After completing his first quest, Ace felt an intense degree of exhaustion, so the two rested up at a nearby inn.

---

It was now the next day and Ace and Aliza stood in front of the guild counter to receive the reward for finishing the quest.

Aliza was conversing with the clerk, her voice lacking emotion to not draw attention to herself...

“We’ve completed our quest.”

The same female demihuman resembling a dog stood at the counter, her voice cheery as she spoke to her clients...

“May I have the items?”

Aliza pulled the three Toriel cores out of her pouch and handed them to the clerk.

“Thank you very much! The reward for this quest was 10 Felo, I’ll be giving your reward now.”

She said as she pulled out a silver coin with the number 10 printed on it and handed it to Aliza.

“Thank you.”

Aliza started to leave the guild, Ace following behind.

Before they left, the clerk called out to them.

“Umm! Before you leave, would you like to confirm your rank with the guild?”

Aliza turned around, looking back at the clerk.

She walked back up to the counter and nodded her head.

“Yes, please. Not for me, but for my friend.”

She stuck her hand out in front of Ace, who has been silent up until now.

“That is fine. May I ask if you have your status plate with you?”

Ace had all his status plate information in his head, so he nodded back at the clerk.

“May I ask your level?”

“Sure, one second.”

Ace closed his eyes to open his menu.

361 Days

11:22 AM

Level

Map

Support

Skills

He focused on the word “level”, to see the number 5 on the left side of the bar. The bar itself was about four-fifths filled, indicating that he was close to reaching 6.

“I’m level 5.”

“Ah--!”

Aliza jumped a little when Ace stated his level, but she didn’t get the chance to talk, as the clerk was the first one to speak up.

“Thank you.”

“That would place you at rank E.”

“...?”

Ace didn’t know there was a ranking system at the guild, so he was surprised to hear that he already made it to one of the ranks by beating just 3 Toriel.

“Is there a chart of the ranks and what level you have to be for each one?”

“Yes. Here you go.”

The clerk handed Ace a piece of paper with a table on it, stating the different ranks and the level you had to be for each one.

The bottom rank was Unranked, with a level of 1-2.

After that was F, from 3-4.

E, from 5-8.

D, from 9-12.

C, from 13-16.

B, from 17-19.

A, from 20-24.

AA, from 25-49

S, from 50-74.

SS, from 75-99.

SSS, for anyone at 100 or higher.

Ace scanned the paper, then looked to Aliza.

“What rank are you?”

“I haven’t checked in a while, let me ask the clerk.”

She looked to the clerk.

“May I get a level check please?”

“Of course, follow me to the back room.”

The clerk showed them to the back room, then placed the status plate looking machine on the table.

“Please place your hand on top of the machine.”

Aliza put her hand onto the machine and the magic circle on top started to light up, presenting information to the clerk after a few seconds.

“It seems you are level 17.”

“Thank you.”

Ace scanned the paper once again and confirmed her rank.

“You’re B rank, how long did you say that you’ve been adventuring?”

“Around 2 years, why?”

“I’m already level 5 after defeating a few Toriel, so I was wonderi--”

“SIR?! You are level 5 after only defeating a few Toriel?!”

“Gh--!”

The clerk jolted out of her seat and slammed her hands on the table, scaring Ace as she jumped.

“That is insane!”

Ace looked at Aliza, shooting her a look that said, “Is it really that crazy?”

“It is that crazy. Most people would still be at level 1 with their bar only about a quarter filled.”

The clerk chimed back in, continuing her shock.

“Why have you been growing at such a fast pace?! Is there anything different that separates you from other people?!”

“Haha... nothing I can think of...”

The clerk realized that she was making her client a little uncomfortable...

“Oh! I’m sorry, I should’ve been a little more composed... I’ve just never experienced this before.”

“It’s fine, I guess anyone would be shocked.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing different about you? I really have never seen someone level up this fast.”

“Yeah... I can’t think of anything, sorry...”

He did know the reason, but he felt like it was a better idea to keep it hidden.

“Sorry, may I ask one more thing?”

Ace hesitated, thinking that it may not be good for her to ask more questions...

“One more is fine.”

But he gave in, remembering that she treated him nicely when she found out he was human.

“Thank you. Now, I would just like to ask...”

The clerk jumped in front of Ace’s face and had a slightly annoyed expression on her face.

“What have you been doing all your life?!”

“If you can level up this fast and, you look to be around 16... you should be a much higher level!”

Ace jumped back as the clerk drew closer...

“Ummm... I guess I only recently decided to be an adventurer... so I haven’t properly trained until now... I guess...”

Not knowing if his answer was believable, he shifted his gaze away from the clerk, unable to look her in the eyes as he lied.

“Yes, I’ve known him for a long time, he hasn’t had an interest in adventuring until I pushed him into it.”

Aliza swooped in for the rescue, making up another lie to cover for Ace’s story.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much the gist of it. I’ve just been living with my parents doing nothing until she came to me and told me to start adventuring.”

The clerk drew closer...

“Wait...”

“Even if you weren’t adventuring... your muscles are defined a little, so you must’ve been doing some working out.”

