1st of January, the Year 1811 A.D. The new day of the current era.
All of the ordinary citizens wished the year for hope, prosperity, and peaceful life in this world.
But the others had a different motive and prayer for their God. They wished for chaos, death of the many, trampled their enemies under their palms, and dominated the world with their power.
Ruthlessness, corruption, and brutality were among the bad qualities they wanted to keep improving. Through the power of cultivation, the clans under their banner shall reach a new height, with a vision to conquer the world and increased their achievements such as fame, infamous titles, and uncontested overpowered abilities.
This month should experience snow for this winter season, but only cold air paid a visit in the area.
But still, it could potentially harm the body of the normal citizens, especially the ordinary with magicless attributes.
The time was exactly around 4:57:45 pm on his wristwatch.
Hermes was wandering his eyes at the place. He's walking together with two men, Justin on his right and the chief on his left.
The road and the architectural design of the village resembled the theme of the 15-16th century medieval period. There were some parts of the community that showed some similarities of the era such as the lamps, the scrambled wires on the buildings, and the wet market crowded with their customers.
The villagers' outfits were ordinary but it was still the trending clothes in the community. Unlike the nobles and rich people like him, he often wore expensive clothes that couldn't be afforded by the poor.
Hermes commented the condition of the place, the ease of doing business, and the workplace was undeniably worse than his world.
Due to countless active criminal activities, lack of security of his regime, and the low private and public investment, the village failed to receive a wonderful life. This was the reason for the others to work abroad and migrated to other states.
Hermes closed his eyes and nodded. He fully understood their good reason to leave. If he was in their position, he would do the same thing to save their family from starvation.
They arrived at their destination, the Village Hall.
He sensed a heavy pressure inside the building and his face downturned by the unwelcomed gaze of the people, including the staff of the village hall.
His servant noticed the ill-treatment, thus he reluctantly wanted to scold the people who were making his master feel disturbed. But he was stopped by his master. He gave him a sign that he shouldn't make a scene.
The chief apologized immediately and told his people to calm down.
In one clap, everyone looked away like nothing happened. But there was someone still looking at the two guests with a sullen face.
A short brown hair pinned with a flower clip around her left bangs, a red cap covered the top of her head, and a violet scarf hanged around her collar. Her body on her receptionist outfit looked like a model.
She was also the personal secretary of the chief. Her name was Ilona, the beautiful receptionist of the village hall.
She noticed her superior and waved a hand to say hi. The chief gulped with cold sweat.
Her smile looked genuine, but she's mad inside.
"Good Afternoon," Ilona placed a hand on her chest and bowed down. "Welcome to Neue Fiona Village Hall, my name is Ilona, the receptionist of this place and the sole secretary of the head of this village."
Hermes flinched when her eyes turned at him. He sensed a disturbing aura from the girl.
"Oooh… Chief Zamor, it is rare to see you with strangers. What happened to you anyway? I wonder, why our superior bring them here?" she inquired, sarcastically. "Umm, t,t, they are my guests," the chief hesitated to speak when her terrifying eyes looked at him.
"I cannot believe you spare a time to guide these people here. It's not that I'm angry or something, but you refuse to bring me here personally this morning, you know," Ilona pinched his arms with half-open eyes.
"Ilona, please stop it. O, ouch, okay. Okay, I'm sorry. Calm down. Please listen properly. Kindly assist them with their request?" Chief Zamor quickly removed his hand from the table.
"Oh, my apologies, where are my manners? *cough* Welcome gentlemen and friends of our beloved Chief. Hopefully, you won't commit such mischief and bring chaos to this village. By the way, what can I do for you?" asked Ilona bluntly.
Justin, stepped forward, wanted to introduce themselves, but the young Don stopped him as he wanted to do the honor.
"Greetings, madam," Hermes placed a hand on his chest respectfully. "I'm Aljen the merchant of the Cimeria Southern Desert and this is my butler, Justin. We would like to register as a valid visitor to this place. You don't have to worry, Madam. We're a harmless duo and we only wished for a normal business exploration within the place. If there is something we needed to do, we will ready to pay. Full amount will be ready to transfer if you ask for it."
Ilona, half-open eyes, looked down at the young Don. But she calmly placed a hand on her cheeks and smile.
"If we aren't qualified to receive the title of the visitors, how about we get a tourist card?" Hermes raised up his index.
