Welcome to Orario, kiddo!

Using the word 'big' to describe the sheer size of Orario, would undersell it. Well, compared to cities on earth, Orario wasn't that massive, Ryan mused, but it was the largest settlement he had come across in this world.

The entire city was surrounded by a circular wall to keep away potential attackers, and it was several meters tall. Thousands of houses could be seen, and Ryan and Navi could make out tens of thousands of black dots, all the people who lived in Orario.

From their vantage point, Ryan and Navi could also see how the city boasted 7 roads that stretched across the entire cityscape, with each one leading to the behemoth tower in the middle - the Tower of Babel.

"Those roads are used by the adventurers that delve into the dungeon, I guess," said Ryan, and Navi nodded along his words, star-struck by the sight.

{This is, if not, the most influential city in this world. It has a vast number of adventurers, several hundred gods live in it, and they also trade monster drops from the dungeon with the rest of the world}

Ryan blinked. "Wait, monsters drop loot in the dungeon?"

{Yes. Some of them are common things, like goblin fangs and kobold nails, which don't fetch for much, but you also have the potential to find drops that sell for millions of valis, which could make you rich overnight. This is the potential findings of the dungeon, and that's why so many people risk life and limb every day}

Ryan hummed.

{Also, monsters behave differently in the dungeon. They coordinate better, and they are also stronger than monsters on the surface. Hmm, I have to carefully choose my next words, or I'll get shocked again}

Ryan told her it was fine.

{The monsters are born from the dungeon. No, perhaps it's more correct to say they are the dungeon, just a tiny fragment of it. When they die, they don't leave corpses behind, instead they fade into dust and get blown away, sometimes leaving behind a monster drop and an object called a magic stone. Magic stones are the main commodity in Orario, and they transport them worldwide to other people. Magic stones can be used to create various tools, such as lighting, sewage purification, cooking stoves, refrigerators, etc. Magic stones are also the lifeblood of monsters. They are much weaker on the surface, because they use their magic stones to multiply their numbers, thus draining the strength of their magic stones. Monsters in the dungeon don't have this issue, as they are always supplied with powered magic stones from the dungeon}

Ryan was pretty sure Navi had fallen half asleep, but he was still hanging onto every word Lucy was saying. All of this interested him. "But how did the dungeon come to be? Or has it always been here?"

{I can't go into details, but the dungeon hasn't always been here, but it was here before the gods and goddesses descended from heaven. The Babel tower was built as a sort of 'cork', to keep all the monsters locked away in the dungeon. The structure is divine, so the dungeon cannot destroy it}

Ryan smiled. "Thanks for the history lesson, Luce. I hope you'll continue to support me like this." She laughed.

{Of course, Ryan. I'll always have your back}

"Are you two lovebirds done? That info dump gave me a freaking headache!" Navi whined, kicking up some dirt.

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Yes, we're done. Let's get moving." Navi jumped into the air with a little yell and ran ahead of him. He stood still for a moment, chuckled, and followed the energetic oni.

"By the way, are monster people a normal thing in this world? Well, obviously not, since we've established Navi wouldn't be welcome in Orario if she showed off her usual form, but I was wondering if there were similar people to her out in the world?"

{That's a difficult question. Well, not difficult, but I don't know how to answer it without getting punished. My Creator considers it to be 'spoiling', so I'm afraid I can't say much about it. Well, Navi's not alone - that's all I can tell you, Ryan}

"No problem." Ryan could already make an educated guess, and it had something to do with the dungeon. His gut told him that much. Some day, he would find people similar to Navi, he was sure of it.

Ryan caught up with Navi, who was grumbling about the long line. But she lightened up when she noticed some of the demi-humans, almost beginning to pant with anticipation. "Try not to creep them out," Ryan said with a chuckle, and Navi stuck out her tongue at him.

As they stood in line, Ryan regarded the different people, all of them from different lifestyles. Some looked like your typical farmers, probably here to sell some of their crops. A few looked like rich businessmen, with fancy suits and hats, and armed bodyguards were accompanying them. And then there were the people that looked ready for an adventure, grinning and laughing with their buddies, and proclaiming how rich they would become - those were the rookie adventurers.

A lot of time passed, but they arrived at the entrance to the city. "Thank fuck," said Navi, almost close to snapping. Ryan used his secret weapon - headpats - and that calmed her down again.

"Citizens or new visitors?" asked one of the city guards. He was pretty young compared to all the other guards, probably in his late twenties. His brown hair was put in a man bun, and his face was rugged, which gave you the impression he had lived a difficult life. His emerald green eyes were sharp and critical, like he was trying to gauge all of your intentions, and the scar across his left cheek made him look like a seasoned adventurer.

Ryan smiled at him. "This is our first time." He let out a grunt and noted it down on a piece of parchment.

"What do you suppose you'll be doing in Orario? And what are your names?" he asked both of them. It was customary to interview new people like this. All sorts of types always tried to get into Orario, and some of them were really outlandish individuals, or just criminals.

