“Why a tavern? You want to get a job or something?” Danji asks. “If I’m correct then yes we will get a job there.” I tell them as I start running through the street. “Segate! Where are you going?” Ikattef asks as he starts running towards me. “I’m searching for a tavern.” I just tell him. Then I stop and turn around. I go back a bit, pick up Danji and start running again. “Thanks man.” He tells me while breathing heavily.

“So how do you know where you’re going?” Ikattef asks me after a bit of running. “If this city would have a big tavern, you’d want it to be accessible right? Because if I’m right these roads will lead to the center of the city, the town square, whatever you want to call it. So, what if there would be a nice tavern in the center of the town?” I ramble. “Alright man, I get it.” Danji stops me before I can ramble on. “Okay then, let’s keep running.” Ikattef says.

After a lot of running through Mashiki City we arrive at the towns center. There are a lot of people around, of all races and all walks of life. You can hear people laughing, screaming, and walking. I look around. There doesn’t seem to be any tavern around here. Shit. “Is it me or do I just not see any tavern?” Danji asks. I look around again. Still can’t see anything. “Let’s go a little further, maybe there will be one a little further.” Ikattef tells us. “Guys I think I see one.” Danji points out while pointing at a building. “The Seiku. This should be interesting.” I think out loud.

We walk through the wooden door and find ourselves in a big room. It’s filled with seats, people, tables, and a bar. It’s a bit noisy as well. I look around and see a billboard on the right wall. Papers hung on the billboard by knives. “Bingo.” I just say as I point at the billboard. “For once in your life you were right.” Ikattef says to me. “Once? I think you’re forgetting a few things, but I appreciate the praise.” I just tell him while walking at the billboard. “Wow, this town has a lot of problems.” Danji jokes. I look at what’s on the papers. Giant has been destroying the west part of the wall and needs to be killed, requirements: Adventure rank 30 and up. Reward: 4000 Jins and 150 Shiru. Dragon has awakened in cave nearby, has to be destroyed. Requirements: Adventure rank 50 and up, party of 3. Reward: 10000 Jins. Those damn slimes have been reprocucin’ in ma farmland and eatin’ ma damn crops and cows. Requirements: there are none, I just want them gone. Rewards: 732 Jins 120 Shiru and a lot of food, but only if you can kill ‘em all in one day. “Let’s do this one.” I speak. “Yeah, that would be cool.” Danji tells me. “Then let’s do it.” Ikattef says, excitement in his voice. “So, I see you and your party have decided on what quest you will complete. Now I’d like to see your adventurers passes and then you guys can go and move on.” Some feminine voice says. I look behind me and see a long-streamlined body, black fur and best of all, she’s a Furosian. Wait, did she say adventurers passes? Oh fuck. “Eeeuhm, we don’t have adventurers passes yet…” I just tell her. “Then we’ll get that sorted as well, I guess. Follow me.” She instructs us. We follow her to a booth, that reminds me of an anime I watched back in the day.

“So, let’s start with the small dwarf on the left. What’s your name?” The Furosian asks after taking place on a seat behind the booth. “I’m Danji miss and I’m probably the cutest dwarf you’ll ever see.” Danji says. She chuckles and says: “I see that you have the ability Greater Seduction, but that wont work on me, I’m sorry. That will go on your pass though.” “God damnit.” Danji whispers. “So how old are you Danji?” She then asks. “Sixteen years old miss.” He replies. “And what’s your main use of combat?” The lady asks. “It’s hand to hand.” Danji tells her, while showing of the iron gauntlets. “Now give me your hand for a second, without the glove of course.” She asks. Danji takes off one off the gloves and gives her his left hand. She takes a needle and stick it into Danji’s hand. Then she takes the needle which is covered in Danji’s blood out and cleans it on the pass. Then a small rune appears on set pass. Once the rune disappears, she gives the pass to Danji.

“Sorry for the little prick but it was needed to link up your pass. I must also tell all of you that you level up your adventure rank by the number of quests that you’ve done. And in every major city there will be a tavern that has quests for you to complete. So, you don’t have to stay in this city especially if you want to level up your adventure rank fast.” She explains. “Alright I’m up next.” Ikattef says. “Okay fellow Furosian, what’s your name?” She asks, starting the entire routine over. “My name is Ikattef miss and I’m sixteen years old.” Ikattef says, with a smile from ear to ear. “Dude you’re fifteen though.” I quickly interfere. “Alright Ikattef, do you have an ability?” She then asks. “Yes, I’ve got Greater Stealth.” Ikattef declares. “Okay so I assume your combat style is similar to an assassin, correct?” She then assumes. “You are one hundred percent correct.” He just exclaims. “Then you might be interested in something called Shadow Step. It’s a spell that uses more of your stamina than of your mana to cast and is something all good assassins use. I’ll show you how to do it if you can complete that quest. Now could you give me your hand please?” She asks, after explaining a lot of things. Shadow Step? What element would that make use of? Maybe Fire because of the fact that fire is able to create light. Well, I couldn’t say that for sure because it could be a combination of fire and air if that’s possible of course. It doesn’t really matter though, because it could be handy for a small and agile ferret like Ikattef. “There you are Ikattef, don’t lose this pass because otherwise we’ll have to make a new one.” She says while handing over the pass. Ikattef smiles a bit and then puts it in his tail. Wait he can do that?

