As the sun began rising from the horizon, two individuals were moving around Ship Rimora more than usual.
Femi was sorting his clothes and preparing for the day, while Arwan was refueling and performing some maintenance in Rimora's engine room.
They had spent their long night touring Moribus City. After Femi followed Arwan to check out the latest techs, they both went around eating all sorts of food, then eventually visited various buildings for sightseeing.
During the night, Femi realized the hard way that clothes were supposed to be worn over the fitted bodysuit Arwan gave him. Femi didn't mind the stares that different people gave him, but the joy Arwan got from the so-called 'prank' made him feel some ick.
This was the reason why Femi bought more clothes overnight, plus needed them since he didn't have much change of clothes.
Also, Femi came to a decision that he didn't like Arwan beating him at something. Arwan's smile was definitely one of the things Femi would hate if he could.
Now that it was sunrise, they were preparing to go to the Alliance's Headquarters to officially register the crew.
"I'm done with the maintenance. Are you ready?" Arwan had already left the engine room and was standing in front of Femi's door.
"I'm done, just packing up," Femi replied.
"Oho, are you wearing clothes today?" Arwan said with a grin on his face.
"Hehe. I just have to get back at you," Femi chuckled, disinterested in the idea of pran.
"You do you, man. Meet me in the cargo bay." Arwan, who thought Femi was shamed, laughed as he waved his hand and walked away from Femi's quarters.
***
"Whoa. You actually look good when you dress up," Arwan said to Femi, who had just walked out of the lower deck corridor.
Femi was wearing a white sleeveless top, black cargo pants he judged to have room for movement, and of course, had his white bodysuit worn underneath. The hood of the bodysuit was placed in a way that made it seem like it was attached to the sleeveless top. The pants he wore had a place for his mask to be attached to.
Femi answered the compliment with a look that amused Arwan.
"You're wearing those?" Femi asked with piqued interest.
"Yeah... I'm more comfortable and used to these."
Like before, Arwan still donned his blue engineer work suit, with his white bodysuit worn underneath. The sleeves of the work suit were rolled up to the elbow, letting the sleeves of the bodysuit show. His mask was also attached to a belt the work suit had.
"Alright then."
They walked out of Rimora and headed to the smaller fence walls where the Alliance Headquarters were.
*****
'Whoaa.'
As Femi crossed the Fence gates, he was amazed by the structure of the headquarters. Similar to most buildings nowadays, the two buildings were tall, but unlike most, these building walls were all transparent, making all the walls seem like windows.
The two buildings were connected by small aerial bridges for people to easily move from one building to the other.
'How cool!'
"Hey. Let's go," Arwan snapped Femi out of his awe. "Honestly, you get surprised by things easily."
"A curious mind is a healthy mind," Femi replied with a chuckle. Another reason why Femi got surprised easily was that he couldn't control that feeling.
Arwan sighed, "We're entering this one." Arwan gestured and walked towards the left building.
As they walked through the compound of the HQ, Femi was still looking around.
Since he left Earth, he had been amazed by the different infrastructures he had seen. But unlike Mars, Terramoribus had something he was interested in more than the buildings here, which were the Alien Races. Ever since he entered the Adventurer City and saw all kinds of Alien Races, Femi couldn't help but think:
'I need to invite a non-human to the crew.'
Femi would have gone talking to most of the Aliens he met, but because of Arwan's 'policies', they needed to act reserved and mature.
'Tsk. Arwan needs to understand what it means to be free. Even I would kill to be free…' Femi couldn't help but sigh in his head.
As they walked through the doors of the buildings, the view of a reception came into play. Different races were in the reception room, from the receptionist to adventurers to other workers of the buildings, they were all different races.
Arwan led them to one of the places where there were various receptionists. All the receptionists were wearing similar uniforms that had the logo of the Alliance.
Most of them were busy attending to people—either giving them quests/tasks or updating them on something.
The receptionist they were walking to had gestured for them to come towards her immediately they walked into the building.
Unlike most, she didn't seem to have people she was attending to. That's not surprising though. It's not every moment someone applied to be a wanderer which was what this section they were walking to was for.
"Hey cuties~" She welcomed them. "Haven't seen you around here before. You guys must be newbies, right?"
