The other group felt great raising their weapons in a non-threatening way, and yelling back, "I am human! Tell me are you a rope or a bow?!"
Vain smiled back at the group and lowered his bow as well. "It's good to see more humans instead of more Skin Stealers."
The other group laughed loudly and the one who yelled at him spoke loudly while walking toward him, "You should know that Skin Stealers don't appear in groups. You are probably too new to know that, but you should know that when we see other groups we raise our weapons instead of aiming them. Other than that make sure you yell that very same thing. HAHA!"
Vain smiled and called out, "Come on out meet this other group!"
The supposed leader smiled and looked for the few people that he expected to be Vain's group. When he saw a little girl walk out and no one else he had his mouth wide open so wide you could fit an egg.
"Where is everyone else?! Don't tell me that this is your daughter you are taking out so soon? The poor girl probably doesn't even reach the age of 10!"
Athena quickly ran behind Vain giving the feeling that she was really a child her age that Vain hadn't seen since he first met her. Smiling Vain spoke up, "I just adopted her today I guess. I was originally doing my first run to get my Wanderers identification, but in the end, I found this child that had just transferred."
"Wait! You just transferred? Or were you born here? Why did you end your journey in this world before you even started?"
"Umm... Well, I just transferred, but I know for a fact that my journey hasn't stopped just yet. Why are you even asking this?"
The friendly man's smile changed into one of contempt as if Vain had suddenly become some type of lower-class animal. "Well, I guess fools who don't even the basics of this place wouldn't know what to do. I feel sorry for whoever gets stuck with such trash. You don't understand anything."
The man simply changed into a different person after finding out Vain was a new transfer.
The man pointed back to where Vain came and spoke, "Go some other path. Fools like you probably will die before you know what happened." The man spoke in disgust as if Vain was some sort of plague.
Vain himself didn't want any problems, so taking a quick look at the man's group that was standing behind him and walked back the way he came. One thing he noticed was the one who gave him some helpful advice when he first entered the Hub. He realized that this group was one that gave him a weird look and murmured bad things about him for being stunned at coming into the Hub for the first time.
Vain simply went on another few rooms more to completely bypass the group. Cursing the rope group's name Vain and Athena moved on and took another few hours to rest in hopes that they wouldn't meet that group on the way back.
After a good dinner, the pair rested their eyes for a little while and moved on. Vain went on and almost thanked the group since he ran into a hound that was close enough to the Hub that he would be willing to drag by hand. With a quick release of his, bowstring Vain learned how truly heavy such a creature was.
With the little help that Athena gave, Vain arrived at the entrance to the Hub dead tired, three hours later. He praised himself that he got some rest before carrying this corpse all the way here, but Vain couldn't help but think about how long other people take if they would want to take one corpse back for their wanderer's identification.
The guards looked at Vain in surprise, "Hey are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'd just like a hand dragging this at least to the door."
"Yeah, I got you." One of the guards left his post and started helping Vain drag the heavy corpse. "Hey, why is this one so heavy? You definitely got one of the larger hounds." The three people were panting extremely tired.
At this moment the guard realized that there was an extra child helping as well. "Did you just find this transfer? Or is she a lost child from the closest town? No the distance she would have to travel would be way too far."
"Yeah, I decided to adopt her and become her guardian."
"Guardian? O' like a caretaker. Are you really sure? Taking care of a child here is a much bigger responsibility than in the real world. I suggest you leave her at the orphanage so you don't get too attached and can let her go when she dies by accident."
"Sorry I already promised that I would take care of her, so I can't do anything about it either."
Both guards shook their heads this time, "Fool. Just turn your corpse in and do what you want. I doubt you will live long, probably got lucky with this corpse."
The other guard was still shaking his head, "Just get a move on."
Vain now knew for sure that anyone who has a child is considered a fool by everyone here. Vain decided to visit Pops in case he can explain more about this dilemma. Looking at Athena, he was sure that she cared more about him leaving her than having him being called a fool by random people.
Smiling Vain spoke to Athena, "Come now, let us ignore those who don't understand."
Athena cheerfully answered, "Yes! These are the fools!" Vain really wanted to know what made Athena act like an adult, and what made her act her age like now.
Dragging the corpse through the door Vain was reminded of what the guards had told him about puking after a person's first time going through the door. A disgusting puking sound made sure that he wouldn't forget the next time.
Athena had thrown up the jerky they had eaten earlier. A person who Vain thought was a guard, went with a mop and glared at Vain before cleaning up the mess the girl had made. "You should remember about the puke... a person finally gets his wanderer's identity and they forget everything..."
The man kept grumbling about how bad a wanderer Vain is. Vain on the other hand could only help the poor girl clean up and comfort her embarrassment. Vain also didn't want to block the door with his corpse, so after taking Athena to the side so that she could take a seat, Vain dragged his heavy corpse to one side.
After 30 minutes Athena was finally ready to stand up. The pair finally went on their way to M.E.G. so Vain could not only get his wanderer's identification but also allow him to get Athena identified as his responsibility. M.E.G. is the only main government here, so they probably can explain everything to him.
Arriving at the entrance there were two guards as it was before, but Ted wasn't one of them.
"I am supposed to ask if you are new, but looking at what you are dragging I can tell you are here to become an official Wanderer. George, lead him to get his identification."
The guard that went by the name George waved them over, "Follow me and leave the body there, we will have someone pick it up."
Just as the pair started to follow, the first guard suddenly saw Athena walking by the side and called out, "Hey wait a minute! Did you find her just today as a transfer?"
Vain had forgotten that Athena would raise questions, so he just told the truth, "Yeah, I just picked her up, and decided to officially adopt her."
"Alright then let us do that first since we need to know if you aren't a bad person and would like to assault the child instead."
At this moment George spoke up, "I'll take care of it both at the same time."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I got it." George waved the pair over, to which Vain just shrugged and followed.