Chapter 3

"HALT!" Shouted two guards. They were your typical medieval guards, chainmail armour, spears and a sheathed sword. "Aerin, Who is this man that you brought along with you?" Asked on of the guards.

"Him?" She asked, while pointing at him. "He's Richard, he's the son of Richard Newgate Jr. and he's a researcher and scholar." Richard son of Richard Newgate Jr. was in tears, not because he was sad but because he was happy that someone gave him a nickname.

"What is this?" Richard asked himself, with tears in his eyes. "Is this what feeling included feels like? It can't be, otherwise I wouldn't be crying." He mumbled as he wiped his face.

"Does he have a Card? We can't let him in without a card, unless he pays the fee." Richard began to analyse their voice, as both of them seemed to be identical. One guard's voice was louder but a high pitch where as the other had a quieter but low pitch voice.

"He... er~... seemed to have... lost it?" Aerin replied, having not came up with an excuse about why Richard doesn't have a card.

"You want me to take over?" Richard whispered into Aerin's ear while looming over her shoulder.

"Yes. Yes please"

"Hi, hello, I'm Richard son of Richard Newgate Jr., but you can call me Richard or Dick. You see I came from overseas, but during one of my sailing trips, we got caught in a storm. The ship was destroyed and I was washed up, on this continent. Other than my clothes and a few belongings, everything else was lost. I began to wander to look for help. and ended up in the forest, just over that hill. Aerin here, helped me and said to come with her." Richard, explained after stepping up, to help Aerin.

"Then you must pay the fee." Said the right Guard.

"Be sure to visit the guild for a reissued card." Said the left Guard.

Aerin gave 2 silver coins to one of the guards, before she dragged Richard By the hand, through the gates. Aering dragged, Richard to the commercial street, to buy him some food, before they went off to the guild. Through out the street, there were many shops and stalls set up. The stalls mainly sold cooked monster or cooked domesticated animals, every now and then you'd see a stall that sold drinks and vegetables.

Aerin took Richard to a stall that looked like it was doing quite well. The stall owner was a big, burly man, with a rugged beard. he wore a blank, grey T-shirt, with a red and white, vertical striped apron. He stood in front of a charcoal grill, while he was roasting what seemed to be geckos, skewered on a wooden stick.

"Hey Boss." Aerin said, with a big smile on her face.

"AERIN! My favourite customer!" Said the burly man, his aura changing from a big scary man to that of a cute, small and sentient teddy bear. "What can I get you?"

"Can I have six? No, seven." She said with saliva dribbling out of her mouth.

"That would be 35 copper coins."

Aerin pays the Sentient teddy bear, takes two roasted geckoes for herself, and gave the other five to Richard.

"You sure this stuff is good for you?" Richard said looking at her in disgust. "This doesn't look like it has been filleted properly."

"Yeah, it's fine. Soft boned geckos have edible bones, it also adds to the crunch. Also unlike other animals everything from the head to tail tip, is edible" She replied with, while stuffing her mouth .

"If you say so." Richard said, as he closed his eyes and held his breath. "Holy crap! This is nice!" He said right after he took a nibble of one leg. Before he noticed, all five Soft Boned Geckos had been guzzled down.

"You're done?!" Aerin asked in surprise, while checking on Richard. "Would of thought, it take you longer to eat them."

"hm?" Richard replied in a daze, with bits of gecko over his face. "I guess I am done." He followed with while wiping his face off crumbs and gecko bits.

"Well since your done, why don't we get u signed up now?" She said while laughing at Richard's temporary lack of composure.

Aerin lead Richard to a large pair of wooden double doors. The building they were connected to, was huge, humongous you could say, it was built like a 1900's train station, minus the trains and glass. The First floor was made out of bricks while the second was made out of wood. The bricks and wood looked new, as if the building was just erected. However the inside was even more magnificent for the times. Upon entering, you would feel a slight distortion. The inside was much bigger in comparison to the outside. The first floor had a large multi-booth reception with two curved stairs leading to the second floor. On the left there was a board swarmed with people, while on the right there was a little shop like area, selling food and drinks. the centre was clear and clean, the right and left had tables for the people to eat and drink at. Though the second floor was barely in sight of Richard, he could tell that's where the privet rooms were as well as the guild master's room, indicated by the double arch doors in the centre. The air was filled with a scent of sweat and saw dust, though most people didn't seem to mind it, most likely due to olfactory reset.

"Aerin!" Richard said with a large glimmer in his eye, as if he was a puppy waiting for a treat. "Why is the inside larger than the outside? Was this place recently built? What kinds of food and drinks do they sell? What-" Richard started spewing out without a second notice.

"Hold on! One at a time." Said in response to Richard's tangent. "Why don't we get you registered first, before you go off on another tangent?"

"Oh. Sorry about that. It's just this is all so new and amazing to me, since we didn't have stuff like this." Richard replied like a scolded pup.