"Mister... You're stra - ?" she felt something to the young Don and almost spout the word 'strange'. She wanted to reply but she was interrupted by his hand.
"Aljen, Just Aljen," said Hermes, giving off a noble presence towards the receptionist. "Please, kindly call me Aljen, madam."
Her eyes couldn't see his face behind the black mask, but she was worried that she might offend the guest for her manner if she kept this way.
"I, I, I see."
Ilona was afraid that he read her thoughts that he's a little bit weird for someone proclaiming himself as a merchant.
Furthermore, she didn't like his sense of fashion and strange behavior. She didn't know the reason but her feminine sense was telling her not to trust this guy and accepted his request.
So, she sarcastically smiled, "My apologies, sir. But you're request is a little broad, lacks legal entries and sufficient information about yourselves. Have you learned about our law in this place and the requirements needed to be filled up before you asked for it?" Hermes nodded and he replied, "Yep, I already know it from the beginning." He didn't lie about it. He was part of the developers who created the game, anyway. But only the basic law and few rules were prescribed inside his knowledge and not every article was still intact on his mind.
"Oh, but that's convenient. I don't need to give you a two hours session about our law in this country." She saw that he and his companion were empty-handed, carried nothing but their clothes so she figured out another way to reject his request in a decent way. "But sir, do you have a passport or any kind of valid government I.D. to become your permanent proof for your identities? A simple document to show as a valid verification in this nation and other countries. If not, unfortunately, we won't let you qualified to be called a tourist. No ID, no evidence, then no entry." Ilona explained with her index waving from right to left twice. Her fair-skinned hand dragged down the board behind her. "This is the method we often used. It shows the list of information on proper procedure of getting the valid ID, license, citizenship, and other kinds of stuff," Ilona added.
She was confident that he'll give up.
But she sensed his determination to solve it.
The young Don folded his arms across his chest and he leaned back and tilted his head, "Oh, I see your point. Legal documents will prove our identity for a good reason."
Hermes showed her some confidence and firm gesture. And he added, "But some of our documents went missing on our voyage and the others were left behind in the hotel we rented. Do you have any kind of legal means to help us to gain access from this village?"
"Apparently not." She shook her head with pity. "But I'll tell you something about our basic rules of this village. First, Thou shall not kill anyone here. Thou shall steal and covet your thy neighbors and last, thou shall not conduct anything suspicious action related to Mafia. Fail to comply and obey these three rules will result in instant execution. Or if you're lucky, you'll be honorably deported from this place with free of charges and considered as outsiders as per se," Ilona retorted, sarcastically.
'This girl... she's not a typical receptionist, huh. Even she doesn't show it, frankly, she's a little bit hostile to us. And she's sarcastic. She's trying to lure us out from this place by using those words. Did we do something to make her mad? Damn, what should we do? The law of this place is too strict like Singapore in my past life. I blame that junior of mine of adding this kind of setting, of course. Everything must be in proper order and must obediently follow the rules and regulations regardless of who might you be.' Hermes muttered, turning his gaze to his servant when he noticed his hostility. He raised his hand to stop his action before something bad to happen for both parties. 'Please, don't make it hard for us to enter this place. This is our chance to infiltrate the place without taking innocent lives.'
As Justin read his mind, he sighed and agreed. But his perspective to his boss was different. He thought he was telling him this message: 'Don't kill them. I'll be the one who'll murder this fool. She's annoying, I know but don't worry, I got this.'
The tension got deepen between the receptionist and the two guests. This leads to the chief to make a move before she decided to call it off and denied their tourist access. It was his fault from the beginning because he didn't invite her to their house to celebrate the occasion.
"Ilona, please be mindful. Just give them what they want," Chief Zamor moved forward and hold her hands. His arm picked two folded papers with a seal of the Camelia family and gave it to her. She took it, removed the seal, and read the document. She, surprised, raised her eyebrows after reading it. "These papers? Could it be.... the official residences illegal magical tool [Cuncon]? "She tilted her head with half-eyes open." Are you sure, Chief? This is beyond our law?" She pushed it forward to him, but her hands were held by the chief. Her cheeks turned red and she averted her eyes after.
"Just sign it up, please."
Chief Zamor insisted it, closing their distance to each other.
Their eyes met and some strange feeling felt by her heart. The magical tool [Cuncon] ]was only used as an alternative method to get a formal registration to such place inside a huge nation.
