Chapter 4: They Were Finally in Town, or So It Was Told

The Merchant City of Kukrika was a medium-sized city in the Principality of Triden with a population of approximately ten thousand people. Though possessing no specialties or areas of business that stood out in particular, it lived up to its name through the sheer volume of trade that flowed through it. Being the closest city to the Miasmal Forest — a massive woodland that separated the domains of Humans and Demons — its turnover of goods and people was extremely high. Nearby was a rocky mountain, respectable in both size and steepness, that neighbored a sizeable wood of its own. According to some, these woods contained two dungeons: the Hermit’s Grave, which was said to have devoured an entire mountain in its formation, as well as the Forest Maze that, despite being fairly far away, was purportedly connected to the Miasmal Forest somewhere.

A lone river flowed down the mountain and out all the way to the ocean, cutting through the land occupied by humans. It was both wide and deep enough for medium-sized cargo ships to traverse its length, making it a major artery of trade and traffic. Its water was also redirected into the circle-shaped city, filling both the canals that divided the city into four regions, as well as the surrounding moat. The four regions were comprised of the Commercial District, the Luxury District, the Residential District, and the Military District. They all neighbored a fifth central region at the heart of the city, which contained the Lord’s Manor, as well as a military base where approximately two thousand troops were stationed. The troops were well-trained and under the direct control of the Grand Duke of Triden. Their equipment was also of the highest caliber. Along with the fencing and walls that bolstered the moat lining the city, they ensured that the city’s defensive capabilities were remarkably high. Due to the city’s location, it would be used as the first line of defense if there were trouble in the Miasmal Forest or war erupted with the demons. Despite that, the city was not built as a fortress, eschewing the protection of high walls in favor of openness to ensure that its function as a merchant city was not compromised. The fact that a number of wars in the past had never done any truly critical damage to the city might also have been a factor in its decision.

Independent from the military, the local lord had a private army of about one hundred men, and there were about fifty or so soldiers under the mayor’s own name. Both their equipment and competence, however, paled sharply in comparison to the Grand Duke’s forces. The men sent to the settlers’ village were pulled from the former two groups of 150 soldiers. These people were normally responsible for patrol and keeping order. Considering they had effectively deployed almost a tenth of their total number, while it was still a rather small number of people, it was probably the most they could muster.

These were the pieces of knowledge Renya gained during their travel time as Shion explained to him the details of their destination.

Honestly, it sounds like a pretty chill city.

The fact that they turned what was effectively a front line stronghold into a trade city already spoke volumes about their lack of caution. Normally, a place like this should have been wrapped in layers of fortifications. When he posed the question to Shion, she replied with a hesitant smile.

“Yeah, you do have a point, but it’s been a merchant city for so long, so there’s the whole local culture and stuff…”

Yeah, definitely a pretty chill city, concluded Renya.

Even the chillest of cities, however, seemed to have proper procedures for ensuring safety in place. There were two entrances into the city — east and west — and each had a checkpoint where entrance was only allowed after an inspection of identity and belongings. The people from the settlers’ village, now effectively refugees, displayed their proofs of identification to the guards and were allowed in without much fuss. When it came to Renya’s turn, though, there was a problem.

“Let’s see your ID.”

Renya looked at the spear-toting guard dressed in simple leather armor and found himself at a loss. Obviously, he did not have any sort of ID in this world. Claiming he was a Wanderer also did not seem like a guaranteed ticket of entrance. Worst case scenario, they could view him as some sort of alien and take him away somewhere. He felt a tinge of regret at not confirming these matters with Shion beforehand, but it was certainly no use crying over spilled milk. His hesitation and subsequent silence caused suspicion to enter the guard’s gaze. Nearby soldiers also approached to see what went wrong.

“Hey, what’s the problem? You don’t have any ID?”

“Uh, well…”

Figuring he had no choice to be honest, he was just about to confess when Shion and Rona ran back to him from returning the villagers’ belongings.

“Sorry, I forgot about your situation. This person is fine. He’s not anyone suspicious.”

“He’s just a little out of the loop. I apologize for any inconvenience.”

Tension seeped out of the guards’ countenance. The sight of two beauties dipping their heads down in apology was quite effective. Renya, however, was more curious about the look of surprise that momentarily appeared on the guards’ faces when they saw Shion.

