Whrrrrr!

The Pegasuses move swiftly while maintaining the balance.

Sitting Inside the Wagon hearing the usual rant.

“Kazuki-dono are they always like this?” Ludwig said to me who was sitting across, as he had heard Belle and Rogu’s usual babble for almost 6 hours now since we departed from Olivine Village. I wasn’t sure that all four of us would end up riding the same carriage but I guess it is what it is.

(Belle was excited, talking about how she couldn’t wait to explore Emeraldorr’s shops, while Rogu kept mocking her, reminding her we were here to stop a war, not go shopping.)

But I’ve grown accustomed to their banter, so with a light shrug, I replied, “Ludwig-san, it’s usually much worse than this.”

After hearing that, Ludwig just sighed and remained silent since it was impossible to stop them.

And so the sky began to dim and the night had arrived as we took a bit of a break before continuing forward.

But still compared to my undead horses, these pegasuses were not only fast but also had the magical ability to lift the wagon and glide through while maintaining balance mid-air, it’s like Kaiser and my horses combined.

After that, we settled down and finally got to taste some decent food with actual spices for the first time but then I got a fantastic idea.

I had some preserved Infernopaca meat in my inventory so I asked one of the soldiers who was in charge of cooking to give me some of the leftover ingredients.

The soldier gladly obliged and then I began cooking.

Infernopaca’s meat is something that is already rich in flavor and nutrition, so combined with other ingredients the result was astounding.

The smell coming had already enchanted the soldiers and Ludwig along with Belle and Rogu.

Thus Ludwig approached me with curiosity and asked, “Kazuki-dono what are you cooking?”

Without overthinking, I casually answered, “Ah, Ludwig-san, I’m just cooking some Infernopaca meat I previously had.”

His reaction was immediate. Eyes wide, he shouted in amazement, “Infernopaca!? Kazuki-dono, that’s a high-level monster! Its meat is served only at royal parties and elite gatherings. How in the world did you manage to get your hands on such a rare delicacy?”

(Well, crap. I didn’t think that far ahead…)

The nearby soldiers overheard the word “Infernopaca” and started gathering around too, their interest piqued.

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly, fumbling for an explanation. “Ha… ha… ha… I… uh… we found it in one of the demon camps we fought in... heh…”

Ludwig immediately filled in the gaps for me. “Oh, I see! So the demons had it, and you defeated them and took their spoils.”

Relieved, I quickly nodded. “Exactly!”

Sigh…

And so we all took a small portion and shared the meal.

The reaction was instantaneous with just one bite. Their expressions shifted from curiosity to utter amazement, eyes wide as they savored the flavor.

“What a delight this is! I've never tasted anything so wonderful in my entire life,” one of the soldiers murmured, practically dazing as the taste overwhelmed him.

Even Ludwig, usually composed, was at a loss for words. His silence and the way he slowly nodded with each bite told me everything I needed to know.

It kinda made me happy and honestly, I could cook more and do the seconds and thirds but let’s not.

And so our journey continued like this for the next three days, filled with moments of lighthearted banter and delicious meals.

Then we finally arrived at Emeraldorr.

…

[At the Town Entrance of Emeraldorr]

(According to Athena’s description, Emeraldorr is a town famous for its emerald-like qualities, from its rich emerald mines to its renowned gem crafting and jewelry craftsmanship. Even the layout of the town resembles a cushion-cut emerald when viewed from above.)

While I was lost in thought, conversing with Athena inside my head about Emeraldorr, Ludwig suddenly brought me back to reality as he tapped my shoulder and said, "Kazuki-dono, we’ve arrived."

Finally, we arrived at Emeraldorr, a place that actually looked like a fantasy town. I almost wished this was just a vacation trip, but our mission was to stop the invasion first.

The bustling crowd of people and carriages outside the gates was impressive, but what really caught my attention was the long line at the checkpoint. They were charging three gold coins for entry, along with some form of identification, which we didn’t have. Thankfully, Ludwig’s status as a High Priest allowed us to bypass the checks and enter without any hassle.

The moment we stepped inside, I was left speechless. The town's buildings shimmered with lush green hues as if everything was sculpted from emeralds. Even the fortified town walls dazzled in the sunlight. In unison, Belle, Rogu, and I let out a collective, “Wooooaaaaah.”

Ludwig chuckled at our reactions but then handed me a small pouch filled with gold coins. "Kazuki-dono, take this."

He gave me a pouch filled with 20 gold coins.

"Ludwig-san..."

Before I could say more, he interrupted saying, "Kazuki-dono, use them to secure lodging at an inn and buy food. You should also register with a guild to avoid any future identification issues. The adventurer and merchant guilds are the most useful, but it’s up to you which one you join. I need to head to the church and report the demon invasion to the archbishop. We may not meet often while I handle my duties."

