Alright, it’s time to head down to the guild and meet Remi for whatever it is she has planned. On a side note, I hope Quincy doesn’t use the portal in the castle to get to the library because I think I’m still in range of where it would mess him up. Gotta do something about that, but reading books is painful. God only knows why he likes them so much. If he does find a way to go home, I might be inclined to go with him. I haven’t exactly had the greatest time since coming to this world. I fell out of the sky, got attacked by a monster, got punched in the dick, got this prophecy forced on me, and probably got labeled a lolicon by Quincy. At least I’m safe from the FBI unless they get isekai’d, too. Nah, that wouldn’t happen, only the IRS is crazy enough to do that.

I meet up with Remi at the guild and she yells at me for being late. I also mention my decision to recruit Nazuko.

“Wait a moment you what?! I think this is a really bad idea,” Remi says while she pulls out a bunch of papers.

“No I think it’s going to be okay, she’s a good person although her demeanor is a little.... uncouth you could say,” I say trying not to recall what happened this morning.

“Yep it’s gonna be fine,” says Nazuko as she comes out of nowhere.

“Gah, where did you come from? I thought I told you to stay in the castle!” I say, shocked at her sudden appearance.

“Yeah, but you didn’t say it was an order so the geas didn’t activate. Plus, I got bored of waiting and even read that weird book you have in your room and I threw up a minute later. So, I followed you here,” she responds.

“Oh great, just don’t steal anymore stuff from me would you,” Remi states in disgust.

“Don’t worry dumb elf girl, you don’t seem to have anything of value so you're pretty much worthless,” Nazuko says bluntly.

“What was that, you stupid little!” Remi rages.

The two girls start to fight in the middle of the guild getting everyone’s attention. Oh boy if these two are gonna start a cat fight I might have to order a drink and chill with Armstrong. The man in question appears and walks up to me.

“AH BOY THERE YOU ARE. I’ve been assigned to train you starting next week so you better get ready. AND PUT 50 GOLD ON THE LITTLE ONE, SHE SEEMS CRAFTY!” Armstrong yells to the guild girl as she starts to take bets on who will win the fight.

You know, I shouldn’t be promoting a fight between future party members, but Remi has been nothing but nice to me since I came here--although a little self absorbed. Also, I want her to kick Nazuko’s ass because of what happened yesterday.

“KICK HER ASS, REMI! AND PUT 90 GOLD ON THE ELF!” I yell as I bet all of the money I have in my possession.

“That’s the spirit boy! I think you’ll fit around here,” Armstrong laughs.

The fight ends with Nazuko knocked out on the floor, while Remi is standing on a table celebrating with a mug in her hand. Yes! For some reason I knew who would win that fight. Thieves are usually fast and agile, so they can’t really take a hit. Also there’s not much room to evade with everyone crowding around them.

After doubling my money from the bet, Remi comes up to me and says,

“Okay with that nuisance out of the way, I came here to tell you I’ve been looking for other adventurers to party up with. But, it might take a while, since almost everyone here is part of an established group and there’s not that many people willing to team up with fledglings like us.”

So that’s what those papers earlier were for. They were adventurer profiles.

“Even if they know I’m the hero? I thought people would be lining up for an opportunity like that,” I assumed.

“It’s especially because you are the hero. A lot of the people here are kind of scared of the demon waves. You know how they destroyed the empire 2000 years ago plus I feel like many people here are adventurers for the money,” Remi concludes.

“Like you?” I joke.

“I’m not just in it for the money, I want to be a hero for the glory too. And, maybe money wouldn’t hurt, but I digress,” she murmurs.

So she’s going to be looking for suitable members while I start my training, huh? At least we're both doing something.

“You mentioned something about fledglings earlier right? Is that like an adventurer ranking or something?” I inquire.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to explain how the guild works. Basically, there are 9 ranks and three tiers with three ranks per tier. Firstly, there’s the Birth tier that includes the ranks: Fledgling, Vagabond, and Nomad. These are the beginners, like us,” Remi mentions as she takes a drink from her mug.

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She continues,

“Then, there’s the Hero tier which includes the ranks: Champion, Savior and Messiah. These guys are pretty cool and most adventurers in the guild are somewhere between the Hero and Birth tier.”

Hmm if most adventurers are between those tiers, then what’s the final tier for.

“Finally, there’s the badass, ‘shit-your-pants tier’, as Armstrong calls it. This includes the ranks: Overlord, Titan and God Slayer. These guys are absolute legends and are super powerful. Armstrong’s at the level of an Overlord and he’s pretty much the strongest guy in the entire guild. I think only the original guild leader of Dragon’s Descent ever attained the rank of God Slayer and maybe the old wizard Vasavir might be at the level of a Titan if he was part of the guild. Nobody’s ever managed to beat him in a fight so he’s probably really strong,” she concludes.

