Arc 1 - Ch 3: "Formai Welcomes You!"

CHAPTER 3 - "Formai welcomes you!"

This web novel is a draft of the story. Please expect frequent changes and updates as I see fit. Enjoy! -Cloki

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-Siegfried was Isekai'd to the world of Provincia, a Utopian now turned Dystopian world plagued by war. Tasked with defeating Hasher and restoring peace, Siegfried must first make his way to the adventurer's guild to learn magic, create his Adventurers' Profile, and begin his journey through Provincia! However, upon entering the adventurer's guild, he meets an unforgettable face...

[???]: "Welcome to Formai, young traveler! My name is Jenny! I will be your tour guide today as I show you around the town! Please, do follow me. What is your name, and what is your quest?"

-Jenny was a young Durman woman, close in age to Siegfried. She had light brown hair that went down to her shoulders and had brown eyes. She wore a smile on her face and had the aura of a white hare frolicking through a grass field.

Siegfried: "My name is Siegfried, I am an adventurer whose goal is to ultimately defeat Hasher, and put a stop to his agenda."

-With a look of shock, Jenny coughs and looks at Siegfried. Her expression changed from that of a beaming maiden to that of a depressed damsel. She then says-

Jenny: "Erm... Well, that's quite the lofty goal you have there, young man... Please, do be careful on your journey..."

Jenny to herself: "This guy's nuts... does he have a death wish or something?"

Siegfried: "Thanks! So, about showing me around?"

Jenny: "Ah, yes! Please do follow me, sir!"

-Jenny gave Siegfried a general tour of Formai, showing him the numerous buildings and their purposes, as well as showing him the training grounds for new knights enlisted in the Durman Military. Durma is the province in which Formai is located. There are multiple provinces in Provincia. They are Durma, Laeval, Rhodo, and Eldra. Each province is inhabited by numerous races of individuals from humans to elves to dwarves to rhodinians and much more.

-Jenny pointed to a building to her right-

Jenny: "This is the city hall, home to the current mayor of Formai. Each major town and city has a city hall. It's the place you go when you want to either request to stay in the city for a while or pay to be transported somewhere VIA carriage. You can also turn quests in there if the town does not have a Guild House!"

Jenny: "To the left, we have two buildings. The first is Terry's Tavern, where adventurers go to enjoy drinks and games! The other building across from it is the Formai Inn, where guests can stay temporarily while on their journey! "

Siegfried: "Good to know I'll at least have a place to sleep..."

Jenny: "To the right, is the Adventurer's Guild, I believe this is the place you need to go first to start your journey as an adventurer! If you need any help, please do not refrain from asking me! I'll be here to answer your general questions!"

-Siegfried bowed at Jenny and made his way towards the adventurer's guild.

Siegfried: "So this must be the adventurer's guild that Camriel was talking about... it looks a little more, run-down than I initially thought it would look."

???: "Camriel? Who's that? Also, don't you go talking bad about the adventurer's guild! My father works there as a quest giver and I'm sure he would have no trouble teaching you a lesson!"

-Suddenly, Siegfried turned around and saw a girl, about his age, with long, Azure-Blue hair that stretched down to her back. She had brown eyes and a slightly crooked, yet cute smile about her. She wore silver and blue mage attire, and a blue sun hat with a flower on the side, it suited her quite well! She walked toward Siegfried.

Siegfried: "...who are you?"

???: "Asking who I am right after disrespecting my family's name, and my father's establishment! I oughta teach you a lesson myself!"

-The mage drew her wand and aimed it at Siegfried, ready to blast him away if he moved a muscle in her direction. Siegfried took notice of her distinct accent. He was unaware at the time, but it was the accent of a Laevilian.

???: "What strange clothes you are wearing, could you possibly be part of one of Hasher's evil cults of dark mages???"

-Siegfried's clothing, his black and gold tracksuit, unfortunately, was similar to the typical attire of a dark mage, which consisted of black and gold robes, and a face mask. The female mage took this as a sign that Siegfried was part of Hasher's Cult, and threatened to attack him.

Siegfried: "WAIT! Please."

Siegfried: "I swear I'm not part of the dark mages, if I was, I would have attacked you by now. As you can probably tell, I'm severely under-leveled to be of any substantial danger to you! I apologize. Please, allow us to start over from a fresh start."

???: "heh, very well, the name's Azure, I'm the one who's going to stop the dark agenda and defeat Hasher!"

Azure: "...and I won't let anyone get in my way...."

-Still suspicious of Siegfried, Azure kept her wand in hand, ready to intervene would Siegfried suddenly attack her.

Siegfried: "-- --"

-Well, the name Azure explains her hair color perfectly. Knowing how most RPG games worked, Siegfried saw two possible scenarios unfolding here. One: He could ask this cute heroine to party up with him and work together to defeat hasher, or Two: she could totally reject him and kill him on the spot out of suspicion. He was hoping for the former...

Azure: "Hmm. I sense no immediate danger, and your aura is quite bright at the moment. For now, I guess I can sorta trust you..."

-Azure put her wand away and looked at Siegfried, confused at his shocked expression. Siegfried had only ever seen mages in video games, and he was still unfamiliar with his surroundings, or why he was even summoned to this world.

Siegfried: "-- --"

Azure: "w-what's that face for?? You haven't even introduced yourself yet you imbecile! Asking a lady for her name before introducing yourself, how selfish!"

-Siegfried, anxious, began to introduce himself to Azure.

Siegfried: "My name is Siegfried... I was sent here by a goddess named Camriel to defeat Hasher and restore peace to the world."

