Chapter 146: From Registration to Dispute (1/2)

“Oh Loren. What business are you here for today?”

Sitting behind the reception desk at the Adventurer Guild was Ivy, a receptionist Loren had met multiple times before.

He wanted to go to one of those other counters with capable-looking receptionists; he had a bad feeling about this one. But if he left now, it would mean to blatantly announce to everyone that he was avoiding Ivy. So, he put on a forced smile and went to stand in front of her desk.

Loren had chosen this counter by accident. All the other desks had adventurers queueing before them, and while he had been waiting for his turn in one of the queues, this counter had suddenly opened after being closed since he had arrived. He had tried coming here for no particular reason, but he wondered if Ivy had opened her counter after seeing him in the other queue. He eyed her warily. Loren considered Ivy as someone he needed to be cautious around, but he wasn’t sure if she knew his thoughts or not.

Ivy showed him a smile, either for business or just to be sociable.

“I want to add a member into my party.”

“Oh, you’re finally cancelling your current partnership?”

Ivy sounded a bit surprised, and Loren frowned at her words. He didn’t understand why she had mentioned partnership cancellation while he had just said he wanted to add a new party member.

It was Lapis who answered his question.

“So if we add another member to a two-member party, it means we’re cancelling our partnership?”

“I don’t particularly want to stop our partnership.”

Loren replied, and Lapis broke into an extremely happy smile.

Ivy watched them somewhat jealously then turned her gaze towards Gula, who was waiting at their back.

“Is that your new member?”

“That’s right. I’m Gula. Nice to meet you, I guess?”

“Gula?”

Ivy asked with a hint of suspicion in her tone, and Loren dreaded that they had been caught somehow. But after pondering about something for a while, Ivy simply unfolded a sheet of paper on the desk.

“Well then, please fill in this form. Can you write?”

“No problem. Just leave it to me.”

Gula nodded and borrowed a pen from Ivy, then began to fill in the form. Loren was watching her and thinking about how he had done exactly the same in the past when Lapis secretly whispered into his ear.

“Loren, you also did this before?”

“Yeah. Doesn’t everyone register here?”

“Yes, Loren, so you can write.”

The truth was, reading and writing was a skill on its own. There were just a few people who were educated enough to be able to do it. Loren had been properly educated by his mercenary company, so he could write by himself. His leader had believed that if one couldn’t read his own contract or fill in his own form, then he shouldn’t have worked as a mercenary. Loren had only realized that his idea wasn’t a conventional one at all after resigning.

“Lapis, you don’t seem to have any problem with it.”

“I’m a priest, so of course I was properly taught to read and write.”

“Gula doesn’t seem to have any trouble either.”

Watching Gula smoothly write down her name, Loren spoke. Noticing that Gula was about to write her last name after finishing her first name, he lightly poked at her. She looked at him with a puzzled expression, but when he tapped at the name field on the form, she realized that she was about to write down her full name, the name of an Evil God. Smiling wryly, Gula stopped at her first name and moved to the next field.

The next field was place of birth. Gula contemplated for a moment, then began to write. Just then, Loren asked her in a small voice:

“What are you writing here?”

“Well, my birthplace, of course. Black Magic Kingdom of Nuuna.”

Ivy was watching them whispering to each other with suspicious eyes. To avoid her finding out, Loren stepped on Gula’s foot under the desk. When she screamed because of the pain, he used his hand to cover her mouth and pulled her away with a forced smile.

A distance away from the counter, Loren smacked Gula’s head, who looked like she was about to complain.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re such an idiot. Don’t tell me you don’t understand what will happen if you write down the name of that place?”

“Ah right. But that’s really where I came from though?”

“Do you want to have another blow? I can serve you a few punches until your Gluttony is satisfied.”

Loren clenched his fist this time. Flustered, Gula looked at him. Still she didn’t know what to write.

But Loren himself didn’t know much about places’ names either, so he looked towards Lapis, asking for help. Lapis sighed impatiently and whispered something into Gula’s ears.

A short while later, Gula seemed to have understood whatever Lapis had tried to tell her. She walked back to the counter looking fully satisfied and continued to fill the form.

“I told her a more suitable place name to use. It might seem suspicious, but they don’t have the means to verify it, so it’ll be alright.”

Watching Gula, Lapis said.

If Lapis said that it would be alright, then it would be alright. But Loren still felt a bit worried, so he asked: