The next day, Milyr and the other servants of the Stelzehaut Manor helped Rumpel store various things like clothes, food, books, and gold in his storage ring. The breakfast for the day happened earlier than usual. The breakfast was a silent affair.
After they finished eating their breakfast, Rumpel was surprised when Sonne Stelzehaut interrupted him from leaving.
"Good luck and do your best, Rumpel."
She says this before leaving the dining room. Rumpel could feel a slight smile forming on his face.
Eventually, Rumpel headed towards Stelzehaut's manor garden, where he could see his father talking to a group of three people.
' Are they the adventurers? '
Judging from their attire, they must be one. Noticing his arrival, his father and the three people glance at him.
"Rumpel."
Dermond greeted and gestured to the three people.
"These are the adventurers that have taken my request. They would be your escorts and protectors."
Two males and one female. A male in his 30s, a teenage boy, and a girl in her late 20s.
"Hello."
The lady greeted him with an amiable smile on her face.
"My name is Ourse."
Lady Ourse has long brown hair tied into a ponytail reaching her waist. Dressed in a white skin-tight sports bra-style shirt, she left her 6-pack abs bare to the world. Her lower attire is a white thong and white boots reaching below her knees. She has metal gauntlets on her hands.
Rumpel returned the greeting.
"Please let me meet you, Lady Ourse."
"Haha! Lady? It's been a long time since I've been called one! Ourse is fine! But I get it you couldn't stop your Elitist habits. I've been there and done that."
Rumpel raises his eyebrow at that statement. Is she implying that she was an Elite?
Gesturing towards her other two companions, she introduced them.
"This is Lev, the leader of our group."
She gestured towards the tall man with spiky golden hair reaching the back of his waist. He was wearing leather armor, trousers, and boots. There was a belt around his waist with various things attached to it. The most prominent one is a sheathed sword.
"Leave your safety to us!"
Lev grinned, showing his dangerous fangs. Finally, Ourse introduced the youngest member of their group.
"This is Abe."
Abe gave a hesitant smile before averting his stare. Noticing Abe's behavior, Lev chuckled.
"That's just how Abe is! He's a wimp right now, but he is capable like us in a battle!"
"Oi!"
Abe sounds offended. Wacking his staff lightly to Lev's shoulder.
"Now, you're talking! Haha! Keep it up."
Moving her gaze from the two, Ourse finishes her introduction.
"We are the Jungle Adventurer's Party! We're looking forward to traveling and escorting you, young Master Rumpel."
Rumpel nodded his head while staring at the three adventurers' striking and prominent features from earlier.
Seeing the focus of his gaze, Ourse chuckled.
"Sorry."
"No need to apologize, young master. You must be curious about them, right? After all, this is an interesting and new thing to you. At most, you have been traveling in the 5th Region of the Goetia Kingdom, which is a stretch, considering your sheltered life for 15 years."
"Ourse!"
Abe was chastised and bowed for her rudeness.
"She didn't say anything wrong."
The Original Rumpel has mostly lived in the Stolas Domain for the past 15 years of his life. No, that's even an exaggeration. Rumpel is a shut-in who has mostly spent his time in the Stelzehaut Manor being tutored by the hired instructors of his parents since his first failed attempt at the Phenex Academy entrance exam.
The only exceptions to those are Rumpel going to the Stolas Adventurer's Guild three times and traveling to the Phenex Academy at the Phenex Domain.
Grinning, Ourse gripped something at Abe's back while the latter yelled.
"Ourse!"
Bringing forward and raising the thing.
"See this thing? The one at each side of my head and Lev's eyes and fangs? They are called enhancements."
The one Ourse is holding is Abe's monkey tail. Ourse has a pair of bear ears on each side of her head, while Lev has lion's eyes and fangs.
The Goetia Kingdom, also known as the Nine Rings Kingdom, is the last bastion of civilization in this world. Beyond the Goetia Kingdom is a place called Limbo. It was a very dangerous and unhabitable place filled with very dangerous, unknown things that drove those who dared to traverse the place into madness.
The Goetia Kingdom is the last civilization, and its inhabitants are all humans. This is the first time Rumpel has seen the enhancements. The Original Rumpel hasn't even heard of it.
Enhancements. Various body parts from magic beasts, animals, or even extinct creatures from the past. Use to enhance a human's normal capacity. Strength, speed, senses, etc.
The first time that Rumpel read it in the novel, it broke him. The author is messed up for destroying the fantasy appeal of the beasts and other fantasy races.
"Body Modification Magic! The specialty of Machin Domain Tower! If you are interested in getting stronger with your body, young master, you can go there and pay a hefty amount of gold coins."
Rumpel shook his head. He has no interest in getting human body parts replaced. Getting hunted by a very dangerous cult was not within his survival plans.
After the introductions, Dermond called Rumpel and pulled him to the side. He then gave him a piece of paper to rumpel. The latter looked at it and confirmed that it was the mission contract of the Jungle Adventurer's Party.
