We were still caught up in our own thoughts when we reached the adventurer’s guild at the end of the town’s main road. Talking to an ancient being in the realm of the gods was nothing one could get over quickly after all. Especially as the crucial information regarding the origin of goblin and demon race seemed unknown to any of the present human kingdoms.

Despite that I forced myself to let go of the thoughts inside my mind, especially the excitement I felt at the prospect of having a chance, albeit a small one, to become a god. All of that was good and fine, but right now I had to worry about the close future and not something that might happen after I defeat the demons. If I even survive until that point in time…

To survive despite being hunted by the king of a kingdom and being low on funds I had to find a way to obtain reliable information and fast quantities of money. What better way was there than to join the adventurer’s guild and accept some high ranked quests?!

Also, to be honest, as an avid RPG fan and Otaku I couldn’t help but want to be part of this iconic piece of the fantasy genre.

“Ignatius…”, I saw a familiar figure standing at the entrance to the guild’s main building. Though it wasn’t as impressive as the houses in the capital, compared to the usual buildings of this small town it looked very impressive.

“I have already taken care of most paperwork. You just have to sign and take the test.”, the person in question answered with a satisfied smile. Ignatius Mellen had turned into a trusty subordinate after betraying me and causing the death of his lover. I guess that’s also a way to change character after a traumatic experience.

And yes, Sir Mellen was called Ignatius…

When we first found out about that fact Riina had a suddenly laugh flash and almost suffocated on her own laughter. But really, Ignatius is not a name a royal knight should have. Reinhard maybe. Ulrich is also fine (yes these are stereotypical German names), but Ignatius?

That’s a name for an elderly mage with an exaggerated hat and cool sounding but useless spells!

I couldn’t help but smile wryly as the name sounded as ridiculous as always.

“Let’s go… Ignatius…”, my pronunciation of the name slipped a little and I could see that the knight rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“It’s not a weird name!”, he exclaimed with a hurt expression.

“Whatever you say.”, replied Enri while passing by and entering the guild building.

“It IS a weird name.”, Riina proclaimed as she also walked by.

“Even in the palace I always wondered how you were even allowed to become a knight with a name like this…”, the princess admitted with an apologetic expression.

I grinned and shrugged my shoulders.

“You heard them.”, I followed the three girls.

The interior of the guild was just as one would imagine. A big reception hall with space to sit down and have a beer or a snack in the front, coupled with a bunch of counters in the back. Even the female employees looked like they came straight from an Isekai anime. Well they were three dimensional and all, but the uniforms and their looks all matched with that stereotypical Japanese imagination of foreigners.

Heck, three of the four clerks were blond and had big boobs!

Aside from the employees there were also some adventurers who sat around and had lunch or looked at a huge board with various quests pinned to it. The sight was truly thrilling as I felt like I had entered an old RPG game.

We walked through the room, heading directly to the counters. One of the clerks, for some reason the only one with black hair and a more modest, slim build, was waiting for us with a bunch of papers in front of her.

“So, these are your party members?”, she asked Ignatius (I have to chuckle even when just thinking about his name) with a friendly smile and lively eyes.

“Yes, they are.”, Ignatius confirmed with a firm nod.

“We are all first-time adventurers, but all members have already exceeded level thirty and two of our members are above level forty. “

The lady’s eyes widened as she heard that, and her eyes brightened.

“It is very rare for high levels to register as new adventurers. Especially in a tiny town like this that usually only houses beginners. I will arrange for some high rank adventurers to confirm your strength in a test. That should take till tomorrow morning to arrange.

Once you passed the test you will instantly be promoted to Silver ranked. Considering that we only have two or three gold ranked adventurers in the entirety of the Haelia kingdom you will be celebrities!”, she seemed very enthusiastic about this whole ranking system.

I guess it is to be expected. After all she would have the honor to introduce us to the guild.

