2 Chapter 2: A Whole New World

Braydon hurried to catch up to Alice, then matched her pace. "It's strange, being in such a small body." Braydon said. Alice nodded in agreement.

"Indeed. It will certainly take some time to get used to, but I was barely used to my previous one, so not much is different." Alice responded.

"You say that and yet you are still the best athlete I know." Braydon said.

"I guess..." Alice said as she began to internalize her own thoughts. After around an hour of walking, the pair reached a small town. As they entered town they caught the gaze of a few people.

"I think people are looking at you." Braydon whispered to Alice. Alice looked around.

"So it seems." She said blandly. "Well, ignoring that, let's go see if there is a guild." Alice said as she realigned her gaze forwards.

"Right, we will need to procure an income, after all." Braydon said. After only a bit of searching, they found the adventurers guild and entered. Braydon walked up to the desk, Alice directly behind him, clearly avoiding interacting with others.

The guild is well made, there is a desk about fifteen feet in front of the entrance and many tables to the left and right, seemingly making a tavern of sorts. On the far portions of both of the sides are boards with various papers on them.

"Hi, what can I do for you?" The clerk asked as she placed her hand on her said, using her forearm to boost her breasts up.

"We were wondering if we would be able to join." Braydon stated.

"Well, usually you would need to be at least thirteen unless you have evidence of parental approval, in which case it is ten." The clerk responded as she placed her other hand's index finger on her face as if pondering something.

"I see. And if it is impossible to get such approval due to various reasons?" Braydon asked.

"Kids like you should just go play in a field somewhere, especially that girl, leave the tough jobs to those who can handle it." A man said with a low, rumbly voice as he stood up from his chair.

Upon hearing this, Alice's expression became that of an angry demon as she glared at the man with a death stare as mana began circulating through her body, causing a slight wind to pick up, circling her body, giving the man chills and filling the room with a pressure.

Braydon sighed as he went to face toward Alice and straightened his hand then used his hand to karate chop Alice's head. "Calm down before you break something." Braydon said.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Alice said in pain as she bent her knees slightly, slouched, and used her hands to cover the area that was hit, causing the pressure, wind, and glare to fade immediately. "Sorry..." Alice said quietly as she began to regain her composure.

Braydon sighed. "It's fine, just control yourself." Braydon said as he turned back to face the clerk. "Sorry about that, is there any way that we can join?" Braydon asked.

"How old are you two." The clerk asked.

"My sister is ten, I'm eleven." Braydon said.

"Do you have proof of parental approval?" She asked.

"Due to various circumstances, that is impossible to garner." Braydon said.

"Are your parents...?" The receptionist began asking a question but hesitated.

"About a year ago." Alice said as she poked out from behind Braydon.

"I see, my condolences... Wait here." The receptionist said, then went into the back room. After a few moments, the receptionist came back with a large, middle-aged man who is holding an orb.

He placed the orb on the desk. "Put your hand on this." He said to Braydon. He did as he was told. After a few moments, the orb generated a small piece of cloth with writing. "The girl as well." He said.

"Alice." Braydon said as he stepped to the side. She nodded slightly as she put her hand on the orb timidly. After a few moments, another piece of cloth came from the orb and the man nodded.

"Let them join." He said coldly, then left. Alice quickly moved behind Braydon, who assumed his previous position.

"R-right, thank you, guild master." The clerk said as she moved the orb under the desk. When she came back up, she placed two pieces of paper on the counter. "Can you two read and write?" She asked.

"Yes." Braydon said.

"Alright, please fill out these forms then." She said as she pushed the papers to Braydon alongside some ink and two quils.

"Alice, you have to fill one out as well." Braydon said. Alice moved and looked at the paper which is just a questionnaire asking for some information such as age, sex, name, skills, and a few other things. Alice went on her tip-toes and signed the paper.

Once finished, the clerk looked over the papers and fed them through a machine, that then made cards using the information. Once the cards were finished, they were handed to Alice and Braydon.

"We would like to form a party." Braydon said. The clerk nodded and handed Braydon a piece of paper which he quickly filled out then handed back.

"Before you two leave, I have some basic information." The clerk said. "The guild has several ranks which are categorized with a naming convention. Novice, journeyman, expert, elite, special, and myth." She explained.

"Furthermore, in order to rank up from novice to journeyman, you must complete one subjugation request and have amassed at least thirty subjugated creatures as well as fifteen overall completed quests." She added.

