"A mage? How? You're so strong already!" Jonathan gasped. He turned to Evelyn, who wore the same expression of shock that he did. Then, after staring at each other for a moment, they looked back at me and leaned in closer, "Tell me how!"
"It's an Aureys family secret," I told them as I leaned away from them. It was a convenient excuse, as I had painted my fake family as some sort of secret organization that held their information behind locked doors, "I can't tell you."
Jonathan sighed, then looked to Evelyn. The two of them nodded, then turned around and began walking down the streets. I started chasing after them, moving in a light jog for a moment to catch up.
"If it's a family secret, there's not much we can do," Jonathan sighed. Evelyn, on the other hand, had a relaxed expression as she turned to me for a moment. She nodded, then looked back to the street. Jonathan sighed again, then began rubbing his head while groaning. Then he suddenly turned to me and asked, "Are you sure there's nothing you can tell me? Anything at all?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't," I told him. Jonathan groaned, then turned back around. As I noticed his expression, I realized our trust was beginning to dwindle down. I decided to add something else to hopefully rekindle that sense of trust, "I wasn't even supposed to tell you about『 Appraisal』. Keep that a secret for me, okay?"
"Don't worry," Jonathan smiled, "Only the main family knows about that. You're our little golden goose, after all."
"We won't tell anyone," Evelyn added with a quiet voice. I nodded and thanked them, then looked back to the road. We continued to walk for about twenty minutes before we reached our destination. The adventurer's guild was located in the heart of the city, where several large buildings were built in a large circle formation.
In the center of the circle was a large fountain the size of a house, with towering spires that spewed water out fast enough to create thick waterfalls. Crowds were gathered underneath the fountain. A few were sitting on its rim, simply talking amongst themselves as they enjoyed another day. Some other groups, most likely tourists, were having their portraits painted as they sat near the fountain.
"What is that?" I asked as I looked at the fountain in awe.
"The glass fountain," Jonathan answered as we stopped to look at the fountain. Even Icarus, who had done nothing but follow me since we left the manor, had his eyes glued on the manor. I looked down at Icarus, then chuckled as I saw his expression, "C'mon, let's go. We're almost there."
I followed Jonathan as he walked around the large town center. As we walked, I looked to the buildings that built the border of the town center. All of Hewe's buildings were nicer and bigger when close to the city center, but the ones on the border were even more magnificent.
Many of them lacked the decoration and character that the first few houses did, but they made up for that in size and magnitude. Every single building was like a miniature castle- built with thick stone walls and large blue roofs that curved like mountains. There were battlements atop most of the buildings, while a few others had actual cannons attached to those battlements.
Unfortunately, there were no drawbridges or iron gates found anywhere in the town center, but the doors that replaced them were still magnificent and charming. Large double doors, easily the size of a normal house, were built to fit whichever castle they belonged to. A few doors were covered in gold trimmings, while a few were made out of metal.
When we got to the opposite side of the town center, the group stopped. In front of us was the adventurers' guildhall. The building, like all of the ones surrounding it, was built like a castle. The walls were even thicker than they should've been and the battlements were all full of cannons and other siege weapons. The roof was sharper and taller- though the color was darker. Atop the castle were large triangular flags that flowed in the wind like hair.
The flags were all black with a large soft plus sign in the center. There was a single circle fit over the cross. The design resembled the sun, in a way, and seemed to leak confidence with every movement it made.
"We're here," Jonathan said as he walked to the large wooden double doors. Like the other castles in the town center, this building had no gate or drawbridge. The four of us walked into the guild like it was our home, striding inside with a little bit too much confidence.
As we walked into the guild, I was taken aback by how empty it was. Though it had a large number of people inside, the amount of empty space made it seem like we were the only ones here. The main hall was about the size of a ball room, though there seemed to be other rooms on the first floor based on the doors on the left and right of the entrance. There were a few benches scattered through the room and a few near the walls. After we walked in, it didn't take long for the few people that were scattered around the room to notice us. As expected, their gazes immediately turned to Icarus. We just decided to ignore their gazes as we focused on the task at hand. On the other side of the room was a large counter that touched both sides of the walls. In front of it was a series of lines, most of which were full of people.
