"But we already paid for this month?!"
"Im sorry, D-Class Hunter Susuki, you guys got a bonus, so do us," He said sarcastically. His sorry wasn't sound that sincere as he got a smirk on his face.
"or perhaps you want to fight against our master Zephyr?" He said as he threatened Susuki. The guy who was talking with Susuki right now was a man with a fox head, that what people refer as beastfolk.
Susuki was hesitating but at last, he gave what the guys wants. "All right," He said in defeat.
-->
"Brother, the tax in the town are really expensive now, the shop must use a higher price so they can make a living, what should we do?" Lua voice could be heard from the kitchen, she sounds a bit worry.
"I know, I know but...*sigh* what can we do against a Demon Lord."
The word Demon Lord attracted Kuro, and slowly he who just woke up approached them in the kitchen.
"Morning Susuki, Lua " Kuro tried to use some weak voice as he pretended to be awake just now and pretend as if he wasn't listening to them just now. Kuro sense let him listening to them even when the people are on a distance of 10 kilometres
"Aa.ahh Morning Kuroo~ My friend" Susuki replied as he was shocked by my sudden appearance. They stopped their conversation and started to greet me.
Not something I should know, perhaps. But.. god against a demon, i guess that would be my first mission.
"Morning Kuro" Lua is as beautiful as ever. She always keeps her composure.
Today, I could see her wearing an apron. That made my day for sure. But yeah, I have steel myself, I would not be swayed by her beauty again...
"Something wrong, Kuro?" Her face was close to mine that made my heart pounding real fast.
"Ahh, no" No! I failed!
After all, Kuro is a virgin, he doesn't even have a single girlfriend in his previous life, so, something like this made him flustered easily.
"Ah, why don't we sit first. Breakfast are ready."
"Ah..sorry to make you made my breakfast--"
"Ahahaha, what are you talking about? We are now buddy! Just make this house just like yours." Susuki said while his right hand was holding a fork as he pierced it to the sausage on the plate in front of him.
"Then, since I will make it like my 'own' house, can I just sell it?" I tried to tease him, somehow I felt already comfortable around him that I can make such a joke.
"Please don't" He quickly replied. It's funny to see his expression like that.
"Umm, brother I'll go first," Lua said to Susuki as she left in a rush.
"She sure are busy" It was always like this, every morning Lua will go to the town and buy some daily needs. She sometimes went to the 'Hunter Guild' to look at the 'Mission Board' if there is any request that we could take.
Susuki was smiling but I do know he was worried about something. There might be a lot of thing on his mind right now.
As I started eating, after a few minutes, I stated my curiosity "Hey Susuki, umm, actually I might have accidentally listened to the conversation between Lua and you earlier."
It was actually not an 'accidentally'. I just tried to cover it up.
"Ugh...you did huh...." His expression earlier changed to a sour smile. "Well... it was 5 years ago. This town was a lively one, we don't have any problem and our food supply also good. All good until a thousand of 'Legendary-Class' monster appears and was about to attack this town. Suddenly, the 'Demon Lord Zephyr' appeared. He said that he will help us if we could pay a tax to him every month."
"Little did we know that those were his monsters"
his grip on the fork tightened as a frown appeared on his face. The more he thinks about it, he got more infuriated
"Ah sorry my emotion got the best of me"
Even if they were to fight back, that is the demon lord who controls those monster, In other words, the demon lord is far stronger.
"T...then won't there be any hero that could help? Also... Church! how about them? Didn't they usually hate demon lord?"
Of course, if there is a demon lord then there must be a hero. It is the cliche system that always appeared on every manga that I read. And the hero always controlled by the church.
"Hah! Even the church would charge us with high price knowing that we're in a dire situation. They don't care about saving anyone, they just want money"
What a trash! I have the power right now, I wanted to help this town. For what reason? It's just me being me, I wanted to help someone in need. I guess this is the purpose of my power.
[!]
System Trigger
-Resolve the town's problem
"Hey, Nephy."
*Yes, my host
"Between me and that bastard Zephyr, who do you think stronger"
[System]
*Answer I can't access.
"Reason?"
*Host stats are far too low to detect his.
I see. Then I need to become stronger. I am far too weak right now, That Zephyr must have a really high stats.
*Stats aren't everything. It is about how do you fight. Even a low stats could defeat a high stats. You can turn the table if you know their weakness and take advantage of them.
Well, even an ant could defeat an elephant. I guess it was like that.
-->
"Ah Kuro, follow me to the town after this, can you?" His eyes didn't look at me as he was washing the plates.