Only a few people had knowledge know how to use it and hiding it as their last resort if something didn't go in their way. It was a tool that often used by illegal immigrants to enter their target countries without taking the long registration and interview with any government immigration offices promptly.
By paying a large sum of money to get their papers transformed into a citizen card by corrupt government officers. As the receptionist and also part of a government management advisory, she had the skill to unleash the magic residing to the two papers she was holding.
But it was a forbidden tool and couldn't be regarded as a legal measure for their reputation would get tainted. Imprisonment of at least ten years and a penalty of 600,000 luzers to be paid on cash were the punishment if caught by authorities. Like in his previous world, it was like a hacking tool used primarily by anonymous hackers and the Mexican cartels that transported illegal immigrants in the US borders and created permanent legal documents for their clients.
Furthermore, the forbidden tool was regarded as a powerful item that could destroy and manipulate the national statistics related to the population census of each government.
Just one little push she would take the bite and Chief Zamor would win her heart. He said, "Listen up, these two lads of mine saved my twins. Do you even want these two saviors to be deported? You see, they are both merchants from another nation. If we did something bad to them, just how many benefits will be lost after it? Think first, Ilona. This young man has promised me that he'll invest his money in our village. One of these parts will develop the place into the finest town. Or with luck, this village will become a city-state of the whole island. The first of its kind in the West of Scily. Moreover, this is also one of the great opportunities to boost tourism, as well." She looked at the young Don and he gave her a nod confirming his promise about it. "But… But... It's against our law and regulations." She, petrified, held the hand of the chief. And she said, "I don't want to use my power for this kind of illegal method. The manager will scold me and the worst, it'll be taxed on my salary. Do you want me to violate what states in our policy? Chief Zamor, do you understand the cost of this action. This is the first time you commit this kind of crime."
"It is not a crime if no one knows." He said, gravely.
"What?" Her eyes opened wide with her mouth covered by her hands. His reply made her surprised. She reminded, "Chief, you're the Village Chief, the head of this place. You're the one who'd better know the consequences of this illegal act. If we violate it, what do you think the others would do next? They'll be going to sue you for this? Do you know what would happen if this crime leaked out from outside? They would revolt also."
"Madam," Hermes raised his hand to catch their attention, "May I ask for a reason for not giving us the right to have a simple tourist card?"
"Umm, uh, eh." She hesitated to speak and fidgeting her gaze down to the table and the young Don.
To which he began concluding something behind it: she had a deep secret and her life would be in danger if she revealed it.
"A'ight, you don't need to tell it if you don't want to." He raised his hand to stop her. And he added, "We'll leave then. Thanks for the kindness, Chief. It is a waste of time for not giving us a chance to prove ourselves as a common merchant. I ain't going to push ourselves for this kind of treatment."
"Wait, hold up. Ilona, please. I'm beggin' you." the chief ramped his left hand on the table. He lowered his voice after the civilians heard the sound. "Please... consider these proposals for the future sake of our village."
"But, but, " She sighed and gave in, "Alright, fine. I'll do it. But I wish there's an equal price for my service." Her eyes turned gaze to the chief that made him laughed heartily. And he warmly smiled, "I told you, don't worry about it. The price will be a kind of special treatment. I permit you to live with us in the meantime. I can guarantee you a special room in our home and I bet you'll enjoy the best of the time with us for the whole week. What do you think, give or take?"
'Wait, isn't that bribery? Hey, hey, hey, you two must realize we also hear your conversation. Chief Zamor, she wouldn't convince that easy, y' know. Normal people would never allow themselves to take such simple and cheap bribe. Unless she likes you. Or she has an abnormal fetish, sir.' Hermes thought when he eavesdropped their conversation.
However, her mood had changed. She quietly giggled, while looking at the picture of the twins underneath her table. Her eyes glazed with a petrifying smile at Chief Zamor, she quickly picked up the pen on her chest pocket and she signed the papers in an instant.
Next, she cast a magic on the two papers of the chief gave to her and their eyes twinkled as the papers shone for a few seconds.
The light caught the attention of the people inside but immediately looked away after she gave them a cold and terrifying gaze. Sending them a warning that if you kept watching they were going to get killed by her.
Hermes screamed in surprised on his mind by her sudden change. His eyes caught her attention. She smiled at him, but it only gave him a cold sweat. He noted himself not to make an enemy of a woman like her after witnessing it.
