Anna went back home after telling me to take care and that she would visit me again tomorrow. 'Not like I really want that but since she provides me food for now, I'll just let her be then.'
I got up from the bed and looked at my own body. Some shabby clothes and a pair of slippers, I kind of stank too.
'I need to take a bath.' I frowned a bit.
I did some squats and stretches to get used to the movement of this body.
"Mm. Not bad. Just need some training and nutrients then I can make this body as strong as before, physically." I then opened the wooden door and went out of the shabby house. The sight in front of me...wasn't that great.
The slums...a place where the dirtiest side of a city hid. Beggars, hooligans, thieves, criminals, all these socially alienated and impoverished people lived here. Many cramped dilapidated houses lined up, garbages littered around messily. It was a place that hid the darkest side of life.
I had seen such things before too. The weak ones ended up this way. But I didn't feel any sympathy nor anything for them. It was how the world worked, only the strong ruled while the weak could only get pressed down by them. I looked at the scene indifferently and walked my way out of the slums.
I saw more dirty things as I went out but I ignored them all the way.
For now, I had to find a place to take a bath. I felt itchy everywhere because of the dirt which made me feel uncomfortable all over. Maybe I should steal some money and then buy some clothes too.
'To think that I would end up this low to even consider stealing something....' I shook my head lightly and then headed towards the busy streets where the market was located which was at the centre of the city, the plaza.
I got there in half an hour and saw crowds of people in different clothing walking around the streets while the hawkers hawked around, showcasing their goods to others.
If someone wanted to steal money or other goods then this was the best place. But I'm not here to steal anything, I'm here to join a guild.
A guild was an organisation formed by a group of people with common purpose. There were merchant's guilds, doctor's guilds and also the adventurers guild. And I am here to join the adventurers guild.
I got to know about the adventurers guild from Lucifer's memories. The adventurers guild was an organisation for adventurers who would do some quests or missions whether it be some labour works or to slay monsters or beasts and they would then get rewards from the guild that was submitted by clients.
The adventurers guild also dealt with weaponry, provided supplies for the missions and also provided some rooms for the adventurers to stay and lodge for an amount of fee, just like an inn. The adventurers could also trade the corpses of the beasts and get money or trade it for something of equal value.
Although there was a fee for registering as an adventurer, it could also be credited and the person had to complete some missions to pay off the fee.
This world had magical beasts that were also called demonic beasts. Demonic beasts were those that had their own intelligence and also could use magic of the same nature. The adventurers guild always had quests for hunting down beasts like goblins, orcs or kobolds that made troubles and raided some rural villages or towns in group.
Some demonic beasts were also used as mounts and pets after taming them. The people of this occupation were called beast tamers. Most of the beast tamers were rich since selling mounts and pets was a good business. But it depended upon the level of the tamers and what kind of beasts they could tame.
Although I didn't know how to use magic yet, I was confident that I could deal with some low level monsters with my martial arts. Even if I didn't have a weapon, I could still knock them out. And it seems live monsters with no damage in their body were sold in high price so it was all good.
The guilds resided where it was the most crowded so that they could get more customers. The adventurers guild and the merchants guild were built facing each other in opposite sides.
The adventurers guild was a three storey building that was also a bit spacious. While the merchants guild was more luxurious and with more space, showing off their rich status.
There was a big logo at the top of the entrance which was the official logo of the adventurers guild which had sword and wand as well a beast symbol at the middle.
....
.....
I looked at the bustling guild from the outside and then went inside but then felt some stares at me.
The front had the dining hall where adventurers sat around and socialised with other adventurers or had their meals. The reception was located at the centre of the hall where two receptionists each handled the matters with registration and quests.
I went towards the reception without bothering myself with the stares from other adventurers and stopped infront of the desk for registration.
The receptionist was a girl in her twenties with red hair. She looked at me in confusion and said.
"Hello, customer. What can I help you with? Are you here for requesting a mission? If you are then please go to the second desk for quests. This one is for registration only." The receptionist explained with a polite smile on her face even after seeing my shabby form.
" I am here to register as an adventurer." I said with a calm face. The receptionist then looked at me with a shocked face like she had just heard something strange.
"Hahahahha, this pipsqueak actually came here to get registered as an adventurer. What a joke!" A raucous laughter came from behind me which was then followed by the snickers and mocking giggles from the other adventurers.
"Hey kid, are you sure you aren't mistaken? Being an adventurer isn't a child play. Go home to your mother's lap and drink some milk instead. Hahaha" Another man also mocked with a smirk on his face.
The receptionist calmed down in a while and looked at me with a polite smile on her face.
"Dear customer, are you sure about this?" She asked.
"Yes." I replied instantly.
"Then please fill this form with your name, class, skills, age and gender. If you want to register as a magician too then we have to test your mana and elements with the mana crystal then record it in your adventurer card. The level of your mana will also determine your power level which can affect your rankings.The adventurers are ranked from lower to higher levels from F to SS rank. You can only pick the same rank of quests. If you are higher ranked then you can also choose lower ranked quests if you want. As for the registration fee, it will be 10 copper coins." The receptionist then handed me a paper and pen. I only had to fill in the blank spaces and then pay the fee to get registered as an adventurer.
"Can I have the fee credited in my name?" I asked.
"Pfft! What kind of joke is that?! Hey, Mina-chan, are you really going to let this kid register as an adventurer?" A man spurted out the water inside his mouth after hearing me and said with a shocked face.
"Yeah, Mina-chan. You don't have to go along with this kid. He must be playing around with you."
