21 Registered at Last and Party
Eina invited Ash to follow her towards a vacant private room where she could help him and complete his registration as an official adventurer instead of waiting for the counters to be available.
But just after a few steps away, she realized that she actually has forgotten some things and couldn't help but scold herself inwardly...
'What's gotten into you Eina! I know you're nervous since it's still your first day at work, but you should still handle yourself professionally!...'
In the end, and after repeatedly mocking herself, she facepalmed and sighed, and turned towards Ash who was just following behind her...
"C-could you j-just w-wait for a moment?..." she said while stuttering.
"Uh-huh... Well, go on then. Take your ti-... and there she goes..."
Just amidst his words, Eina scampers away like a frightened lamb towards one of the busy counters and took some things.
---
Inside one of the private rooms...
Nothing fancy and not too spacious. With only a couple of couches, a table, and a few bookshelves at the corner.
It is so since rooms like this are usually just used for one on one counseling between an adventurer and their respective dungeon adviser.
"Here we are..."
Eina, followed by Ash, entered the room and sat on the opposite couches.
A fleeting silence enveloped the room for a short while; while the two of them wast just staring right into each other's eyes.
While having their staredown competition, Ash inwardly conversed with Wise to use the Appraisal function... out of curiosity.
[*Appraising...
Name: Eina Tulle
Level: 1
Age: 14
Race: Half-Elf
Job: Guild Staff*]
And not long after that, an interface suddenly pops up at the corner of his eyes which only he could see.
He was already aware that he couldn't get much out of the appraisal at the moment but in his mind, at least he could get a bit of information about what or who he's been dealing with.
Heck, in the past when he used the appraisal function, mostly on monsters, he only got the Name and the corresponding Level; that's only for monsters.
But humans and human-like creatures are different, the appraisal system currently would show their age, race, and job.
"Ahem... Well, Mr.?"
Eina, the flinching little half-elf attempted to conduct herself professionally and took a deep breath calming herself down.
Afterward, she cleared her throat, and spoke, breaking the awkward staring competition between them, unaware that Ash was just staring at her since he's appraising her...
"Ah yes, sorry about that... I never did introduce myself, did I?" he asks, earning a repeated nod from Eina.
"My name's Ash... Ash Alfheim, but you can just call me Ash if you want." he said, introducing his name while slightly bowing his head.
"I-I see, well, it's nice to meet you... Then you can also call me Eina if you would like, Ash... Ash-san."
"Very well, Eina-san." he said and smiled beneath the scarf.
After the formalities, they began casually talking to each other on Ash's insistence since he noticed that Eina seemed to be too stiff and nervous to directly discuss the more important things.
And it indeed worked since Eina, after a short while began warming up to him.
Ash also found out that she was like that because it was her first time at work and wasn't too sociable in the past.
Afterward, Eina began telling him the basic knowledge of how everything works, the do's and don'ts, the Guild, the Gods and Familias, the Dungeon, and etcetera...
"I guess that's everything you need to know... Do you have any questions?"
Eina, after educating Ash about the things he needed to know related to the Dungeon asked, no longer showing even the slightest hint of nervousness in front of him.
"Hmm... none at the moment, thank you. What's next?"
Eina then stretches out her hand along with a piece of paper and said...
"You need to fill this up and pay the registration fee of 3,000 valis. And if you require the beginner's package, there would be an additional 1,500 valis fee..."
She said after a pause and continues...
"The package includes a pouch, a dagger, and a piece of leather armor."
After hearing Eina's words, Ash just nodded and said that he won't be needing the beginner's package since he already has everything he needs.
"Very well... Then all that's left is for you to finish filling up the registration form." she said.
Name:
Age:
Level:
Job:
Familia:
Guild Adviser:
Ash began filling up the form, from his name, age, and job.
He didn't directly fill his level and the familia section and began thinking about how to avoid unnecessary future troubles and any suspicions... at least at the moment.
He began racking his brains out to and fro until he heard Wise's voice inside his head bringing up an effective solution to his current predicament.
---
In a corridor inside the Guild...
"I still can't believe you made me your adviser..."
Eina walking beside Ash, couldn't help but sigh and grumble when Ash asked her to be his Guild adviser despite her refusal...
"I already told you that-"
"That even if I am a Guild Member, it's still my first time here and I still don't have much knowledge pertaining to monsters and the dungeon..."
She interrupted Eina's words and finish them for her instead, and after pausing for a while, Ash looked to his side and continued...
"Right, right... I know that, and I don't expect you to advise me on things you don't have any knowledge of..."
"But..."
"Well, you can just take your time and do... whatever, study or something? and besides, you can take this as a practice for your possible future adventurers."
He said while his eyes squinting and his mouth grinning underneath the scarf.
"..."
Eina stared at him for quite a while and didn't know what to say. In the end, her shoulders slumped down and a deep sigh escape her mouth once more and she nodded in defeat.
She couldn't really refute his words and admitted that Ash was right. She couldn't afford to stay like this all the time and needed to handle herself well in front of others.
"Alright, I'll take time to acquire enough knowledge as I can and will do my best to help you Ash-san..."
