Chapter 63 : Adventurer Guild (Part 3)

"Hmmm?" In the middle of registration, Rei encountered an unusual company.

'Who is it.' Rei thought while looking at the person who approached him just now.

A young man who seemed to be in his teenage years, surrounded by girls who he assumed to be his companion.

The young man has a brown hair and wearing a headband, with a long sword attached on his waist.

Beside him there's a girl who wore glasses with black robe and holding a staff, typical Mage outfit.

The other side was a girl with a pony tail in a skimpy outfit with bandages wrapped around her arms.

Lastly, there's a girl with the same robe and staff as the mage but this one is white in color.

Rei began to observe this young man who approached him.

'Do you know him...Houston?' Rei asked inside his mind.

'No, I never met him.'

'I see...but somehow why do i feel some sort of protagonist energy from him.' When Rei spoke like that he could see the girls were surrounding this young man on purpose.

'Prota–what?' Ray knitted his brows in confusion.

'Protagonist...you can see it yourself.' Rei sighed internally.

As the young man watched Rei went silent for a moment, he began asking him with a friendly smile, "Ummm...are you registering as an Adventurer?"

Rei didn't answer his question, just giving him a nod.

"Ohhhh I see! Welcome to the guild! I'm Andrew! Hope we can get along!" Andrew offered his hand to have a handshake with him.

Rei looked at his hand, but instead giving him a handshake....

"Just get into the point...what do you want from me." Rei asked him as he felt like in a hurry because he still have other business to do.

Andrew blinked his eyes for a moment, as if he he didnt expect to be rejected, "Huh??"

But the situation gets worse than he thought, because his rejection triggered the two girls who stood next to him.

"You! How dare you reject his handshake!" The girl with pony tail shouted in anger.

"Yeah, isn't that rude." The girl with glasses commented.

As they ganged up on him, Rei could only stare blankly at them.

'See?? Don't you get what I'm saying?' Rei commented, while Ray started to understand what he saw.

'Yeah...he is the protagonist...from the way they protected him.'

"Y-you guys! You shouldn't say–" When the girl with white robe was about to say something, Rei sighed.

"Okay, I was rude." Rei spoke while bowing his head a bit, "I apologize."

"Huh?! Y-you don't have to sir!–"

"Hah! Good! You should apologize like that!" The girl with pony tail smirked.

But after that Rei turned around to wait for the staff to come back and completely ignored the girl.

"H-how dare you–!"

"What? I already apologize, I have no reason to talk to you anymore." Rei said to her while not giving her a glance.

"If you guys need something, you should get into the point already. I still need to finish my registration and find a place to stay." Rei spoke while folding his arms.

What he said was true, they just went at him without even greeting him properl and instead asking him like that. Even though he already gave them a hint that he's in a hurry but instead they made such a big deal off of the situation.

The pony tailed girl gotten even more angry than before. The moment she was about to step forward, the young man stopped her.

"Erika, you should stop...we were about to ask him to join us to the quest but you guys keep speaking over me." Andrew scolded.

Erika sulked, folding her arms while looking away, "Fine."

"I'm sorry about my companion and yeah as you heard that we want you to join us for a quest...do you have a time for that?" Andrew asked after he apologized.

Rei sighed and looked at him, "Since you apologized, I forgive you...but I hope those two behind you can shut up for a moment, if you are a leader for them then act like one." Rei suggested bluntly.

Andrew was taken back with his words and could only nodded his head. Erika in the other hand, is getting more pissed now at how Rei treated him.

"That's it!–" But right before she is going to step forward again.

"I'm back, I had enough–!" The staff went back with a card on her hand, she was breaking a lot of sweat and looked to be in a hurry creating this card.

Rei turned his face towards the staff, "Welcome back." he greeted, relieved that she has returned.

"I'm sorry for making you wait long, sir Crimson." The staff apologize while bowing her head a bit.

"It's fine." Rei slightly waved his hands away as he nodded, "But it's better not to say my name like that in front of these people." Rei reminded her and she noticed that there's some people who seemed to be waiting for him.

"I-i apologize sir Crim–I mean sir!" The staff stumbled with her words.

Rei chuckled, "It's fine and are you gonna...hand me those?" he asked while noticing the card that she have been holding.

"Oh–r-right!! Here you go sir!" The staff suddenly realized that she was still holding onto the card so she quickly gave it to him.

Rei took the card and saw his name on it.

=======================================

Name: Crimson

Job: Warrior

Class: E

=======================================

'This...is such a plain card.' Rei thought while staring at it.

The staff giggled when Rei stared at the card without a word, "I bet you think this is a simple card right?"

"A-ahh–Yes! I mean, no."

"I know from the way you look at it even though I cannot see your facial face from that helmet." She smiled.

