"Ah. There it is!"
I cheerfully said as I managed to spot the adventurer's guild. This branch of the guild looked just a bit smaller than the one at the Everidian Kingdom, however, it was still impressive. It was made out of a dull looking, yet it was decorated masterfully with marble and what seemed to be a white wood.
"Time to register as an adventurer... again."
I said as I made my way into the guild. But as I was entering a small bulletin caught my eye. It read as such:
"In order to keep track of our deployed adventurers. The return of a guild card from a diseased adventurer will be rewarded with 50 copper coins."
'Well, I guess I can make some extra money while I am at it' I thought as I clenched the adventurer's guild card in my pocket.
Focusing, once more on my current task, I started gazing at the counter. All of the receptionists were currently busy helping someone except a familiar looking receptionist. 'I can't quite point out where I have met her before...' But I brushed it off as a delusion since I hadn't been to the Litherm Kingdom before. The receptionist has brown curly shoulder-length hair and pretty brown eyes. I didn't have much time to waste, so without making attracting any more attention to me, I made my way to the unoccupied receptionist.
"Hello! I'd like to register as an adventurer please."
She was probably distracted because the moment I spoke up, she finally reacted to my presence. 'This is familiar? Have I met her before?' As it seemed she hadn't heard me before I repeated my statement and I finally got a response.
"Alright! All you must do is a pay a fee of 1 silver coin as well as be appraised by these 2 crystals over here〜"
Once again I was hit with a strange feeling of deja vu. 'Hmm, this might not be a delusion...?' This was starting to feel less and less like a coincidence. But, I guess I was probably thinking for too long because the girl then uncomfortably said:
"Ummm, would you pay the fee so we can appraise you, ahhhh..."
"Ah, Yes, sorry. It's Reika"
She seemed to be taken aback with my name but despite this, she continued.
"Very well Reika-san, please pay the fee so we can proceed with the process" She said with my warm smile
In response, I reached into my pocket to take out a silver coin. But as I grabbed the silver coin, I remembered I could also give my old self's guild card for 50 bronze. 'Hmm, guess I'll do it now.' Were my thoughts as I pulled out the silver coin along with my old guild card. The girl seemed puzzled as to what I was holding was so I started to explain with a saddened look.
"Umm, actually, I was attacked along with my carriage when coming to the Litherm Kingdom. There was a brave adventurer who died protecting us... I felt thankful to him, so I accepted when he told me to deliver this back here..."
"Oh no! We're so sorry, you see that accident was probably caused by the A-ranked adventurers who went rogue some days ago... We're terribly sorry..."
'WHAT?! Those were A-ranked adventurers? That's why they must've been so annoying to defeat. They were equivalent to my threat level now that I think about it. But I managed to defeat them all single-handedly...' As I was submerged in thought once again, the girl pulled on the sleeve of my jacket and indicated me to hand the fee and card over to her.
So I did. I handed my old guild card along with the silver coin...
But that was a grave mistake...
I clearly should've listened to my doubts about me knowing this girl before...
The moment she had my card in her hands another receptionist called out to her:
"Hey, Kira! Could you get me the completed A-ranked quests of last month?"
"Yeah, sure I'll give them in a bit."
...
...
...
'Kira? OH, NOoooooo!!! SHE KNEW ME!!! I need to get that guild card back right now!!!'
But it was too late... as I turned to face Kira once more she was already breaking down in tears when she saw the name inscribed on the card. She had started wailing my name sadly... Everyone in the guild now had their attention focused on us. Of course, I was panicking. 'THIS IS TOO MUCH?! HOW WILL I DEAL WITH THIS!?' I was too anxious and insecure about whether to tell her the truth or keep my identity a secret, but if one thing was for certain... I was actually very glad she cared about me... However, in the end, I decided to keep myself from disclosing my identity.
As Kira kept sobbing and sniffing attracting more attention by the second, I began to divert some of it, by walking towards the adjacent room with the appraisal crystals. But that was what I was doing... when I heard something which I should've ignored...
"Reiki...?"
...
...
...
I guess, it was the stress, the number of years I've been used to being called by that name and more, but the second I heard that name I turned around and instinctively replied:
"Yes?"
"..."
...
...
...
I realized my horrible mistake when I managed to picture her facial expression. She was the most shocked a person can be without shortening their lifespan. In fact, I think, judging from her face, I probably did shorten her lifespan. But seriously, the only thing that passed through my mind at that moment was:
'I really f%^ked up'
As my anxiety was reaching pretty dangerous levels I decided to head to the other room of the guild as fast as I could while looking 'normal'. When I entered I could clearly see Kira walking towards silently with an ominous aura surrounding.
'Oh no...'
Once she made it inside, she closed the door behind her and locked it. She remained silent, without making any eye contact or noise. However, she kept having killing intent oozing from her. Despite my incredible stats, I was scared of what was about to happen. When the last thing I could've expected, happened.