I had no words other than gratitude for his kindness. "Thank you, Ludwig-san."

And so Ludwig-san left in the direction of the church.

…

Sigh… What now?

Belle and Rogu’s eyes were twinkling looking at different shops and items on display. It was clear they were both itching to explore, but I had to take care of the real priority.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

So I dragged them to register ourselves at the adventurer’s guild.

There wasn’t exactly a reason to join the adventurer’s guild or any guild, to begin with, but unlike being a slave to a job the guild provides freedom since you don’t have to deal directly with client’s complaints. The guild acts as a middleman that only takes a tiny percentage of profit from the rewards but spares you from any verbal hassle. Plus, having an adventurer’s license might open up more opportunities, like getting information or accessing dangerous places. So, with Belle and Rogu whining along the way, I pulled them toward the guild.

And so I dragged them, as they whined.

[At Adventurer’s Guild]

It was expected that every person there would give us that eerie gaze since we were new faces but more than that there were a lot of people and parties most looked quite rowdy and there were also some shady ones. But the one who got our attention was a guy in blue robes wearing a hood and carrying dual swords on his back, then there were also two female adventurers with burgundy hairs and furry ears, and then a party of four with an old dwarf, a female elf, and two male and female humans.

Wait a minute…

Elf…!!?

My gaze immediately fixated on the elf. She had fair skin, long blonde hair, and pointed ears—just like the elves from my “special” fantasy shows back home. I was starting to get lost in thought when Belle cleared her throat loudly. "Ahem..."

That was my cue to snap back to reality. Reluctantly, I led us to the receptionist's desk.

“Excuse me,” I said, “We’d like to register as adventurers.”

She said, “Ara~ it’s been a while since we last saw a new face around here, my name is Carla the manager and receptionist, let’s get started with the process right away.”

So, the guild receptionist gave us three papers that required us to fill out some basic information our name, age, race, gender, and physical characteristics.

Even though I’ve been able to communicate with people I honestly don’t know how to read this world’s writing but having Athena inside me sure helped me write and translate.

Seems like Belle and Rogu didn’t have any problem writing things either.

So both Isabelle and I registered ourselves with the same age (21) and race (human). Although I was slightly worried about Rogu knowing that he can be a bit silly sometimes to our surprise, he filled out his information with perfectly normal details:

–––––––––––––––

|Name: Rogu |

|Age: 12 |

|Race: Beastmen |

–––––––––––––––

Beastmen huh? I guess the people with furred characteristics are called Beastmen, I guess those two female warriors from earlier must’ve been Beastmen too.

Then Clara, the receptionist, smiled and said, “Thank you for filling out the forms. Please pay 5 gold coins as the registration fee and sign this form to agree with the guild’s terms and conditions.”

We already had just a little bit of money to begin with but paying straight up 1/4th of the money we had in our pockets felt a bit too much so in a soft, slightly anxious tone, I asked, “Five gold coins? Isn’t that a bit expensive?”

She replied, “Kazuki-sama the actual guild fee is 3 gold coins per person but since your party is registering all together we have given you a discount of 4 gold coins.”

I sighed a bit hearing that but then I said, “Alright Clara-san…” as I handed over the coins and the signed forms.

Rogu whispered in my ear “Yo Kazuki, check it out that female elf is looking at you.”

!!?

I quickly glanced over to the female elf, and sure enough, our eyes met. She smiled and gave a little wave, but before I could react further, her party leader called out to her, and they began heading out.

Ahem

Belle who was staring at Kazuki seeing all that happened looked annoyed but chose not to create any fuss.

Then Clara interrupted the moment by handing us our adventurer licenses.

“Here you go, your adventuring licenses.”

Looking at the license everything seemed fined except our rank… it was “E.”

So, Belle’s face turned red with frustration as she said, “Huuuuh!? E-rank? Why are we E-rank? Do you even have any idea about our strength?”

Honestly, I was quite annoyed about rank too but she’s too loud and trying to steer everyone’s attention. I don’t exactly want to show off our strength in public from the start.

Before I could say anything, Clara calmly explained, “The initial rank for all adventurers is E. If you believe you have what it takes to be on top, you can either quickly complete quests to rank up or participate in the upcoming Adventurer’s Rank Examination, which will be held in three weeks.”

Belle crossed her arms and huffed. “That’s it then! I’ll participate and get the highest rank.”

(Geez, she’s acting like Rogu now. What happened to all that elegance she usually maintains?)

Little did Kazuki know Isabelle had an obsession with ranking high ever since she was a child, excelling in academics and anything competitive.

I sighed as more people started staring at us.

So I said to her, "Belle, let’s just go…”

But then Rogu came to me with a bunch of E-ranked quests on hands and said, “Yo Kazuki, I think we can complete all of these quests in one day.”

