Meanwhile the slaver Marielle was holding a golden coin in her hand. She had just appraised it.

She truly and literally struck gold with this transaction.

Not only she sold a slave that was worthless and costly in upkeep for a large sum, but among that large sum there was this antique coin.

Truly a fool. She decided she needed to make him her frequent client. Foolish customers ar a girl’s best friend, after all.

She put it back into magically trapped and locked casket.

She went to order her right-hand slave to gather intel on that adventurer.

Unfortunately, by the time she went back, she would only find her coin to have lost its vintage. Many a slave would be whipped up in search of those missing years. Truly the greed was a major sin.

All that “swapping” netted me another spell slash skill.

Yay, another skill for my collection. Seriously. Who would want to unlock every skill, spell and title if it is plainly visible? Yikes, people would treat me like a thief, even if the coins originally belonged to me along with every little thing on Thrope. Including people’s souls. Now that is a scary thought. I should discard it before trying to use Steal on some poor villain’s soul.

Nevertheless I have decided to keep it, but hid it behind Level 9 Fake Status.

I decided not to tell Elfin about my little Hot Potato Swap Operation. Speaking of secrets, there was something I needed to affirm to her as I have promised her yesterday.

- I truly ain’t a noble. I cannot exactly reveal where I hail from. Krark is as good a backstory as any. I am going to lie about it to others so do not be surprised. Ah and if we are clarifying things.. the Dark Rose Society does not exist. I made it up in the baths as a matter of fact.

- But master is rich, soft and mysterious.

She said, while handing me the change.

- Yeah, I am rich. Wait.. what do you mean by soft? I am a hard-boiled detective of love in the city of smoke and dust and neon lights.

I struck her flanks with a tickling attack. It was not as effective as the first time. Could she have gained resistance? So fast! Demons were truly frightening existences.

- Honestly most of our fund are made of those ancient coins. Ideally we should go get them auctioned first. Alas I cannot hold it anymore, I want to register as an adventurer ASAP!

- Is master not already an adventurer? I thought master’s nickname was Lynx, not ASAP.

- Not really. Not yet anyway. Just keep it a secret. I told the gate guards I lost my papers, but I have never actually registered. I wonder if that can be checked by anyone..

Some street urchin passed us by and I hailed him.

- Yo dude. Could you tell me where the adventurer’s guild is?

- Sure, sir. For a medium bronze I can lead you there.

- Is it far?

- Nah, just like around the corner, sir.

I flicked a coin towards him. I reached out my hand to Elfin. I was on her wrong side, the one without the hand to grab. I corrected my mistake and mumbled some apologies.

We will need to fix that quickly, lest I mistake it again.

We followed the kid.

Indeed, it was not far.

We could have teleported there, but I wanted to sightsee a bit.

Fantasy races, fantasy places, fantasy faces, fantasy maces (very spiky!).

The guild itself was a rowdy place.

There were two golems made of rock stationed at the entrance. They were pimped out with numerous graffiti or maybe they were some kind of arcane markings?

I flicked another coin to the urchin and thanked him.

We proudly entered the building.

The entry hall was spacious.

On the right there was some kind of dining and drinking hall. I was surprised there was no noise coming from the tavern half-full of rowdy adventurers consuming their late breakfasts.

In front of us there was a row of countless counters. Behind them were guild’s clerks and rope-cordoned stairs up to the first floor.

Couple of gruff-looking adventurers walked over to us. One of them was especially buff and much higher than either of us.

- Are you two runts looking for trouble?

- Isn’t dealing with trouble the very job of adventurers? – I responded smartly.

He was quite scary with that massive hammer and tower shield attached on his back.

- You two newbies should look elsewhere. Adventuring is not for softies.

- We are not soft. We are hard-boiled.

- Like an egg – Elfin added.

You girl have just scored +1 Affection Point from me.

- Like a pair of hard-boiled eggs, dude – I summed up.

His party looked at us with disdain in their eyes. Just like a murder of crows or vultures would regard their next meal.

I motioned Elfin to hide behind me. I kept my other hand on the hilt of my blade. I felt like the world became silent at this very moment.

- Ha ha, you two are alright.

- You really should not test the newbies like that, Ryle. You will scare them off – said a very petite woman in colorful and gaudy robes.

- Yikes! – the mountain of a man jumped up, resulting in a small earthquake (Thropequake?) – I told you not to stalk onto me like a thief would.

- What a scaredy cat. I am a mage. To think such a presence-insensitive man would become D ranker.

I exhaled the air slowly.

- Do not worry about them. They try to scare every newcomer. Consider it a rite of passage.

- I am glad. I have never had to kill a fellow man in my life.

- Are you a lady-killer then? – asked that lady adventurer.

- What? Which meaning did you mean?

She simply laughed. I guess I am neither.

- Well. I am Lynx of Krark and this is Elfin. Nice to meet you, jokesters.

- What kind of name have you picked for your slave? Do you have no decency? – said the high and scary Ryle.

- What do you mean?

- Elfin is a slur word for all elvenfolk – muttered Elfin in my direction.

Is that so? At first I thought that Elfin was simply a lazy name for an elf. Nevertheless the Velian word for elf was sounding quite different. “Elf” must have been introduced by an earthling otherworlder. How on Thrope did it evolve into a slur?

- Little one, has the word “elf” not came directly from the Language of Heroes?

I shit you not. Every language that came from Earth, which was mainly Japanese and English was called the Language of Heroes. I even had a few ranks of it on my status.

- Really, master?

- Yeah. I studied it a bit. I did not realize it was something vile to say. I am really sorry.

- It is not master’s fault. My first master picked that name.

- The one that almost caused you to die in that fire? We should change it immediately!

