"Yeah, Kichi. She seems like a lovely character."
Sora and Rubellia sounded sweet, but their body stances said otherwise. Even I could tell they were mad, and it wasn't just because the way they said Kichi, even I wasn't a complete idiot when it came to other people's emotions.
"Oh, this is Ellie." I introduced her after she stopped all her swaying and mumbling of me being into whatever it was she thought I was into. "She's a blacksmith, along with her father. She made the armor I'm wearing, and her father made the sword."
"Really? So her and her father are the ones who crafted you such high quality gear?" Han asked as he inspected Ellie, who frowned at him and tried hiding behind me to escape his gaze.
She probably thought he was mentally undressing her too. "Yes," I replied.
"I see...Will we get some high quality gear too?"
"I don't know. I guess."
"Sweet!" Han seemed over excited about the thought of getting new gear, but who wouldn't be? After all, it was a huge upgrade from their beginning armor.
"Wait, ya brought some customers?"
"Yeah, why? Is that a problem?" I looked at her with a frown.
"Not at all! 'n fact, it's amazin'! Come on now, follow me."
She lead us all to the shop.
Upon entering we were greeted by Caz, and they all introduced themselves to each other. Caz seemed to be extremely excited to see me, which made me feel uneasy.
I had the trio explain what they wanted and it was all ready and given to them after two hours or so. Rubellia still wore the same robes, however Ellie had enchanted them with magic defense and physical defense, both at level 3 (level 5 was the highest). Sora's gear was now more armored, giving her more defense, but also allowing her to still be flexible. Han's gear was completely new. His armor was silver and red, complete with a full suit of armor. He looked like those giant statues of knights you see in most video games or medieval movies.
Along with the new gear, they were also given new weapons, though none of them were custom made like mine. They paid for everything and we decided to hang for a while, planning our next course of action.
"So, what now?" Sora, who was excited over getting all new gear, was now down in the dumps, not knowing what to do.
"We could go and try to get quests from the guild. Oh, speaking of which." Han turned his gaze toward me. "Are you in the guild?"
"Huh? Oh, no. I'm not."
"Well we should probably get you signed up then."
"Indeed, that would be best."
"Yeah, cause as long as you're not a registered adventurer, you can't truly accept quests. And if you're caught without an adventurer's permit while doing a quest, you could be arrested. Also it's not like it's out of our way, we need to go and tell the guild about the quest we completed and show the mark of completion Luisham gave us."
The mark he was referring to was a stamp that was on the quest form. It marked that the quest was complete and recognized by the one who registered it.
Every person has their own stamp, almost like a brand. It helps identify them and prove that it was actually completed and not just stamped by any one.
Of course, collection quests didn't need these. You just needed the materials that were asked for.
"I just did a quest with y'all without having an ID though. I'm a criminal. Y'all still want me in your party?"
I didn't have an ID when I helped them, and by doing so, I completed a quest and reaped the rewards without having an actual ID.
"Well, I'm sure that's different. You saved us and just so happened to complete the quest with us," Han defended me from my own self. "So it's not like you were doing anything illegal on purpose."
"If all it took was a simple 'It was an accident' we wouldn't need a prison." I retorted.
"No, Kichir- ugh, you idiot. You didn't walk into the guild pretending to be an adventurer, complete a quest, and then take the reward for yourself. That's what's illegal. It takes away a real adventurers opportunity to get money and EXP."
"Oh."
I guess that's fair. It's kind of like forging ID's to make yourself look older than you actually are.
"You're so boring, Kichirou." Sora had chimed it out of nowhere just to insult me. "All you ever do is give one to five word replies unless it's something to do with fighting or you're being pessimistic."
Sorry I'm anti-social! Also, sorry for stating how I feel.
"Yeah, you need to be more open," Rubellia added.
Not you too...
"You need to express more emotion if you're going to be with us. It'd be boring if you just followed silently and only spoke when spoken to." Sora suggested.
"Yeah. And I think you should start right now, by telling us about yourself."
"Oh! Good idea Rubellia, get him to tell us about himself so he'll feel more comfortable talking to us."
"I know, right? This is how I got my younger siblings to make friends."
"By making them introduce themselves?"
"Yep."
While the two went back and forth, Han nudged my shoulder.
"They're making you do children exercises to become social." I could tell he was trying to hold his laughter in. No matter what they say, I'm not going to force social contact. I'd probably die!
"I cen tell ya a bit about Kichi." The girls went silent and their eyes fell upon Ellie. Although no words were spoken, there was ominous atmosphere, almost like prey that has been spotted by its predator and it knows there's no escape.
"Oh yeah? Do tell."
"Yes, please."
"Okie! Well, ya see, Kichi is rather...weird. He's also kinda perverted, seein as how when we first met he was tryna' mentally undress m-" A karate chop to her head shut her up.
"Shut up, idiot!"
"Owie. I Bith mah pongue!"
"Good! I hope you choke on your words next!"
"Tath's mean, ya bully!"
"Moron."
"Jerk!"
"Masochist!"
"Pervert!"
"Idiot woman!"
Ellie turned away and folded her arms and huffed. "I think ya get what kinda guy he is now, right?" She winked at the girls who had a blank stare.
"....No." They spoke at the same time.
"He's funny. He's cool. He's sweet. Ya cen always rely on him ta help those in need, even if he tries an' plays it off with a cool act." She, of course, was referring to yesterday, where I gave them more money than I should have. Though that really was an accident, really! "Ain' that right, Kichi?" I just blinked slowly and looked at the sky.
"Lovely weather," I said, trying to ignore the question.
"You two must be pretty close to know each other so well." It was Sora who spoke. She forced a smile.
Come on, don't force it! And if you do, don't make it so obvious!
"Well, we've only known each other fer two days."
"And you two are already so close? My, I wonder what happened between you two in that time for you to know so much about one another. Well, you said he mentally undressed you, so...maybe he physically did too?" Han chimed in, an evil smirk on his face.
Don't add fuel to the already burning fire!
Ellie's face went red and she looked at the ground and held her hands together as she put them between her thighs and squirmed.
Don't react like that! They'll actually think...
"Woah, I was only joking when I said that." Han said with a blush. The other two girls had a different reaction. Their expressions were dark and their hair covered their eyes in a shadow.
"I-It's not like that! I didn't do anything with her!" I defended myself. "I'm a virgin! I've never even kissed a girl before, how the hell could I undress one!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
Silence surrounded the room at my statement.
Way to go, me, you just told everyone you were a virgin. Now you're gonna look like a loser in front of all these kids!
Whoops, let my adult slip out for a second. Almost forgot I was a kid too.