Chapter 39 (1/2)

Tafel and Vur sat on a blanket underneath a tree with a basket of food in front of them. Lindyss was negotiating with Zollstock and Randel. Exzenter had teleported the human king to the kingdom, much to the misfortune of the king and his privacy.

“Where’s Snuffles?” Tafel asked.

Vur shrugged. “He disappeared a while ago, but mom said not to worry about him since he’s strong,” Vur said and sighed. Tafel thought back to the time she heard a father tell his son that his favorite duck had run away after coming back from the butcher.

Tafel pat Vur’s shoulders. “I’m sure he’s doing fine,” she said and nodded, “maybe he found a girlfriend.”

“But he only has the dragon class, what if he gets attacked?” Vur asked, “I hope he’s okay.”

Only…, Tafel thought as she grabbed Vur’s hand. “We can go look for him together if you want,” Tafel said.

Vur shook his head. “If he’s alive, he’ll come back,” he said, “if he doesn’t come back, then he got eaten.”

“That’s kind of bleak.”

Vur shrugged. “That’s what Leila says. The strong eat the weak,” he said, “but don’t bully the weak just because you’re strong.”

The undead leader’s skull popped out of the ground next to them. “That’s a good policy,” the leader said, “this Leila sounds pretty smart.”

Tafel blinked at the skull. “Were you here this whole time?” she asked.

The leader nodded and laughed. “We’re everywhere,” it said, “how else are we supposed to stop crimes?”

“Everywhere?”

“Except inside the outhouses. We stay outside the outhouses,” the leader said.

“What about the baths…?” Tafel said with her cheeks turning pink.

“Don’t worry,” it replied and grinned, “there are female skeletons too.”

Tafel shuddered. “That’s a bit unsettling.”

“It’s fine,” the leader said, “we don’t have eyes.”

“But you can still s-“

“Oops, gotta go,” it said as its head vanished back underneath the ground. A voice floated out of the hole it left behind. “Mistress is calling.”

Tafel stared at the hole and sighed. She turned to the basket of food in front of her.

“Suddenly, I’m not hungry anymore,” she said. “Do you want to go to the adventurer’s guild?”

“Sure.”

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Tafel and Vur arrived at the adventurer’s guild. It was a small building located near the entrance of Konigreich. It had two floors and its exterior was wooden. Vur pushed open the door and the two walked inside. A few men were drinking alcohol and sitting by the tables in the corner. Food, water, and shelter were provided to the citizens for mana crystals, but alcohol had to be bought with gold. A couple of the men raised their eyebrows when they saw the two’s short stature, but they paled and looked away after seeing Vur’s eyes.

“What’s wrong, Jack? You look like you saw a ghost,” a man said as he turned around. “Oh.” He turned back and his shoulders hunched forwards as he drank.

“H-hello,” the receptionist said as he wiped his brow. He wore a white dress shirt and thick rectangular glasses.

Tafel turned to Vur. “What did you do?” she asked, “everyone’s afraid.”

Vur tilted his head. “I didn’t do anything,” he said, “everyone’s just always afraid. Grimmy says that’s the natural state for humans.”

“W-what can I help you with?” the receptionist said as he tried to smile.

“We’d like to sign up as adventurers,” Tafel said as the two walked up to the counter, which was taller than both of them.

“Just the two of you?” the man asked as he leaned over the counter, “are you registering for an already established party?”

Tafel shook her head. “We’re starting our own,” she said and smiled.

The receptionist’s eyes landed on the adventurers in the corner. They all coughed and looked the other way.

“Al-alright. Just fill these papers out,” he said and passed the two three forms. The two took the papers and walked to an empty table in the middle of the adventurers. They all fell silent and only the sloshing of liquid could be heard.

Minutes passed in silence, except for the sounds of quills scratching against paper.

The two got up and walked back to the receptionist. “All done,” Tafel said and handed the papers over.

The receptionist nodded and pulled out two metal cards. “Let’s see,” he muttered as he placed his hand over one card. “First name, Tafel. Last name, Besteck. Class, Black Mage. Hometown, Niffle. Age, 6. Gender, female. Eye color, purple.” His hand glowed blue as the information engraved itself into the card. He looked at the card and nodded before offering it to Tafel. Tafel took it and her face broke out into a huge smile.

“Alright, next,” the receptionist said as he held Vur’s paper in his left hand with his right hand on the other metal card. “First name, Vur. Last name, …”

The receptionist turned to Vur. “Last name?” he asked.

Vur shook his head. Sweat formed on the receptionist’s brow. “Okay,” he said and looked back at the paper.

“Class, Dragon…”

He looked at Vur again, but didn’t say anything and turned back to the paper.

“Hometown, … blank again. Okay. Age, …,” the receptionist sighed. “Gender, man. Eye color, gold.”

His eye twitched when he looked at Vur’s half empty card.

“Here you go,” he said and passed it to Vur.

The receptionist lifted the last sheet. “Party name, Tafel x Vur. Members, Tafel Besteck, Vur, Snuffles…?”

He squinted at the paper, but didn’t say anything. He turned to Tafel. “Well, you’re both registered as adventurers now and your party has been recorded. Would you like to take a test to determine your starting rank?” he asked, “if you don’t take it, you’ll start as an E rank.”

Tafel nodded while grinning.

The receptionist made a strange face. “Alright, let me get the guild master,” he said and walked up the stairs. The adventurers sitting in the corner all looked at each other.

One of them whispered, “Alright, why are we being so quiet? I’m new here. Who’s the kid?”

“You know that giant crater in the forest?” another one whispered, “he’s the one who made it. Apparently, he ate too much cake and got excited. A bunch of people tried to stop him, including the guild master and elves, but they all got thrashed.”

The man sucked in his breath. “You serious? That crater’s huge.”

The other one nodded. “Yeah, don’t mess with him. He’s a monster,” he whispered.