"Ahahaha." Rei laughed awkwardly.

"Well let me explain it to you along with the rule, the first thing is the card that you are holding have a magic imprint on it that allows you to have a permit to travel around."

"The card will record your achievements and everything you have done, then confirm it with the nearby [Guild] on each town that had it."

"Ohh, does that mean the [Guild] isn't only at this place?" Rei asked.

"Correct sir, each town have their own [Guild] and of course different place, different quest." The staff answered.

"You can check your info and achievements through the card with a drip of your own blood, it will analyze it and show you of what you did in the past before coming here."

"But make sure, do not let others know what you did and of your achievements, it will cause a lot of ruckus." The staff said, "The only one who could share such stuff is the staff like us and the [Guild Master] himself."

'I see...it's a great thing that we wouldn't be exposed after we killed [Banzana].' Rei thought while nodding his head as an answer.

"Well then, I will be telling you the rules and what you must not do as an adventurer."

"First, is that you as an Adventurer must finish the quest that you are given and gave your report to the [Guild]."

"If you couldn't manage to finish it in time, there will be a penalty but...if there's something wrong with the quest such as an encounter with unusual monster or accident, you can send request to us so we can manage it together."

"Of course, if you managed to deal with it alone there will be additional reward from the [Guild].' the staff explained.

Rei nodded and listened to it carefully.

"Secondly, there will be a strict rule where Adventurer must not fight to each other or even killing, the penalty will be much severe than failing the quest...if you did a self defense then the attacker will be the one who gets the punishment." The staff said while having a strange pressure around her.

Rei could only nodded his head towards her.

"Last but not least...

.

.

.

.

Do not die." The staff giving a short pause before she finished her words with a smile. "Do you understand everything I told you sir?"

Rei widened his eyes a bit and could only smile behind that helmet, "I understand and thank you for the info, I will check the card when I have a place to stay."

Rei said while looking at her and offered her his hand, "I will look forward to work with you, by the way what is your name?"

"Me too sir and you can call me Rebecca." Rebecca introduced herself with a polite smile. She has brown hair and straight braided hair on the back while wearing a formal outfit for the staff.

"Nice meeting you Rebecca, and now I must attend some business with them." Rei turned around as Rebecca could see Andrew and his teammate were waiting for him.

"Now then, it seems I'm making you wait."

"N-no, sir you didn't make us wait that long." Andrew spoke while giving him a smile.

"I see...as I said before I need a place to stay, if you guys could tell me where is it, I will reconsider to join you on a quest."

"Huh??? Really?!"

"Of course, we can discuss it tomorrow...since I need a rest after a long road, so can you lead me the place?"

"Sure! Let's go, I will show you the place." Andrew spoke while tapping his chest.

"You guys can go take a rest now, we'll be fine on our own!"

"Are you sure Andrew! He might be a bad guy!" The ponytailed girl accused.

"From the way he's wearing, he looks evil to me." The glasses girl said.

"Y-you guys don't say that." The girl with white robe trying to pacify them.

Rei could only sigh internally, 'Should I change the design for the helmet next time.' Rei thought.

"Hahaha! Don't worry about me, you know that I'm great with my sword! if something happen to me, I can defend myself." Andrew said while showing his sword that was stuck on his back.

"Then...if something happen you must aim for his legs first." The pony tailed girl suggested.

"Or his eyes." The glases girl joined.

'I'm still right here.' Rei thought while folding his arms but afterwards, without speaking any words to the girls, Rei walked away

"Let's go now." Without beating around the bushes, Rei told him and waited for Andrew to come.

"Ah! Yes! Okay! See you tomorrow!" Andrew waved to the girls while following Rei from behind, until finally they left the [Guild].

*****

As Rei left the Guild with Andrew.

"You dumb leader!!"

*BONK*

"O-ouch!!! That hurts Ruru! How dare you hit your own leader like that!!"

Fang is now being scolded by his teammate Ruru the elf who also hit him right on his head.

"How can you let such a precious gem get away!" She complained, getting even angrier.

"What am I supposed to do?! The other party went to him first! And besides! We are still much more experienced than him, did you not hear it with your long ear? That he just registered today as an E-class!" Fang shouted back while rubbing the bump on his head.

"Grrrrr!! Hmphh! I don't care!" Ruru growled but decided to sit down on her seat.

"Now now, calm down Ruru." Wise spoke gently as he smiled at them.

"Why are you so patient Wise, you should be scolding him too!" Ruru said it to him.

But Wise could only shook his head, "It's true that he letting go for someone who have potential, but he was also right about that, we cannot intervere someone who got an eyes on him."

"...and at the same time, we cannot have a quest together with him because he just registered today...so it's better letting the time flow on its own course and allow him to grow first, just like how you always do with your plants, Ruru." Wise explained.

