Rea and I arrived at the first floor of the [Labyrinth] after about a week of travelling. In order to accommodate Rea's need for a little more sleep, I slowed our pace a little more than I would have done by myself, but I didn't mind. Truly, having a companion made everything so much better.
Along the way, we talked about my experiences in the [Labyrinth], and Rea's eyes got all teary when she heard my stories about almost dying multiple times. At that time, she said, "if Rea was there, I would have ~dopann~ and ~boomf~ and ~shuguu~ all of those monsters so they don't dirty Ava-sama with their filthy hands!!"
Hearing that, I patted her soft hair with a wry smile. This girl...how could she be so adorable and fluffy?? I also heard from her how she had gotten hurt - it was a common way of life for [Nyuru]. The kittens of the litter would fight to establish dominance, and the losers were driven from the nest. She was the smallest of the litter, and naturally couldn't stand up against her bigger and stronger siblings. However, that had morphed into her desire for strength to stand beside and fight alongside me.
Really, what a good girl...
As I thought that, we had arrived at the first floor. Different from the other floors, the teleportation array into the first floor was in the middle of the [Labyrinth]. There were multiple exits that led out of the [Labyrinth], and we had our pick of which.
"So, Rea, which way would you like to go?"
Along the way, I had explained to her that there were three nations surrounding the [Megaceris Endless Labyrinth]. I didn't know the particulars that well myself, so the best I could describe it to her was that there was an empire, a technologically advanced metropolis, and a combat-heavy nation.
Naturally, she chose the Empire to visit. As I thought, being exposed to too much technology at the moment was just too much of a mental strain, and who would want to keep fighting after coming out of somewhere where you had to keep fighting? It seemed that the Empire would be the best choice.
The first floor of the [Labyrinth] had a decently thick presence of people. They were here to collect materials and dive into the shallower floors for training. They were mostly merchant escorts, adventurers, mercenaries, and researchers. Ignoring all of them and the gazes that were directed at us, we strode purposefully towards the exit that led towards the Empire of Daceli.
It was like the light at the end of the tunnel. As we exited, for the first time since I entered this world, I saw the sky. I felt the sun on my skin. I felt the grass beneath my feet. I felt the wind blowing through my hair. After all this time in darkness and bloodshed, it felt like I had been delivered into heaven. Rea, too, was no different. Being born and raised in the [Labyrinth], she had no concept of what the outside world was like until she evolved. Even then, she had no personal experience of it, only a conceptual understanding.
The two of us stood outside the entrance, tears streaming down our faces as we took in the sights and smells of the outside world.
"Ano, Ava-sama, that is..."
"Nn? Ah, Rea, you wanna roll around in the grass, right? Go for it."
The image of a girl rolling around in the grass with lightly flushed cheeks and a joyful expression on her face was way too seiso for me to remain expressionless. My cheeks loosened, and a small smile broke out on my lips as I watched my only family in this world enjoy herself in the outside world for the very first time.
Ah, what about me? Of course, being the reliable older sister, I wasn't about to roll around in the grass with her. It wasn't that I didn't want to, but there was something else I'd rather roll around instead. Yes, it's that. It's exactly that. A proper bed. I was looking forward to it.
"Rea, let's go~" I called to her. Immediately, she bounced up and said, "yes, Ava-sama! Time to explore the Empire!"
We flew towards the city we saw in the distance, covering it within a couple of hours. However, we were stopped at the gates.
"Identification?" The guards prompted.
"Eto..." x2
The guards frowned, then dark desires began playing in their eyes.
"Ah, if you don't have identification, you can get in by paying another way..."
I knew exactly what they were getting at. Of course, it was the classic development of "you can pay with your body, I'd love to mess girls like you up". A light smile graced my lips, and I returned, "ara, is that so? I understand completely."
The guards' eyes lit up, expecting Rea and I to whore ourselves for entry into the city. Instead, I pulled out two C-rank [Mana Cores] and said, "this should be sufficient, don't you think?"
"Hey, don't screw around! What-"
"That's right, by another way we mean-"
Their voices paused as they looked at the [Mana Cores]. Clearly, the value of a C-rank [Mana Core] wasn't low.
"Oh, it isn't enough? Not to worry, here you go."
I pulled out another two and handed it to them. Flustered, they then straightened their postures and said, "ah, ojou-samas, please, please enter. We're sorry for our earlier indelicacy."
As we passed through the gates, Rea fixed me with a quizzical look.
"Ava-sama, how did you know that that would work?"
"I didn't. I guessed. I knew that [Mana Cores] were valuable in this world and that they were used for a lot of different things. In that case, they're basically precious items that important people might use as a form of exchange," I explained.
"Why didn't they think we were adventurers, then?"
"Because adventurers probably have some kind of guild identification. Since we didn't have any kind of identification, they probably assumed after I handed them the [Mana Cores] that we were nobility or some kind of important people travelling incognito. Like say, a noble lady and her accompanying maid. That's why I used such language earlier. (A/N: Ava was speaking formally)"
Rea looked at me with sparkling eyes once again, "Ava-sama is cool! Ava-sama handled that situation so flawlessly!"
"Actually, to tell you the truth, my head still hurts from that...I hate talking to people like them. Besides you, I'm normally not good at talking to people, you know? We already had a bond before we first spoke to each other, so it was easy, but talking to strangers is the worst. I keep watching everything in the interaction, from their faces to their body language, and I have to keep my [Thought Super-Acceleration] on in order to process all of that and respond. It's terrible."
"Still, still! Ava-sama handled that masterfully!"