In the blink of an eye, all of the killing intent disappeared and Kira began running teary towards me wailing my name in ecstasy. I was so shocked I couldn't even react to her embracing me dearly. I was unimaginably relieved this was her reaction, but I got comfortable in her embrace really quickly. When I noticed something... Previously, Kira was already taller than me, but probably by 2 or 3 inches at most. Now, Kira was at the very least, half a foot taller than me. 'I guess this really helps to drive my new gender home, huh〜?'
But destroying the comfort that had just been created by her warm hugs and gentle pats to my head, she started to barrage me with questions immediately.
"WEREN'T YOU A GUY?!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT LITHERM KINGDOM?!"
"WHAT IS THAT SWORD?!"
"WHY ARE YOU SO CUTE AS A GIRL?!"
"WHAT ARE YOUR 3 SIZES?!"
I somewhat feel her questions started to become distorted the deeper she delved into the topic of my new gender. However, staring at Kira, she looked legitimately worried about me... Mustering my will I finally began telling my story... all of it and the absolute truth...
※
*Sniff* *Sobs* Kira was crying buckets right now as I brought my story to an end.
"It isn't that terrible..." I said half-heartedly.
"YES, IT IS!!! You were abandoned, hated, despised throughout your life, sent to another world, shunned, ridiculed, thrown out of the castle for having no talents at all, getting mercilessly bullied, getting beat up daily, losing your only friend, AND even losing your actual gender." She yelled as she cleared some of her tears from her eyes and cheeks.
Kira had just about reacted differently for every part of my story. She had become excited when I mentioned her. She had cried when I was killed. She was left shocked when I mentioned my stats. And even gotten aroused? when I mentioned my gender change. It really warmed my heart, and melted some of my aftershock from the previous night... 'It feels good to be cared for...'
"Well, due to all of that, I am here though," I said in order to cheer up the mood.
"Well, you're right!" She said as she started stretching from having been sitting down over an hour in the floor.
"Well, let's get you appraised now!"
"What? I already told you my stats and powers though. Is it really necessary?"
"Yeah. It's only for the procedure, you know? I can't go against it as much as I would want to..." She said as she leisurely walked over to the dull crystal.
"Alright then, place your hand here. But activate [Master Information Falsification] first since this crystal keeps records of the appraisals performed." She explained.
Without hesitating I immediately chanted [Master Information Falsification] and set my hand on the dull crystal.
It immediately shone brightly and showed us a transparent screen which displayed the following.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Reika Kasai
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Race: Human
Adventurer Level: F
Class: Magic Swordsman
Lvl: 13
HP: 7,500/7,500
MP: 0/0
STR: 7,000
DEF: 7,000
SPD: 7,000
MRES: 7,000
Skills: [Hide Presence], [Information Falsification], [Appraisal],
Affinities: [Fire]
Titles:[Other worldly Hero], [Peerless Beauty], [Magic-less]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(AN: All stats have been divided by 100. For SPD: the faked status displays: 7,000 but she actually had 700,000)
I thought up a new surname with Kira as having no surname was really strange, even for another world. While I wanted to keep my old one, Kira was completely against this. Telling me that if I had changed so much, keeping my surname would just keep me tied to my depressing past. In the end, we decided for Kasai, Reika Kasai in allusion to my [Oblivion Flames] attribute, which I didn't like much but I couldn't deny 'Kasai' was pretty cool... (AN: Kasai is the Japanese word for flames or fire)
After the screen showed us my faked status, Kira sent me a smug look and said teasingly:
"Kept the 0 MP, huh〜?"
I wasn't bothered by her comment at all and simply moved onto the hollow crystal. Catching up with me, Kira then proceeded to say:
"Alright with this you can finally be registered as an adventurer. Just place your hand on it, though I'm not exactly sure how it will react..."
Without much preoccupation in my mind. I put my hand over the crystal and the unimaginable happened.
When I put my hand over the crystal, instead of it shining like it should usually do, it went completely black. Kira and I were staring with our mouths agape the strange behavior of the crystal when a roaring sound was emitted by the crystal... The sound was so strong it began to shake the ground, making us both lose our balance. It was so strong I felt my eardrums would burst any second. 'My ears... hurt really badly...' I'm pretty sure Kira was also yelling something at me, but I wasn't able to hear it. But almost at my limit, the noise suddenly disappeared. But what I saw next didn't make me feel any better...
In front of me was the shattered crystal with a villainous-looking flame inside, violently smashing against the first thing it came into contact with. I was staring at the flame with curiosity when I was snapped back to reality.
*BAAM*
As the door fell to the ground and dozens of people poured into the room. They were all asking different questions but as soon as they were able to see the crystal's state the would just remain dead-silent. There was no sound at all until a manly and cheerful voice suddenly broke the silence:
"Hou〜, this is interesting..."
'Is he stupid? Can't you see the abomination that is inside the crystal? It isn't something interesting, you know?' I was questioning his sanity when the man undetected, suddenly grabbed my head and pronounced the following words in a welcoming tone:
"Kid, Fight me!"