Ruru sighed and snuggling her cheek to Kagura's who is still eating her food, "Hmmph! I know about that." Ruru sighed again, "But seriously, he was pretty interesting...the way he talk and act is very mature and how he handled that kind of situation it was as if someone who aren't a newbie at all."

*GULP*

As Kagura swallowed down her food, she looked at them. "That's right, from my perception...he might be a veteran warrior who's at least strong as you Fang...or even stronger."

Fang who heard it suddenly jump off from his seat, "Huh?! Seriously?! Stronger than me?! Are you sure about that Kagura!"

"Hmmmm...the probability is around 67%, but it will increase due to how much stronger can he get before he can catch up to our world." Kagura explained. The world she mentioned is a kind of level populated with the higher-class Adventurer and the various quests of higher difficulty.

"Damn...I can't wait for him to join in then spar with him." Fang said excitedly.

But his party could only sigh at his antics,

'Well, he might be smarter than you.' Everyone thought.

******

The sun slowly sets on the horizon, plunging the city with its orange ambience. Rei and Andrew were walking side by side as the latter led him to the place.

"Hmmm...Andrew was it?" Rei spoke first.

"Hmm? Yeah?"

"I have a question for you."

"What is it??"

"Do you have a reason to be an Adventurer?" Rei asked out of curiosity.

"Of course! I wanna be a Hero that could save the world!" Andrew spoke enthusiastically, a passion that matched with his age.

"A hero huh....pretty childish dream."

"Hahaha, yeah...it's pretty embarrassing to say, but I need to be proud of my dream and get stronger to achieve that of course." Andrew smiled.

"True...with strong belief and hard work, you can achieve anything with it." Rei agreed to it.

"Hahaha! You think so?"

"But you also need to learn more about how the world works." When Rei spoke about that, he let out a bit of a grim face behind the helmet.

"Huh?? Like what sir??"

But he brushed it off with a smile, "I will tell you when we had time."

They kept walking in comfortable silence for a while until Rei stopped walking and turned to see the building beside him.

"Is this the place?" Rei pointed as he could see a big building, beaming with light and he could hear the laughter inside.

"Ahh–yes! This is the place!" Andrew who's about to accidentally pass through it, stopped at the right moment.

Rei looked up and saw a sign with the words [Hatchler Inn] on it.

"Let's go inside sir Crimson!" Andrew urged him while Rei followed him quietly from behind.

*CREAK*

As the door was pushed open, he could see many people were eating and drinking together, not only that but the room was lively with their chatters and laughter.

"Welcome in nya~!" As they came inside, they were greeted by a girl with cat ears and tail who's wearing a maid outfit.

Rei found it to be quite an unusual and interesting sight to see, 'A cat??'

"Excuse me, ma'am can I get the owner?"

"Ohh~ do you need anything with the owner nya?~"

"Yes, my friend here needed a place to stay."

The cat girl saw Rei who were wearing his outfit like that, but his appearance didn't faze her one bit. She's nodding with a smile as her cat ears twitched instead.

"Okay~ Just come in and have a seat nya~" The cat girl said as she lead them to a bar.

Rei and Andrew followed her beffore settling down on the dark wooden stool until a woman with the body of a giant stood in front of them.

"Boss! This customer want to see you!" The cat girl called the giant woman as she turned around to see them.

Rei tensed up, somehow slightly intimidated with her presence.

"Oh! Welcome to [Hatchler Inn] where you can eat or drink or stay! what can I help you young man!" The giant woman greeted with her booming voice, flashing them her big smile.

"Thank you ma'am, do you have any room for me to stay?" Rei spoke out first.

"Ohh! An unfamiliar face huh, you must be new." The giant woman said while staring at him.

"Yes, I just registered as an Adventurer today."

"Hoho! Such an unusual armor you got there, but everything looks plain except that scarf of yours, can you tell me your name? I will register it right away!" The giant woman grinned as she took out a note and a pen.

"Thank you very much, my name is Crimson, I will look forward to stay at your place ma'am."

The giant woman whistled as soon as she heard his name, "Wow~ that's such a cool name you got there, well then I also look forward for your stay and you can just call me Hilda!"

Rei nodded, "Thank you for the compliments, Hilda."

"Hoho?!~ Without formalities already? Quite bold of you, huh."

"Well, I cannot refuse when you gave me the permission right?" Rei said.

"Hahaha! You got the point there! Well have some meal first! You must be hungry! I'll be right back." Hilda waved before leaving them.

Andrew was taken back seeing how the conversation goes.

"Woah...sir Crimson, you are awesome! I never thought you could talk that smooth with miss Hilda!" Andrew praised.

"Am I? I thought everyone would do that."

