“Yes? How can I help you?”
“Um, we want to do this request”
I show her the cleric’s escort quest. She takes the parchment from me and reads it, after which she takes another long notebook like thing which looked like a logbook. After reading it for a while, she replied.
“Ah yes. The requestor is Niviel Margistra, the All healer. He has given the contact timings, and the slots are still open. I can’t give you the quest unless he approves that you are up to the task, so you’ll have to meet him for it.”
“Ah, yes. Where can I meet this… Niviel?”
“I’ll draw you a map, so please hold on”
The receptionist san opens a door and goes to the back of the guild. Since we were free for now, I started checking the bestiary.
The bestiary was a thick book with a cover that looked like it was made years ago. It described everything about monsters in these parts, according to ranks. Adventurers who fought with the monsters gave reports about their characteristics, and their weaknesses, which was then entered into the bestiary. Of course, giving information would give you a substantial reward. The guild would cross check it, of course, and if it turned out to be fake, you had to pay a fine. There were quests from the guild even for crosschecking, but those were given only at much higher ranks.
I browsed through the bestiary, which was strictly for silver and bronze ranked. The monsters were not especially strong, like the Nores and Curas, and there were a lot more.
“Ooooh! Is that a slime!”
I exclaim, looking at the mass of red stuff that looks like the major opponents of level 1 players in RPGs. A slime.
“A slime? No way. Slimes are platinum ranked monsters. Those are Sludges, a weaker variant of slimes.”
I see. Sludge huh. Isn’t that just a synonym?
Mili was gorging herself on some food in the restaurant since she hadn’t eaten anything in the morning. I gave her a little bit of leeway since she worked hard in the morning too. Maria waited with me, and glanced at the bestiary from time to time.
Finally, the receptionist san came out, and handed me a paper.
“Yes, this is the map. Just follow the path and you’ll get there in no time”
“Thank you”
After thanking her, I left the place, with Maria and Mili. Mili kept eating, refusing to leave any leftovers. She might be more of a glutton than my Rebellion.
Still, Rebellion huh. It’s been a long time since I used it. I miss swinging that katana.
“No matter how you look at it, how is this even a map?!”
I sighed, exasperated by the receptionist san’s ‘map’.
Maria had already given up the moment she saw the ‘map’ and was wandering the streets, asking for directions.
The map was nothing but scribbles, like a kid’s piece of art. There were lines here and there, and I could distinctly see something that looked like a small building. I think that was a miniature version of the guild, or a monster attacking a city.
I crumpled the paper and put in my pant’s pocket, giving up on using the map.
We asked around, and searched for Niviel Margistra the cleric. Luckily, his adventurer title, All healer was well known enough for us to track him down to a tavern, the Unicorn.
“Speaking of which, Yuuya, what’s your adventurer title?”
Maria asked me, and I pretended not to hear. That name, is erased forever from my mind. I never had that name. Nope, neve—
“Chaos king”
Mili! You traitor! She has an evil grin on her face, and was one step away from becoming a supervillain.
“O-oh I see.”
Maria looks taken aback from this, and she barely holds in her laughter. I knew it was a bad idea. My dark past..
Suddenly, Maria’s eyes widen, and she looks at me with shock.
“?”
“Yuuya, you, by chance, aren’t ‘the’ Chaos king right?”
“Eh? I accidentally kept it as my title Maria! Please don’t tease me!”
“Y-y-you’re the Chaos king?!”
“Maria!”
“The adventurer who wiped out the death claw!?!”
Death claw? What’s that?
Oh right. The hideout of those Curas. Yup yup. Those annoying minor dragon species. I fiddle with the bracelet, one of my spoils from the hunt. The knife was in my boot, as an emergency measure.
“I guess? How do you know that, Maria?”
“How do I know that?! Isn’t the Chaos king a celebrity in Ravenblack? The person who wiped out the death claw, a place where even platinum ranks hesitate to dive into! And the adventurer, Chaos king, wiped out the entire den singlehandedly! The guild news was raging about it!”
“Oh~ Is that so.”
So that’s why the title is needed huh. Your title is a pseudo name, if you don’t want your identity to be revealed. That’s convenient.
“Maria, what’ s your title?”
“Artemis’s arrow”
“Artemis?”
“She’s the god of archery, and hunting.”
Artemis? Wasn’t that a greek goddess? How did—
Maybe someone from our world came here and spread greek myths here? This is new.
“Yuuya, you don’t know about Artemis?”
“I don’t I guess”
“I’ll tell you~!”
Before Maria could begin her lesson, Mili cuts in, and starts the story on her own.
“Long time ago, there was a woman who came down to this world. She called herself Artemis, and she always had the bow by her side. From a young age, she hunted with the bow, and when she became older, she became one with the bow and transcended, and became a goddess.”
Mili cuts the story short and finishes it, leaving Maria with her mouth gaping.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Mou! Mili chan! I wanted to say it!”