"Hey, pipsqueak. Just get the hell out of here. This isn't where you belong. Hmph!" The man who mocked me before said in a disdainful voice.
I finally looked back at him. He was a slightly muscular man with a bald head. He was average in height and had dark skin with some scars on his arms and face. He looked quite scary and ferocious because of the scar on his face.
"What are you looking at, brat?" The man raised his eyebrow and asked with an intimidating face but I didn't budge and just stared at him calmly.
The man showed slight fear in his eyes after he met my eyes and then stopped grinning at me. I had intentionally shown a bit of murderous intent to shut him up and my red eyes with natural bloodthirsty aura helped me well.
"What the hell...his eyes are so creepy...and scary."
"What is this kid? I suddenly felt chills when I met his eyes."
"Yeah..let's not get involved with him anymore. I feel uneasy about this kid."
"Yeah...let's just mind ourselves." The other adventurers whispered among themselves and turned away from me. Even the man who had been mocking me just now only stared at me quietly but didn't say anything again.
'This kid...is scary.' The man thought as he remembered what he just saw.
I looked at them, satisfied with their reaction and then turned back towards the receptionist who was looking at me with a curious face. She must be curious about the quick change in the adventurers and their reactions but I didn't care about it and just looked at her.
"So, can I have it credited?" I asked again.
"Eh? Ah, y-yes. It is possible. To pay off the fee, you have to finish three F rank quests or one E rank quest. Everyone starts from F rank so you have to complete three F rank quests." said the receptionist.
I nodded and then started to fill the form. I looked at the blank space for name and stared at it for a while. I couldn't use Tomioka Shizuki as my name here. Although the people here spoke Japanese and wrote in Japanese too, they didn't have such specific Japanese names but had foreign names instead.
I made up my mind and then wrote 'Lucifer' in the black space.
' From now on, I'll be called Lucifer.' I thought to myself.
I finished filling the form and then submitted it to the receptionist who had been waiting for me to finish. She took the form from me and then glanced at it.
"You are a girl?!" She asked in a slightly high pitch as if she was really shocked. Even the adventurers looked towards us in shock when they heard her exclamation.
"What? That kid is a girl?"
"No way right? How is that possible."
"A small girl as that wants to become an adventurer? What the hell..."
The adventurers again started to whisper around themselves, making the hall more noisy.
"Yes." I answered with no change on my face.
"I-I see..." The receptionist then continued looking at the form.
"14 years old....class..unknown? Skills..." The receptionist mumbled as she read with a puzzled look on her face.
She then looked at me after a while and asked.
"Um...Lucifer-san, you haven't awakened yet?" I looked at her in confusion which made her sigh in realisation.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked with a puzzled look.
"Seriously? What's with this kid...." I could hear more whispers of mockery and disbelief from behind me but I didn't know why.
"Well, being awakened means to awaken your power. After a person gets awakened, he can then see a kind of invisible panel which shows information about yourself and your stats and skills. We call it 'system'. We can then get the information about you after you inject your mana on the adventurer card."
'A system?' I widened my eyes a bit after hearing her explanation. But I didn't find this information inside the memories.
'Ah...right. I was interrupted by Anna before I could look over the devil's memories. Maybe the seal that it talked about was this so called 'awakening'?' I nodded in realisation.
"Then what do I have to do to get awakened?" I asked seriously.
"Hmm...to get awakened, you have to have enough mana inside of you. Then it will get triggered automatically after you meet the requirements. A person can get awakened in the age between 10-15 so it is also understandable that you still haven't awakened yet. But some cannot get awakened for their whole life because of their natural aptitude so it is something that depends upon your own fate." The receptionist explained again.
"Then I can't register?" I asked the problem in hand.
"Oh, no, you can still get registered but you cannot rank up until you get awakened. We have to also consider your potential to rank you up so that we can keep your safety in mind and provide you quests that are suitable for you. But you can update your adventurer card later on so there is no need to worry." She said with a smile.
"I see. Then I would like to still register as an adventurer." I said.
"Okay. Please wait for a moment for me to make you a temporary adventurer card." She then went inside the door at the back and came back after a few minutes and handed me a palm-sized card with my information. There was a big 'F' written at the top right which should be my current rank.
"Here you go. This is you temporary adventurer card. You can use this card to go in and out of any country and cities without having to pay any fee. Please be careful not to lose it. It will cost extra fee to get another card so I hope you will keep it safe. I have also credited the fee in your name so you can choose three F rank quests from the quest board up there." She then pointed at the huge board hung at the left side of the hall where many papers were pinned on the board.
"Okay. Thank you." I nodded and then kept the card inside my chest pocket and headed towards the quest board. There were other adventurers looking for suitable quests for themselves in front of the quest board. I went up at the front and looked for F rank quests.
'Huh...they are just some random stuffs. Collecting herbs, weeding the garden, delivering some goods, finding a missing cat? What the hell?' I looked at the quests and felt the corner of my lips twitch a bit.
I sighed helplessly.
'Guess I got no choice.' I chose some quests that didn't take too much time to finish and then headed back to the reception for the quests.
"I would like to accept these quests." I handed 5 quest papers to the receptionist. The receptionist was also a girl with a dark blue hair. She looked more serious than Mina and didn't speak much. She took the quest papers and looked over them, finding nothing wrong. She then recorded them in a book and then gave me the quest papers.
"Since you don't have a system to show you the quest panel, you can take the quest papers. There is no time limit on them and you can submit them anytime. Three of the quests are for your fee so you will only be rewarded for the other two quests." She explained with a straight face.
I nodded and took the quest papers then walked out of the guild house with some stares following me.
'Let's do this then.'