“That is great. I guess we will have to wait for that test before being allowed to accept quests?”, a polite and somewhat charming smile played on my lips. I tried to play nice for a change.

It seemed to have some sort of effect and the young woman nodded warmly.

“I am sorry but that is the way the guild handles it. After all it would be dangerous for everybody if we have high level quests to unqualified adventurers. On the other hand, once you have completed the test you will be eligible for the most dangerous and most rewarding quests.”

I nodded and threw a glance to my comrades.

“Well, then let’s sign the papers!”

We quickly went over all the necessary paper work and filled out the registrations that had to be handled to the guild administration. Of course, we were careful to change our names and personal data. After all it would be too stupid to be caught by the royal knights just because we gave our real names to the nice clerk in front of us.

Ten minutes later we were done and walked over to the big wooden board that took up an entire wall of the reception hall. Dozens of papers were pinned to the board filled with information on various quests and the rewards they entailed.

Though I was not yet allowed to accept any of these quests I wanted to get a look on what kind of rewards I could expect. After all we would have to rely on these to feed myself and the others. Not to mention that I had to pay for all sorts of equipment once we raised our levels even further.

Luckily what I saw seemed quite promising.

“Clean the drainage and kill the giant rats. 2 Gulds per day.”, I read out loud. That was a job for low level adventurers who were beneath level 20 and yet it already payed enough to sustain a family for a whole month.

“Actually, this job is quite difficult even for most level 20 adventurers. Giant rats are quite powerful and sometimes they manage to kill a few adventurers that aren’t careful. For that reason, few low levels dare to accept the job while the adventurers of the bronze rank, those who are between level 20 and 30, don’t want to do dirty jobs like cleaning drainages.

In other words, the job is very unpopular, resulting in the high rewards for those that actually accept.”, Enri explained to me.

“How come you know this?”, I asked her with a surprised expression.

“Why do you think did I come to kill you back then? It was a quest I got:

Kill the first person you see entering the forest near the capital.”, she explained with a carefree expression.

“I can’t disclose my identity at the moment, so I said that I’m no adventurer, but the reality is that I’m one of the few silver ranked adventurers of this country”

There are sketchy quests like this? Shouldn’t the guild prohibit them or something??? I couldn’t believe that someone just publicly put out a quest to murder me.

“I…see…”, I managed to squeeze out. Then I looked back on the board looking for an appropriate quest to choose.

“Hunt Ogres in the Kerlis forest. Per Ogre you receive a reward of 20 gulds.”, Riina suddenly said and pointed at a quest marked as being meant for bronze rank.

“That’s tough for a bronze rank though.”, Ignatius said with a frown.

“Well it’s perfect for us.”, a satisfied grin blossomed on my face.

“Let’s take that darn test and go kill some Orges where ever this Kerlis forest is located at.”

“It’s about 20 kilometers from here.”, the female clerk from before suddenly said from her counter. She seemed very eager to help us. The reasons were pretty obvious.

“Thanks.”, I exclaimed before turning back to my party members.

“Everyone agrees?”, asking this a pair of slaves, a pet dragon and a strangely submissive knight was kind of redundant. As I thought they simply agreed, and we walked over to a table and sat down on the benches. It was lunch time anyway and eating here was convenient enough.

We ordered some cheap beer and food and began to happily chat with each other. Well, ok most of it was just bullying poor Ignatius-chan, but it was still a happy and relaxed atmosphere.

That was until some stupid racist decided it was a good idea to bother an unknown group with a dragon.

As I had noticed before the people of this country were kind of racist towards anything that doesn’t look completely human, resulting in discrimination and the situation that 80 percent of all slaves were demi-humans. This whole thing was even worse in a small town like this that believed in the traditional gods of the Haelia kingdom.

A group with two non-human girls like ours was bound to attract attention.

“What does this filthy demi human do here?”, a somewhat dirty looking middle-aged adventurer suddenly asked his companion after having had a drink too much. His muddled brain was obviously out for trouble and I could see his lusty glances that were thrown towards Riina and Enri.