“So now lastly, the Dragonborn. What’s your name young one?” She asks while trying to appeal to my roots, I think. “I’m Segate, the sixteen-year-old magic-user.” I tell her. “So, you’re a magic-user, what element do you specialize in then?” She asks. “Arcana.” I declare a bit loudly. Some people begin to stare at me. “Oh. Let’s move on shall we, do you have any ability, and if so then what is it?” She asks after staring at me for a few seconds; “My ability is Greater Wisdom.” I just tell her. I can hear people whispering in the background. This begins to become a bit odd. “That sounds amazing, now your hand please.” She instructs. I give her my left hand because I use magic with my right hand. She takes the needle and pricks into my finger. When the needle comes out it’s dripped with dark blue flued, which gets spread on the pass. Then the rune appears again. When it disappears, I get my adventurers pass? “Okay, if you guys want to start with the quest then go ahead. I wish you a nice day” The Furosian woman says, as she gives us the paper of the quest.

“So, what do we do now?” Danji asks once we get out of the tavern. “We complete the quest. Nothing more.” Ikattef tells Danji. “But where do we even have to be?” Danji asks Ikattef. “It doesn’t look like there’s any address on the paper.” Ikattef says. “Let me see that.” I say as I snatch the paper from Ikattef’s hands. I look at it. There’s nothing on the front of the paper. Then I look at the back of the paper. On the back of the paper there are silver letters, that give off a weird aura. It seems to be some kind of magic. And both Danji and Ikattef haven’t used magic yet… “IT’S MAGIC!” I shout after a few seconds of thinking. “Yes, we know that magic exists, or did you forget about the map that only a certain person could read?” Danji asks. “No magic is the key. You know the map, right? I was the only one who could read it after I used my first bit of magic. And now we have a paper, of which no one can read the back, but me who again used magic.” I explain to my friends. “Yeah, but what point are you trying to make?” Danji asks a bit confused. “Are you oblivious or do you just not think at all? If we have two instances where only someone who has used magic could read something. Coincidence? I think not. Maybe, just there actually is a reason for that. Like for example, there was a spell used on the ink which made it so only people who have ever used magic, even once in their life, can read it. Maybe, just maybe, it was written with magic. Maybe there was a spell used on the back of the paper. Think Danji Think.” I start ranting. “Alright, alright I get it. I should think before I say anything. Now please stop ranting before my head explodes.” Danji exclaims. “Thanks for giving us another lecture about one of your theories but what do the damn letters say?” Ikattef asks, having had enough of my rants. “It says: You can find my farm in the outside of the northern wall.” I read out loud. “Now where’s north?” Danji asks. I look around. “If you look at the sun, which has been up for about two hours by now, so its somewhere in the east. Now we take it’s stance and see that the route that we’re facing is north.” I tell him. They don’t even question me at this point.

We start running. A few minutes later I look behind me and see Ikattef following me easily and then a bit behind him Danji who’s struggling to keep up. Then it happened. Danji bumps into someone. He falls onto a carton of apples and Danji tripped over an apple. He begins rolling towards me in a cartoonlike fashion. I start running faster because I feel like if I get hit by Danji I’ll just break a leg. “Segate why’s Danji rolling?” Ikattef shouts, while running right behind me. “He tripped.” I just shout back. “What do you mean he tripped? Did he just trip, fall and start fucking rolling? THAT DOESN’T SOUND REALISTIC AT ALL!” Ikattef declares.

“I KNOW RIGHT? But it isn’t all bad, considering that he’s much faster now.” I say, trying to stay positive. “This is no time for your half-baked jokes Segate.” Ikattef shouts. “It wasn’t a joke though.” I say as I look ahead of us and see the gate. “Alright I’ve got a plan to stop this guy, but it has a five percent chance to work without killing me at best.” I tell Ikattef. “Don’t forget that he’s rolling because he tripped on something and fell. If that happens you can throw all logic out of the window.” Ikattef explains. “You’ve got a point. Alright then let’s go.” I say as I turn around. I see Danji rolling in a straight line towards me, while people are getting out of the way. I hold my hands out and brace myself for the impact. Then I feel it. He’s rolling against my hands, which begins to feel a bit painful. Then I push him. This could work out or he could crush me. Then I would’ve died twice to this damn idiot. But he stops. Did I stop him? I look around and I see him sitting down rubbing his head. I walk up to him. “No more tripping.” I warn him as I stick out my hand. “But it was kind off cool though.” Danji just says. “Yes, it was cool that you almost killed me.” Ikattef says, as he joins the conversation. “Segate would’ve fixed you up. And even if you’d die, Souru would probably resurrect you or something.” Danji states. “Do you think she would do that?” Ikattef asks. I don’t even want to react or spell out the obvious. “Let’s just continue walking.” I quickly say. We start walking again. After five minutes, we’ve left the city where we learned so much in a night. It’s the first city I’d ever see myself living in, in the near future.