"Sir. Aljen and his companion, please come closer. " The young Don and his servant moved to the table after. She directly gave away the papers to their hands and warmly smiled, "Please sign these documents. You must make sure to fill up all the contents correctly without biased information. The payment of the papers cost of 5 Luzers, but because it was honestly paid by our dearest and my beloved chief, you don't need to worry about the payments."
"Oh, thank you," Hermes bowed and he asked, "Is this all we need? Nothin' more?" And Ilona replied with a nod. And she said, "Yes, that's only the requirements you need." The young Don and Justin exchanged a glance and nodded. And he genuinely replied with a smile, "Thank you."
The way of their registration was easy but illegal, however. And something troubled his mind a little bit this time.
'Damn, what should I name then?' Hermes murmured.
"I finish to fill out the magical tool, I mean, the application paper, what should I do next, Ma'am?" Justin asked, showing the papers to Miss Ilona.
'Huh? Justin, you're done? But I'm not done yet!' When Justin sensed Hermes stared at him, he thumbed up with a radiant smile. His butler thought the young Don praised for his quick signing up the application paper.
"You must put your sign in the part of Signature over Printed Name then used your thumb by magical ink of truth in this box." She pointed at the blank pages. Justin conceitedly replied, "Oooh, that's it, huh. It is easy like I'm killin' such small fries that attackin' us during the night." With no idea what he meant, Ilona and Chief Zamor exchanged a glance and laughed instead.
Suddenly, the paper lighted up in blue flames and it turned into a small ID card.
"Congratulations, Mr. Justin. Your name is now transmitted and added to the list of this island. I welcome you as part of our beloved tourist. Have a nice stroll and enjoy your vacation full of excitement and high expectation." Ilona smiled at him making him feel disgusted.
"Aljen, what's taking you so long. Do you have any problems?" Chief Zamor worried about the young Don who hadn't filled up his name on the paper. "I can lend you a hand and tell you what you need to learn." He took a peek at his paper but the young Don quickly folded it. "Aaah, no need. " He turned his gaze after the chief moved closer once again, but he gently pushed him away further. He replied, " Y' don't need to worry about me. Just give me some space, sir."
"Boss," Justin moved closer, "If you're afraid of leaking your true identity, I'll take the chance of killin' all of these people." Hermes, surprised, smiled at him with a cold sweat after his butler whispered it to his ears. Now, his problem added more fuel to his mind. He quickly replied with a calm tone, "No, please restrain yourself. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm fine. Just reviewing my paper if I fill up all of it… correctly."
"Aah, that's good to hear." Ilona tilted her head with a warm smile, while her clasped hands put on her right cheeks. "Remember sir, don't hustle yourself. Just make sure you write the right information accordingly. Because if you write something not related to yourself, the paper will turn red indicating you're lying to your identity. If it burned blue, a blue flame will appear." Ilona said, giving a wink to his eyes.
'What the heck, girl?' He clenched his teeth after hearing it. 'You don't have to tell me that. I know it that's why I'm scared to write my name here. That's why I'm taking too long to fill it up. If I put my name Hermes Archnemesis, it would lead me to my death flag so quickly. Everyone in this village hates me so much. Hence, I can't even write it here. And if I write my name in my previous world, can it be acceptable? Crap, what should I do? What should I do? Damn it, Stump G. You're making my life harder than I expected.'
"Oh, whatever. May my luck be with me!" The young Don wrote in the paper his first name, Aljen. He showed it to her and he followed what she said. And after a few minutes, the paper burned in flames and the color became dark purple as it burning rapidly the paper after his thumb marked the last blank part.
Everyone, including the civilians nearby were surprised at what they witnessed. Hermes didn't expect that his card burned in a different color. This was the first time in his knowledge that it colored out too different from the original. There are two reasons behind that he thought about. It could be that it was a fake magical tool given by the chief and the other one, the violet flames could possibly a new kind of bug added in the flow of this world by his nemesis, Stump G. He assumed he was laughing after he learned about his situation. He must be messing him around for his own fun.
"Ms. Ilona, there's somethin' wrong about my card, " The young Don showed it to her. Ilona, surprised, tilted her head while her index finger covered her mouth with confusion. "That's strange. This is our first time to see a violet card and the username left blank. What could it be… Umm, we can replace it by repeating the same thing once again if you wish, Mr. Aljen. Don't worry, I have a spare."
'Crap, no more.' His eyebrows raised and waved his hand with refusal gesture.