Azure: "Eh? A goddess? Yeah, sure you were. Listen, if you wanna be honest with me, now's your chance."

Siegfried: "No really, I was sent by the goddess Ca-*ACK!*"

-Suddenly, Siegfried choked on his own words, and heard Camriel's voice from above-

[Camriel]: "Siegfried, don't try to get her to believe you. You want to present yourself as a trustworthy individual. Make up a story for now, okay?"

Azure: "Are you okay? Swallow a bug or something, you nitwit? Here, let me help."

-Azure gave a hearty whack to Siegfried's back, and Siegfried yelped in pain but was immediately relieved of Camriel's grasp.

Siegfried: *gasp* "yeh, just a bug.. Thank you Azure-san."

Azure: "Adding -san to my name despite us just meeting, how pushy can you be?"

Siegfried: "Anyway, my name is Siegfried. I'm a new adventurer who's looking to defeat Hasher, like you, and stop his war. If you don't mind me asking, why do YOU want to defeat Hasher?"

Azure: "-- --"

Azure: "It appears we have a common goal in mind. Before I tell you my motives, why don't you take the time to explain yours? Your clothes are throwing me off, I'm still apprehensive of your true identity.."

-Obviously unable to reveal his true motives, Siegfried fabricated a believable lie in its place.

Siegfried: "Hasher drove me out of the city in which I grew up. His cult of dark mages invaded and claimed the town as their own, we were all forced to leave...

Azure: "If you don't mind asking, which village did you grow up in?"

-Siegfried's heart rate rose tremendously at this question. He had no idea where anything in Provincia was! Fortunately, he spotted a Provincia World Map tacked to the wall outside of the Adventurer's Guild. He chose a random village and hoped for the best. If his lie didn't work, he would surely be killed.

Siegfried: "...I grew up in Meistead, in the province of Laeval..."

Azure: "Hm, your accent doesn't sound Laevilian like mine. Did Meistead have a different accent? I've never been there personally."

Siegfried: "Yes, we had merchants from neighboring towns come and visit, and I could tell they sounded different than we did."

-Azure gazed at Siegfried, curiously, and proceeded to speak with him-

Azure: "Meistead... I recognize that place. Your story lines up, I remember that village being raided during the battle of Laeval. Your story runs parallel to mine, Siegfried. Allow me to explain what I went through, five years ago, during that same battle..."

-Siegfried was met with great relief, his lie had worked!

-With a look of disdain, Azure went on about her backstory, and her reason for wanting to defeat Hasher.

Azure: "Hasher's cult killed my mother 5 years ago in the battle of Laeval. She was a first-lieutenant for the 23rd Mages Corps, fighting on the front lines. She specialized in Electromagic but was killed by Hasher's cult. She was suffocated, along with the rest of her troop... I swore vengeance on Hasher and his army since that day. They raided many villages, claiming them for the cult of dark mages, including mine, Olmrock, where I lived until I was 13, and yours, Meistead..."

Siegfried: "I...can't believe this. That's terrible..."

Azure: "After Olmrock was raided, my father and I moved to the Province of Durma. We sailed across the ocean with another group of refugees and moved to Formai, where my father took up a job as a quest giver in this very guild house."

-Siegfried was immediately empathetic toward Azure. She lived without a mother, presumably in the Adventurer's Guild with her father, working hard each day to supply her with a life, food, and a place to sleep, for five years now. Siegfried continues the conversation-

Siegfried: "Can you tell me a bit about Hasher's army? How strong is it, and what is its history?"

Azure: "Sure. Hasher is a dark wizard that started the war. According to what my father told me, Provincia has been plagued by his war for the past 200 years, and his military shows no signs of slowing down. He has numerous armies of dark mages that he sends to battle to fight for him, and because dark magic is the second strongest type of magic that exists, it is incredibly difficult for us to defeat his military and reach Hasher himself, who's confined himself to the Eldra province, hidden away from the rest of the world, silently commanding his military to advance the spread of their agenda. Their goal, as far as I'm concerned, appears to be world domination, and for everyone to join his cult. The reason? I'm not entirely sure."

Azure: "Hasher is so powerful, that some say he was able to create an entirely new spell all on his own, which essentially prevents him from aging, given he has a consistent enough supply of mana to cast it. Apparently, he's had enough mana to cast it for about 180 years now..."

Siegfried: "Hasher sounds a bit more terrifying than I initially expected him to be. Regardless, Is there any way that I can help in your quest in defeating Hasher? It's also my goal to defeat him and bring peace to this world as well, Azure-san."

Azure: "hmm... defeating Hasher is something that I myself planned to undertake for years. Initially, I was going to gather the strength on my own to join the military but later decided that this was a job I had to do by myself for my mother's sake. But, knowing how powerful Hasher really is, perhaps it wouldn't be that bad of an idea to have some extra help around.

Azure: But just know that because I'm partying up with you doesn't mean you can freeload! I am already an experienced mage, so I will probably be doing most of the killing. But if I need your help, your ass better be ready to help! Do you understand?"

Siegfried: "Completely. Thank you, Azure-san. Let's go inside the Adventurer's Guild and see what I need to do to start my journey."

Azure: "Follow me, Siegfried-kun."

Azure to herself: ["Interesting, before starting my own adventure I seemed to have already run into a potential battle-buddy who was in the same situation as me 5 years ago. And to make matters better, he's actually kind of cute now that I think about it."]

-Siegfried felt bad about his lie, as Azure's story was most definitely true. Siegfried had gone through no such suffering. Yet still, his life had been spared because of it. He followed Azure into the guild house…

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