"Anyways, we should get your license first before you get the tour." She said to get Richard to Shut his yap.

"So... How do I do that exactly?" Richard asked somewhat embarrassed. "Do I just walk up? or do I..."

"Just go up to a free desk, and say you want to be an adventurer."

"That seems simple enough."

Richard walked up to a free desk, with a miniscule amount of confidence and a load of pride, thinking he had it in the bag. At the desk was a ebony woman, maybe around her early thirties. She had mid-length, curly, black hair, that extended to around her shoulders but sprawls outwards. Her torso was peanut-like. It would start off wide and narrows down at the waist, only for it to widen out around the hip. She wore a white, button-up blouse with thin, vertical, grey lines. The blouse was tucked into a black, short skirt. underneath the skirt was a pair of black, translucent leggings.

"(Going off the fact, that her clothes seem to be tighter, with little to no creases, she must be on the plumper side. Her breasts seem to be Double D's, they also seem to be rather loose and lacks firmness. Her ass is round and plump, and seems somewhat firm but enough to have a little jiggle. He thighs are mid at most. Going off from her occupation, she would seem to have a decent to good personality. An overall score of 8/10. but that would subject to change.)"

Richard looked over the desk, to see what she was doing. She was writing on parchment with a quill and inkwell. Richard then realised just how primitive this world really was. it was over one thousand years behind what Richard thought it would be at. The receptionist looked up after realising Richard's shadow was looming over her.

"He- Hello?" She said, with a slightly flustered expression. Her voice was light and clear, with a standard English accent.

"Huh?" Richard replied, after snapping out of his trance like state. He proceeded to slap both his cheeks simultaneously, so the sting from the slaps would keep his head out of the clouds. "Er... Yeah. I would like to sign up to get an adventurers licence." He followed with reddish cheeks.

"Oh, okay." She said surprised. She then started to rummage around under the desk looking for something. "Here you go. Just fill this in and we'll review it." she said after popping out from under the desk, handing Richard a sheet of parchment.

The piece of parchment asks only a few questions, in a tick-box style. The questions were questions like, "Where are you from?" and "Do you have a criminal record?".

"(This is just basic stuff)" Richard thought to himself. "(Why is the security so Lax? Don't they have a civil register, to log the locals?)" Richard kept thinking to himself, till he reached the last section.

The last section was closer to a text-box area. The area was designated for listing skills of the applicant.

"Excuse me?" Richard asked the receptionist.

"Yes?" She replied, flushed like a peach.

"My skill... Is a little strange. I don't know how it works, nor do I know how to use it. Should I just leave the last section blank?"

"Yes, that's fine. Most of the time, skills shouldn't be exposed anyways. It just gives us a better idea on how to rank you." She replied.

"O.K. Then I guess I'm done with the form." He said hand the form over, then walking off.

Aerin was sitting down at the bar area, waiting for Richard. While waiting for Richard, two of her 'colleagues' start hitting on her. One was tall and lanky, while the other was short and wide.

"Hey, Aerin!" Said the tall one. "Why don't you party up with us?"

"You'll have the time of your life." Followed the shorter one.

"And you won't have to work all that hard, it's easy money!"

Aerin stayed sitting, still ignoring them. She was sitting crossed arm and bouncing one of her legs. The more the two talked, the more annoyed she seemed to get. "(What's taking him so long?)" She thought to herself. Richard, turned around from the desk and proceeded to walk to Aerin. He noticed that she was somewhat sitting impatiently and decided to power walk his way to her.

"These guys bothering you?" Richard whispered into Aerin's ear, leaning in over her shoulder.

She looked at him for a moment, contemplating something. "Yeah." She replied in a whisper.

Richard left his looming position and stoop up straight, showing a side you wouldn't think he would have. "(Let's go with a friendly approach. If that doesn't work, then I guess I got to be aggressive.)" he he though as he approached the two. "Hay guys!" His voice was full of familiarity, as if he knew the two for a long time. "I don't think, you should keep hitting on her. She seems kinda annoyed" He said, using his thumb to point at Aerin behind him. "And a little piece of advice. Don't gang up on a girl you're tryna pick them up." he said now trying to loom over both of their shoulders and wrapping his arms around their necks.

The two seemed shook, after Richard appeared behind them. "Wh- What? We weren't tryna pick her up!" The two said before running of.

Once the two were out of sight, Richard sat himself down opposite Aerin. "What do you think? About my performance that is." He asked, somewhat smug.

Aerin looked at him dumbfounded, as if she saw something she shouldn't have. "HOW?" She exclaimed. "How did you do that? It's like you lie out of your teeth."

"I'm hurt." Richard said, acting as if he was offended. "I don't lie, only... A slight modification of the truth."

Soon enough, Aerin became like Richard, question after question after question. Each and every question was a question about Richard's 'Slight modification of the truth'.