Arrival at Marinon

When Riva exited the dungeon the same guy that checked her when she entered greeted her.

It turned out that she had spent only a few hours inside. This had been one of her worries, she couldn't know how long she was out cold and if enough time had passed her disguise would no longer have worked.

Also, the other adventurers would have become suspicious about the fact that they have been unable to enter the boss room.

"Had a tough time in there?" The man greeted her and held out his hand, demanding her badge.

Riva handed him the badge from the dead mage and answered "Yeah, I had little trouble in defeating the scorpions by themselves. But it got pretty annoying when I faced groups. The ones I defeated would often respawn before I was done."

"You managed to fight groups and returned?" The man asked with surprise "How did you deal with the poison?"

"Oh, that. I have a detox spell and had some antidotes ready." Riva lied.

She had completely forgotten the fact that the most difficult thing in defeating these scorpion monsters was dealing with their poison.

"Then you're a lot more reasonable and prepared than most of the adventurers challenging this dungeon. I have to say, seeing you head in there alone, I thought you were an inexperienced self overestimating fool. I'm glad I was proven wrong." He returned the badge.

"A-hahaha" Riva laughed awkwardly and hurriedly excused herself.

~

Riva arrived at Marinon with no further disturbances. It had been an eventful day. She met Rao, defeated the nasty adventurers, grinded in the scorpion dungeon and evolved. With so much happening her intended arrival at Marinon during the afternoon was delayed to near midnight.

She had changed into wearing the clothes from the dryad and looking her human self and gotten rid of the mage's robe and badge.

Now there wouldn't have been any evidence for my killing If only that tank didn't escape. Hopefully, she died from my attack. Well, it doesn't matter that much. I did nothing wrong, defending myself against a group of bandits.

The town's gate was closed for visitors because it was late at night.

Riva didn't mind much and chose to climb a tree to and wait for morning.

After her first resting experience as a supposed human, she had decided that she would only pretend to be camping if she had no other choice.It was too goddamn boring.

Riva spent her time inspecting and testing her abilities. For one, she could detect mana, a fact she became aware of during her time within the dungeon.

Feeling mana was a strange sensation. It was somewhat similar to hearing.

She could perceive the direction and the amount of mana. For example, the hedgehog below her tree was pretty easy to discern as a weak mana emitter. Every plant, every tree, and every living being was emitting at least a little bit of mana. What she was perceiving the emitted mana.

She wasn't too familiar with her new sense but could already tell that this mana was unique signature for every being.

The problem was that she could only acutely perceive the things close to her. Difficulty increased with distance, with noise caused by other mana emitters and with the fact that mana could be obstructed and absorbed.

She familiarized herself with the sensation and tried guessing entities through their signature as a means to get used to the skill.

Throughout she became aware of the fact that she herself was absorbing some of the mana in her surroundings.

Maybe I can use magic? Riva became excited at the prospect. That's right, I could already use magic! After all, my disguise is a form of magic!

Magic was known to be both versatile and powerful. Also for some reason, Riva felt a great desire to be able to use flashy and cool spells.

It'd be way cool to use levitation and fly or cast a cool dragon shaped fireball!

In this way, she passed the night without trouble. Just before sunrise bells rang from Marinon signaling the beginning of another day.

Riva got down and made her way to the town's gate where the guards had just switched shifts when she arrived.

"Hello there, you're up early!" the younger one of the two greeted her full of energy.

"Hello. It is as they say, the early bird catches the worm!" She replied.

"True, true. So, who are you and what's your business in Marinon? Here for the adventurer guild?" He laughed.

"Yeah, I'm Riva!" Riva didn't make the effort to give a false name. In the case that someone remembered her, she would at least have a clue about her past.

"I'm starting out as a mercenary and looking to take some jobs. I'm not signed up with the adventurer guild yet." Riva explained her purpose.

"Great! We get many of your kind, after all the missions here are plenty and profitable. Marinon is a border town for all its worth." The young guard smiled enthusiastically.

"The guild's down the main road to the right. You can't miss it. And good luck, I hope you find a profitable mission." He glanced at his older colleague who had opened up the gate's doors during their talk.

"All good. Welcome to Marinon Miss Riva." He nodded.

Inside, Riva took in the scene. At this early hour the streets were mostly empty.

It feels a tiny bit familiar. I should have been here in the past, before I headed for the golem dungeon. Riva mused.

She took her time and casually strolled down the road until she reached a prominent building, its signboard declaring it as the adventurers guild, and entered.

The room that greeted Riva was furnished with sturdy wooden tables and benches. In the back was a long counter and stairs leading to the higher floors. The sole person in the room, aside from her, was a young woman sitting behind the counter. She was sleeping, her head resting on a stack of documents onto which she was drooling.

Riva chose to let her sleep for the time being and instead made her way to the huge board which listed both the latest news and displayed wanted posters for both people and monsters.

Riva checked the news.

'Sidal Empire Reclaims Border Town in the Demonic Fields'

'King George Steps Down, the Crowning of Prince Reinold Announced Next Month'

'Sewer Slime Infestation Resolved by the Rock Salt Adventurers'

'A Resounding Success - Purge to Curb Recent Monster Increase in Tearwald Forest '

Looks pretty peaceful. No drafts for soldiers to fight in wars and such. Riva thought to herself once she skimmed through everything. Even most monsters have been dealt with.

I bet it won't stay quiet for long. There are many things unfair and wrong - people being treated unjustly, corruption and inequality... they were tolerated before. Once there are no enemies from outside, the humans will have the time to quarrel with each other.

Hahh~

Riva heaved a sigh and banished the pessimism from her thoughts.

I don't need to care about all that. What matters is that I acquired some general information on the human's status quo.

She got up and went to the counter with the sleeping lady. And loudly cleared her throat.

"Waddya want, can't ya see I'm sleepin."

"I need a temporary license," Riva replied amused.

The lady sleepily opened her eyes and drowsily then confusedly stared at Riva.

Suddenly she shot up as straight as a candle and pronounced "At your service mam, what was it you needed?" She was completely ignoring the fact that she had been sleeping but a moment ago.

"I need a temporary license," Riva repeated holding back her laughter.

The receptionist might have acted dutiful as though wide awake, but the black smudge on her cheek told a different story.

Closer observation revealed it's origin. These were the remains of the letters from the document on which the woman slept. They were tattooed onto her cheek where her drool soaked the paper.