We hit the road.

Still, no companion called Jack.

Shame.

Me, Wolfie, the ex-guard.

Apparently, he's from the diplomatic city.

This means a lot to me.

I've already deemed him the designated NPC of that new area.

You know how in the newbie village there would be a village elder?

The one giving quests sending you on various missions.

Telling you about the inner working of the place.

This ex-guard guy will play that role for me.

Right, I'm kinda tired of calling him that.

Apparently, his name is Luvon Greberos.

Please, that sounds like some randomly generated elf name.

There is something even wilder.

The Greberos line is actually a thing.

Actually a pretty big deal there too.

Part of the righteous factions.

Am I the only one finding the name weird?

Perhaps.

So he does his job as an NPC well.

I learn a lot.

Apparently, the city is one melting pot of religions.

Many sects from all over all interacting with one another.

All are welcome, but the real power is shared between the top sects.

50 of them in total.

Decisions are taken as a group.

There are 7 neutral sects.

One of them being the rulers of the city.

This gives them the power to veto.

This leaves the 6 others as members.

Then there are 30 righteous sects.

Bringing the total to 36 sects that are always in power.

The remaining members are always changing.

Positions determined by various competitions.

You guys know what this means?

Motherfucking tournament arc right there!

Calling it right now!

The city will be in a festive atmosphere.

I will get a glimpse of some hero or antagonist.

One that is powerful.

I will sadly get beaten up somehow to bring me down a peg.

Then I will train hard.

Finally, I will show up at the tournament.

I will be the underdog.

Winning every fight.

Yet the commentators won't pay me much attention.

It will turn out that all my opponents will be relatively weak.

People will admire my luck but not my skills.

Then the more it goes the more they will start wondering.

Trying to figure out my limits.

But I won't appear to have any.

Then finally will come the finals.

The fight will be epic.

Of course, I will defeat my opponent after a while.

That's when a demon will randomly pop out.

Why?

I don't know it usually goes like that.

Could be from an invasion.

Most probably from the enemy using a forbidden technique.

One that turns him into a monster.

Innocent people will die left and right.

Then I will finally defeat this new enemy.

Of course, a normal hero would show mercy.

I will likely be pissed as fuck.

I'll cut his dog head.

Then the spectators will finally open their dog eyes.

They will cheer for me.

Bards will sing odes about me.

Finally, I will…

Or not.

The competition for that just ended recently.

That is what Luvon tells me.

It won't happen for another 11 months.

Talk about shitty timing.

Rip my dreams of fame.

Oh well, this just proves that this is real life.

The whole world doesn't revolve around me.

At all.

At first, I'm planning to follow him home.

Use his family's place as a base of exploration.

That's before he tells me about the etiquette.

The one I would have to learn to go with him.

Something about his family being old school.

This being the reason why he ran away.

Now he's coming back after a very long time.

Yep, not going to sign up for this haha.

Boring lessons plus a possibly angry family.

I don't want to be that one parasite friend.

You know the one the useless son brings back.

The one parents can't wait to get rid of.

Except that in this world assassins are a thing.

A thing verily accessible judging from my experiences.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be groups of them.

How many contracts does one receive before having to ask buddies for help?

Probably many.

Then again probably a nice team-building activity.

The more we walk the more we talk.

We go from being half-strangers to half-friends.

Now, don't get me wrong.

He is a pretty nice dude.

There is just one thing.

He's been trying to recruit me recently.

At first, he does it super subtly.

I mean so subtle I don't even notice.

That is until he starts dropping more hints.

Like how much they could use my expertise.

He even talks about me joining the family.

I jokingly ask him if he has any cute sisters.

He does not.

He offers me a position as an elder.

Usually, I would jump on the opportunity.

There is just something.

The righteous faction part.

The powerful part.

Not a good idea to try and trick them.

Sure it has definite advantages.

Chances are there will be responsibilities too.

What would I do if they test my actual power?

Sure I can eat king slimes.

Let me fight anything else and I will be at a loss.

I'm sure most of the rank 4 creatures are too fast.

I wouldn't even be able to catch them.

So I politely refuse.

Multiple times.

I feel like every day he's asking.

I do find a solution to that.

I tell him that we'll increase the pace.

Then I run.

Of course not too fast.

You know since I don't actually know the way.

Fast enough to bring him to his absolute limits.

We keep running and running.

A few days passing.

He is surprisingly resilient.

Wolfie is following too.

Before long we are faced with the so awaited Eaglevein.

I feel like our journey was very quick.

Still, I timed it perfectly.

My companion falls unconscious from fatigue just as we reach it.

He's on the ground snoring.

He'll be fine there.

Probably.

Right, when was the last time we slept anyway?

Meh, doesn't matter.

Sleep is for the week.

This is the start of a brand-new adventure!

[Wolfie are you ready?]

She nods.

This is going to be epic.

There are so many things I want to try here!