"Of course not! Did you not know, miss Hilda was an ex-Adventurer! And not only that, she was a high-class veteran! So no one in here talk like that."

"Really??" Rei was slightly taken back, she did have the aura befitting for someone who are stronger than him.

'Sometimes it makes me thinking...am I.'

'Gonna be that big if I've become stronger?' As Rei thought about it, he was reminded of his previous opponents. All of whom have a giant body and speed that didn't match with their build.

As Rei was lost in his thought, Hilda came back with a bowl full of food.

*THUD*

"Okay! Here we go! Eat your fill to the fullest!"

Rei widened his eyes when he saw the food right in front of him, it was a lot...from giant roasted meat, cream soup, a ton of bread, a pasta along with giant fried fish and glass full of wine.

"W-wait, I didn't order this much!" Rei said while looking at Hilda who's grinning to herself.

"Gahahaha!! It's on the house along with your lodging, just eat full! So you can have the energy for tomorrow's adventure newbie! But remember, the next time you visit here you must pay for your food!" Hilda spoke, slapping him on the shoulders.

Rei could only blink in confusion for a moment, trying to process this situation but at the same time...

*GROWL*

Hunger snapped him back to his senses, stomach growled loudly and his mouth began to salivate from seeing the food in front of him.

*GULP*

'It does looks delicious.'

"Come on! Eat up! While it's still hot!" Hilda persuaded him.

Since he couldn't take off his helmet to protect his identity, he only opened the gap on the mouth part of his helmet so he can eat.

Hilda and Andrew found it strange obviously.

"Huh?? sir Crimson?? You aren't gonna take off that helmet??" Andrew asked.

"Yeah, I'm sorry...it just...I have a personal reason...not to remove it." Rei explained honestly.

"Ohhh, personal reason?? And what it might be?" Hilda joined in with a big grin as she were curious about him as well.

"Well, personal things need to be kept personal right? I will tell you when the time comes Hilda." Rei replied.

"Hahaha! Aren't cha a smooth talker? Well that is true! have it your way, then" Hilda nodded as she finally left them alone.

"Thank you." Rei spoke with a smile and began to observe the food in front of him. "Now then...where should I start." Rei looked around until he took a bowl of cream soup first in front of him.

"First one...is the appetizers." Rei grabbed taking the spoon and began to scoop up the soup before he slowly put it through that gap.

When the soup entered his mouth...

"Hmfh!" Rei widened his eyes, pausing for a moment while still holding the spoon.

Andrew was going to eat his food too until he saw Rei stopped his eating, "Sir? Are you okay??"

'T-this....this....THIS IS SO GOOD!!' Rei was screaming internally with joy.

'A creamy soup that feels so smooth and gentle in the mouth, together with a strong taste from meat and chicken combined—! I didn't taste the bitterness from the vegetables too, it's mixing so well together with other ingredients!

'What the hell is this!? How come a simple soup like this can taste so good?! You can taste this right, Houston?!' Rei talked to Ray who also tasted the same thing through their body.

'Indeed, we have a Cooking skill ourself...but this level of cooking skill might be a lot higher than us.' Ray spoke while his mouth salivating a lot more, starting to spill out from his mouth like a waterfall.

After that, Rei began to take another bite, "Hmfh."

'This is so...GOOD!!!~'

He's brimming in joy just from having to eat this as his dinner.

It mas a more than just a simple nice experience for him.

Meanwhile Andrew began to get worried at the man sitting next to him.

'S-so...s-scary.' the young man shook a bit, starting at him who's eating his food silently.

******

*THUD*

After finishing his dinner, Rei went to the designated room that was prepared for him from the owner herself.

He quickly locked the door and take off his armor to jump off to the bed.

"Haaaaa~ That was an amazing food~" Rei commented while looking up to the ceiling.

'Indeed, it was amazing.' Ray nodded in agreement.

Rei sighed and closed his eyes, "Finally...we are one step closer to our goal huh."

'Yes it is.' Ray couldn't agree more.

"We saved the village, we fought uncle Nel, we even fought the bandits and their leader who was supposed to be the future disaster."

'Mhm, mhm.' Ray nodded once again.

Then Rei slowly began to feel sleepy, "We got many new skill, and finally become an Adventurer after that..."

"Indeed."

Then as his eyes began to feel heavy, "I wonder... where are we going next....huh...Houston?"

And just like that, he fallen asleep, leaving a question for him.

'I wonder myself too, about where should we going next...but wherever you go, I will always follow you...Kiritsuka, take your time to rest...tomorrow we will have a big day for our debut.

'Goodnight, Kiritsuka.'

"Zzzzzzz.....'

As Ray bid him a goodnight, Rei was already fast asleep.

His new journey will be kicking into gear, for real now.

To be continue...