Journey to Orario

A/N) Did some research and 1 valis is roughly 3 scents, 30 valis is roughly 1 dollar and 1 gold coin from Terraria is 1 dollar. So I'm going to use this to determine the costs.

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"Orario is a very important place because it is the only city with a dungeon. The dungeon is constructed in multiple layers that go downwards. Each layer spawns its own set of monsters that gets stronger as you travel downwards. Monsters mostly drop magic stones and rarely materials when killed."

"The most important thing is it would give the adventurer that killed it something that is called excelia. This allows the person to become stronger and sometimes reach something that we call a 'level up'. Do note that you can only get excelia when you have a falna, and to get that you would need to get into a familia which is run by gods or goddesses." Andrew finished his summary of Orario's importance.

'So that's the reason I found their essence inside this world's mana.' Alvar thought skeptically.

"What are the magic stones and materials used for? And how do I join a familia?"

"The stones and materials are sold at a place called 'Guild'. There are multiple branches of the Guild but the head Guild is of course at Orario. Forgot to mention, but the Guild is also where you register at as an adventurer, and they will help you find a familia as well." Andrew patiently answered Alvar's question.

Alvar nodded and took out a bag of gold coins from his 'backpack' and placed it on the table.

"Do you know if these coins have any worth in Orario? I don't have anything else nor do I know what the current currency is." He lightly scratched his cheek in 'embarrassment'

Andrew picked up one of the coins and curiously inspected it.

"I'm not sure, but from what I can tell is that it is very well-made. You can have the guild inspect them for the quality of the coins. But from what I can see, it should be around 20 - 30 valis for one coin. Although I think it should be better to find a way to smelt it down and sell it to a blacksmith for a better price." Andrew said thoughtfully.

"Do you have any form of identification on you?" Andrew asked Alvar, who shook his head in response.

"I see..." Andrew stood up again and walked away towards a different room and brought back a small bag and gave it to Alvar.

"This is 3000 valis. You can use it to get yourself inside Orario." He said with a smile.

Alvar smiled and accepted the bag and, in return, gave back 100 gold coins.

"... Isn't 100 coins too much?" Andrew asked with a wry smile while Alvar just shrugged.

"You said that it should be around 20 to 30 valis," Alvar answered with a smile.

After asking a few more questions. Alvar and Andrew said their goodbyes and left off to Orario.

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'He said it should be west of the village...' Alvar thought to himself as he walked away from the village.

He resummoned the birds and let them scout the area first while he slowly followed behind.

'So... Deities really do live down here....' Alvar thought. A small glint passed through his eyes but disappeared just as it appeared.

He let out a sigh to calm his nerves.

'Just because they are deities doesn't mean they are the same as my world's counterparts.' He slowed down and came to a stop while thinking.

'But still... Most would probably be a pain in the ass to deal with. Especially if they find out about my background.' He took out his grimoire and flip through the pages. To refresh his memory on some of their capabilities or natures.

'Most are egotistical... high chance of insest since all deities are somewhat related... ah, here we are, the divinities.'

He read through his summary of deities he met in the past and came upon one that he was concerned with. The divinity of death, simply because they might have the ability to see people's souls.

'Having a special soul in this world might be a bigger pain than in mine. I want to have some peace in this world and research the unknown, but having them bothering me this early would be annoying.'

'Luckily I made this.' He opened a portal and took out a dark purplish mask. It resembles a skull with spikes on top looking similar to a crown.

'The Occult Skull Crown... Haven't had a need to use it for a while now, but I'm glad I kept it.' Alvar smiled and put it on his face, causing the crown to seamlessly disappear.

Occult Skull Crown: An amalgamation of multiple cursed items combined into one. It has the ability to turn most, if not every, debuff into a buff and allows the wearer to either hide his soul or camouflage it. The downside is that the wearer's rage will never decrease until the wearer releases it or it 'explodes'. Or the easiest option is to simply take off the mask and let the rage dissipate, but the camouflage would be removed.

'I really need to read those books to get a better grasp on this world, but for now, the info I have should be good enough until I find myself an inn.' Alvar continued his walk towards Orario.