"Oh boy, I guess we don't need to let Mr. Aljen replace his ID. The card showed his status as a tourist like his butler too. So, we don't need to repeat the process." Chief Zamor said, interrupting her offer.
"... Eh? Umm... I guess so. Maybe, it is convenient to do, Chief. But according to our policy…. umm... " She sighed, "I can just ask the manager about this after the break. Well then, I know you already hear this but please don't feel bad about it. " She stretched her arms open wide and smiled, "Welcome to our Neue Fiona, Mr. Aljen. [I] hope you enjoy your [visit] and [stay] in this village. If you have anything to [ask], just ask us and we will surely [take care of it] as soon as we can." Ilona lowered her head and raised her head after. "Of course, the next time we meet, there's a few exchanges of the equivalent price for our service." Her terrifying gaze at the young Don made his body shivered in fear.
"Thank you very much, Madam," replied the young Don, cold sweat.
Hermes and his servant lowered their heads after taking their cards. Ilona lowered her head too, thereof, and she waved her hands with a warm smile after they left.
'Woah, that was close... That offer gave me a goosebump. I don't want to do it again. If I redo the process, I don't even know what would be the color of the flames. I'm definitely going to screw in that time.' Hermes smiled with a sigh while walking behind the chief.
"Well, It's already evening anyway. We could go back now to my house and have dinner with my children." Chief Zamor offered after they left the hall. He stretched his body from head to toe before they started to walk. The young Don replied with a tired laugh, "Umm, Chief, we'd appreciate the offer but we might be going in a separate way. We humbly decline to your offer this time, " Chief Zamor surprised to his rejection, and he replied, "Well, then, where do you guys going to? You don't even know exactly this place."
"Don't worry. We can handle ourselves. You may return to your home or visit your companions in their room in the hospital. I mean clinic. Thank you very much for your help this time around. Don't worry, we'll meet again." Hermes said his regards, while Justin lowered his head for his gratitude. "We'll visit you, I promise." They lowered their heads and went in the opposite direction. "Wait, Mr. Aljen and Mr. Justin!" Chief Zamor stopped them before they got away. "Here, take this then." Chief Zamor gave a small platinum emblem. It had a symbol of the white wolf in the middle surrounded by seven claws in a different direction.
"What is this?" The young Don scanned the emblem asked as he inspected the seal.
The chief explained briefly, "That thing will help you to easily get through to any place in this village. The emblem will regard you as a special person and the important people of our household. Well, its another gift of mine. Please accept it as my honorary friends of mine. I won't push myself too far... I just worried somethin' will happen in the future so please use this as your primary weapon if you encounter some trouble."
"Oooh, that's great." Hermes smiled and hide the emblem behind his chest pocket. "So, does this mean I should be honored to know that I'm now highly regarded as one of the trusted acquaintances of the head of this village, huh. Thanks."
"Hoho, you should be, Mr. Aljen. Oh if you don't have any place to stay in, just don't be shy to go to our place again. Our house is always open for you lads." Chief Zamor said as he patted his shoulder. But the young Don replied with a sad tone, "Sorry, sir, but we planned to return to our place after this." These words made the chief saddened but kept his face upfront. "Oh, then, maybe next time. See ya around."
The chief had left them in the street and the two exchanged a glance. Justin spoke first, "Boss, should we head out now? " He picked out the map on his pocket and showed it to his master. "We should check this place then."
Hermes looked at the mark he pointed and thought about something strange related to it. "That mark... that place is not safe according to the chief though. That's district 5, right?" His butler nodded. "As expected to Don Hermes, you know about the place, huh."
"Justin, let's postpone the investigation in that location for now. We need to focus first on the four districts within this place. Why? Because my guts keep telling me that something is fishy around here. Voltaire, a great poet, once said that life is thickly sown with thorns. I know no other remedy than to pass rapidly over them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes the greater is their power to harm us," said Hermes, calmly.
His butler's eyes turned sharp, lips pursed.
"What does it mean, boss?" asked Justin, gravely. "It means that they are hiding something that we shouldn't dwell in further. The more we push ourselves onto them will result for us be troubled in the future. Justin, lend me your hand as we unfold the secrets that lie within this territory. I want to find out what's going on in my territory, " answered Hermes, left eyebrows raised.
"Affirmative, my Don. This Justin here will obediently follow your plan," Justin assured. He placed a hand on his chest respectfully.