Turns out I wasn't further waylaid. I should have figured, how could more than three noteworthy events possibly happen in any single timeframe?

So the journey back to the temple courtyard was resolved uneventfully. I had to while away an unknown amount of time there, but considering it had been my choice to arrive early, I could only find ways to occupy the time.

Mostly I spent my time reciting things in my native language

“*Look at this! I mean, look at this! Can you believe I'm being charged 30 points for shipping and handling on one lousy pie? 30 points! I'm incurring a loss on the deal even after rescuing an innocent in distress! And storage fees? Conveyance charges? Drayage costs? How do you get drayage costs on a pie?*”

Of course, being recited in my native language, I wasn't merely performing for those around me. It may seem like I remember a great assortment of things; and that is true.

But I couldn't remember everything perfectly. My mind was a storehouse of copies with originals now forever inaccessible. Without upkeep, maybe I'd forget a line or two over the years, or misplace an adjective. As someone who feel pain at the loss of even the most archaic memes; knowing that even my most devoted efforts would leave me few properly preserved works was disheartening.

Tomorrow always brings new ideas, and I could really only look forward to finding them. Past or present, I thrived on narratives and entertainment, the loss of my favorites works just brought about a profound sense of nostalgia.

“*...let's be honest, it's a field. Look, do you see another world out there? No, you see a field. Do you see anything non-human? No. And you know why? Because it's a field!*”

“You been waiting in the sun too long?” I opened my eyes to see Lyssa giving me an odd, but slightly amused look.

“No, I just got here.”

“Don’t lie so blatantly. I saw you out here at least half an hour ago.”

“I was just passing the time with old stories. Hardly feels like any time at all that way.” Shrugging then standing, I rotated my shoulders and stretched out my back. Maybe I had been there longer than I thought. “Well, I suppose now that you're here, you can lead the way. I'll be in your care.”

Thoughtlessly I spouted off some light novel-esque lines. It just seemed like an appropriate thing to say, so I did. Lyssa reacted with a bit of an odd face, so there was probably something weird about it. I didn't really care though.

“Registration happens outside the temple. It's only for those not joining The Church. We’ll be heading to a side wing of the Assembly Hall; so don't do anything weird.”

“I never do anything weird."

“Didn't I say don't lie so blatantly?”

Hey, did I even do anything excessively strange in her presence?

Anyhow, with that Lyssa led me through town towards the Assembly Hall, explaining dos and don'ts on the way. Mostly don'ts though. She repeatedly emphasized not interacting with Disciples; and that went double after getting my haramaki. Snowflake, Dann, and Lyssa were all different than the standard Disciple.

That’s kind of how ‘being and individual’ works, but I acquiesced.

Other than the Disciples, most of the clerks would be low level mages that ended up being press ganged into the service of the church. Such was the fate of most magic users with little to no combat ability. They could be envious of those who retained their freedom, and it was better not to provoke them. Low on the pecking order, it still didn't take much to misplace the documentation for registration.

Then there were guild members; normal craftsmen probably wouldn't act too high handed, but they were the minority in the Assembly Hall. Guildmasters and merchants convened to discuss and seal deals. The church could officiate and use their strength to dissuade any reneging, for a price. From Lyssa’s description, the merchants and guilds were no more merciful in their dealings, they were just smaller. They still possessed far more than enough clout to suppress me though.

Basically she wanted me to not do much of anything. I didn't wish to cause her any trouble, so I resolved to do so. Being registered would let me be more open with my research, and able to use spells more conveniently. Also the blue haramaki looked pretty stylish. So Lyssa took me to the Assembly Hall and I suppressed all singing, obscure references, and most trains of thought.

In a far different style than the temple grounds, the Assembly Hall resembled a Norse architectural style, rather than a Greek one. The foundational level was comprised primarily of stone, but the second and third floors were made of wood, and there were multiple steeply sloped roofs. I wondered if they served vast quantities of mead during meetings. Well, I didn't spend long reminiscing over the old/new world architectural similarities and followed Lyssa.

