To-school Morning In Another World (3)

"Should we head over to the guild first or do we just go get the Hoppin horns?" Prune asked.

"Where exactly can we find the Hoppin creature-- good question," I muttered.

"Darn, It's so much harder than in a novel where they just go out of the kingdom and find something to fight," Nine mulled.

"Proceed to the guild?" Liliath asked.

"That's our best choice isn't it."

"We'll go ask Avice-onee-sama about where to find the Hoppin, then we're off," Nine said something a little meek there.

"Is there anything else we should prepare? I feel like we're forgetting something.. ACHOO!" Prune said and sneezed into the plain handkerchief she was holding.

"Is there anything we're missing.. I wonder what."

The four of us, passing the path when we saw the demi-human slaves being taken away yesterday-- it left a rather deep impression on us-- proceeded over a few low bridges before reaching the guild.

The time was around 6:45am, and there were already adventurers all around the place. It wasn't as bad as yesterday's rush hour but it was still a sight to behold.

Entering, we saw a lot of the so called 'parties', adventurers in groups picking out quests on the quest board. Asides that, there were adventurers calling out for members. Suspicious people wearing hoods are around the place, just like yesterday, fortunately we had the Statsconcelament widget now so there was nothing to worry about.

If there was something we should be worried about, it would be that feeling of incongruity just before we entered the guild.

We were weaponless. I just realized.

"Nine, Prune, Liliath wait a second."

"What?"

I pulled them over to a corner of a table.

"That's what we're missing, weapons."

"Oh yeah.."

"What should we do then? Weapons from the shop again?" Prune asked, slightly reluctant.

"Why not just say we're going to use magic.. but they will question where our magic staff or wand is," Nine muttered to himself.

"How about we assume ourselves as innocent adventurers? After all, what is important is the completion of today's agenda. There are many means we can use to kill a Hoppin after all," Liliath said.

"True, true. But what would the people think? Not to mention, the guild staff already warned us to bring weapons last time?"

Should we just each get a shortsword? I was wondering as I browsed through the weapon category of the shop. Prune was also doing the same. The price is around 100 for something like a short knife, and the most decent one I've seen so far is a long sword made from magic-lapiz alloy at the price of 400 points, and that is the price after the 75 percent discount ye?

Another thing. Even if we have the sword and weapon, we don't have a sheath to hold it-- that would cost another 200 points.

"Nine, maybe you act like the leader guiding us. I'll just get one sword and one sheath, after that we'll ask for information at the counter.. or does anyone want a weapon too?"

Prune raised her head to look at me before shaking left and right.

"I'm not fond of weapons to begin with," said Liliath.

"You sure about that Noel?"

"I don't think I'll be using a weapon anytime soon. Plus, you look more like a properly dressed adventurer so it should make a better impression."

"Got it."

"Liliath."

"Understood."

Liliath pulled up a barrier, I quickly passed the newly bought sword and sheath to Nine. I don't know how, but Nine's clothes had just the notches to hook the sword sheath in place, that is at his waist.

The lapiz alloy sword looked silver but refracted a light blue-purple sheen at an angle. The thought of Ultraviolet light crossed my mind.

"Okay?"

"I think we're good."

We proceeded to the counter, finally, after much deliberation and stupid preaparations. In the end, we didn't even end up meeting the same receptionist there. Anyways, the cat-kin staff explained how outside the west gate, there was a large forest there. Hoppins could be found in the shallow parts of the terrain, so don't go too deep

After that she recommended we hire instructors.

By that.. she meant those people wearing hoods. To reduce the number of casualties, this instructor system was implemented. The cost to hire them depended on the rank of the quest, taking into account other factors such as the rewards. For us G-rank, it would be around 1 large copper per sundial column, by that, she meant per hour. You could say they're not aiming for money, but really volunteering to guide those younger ones. Their levels were all above 100, which was fairly high. Normally people you shouldn't be able to hire them with a few coppers.

At the same time.. a lot of useful skills were stolen by us. One of them had [Magick Sword (A)], which looked like a rather interesting skill.

In the end, we left thanking the cat-kin, which I never did memorize the name, and headed out the guild for the west gate. The west gate being the closest exit point from the guild.

Though..

"Someone is tailing us," Liliath said with a furrowed brow.

"Seriously.. nothing happened in the guild, so why now?"

"I think it's one of the instructors," I said. You can use the appraisal thing on the system map. The person in question had been highlighted by Liliath in purple. Why purple? No idea. It's the level 120 guy I saw closer to the counter, he probably overheard our conversation.

The more interesting skills he had were [False swipe (B)] and [Magick Sword (A)].

"Should we throw him off?"

"I suggest so," Liliath said.

"Please do so then. If our abilities get found out, it would cause a lot of problems wouldn't it?" Prune said.

"Leave it to me," Liliath said, a multi-film barrier appeared behind us. Prune and Nine couldn't see the mana construct since they're human.

We passed through the growing crowd, the barrier increased in thickness, until we made our way to the gate. Showed the guards our crappy guild card and with a sympathetic look from them, were allowed outside. They warned us to be careful.

As for the guy tailing us, he was going in circles. Sorry dude.

Now then, let me describe what I'm seeing.

For a moment you may think that a verdant green land filled with em' bloody slimes, a dirt path with a queue of carriages and grass would spread out in front of you, but no.

Refugees. Tents. Campfires. The stench of alcohol.

The gate was surrounded by these make-shift cloth tents. There were elderly wearing thick clothes, sitting there holding a cheerful conversation with a group of adventurers.

Even in such a dull situation, happiness seems to still exist. There were also kids that were frolicking about with a cat-like creature. Their clothes were tattered. It's a wonder how they're able to keep themselves warm.. maybe the thin mana film around them has something to do with it? Jennifer-chan had it too.

I could talk about the worse aspects-- like how the merchants were ripping off people with weird goods or promoting slavery, having the children become slaves to be sold to the nobles...

On the flip side, there was a welfare camp on the site too, with generous people helping to distribute food and other necessities. They looked like people from the church, based on the clothes they wore.

Prune lowered her head. I had the urge to do so but thought not to and walked on.

What kind of world is this? Was this really a world my TALENT made? A world I made?

Such thoughts crippled my mind.

We finally got out of the refugee area and arrived at the vast field of snow. Beyond that was a forest. It was the shallow kind and it's also the time we realized how we didn't prepare proper shoes now didn't we? Prune was wearing the same sports shoes she wore since she arrived in this world, while Nine had proper black boots. Liliath and I wore slippers.

Yeah. We're treading snow in slippers.

And though it does feel cold, it was bearable. Like.. what the hell. I should get a thermometer widget to check the temperature in the future.

"I've set the map to find Hoppins, let's walk around the forest," Nine said, unsheathing the lapiz-alloy sword and giving it a few bad swings.

There were other adventurers around the place, and that sorta gave me an idea. I made a note to ask for a CommandCenter widget from Santa Claus Unknown. I wanted to be able to manage my widget permissions on a wider scale.

Here's the thing, this world is so big, I doubt we alone would be able to complete the map-- but what if we didn't? What if I let the other's do it? Imagine for a second if I fitted a Tracker widget on all adventurers in Erudite kingdom, the places they've ventured to will also pop up on the map.

To put it in another way, Princess Siesta-sama was doing a good job filling us in with the church and castle layout, which included all the secret passages and stuff.

"What's up with you.." Nine asked suspiciously.

"I thought of something amazing."

I kinda wonder, should I put a tracker widget on all 21 heroes? It's possible with [God's Eye] you know?

Nah.. if they can check their statuses then I'd be found out. Let's not raise a flag.