Her eyes spurred open and her trembling pupils dilated into the size of peas as she peered into the dead, lifeless void of the man's eye-sockets that seemed to be mere moments away from consuming her whole.

"I'M SO SORRY FOR THIS MR. BALLS!! I BEG FOR YOUR FORGIVENESS!!" She promptly shot up stiffly before punctually lowering her head.

Her heart rate skyrocketed and her face began sweating buckets, some drops even falling onto the floor below. Jenny had not slept the night before, instead, she had stayed up the entire time completing miscellaneous tasks and extra work in order to help make up for her blunder of embarrassing and disrespecting a future adventurer by laughing at his name, especially one as capable-looking as him. In her eyes, it was a massive stain on her reputation and she needed some way to wash it off, she did not know what got into her the day prior and what exactly provoked her to act so childish and unprofessional.

This was not the first sleepless night of work she endured, though this was the only time she felt so fatigued to the point of falling asleep.

She could not believe her luck, this was the first time doing such a thing, and it had to be just as that man came. More than once, she was warned about the dangers and reality of her job but she pushed onwards, only now that she was face to face with that hardship did she truly understand, and it did not even take a month of working to reach such a point.

She was certain that the man in front of her could ruin her life if he so pleased. The vision of her entire world crumbling after she had struggled so tirelessly to get to where she stood now was vivid in her mind.

Almost more than any other time in her life, she wanted to curl up into a little ball and cry, that or to be buried and forgotten about rather than be remembered as a failure…

"Don't concern yourself with such minor things. It's no inconvenience." After what felt like an eternity, the man finally spoke his first words that sounded cold and harsh in tone but rather different in meaning.

On the outside, Jenny did not react, but on the inside, her mind raced at his response that she did not at all foresee.

"Thank you so much for your kindness! It truly means a lot! I cannot begin to apologize enough about yesterday…" Her voice was unsteady, and she waited patiently for a response which felt like it took forever as more sweat flowed from her forehead and onto the ground.

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"Fear not, I don't hold it against you, you were simply doing your job, now ca—"

"THANK YOU SO MUCH MR BALLS! I PROMISE IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN!!" Her heart began racing even wilder, and her bow was now a near nighty degree angle as a massive sense of relief overcame her body.

"Hey, lady, can you calm down? Everyone is looking at us…"

*OOP* She shut her mouth and took several deep breaths.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh-oh yes! I'm okay mr. balls, thank you for worrying about me!"

"please don't call me balls…"

"I'm s-so sorry! Mr. BallsDeep69,"

"Not that either!" She heard the frustration in his voice that suddenly shifted, and she immediately quivered. "That name was all an accident that I shall not explain to the likes of you, all you need to know is that my true name is Alucard. That is the name I want to be referred to by."

"Alucard? That is quite the odd name, but one that sounds very exotic…" She nodded slightly, only to hear an annoyed voice coming from above.

"My face is up here, why stare at the ground?"

"I apologize!" She shot up stiffly once again and trained her gaze towards him. "I simply wanted to show my sincerest apologies for my previous actions."

"I see… You should just calm down, I won't eat you. Too much stress is very bad you know," He sighed and slightly nodded his head, and before she even had the chance to respond or apologize with anything past an initial reaction, Alucard spoke once more. "Anyways, I came here to ask if I could have or purchase an in-depth copy of the city map?"

"O-oh yes!" She scrambled around her desk and pulled out a piece of paper tied with a red bow.

"One free map will be provided to each adventurer by the guild! I got the impression from your name, but are you not from around here?"

"No… I am from a land far far away, you need not concern yourself with the private matters of your client lady." His eyes seemed to pierce into her heart as he grabbed the paper from the desk and took one last look at the trembling woman before he began walking away.

That was when he heard a voice come from behind him, and he immediately turned around. "Are you not hungry? Do you not need the free meal you paid for from the guild?"

"Not today! I have a restaurant I want to eat at in mind, nevertheless, thank you for the reminder lady!" He waved her off, the few men still in the hall eating their meal staring at him as he walked towards the door.

But, out of everyone in the room, Jenny's stare was by far the most intense.

She immediately clasped her heart, feeling it to be like a battering ram trying to break out of her chest.

Things had not gone nearly as she had initially envisioned it in her head when she had woken up to see him staring down at her.

Her hurting mind spun in circles as she tried her best to take in everything that had just occurred. She had so many questions that she was unable to ask.

That was by far the oddest interaction she had with an adventurer, and she was conflicted on how she should feel.

But, despite all of that, the last thought she had as she stared at his back leaving through the dim light of the swinging door was how she felt like he was moving rather rigid and strange, like he was carrying something heavy before the other thoughts consumed her…

'J-Just who is that man...'