“Slowpoke”
Mili climbs on my cloak and sits on my shoulders. It’s her ‘spot’ it seems. Well, whatever suits her fancy.
And so we walk towards the Unicorn, squabbling and quarrelling.
A person who understood archery completely huh. And she ‘came down’ to this world. Could it be, that even otherworlders can become gods here?
Hiding my doubts, we entered the tavern, a dingy place like you would see in the cowboy movies. The bartender was a burly man, no, not a man, but an orc. With his teeth jutting out, he looked like he was brought straight from an RPG. He looked repulsive, but not repulsive enough. He was wiping a glass, and grunted after seeing us.
I walk upto him, and he looks at me.
“Niviel Margistra?”
He grunts, and gestures with his chin towards a table in the corner. I slid a few silvers onto the counter, like in the movies, and walk away magnificently.
“Yuuya, why did you pay him?”
Maria asks me, bewildered. Geez, she’s such a child. Isn’t it obvious?
I walk upto the man, pull the chair and sit down.
He wore a hood, which covered most of his face. When I sat, he looked up at me. The bottom of his chin was furry, and I could see a nose which looked like a button. A beastman huh.
I sit there, waiting for him to say something.
He sits there, waiting for me to say something.
Now that I think about, what should I do at this moment? Whisper the code words?
Maria holds her head, as if she had a headache and taps me on my shoulder. She gestures towards another man, and beckons me to follow.
Haha~ That’s embarrassing! I got the wrong man!
I thank the beastman for keeping me company, and wished him luck. He thanks me back, and goes back to sipping his tea. What a nice person.
Hiding my embarrassment from going to the wrong person from Mili, I head over to the man Maria had begun chatting with.
Mili snickers and looks away. I messed up. Badly.
“Ou! You guys are the ones who took up the request huh!”
The man wore a large white robe, suitable for his size. His figure suggested he was a battle hardened warrior, but the cleric’s robe ruined the image.
He had ginger red hair, in a high and tight style, with the sides of his head shaved. He looked about 30 years old, like a typical middle aged man.
He surveyed us from top to bottom, and then made a comment.
“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t look like you’re the guys whom I need”
Well, that was obvious. I looked more like a thief class or magician rather than a warrior class.
And Maria was an archer.
And Mili was a child.
An assortment of oddballs, so to speak.
But Maria began persuading the man, with subtle hints.
“Are you sure? But I think we should introduce ourselves first.”
The man look disinterested, but gestures for us to sit nevertheless.
“Niviel Margistra, the All healer from gold ranked party Baphomet”
He smirks, as if he was superior to us.
“Maria Chris, Artemis’s arrow, ex member of platinum ranked party Air walkers, now member of rankles party Dusk Hunters”
The man’s eyes widen a bit, but Maria introduces me before I could do it.
“This man is Yuuya, the Chaos King. You know, the Sarol exterminator. Also, he one hit KO’ed Marco, the mithril rank. The Mithril breaker, Yuuya”
What’s with those names?! But the man looks shocked, and his eyes widen, to the edge of his face. Whoa, what an exaggerated reaction. Am I the devil in these parts? Forget low key, I’m just too well known now. At least my appearance is not so—
“Now that I look at it, his short black hair, his eyes which look like the depths of hell, he matches the description of the Mithril breaker!”
Depths of hell?! What do you mean, depths of hell!
I stay silent, since opening my mouth would only get it pierced by rapid fire from Maria’s arrows.
“Not to worry, we won’t cause any trouble. I trust you’ll reconsider us?”
The man sighs, as if he’d given up.
“If I say no to the Mithril breaker, I’d most likely be giving up diamonds for rocks. Fine. You guys can go along with her”
“Him?”
I ask, bewildered. It’s not this guy?
“Isn’t it obvious, Yuuya? He’s a warrior, obviously not a cleric. I’m assuming he came as a proxy for the actual requestor. Am I right?”
He sighs, and began talking.
“Right you are, lil missy. The name’s Reginald, Gold ranked warrior. Niviel wanted to get to Ugras to meet her uncle, since he’s sick. So she requested me to act as a proxy, since she was scared of meeting strangers. What a silly girl”
A proxy? Then, Niviel is a girl?! Wait, Niviel is an androgynous type of name from the start, so I can’t complain. A girl huh.
“I’ll inform her. You guys are the only ones coming right?”
“No, there’s one more girl, she’ll be coming with us too. Not to worry, we’ll take care of ourselves, including food and shelter.”
“I see. One more girl, huh”
The man lets out a murderous glance at me. What did I do?!
“She was preparing to set out the day after the morrow. We’ll be there at the southern gates, and we’ll head out at dawn. Understood?”
“Yes. Then, later”
“Fare thee well”
We say our goodbyes and leave.
On the way out, I gave some coins to the beastman since he looked broke. Maria glared at me, but I ignored her, unperturbed.
He was such a nice guy indeed.