While Cinc was mourning the loss of his ship, Lazuli and I walked across the dock without an ounce of guilt, matter of fact, I felt pretty good after destroying his ship; I might as well have done a good deed.
"We should've killed him." Said Lazuli lightly as she walked beside Alexander, causing him to chuckle while rolling his eyes.
"What's up with you and killing, Lazuli?" Asked Alexander calmly as he glanced at Lazuli, who blankly looked at him.
"I use the corpses of my enemies to secretly make an offering in the form of a ritual to the gods." Stated Lazuli solemnly as she eyed Alexander, whose expression aggressively twitched while he distanced himself from her.
"I'm joking." Added Lazuli with a small smile, her words causing Alexander to look blankly at her before rubbing his face and sighing.
"I think you forgot jokes are supposed to be funny, Lazuli." Said Alexander as he stared at Lazuli, who nodded, causing him to shake his head.
"I know." Said Lazuli as she approached Alexander before leaning into his embrace, causing him to carefully wrap his arm around her.
Once we stepped off the dock and officially walked across land, Lazuli and I noticed an abundant amount of Elves, and I must say, I hardly spotted a single ugly Elf; the women were very gorgeous, although most seemed to have a lithe body type and none were as curvy as Michelle.
'I must've hit the jackpot with Michelle then, 'cause while these women are gorgeous, sex with them probably wouldn't be nearly as fun.' Mused Alexander lightly as he gazed at the numerous Elves, only for him to whistle in awe.
"Damn, even the men are kind of sexy. I thought Marlin was hot, but he must've just been average looking for a Dark Elf." Stated Alexander calmly as he gazed at the men walking about the city, causing him to inwardly sigh.
I wasn't someone who cared too much about their looks, but I, at best, looked as good as what seemed to be the average Elf, which is shocking, to say the least, as I always thought myself to be pretty hot.
"Well, at least I've got something they don't." Muttered Alexander with a faint smirk as he raised his arm and flexed his muscles, showing off his large muscular arms.
Feeling good about myself, given the Elves' lack of muscles, I was about to start walking into the city, but before I did, an Elf wearing professional attire suddenly stopped us, causing me to raise an eyebrow.
"I assume you two humans have just arrived via ship?" Asked the Elf with a slight frown as he glanced between Alexander and Lazuli, prompting them to nod.
"Yeah, we used that ship. Well, you can't see it now, but our C-Captain is over there." Said Alexander lightly as he turned and pointed at Cinc, who poured alcohol into the ocean, though the Elf didn't even bother looking.
"Tsk, well, humans are allowed entrance into Asckbon; you must undergo a thorough inspection process. Follow me. Hmph, ugly primates are always trying to enter our continent." Stated the Elf in annoyance as he eyed Alexander and Lazuli before walking away while quietly grumbling to himself.
'W-We can still hear you.' Thought Alexander with a twitching expression as he glanced at the Elf, who suddenly stopped.
"Do I need to summon the guards, or can you two listen?" Asked the Elf in annoyance as he aggressively tapped his foot on the ground while glaring at Alexander, who inwardly grumbled before following him.
"Tsk, you don't need to be such an ass about it." Muttered Alexander quietly as he and Lazuli approached the Elf, causing him to continue walking once more.
Unfortunately, this guy was probably speaking the truth since I've done some research on intercontinental travel, and Humans aren't the most welcomed, though the same can be said for Elves and Demons. For humans visiting Asckbon, they're required to undergo a scrutinizing process to determine whether they will be allowed entrance, and if you fail, well, I didn't do that much research since I didn't figure I'd fail; after all, I'm not carrying anything crazy on me.
'Though given how hostile this guy is, my confidence is starting to wane.' Thought Alexander with a slight frown as he raised his head, gazing at the building they were approaching.
"Border Inspection; yeah, that name isn't exactly reassuring." Muttered Alexander lightly with a frown as he and Lazuli reluctantly entered the building, following the Elf's footsteps.
The inside of the building looked really nice, but the aura was quite the opposite; it didn't feel welcoming to me.
"Oh, I see you've got two humans, Sage, lucky you." Said the Elven woman sitting behind a desk as she glanced at Sage, who merely scoffed.
