"Hero, are you sure you know the way?..."

Mal says for the fifth time as we do a U-turn in a dead-end street, returning to the side-street once again.

"It's fine, I know where we're going!"

So Todd says, but, well, it sure doesn't seem like it. We've mostly just been going in and out of by-streets, stumbling up and down this steep hill with little tact. Some people have even been giving us long looks, but it seems our strange get-up keeps them from asking any questions.

Yes, as it seems, not everybody is dressed in armour or long robes and big hats. Fashion-wise, not that I know much of anything about it, people are dressed in quite thick and robust clothing, made of some material I can't tell from this distance.

A few minutes pass, and we walk into yet another empty street, lined with stone-houses and not much more. A dead-end.

"Hero...!"

"Hey, chill it! I know exactly where-,"

"Are you two headed for the guild?"

Both Todd and Mal (and myself, of course) whip their heads around to face the unknown speaking. There, in the middle of the street we just left, is a young, sporty-looking man, wearing a leather helmet and a full set of leather-armour as well. His youthful eyes scan us, and we scan him.

"I-,"

Mal elbows Todd in the side before he can say anything,

"Sir, we are indeed headed for the guild. Sadly, these parts are quite unknown to us, and we have thusly lost our way. Do you happen to know how to find the guild?"

Mal asks, stepping out of the dead-end road into the one the young man is standing on. Todd follows, and, well, since I'm sitting on him, I follow along as well.

"Oh, of course! I'd love having you, since I'm headed there myself. Though I didn't get lost, oh no-no. I'm meeting up with my-, oh Goddess! What apparition is that??"

The young man points at me, his freckled face twisting from delight to apprehension in a mere moment. Wise as I am, I don't move, even though I dislike being pointed at.

"Oh, this? This is my pal, Johnny! Johnny, this is... what's your name?"

Todd says, and the man quickly relaxes. Hm. Can't Todd see the message that tells their name? Oh, ah, but that might be a bit weird to just say... Good going, Todd!

As our conversation starts going, we also start going, following the man wherever he's leading us, whether it be the... "guild" or some shanking-alleyway.

"Ah, forgive my slight! My name would be Gustave, but you may call me Gus! My party is the Beowulfs, and I'm a tootin' proud one! And you two are?"

"Nice meetin' ya, Gus! I'm Todd, and this here is Mal, and you already know Johnny. I used to be part of the Quicktoads, but we had some falling-outs, so right now we're headed to the guild to, y'know, make a while new party. Heh."

"How intriguing! Always love seeing new parties get started. And, forgive me if I'm being prying, but that mark-?..."

Gus leans in, his focus clearly on the black rectangle beneath Todd's eye.

"Oh, you caught me! Yeah, I'm a returner, like the king and all."

"You are! I knew it, I could tell one of those marks from a million miles away! See, one of my friends, also one of the Beowulfs, well, he's a returner too! Got this real clear red mark under his lips. He always told me not to look at it since he thought it was weird, but... well, I find it quite charming!"

-Whoa! Now that's a twist! Maybe there are more players in here than I thought? Todd said players were pretty rare, but maybe it's only because he hasn't met too many?

That all aside, this is some very... interesting information. God only knows what the guild is, but it seems to be where Todd met his previous party-members.

"Holy shit, dude! Man, you wouldn't mind if I met him or anything, right? Like, I've only ever met one other returner so far, so, I'd love to meet 'im!"

Man, Todd sure seems excited. Why, am I excited? Well, not really, honestly. A player and a normal person are both equally human, and it doesn't really help us much. Unless we convince them to spread the message that this is a real world? That might be a good thing to do, yeah.

Maybe, if we got a lot of cash, we could put an article in the newspaper for all the players, to make them know that this is a real world?...

"Sure, of course! He hasn't said much of anything about meeting any other returners, but... I'm sure he'd love to!"

Suddenly, Gus leans in closer to Todd, glancing between me and his face.

"...How's it like dying-? You... can do that thing too, right? Just resurrecting-?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. I sure can! Not very pleasant, but..."

Todd grabs his right arm tightly, the arm he lost earlier, before he died. Before I could get to him.

"-it's better than dying, right? Heh."

Gus smiles, but I can't tell if his smile is warm or cold. There's something strange in it, something happy, something sad. Something conflicted.

"'Course. Almost wish I had that power myself. Hans just... he runs right into danger without a care. Always sure he'll come back if something happens. To be honest, I... I'm not sure if I'm-, oh! Here we are!"

Gus suddenly points to a building on our left, extraordinarily ordinary in design, with a white, stone terrace and stone steps and stone walls and stone everything. At the top of the building, it says "The Adventurer's Guild", with a large shielf of sorts beneath it, portraying a shield, a sword, a bow and arrow, a mountain, and a large, red gem. I know it's red because it isn't actually carved in, but is an honest-to-god red gem. Large as a heart.

As a matter of fact, there are more than just that gem, and there are about, let's see... seven other fist-sized pretty rocks, spread out in a vaguely specific way. Maybe it means something? I have no idea.

Gus enters, and we follow him through the open doors. The inside is... I'm not sure how to describe it. It's a bar? With places to sit and lots of people and a counter where there's a lot of people and everything. The people in here are...

How do I say it... not rough? Considering they should be rugged, strong adventurers who (probably?) fight monsters, I'd expect them to be a bit more... un-friendly-looking? Then again, Todd isn't a very scary type, and neither were his previous members and neither is Gus, so maybe this isn't too uncommon of a sight?

It's just... pleasant. Warm.

"Ah, Hans, I'm here!"

Gus calls out to a man sitting by a round table together with three other men, chatting pleasantly with them. The man, Hans, a name I'll try to put to mind, turns to us, his face lighting up in a smile at the sight of Gus, before becoming confused at the sight of, well, the rest of us.

As Gus had described, Hans did, indeed, have a red upside-down triangle under his lip, resembling a red fang or something. But he wasn't looking at Todd, or even Mal. No, he was looking at me, his now-alarmed eyes darting between me and something just in front of his eyes, what I can only assume is a blue box of some kind.

His teeth grit together.

What is-,

In less than a second, he bursts from his seat, fists raised and poised for combat, striking an aggressive fist-focused pose right in front of us.

"H-, Hans, what is-"

"Gus, move!! You-,, 'Tobiath', what the fuck did you bring in here?!?"

"Uh, dude, what-"

"You brought a damn C+ rank monster into the guild!!"

...Oops-,