“We’re guild adventurers. We were on an investigation in the Miasmal Forest, and he’s a Wanderer we met there,” explained Shion as she unconcernedly shifted her armor a little to the side and reached into the front of her shirt, evidently into an inner breast pocket. She pulled out a card. Rona tried to do the same but seemed to have a tougher time, as higher peaks also made for lower valleys. After some digging, she finally produced a card from her cleavage, but the act caused her mountainous mounds to quiver and jostle. Her extended battle with her attire also left her collars in a minor state of disarray, exposing a healthy amount of skin.

For the slightest of seconds, Shion’s bared chest was exposed to the elements. Beside her, the anatomical equivalent of an earthquake was on display. The poor guards, powerless against the divine commandment of their gender, were forced to glue their eyes to the spectacle. Renya, pretending to also have been moved by forces beyond the mere will of man, allowed his eyes to drift toward Shion’s chest with his fellow onlookers. His gaze, however, was squarely focused on the face of the card.

It dangled down her neck by a length of string and was the size of what his previous world would know as a business card. The metallic glint of copper radiated from its surface, upon which words were imprinted. The first thing he realized was that he could read the words despite having never seen them before. He only caught a short glimpse before it was handed to the guard, but he managed to see that it was an identification card issued by the Adventurers Guild, that it belonged to the Principality of Triden, and that its holder’s name was Shion.

In the space under Name, the only thing written was “Shion.” There was no surname. Renya committed that fact to memory.

Meanwhile, Rona had finally succeeded in her daring mission to rescue her card from the perilous gorges of her cleavage and was showing it to the guards with an apologetic smile. As the atmosphere grew more lax and comforting, Renya discreetly looked away from his object of interest. It was a subtle reaction to the distinct feeling that Rona had her eyes on him.

“All right. I’ve confirmed that you’re from the Adventurers Guild.”

After looking over the two cards he was given, the guard hesitated for a moment before giving them back. That made Renya raise an eyebrow. Half of him figured the guard just wanted to enjoy the warmth in his hands for a little while longer. Two cards, fresh out of two luscious bosoms. He could not blame the guy. He made sure not to show he was thinking that, though. The other half wondered if there was some other reason for the guard’s pause.

“He’s called Renya. We’ll be his guarantors for now. We’ll be taking him to the Adventurers Guild to get him registered and have his card made.”

“I see. Try to get that done as soon as possible, then. Once he has the card, get him to come back here so we can confirm. Also, anyone entering without ID has to pay a fee of one silver. Apologies, but those are the rules.”

“Sure. Sorry for the trouble,” said Shion as she returned her card to its place before her chest. She gave the guard one silver coin.

“All right, you may pass.”

Once the guard gave the okay, Renya followed his two companions into the Merchant City of Kukrika.

“It’s pretty much the same story every time a Wanderer tries to get in for the first time. There’s always some trouble at the entrance,” explained Shion as she walked at the front. “It’s usually okay if you just say you’re a Wanderer, but if you get nervous and say nothing, they’ll obviously get suspicious and detain you. Once they confirm you’re a Wanderer, they’ll even let you defer paying the one silver entrance fee until later. Of course, expecting a Wanderer to manage that whole process smoothly is a little ridiculous, as well. They don’t know anything about our world, after all.”

“Wouldn’t it be a problem if people just pretended to be Wanderers?”

He could not see the merit of trying such a stunt, but he asked for the sake of it.

“It’s usually fine because they’ll make sure you’re a Wanderer. Either you have guarantors vouch for you like we did back there, or, if you don’t have any guarantors, they’ll examine you to make sure you aren’t lying.”

“How are they supposed to figure out if I’m lying?”

“There’s a grace called ‘Judge.’ They use that.”

Renya found it surprising that gracecraft gave practitioners access to what was basically a lie detector. It reminded him of his astonishment during his days at the settlers’ village when he realized how widespread magecraft was; people used it in their daily lives to make water and start fires. This new world sure did come with its own unique blend of conveniences.

In terms of conveniences, the card that Shion showed the guards as identification definitely fell under that category. According to her, guild cards from the Adventurers Guild were recognized as valid identification throughout the guild’s sphere of influence, which spanned almost the entirety of human territory. In other words, if humans lived there, the cards were usable. In addition to the continent’s human-centric east side, the cards were also recognized to a limited degree by the elves in the west, as well as the beastmen and demihumans of the mixed races to the south. They were wholly ineffective with the dragons and demons, but that was to be expected. Regardless, the regions where they could be used as personal identification covered sixty to seventy percent of the continent. Their convenience could not be understated.