"Hmph, as if. I'd much rather do anything else than interact with some humans. Matter of fact, why the hell do we even allow them into our homes?" Said Sage in annoyance as he gestured to Alexander and Lazuli, both calmly waiting in the distance.
"I don't know; I'm merely trying to get paid; bring that stuff up with the council, not me." Said the woman as she casually shrugged, her words causing Sage to roll his eyes while he stood upright.
"Tch, c'mon, you two." Said Sage as he continued walking deeper into the building, prompting Alexander and Lazuli to follow while passing the woman from before.
'Why does it feel like we're about to be wrongfully sentenced to life in prison?' Thought Alexander with furrowed brows as he used [Heroes Gaze] to constantly obverse their surroundings, ensuring nothing suspicious happened without his knowledge.
Walking up two flights of stairs, we headed down a long hallway before Sage opened the door and entered, causing us to do the same, only to see what looked like a small office with various tools, though thankfully, none looked dangerous.
Sitting down at the chairs, Lazuli and I quietly watched as Sage grabbed several pieces of paper and two clipboards, which he promptly threw at us.
"There, do that and don't leave." Said Sage blandly as he glanced at Alexander and Lazuli before exiting the office, causing them to look at each other.
"I don't like him." Said Lazuli lightly as she glanced at Alexander, who nodded with a sigh.
"If it weren't because we needed some form of identification specifically for Asckbon, I wouldn't have bothered with this racist fool." Remarked Alexander in annoyance as he gazed downwards at the clipboard, reading the papers.
"Doesn't our Adventurer License count as ID?" Asked Lazuli as she glanced at Alexander, who grunted while nodding.
"Yes, but our license only works for the Mezcla Continent. We need to be an A-Class adventurer before we can get a universal license; we could also easily get a license on this continent, but to do that, we first need to be able to ENTER Asckbon. It's incredibly stupid, but not much we can fucking do." Replied Alexander in slight annoyance as he nodded while tapping his fingers on the clipboard, causing Lazuli to slightly frown.
"Tsk, annoying bastard didn't even give us a pen." Muttered Alexander as he aggressively rubbed his face, dreading the lengthy process that would soon come.
___
___
The Inspection process took FAR longer than I initially thought, and not only that, but it was incredibly tedious; I've never experienced such an annoying process throughout both of my lives and halfway into it, I wanted to slam my head against the wall until I lost consciousness.
However, after hours of that nightmarish experience, we, for the love of god, finally acquired our stupid ID for Asckbon.
"Here you go, now leave; you've been wasting my time." Said Sage in annoyance as he tossed Alexander and Lazuli's ID's at them while dismissively waving them off.
Grabbing my ID from Lazuli, I stood up and exited the room, not even bothering to register Sage's presence; matter of fact, if I did, I had a feeling I'd explode into anger. Walking through the building, I found an open window and didn't hesitate to jump out of it as I didn't want to waste a single more second in that building of nightmares.
Landing on the ground, I stepped aside and outstretched my arms, catching Lazuli as she gently placed her on the ground before I raised my head and looked at the night sky.
"We arrived here slightly before Noon… Now it's night." Said Alexander softly as he stared at the night sky, causing Lazuli to nod in agreement while he just released a long, deep sigh containing a variety of emotions.
"It's just been bad experience after bad experience." Muttered Alexander as he officially walked into the city while Lazuli followed right beside him.
"Haa, how are you so unaffected by all of this, Lazuli? I'm usually the calm one, but even I'm furious." Asked Alexander as he gazed at Lazuli, who tilted her head before pointing at her heart and brain.
"I'll dampen any negative emotions as it'll keep me level-headed." Replied Lazuli lightly, her words causing Alexander to nod while sighing.
"Haa, I wonder how many people you would've killed without that unique ability." Muttered Alexander softly while walking through the city, depressed from today.
"A lot." Added Lazuli, causing Alexander to softly chuckle before sighing once more.
"Haa, well, let's find somewhere to sleep." Said Alexander as he walked down the street, observing the many buildings on either side and searching for an inn.