“The quests are ranked from 1 to 9 stars and correlates with your rank. There’s also a subranking that tells how likely you are to die attempting the quest that is usually written by the person who posted the quest and sometimes the guild’s secretary. But I usually ignore that ranking,” Remi declares. Figures, I doubt Remi has a good sense of self preservation.

After my meeting with Remi, I decide check out this North Point place since I have nothing to do. Poop, I just remembered I need to get there by using a portal. How do I not injure myself since I’m definitely going to fall out of the air again. . . ahh I got it. I step right in front of the portal and suddenly grab Nazuko.

Startled by the sudden embrace she squeals,

“Kyah! Will, I was only joking about this morning. My body really isn’t ready for such intimacy yet!”

Ignoring her perverted comments I drag us both through the portal and just as you know it we’re falling. However I planned for this as I positioned myself so that I could land on top of Nazuko to reduce the damage from the fall. I think I just pulled what is called a pro gamer move, as I carry her unconscious body to the large training arena in front of me. I would feel bad, but this is revenge for my dick yesterday.

This place looks pretty fancy, there’s a large arena that looks like a modern colosseum and a large open field where I see a bunch of knights training. It looks like the knights are having a competition as they’re gathered around two knights in an intense duel. One of the knights battling looks really fat and out of shape as his armor looks like it’s bulging from the stomach. The other knight looks like a beautiful blonde haired girl, but her armor is of a different design, unlike the fat knight.

I also see the knight with the large lance who grabbed my wrist yesterday come up to me and ask,

“Young hero, what are you doing here? Your training doesn’t start for another week.”

“I had nothing to do so I thought I’d come check the place out. Plus I don’t want to go to the library with Quincy since I’ve learned that books are deadly here,” I remark.

He’s going to be fine, I hope.

“Also, who are you? I don’t think we’ve been acquainted as of yet?” I question.

“I am Marianne. Should I be concerned about the small girl in your arms?” she queries.

“Um yeah don’t worry about it, it would take too long to explain,” I assert, trying not to divulge the fact that I used Nazuko as a cushion.

“So who are the two knights fighting down there?” I ask, attempting to change the subject.

“The fat one is Luther, best to ignore him--if you can. He’s not someone you want to be acquainted with. The second one is not actually a knight, but a talented swordsman who we’re in charge of protecting. She’s one of the best swordsmen amongst the imperial knights,” Marianne answers.

The blonde girl looks like she’s around my age and seems to be very good with a sword as she has just defeated the fat knight in front of me. I wonder why she needs protection; maybe she’s connected to someone important.

Maybe that girl can train me to learn swordsmanship and if she’s one of the best amongst the knights then even better.

“Here hold her for a second, I want to go talk to that girl,” I say as I give Nazuko to Marianne.

“Hey wait!” she yells.

I walk up to the blonde girl and introduce myself,

“Hi, I’m Will, I’m also apparently the hero, according to an ancient prophecy.”

“Hello, I am Lilith. You must be the person I’ve been hearing about--who’s been labeled the portal menace. It’s literally raining cats and dogs around here. It’s a good thing that cats always land on their feet,” she jokes.

Great, now I have a stupid nickname thanks to my powers.

“Well, aside from that, I’ve been wondering if you could train me in the way of the sword. I have to get ready to go on an adventure soon. I think you could be a good candidate since you look like an amazing swordsman!” I exclaim attempting to flatter her.

She perks up at the word adventure for some reason.

“Umm, hmmmm. I’ve never trained anyone before, but it seems like a fun way to pass the time. Okay only on one condition,” Lilith declares.

“Okay, what?”

“I want you to tell me everything about the prophecy and to tell me about the adventures you’re going to have every time you return to Colonus,” she adds.

“Umm, okay, sure, I guess,” I say, agreeing to her condition.

That was weird, I thought she was going to ask me to do something stupid or swear fealty to her or something.

“Okay, then it’s settled. Alright, Will, I’ll teach you how to be the best swordsman, but be warned--I’ll be a strict teacher. Let’s start now, pick up that wooden sword over there and we can begin,” Lilith commands.

“Wait now, I’m not supposed to start training until next week,” I argue.

“Well, you know what they say, right? Early dragon catches the basilisk, and you don’t have anything else to do, right?” she expresses.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard that saying before but alright.

I pickup the wood sword and for the next 4 hours Lilith beats the basics of proper swordsmanship into my body. Everything hurts as I start to develop bruises all over. Gah, why did I come here in the first place? I’m not a go-getter. Curse my curiosity. This is probably karma for using Nazuko as a cushion isn’t it? I swear if one of the Gods is the God of karma, I hope that one is worshiped the least in this city. I secretly hope that Quincy has found a way to go home in the library and hasn’t succumbed to a death book or something.