I'll be brief and skip most of the proceedings, as I wasn't a very active actor in the setup. In fact, the event seemed to be proceeding so smoothly it lulled me into a tired, semi-autonomous state. Manual control returned at a slightly familiar and definitely condescending voice.

“If it isn’t Vara Lyssa and the peasant Disciple Kella thrashed by accident. Considering what a sorry state he was in yesterday, I'm surprised he can move about; unless he got some special treatment. Don't tell me you've taken a liking to this commoner Lyssa, it looks like he's taken one too many hits to the head.”

“*Door Knob?*” Returning from my dazed state I noticed...that guy. Uhh, the blond-ish guy from the door, who was a bit rude. Lyssa may have said not to draw the ire of any Disciples, but it was foreign word play; he wouldn't get it. He also didn't seem to hear me, or deigned me beneath his notice.

Look down on me? Well just you wait, you arrogant young master; one day I'll con you so hard you spit blood and only smile bashfully in response! Haa~, I don't care that much. Whatever. This is all yours Lyssa.

“Alric has business, and as he's a traveler I am helping him. Disciple Mans, what are you doing? Rare to see you off temple grounds without your associates.”

“It may be hard to understand as a mere Vara, but I don't need to oversee every action of my comrades. Instead it is more strange for you to be with an outsider. Perhaps you aren't so devoted to the Scriptured Doctrines…”

“Disciple Mans, why don't you preach the Doctrines to outsiders as well, instead of towards me?”

“Hmph! Don't take that stance here. This city is entirely comprised of believers already. What’s one more useless peasant?”

“Yaaa~wwwn.” I rubbed my tired eyes. Sure the conversation was a little informative, but it was kind of boring me and I already felt a bit tired. Lyssa also seemed to be at a disadvantage, so I didn't mind breaking up Door Knob’s words with an excessively loud yawn. That was just my normal yawn though.

Door Knob looked a bit irked at my interruption, as if a bit surprised that I dared enter a conversation between Disciples. Cripes, they weren’t some sort of divine beings, their power levels were low even in comparison to what I’ve heard of this world from Ralph. At least going by Lyssa’s expression I hadn’t stepped too far out of bounds, but I should stop before I get her into any trouble. Door Knob seemed to hold a higher position than she did, and I didn’t wish any ill tidings upon my benefactor.

“Let’s leave *Door Knob* be. I’m sure he’s got an important hallway to guard or something.”

Well, having grown up with siblings, trading low quality insults was practically a subconscious reaction. I rolled my neck and did a silent yawn to stretch out my jaw and began to move on.

Apparently this big blond baby took the insult way too seriously and lunged at me. I didn’t bother reacting(too tired to react fast enough), and he lifted me up by my shirt. At least he tried his best. I towered over him by a good foot, meaning he couldn’t get a good hold, and despite my lean frame, I wasn’t all that light.

“Oh no. My shirt has become wrinkly. I admit defeat.” Lyssa looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at my deadpan statement. I may be getting into trouble, but at least I’ll do it with class. Door Knob didn’t appreciate the wit, but also seemed to realize that he couldn’t pick me up and look cool doing it.

“You dare show disrespect to The Church, you ■■? We Disciples are chosen, don’t dare mock me!” I caught sight of Lyssa’s alarmed face as Door Knob stepped back and threw a punch. Hmm, what to do.

Just yesterday, I’d received serious wounds and yet easily recuperated. It might be good to further test out my durability, as well as the fact that physically retaliating could escalate things. As it stood, Door Knob probably wasn’t giving the strike his all, and wasn’t actually dedicated to killing me. With my arbitrary health, Lyssa’s ability to heal, and the two health potions from Underworld of Armok stored away, I felt there was very little risk. Pain is an irritating sensation, but given how I healed, it would be bothersome for a few hours at the very most. In light of these factors, I merely flexed my gut to dampen the blow somewhat and got ready to regain my balance.

