curious about your hometown..."
"A-anyway, you are in a hurry, right? We better get inside."
"Your right! Please let us through. We'll pay for this boy's tax for saving us too."
"Huh? Oh, right! Uh, please enter." (Guard 2)
We all enter the capital, though I stopped afterward.
"I think we should depart here for now since we are here. I thank you for getting me inside the kingdom. I hope we see each other again some time."
I bowed and tried to leave when Emiko stops me by holding onto my arm.
"Wait, you must come! Father will want to see you."
"Huh, but why me?"
"Are you serious? I can think of a couple of reasons, but the main one would be saving us from those orcs. The king would want to reward you. Plus, after hearing about how you healed us, he might want to... Well, I don't know what he would do..." (Mary)
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Ah, I see... Well, I think it is too late to do it today. How about we schedule a time for tomorrow or the day after?"
"That should be fine. How about the day after then? Though, will you be fine? You have no money, right."
"Yeah, I should, alright."
Mary looks at me with a doubtful expression. She searches for something within her armor and pulls out coins.
"Take this for now. You might need some money for tonight."
She hands me some silver coins, six in total. I have no idea what the coin value here is, but I might be able to use this to get a weapon or something.
"Thank you. I'll repay you when I see you again."
"You don't have to; you save our lives after all! Plus, you save the princess's life, although in an immortal way..."
"Haha... Anyway, see you in two days, or maybe I should say tomorrow?"
I wave at Emiko and Mary, who are slowly moving towards the center of this town.
Alright, now what? I could go somewhere to experiment, but it's a bit too late to do that. I need to think about the essentials.
"First, I need money..."
And where do you go to get any money? The guild, of course! Now, where is it?
I turn around to one of the guards and ask them. After pointing me the way, I walk in search of the guild.
...
After a few minutes of walking, I finally find the guild. It wasn't that hard to find, especially with the GUILD sign posted above the door with bright-colored letters - it really stands out.
By the way, this city is huge! Well, it is the capital, but it feels larger than what it should be. It has been a straight path since entering. While walking here with Emiko and Mary, I learned by talking to them that this city is built with three districts: Commoner, Noble, Royal. The commoner district surrounds the Noble district. The Nobel district surrounds the Royal district.
In the center of this city, in the royal district, that said, is the King's chambers. This is where the Princess, King, and Queen live.
The quality of life for this city increases with each district. For instance, the roads and houses in the Noble district will look loads better than those in the commoner district, while the Royal district is going to have the best.
So far, the commoner district doesn't seem that bad. I mean, it looks decent. Well, it's a bit pack and crowded but apart from that, it's okay. Actually, it's quite similar to Tokyo, isn't it?
It's currently close to midnight, meaning people shouldn't be out, but I can see some activity on the roads and nearby buildings. I bet it's going to be packed in the daytime, maybe even worst than Tokyo. I mean, these roads don't seem that wide...
Anyway, the guild building seems to be near the gateway to enter the Noble district. I guess it's for any Nobles who want to request a quest or go adventuring.
There are two windows on the front. Just by looking at them, it seems that they are open and allowing quest to be done. Thank goodness!
I was worried that the guild would be closed, but I'm glad that they aren't.
"Okay, let's do this... Huh?"
Before I walk into the guild, I notice something odd. There is a group of people surrounding an alleyway. Wanting to know what is going on, I walk over to them.
Once reaching them and looking into the alleyway, I see the sight of two older men giving a younger girl a hard time. I can sense that the girl is uncomfortable even without using a program. Uh oh... It appears that one of the guys pulled a dagger. The other one pulls a dagger too but is faced at us. He walks closer so that he can speak to us.
"Hey, no crowds! Scram!"
"Eek!" (The onlookers)
Everyone around me makes a panic voice and runs away. I also disappear so that he doesn't notice me but hiding around the corner.
"Heh, wimps. See that lady? No one cares if you are dead or not. Now, it's about time for some fun..."
"..."
The guy turns around and blocks in the girl. Since this isn't right, I make a plan to take action. I mean, honestly, why is everyone a bystander? Take action!
With a nod, I alter the program that I used during the orc fight to increase my strength. I don't bother changing anything else. I pull out the sword from my waist and charge into the alleyway. Oh, the sword is the same one I used in the fight with the orcs. Marry allowed me to take it.
Once I charged in, I slice the front men's back and use the hilt to knock the man unconscious. Thankfully my current mana allows me to increase my strength high enough to make this possible.
The other man notices his fallen comrade and shouts at me.
"You?! What in the world are you doing, brat! Die!"
The man ignores the girl and charges at me. He takes a stabbing position, rushing me with his dagger. Seeing a small opening, I wait till he gets near and then trip him with my leg. Then I smack his head with my sword's hilt, knocking him unconscious.
"Well, that was easier than expected."
It seems like having high mana is necessary if I want to be strong...
I move both of the men to each other and then check up on the girl.
"Miss, are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, umm, yes! Thanks to you."
I ignored her looks earlier, but I can see why these rotten men did what they did when I'm standing right in front of her. I mean, she's beautiful!
She has short brown hair with brown eyes. I look to the side of her head and notice that her ears are pointy, unlike human ears. I guess that means that she's one of the most popular figures on Earth, Elves. Despite my expectations, she isn't wearing anything green. Her outfit seems to be normal work clothes, though they are dirty.
"Nah, I didn't do that much. That said, I think it's awful that people just stared at the scene instead of trying to help. I mean, they could at least called the guards."
"I don't think anyone would do that. There has been an increase in crime lately that even the guards wouldn't do anything."
"That's awful. Oh, pardon me. My name is Dewa Emon. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"! U-uh... Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you, Sir. Emon, my name is Nina."
"Sir? You don't need to address me like that. Emon is just fine."
"But I couldn't! Speaking to a noble like that would be..."
"Hmm? Oh, sorry. I'm not a noble. You see..."
I start telling my fake story to Nina. Like always, she cries near the end of my tale.
"That's so sad! I'm so sorry about your endeavors and bringing them up. Emon, it's nice to meet you too."
"Yeah. Anyway, I'm going into the guild so that I can register. I'll leave these two for you."
"Wait! What about..."
"If they have any bounties, you can have them. Anyway, I've got to go!"
I depart and enter the guild before Nina counterargues.
...
I haven't been in any building yet, but it seems that they put some money into making this place look good by just looking around. The walls are all white, and the floor is made up of some type of wood. It makes the atmosphere calm but also says that they mean business.
When entering, you are greeted by the sight of a hallway. That said, you can clearly see the reception desk that is a couple of meters in front of the door. The walls stop mid-way to the desk, too, on both sides. That said, there are walls at the desk. The hole or space that breaks the walls opens up to two rooms.
The left room has four big boards with paper all on them. Some adventurers are walking around, chatting, and looking on these boards. There are a couple of tables with chairs in the room too. I guess it is for chatting? Between the chairs and tables is a separate board with big letters on it, Party Help. Based on its name, I'm guessing it's a board to help find party members...
The right room has five big boards with paper all on them. There are fewer adventures in this room. There is also a section with chairs and tables with a board for parties.
The front desk is long, allowing up to seven receptionists to work and help adventurers. There is only one receptionist working at the moment, taking up the center position. It seems that she's busy, so she didn't notice that I entered. Anyway, I should go up to her so that I can register.
I walk forward and reach the receptionist's desk.