"Impressive! Not many would be able to intimidate bandits only by looking at them. Especially with how humbly you are dressing!"

Is this young Sun trying to praise me or insult me? He seems pretty good at doing both at once.

"Now we only have one more city to cross before we …"

[Wait, we aren't about to arrive at our destination?!]

"It's not that far by now, 1 or 2 weeks should be plenty!"

Does that mean at some point we backtracked?

We did run away from the assassins without really looking at where we were going. Right, what happened to these enemies? Will they spring out of nowhere? The mercenary group was their target, chances are I'll be fine. They too should be alright now that they know they are chased by such scary foes. I'm sure the mercenary leader will take the appropriate precautions.

"Just to make sure you do have a permit for your pets right?"

[…A what?]

"So in order to enter in the diplomatic city with monsters, one needs to be a registered beast tamer. This is to prevent any possible disruption to the peace. Does that mean you've never bothered taking the test for that profession?"

[There are tests?! There are professions?! I thought everyone just did whatever they wanted in their own deity's area!]

"Don't tell me you've never heard about the league of the 30 righteous sects? What about the 22 great evils? The seven neutral ones? Okay, we have a lot of ground to cover. You see there are many sects in this world. While they are mostly all opposing each other constantly there are some alliances. These only stipulate a few common areas where there are no conflicts between the factions. The diplomatic city is probably one of the most important of these areas. It is headed by one of the 7 neutral sects. They have strict regulations to make sure nothing comes to create any sort of chaos. All are welcome beside the evil sects."

[Wait…you said they are a neutral sect. Why are they banning people from evil sects from joining then?]

"Too much chaos. There are often shady individuals that do go there but even them try to behave at least a little."

[Gotcha, so it is sort of an unspoken rule that evil sects are welcomed, as long as they don't explicitly state their identity, and everyone just plays the fools?]

"Pretty much."

[How can I become a beast tamer then?]

"In the next city we will enter you can take the exam. It should be fairly simple for you seeing how well they are following your orders."

I mean it's not really that I tamed anyone. More like we are friends and that's why they follow me around. As for being a beast tamer? I am probably not qualified at the moment. Still, there must be some way to learn about the profession, there right? I have coins so I can get myself a teacher!

[Tell me there is some kind of tamer guild too.]

"Indeed. They are actually pretty big in this region. After all with how heavily legislated this aspect is, they need professionals to oversee the matter."

Makes sense. You wouldn't want some random civil servant to deal with monsters. You could easily end up missing a few ones after lunchtime.

I swear I'll have to research all these pieces of information. For people here that much seems to be common sense. For me, it is all new. Then again as long as I walk around with a local to guide me everything should be alright. Good thing I have Sun with me.

Right, how long should I wait before inviting him to the sect? He seemed pretty enthusiastic earlier, but who knows when he will change his mind? I don't want him to feel tricked and to later regret it. What if he joins because of the fact that we have a unicorn then later figures out that she isn't even part of our organization?

Right, talking about that unicorn. How long will she follow us? I guess she was missing Wolfie a lot and can't bear to see her leave. Makes sense. Funny how they seem to have a friendly rivalry going on. I wonder when it all started.

"What made you decide on this particular city travel goal?"

[I heard that there people aren't always trying to kill each other, and I found that pretty cool.]

"Yes, but why didn't you go to any of the other cities that are similar in their inner-workings like …"

And then he lists a bunch of city names I cannot recognize and won't remember for sure. Oh well, the more I learn about this world the more I realize how ignorant I am.

They say knowledge is power, but for now, my main goal will be to learn more ways to use divine energy. After all, it is better if I work on my strengths! Alright, I could use the singular here since that's my only redeeming feature. Well, I am an optimist and always improving, there is that too.

[It is the first one I heard about and I decided to see it for myself.]

"That is unexpectedly…normal."

Well sorry if it's boring! My life is nothing special, but so what! If I keep moving forward, everything will be fine. Even if I keep struggling against weak monsters and running when confronted with strong opponents. My life wasn't meant to entertain anyone in the first place. I'll just live how I want.

"Oh right, is your sect still recruiting?"

He is asking that out of the blue!?

[Yes, why?]

"Oh, I'd like to join."

You know how, in the stories, it is always the devil tempting the mortals to sell their souls away? Well, right now I feel like it is the opposite happening. It is the mortal trying to voluntarily sell his soul to the devil. Wait…I'm no devil! I'm a nice guy…wait no.

[Welcome in the sect then!]

"Nice! Actually, there is something I need to do before I can leave the current sect I am in. I will meet you guys in the diplomatic city later! You do plan to stay there for a long time right?"

[Of course! Are you sure you need to leave right now?]

"Positive! See you guys later."

On that note, he dashes forward to go do god knows what.

What's with all these side-characters leaving after a few chapters?!

Am I missing something here?!