When I decided to help Abby, I forgot that having an extra person to travel with would slow down the journey. Now that we’re already on our second day of traveling to the next city, I start to feel the beginning effects of boredom. We’ve had to stop numerous times so that Abby could recover her stamina, eat, rest, and all of the other things humans need to survive. It’s really slowing us down, but at least I get to talk to her more during our pit stops. It’s a nice change of pace having someone to travel with. I was always more solitary on Earth, going long periods of time without social contact. I’m immortal though, so I have all the time in the world to talk to people. Come to think of it, all of my friends are shut-ins just like me. That’s probably not a coincidence. Immortality is the greatest source of procrastination and monotony.

Getting to know Abby is nice, she’s a sweet girl. I was surprised when she told me she has combat skills all the way to level 3. That’s really high for a little kid, but her parents were high ranked adventurers. They probably taught her how to fight from a young age. I’ve refrained from asking about her parents so far, I didn’t want to touch on that subject so quickly after their deaths. So far, I stuck to asking about her abilities and anything that she’s learned that can help with adventuring. She’s an [Archer], but not just any archer. No, she’s an [Arcane Archer]. She actually mentioned how her mom was a mage and her dad was a ranger, so she was probably inspired by them. She also thinks bows are cool, which I completely understand. Bows are cool.

Being an [Arcane Archer], she uses magic to create bows and arrows, so her ability as an archer is completely dependent on magic. I personally think that that is extremely dangerous to rely on just mana for weapons, so I make a note to buy a bow for her later. Asking her all of these questions about her ability made me curious about her actual pure stats, so I used my [All Seeing Eyes] on her.

Name: Abigail Harrington

Race: High Human

Lvl: 16

HP: 630

MP: 1,800

SP: 800

STR: 20

DEX: 50

CON: 30

INT: 50

WIS: 20

WILL: 20

Classes: [Arcane Archer] [Archer] [Conjuration Mage]

Of course, seeing her stats and comparing them to mine doesn’t do me a load of good, but having more data on stats from people other than me will help me gauge the threat of any future enemies better. It will also help me in evaluating future allies. Though, comparing Abby’s stats to Ali’s stats makes me realize that the [Hero] title really buffed Ali’s learning ability. In a span of one month, she’s way more leveled than Abby is, and she’s only four years older. Also, Abby is a high human, which is interesting. What is the difference between a regular human and a high human? I decide to just ask her.

“Hey Abby, do you know the difference between a high human and a normal one?”

She’s shocked out of her daydreaming as I suddenly ask her after an hour of silent traveling. She stares at me with a tilt in her head before realizing I just asked her a question.

“Oh! Um, high humans are direct descendants of the humans from the ages of old.”

“The ages of old? What’s that?”

“Oh right, you don’t know. Uh, the ages of old was the time before the system appeared in our world. The history teachers said that it was a time of everlasting war between the different races. There was a pantheon of gods that each represented a race. Those gods are long dead, but at the time the different races would vie for their gods’ favor by bringing glory to them through victory in war. Every single race was more or less evenly tied, but since war required only the strongest, each race had a group of people who held power above what others could get. They were called the generals. The never-ending war ended abruptly when a lone goddess killed all of the members of the pantheon. She ushered in a new age of peace and she’s the [Goddess] that we all worship now. She brought in the [System] that is a part of everyday life,” she suddenly twitches and looks at me sheepishly. “Sorry I went on a tangent. So, uh, high humans are the descendants of the [Human General]s. The [System] changed the race for every descendant of the generals by placing high in front of their race. It’s because the descendants have higher potential than regular people of the race. At least, that’s what I’ve been taught.”

I give her a pat on the head for such a concise answer. She acts exactly like how a child of a noble family would, except without the arrogance that often comes with it. Her explanation only makes me more intrigued though. So there was a time of never-ending war? And a goddess, the very same goddess that everyone worships, was the one to end it by killing off the previous pantheon? And she was the one to initiate the [System] that is in place right now? Sounds like there was a lot more going on than what Abby said. If the [System] wasn’t here since the beginning, and was only implemented by a lone goddess, then how much good does it actually do? I don’t have all of the information about this world’s politics and social climate, but once I find out more, I might be able to solve this mystery.