"It might get a bit boring in the city for you Stardust, so we can hunt a few goblins and wolves while we walk." Hearing this Stardust instantly turned back into his original form and flew next to Alvar, looking for anything to eat.

Alvar just let out a chuckle and gave it some head pats.

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After a day and a few hours, they saw Orario. Stardust grumbled a bit, not satisfied with the hundreds of goblins and wolves they hunted.

Probably because he couldn't eat any of them because of his breath.

Stardust turned back into his scarf form and instantly fell asleep.

Alvar started walking closer to the city after Stardust became hidden.

'It's bigger than what I expected, but I wonder why it's in the shape of a circle? That tower in the distance also has my interest.' His eyes shone with curiosity as he stared at the city and at the people around him.

'Elves, dwarves, humans... so many children walking to the entrance as well... or are they part of a race as well?' He smiles.

'For now, I'm not going to worry about the future trouble and just have some fun. It's been a while since I did after all.'

Alvar made his way to the entrance of Orario while glancing at the gear of the people around him.

'Some are well maintained while others are nearly broken or rusted... but there's one thing that their equipment have in common.'

"Their quality is, for the lack of a better word, shit," Alvar muttered in disappointment.

'If you have armor, at least clean it properly. Some of their weapons still have dry blood stains on them.' He caressed his forehead while he stored Devil's Sunrise inside his 'backpack' and took out a spear instead.

No one even noticed his actions.

'Guess I have to pick a weapon of lower quality.' Alvar strapped the spear on his back and waited in the row to enter the city.

He spent these few hours waiting in line to focus on the auras of the people around him and using that information to camouflage his soul accordingly.

People's auras and souls are somewhat connected to each other. Not fully, but if you are 'fluent' enough you can see these similarities enough to know what a 'normal' soul should look like.

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Noticing that the person in front of him was finally done Alvar focused on his surroundings again as he finished his camouflage and walked up to the table a guard was stabled.

"Can you hand me your identification papers, please?" asked the guard.

"Sorry sir but I do not have any papers of the sort," Alvar said respectfully.

"I see, in that case, you should go towards the elf sitting over there." The guard said pointing towards a young man with pointy ears.

Alvar thanked the guard and walked toward the elf.

"Sorry for bothering you, the guard over there told me to come to you, because I don't have any identification papers," Alvar said when he noticed he had the young man's attention.

"I see, firstly, you should pay 1000 valis. This is for the entrance fee and temporary ID. I'll then ask you some basic questions, all you have to do is answer them truthfully." The elf said after clearing his throat.

Alvar nodded and paid the fee.

The elf took the money and grabbed a few papers.

"Now I'll start with the questions. first one, what is your name, and are you in a familia?"

"My name is Alvar and I am not in any familia."

"I see, do you have a last name? And what's the reason you came to Orario?" The elf asked while marking Alvar's answers down.

"I don't have a last name and I came here for a potential job, and perhaps become an adventurer if I have the necessary talent."

They finished after a couple of minutes. The elf stamped each page and handed the stack of papers to Alvar.

"This is your temporary ID. To get a permanent one you should head towards the guild."

Alvar took the temporary ID and asked for the directions to get to the guild. After receiving them he started walking towards the guild.

On his way, he started sensing different auras around certain people. Some have divinities while others have a strand connected towards those that do.

'It's pretty strange seeing them walk amongst us like this.' He mused while he continued walking.

'Might take a while for me to get used to this.'

Alvar felt some people glancing at him but ignored it. He was used to the attention from his previous world so a couple of glances didn't bother him at all. Besides, the main reason for those glances was out of curiosity about his hair color and the burn-like scar on his left eye.

After a while, the people started ignoring him as he walked towards the guild and went inside it. 

The main building of the Guild is a wide space with counters for adventurers to talk with their advisors and it also has an exchange area where they could sell their monster stones and drops.

Alvar headed towards one of the open counters. At the counter was a human with pink hair and pink eyes.

"Welcome to the guild! My name is Misha Furotto, how can I help you?" She asked while curiously staring at Alvar's scar.

Ignoring her stare Alvar took out the papers and said "I would like to get a permanent ID please."

"Of course! Hand me those papers and I'll take care of it." She said with 'enthusiasm' although Alvar noticed her lips twitching.