- The collar.. – she tried to say something.

- It is useless. You cannot really change the name of the slave. It is tied to the collar’s magic.

One of the Ryle’s party members explained it to me kindly.

- We cannot change it any soon then. I have never studied collar magic in the necessary depth. It could be dangerous to tinker with. For now, I will avoid calling you that.

- It is alright, Lynx. I got used to hearing it.

Her voice was clearly resigned. I hugged her and whispered something about getting that bastard.

- I am sorry to have misjudged you – apologized the magician.

- Be careful and do not take on anything you cannot handle – advised Ryle.

- I have a trick to handle anything that cannot fly. You need not to worry about us.

- What kind of trick, master?

- Oh you know. The teleportation magic.

- Teleportation? How can we kill something with teleportation? Like sneak upon them?

- Hmmm. If a monster has hide so thick that neither of us could pierce it, sneaking would not help. You know what? It would make a great mental exercise for an aspiring mage like you. Think of five, no, ten methods you could kill humanoid or monster with teleportation. Maybe think how you would destroy a fire elemental. Disregard any requirements for casting as you probably are not familiar with those kind of spells right now. You have time till tomorrow.

I already knew any Thropian creature would kneel before my might due to this simple spell. Unfortunately any powerful demon would probably have a way to counter that. Also locating stuff to teleport was Throne’s job. If demon could hide his presence or even obscure its coordinates it would be useless.

- You can cast Teleportation?

The mage lady was awed, which made me embarrassed. Have I not admonished Elfin earlier today for babbling on too much?

After all it was only one of Throne’s powers which allowed transfer between Heaven and any point on Thrope. Hell was also a possible destination, but I left it alone so far.

I did not realize teleportation was rare. It is a fantasy world, right?

- It is more like a skill I got after being bitten by a wild mana lynx.

At this moment I have noticed a new booth opened. I was saved by some pretty middle-aged woman that (wo)manned that station. Our own queue had about a hundred people in front. Assuming four to five members per party there were ~20 parties waiting in line before it was our turn.

- Let’s jump the queue before others notice there is another booth opened.

I caught my half-elf’s hand and rushed towards it. Behind us the adventurers muttered some ominous sounding words, but we were far too far to hear it.

- Will they be alright with her?

- She might get them to register her as their professional guild advisor.

- Talk about bad Luck, to encounter her on their first visit.

- She will not chew on the newcomers..

- I think so, too.

- ..too much.

We went up to the open booth. The lady tending wore the same clothing as every other guild clerk. Unfortunately in our excitement we failed to notice no one really followed to join our queue. There were many gazes full of ridicule and pittance directed at us instead.

- Hello, is this booth open?

- Yes, please present your card.

- We would like to register first. We have none of those.

- I am afraid that is not possible.

- Why? Is this the wrong booth for registrations?

- No. I can happily register you, but not her.

- Could you please tell me why you cannot register her? Do not tell me that..

- She is a slave. A slave cannot directly join the guild. They are treated as equipment at most and cannot really do quests or enter dungeon on their own. There, I told you. Not to mention a “vanity” slave like her.

- Oh. Then I guess I would like to register myself for now.

I squeezed the palm of my slave. You are no equipment to me. I hoped she knew that at this point.

- It is quite alright, then. Please place one of your hands on the artifact to my right.

She took off a wooden box that covered an artifact that looked similar to the one used by the city guard. It was a bit more complicated, but I should be okay with my Fake Status.

I placed my hand. There was a small wave of multicolored light skimming on the surface.

- Would you like to take a test to skip lower ranks?

- Does the low rank prevent me from entering the dungeon?

- No. It only stops you from taking a higher ranked quests.

- Then it is alright. I would like to take it slow.

- This is your card. Please check if the information is correct.

That was fast. I took the grey card with a big letter A and my name on it.

- The name is correct I guess.

- What about the rest? You need to put mana into it.

I did so, the card started to glow and became a little bit hotter than my fingers.

- Oy! You are overdoing it. Use less mana.

I stopped the flow. Blurry status screen hologram showed up in front of me and finally stabilized after a while. It showed several pieces of my fake data including a picture of myself.

- Little one, can you see the screen?

- What screen, master?

Thankfully my hypothesis turned out wrong. The screen was only visible to the user. The data came from the Throne System that I could easily falsify.

- Only the user and guild workers can see those screens. They are similar to Status Check skill of high level and thus cannot be falsified – she said while tapping her glasses.

I looked around and noticed all clerks wearing them.

- Oh, really? – I could not hold it in. If it could not be falsified why was she not freaking out right now? He he.

- Yes, precisely. Please take into consideration that the data displayed on the card is not updated unless a new card is issued when you rank up or if you pay and additional fee at the guild.

I turned towards my slave.

- Remind me to teach you Status Check and the like.

- Mister, and the information? Is everything correct?

- Everything is false. Just kidding. It is alright.

Attendant frowned with three distinct lines forming in the middle of her forehead.

She followed with the quick and concise explanation of the guild system. As expected the work was freelancing, but the guild would occasionally help adventurers.

I signed up for several orientation classes that were scheduled for tomorrow. Today classes have unfortunately already started.

- Would you like to register me as your career advisor?

- Does it cost anything extra?

- No, the pay for the services is already included in the guild taxes from each job. I might squeeze a lot of sweat and blood out of you though.

- Then please do register just that first part.

She scribbled something in a thick book and in a small journal she took out of her pouch.

- From now on you should ask for Lusinda or the clerk number #001. If I do not have any other customers in line you will be processed first.

Yay! Looks like she is new to the job and her queues are short. We won so much.

- What do I owe the guild for the registration?

- I will settle for her – she proclaimed while pointing her delicate finger at Elfin.