Navi answered with a confident smile. "Well, we'll be braving the dungeon, of course. Oh, and I also want a cute harem of girls!"

The city guard blinked. "...right. I assume you'll also be braving the dungeon with your companion, sir?"

Ryan nodded. "Yep. Also, my name is Ryan." The guard wrote it down.

The guard relaxed a little, no longer suspicious of them. "My name is Voxer Nickman. It's nice to meet you, Ryan, and?"

Ryan bumped Navi with his elbow. "I'm Navi. And stop that, you jerk." She bumped him back, and he almost fell over as a result. Thankfully, he was able to keep his balance and not make an ass of himself.

Voxer chuckled at their antics and wrote Navi's name down. "Well, you two seem like decent folk, so you're free to enter the city."

Ryan bit his bottom lip. "Actually, there's something I would like to tell you." He explained everything about the small village to Voxer, and also informed him where to find it. The more he told, the more serious Voxer looked.

Voxer gave Ryan a grateful look. "I'll make sure the appropriate parties are made aware of it. For the most part, Orario does a pretty decent job at protecting the nearby villages, but it's inevitable a few will be overlooked."

Ryan smiled. "Well, I've said my piece. Have a nice day, Voxer."

Voxer smirked and narrowed his eyes. "Why thank you. Say, why don't we meet again when you've made a name for yourself, Ryan? I used to be an adventurer, but then I took an arrow to the knee, so it would be nice to hear about another adventurer's exploits."

"Sure, and then I'll treat you to a drink." Voxer laughed and clapped him on the back. They parted ways, and Ryan and Navi quickly found themselves getting lost in the city, enchanted by the sights.

"Look-look, cat girls!"

"It's rude to point at people, Navi."

"But… ah, this is heaven…"

Luckily, the group of cat people hadn't noticed them, and went along with their day, completely unaware of the thirsty oni.

But it wasn't just cat girls. Wolf girls. Fox girls. Cow girls. Elf girls. This city had all the girls, and Navi was loving every second.

Ryan shook his head in exasperation. That woman was truly a degenerate. Unfortunately, since she had gotten it from him, that also meant he was a degenerate - he just had the common sense to hide it.

They didn't immediately walk over to the Babel Tower, where they assumed the guild to be. Instead, Ryan and Navi explored every nook and cranny of the city.

"Shit, we don't have any money," whined Navi, her eyes focused on some delicious-looking food served by one of the many street vendors. "When we get rich, I'll buy a thousand of those donut thingies. No, a million!" she solemnly declared, and the owner of the food cart felt a chill go up his spine, but he wasn't able to tell the reason for his sudden feeling of dread. Little did the man know, he was going to have to cook like his life depended on it in the future.

Ryan's attention was focused elsewhere. "Of course, even in a wondrous city like Orario, you would still find a few homeless people." He was looking into one of the many alleys. A group of old men were holed up in there, covered in grime and dirt, and bottles of liquor littered the ground.

His eyes narrowed. "Red-light district, huh?" A sign was mentioning where you could find it. Even more interesting, it also mentioned who owned most of the brothels - a goddess named Ishtar.

Ryan felt his heart grow cold, but he ignored the feeling and continued walking with the excited Navi. In a world like this, more medieval than modern, human rights probably weren't much of a thing, so Ryan was sure the red-light district was heavily supported by slavery.

"Look at this, Ryan!!!"

Navi pushed a pamphlet up in Ryan's face. "Hostess of Fertility, huh?" he said, reading all the information. There were pictures of the business' staff, and they were all, ahem, cute girls, Ryan was forced to admit, and now he understood Navi's excitement. Navi seemed to love three things in particular: fighting, food, and cute girls, especially demi-human girls. This place checked off two boxes, or perhaps all three, if one customer got too rowdy and drunk.

Navi's eyes were practically glowing. "When we get our first paycheck from the guild, we've got to visit this place!"

Ryan gave her a smirk. "So you can meet all the cute girls?"

"Yes, so I can meet all the cute girls," she said with her own smirk, not feeling any shame. Ryan was honestly impressed by her shamelessness. It was a special talent.

"Well, you'll probably want to visit the Hostess of Fertility often, so it might be a good idea to rent a room close by." Ryan pulled out a map he had gotten for free by a street vendor. The person told him he looked like a lost tourist and took pity on him. Ryan almost cried from embarrassment.

"Right, this should be the Hostess of Fertility, and two streets down from it… we have a place called Amour, which is a hotel. It's kind of odd how this world has a mix of medieval concepts and modern ones," said Ryan in a dry tone. Because of magic stones, they had electricity, and they also had hotels, children's playgrounds, bakeries, and he could still go on with more things. All of this definitely wasn't something you would have seen in medieval Europe back on earth.

Navi just shrugged. "Hey, I ain't complaining."

Ryan nodded. "Well, it's certainly nice to have all these conveniences… I think it's time we join the guild, Navi."

She gave him a mock salute. "Aya, captain."