Behind the counter was a line of around twenty receptionists, all with widely different appearances. There seemed to be no discrimination between the workers and a few of them seemed to be genuinely happy with their job. There was even a single golem working behind a desk. The majority of the lines that led to the receptionists were full.
There was also a wall built between the two sides. The side on the left was full of adventurers that were coming and going like bees from a hive. The side on the right was less strict with appearance. Very few of the people in the lines had the physique required for combat, as most of them were farmers and village residents.
"Which side do we go to register?" I asked. Jonathan nodded to the left side.
"That side is meant for registration and taking or turning in quests. The right side is meant for complaints and starting quests. It's easy to understand and keeps either side from causing any problems," Jonathan said. He moved to the left side and got in a line behind a few other adventurers, then turned around and looked at us, "Hurry up!"
Evelyn chuckled as she walked forward, joining her brother in the line. Icarus and I moved forward as well, falling behind a few adventurers in the line directly next to the twins.
"So how does this work?" I asked as I turned to the twins.
"It's quite simple," Jonathan told me as he turned to me, "All we need to do is fill out some basic information. Our name, our age, our level, and our rank. Using that information, the guild will give us our guild cards."
"Guild cards?" I said, "What are those?"
"Identification," Jonathan explained. The line moved forward a little as he spoke, so we were gradually getting closer to the receptionists as we conversed, "It makes it so we don't have to start at rank F. Of course, anybody can decide to not share that information, but that'll only make them start at rank F and work their way up. It's more convenient to start at rank B or A."
"I see," I said as I put my fingers to my chin. I began thinking about the ranking system, then I remembered that I was being employed by the Forsyth family with false personal information. I was also rank SS, and I didn't want anybody else to know that, "Do they figure this stuff out through a status plate?"
"Yes. Evelyn and I were both looking forward to this because today should've been the first day we saw our stats. You changed that," Jonathan said as we moved forward again, "It was supposed to be a big event that we were both excited for."
"What else does the status plate show?" I asked.
"Everything. Race, stats, skills, and even titles if you have any," Jonathan said. I sighed once again as I heard him answer me. Most of the information in my status page was too important to be shared to others. I turned away from Jonathan and opened my status, just to familiarize myself with my stats.
﹃
Aureys
Race: Dragon
Level: 5
XP: 1426.8/1600
HP: 135 (+)
MP: 190 (+)
AC: 30 (+)
DMG: 30
Rank: SS
Equipped Items: Dark Merchant's Suit
Titles: Dungeon Master
Skills: Appraisal, Morph, Ancestral Magic, Summon, Acrobatics, Combat Expertise, Noble Etiquette, Dragon Fire, Dungeon Visit
Status Effects: 20% discount for human-sold items (Clothing Bonus), +5 HP, +20 MP, +20 AC
﹄
'Yep, I definitely can't show my status to anyone,' I thought to myself as I looked at my stats. My daze drifted to the top, where the『 Race: Dragon 』was sitting out like a giant red target, 'Even my race would be enough to make an entire country panic.'
I turned back to Jonathan, then said, "I'll be starting out at rank F."
"What? Why? You're stronger than my dad!" Jonathan asked as he raised his voice. His brows rose an inch as he spoke while Evelyn's own brows furrowed from anger. I looked to her, then back to Jonathan and shrugged my shoulders.
"Don't worry, it's not another family policy. It's not like I have anything to hide," I told them as I lied through my teeth, "It's just exciting, you know? To start from the bottom and work your way up?"
The twins froze and looked at each other as they fell into silence. The moment of silence passed for another few seconds before they looked back to me and sighed.
"I see. If that's the case, I'll join you," Jonathan said. I choked, surprised, but Jonathan wasn't done talking yet, "Evelyn will too. We'll start at rank F and work out way to the top!"
"Are you sure? It might be hard to start out from the bottom," I told them.
"What are you, a battle junky?" Jonathan chuckled. He held up his hand and stared right into my eyes as he clenched his hand into a fist, "Don't worry, we've already decided! We'll join you even if it's hard."
I looked at Jonathan, then felt a smile rise across my face.