There was a separate form of identification that the Crown issued, but Shion said it was impossible for Renya to obtain. “Unless, of course,” she added, “you’re willing to stay in this city and not move.”

The idea of settling down somewhere was not without its merits, but that would go against God’s wishes. He needed to disseminate Resources, and to do that, he could not afford to stay put in one place. Even if he were to establish a base of operations somewhere, he did not have the option of holing up and becoming a hermit.

“I guess those ones are restricted to the place they were issued?”

“Yeah, as a general rule, ones issued by lords are only valid in their lands, and ones issued by the Crown are only valid within the state.”

“That’s right,” Rona chimed in, “the Crown’s ID is probably enough for normal people who can’t handle the life of an adventurer, but you certainly look like you can, Renya. A guild card is definitely the one you should get.”

“And that’s why we’re heading to the guild first. We have to report in about our quest, too,” said Shion. She then seemed to remember what exactly it was she had to report, and her expression clouded. From her perspective, they had barely investigated the forest at all, and while they did manage to eliminate the monsters that suddenly swarmed out of the forest, the village was destroyed as a result. That definitely killed any chance they had at the mission reward, and it also put them at risk of incurring some sort of penalty if the mission was deemed to be a failure.

In contrast to Shion’s pessimism, Rona’s smile was unfazed. She was of the opinion that their now-defunct party members were to blame for hindering their investigation. Also, for a village that was facing total annihilation, successfully allowing almost half its villagers to escape was arguably a respectable accomplishment. Add that to their dead goblin tally, which probably reached three digits, and things seemed considerably less doom and gloom.

As for Renya, he honestly did not want to go to the guild. Going to the guild would require him to file a report, and filing a report would necessitate recounting their troubled first meeting, during which he’d murdered six guys in cold blood. Shion also mentioned that it was possible for the guild to temporarily detain him. Given the extenuating circumstances, Renya was not particularly upset about the fact that he offed six people, but he definitely preferred to avoid being locked up as a criminal.

He could just deny everything outright and make a run for it. The option was legitimately appealing. The downside was that he would have to part ways with his two companions and head to a different town, not to mention Shion and Rona would then have to file a follow-up report about how the suspect in question fled the city. In that case, there was a good chance that a similar fate would await him in whichever city he entered next. With a deep sigh, he conceded that he had no choice but to follow the two girls and see what happens. If things got seriously thorny, he could make a run for it then.

***

After a walk through the Commercial District, they finally arrived at the institution of interest. It was an unassuming building. Similar structures lined the sides of the street, functioning as taverns and shops and other such facilities. Unless they were informed in advance or were being guided like Renya, someone looking at this building would have no idea it was the Adventurers Guild.

Previously, Renya had baselessly assumed that the Adventurers Guild would be a sketchy-looking establishment that housed a bunch of shady types whispering among themselves in the smoke-laden corners of a dimly lit room. He had imagined the place to be filled with men, middle-aged and smelling of sweat, who were clothed in aged armor and held weapons worn through years of use.

The place he was led to by Shion and Rona, however, was a very simple building marked by nothing more than an emblem of a sword and staff that formed a cross, and an unobtrusive sign that read “Adventurers Guild Kukrika Branch.” Its appearance made him wonder if he had misjudged things. Perhaps the guild was not of the shadowy variety, but rather the more casual sort. Once he stepped in, maybe he would be greeted by a lady whose defensive apparel would make more sense as skin-colored armor over metallic flesh. There might also be a mage girl, endowed in neither personality nor proportions, who would sit there silently, her face a mask of indifference. Presumably, there must also exist the unreasonably handsome hero who, not content to be skilled with only the sword, was also adept at magecraft, and was so ridiculously overpowered that anyone who had to fight him would doubtlessly bombard the developers with rage-fueled outbursts of hate mail. Perhaps that was what the guild was like — a place where have-it-alls flaunted the fact that they did, in fact, have it all. If so, Renya doubted he would last even a second. He would not fit in.

Ever since coming to this world, he had yet to get a look at his own face. There were many reasons: the settlers’ village had no mirrors, he never asked Shion or Rona for one, and circumstances never gave him a chance to ask for one, either. He knew one thing for sure, though; he was not good-looking. Therefore, he would stick out like a sore thumb beside a hero and his harem entourage. Then again, he probably would not stick out. Sticking out implied he at least drew some attention. He would fade away. He went as far as to wonder if he should have asked the God girl to nudge his appearance slightly toward the handsome side before sending him here.