"Ah, yes, sure. Why though?" I got nothing to do, after all, there is no television for me to watch. Last night, I sneaked out and tried to use magic along with Nephy guide. I already tried a lot of magic. Although at first it was hard to control and I almost destroyed their house.
"You know, you need to make a pass so that you can enter and go outside using it. If you don't have one, then you might get a penalty. Unless you have a special pass then you can use it for your whole party."
It's the same as last time, Susuki did give the guard a pass. I guess it was the special pass that he was talking about. I just told them that I lost my pass.
"Also, you might need a new cloth and a few items since you lost them." As he finished washing the plates he took out a bag of silver coin from his storage magic and threw it to me as I caught it in impulse.
Without letting me ask anything... "This is for you. You did help us the other day."
"Bu-"
"Well, you also lost your item, and you already used that clothe for a couple of days already."
He got me.
"Thanks" He really is kind. I'll pay them for their kindness.
-->
In front of us was a big tavern. That there was a sign put on the roof. As for the door, they used the saloon door, which let people to take a look at the inside.
As we entered, we walked straight to the counter on the right side of the tavern.
In the middle of the tavern, there was a big board with a lot of paper pinned on it.
Is that... a quest board? Though I can't read it, I still could recognize it.
There are a lot of people inside - chatting, a girl serving tons of guys - adventurer maybe. They sat, chatting and laughling. Normal people enjoying their drinks.
"Morning~ Reharna~!" Susuki greeted the woman on the counter in an attractive way. he bent his hips while lowering his body.
She has long white hair, blue-ish eyes, and... a pair of long ears?! An elf! This must be an elf. That is not important, what important is her big breast! Yes!
"Morning Mr Susuki, as lively as always I see... and who is that mister?" She replied Susuki greet. Her eyes were closed that made you can't tell where she was looking at.
From her face alone I can tell that she wasn't really interested in talking with Susuki.
Her head now turned to Kuro. Although it looks like she was looking at him, she didn't even open her eyes.
If I were to say, she is a top-tier woman that can be on par with Lua. But, of course, I kept my poker face and said "Kohaku Kuro, just call me Kuro"
Since inside was so loud, only that woman and Susuki could hear my voice.
She smiles although her lip was shaking as she was giggling that almost let out a laugh.
Wait did she almost laugh at my name just now? She did right?!
"Hey hey, I'm taking him here to get a pass today"
"Ah... if you want a hunter pass, unfortunately, it isn't available right now, but if it is an adventurer, yes we can"
"Hmmm," Susuki put his hand on his chin as he was making a thinking gesture.
He turned his head onto me "Waddya think mate?"
"It's okay... I guess" I don't really understand why he was hesitating, but become an adventurer sounds good to me.
"Well then" She then entered the door behind her leaving Susuki and Kuro at the counter.
"Is there any difference between those two passes?"
"You know my friend, hunter pass is easy to get as you just need to bring any item or monsters corpse that you get so they can rate your rank base on it. But to test your rank as an adventurer you need to check your power on an orb and they will arrange a fight on one of the tutors here"
But, what does that makes different? Both adventurer and hunter seem to do the same thing.
"What is the difference between becoming an adventurer and a hunter though?"
"A hunter would go to the hunter guild, you wouldn't ask to explore any dungeon or take request from people. As for an adventurer, you will travel on the world as they govern by the imperial palace... so if you got summon you must go anywhere who knows where you will be summon.
Well, I guess it would not be bad to become an adventurer, but the trial is to fight the tutor. I could say my stats are above normal human stats. So I think it would not be a problem if I were to fight them.
Reharna came out from the door as she was holding an orb in her hand. The orb has a wooden stance that let it stayed unmoving on the counter
"Well, now. Channel your mana into this orb and it will show colour. That will show what rank you will become. Yellow, F-rank adventurer. Orange, E-rank adventurer. Red, F-rank adventurer. Green, D-rank adventurer. Blue, C-rank adventurer. White, B-rank adventurer and black, A-rank adventurer.
There is also a higher rank, but... you don't need to know that for now."
Fortunately, I did learnt about mana. I could now easily channel my mana and control the flow of mana inside my body.
I put my hand on the orb and slowly channel my mana.
A really bright light suddenly appears on the crystal. It really bright that attracted people around us to look at it.
Susuki was shocked. Even Reharna shows an uncomfortable face.
"This... This is impossible!!!" She raised her voice without realising it. Attracted more peoplr who didn't pay attention just now.