"Fufu, I guess I'll accept your praise then. Thank you, Rea."
Rea smiled brightly, her face glowing with joy. Such a brightly smiling girl drew the gazes and attention of the nearby pedestrians, and there was many a man whose face turned red from the sight of a brightly smiling young woman. For some, the stimulation was too much, and they dropped what they were holding or bumped into a nearby wall.
Really, what destructive power your charm has, Rea...
After asking a nearby shopkeeper about the location of the Adventurer's Guild and walking for a bit, we reached a large stone building with huge wooden doors. The words "Adventurer's Guild" hung in gilded letters above the doors, announcing itself. I nodded at Rea, and pushed open the huge door.
As we walked in, all sound vanished from the room.
Ah...is it that development? The one where someone stands up and goes, oi oi, what are these little ladies doing here, etc...
"Oi, oi, what are these jou-chans doing here, huh?"
It came?!
"Oi, jou-chans, this is the Adventurer's guild, you know? It's a place mostly filled with rough and aggressive men, so take care alright? Don't let some asshole take advantage, yeah?" A good-natured but slightly rough male voice rang out.
Oya? It's a different development?
We nodded to the surrounding adventurers, and then walked over to the receptionist to ask about registering as adventurers.
"Ah, are the two of you not registered? Wait just a moment, I'll get the magi-artifact used to [Appraise] your status, okay? Don't worry, it's nothing too invasive. We'll just get your name and power ranking, and you'll be good to go!"
As we waited while the receptionist went to retrieve the artifact, the doors opened once again. A group of muscular men walked in, glaring around like they owned the place.
Ah...so that development is here, it just took a while.
"Oi, little girls. This ain't a place to fuck around, you got it? How about you come play with us instead? We're a B-rank group you know, and we're pretty famous around here. How about it? We'll take good care of you, and it might help your cred a bit, huh, seeing as I haven't seen you two around before."
The leader of the group of men mouthed off like that, sneering and leering and Rea and I. I did a quick [Appraisal], confirming that they were all indeed B-rank. My face cramped, wondering where a small fry like him learned to throw his weight around like that. However, a quick [Appraisal] of the rest of the room uncovered the reason. The rest of the adventurers here were below B rank. Perhaps, B-rankers and above were rarer than I thought? I imagined there'd at least be a handful here.
Well, whatever. They wanted a response, right? I glanced around at the room full of nervous adventurers, and my mouth turned into a slash, "aaah? I thought I heard an insignificant mosquito buzzing around, but when I turned to look, it was just these insignificant men, huh. Well, trash will be trash."
The room went completely silent. Even the receptionist who had just brought the artifact was frozen, rooted to the ground in fear. The faces of the adventurers were sheet-white, and it could almost be heard, "ah, now you've done it...!"
The muscle-bound party all had cramped faces, as if they couldn't believe that someone had just mouthed off against them. Even Rea looked shocked, murmuring, "A-Ava-sama??"
"Y-you! How dare you speak to the great me that way (ore-sama)! I'll show you the difference between a B-rank adventurer and the rest of this trash!" the leader roared, his reason nearly broken from the shock he had just suffered.
I deactivated my [Presence Suppression] and calmly said, "I'd advise that you pick your opponents carefully. Or you'll die."
The man and his party halted in their tracks, their faces gone white from the force of my [Killing Intent]. Some of the other adventurers in the room fainted, while others barely held it together with cold sweat dripping from their faces. Even Rea looked slightly afraid, but bore the weight of my [Killing Intent] pretty well.
Seeing that the other adventurers were on the verge of falling apart, I withdrew my [Killing Intent], then turned around nonchalantly as if nothing had happened.
"Ne, receptionist-san, about our registrations?"
The words seemed to break through the frozen state of the room, and the receptionist appeared to come back to life, "a-ah! Y-yes! Here is the artifact-"
"Oi, you, did I say I was done with you? Don't think a little trick like that is enough to make me back off, yeah? Just who do you think I am, huh?" A voice from behind me rang out.
Ah, it was that idiot who hadn't had enough.
"Oi, don't you dare ignore this great me! I'll pummel you to death!"
I sighed, turned around and flicked my finger. The incoming punch hit a wire that I had sent out, and the momentum behind it carried it through until the wire had split his arm in half lengthways up to the middle of his forearm.
"AAAAAARGH! My arm, what did you do to my arm!!"
Blood was pouring out onto the ground, the man's face contorted in pain. I withdrew the wire, prompting another scream from him, and then cast [Heal], mending most of the wound but leaving scars and a shallow cut.
I fixed him with an expressionless gaze and repeated myself, "I told you, you'll die."
His face twisted in fear, and a wet patch was starting to form on his pants. Shamefaced, he stood up, trembling, and then slinked out of the doors with his party. The rest of the guild sat in stunned silence.
Taking advantage of the silence, I motioned for Rea to touch the artifact that the receptionist had placed on the counter. It looked like a crystal mounted to a stand, with a viewing interface that was pointed towards the receptionist.
Rea touched the artifact, and the crystal glowed. The receptionist, regaining her composure after seeing what just happened, announced, "Rea Kino...B-B-B-B-B rank???"
It seemed that her soul was about to leave her body. After she regained her composure for a third time in the past few minutes, she touched an empty guild card to the crystal. Mana flowed out of the crystal and emblazoned letters onto the card.
NAME: REA KINO
RANK: B
Our audience was struck dumb. They didn't expect that the quiet girl standing beside me would be a B-ranker just like the men we sent running. Although, I quietly thought to myself, Rea would be able to handle all of those idiots by herself easily, too.