Suddenly, an incongruity occurred to him. If the girl had erased his memories of his past life, from where was he pulling all this knowledge about heroes and harems and have-it-alls? The thought made him question the nature of his previous life. Maybe he had not exactly been a wholesome person. Just maybe, he had been the kind of person who spent most of his time actively avoiding things like the sun, the outside, and the third dimension of reality. He hoped that was not true. What a profound waste of 94 years it would be otherwise.

“Renya… I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but whatever it is, it’s probably better to do it not hunched over at the side of the road. You’re getting in people’s way…”

Seeing Renya’s baffling behavior, Shion finally spoke up.

“You know what? I think I’d rather not go to the guild.”

“As if. If we don’t get you registered properly with the guild, you’ll get held up by the gate guards every time, not to mention we have to clean up the whole Mercenary Kingdom fiasco properly or you might end up a criminal.”

“Come on, that’s where you work some of your magic, isn’t it?”

“No. No work, no magic. Now get up and behave. We’re going in.”

Shion approached the squatting Renya and grabbed his collar. Then, she pulled him up on his feet and all the way through the guild’s door. He could have resisted if he tried, but it did seem like he had to go through with this one way or another. In the end, he resigned himself to his fate, which in this case meant the arm currently tugging on his collar, with Rona following quietly behind them.

“It’s not like I’m enjoying this, you know?” mentioned Shion. “You try being the one who has to tell the guild she failed.”

“I feel like… that depends on how you say it.”

“What are you talking…”

Shion trailed off mid-sentence. Renya looked around to find that his external source of locomotion had brought him to a service counter of some kind. Standing behind the counter was a young lady who smiled at them. Dressed sharply in uniform, she had brown hair and looked only a few years older than Shion and Rona.

“Uh… We’re the party of Shion and Rona. We just came back from a mission in the Miasmal Forest and we’d like to file a report.”

“Sure, give me a moment to look up your records.”

The female receptionist pulled out a ledger. As she began flipping through it, Renya took the time to look around the inside of the guild. It resembled his second guess more. The gloom of a dank tavern was nowhere to be found. Instead, sunlight poured in from large windows, keeping its neatly-organized interiors brightly lit. It had the comfortable air of a gathering place for friends. Bookshelves held rows of written texts, and mission slips were pinned to bulletin boards. A counter provided light snacks for visitors who might be waiting for companions to arrive, and a number of dining tables were available for their needs. There was little else worthy of mention.

His concern about heroes and harems seem to have been misplaced. The people moving about inside were a balanced mix of veterans in well-worn leathers and youngsters whose equipment still shone like new. Even the gender distribution proved to be fairly equal, but women ultimately had a slight edge owing to their prevalence among the guild staff.

“Let’s see, uh… The Miasmal Forest Investigation Quest, right? The records show eight people accepted the quest. Is that correct?”

“Yeah, about that… That’ll probably need a report, too, but…”

Shion minced her words in a way that suggested she would rather not speak about the matter. Seeing her reluctance, the receptionist paused and thought for a moment before saying, “I assume you ran into some trouble? I’ll have a room prepared for you in the back, then. You can talk there.”

“Okay. Also, this person is involved, too. I’d like for him to come with us, but before that, can you register him with the guild?”

With his collar still in her hand, she brandished Renya before the girl. It was very much the way one would display a kitten for an onlooker. The gesture felt unnecessary to him. He was certainly not going to run away after coming this far. Nevertheless, he did not protest his pet-like treatment.

“Hey,” he said, putting one hand up, “good day to you.”

“Good day to you, too, though you seem to be having a rather rough one, don’t you?” remarked the girl. She did not bat an eye. Renya was impressed. This girl was a pro. It also occurred to him that this whole time, she had not ceased smiling even once.

“He’s supposed to be a Wanderer. According to him, anyway.”

“Is that so? How extraordinary.”

The receptionist spoke with a tone of surprise, but it did not show through in her expression. Renya began to worry that maybe the whole Wanderer situation was not that extraordinary, and people were actually drifting into this world all the time. He remembered nothing about his previous world, but he would rather not run into someone he once knew. He hoped to God nothing like that would ever happen. Then, he did a mental undo and hoped to something else. If anyone heard his prayers, it was not going to be that girl.

With swift, practiced motions, the receptionist returned the ledger book to its place under the counter and produced from there a different piece of paper.