We’re finally able to see the city in the distance after another hour of talking about mundane things. This time, the city didn’t have heavily fortified walls, but they were armed enough to hold their own against an invasion. Are all cities this fortified? Is it for the war they’re going to wage against the demons? Then again, based on what Abby told me, the fortifications might come from the previous age. Before we get anywhere near the city gates, I ask Abby for her adventurer’s ID. She looks at me confusedly, but hands it over anyways. Holding out both of our IDs, I cast an illusion over them.

“We don’t want them to arrest us. I did kind of kidnap you after all.”

“It’s not kidnapping if I want you to take me with you!”

I pat her head as I hand her ID back. While I’m at it, I place an illusion spell over her, too.

“You might think that, but the guards think I kidnapped you. Your opinion won’t change what they think happened.”

“That’s not fair though,” she said with a frown.

“Sometimes life is like that. You just need to keep on going anyways. That’s why we’re going in as different people. We’re going to be traveling siblings who want to explore the world. It’s close enough to the truth, so don’t forget alright Abby? Or should I say Anna?”

“Oh! Then should I call you big sis or something…?”

“Regular siblings call each other by name so no need for that. You’re not Asian after all…” I say as I think back on all of the honorifics that every Asian culture has. Europeans don’t have anything like that, so she wouldn’t understand.

“Asian? What’s that?”

“Well, back in my world, there’s a continent called Asia. A lot of the countries on that continent have similar cultural practices. I come from Japan, a country in the eastern part of Asia and we did call our siblings and family with honorifics. A lot of other eastern Asian countries also practice this, but most others don’t.”

“Ohhhh, that sounds nice. What would I call you in your language then?”

I feel a little nervous letting her know. I’m weak towards things like this, so if she were to call me ‘onee-san’, I don’t know how I would react. But! I also really want to hear her say it!

“Big sister in Japanese, my language, is ‘onee-san.’”

Abby cocks her head as she tries to repeat what I said, “Ohnaysan?”

“No, no. Just say it naturally. It’s just ‘onee-san.’”

She mutters it under her breath for a while before saying, “I think I got it! Onee-san!”

Oh no, my heart. I just took a critical hit straight through my chest. I’m going to protect this girl with my life. No, she’s not just any girl, she’s my little sister now. I won’t let anything happen to you! I give her a hug immediately after this decision. I hear muffling from her after a while and realize that I’m suffocating her. Oops. I loosen my grip, but in place of that, I start petting her head.

“Onee-san! What was that for?” she asks with puffed out cheeks.

God, the cuteness just keeps coming. I’m going to die from happiness if this keeps up.

“Haha, sorry. You were just too cute, I couldn’t help myself.”

“Cuteness makes you want to suffocate them? That’s kind of weird.”

“Cuteness makes me want to hug them, not suffocate. Besides, didn’t it feel nice?”

“…it’s very soft…” she mutters into my chest.

Ahhhh, such cuteness should be illegal. After those shenanigans ended, we decide that she shouldn’t call me ‘onee-san’ since it makes no sense when we shouldn’t know how to speak this unknown language. Instead, she’ll just call me Mira like it says on my ID. We’re going to be the Atkinson sisters who come from a family of adventurers. Our parents weren’t famous, so people wouldn’t have heard of them. The details are sparse so that we can make things up as we go. As for the illusions, I turned my black hair into a lighter shade of brown. I also changed my very recognizable red eyes to a chocolate brown. I also changed my features so that they looked more European and less Japanese. Changing Abby’s features was much easier. I just changed her red hair and green eyes to match mine. Red hair is pretty recognizable so they probably won’t suspect that it’s her as long as they don’t look too closely. With everything ready and prepared, we head to the city gates.

Like before, the guards stop us to ask for our IDs. Hopefully no one here has some kind of illusion magic detector or things will end up going badly once again. After they check and see that the IDs are real, they ask what our business in the city is.

“We’re just stopping here to do some quests before heading to the next city. We’re on a journey to explore the world,” I say as I place my hand on Abby’s head and give it a ruffle.

“Good luck with that. Journeys are pretty hard so raise your rank a bit before trying to go anywhere too dangerous.”

“Don’t worry, that’s what we intend to do,” I say with a charming smile.

“You two can go ahead then. Enjoy your stay in Wales.”

