At last!

It took around almost 3 weeks, but we’ve finally arrived at Llorden.

With my hands at the back of my head and propping my back on a luggage, I sat on top of one of the carriages as I watched the approaching city. Surrounded by high grey stone walls, it gave off a feeling of grandeur due to the towering spire-like buildings in the distance.

Unlike the wilderness, the land around us was bustling with life as farmers toiled their fields while peddlers and travelers passed us by greeting the merchants. Thanks to shapeshift, I’m currently using my wings like a hooded muffler so most people ignored me as we moved on.

More people could be seen ahead of us as we’re approaching the gate, but a strange sight greeted us as we got closer. I stood up and jumped down from the carriage while witnessing numerous tents dotting the area around the gate, and though there were lots of people, I noticed that not many were actually entering the city.

Seeing this, I couldn’t help but think back to what that knight told me earlier. From what he said, it seems that these people are those who probably have something important related to the city but are apprehensive about entering it since they won’t be let out afterwards. Still, I don’t understand this lord’s mindset about just leaving these people out here. I mean, why enforce such a rule about staying and leaving then cause people trouble by making them end up becoming squatters? Their presence there also causes arriving travelers anxiety since they wouldn’t know what’s going on initially, so this is really not helping anyone.

Well, noble conspiracies aside, I wonder what Kholdrum’s decision is going to be? Regardless of his choice, however, my plan still remains the same and I have to get through this city in order to get to the main capital.

As if on cue, he’s currently headed my way probably to tell me about their decision.

“Well, Camus… lad… I talked to everyone with the caravan and we all made a decision. Except for a few others, we’ve mostly decided not to enter Llorden.”

Hearing this, I wasn’t surprised. After all, they’re mostly merchants trying to do some business, so being held up in one city for an unknown amount of time would be very detrimental to their sales.

“We’re thinking of making a detour west following the Llor River upstream to Rockroot Town. We’ll then head north crossing the river through the pier at the town and continue towards the capital. However, we’ll need to make several detours along the way, so effectively the entire trip would take about a few months… if you’d like, you’re still welcome to join us?”

I can understand that Kholdrum’s trying to appeal to me in his own way since I was a great help to him, but sadly I can’t join them on their trip. After all, there’s still Gren’s request at locating the All-Treasure Pavilion within Llorden.

Seeing my expression, he probably understood what I was thinking as we thanked each other and parted ways. Of course, not before he gave me his merchant’s seal to show that I was acquainted with his company. He also made sure to warn me about not exposing myself too often.

Orgo may be used to seeing different races coming and going, but further north are human-centric lands. While it may have been fine for the more human-looking races, most humans in general don’t take too kindly to scalekin and other anthropomorphic races. Being once human myself, I can understand that humans have a capacity to express xenophobic temperaments that can at times border paranoia. If I recall, it was mostly an issue of skin color, origin, or religion back in my old world. In my case, the scalekins are… well… once again, I’m reminded that I really need to pay those scalekin back for all the shit I had to deal with while pretending to be one of them…

I soon parted ways with everyone with the caravan. It was after everyone said their goodbyes that I somehow felt lonely again. Fenril, however, helped me snap back from my thoughts by making his hunger known.

As we got to the gate, the guards already looked to be pretty much on high alert with Fenril at my side. I then pulled down my hood to reveal myself upon the urging of the guards. Sure enough, they became hostile until of course I pulled out my Adventurer’s Badge. In order not to cause too big a commotion wherever I go, Gren made it so that only certain officials or qualified nobles are capable of detecting my badge’s actual rank. This means that these guards will only see me as Silver, a ranking of sufficient power and respect but will not cause an uproar. Now that I think about it, that knight previously saw my rank as Mithril… wait, does that mean that those nobles earlier were qualified?

Before I delved too deep in my thoughts, the guards approved my entry but didn’t forget to warn me about not causing a commotion. In other words, they asked that I kept my hood up and also reminded me about not being able to get out of the city for some time.

Welp… Now that I’m in… time for my first city exploration!

…

Contrary to what Camus felt, however, the guards thought otherwise about his presence.

“Is it gone?”

“All clear. The beast doesn’t suspect anything.”

“Good. It’s bad enough we have those damned Serpents mucking about along with those cultists but now even a blasted Scaly shows up posing as an Adventurer. What the hell’s this world coming to?”

“Easy now… all we need to do is stick to our job. The rest will be dealt with by ‘them’. Now send the report. We can’t have that thing and its pet running around our city now, do we?”

“Right.”

Leaving his partner to the task, one of the guards left their post. However, unbeknownst to them, a shadow kept watch from an alleyway. As the guard left, so too did this ‘shadow,’ silently stalking as if it were hunting prey.

…

Well, what can I say… this place is huge!

This place is definitely two or three steps up from Orgo. Instead of a wild west type of setting like with Orgo, this place feels more like an upscaled castle town. I’m no history buff so I’m not sure where I can compare this place to, but it does have a more elegant feel to it with more people dressed nicely along with some carriages and horses coming to and fro.