“Hrm.” Only a soft grunt escaped as his fist made contact. His strike took about 10% of my health, probably? Error bars of around 5% probably, but not less than 7% damage though. Really, I wish I could read these values numerically. The hit landed below my center of gravity, but moving one long leg backwards let me quickly regain my balance.

I didn’t even cough up blood. How pitiful.

“Ahh. Oh no, I’ve been wounded, let us cede this land to this dragon among men.” Looping my arm around Lyssa’s, I led us to depart from the area while the two seemed a bit stunned from shock “Truly a dragon amongst mortal men. Truly truly.” I babbled on a bit, making it seem as though I was still interacting with him. People have a strange tendency to think of those they are engaging with to be in the vicinity. VRMRPGs really showed this off, I can’t remember how many times people wanted to meet up and share a meal after we partied up. I abused this tendency to let the two of us get some distance without it seeming like we were leaving. It probably also helped he seemed rather stunned. Lyssa quickly brought up why.

“Are you alright? That was a solid hit from Mans, is there anything broken, go lay down somewhere!” The Vara’s face was paling, though considering I was physically leading her through the Assembly Hall it should have been clear I was doing just fine. Eventually she stopped her own steps, and with our arms locked, I was also forced to a stop.

“Sorry for causing you any trouble back there, but I’m fine really.”

“You can’t be fine, you quite literally can’t be fine.” She shook her head vigorously, sending her light brown hair waving side to side. “That should have been enough to knock back even a first-rank cleric, and you did nothing to dodge it!”

“Are first-rank clerics the best of the clerics, or the worst?” This was a bit off topic but a rather important question, though it was doubtful I was approaching the abilities of a paladin.

“The worst, but that’s irrelevant!” Lyssa let out a loud sigh as she lifted up my shirt inspecting my chest for wounds. Through the collar of my shirt I noticed only a very light bruise and brushed my shirt down.

“I don’t mean to worry you, but I will be perfectly well in half an hour at most. Why don’t we go about our business before he comes looking for us?” I tried speaking some calming words, it’s nice for people to worry over you, but if it’s unnecessary it feels a little bad.

Lyssa almost calmed down for a moment before looking around. We were in a hallway heading off to one of the wings, and there was no one else there at present. Grabbing my shoulder, she pulled me down towards her face.

“Was that magic?” She asked quietly. It’s a good thing the answer was no, because she looked rather worried that I was going to say yes.

“No, I just have an odd constitution.”

“I hope that’s true. You need to list the magic you know when you register, with something like that, you’ll be dragged away much faster.”

“It’s not. My magic isn’t anything like that.” It isn’t anything like giving me a body with arbitrarily determined health. That would be quite a redundant spell in-game wouldn’t it? My words seemed to have sufficiently calmed Lyssa down.

Somewhat awakened by the event that transpired, we went on to register me as a mage without any further problems. However as Lyssa stated, I was required to write down the spells I was able to cast. Naturally I wouldn’t be putting down that I could manipulate the dead, and I was also unsure if I wanted to reveal my more combat oriented abilities. So I gave them a mildly abbreviated list.

, ,, , , and . Conferring with Lyssa beforehand, a melee attack wouldn’t be too attention grabbing considering my thin appearance. I also had to describe the abilities of each spell, as they didn’t have any standard of magic, and I listed as more of a fire starter than a wimpy flame attack.

Happily receiving my haramaki, Lyssa wore a sort of helpless expression. A symbol of being bound? Ha! Symbols can do nothing. I can act as wantonly as I wished even if I did wear it(I checked them for magic spells while out in the city). I guess my reaction looked a little too different than that of most mages.

“Shall we go for a stroll before you need to return? No need to spend all your time off just working. Teach this *apostate* about the church.” Distracting her from whatever heavy thoughts she was thinking, she smiled slightly.

“I suppose. Though promise you won’t upset anymore Disciples.”

“I’ll do my best.”

And so we left the Assembly Hall.

A/N:Ahh?