Heading in, Wales looks similar to Einhard, but less grand. The architecture is the same, but it doesn’t hold the same lushness to it that Einhard did. Then again, Einhard is the capital, so it’s expected that it would be the best city that a country could have. Wales doesn’t look bad at all though. It’s just less radiant and smaller in size to Einhard. If this is how all cities in Alvera looks, then the humans really have it going for them. After my assessment of the city, I tell Abby that we’re going to go ahead to the adventurer’s guild. I want to check out whether anyone there would be interested in partying with us. I assume that the guild will be right next to the dungeon like in Einhard, so I head for tower looming in the distance. It takes us a little while to get there, but when we do, I can’t help but compare this dungeon to Einhard’s. This dungeon looks similar, but it seems to be slightly smaller. Were the cities built around the dungeons? I wonder how long the dungeons were here? Were they here during the “ages of old” or did they appear afterwards? I guess I’ll figure that out eventually.

Before we head into the guild, I notice a suspicious figure looking at me and Abby. The person is dressed in a black cloak with the hood covering any vision of their head and a cowl covering their face. No one seems to think that person is suspicious, so I assume that’s how rogues generally dress. I’m unsure why they’re staring at us so intently, unless they can sense that I have illusion magic covering us? Either case, I don’t worry about it too much. Until they make any overt moves against us, I won’t do anything. With that thought, we head in.

The interior of the guild is the exact same as the one in Einhard, so much so that it can be mistaken for the same one. Guilds must work similarly to how chain stores on Earth work. If that’s the case, then I don’t have to worry about adjusting to a new layout. I head towards the quest board to check out what types of quests they offer. …The quests are a whole rank lower? So dungeons have different difficulties? The quests in Einhard went all the way up to S rank but this quest board only shows quests going up to AA. Is the layout of the cities in this country dependent on the level of the dungeons? It seems that the biggest capital city has the biggest and most difficult dungeon, while this city that’s closer to the capital has a fairly large city with a fairly difficult dungeon. If the next few cities I go to have a similar set-up, I can confirm this theory.

Besides that, what the hell? I only need a three-member party to enter the dungeon? It went down an entire member because of the decrease in rank? Well, lower ranked dungeons aren’t as dangerous so I suppose it makes sense. The quests available for E and D rank adventurers are all simple material gathering quests near the lower floors in the dungeon. God, I’m going to be so bored. But before that, I need to find another person to party with us. The person in the cloak followed us in and is still watching us intently. I suppose I can kill two birds with one stone.

“Hey, you in the black cloak. You’ve been watching us for a while. I’d like to know why.”

“…so you noticed. Come with me for a moment, I don’t think what I’m about to say is something you want publicized.”

Their voice sounds too androgynous for me to get a read on the person’s gender, but their voice is very nice. They turn their back and head out of the guild, looking back once to gesture us to follow them. Abby asks me if it was alright to follow them, and I just shrug. It’s not like I can’t handle it if it goes south. We follow the person until we end up in a back alley a few blocks from the guild. There’s no one around and the traffic from the streets is barely existent. Wow, not suspicious at all.

“Now that we’re in private, why are you two cloaked in heavy illusion magic?” the person says as they squint.

I notice how their eyes have very long eyelashes and look extremely pretty. So maybe a girl?

“What’s a little illusion magic to protect two girls from the dangers of the world?” I say with a shrug.

“Little is putting it lightly. The magic cast on you two is so potent that only a high-level mage would be able to sustain something like that for more than a few moments. Who are you girls really?”

“Nice question from someone who looks even more suspicious than we are. Can’t we just be two sisters who wish to explore the world and go on adventures?”

The person glares as they say, “You’re not lying. That doesn’t make sense why you’re covered in illusion magic though.”

“Well, what if I were to say that we may be in a little bit of trouble and disguising ourselves is the smartest option?”

“…you’re still not lying.”

“Of course not. Now why don’t you enlighten us on who you are oh mysterious cloaked individual? I’m sure Anna is also curious,” I say looking down at Abby.

She’s been letting me control the flow of the conversation, but she looks like she wants to say something.

“Are you some kind of spy or assassin? That would be really cool!” she says enthusiastically.

Hmm, a spy would fit the image this person is portraying. Isn’t that a little too obvious though…?

“…no?”

“What the fuck? Are you actually a spy?”

“What, no. Of course not. Just your regular friendly neighborhood human rogue. I’m not a spy at all.”

“…you’re definitely a spy. Come on, spill the beans. I’m not letting you leave until you tell me who you are.”

“Oh? And what could you do to me?”

