Starting Town (8)

The room was bathed in silence, both Francisca and Sev fully making use of the comfortable backrests of the chair to lean and have a short rest. The quiet room was enough to lessen the nerves of Sev, who was a bit put off at the attention he was getting earlier from the main hall.

It was after a few minutes of waiting that the door opened and the various noise coming from the main hall reached their ears. Both Sev and Francisca immediately looked at the door and saw a well-dressed man with pointy ears and straight, long blond hair..

"Good morning, Francisca." The man, presumably an elf due to his appearance, started with a benign smile. He then regarded Sev with the same smile, yet there was a bit of apprehension hidden beneath. "And to you as well, Mr. Sev, is it?"

"Yes, that is correct." Sev affirmed with a nod of his head and stood up, and so did Francisca to bow slightly at the man. "You must be the Branch Supervisor of Uthrut's Wayfarer's Guild. Pleased to meet you."

Since Sev didn't know about their customs, he followed Fransica's action and performed a slight bow as well.

"The pleasure is mine, Mr. Sev." The Branch Supervisor jollily laughed with a good-natured smile. "Allow me to introduce myself, Wistari Rotumal."

"Now that you are here, I'll be staying here while you bring Mr. Sev to the induction room." Francisca said as she plopped back down on the seat with a beaming smile directed at Sev. "As for you, Mr. Sev. Good luck."

"… Thank you, Mrs. Francisca." Sev gave his thanks with a bashful smile while Wistari gently guided him back to the hall. "Lead the way, Branch Supervisor."

"Please, call me Wistari." The elf chuckled a bit while he held the door open, causing the noise from the main hall to permeate into the once silent room. "I'm not one for formalities, though don't use me as a role model for my kind. Us elves are uppity, with a stick up our asses, or so the saying goes with you humans."

Sev was a little confused, but the various fictions he consumed with elves as a race within the fictional universe gave him the evidence needed to heed Wistari's words.

"I understand." Sev nodded, his senses picking up the various muttering coming from the people in the main hall. Terms like noble, fallen noble, or even newblood being associated with him as they continued towards the stairs leading to the second floor. "Although, can I ask something?"

"Ask away, Sev. Can I call you Sev?" Wistari replied with a question of his own.

"Sure, I feel old whenever someone calls me old." Sev made a joke in an attempt to get his nerves to calm down from the attention he was getting. "So, does your kind, not to be racist or anything, but do elves have problems with skin contact?"

"Ah, wonderful question, Sev. And it's fine." Wistari waved off Sev's concern with a dismissive gesture, his expression growing slightly somber. "I understand your curiosity, but I must admit that the unfortunate truth is that a significant portion of elves do harbor discriminatory beliefs. They view themselves as superior to other races and consider skin contact with non-elves as a gesture of honor or even dominance. It's a distressing reality that we, as a society, must confront and strive to change."

"… So basically, just look, but no touch, okay got it." Sev's response got Wistari to chuckle at the bluntness of the shortened version.

"That is one way of seeing it, yes." Wistari spoke between slight chuckles as they reached the stairs. "Now, up here Sev."

The two then made their way up the stairwell, the noise coming from the main hall slightly dampening as they ascended further in.

"Normally, those that want to register in the Wayfarer's Guild just fill up a form by the counter in the main hall, after which they will be assigned a proctor where their capabilities will be tested in the courtyard out back." Wistari off-handedly commented about their processes, to which Sev noted his own was different. "But with recommended individuals from well-known figures, such is the case with you and Mrs. Sullivan, they are instead brought to the second floor where they will be tested differently than those a floor below."

"… So, a more advanced version of a test is waiting for me up there?" Sev asked, a bit anxious at the sudden difficulty spike on his quest for registration.

"Technically, yes. But no need to worry, with how you have full approval from Mrs. Sullivan, I have no doubt you would be able to pass the trials ahead." Wistari praised with a smile, to which Sev just got even more anxious at the prospective exam.

'Okay. Fuck, fuck. Alright, just go with the flow. You can do this Sev, just don't fuck up.' Sev tried to mentally psyche himself up, but only managed to worsen his already frayed nerves.

"Ah, here we are." Wistari's voice suddenly pushed Sev out of his thoughts and his eyes widened at the scene of a large room filled with various pedestals with floating objects in front of them.

It was magical. This was the first time Sev had seen magic with his own eyes ever since he was transmigrated to the world of Dys.

And his anxiety skyrocketed even more once he saw a giant mass of green muscle moving closer and closer towards them. It even had a giant grin on its face, while its eyes were staring right at Sev's.

"Wistari. Dwi ari?" The mass of muscle voiced with an audible rumble. "Hu ran ari?"

"Mu." Wistari replied with a nod. "Gu ran til jaree ari."

"Mu." It nodded back and then went towards a nearby bench and plopped its ass on it.

"… What did you two just speak about?" Sev questioned with a slight scratch to the back of his head.

"Oh, apologies. I sometimes forget you humans aren't that good with the Orcish language, or goblin speak." Wistari apologized with a sheepish smile. "Nevertheless, big old Grun there knows how to speak the human language, so you won't need to learn it as of now."

"… Any chance you can teach me?" Sev asked, to which Wistari responded with a nod.

"Of course, although you will have to pay. My time isn't cheap, you know." Wistari happily exclaimed and unknowingly dampened Sev's mood.

"Sure, sure." Sev just scratched the back of his head.

"Anyway, enough dilly-dallying. Time to start your induction."