Chapter 3:
Rough and Tumble Rogues Gather in the Guild
ONCE FILIA WOKE UP the next morning, we wandered the town as we figured out what to do about the money situation. My heart was still pounding against my rib cage; every new piece of scenery left me feverish with excitement. After eavesdropping on some passersby, we gathered that the best way to earn money for new folks like us was to head over to the local guild and become adventurers.
Apparently they even bought raw materials from slain monsters!
“Yuri, it seems like everybody calls this place ‘the Town of Beginnings,’ or Astarte.”
“The Town of Beginnings?”
“Right. They say that the hero, the demon king, and the dark god were all born around here, hence the Town of Beginnings.”
“Heh, sweet!”
As we walked, though, we started to realize we looked a bit out of place.
“Hey, Filia, do we kinda stand out here?”
“It does seem so.”
As people passed by, their gazes were inevitably drawn to us…or no, they were drawn to Filia. As they stared, I stared right back, which was when I started to notice something: human, dog beastman, human, human, cat beastman, human, human, human, bear beastman…Not a single elf, no matter how hard I looked.
It seemed elves really were rare after all. I knew Filia had said elves were an insular people who rarely left their forest, but it was another thing to see the total absence of anyone who looked like her. She would’ve gotten a lot of attention just for being pretty beyond compare, but when you added in how uncommon it was to see an elf? It was only natural she had everyone’s interest.
Wow. Now that I thought about it, Filia—despite being younger than me and traveling alone—was a pretty amazing person, huh? I looked over at her as she walked beside me, gazing with awe at our surroundings. Her silver eyes glowed with curiosity, and I could only imagine how new the town looked to her as well.
Powerful, capable, and drop-dead gorgeous. If she ever wanted to replace me with a new ally, she really could have her pick of the litter.
Guess I’d just deal with that when the time came—oh, whoops.
Filia had noticed me staring at her, probably because I’d been looking a little too long. Her gaze, luminous as pearls, fell upon me.
“Aww, what’s the matter? Did you fall in love with me, by any chance?” said Filia. She put her finger to her cheek and tilted her head to the side, mooning at me with upturned eyes. The ultimate cunning move, only accessible by cute girls. None could stand before it.
“I take it back,” I mumbled.
“Ah, please wait!”
I scrambled toward the guild to hide my fluster.
“So, is this the guild?” I asked a little too loudly.
“It appears to be. And it looks quite old, too.”
Just as Filia said, the building had clearly seen better days, unlike the surrounding structures. The wood was tinged dark after years of open-air exposure; the history of the organization was embedded in the wood-grain.
However, when Filia and I stepped inside the guild, we found it trim, tidy, and basically normal. I’d kinda selfishly imagined it would be a dim, gloomy place, but nope.
Just like the people outside, the people inside immediately zeroed in on Filia:
“Hey, hey, check it out!”
“Whoa, who’s she? She’s super cute!”
“Is she that guy’s companion? He looks a little puny for her, ha!”
“Whoa, check this elf! She looks just like they say!”
Tidy as it was, it seemed like the guild was still a place where rough-and-tumble ruffians gathered. Not very discerning ruffians, though. Puny? Couldn’t they see my highly toned, well-trained muscles?
Hmph. I’d have to show them, I guess.
Thus, I tore off my clothes for a proper demonstration. Then—hoping it wouldn’t be too much sheer power for the crowd—I expanded my muscles, transforming into a figure so strikingly beautiful that no doubt the floor would soon be slathered in drool as the ruffians’ mouths hung open in awe and desire.
Sure enough, the adventurers who were witness to my massive, exquisitely honed muscles made a real commotion.
“Whoa. What’s with that guy? Why did he train his body like that?”
“No idea. Maybe he’s some kinda extreme masochist or something. I don’t want him to come near me.”
“Wait, actually, why’d he just suddenly start taking his clothes off?”
“Maybe he’s an exhibitionist?”
“You know, those two kinda look like an angel and a gorilla.”
“Ha ha! You ain’t wrong!”
Weird. Were these guys trying to talk smack about my muscles? Seemed a little backwards for a bunch of stick-thin twigs to look down on such a sweet, sweet, basically divine bod. Ugh, what an absurd world. Completely unfair!
Filia patted me on the shoulder. I turned to face her and she wore a wide grin. She pointed at herself. “Angel.” Then she pointed at me, still smiling. “Goooo-rilla! Pfft. Eh he he. Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
Oh, that’s soooo funny, Filia. Made me wanna wipe that smile off her face, but…then again, elves were more or less ignorant of the common manners of the human world, weren’t they? So there was no helping her on that front. And heck, perhaps in the elvish world, being called a gorilla was a compliment.
Sure, there we go!
Though for some reason, Filia was also rolling on the ground, clutching her belly as she howled with laughter…but perhaps in the elvish world that kind of action was also a compliment?
Sure, why not.