Haha, this guy is in for a rude awakening. I quickly cast a gravity spell that increases the gravity in a specific area right where the ‘spy’ is standing. They drop like a rock, body snug against the hard ground. I may have put a little too much mana into the spell, since I only meant to keep them standing there. Instead, the ‘spy’ ends up with a face fall of dirt and a heavy thud that probably will leave bruises.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to use so much mana. But you see your situation now, don’t you? I can throw spells like that at you without even exhausting a fraction of my mana pool, you won’t stand a chance against me.”

The ‘spy’ looks at me with eyes showing hints of fear in them. They also brim with determination. What’s this person up to?

“Are you loyal to Alvera, to the human race?” they ask with conviction.

“So you’re a spy from a different race? You don’t need to worry about me saying anything then. I couldn’t care less about the human race or any other race for that matter.”

“You… don’t care? Are you not loyal to anyone at all?” this time, their voice contains a hopeful tone to it.

“I’m only loyal to myself and anyone I come to care for,” I say as I place a hand on Abby’s head.

She smiles up at me as she places her hand over mine. Having sugar directly shot into my veins is fine too I guess.

“If that’s the case… then will you help me?”

“Did I not just say I’m only loyal to myself? Why would I help you if you’re a spy for a different race?”

“No, I mean. Help me, not my country. I don’t want to be a spy anymore. I’ve never wanted to be one. Let me join you, you said you only wanted to go on adventures, right? That’s what my dream has always been, too. If I join you, I’m certain that I can be free,” they say as they look at me with eyes full of shining hope.

“…what makes you think that? I might just be someone who has an abnormally high mana pool and that’s it.”

“No! You’re definitely not just some random adventurer. I have this ability that lets me know instinctively how dangerous something or someone is. It’s something I was born with, a special ability that only people of my family have. When I first saw you, my instincts screamed that you were as dangerous as SSS ranked monsters.”

“Why in the world would you suggest us talk in an empty alleyway where I could easily kill you then?”

“I wanted to take a chance. Besides, you have a child with you. There’s no way someone who would coldly murder people would be able to have a child so genuinely happy to be with them. And here we are. You haven’t killed me and you’re letting me tell you all of this. Please, let me join you.”

Honestly, all of these long-winded explanations don’t interest me much. I was already going to accept the minute this guy asked to join. We need one more member to take any quests. I doubt we’d have much luck with regular adventurers because of mine and Abby’s laughingly low ranks.

“Sure, why not?”

“Really? Just like that?”

“Yeah, since you’re going to be with us for a while, why don’t you introduce yourself.”

“Of course! I’m Stefan Klein, an elven spy with an assassin skillset,” they say as they pull down their hood and cowl.

I… am more confused now than I was before they did that. I don’t know what I’m looking at? A girl? Or just a very pretty boy who looks like a girl? Their name is Stefan though, so probably a guy? His(?) face is small with angular features one would expect form fantasy elves. His eyes are wide and expressive on his face, framed by his long hair that’s tied up in a ponytail. His ears are pointed and long, yet they aren’t very wide. It gives a refined look to him, like a woman of royalty. His mouth and nose both look delicate and give him the look of a beautiful maiden. Is this guy really a guy…?

“Uh, not to be rude, but are you a boy?”

“Of course I am?” he says with a confused expression on his face.

What the hell, that makes him look even more like a girl. His voice doesn’t help either since it can be heard as a girl with a deeper voice or a boy with a higher one.

“I’m sorry, it’s just… You look like a girl.”

“Oh. That’s… understandable. I’ve been mistaken as a girl my whole life so don’t worry too much. It’s why I wear the cowl and cloak.”

“Well, sorry but you’re not allowed to wear the cowl anymore.”

“What? Why not?”

“Your face is pleasing to look at so if you want to stay with us, you have to let me see it.”

“…are you some kind of pervert?” he says with a look of dawning horror.

“Oh stop, I’m not interested in men. You have a nice face though, and if I’m going to help you, then I might as well get something out of this arrangement.”

“Can I keep my hood up at least?”

“Sure, as long as I can see your face, I don’t really care what you do.”

He nods as he pulls his hood back up.

“Before I forget, I’m Misaki Miyamoto and this is Abigail. It’s nice to have you.”

He gives me a smile that practically shines from radiance. …is he really sure he’s not a girl? Well, at least we finally have a third member. Now we can take quests and go into a dungeon for once. I look forward to seeing what Wales’s dungeon has to offer.