Joining the Adventurers Guild isn't a life of bliss. Even though they are free to travel around the various domains from the 2nd to 9th regions, adventurers have various harsh restrictions and punishments if they decide to violate some rules.
At all costs, they must fulfill the missions that they have undertaken. Failure to do so would incur a punishment based on the rank of the mission that they have undertaken.
"This is a high-ranking Pranamaya contract. If they failed the mission or decided to abandon it, rip it apart. The contract would take effect and take 100 years of their life force."
Glancing at the contract, Rumpel confirmed some information about the three Jungle Party Adventurers. Ours is from the 6th Region. She can live up to 150 years, while Lev and Abe are from the 7th Region. They have a 100-year lifespan.
Silently, Rumpel stored the contract on his storage ring and glanced at the Jungle Adventurer Party, who were having an amicable conversation.
' They appear to be decent types of people in this kingdom. It's very rare in this world. I hope that this isn't some fake ass BS. '
Rumpel wishes that they weren't only nice because they were in the presence of his father and others. He hoped that they were what they appeared to be, so he would have no choice but to punish them.
"May the odds be in your favor, son."
"I would do my best!"
Rumpel replied with a smile on his face. A few minutes later, Rumpel and the Jungle Adventurer Party are riding on a Stelzehaut Family Carriage being manned by the Stelzehaut Family Coachman. Being driven to the Stolas Domain's Waypoint Portals.
Traveling from domain to domain in the same region would take days, hours, and a few minutes, depending on the method of transportation. The waypoint portals are the fastest method available to normal citizens.
When they arrived at the location, Rumpel and the others could see that various people were forming a straight line. The people were silent and didn't appear to have any complaints.
' This is another world, and I can't still escape the experience of being stuck in traffic? '
Not too far from the waypoint portal are various people dressed in robes. Sticks and books are attached to their belts. On the book cover, there was an illustration of a black vortex.
' Ah, Mages from the Marbas Tower. '
Marbas Tower. A magic tower that was located in Marbas Domain. The Goetia Kingdom has a total of 72 domains and is divided into nine regions. Each region has a total of 8 domains. And each domain has a magic tower ruled by a tower lord. The Marbas is located in the 1st Region.
' Offending Marbas Mages is the equivalent of a death sentence. It was like asking mages with space magic to come after your ass. Their lowest-ranking mage is a 5th-circle mage. If someone offended a high-ranking member of the Marbas Tower, it wasn't only the attention of the Marbas Tower that the offender would gain. The adjudicators, overseers, and enforcers would hunt the offender even if they weren't stray. '
Leaving the carriage and saying goodbye to the coachman, Rumpel and Jungle Adventurer's Party lined up. None of them dared to cut in line.
Looking around, Rumpel could see the Jungle Adventurer's Party and the other people lining up, showing various nervous reactions.
In this world, knowledge and connections are people's most powerful tools.
After a while, Rumpel and Jungle Adventurer's Party reach the waypoint portal. A Marbas Mage was standing in front of them, along with two waypoint portals.
"Destination?"
"Alloces Domain."
"Another Elite Failure taking his chances to the lower layers?"
The Marbas said it in a bored tone, while Rumpel merely smiled.
"I'm trying my chance at Alloces Academy."
"Well, the waypoint portals wouldn't take you instantly there, young master. Moving from regions is only allowed from the first and last domain of each region. Since you're moving to the lower layer, head to the left waypoint portal. It's a portal to the Raum Domain. From Raum, move to Focalor, which is located in the 6th Region. From there, move to the last domain of the 6th Region, Haagenti. Then from Haagenti, you would go to the 7th Layer, 1st Domain, Crocell. And from that place, you would find your way to Alloces Domain. I'm sure that it was easy for you to understand, young master."
Rumpel nodded his head. Inside his head, he couldn't help but lament.
' Living in this world is a shitty Isekai experience. Marbas Tower Lord, why are you making the travel so easy but at the same time complicated? '
After Rumpel, it was the Jungle Adventurer's Party's turn to be questioned about their travel destination. One by one, they entered the left-waypoint portals. Arriving from a new domain and teleporting to another domain. It happened several times. When Rumpel and the Jungle Adventurer's Party arrived at the Alloces Domain, they were on their knees. Heaving and not trying to hurl the contents of their stomach.
"This... is... the worst."
"Lev, help me..."
"..Ughkk."
While gazing at the Jungle Adventurer's Party and the Female Marbas Mage looking at them with an unimpressed expression, Rumpel stopped the urge to speak and cursed the female Marbas Mage.
' Fuck the Marbas Tower, Lord! What a sadist! '
Very shortly, Rumpel hoped that someone in the Marbas Tower would challenge the Marbas Tower Lord in his position and change their policies and rules regarding the waypoint portals for the better.
Considering the side effects for non-space mages and ordinary people entering the waypoint portals, using them was very inconvenient.
When the sense of nausea eventually disappeared, Rumpel and the Jungle Adventurer's Party made their way to an inn. Renting rooms one for each other and resting themselves for a while mentally and physically.