"Also, if you manage to rank up from novice to journeyman in less than two weeks, you get to do whatever you want to any of the clerks for a month, though, no one has managed such a thing in three-hundred years." She explained further.

"When you say anything...?" Braydon asked hesitantly. The clerk leaned over to Braydon's ear.

"Anything so long as we are capable of such a thing, whether it is sexual, signing a contract, or harming ourselves." She gave an example. Upon hearing these words, Braydon's little friend got a little excited and he flinched as blush filled his face. "But as I said, no one has accomplished such a feat in quite a while, so it's probably not worth the effort. Also, we are not allowed to increase your rank during that time period." She added as she moved back to her previous position.

Braydon nodded as he took Alice's hand and guided her to the quest board as he looked down with a blush-filled face. "Quite the reward for something that seems so simple." Alice said blandly.

Once at the board, they both looked around the board, looking for a suitable request. "What about this one?" Braydon asked as he pointed to a request asking for help cleaning. Alice shook her head.

"I know you want that reward, so let's take on a subjugation." Alice said as she pointed to a simple horned rabbit subjugation quest.

"Are you sure?" He asked. Alice nodded as she took the request off the board and began taking it to the desk. Braydon quickly caught up. Alice placed the request on the desk.

"This." She said emotionlessly.

"Are you sure? it would probably be easier to start with a gathering request." The clerk said.

"Easy is the cheap way out that I've taken my entire life, I'm taking this whether you approve it or not." Alice said blandly as she gave the clerk a cold gaze, or, at least tried, given her height.

"R-right..." She said as she stamped the quest and handed it back to Alice who then placed the paper into her bag.

"Let's go, Braydon." Alice said blandly as she turned around and began walking to the exit. Once they had exited, a few of the adventurers spoke.

"That little girl gives me chills, you think she's the second coming of the witch of the north?" One asked.

"You saw her hair and eyes, didn't you?" Another responded.

"True... And that pressure from earlier... That wasn't natural..." The first said. The other nodded in agreement.

...

Alice and Braydon stood in a field, looking for horned rabbits. Braydon stood at the ready with his Katana drawn while Alice waited for a chance to use the magic she has been ever excited to use. After a few minutes of looking around, Alice found one and immediately shot it with an ice spear, shot with magic.

Alice and Braydon continued looking for a few hours and had accumulated a total of thirteen rabbits slain combined, collecting the horns as proof of subjugation. After a little while, Alice noticed that the card automatically tracks the number of subjugations you have, though it is still recommended to collect proof. (It says the recommendation in the bottom right of the card.)

After their accumulative fourteenth, they decided to head back to the guild. "Welcome back, how did it go?" The clerk asked as she pushed her breasts up in her usual fashion.

Alice walked up to the desk and placed each of the horns on it. Braydon walked up behind Alice and lightly smacked her on the back of the head causing her to flinch. "Use your words." Braydon said.

"It went well..." Alice said as she looked away as if she had been caught doing something she was not supposed to be doing.

"Glad to hear." The clerk said with a giggle. "Still, fourteen on just your first quest, that's pretty good." She said with a light smile. "I'm going to require your cards so I may update our logs." The clerk said.

Alice and Braydon placed their cards on the desk, showing that Alice had gotten eight kills, while Braydon got six.

"Looks like you're going to have to work hard to match your sister." The clerk said with a slight smile. Braydon nodded as he turned toward Alice.

"Maybe I should have you teach me some magic." He said as the clerk collected their payment.

"Maybe, but it comes rather naturally for me, so that would be difficult..." She said with a curious tone as she drifted into thought.

"Alright, your payment is ready, please hand me the quest paper." The clerk said. Alice nodded as she gave her the paper.

"Braydon, you handle the money, I'll spend it on useless things." Alice said drowsily as a sudden lack of energy hit her.

"Right." Braydon said as he took the coins and put them in his satchel. "We've done a lot today, let's find an inn." Braydon said. Alice nodded drowsily then put her hands out. After a few moments of trying to decipher her intent, he sighed as he turned around and squatted, putting his hands behind him.

Alice climbed on his back, receiving a piggyback ride. "You're going to have to learn to not rely on me so much." He said.

"Never." She said as she began dozing off. After a few minutes, Braydon found a small inn and rented a room with two beds and promptly put Alice in one under the blankets then went to his own.