“This is the registration form.”

Renya gently removed Shion’s hand from his collar and picked the paper up. A quick skim revealed that it was a pretty simple form. There were spaces for his name, gender, and age, as well an oath, which declared that he would follow guild rules to the best of his ability. That was all.

“Pretty short form, isn’t it?”

“By necessity. It’s not like we can get people to write down anything more complicated. If we could, they wouldn’t be here in the first place. We are talking about adventurers here,” said the girl with a grin.

Renya considered her statement. Admittedly, “professional adventurer” had a nice ring to it, but it was not exactly the kind of job that would make people’s parents proud. Or even local law enforcement.

“We do stuff like investigations, too, you know…”

“Rules,” Renya said, disregarding the salty remark of his companion, “are to be followed to the best of my ability, huh. Is that really good enough?”

The receptionist nodded, so he proceeded to write down his name, phonetically spelling out “Renya Kunugi” in the local script. For his age, he just went with eighteen, and his filled in his gender as male. A gasp escaped Rona as she peeked at the “Age” column on the sheet. He made no response. She probably thought him to be much older. Not exactly a compliment, but not something he could complain about either. He was, after all, 94 years old in actuality.

“We can’t make you always follow the rules, anyway.”

The receptionist proceeded to give them a quick history lesson. Apparently, back when the Adventurers Guild was first created, there was a push to enforce its rather long list of rules. However, that left them constantly apprehending adventurers who broke the rules. It reached the point where they could not even get any regular work done. Eventually, they began shaving off rules here and there, and the end result was what Renya saw before him. Mildly surprised by the generous stance of the organization, Renya read over the rules one by one. There were not too many, and they were written in simple, bullet-point form.

1. Guild members are not to kill each other. Exceptions apply when ample reason exists.

2. Guild members are to contribute to the guild. Both material and nonmaterial methods are acceptable.

3. Have questions? Ask the receptionist.

4. In general, what the Guildmaster says, goes. The same applies for Branchmasters and their guild branches.

“…That’s it?” asked Renya, his mouth slightly agape at the sheer simplicity of the rules. The receptionist nodded with all the certainty of someone who had gone through this exact exchange countless times in the past.

“That’s it. Well, I mean, technically, there are tons more, and they get pretty detailed, but…” She let out a sigh. It was a small sigh, but it had the weight of concessions made in the face of harsh realities. As if on cue, some minor commotion erupted behind Renya. “Asking our wonderful adventurers to remember all of them would be an impossible task.”

Unsure of how best to respond, Renya simply smiled awkwardly back. He began to entertain the very real concern that “adventurer” in this world was a synonym for “dumbass,” used to refer to those whose brain-brawn ratio was hopelessly tilted to one side.

“Therefore, we put the two most important ones up top. Please obey those at all times. Anything else can be dealt with using rules three and four. That’s the basic idea.”

“I see you put some thought into this system.”

“I should also mention that this is the form for Wanderers. Normally, you’d also put down your place of birth, religion, and some other stuff, but those obviously don’t apply to Wanderers.”

After entering his credentials, Renya signed his name under the oath and handed the paper back to the girl. She began to look it over to ensure he did not miss anything. He gave her a “there are only four things to write down you know” look. She looked it over, anyway. Then, she folded it and placed it in her chest pocket.

“It’ll take some time before you can get your card. Your room in the back is ready. Would you like to wait there?” she said, pointing toward a door behind her. It seemed like a perfectly normal door, but as soon as he laid eyes on it, Renya felt something unpleasant. He grimaced.

Shion took note of the change in his expression and said, “I don’t want to do this either, but we have to… Who’s in that room?”

“The guild’s Vice-Master.”

“I see… Renya, this report concerns you, too, so I have to ask you go in with me. Is that okay?” asked an apologetic Shion.

“Well, I guess it’ll have to be okay, won’t it?” His passive-aggressive reply was met with a curt nod from Shion.

Meanwhile, Rona was still smiling the same smile.

“True…” said Shion, “but considering who we’re up against, I wanted to at least hear you say it out loud.” Her statement spoke volumes about how much she dreaded the meeting with the person behind that door.

“Whatever. Can’t turn back now. That ship has sailed.”

“Thanks… I’ll try to make it as smooth as possible, but… no guarantees.”

With the least reassuring statement he could have heard, Renya turned toward the door in front. His thoughts lingered, however, on the one behind him, and the mounting desire to secure an escape route.