"Perfect, Eina-san!..." Ash exclaimed and smiled while showing an 'Ok' sign with his fingers.
They both continued to walk back to the main lobby when Eina suddenly decided to voice out what's been bothering her...
"By the way, why are you covering your face with a scarf?"
"Oh, this? Well, it's nothing really. It's just..."
Ash halted his steps and looked at her for a while before glancing left to right and then he gestured his hand, removing his scarf, showing her his otherworldly handsome face in all its glory.
"!..."
---
In a plaza near the entrance to the dungeon...
"Hehehe... that look on her face when she saw my face was priceless!"
Ash is currently walking on his way towards the dungeon's entrance while laughing to himself still freshly remembering Eina's expression when she saw his face.
"Ha~ man... Although it happened many times before, even back when I was having my adventure around Orario, that look on their faces never gets old... Fufufu."
He muttered to himself, remembering the times when he was still out around Orario.
Truth be told, it was at that time he began covering the lower half of his face with his scarf since although he wasn't really that bothered by it,
He had grown a bit annoyed whenever he was stopped or followed by a bunch of thirsty ladies on a procession; married and single ones alike.
He couldn't help but shake his head and sighed when he thought of those husbands or boyfriends who were cast aside by their wives or lovers for the moment when they saw him.
He was so lost in his thought when his senses picked up something behind him. And when he turned to look behind him...
"E-excuse me, are you... are you alone?"
He saw a golden-yellow-haired cute little loli with pointy ears and round and dark blue eyes staring right at him; height a lot smaller than Eina.
She's wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and a pink corset dress underneath a rosette pink cape and holding a short staff with a piece of pointy-shaped crystal at its head in both hands.
A pink short skirt, thigh-length white socks, and a pair of pink shoes. She was the one who called Ash's attention and spoke to him.
Just behind her was a short-spiky black-haired young man with a height that reached his chest. A black long-sleeved shirt underneath the armor that covered his chest and shoulders.
Large brown leather gloves, a pouch for loots attached to a large belt, a sheathed sword at his left side, ash-gray colored pants, and finally brown boots.
Ash eyed the both of them for a short while talking to Wise inwardly, telling it to activate the appraisal function...
[*Appraising...
Name: ???
Level: 1
Age: 10
Race: Elf
Job: Adventurer*]
[*Appraising...
Name: ???
Level: 2
Age: 16
Race: Human
Job: Adventurer*]
As soon as it's done, he greeted them back and politely introduced himself to the two of them...
"Hi, I'm Ash Alfheim. But you can just call me Ash if you want... Also, yes I'm currently alone."
"I-I see... hello again Ash-san. My name's Lefiya Viridis, and I'm a level 1 mage from the Loki Familia..."
The golden-yellow-haired loli named Lefiya was the first to speak and introduce herself politely followed by...
"Hello, Ash-san. I'm Raul Nord from the same familia as Lefiya here. Also, I'm a level 2 adventurer" introduced the spiky-haired young man named Raul.
"I see, Viridis-san and Nord-san... a pleasure to meet you. So, what can I do for the both of you?" Ash asks.
"Well, we're actually on our way towards the dungeon and train ourselves. You see, we are just low-level nobodies inside the familia and..."
It was the spiky-haired guy named Raul who spoke first. He began telling Ash about their current predicament.
It turned out that low-level adventurers within the Loki Familia aren't allowed to do dungeon crawling without the high-level ones or the main force of the familia, the executives.
And according to Raul, it was because of the sudden changes in the dungeon. Low-level monsters are getting stronger, abnormal ones appearing one after another, and some other things that made it more dangerous than normal.
Their Goddess issued an order that without the main force of the familia, low-level members aren't allowed to go into the dungeon. And currently, those people are quite occupied for the time being.
There are others like them of course, but only Lefiya and Raul were determined to get stronger to help their Familia and not to be a burden so they snuck out and wanted to take matters into their own hands instead.
"I see... so?"
"We wish to form a party with you, and maybe find some... others along the way." said Raul.
"Y-yes... we originally thought of waiting in the plaza to invite more members, and seeing you're alone, we decided to invite you and form a party." pitched in Lefiya.
Ash stopped and thought for a moment since he originally wanted to proceed alone but...
'I guess it won't hurt coming with them... the more the merrier after all. Plus, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth if this girl gets hurt in the end... isn't she too young to be an adventurer?' he thought to himself.
"Well then, shall we go?"
Lefiya and Raul couldn't help but smile for a moment when they heard him agree but...
"Wait, only the three of us?"
Lefiya couldn't help but ask and glanced towards Raul. Both of them honestly felt a little hesitation for a moment since they thought that they would barely survive the three alone until...
"Well, not to brag but I think I'm pretty strong to protect both of you if it comes to it... and besides we'll just hunt low-level monsters. The ones that you could easily kill..." Ash said, reassuring the both of them.
"W-well... okay." said Lefiya.
"I think we can do this too if we only engage on low-level monsters."
Ash then turned towards the direction of the Dungeon entrance and said...
"Well then, what are we waiting for?"
And with that, the three of them proceeded towards the dungeon. Although excited, Lefiya and Raul couldn't help but feel a bit of anxiousness.
