“Welcome! Something catch your eye?”
“These are a little expensive. Give me a discount, would you?”
“Please, daddy?”
“Hey, watch where you’re goin’!”
“Whew, yer a beauty. Buy you a drink?”
“Fuck off!”
Detection enhanced my senses, including my hearing, meaning that I could hear all the chatter in the town. This only made my hatred for crowds grow.
“There are so many people. Even the castle town in the Rising Sun Kingdom wasn’t this crowded.”
“You’ve never been to other countries?”
“We were already a fairly secluded country, so if we did go anywhere, it was only in a heavily guarded carriage. I never had the leisure of appreciating the cities.”
“So you’re a sheltered little princess? Well...not so much anymore, I guess.”
We were currently in Regin, a town in the Holy Land of Ryne. Though it was a little remote, it served as a relay town for commerce. It was also a regional town that had a highway running through it. There was a lot more life here than in the Rising Sun Kingdom; I really couldn’t help but wonder just how crappy the financial situation had been there.
“Even if the location is rather remote, the liveliness of the place truly makes me feel free. It’s wonderful. If I’d stayed in the castle, I’d never have gotten to see this scenery,” Ariya said in tones of admiration as she gazed at the town.
Here, there were the loud voices of shopkeepers trying to draw in customers, customers trying to haggle, so many signs lit by magic tools all lining the brick road, guys trying to pick up girls, and said girls responding with a firm kick to the crotch. Well...aside from that bit, it was completely different from the heavy atmosphere of the Rising Sun Kingdom.
Speaking of which, there was now a little bit of fuss over the guy who’d gotten kicked in the balls. What is this—reality TV? That kinda thing is pretty tough on guys. Also... Uh, Ariya? Why are you swinging your leg? Practicing your ball-kicking, perhaps? Are you planning on using that technique on some poor sap? Like...someone who isn’t able to dodge during the daytime because of their weakened status?
Ariya had calmed down a fair bit since we’d left the castle. She was a lot more cheerful now. Usually, if your parents and sister had been murdered, you’d be a little more reserved, but not her. Sure, they hadn’t exactly treated her that well, but I hadn’t taken her to be the type to be relieved that her parents were dead. I really don’t get how other people think.
“So, where to now?” she asked.
“Well, first, we need money.”
I’d looted some gold pieces from the Rising Sun Kingdom, but it was likely that we couldn’t use them anywhere since the country didn’t really exist anymore. It’d be best for us to earn some of the currency in this country.
“So we’re going to work?”
“Yeah. Adventurers exist, right? We’re gonna do that.”
“Huh? Are you sure about that? Don’t we want to keep our abilities a secret? I have a feeling we won’t be able to hide things if we’re fighting monsters. You’re not trying to live out some foolish dream of yours by becoming an adventurer, are you?”
She’d become much more lax...well, actually, harsh...with me. She’d say scornful things to me with a smile. I don’t remember you being like this, that night. Back then, you at least knew how to hold back. There must be some kind of reason for her behavior... Hm, I wonder who could be responsible.
“I’m not planning on staying here for too long, anyway. We don’t want any long-term jobs, so being an adventurer is best. Makes it easier to cut and run.”
If we were to try a different route like starting a business, we’d need knowledge of this world, which I severely lacked. On top of being smart, I’d need to be able to chart the muddy waters of the trade world. With that in mind, it’d be much better for us to choose the world where only brawn was necessary. That way, no one would figure out our abilities or race.
The reason we were here in this remote town was because it was the closest place we could get to. As I’d predicted, after the chaos in the Rising Sun Kingdom, the various lords had tried to make a claim for the throne. The only problem was that their armies weren’t very strong to start with, so their battles weren’t large-scale or anything. It ended up just being some squabbles here and there. Even so, the guards for each territory were very strict about who they let in and out. In contrast, nobody was paying attention to uninhabited lands.
Traveling through from Fenrir’s forest, you first reached an undeveloped land infested with monsters. Past that land was Regin, a remote town in the Holy Land of Ryne. The isolated aspect of this town was why we were here. The town existed at the border of Ryne in order to protect the rest of the Holy Land from monsters.
In short, this was the first town we had made it to. The monsters here were fairly strong, so they’d be perfect for raising my levels and Skills. I’d also heard there were monsters who were highly intelligent. At this rate, I’d be able to focus on the stats that I wanted to grow.
I already knew what I wanted Ariya and myself to prioritize when raising our stats. Raising our agility was harder than putting on muscle. We had to put on muscle while still keeping our bodies light. This was next to impossible when we were already at superhuman levels of strength.
However, there was a way to get around that. As long as we chose our targets well, we could absorb the right stats when we sucked their blood. Even if I had a lot of STR and VIT, it wouldn’t increase my body mass. And in order to take full advantage of our raised stats, it was important to focus on things other than VIT. It wasn’t all that useful, since we had regeneration.
Our priority was AGI, INT, DEX, STR, and then VIT. This was especially true for a mage like Ariya. If our plan was to just raise our stats, then we didn’t have to come to town, but I had to take the daytime into consideration. I was weakened during the day, so I needed a safe place to hide—I didn’t have a death wish. I knew full well what going out there defenseless meant. I’d been able to hide within the barrier of Fenrir’s forest, but I wasn’t about to camp out in the general wilderness.
I hadn’t leveled up since leaving the Rising Sun Kingdom. The only monsters around me were Kechos. I needed stronger monsters, and a more efficient hunting ground. Ariya could only get stats from sucking the blood of others, so staying there didn’t help her much either.
Getting here from the Rising Sun Kingdom wasn’t a one-night affair. We had to travel a decent distance to get here, which meant that I’d been weakened at various points along the journey. So what did I do? Since Ariya’s strength wasn’t affected by the time of day, I’d sent her ahead of me. Then I’d used my Eye of True Sight to track her, remembering the path she’d taken.
Then, when she’d arrived at the Holy Land of Ryne, I’d used continuous teleportation to catch up to her. This may sound like a pretty cowardly plan...but personally, I’d describe it as “careful.” There was no need for me to put myself in any unnecessary danger.
This town was indeed a good place to get stronger, but the fact that this was a “holy land” was a little bit troublesome. I’d previously met a goddess, so I had no choice but to accept that the deity worshipped in this land probably existed too. It was annoying to be in a country that was so religiously devout.
I was aware that I broke a lot of this world’s rules, and that this would make me a prime target for their deity. As much as I’d love to become enemies with them, though, there was no way I could fight one in my current situation. I’d already had a hard enough time against Aegiana, and she was a mere human.
That said, staying here for too long was dangerous, so I only planned to stay here for half a month or so. After that, I’d probably just go with the flow. I had a plan, though. I wasn’t just playing this by ear. What’s that, you say? The new demon king? Like I care. The hero army can have fun searching for that guy while we continue our journey.
As we continued walking down the street, we came across a rather large building.
“Oh, is this it?”
“This is my first time seeing a guild. However, it says, ‘Adventurers’ Guild: Regin Branch’ in large letters on the front, so I assume it must be.”
It was pretty nice, even if it wasn’t too fancy or anything. It was mainly made from wood, but it was very well constructed, with a sort of medieval look to it. The entrance had double doors that were slightly larger than usual, and you could see the bar through the window. It looked like a standard guild where people would gather to get drinks.
I wasn’t looking to live out the dream of isekai manga or novels, but I couldn’t help but feel kind of excited with the epitome of that kind of fantasy guild hall standing in front of me. Either way, it was time to get a start on the cliché scene: “Register at a guild and get harassed by thugs”!