Her voice was packed with friendliness, and her demeanor was very welcoming.
"Oh, silly me. I should introduce myself first," she said with a soothing smile on her face. "I'm Alicia~ And I'll be the one welcoming and introducing you to this industry."
Alicia had beautiful pink eyes which matched the color of her skin, both exuding beauty. One could imagine how her long peach hair would flow in the breeze. Her body was even more perfect than her face; her big boobs and her buttocks were supported with her perfect curves.
Even for Femi, she was the most beautiful Alien he had seen. 'No. She's the most beautiful person I've seen.'
"H-Hi Alicia," Arwan was stuttering, he was taken aback by the Angel in front of him.
'Oh, is this love? I don't know, why can't people control themselves. He's too lost in this feeling…
The moment Femi had that thought, he stylishly kicked Arwan back to reality, then said to Alicia:
"Hello. I'm Femi Noma, he's Arwan and huh-"
"We want to register as unaffiliated wanderers," the stylish yet painful kick was enough to wake Arwan from his mind fantasies.
"I could have sworn you guys wanted to apply for the academy or maybe even as adventurers. People don't usually come to Terramoribus to register as Wanderers here," Alicia pursed her lips, as if she was disappointed for guessing wrong. Her assumption could be expected since this was the planet mainly for Adventurers.
"Since you guys are registering as unaffiliated Wanderers at such a young age, you must be strong."
Unaffiliated wanderers are people who don't take orders from the Alliance nor work there, unless mandatory. Their only connection with the Alliance is because of the quests, information, and access to planets the Alliance has to offer.
Because most unaffiliated experiences are tough quests that give more money, the average unaffiliated is stronger than the average affiliated. Unaffiliated are also usually self-trained, trained by private tutors or trained by first-hand experience.
Teenagers registering as unaffiliated is not rare nowadays. It's just that, there are just two paths that these teenagers face. The two are fame from strength and talent or death from being weak and overconfident.
Seeing them exuding confidence led Alicia to assume they were probably talented, trained, and strong.
The obvious compliment hit Arwan as he began blushing awkwardly.
'And I thought I was weird,' Femi, who watched from the sidelines, couldn't help but comment.
"Okay cuties~ Fill in the information," With that, the holographic screen that had been facing Alicia turned to face Arwan, who was standing opposite her.
"Alright, Miss Alicia." Arwan said, with the blush still on his face.
As Femi watched Arwan fill in the information and Alicia starred with her beautiful friendly eyes, he couldn't help but entertain himself with his thoughts.
'I wonder if that's how everyone looks when someone acts too friendly. I think I act in a similar way. I should change my approach then. '
Femi scanned the whole reception, looking at how different people went about their business.
'Ahhh... I really want to recruit one or two Aliens right now. That big guy with the huge greatsword or that lady with the bow, I feel like they'll fit in the crew well. Tch. Arwan.... I thought he was the one watching me, since when did our roles reverse?'
Femi turned to look at Arwan, who was still reacting to little teases Alicia gave him.
"Ahhh.... I can't leave him here, he'll probably end up wasting time ogling Alicia if I leave," he whispered to himself.
"I'm done with the form, Miss." Arwan said, the holographic screen turning to face Alicia again.
"Aiii~ Confirmed," Alicia said with her calming voice. "You can access your identification through your comms. Your ships have also been registered. You can land at any Alliance Port on a planet without issues. You can also access the wanderer's site for quests, news, and other information directly from your comms."
Femi immediately checked his wrist comm to check his ID, which also made Arwan—the lover boy—do the same.
'Ohhhh. This looks so cool,' Femi thought.
He was impressed by the images he saw on the site. News about wanderers, creatures, weapons—they were all too cool or dangerous looking to Femi.
"Sooo~" Alicia's voice caught both their reactions, feeling a bit of suspense, the duo both subconsciously thought, "say what you want to say."
After grasping their attention, Alicia said, "Do you little cuties want to go on a creature hunt to celebrate?"
The moment Alicia said that, Femi and Arwan had two different thoughts.
'Finally, something fun!'
'Fuck! Not this!'
Femi's mental screen changed the text, giving him a new goal. It read: [Hunt on the planet Terramoribus.]