Belial and Leila wore their masks as they approached Arpen's gate, It was busy as usual, with merchants, adventurers, travelers and farmers getting in and out of the city for business or visits.
Arpen wasn't exactly famous for its sightseeing rather for its commercial value, it was the biggest port city in the kingdom and so it was usually targeted by the underworld criminal organizations or monsters for the explosive population of the city.
Leila and Belial stood in the line as they visibly stood out due to their eerie masks and high-quality clothes, but most importantly, their horns.
"Halt!" One of the guards held his hand up stopping them before they passed through the gate, "Identification and Purpose of visit"
Leila remained silent for a moment before replying, "We're Dokkaebi that came to register at the adventurers guild"
"Ha! you think anyone wearing a mask with horns can call themselves a Dokkaebi, these folks barely even leave their village" The guard scoffed before Belial approached him leaning in close to his face and removing his mask subtly.
"Touch it" He looked up to his forehead before the guard hesitantly raised his hand touching his horn.
"Th-They're really Dokkaebi" He looked to the other guard who just nodded before going into the gatehouse, "Please wait a moment" the guard said as the other guard emerged after a minute accompanied by a higher-ranking knight.
"Hello" The knight spoke in Jiyongsa as it was the Dokkaebis official language.
Belial was initially startled as to how that human came to learn Jiyongsa, it further assured his doubts that the Dokkaebi that were living by the mountains were really from hell and not just imposters.
"Hello to you, I'm surprised you can speak our language" Belial replied as Leila remained silent.
"Do you come from the village by the mountain" The knight asked before Belial put on a smile.
For some reason Leila felt like she could understand some words despite never hearing about that language before, despite that, she still remained silent.
"No, we come from somewhere else" Belial answered with a smirk.
USING SKILL: DEVIL'S WHISPER
YOU MAY FORCE SOMEONE TO BELIEVE A LIE THREE TIMES A DAY
Used: 1/3
The knight looked to the two guards with a nod of approval.
"W-Welcome to Arpen, sorry it was our first time meeting a Dokkaebi so we had to make sure, you never know these days" The guard cleared the way for him.
Belial eyed the guard as he put his mask back on before passing through the gates.
"Are they really Dokkaebis? I heard they never show themselves to the outside world unless something big happens" One of the villagers whispered from behind them.
Leila released a sigh of relief that she didn't know she was holding before looking back to Belial, "How did you know what language he was speaking?" She answered curiously.
"How did I know what language YOU were speaking when I first met you?" Belial answered, "It's simple I just know"
"O-Oh.. I thought that common was a universal language though" She replied.
"Jiyongsa, the language he spoke, was the official language we spoke in hell, that means that the Dokkaebi that you speak of are not imposters" Belial rubbed his chin thinking to himself for a moment before something caught his eyes, "Oh! Human! what is that?" He pointed to a small stall that was selling fish.
"Oh that's fish, you never saw a fish before?" Leila replied with a smile before it slowly faded as she remembered who she was talking to, "Y-Yeah.. I guess you never saw a fish before.."
"So what is a fish?" Belial asked with a curious tone.
"It's an animal that lives in water, it can be used to cook various meals" Leila stopped in her steps as she arrived before the Hunters Guild entrance, "I can take you out for dinner later, for now, let's finish what we came here for"
Leila opened the door as she and Belial walked in, they slowly approached the front desk as most hunters had their eyes on them, it's not every day that you see two adventurers with that high quality gear, some assumed that they were S-Ranks that were dispatched here for a commission, and some assumed they were some nobles who came here looking for the guild master to put a request, others assumed they were sent by the magic tower judging by how both of them seemed to be high-ranking mages.
"Welcome to Arpen's adventurer guild!" Dima the front desk employee welcomed them both with a smile, "How may I help you today?"
"Ehm" Leila cleared her throat, "We are looking for an A-Rank huntress called Sarah Grimwood" she continued.
"Oh! did she stir up more trouble? she was suspected of killing one of the eastern nobles a week ago and a bounty was put on her head so the guild master decided to revoke her hunter license" Dima replied, startled, before Leila looked down with a sigh, "We can increase the bounty if you-" Dima tried to say before Leila interrupted her.
"No need, we'll find her ourselves, for now do you have commissions for us to take?" Leila said casually trying not to raise suspicion.
"Of course, may I see your hunter licenses please?" Dima extended her hand.
"W-Well, we don-" Leila tried to say before Belial brushed past her.
"Human! what is a hunters license?" Belial yelled enthusiastically grabbing the attention of everyone in the room.
"Oh, so you are not official hunters, you have to registered in any of the hunters' guilds across the kingdom in order to take out commissions" Dima explained, "Judging by the horns, are you perhaps, D-Dokkaebi?"
"Yes, we just arrived here" Belial answered, "I heard this is a gathering of great warriors, so we wanted to see what kind of missions these warriors carry out"
"Unfortunately, I can't let you carry out commissions without having a proper hunter license, so you have to register as a hunter" Dima continued explaining.
"And how do we register to be hunters?" Belial asked.
"Just pay the register fee and take the exam and we're good to go!" Dima answered.
"How do we pay the register fee?" Belial asked again with a smile beneath his mask.
"Uhh, with money..?" Dima's confusion began to appear before quickly remembering that Dokkaebi barely show themselves to the outside world and so they wouldn't know the concept of money.
"What's money?" Belial asked again.
"It's gold pieces, silver pieces or copper pieces, the entrance fee is five silver pieces each, so that would add up to one gold piece" Dima answered with a smile.
"Oh, that cheap?" Belial raised his staff materializing a huge gold statue almost his size beside him, "Would this gold piece suffice?"
"U-UUH" Dima was startled for a moment before she regained her composure, "T-T-THAT'S TOO MUCH, THIS IS A GOLD PIECE" She showed a small gold coin as Belial held it in his hand inspecting it.
"Oh, this thing? here have five" He reached out into his robe taking out five gold pieces and putting them back in the table, "I didn't know that was the thing called money"
"F-FIVE GOLD PIECES, SIR THIS IS TOO MUCH" Dima exclaimed trying to give him the extra four gold pieces back.
"Five is too much? I have like millions of those small things, keep it keep it I insist" Belial waved his hand in dismissal.
"TH-Thank you sir! I'll inform the examiner right away!" Dima quickly disappeared into a door behind her.
"Hey" Leila whispered to Belial, "You shouldn't have showed this much gold here, we're definitely going to be a target now"
"Oh, It's okay, can't we just kill the people who try to steal from us?" Belial answered with a confused tone.
"THA-Y-Yes, I supposed w-we can" Leila couldn't really argue, "Also If you had that much money! why are we registering to be hunters?"
"The gate guards already know of two Dokkaebis that went in to register as hunters, it would be suspicious if we didn't, I'm sure they placed someone to keep an eye on us, we usually did that with people who were new to the fourth fortress back in the fifth circle" Belial answered before Dima came back with an older looking gentleman.
"I've never thought I'd see a Dokkaebi in my life, I thought you folk never show yourselves to the public!" He yelled in excitement grabbing the attention of the present hunters.
"Dokkaebi? I thought these were just eerie masks with special traits or just pieces of equipment" One hunter whispered to the other.
"Aren't Dokkaebi born with Inherent abilities? That would really place them at S-Rank or above"
"Not necessarily, they can be greenhorns with no battle experience"
"May I know your names?" The old man asked.
"I-" Belial tried to say before being interrupted by Leila.
"I'm Lilith, this is my companion Belial" Leila said before Belial goes on rambling about his ridiculously long titles.
"Alright Lilith and Belial, let's see what the Dokkaebi are really made of"