What a fucking creep. These two are loli’s after all!

Well I’m not the one who should judge though….

“I don’t know, maybe their owner just likes to show of his property?”, the other adventurer replied with a dirty grin. It was supposed to be insulting, but since it was the truth none of us felt like there was a need to react to the blatant disrespect.

I did feel irritated though.

“Hey, you. You are the owner, right? How about you tell your slaves to strip for us?”, seeing that we didn’t respond the drunken bastards became more and more brave. They most likely thought that we were afraid of confrontations.

That or they were simply stupid.

I rolled my eyes and sighed as if I was annoyed. Meanwhile a smile appeared on my lips coupled with anticipation. I really wanted to have an excuse to give that guy a good beating.

“What my property does is my decision. How about you idiots just shut up and stop bothering people that you cannot afford to offend?”, my voice was jeering, and I obviously tried to bait them into attacking me.

“W-what did you say??!”, as it seemed the poor guy’s drunken mind couldn’t even comprehend my words.

“Y-you. Fuck you. Who do you think you are? Just because you have some pretty bitches that doesn’t mean that you can talk to us like this!”, the other one suddenly yelled and almost threw away the jar on table in front of him.

“That dragon is ugly eitherway!”, he spouted with a red face.

My eyes widened as I stared at him in disbelieve. Calling Enri ugly would be like claiming the earth to be a pancake made of air and love. It’s ridiculous enough to warrant a psychiatric treatment.

But my reaction was not the one that mattered. It was Enri herself who reacted the most. Her face suddenly turned red and her face contorted into an angry mask.

“Y-you… I thought you were ok since you called my Chris’ property and a bitch, but this goes to far! I AM NOT UGLY!”, I was strangely fascinated to see her become angry over such a petty insult. Could it be that she had problem with her own looks?

“L-like… I-i know that I’m not that good looking, but calling me u-ugly is too much!”, the dragon girl yelled through the whole guild. Her face was red, and I could swear that there were a few tears in the corners of her eyes. The guild clerks looked shocked.

“I-if she is considered ugly… what am I supposed to be?”, one of them shuddered with an incredulous look on her face.

“Shut up!”, the drunken adventurer shouted in the heat of his rush. His face was completely flushed.

“An ugly bitch like you shouldn’t be allowed to talk at all!”, his words made no sense, but for some reason they seemed to enrage Enri more than anything I have ever said to her.

She was fuming in anger and suddenly her body began to glow in red light. I had seen this sight again and so I wasn’t surprised to see her body slowly change size and form. I sighed and shook my head.

“This girl is really too explosive. Ah…, it’s also almost impossible to tell what will enrage her and what not…”, I mumbled to myself.

“I guess getting her a chain is the only way to make sure she doesn’t kill someone…”

While I thought to myself Enri had already half finished transforming into her giant dragon form and her still changing body rushed towards the two drunken idiots who were now scared shitless.

I chuckled and shook my head again.

“Sit.”, my domineering voice crushed through the hall and coupled with the power of my mana-enhanced lungs it turned into an oppressive command.

Enri heard the command and her livid face wavered for a moment as she couldn’t decide between following my order and trying to extract revenge on the stupid idiot who had called her ugly. Finally, she reluctantly did cancel the transformation and landed on the ground only a meter away from the pair of drunken adventurers.

If I had stopped her a moment later the two middle aged idiots would have been turned into bloody meat skewers.

Satisfied with the result I stood up from the bench and began to walk over to my dear idiot drunkards.

“I don’t think it is a mere pet’s responsibility to beat up some rude bastards who question my taste. Don’t listen to them though, you are absolutely beautiful.”, arrogance mirrored in my eyes as I walked towards the middle aged adventurers who were trembling in fear. Mana build up around my body as I purposefully showed some of my strength.

God, I felt badass.