Alvar handed over the papers and waited for a couple of minutes.

"Here's your ID, so anything else you might need?" She asked, clearly not wanting more work.

"I would like to exchange all the magic stones in my backpack and also would like to enter the dungeon," Alvar said taking off his backpack.

Inside his backpack are about 60 or so magic stones from the goblins and wolves he and Stardust killed on the way here. It would have been more, but Stardust burnt them all.

"Sure you can go to the exchange area over there," she said pointing toward the exchange area, trying to dump the work on someone else.

"If I may ask, how did you get all those stones though? Your papers mentioned that you're not in a familia and have never joined one." She asked curiously.

"By killing them," Alvar said while pointing towards his spear.

"Oh? I see, well none of my business anyway. Is there anything else you need?"

'Guessing it's a policy to ask that, doesn't seem like she wants to though.' Alvar chuckled which made Misha pout.

"What's with the laugh?"

"No reason. Anyway, I found a ruin a long time ago and found a lot of golden coins inside of them, so I want to exchange them for valis if possible."

'Andrew gave me enough to enter the city, but I probably need more for an Inn. Buying a workshop would also be expensive.'

"...Alright follow me and I'll take you towards one of the meeting rooms so that you can exchange your magic stones and those coins." She said and brought Alvar there.

They both entered the room and Alvar sat on one of the couches.

She looked at Alvar and said "I'll go get someone to help you in exchanging everything so just wait here." she said and quickly left the room.

'I'm guessing she is just going to push the work on someone else...' Alvar thought with a blank look on his face.

10 minutes passed and Alvar saw Misha enter the room again with a sad and disappointed expression on her face.

"So no one wanted to do your work for you I'm assuming," Alvar said with a smirk

"...Just take out the stones and stuff," She said while sighing.

Alvar chuckled and took out his magic stones from his backpack and also a sack with 1k gold coins inside it from his storage. He placed them on the table, while Misha just looked depressed and started counting the stones.

"..You really sure you're not from a familia? A falnaless killing so many monsters is pretty impossible." She stared at Alvar with skepticism clear in her voice.

"I can show you my back to you if you want proof, besides I never said I killed them all in one go. It took me quite a while for that haul." He shrugged.

'Took a while because a certain someone kept destroying the stones'

"That's fair, anyway the magic stones are 7,500 valis in total. As for the coins... I don't know." She shrugged.

"..."

"Don't give me that stare! I'm a guild employee, not some grave digger! How am I supposed to know these prices!"

"Fair, just base them on the metal then. I'm sure that gold at least has some price if it's smelted."

"...Why does it feel like you just want to give me more work?" She deadpanned.

"It's your imagination." Alvar smiled innocently earning himself a glare.

She grumpily got up from her seat and went to fetch something.

'Having people who don't know you is a breath of fresh air... not having to put on a mask to match everyone's expectations as their 'perfect' king and selfless hero was pretty tiring.' He sighed.

A minute passed as Misha finally returned.

"We can't buy the coins off of you sadly, some problem or something-"

"You are just too lazy to do the calculations or paperwork... or forgot what your boss said." Alvar interrupted her which caused her to sweat a little.

"It is fine, we can leave the gold for later, I'm not in dire need of money yet anyway. But before I leave, I would like to register as an adventurer and also ask for the directions of a good inn."

She was at first excited when he started talking but her mood instantly dampened at the end. She sighed and said.

"You can't become a fully-fledged adventurer without joining a familia, but you can become a freelancer. Do note that a freelancer has more restrictions to them, like getting their pay from drops cut in half and so on. Not having a falna is a death wish for adventurers anyway." She said and looked into his eyes.

"You sure you want to be one right now? It's kinda dangerous and not worth the pay at all."

"You do not have to worry, I am only planning on checking out the first floor. I am not planning on endangering my life for a quick buck either." He said waving his hand dismissively.

"Alright, I'll get that sorted out and as for the inn, you can go to the hostess of fertility. It is pretty pricey but it's worth it." She said and stood up to go get the freelancer papers. Only named the first place she thought of in order to go on her 'hourly break'.

After Alvar finished filling out the freelancer papers he said his goodbyes and left to the Hostess of Fertility.