However, I could also feel that the atmosphere here was several levels more dreary. Not only were there a few people moving about, I could hardly feel any life coming from them and instead feel a tension in the air. I also noticed that most of their expressions appeared solemn or grim.

Not to mention being hooded and suspicious, many people avoided me, but I strongly believe it was probably more because of Fenril. The idiot couldn’t stop sniffing at everything while harassing some of the food sellers. Before it got out of hand, I warned him about acting on his own. He didn’t take too kindly to it, but I promised him he could go about as he wants after I visit the Adventurer’s Guild, but only as long as he promises not to cause me any problems. He consented to it and soon enough, he behaved.

Arriving at the guild, I found that the building was not only larger, but appeared grander than the one in Orgo. After making my way in, though there were only a few people, quite a number of them started looking in our direction. No one seemed willing to cause me any trouble, thankfully enough.

As I got to the front of the reception desk, what happens next is…

“Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild! How may I – Eeeeeeek!”

Bingo… strangely enough, that scream sounded way too similar as the first time. I took a look at the receptionist girl and… found out it’s the same girl from the previous guild!

Wavy blond hair in an elegant twisted bun… slightly tanned skin… but instead of a short sleeves, it’s a full uniform… Yeah! It’s definitely her! What the heck? I was wondering why I haven’t seen her around during my time back there!

“I see we meet again. Did I scare you once more?”

“Ha ha ha… sigh… please don’t misunderstand… although I’m afraid of lizards, it’s not that I ran away after registering you, but it’s just that my rotation there was up. I’m actually a resident here, and back then the branch there needed more manpower so I was temporarily transferred there.”

I feel sort of bad now since she started explaining herself. I wasn’t THAT insulted last time, you know.

“You really don’t have to explain yourself, you know… I don’t mean you any harm.”

“Eh?... ah, right… *cough**cough* excuse me… Once again, welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild!

Seems she’s feeling better now. She’ll need to get used to me though since I’ll probably be here a while. Before she could begin, however, some morons finally decided to grow some balls.

“Hey, Margaret! This guy giving you trouble?”

“Hey hey, buddy. Dunno who you are or where ya’ been, but doncha’ think causin’ trouble to Miss Margaret on the first day is a little too much? Us veterans oughta teach you some manners!”

So that’s her name. I could hear her sigh audibly behind me as I was watching these two blockheads. From the smell coming from them, it seems these two bozos have drunk a bit.

[My King! Let me tear these arrogant trashes to pieces!]

With Fenril snarling at them, it seems to have sobered them up when they realized I wasn’t on my own. Fenril’s currently the size of a lion, so how did these guys miss him?

Before I could say anything, I heard a loud gasp behind me and understood that Margaret probably found my status and rank. I then heard rapid footsteps as she soon appeared from behind the counter and stood in front of me while making a bow.

“Please forgive me for my outburst earlier, sir Camus! These two ruffians shall proceed to bother you no longer!”

With a snap, suddenly two hulking mustachioed men in the Guild’s uniform appeared beside her then proceeded to stump the two morons from earlier and throw them out from the hall. Speechless as I was, that escalated way too fast!

“Now then, if you could please follow me into the Guild Head’s room.”

Like a professional, she soon led me into the building towards the Head’s office. While following her, I took one last look behind me and saw that most of the Adventurer’s started making a racket after what just happened. Scratching the side of my face… I smiled wryly since this was halfway of how I expected things to go, but somehow I also felt irritated that I couldn’t deal with those two myself.

…

An hour or so later, I finally left the Guild. The Guild Head this time was a simple old man. He was Gold rank as well, but he’s gotten along in years even further than Gren, so he’s already pretty much retired. He didn’t think much about what I am, so we only ended up talking about pleasant things like how Gren was doing and such, as well as my and his adventures. To be honest, it felt like I was talking to a kindly grandpa.

After I asked him the directions to the All-Treasure Pavilion, I thanked him and soon left the guild. Strangely enough, he snickered like a dirty old man when I asked him about the Pavilion. I have a premonition since he wouldn’t outright tell me what the place was while giving me suggestive expressions. Margaret conked him on the head before it got any further though, so he just left me guessing.

Fenril left me after we got out, so I’m currently on my own right now. I steadily went to the outskirts of the eastern part of the city where the Pavilion is supposed to be located. From what I could deduce from the old man, it’s supposed to be some sort of inn that welcomes most races, so it solves one problem for me already.

Once I arrived at the aforementioned place, I ended up stumbling upon another troublesome situation.

“Come on ya’ bastards! Is that all ya’ got? I haven’t even warmed up yet!”

In front of me, was a fiery-eyed, red-brick haired, brown-skinned beauty in a two-piece with a loincloth and a foul mouth knocking around some shady looking men with a spear.

“Hm!? Looks like ya bunch finally sent out yer big one! Alright, bring it on!”

And this beauty has now coincidentally set her sights on me just as I appeared from the corner… in the worst way possible…