(Again everyone looked at us since Rogu took all the E-ranked quests.)

Even a giant bulky man approached us frustrated and said, “Hey! You can’t take on all the E-ranked quests there are other adventurers who need them as well.”

(I mean the guy isn’t even wrong…)

Rogu, with his usual carefree attitude, shot back, “Huh!? If people were actually doing the E-ranked quests, then why are there so many left? Where are all the E-ranked adventurers, or did you guys kill them off so they couldn’t grow?

(I think Rogu’s words… perked up everyone in the guild as they all began listening intently. I couldn’t tell if Rogu was mocking him or if was it his force of nature that was able to see this bulky dude’s wrongdoings.)

“The fuck you said, you little twerp!? If you have what it takes then take this A-ranked quest instead.” The bulky dude said.

Then Belle joins in and says, “Yeah let’s do it, this muscles-for-brains guy has no idea about us.”

But then Carla-san joins in and says, “Omulgg-san please calm down, there’s no reason to fight with the new adventurers, surely they’re energetic but according to rules they cannot participate in any quest higher than their current rank.”

“Don’t worry then, they’ll join my party and hunt the monster down and we won’t even help them. And if they die they’ll serve their purpose as a perfect bait which is more beneficial for us.” Omulgg the bulky guy said in Carla’s response.

Carla-san replied, “Omulgg-san bullying adventurers is forbidden and violates guild policy.”

But then Belle spoke and said, “Carla-dono it's alright, we can take care of ourselves right Hubby-chan!?”

(HUH!? Did she just call me Hubby-chan!!??)

“Husband? Ha ha ha! That guy looks like a wimp.” Omulgg said.

(That fucking triggers me, now I feel like Conjuring and torturing his ass.)

So I responded to him, “Oi Fucker! Bring it on!”

And so we began moving right away…

“Ara~ I hope they don’t die…” Carla said to herself as we and Omulgg's party went outside.

…

After coming outside of the guild, Omulgg said to us, “Hey meet us in an hour at town’s exit.”

I responded, “Yeah sure.”

I mean we needed some time to register ourselves at an Inn first before heading out.

So Omulgg’s party went in another direction while we went to find ourselves an Inn.

…

While walking one of Omulgg’s goons said to Omulgg.

“Omulgg-sama what are we going to do with the new freshmeats?”

Omulgg answered, “The same thing we’ve always done, we’ll use them as bait, and even if they manage to survive we’ll kill and loot them like how we’ve done it previously with all those freshmeats before.”

The goon praising replied, “No wonder you’re so strong and remarkable Omulgg-sama.“

…

[Meanwhile on Kazuki’s End]

“It’ll cost 20 Gold coins for two rooms for seven nights!” The man sitting at the inn’s reception desk said.

“And that’s why I’m telling you I only need one room! The girl sitting there is my wife and this guy is my pet.” Kazuki replied.

The old man at the Inn’s receptionist desk responded, “Hah! A Beastmen child can’t be a pet, I knew it you’re a suspicious guy!”

Kazuki said looking towards Rogu saying, “Rogu transform!”

Rogu was just standing there in shock like usual for being called a pet.

But… then he transformed into a chibi 9-tailed fox.

Poof!

(I guess he’s beginning to embrace his role as a pet as he makes canid noises…)

Woof… woof… arf!

“Now you see it, you geezer? Give me a damn room already.” Kazuki frustratingly said.

“Hmph! Fine… but food will cost you extra, it’s one gold per meal.” The old man said.

“GAHHH~!!! Just gives us the room.”

Meanwhile, Belle is drinking some tea at the inn’s cafeteria ignoring all the drama happening but she hears the voice of some workers saying, “Sigh... When will the owner stop causing trouble for newbies? We've already lost so many customers.”

…

[Inside the room]

Sob

We’re almost out of the coins Ludwig-san provided us.

Feeling anxious, I turned to Belle, my voice soft and on the verge of a sob, “Belle why did you have to drink tea at the inn’s cafeteria now we only have 2 gold coins and 5 silver coins left…”

Belle, with a smirk on her face, replied, “Hmm... I seem to recall someone giving an Elf a pervy look in front of his wife.”

Startled!!

(Of course, she’s not going to let that go...)

So I scratched behind my head nervously I said, “...Oh really? Someone like that was there he… he… he… I bet his wife is going to murder him.”

She responded, “Yeah I think I might…”

Wait what?

...

Then Suddenly, a loud rumble shook the room, followed by muffled noises.

"WAHHHHHHH~!!"

The Inn owner hearing the noises said to himself.

Sigh…

“It’s only been ten minutes since they went inside the room and they already be doing it wild, young kids these days.”

“HEY! IF YOU BREAK THE BED OR ANYTHING I’LL CHARGE YOU EXTRA!”