“And with your level boost, you should still be higher than what you are right now.”

Ace didn’t know how to respond... his basketball training was backfiring on him.

“Oh! I get it! This boost must be a recent development!”

The clerk came to her own conclusion as to why Ace isn’t a higher level than he should be.

“Hahaha... yeah... probably...”

Ace went along with her theory, not wanting to be questioned any further.

“Well, the guild is happy to have you! I’m sure you will go on to do great things!”

Ace stood up straight now that he was being greeted into the guild.

“Thank you.”

“Before you leave, may I know your name?”

“Oh, sure, my name is Ace Bracker...

“Can I also have your name? You are the first demihuman to treat me kindly, I want to remember it.”

“...”

“Hehehe...”

The clerk let out a little laugh in front of Ace, her hand covering her mouth as she laughed.

“Umm... Is something funny?”

Ace was confused at what he said that was funny.

“No... it’s just... hehe... I’m a clerk, so I don’t get asked my name too often. I never would’ve expected for you to ask for my name.”

“Oh, I see...”

He stood there, wondering if he was going to get her name...

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t give you my name...”

“It’s Mila, Mila Betano.”

As she gave her name then continued to let out a small giggle, Ace realized that he never took a proper look at her.

After everything that happened on his first night here, he unconsciously drove the faces of demihumans away from his mind, not wanting to know what they looked like or any other features about them.

She was the first one to get Ace to look at her.

She was a female demihuman with blonde hair and brown eyes. She had an earring on one of her ears and a bracelet on her wrist. She was around Aliza’s height, standing at about 170cm (5’7”) and her face was long, similar to that of a dog’s. The rest of her body was also like a dog’s, being covered in fur and her feet being paws.

Ace made sure to burn her name into his head before responding to her with a smile.

“Mila Betano, that’s a nice name.”

She smiled back, also admiring the name she learned.

“Thank you. Ace Bracker is also a lovely name.”

“...”

The one who stood by silently, started to get a little annoyed.

She stepped forward and made some space between the two, a little force in her separation.

“What’s up with this lovey-dovey feeling you have here?”

“Come on, you know it’s not like that. I only admire Mila for treating me the same as everyone else.”

“It’s the same for me, I see Ace as someone who may become the strongest adventurer ever, so it’s also admiration on my side.”

Mila brought her face close to Aliza’s ear and started to whisper.

“I believe you said you are friends, but are you maybe... hoping for more than that?”

“Huh?!”

Aliza jumped back, her face reddening up exponentially.

Then, she looked to the floor and put her hands together, not wanting to show her face.

“I mean... it’s not like I don’t want that...”

The clerk smiled a little more after hearing Aliza’s extremely cute reaction.

“Hoho... very honest with our feelings, are we?”

Ace, who has been standing around silently this whole time, had no idea what was going on.

“Umm... what is happening right now?”

Aliza, forgetting that Ace was here, started to rush so the topic wouldn’t be pursued.

“Nothing! Nothing at all! Let’s go! We’re done here for today!”

And she started to push Ace out of the room, not leaving any more time for discussion.

“Umm, okay...? Bye Miss Mila, it was nice meeting you.”

“It was nice meeting you also, I hope to see you again one day.”

And they left the guild, Aliza not saying goodbye because of her embarrassment.

--

----

Once they left the guild, they sat at a nearby bench to see where they would go from here.

“I know I said we should take quests for money, but that quest didn’t get us much. I mainly picked that quest because I thought it was going to help you.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. The quest was helpful, it let me see just how weak Toriel really are. If I stayed scared of them forever, I would never get anywhere.”

“Yeah, I was hoping that was how it would go. Now, for the rest of the day, we can look for people who are going to be travelling to the capital and then we can train, or we can just take another quest.”

Ace thought about his options for a second...

“I think we should find someone to travel with first. I don’t think they’ll be leaving right away so we should have some time to take another quest or two.”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same.”

After deciding on what they would do next, Ace stood up and threw his arms into the air, trying to be a little more excited...

“Okay, it’s decided! Let’s go find someone to take us to the capital!”

Seeing his excitement, Aliza also jumped out of her seat and copied Ace, throwing her arms into the air...

“Yeah!”

And the two started to go around town, searching for travelers.

---

Their first stop was the marketplace, a common place for people like merchants to be.

It was still around dawn, so the two avoided places like bars, as they would have a better chance of finding people there at night.

“Okay, let’s go to shops that merchants would visit, like shops that are selling valuables.”

Ace agreed with her suggestion and they made their way around the marketplace, searching for certain features that a merchant would have, like a good ability to bargain or shopping at stores that sells items that appeal to merchants.

They walked for a few minutes, looking around as they walked.

“--!”

Someone caught Aliza’s eye as they scouted.

She started moving towards the store where the man stood, a shop that sold magical items and jewelry.

She observed the man as she made her way up to the store, checking different aspects such as what he was wearing, what items he was interested in, and how she could appeal to him if he was a merchant.

She stepped up to the store and immediately asked the owner about an item.

“Excuse me, how much are you selling this one for?”

She didn’t care what the item did or how much it was sold for.

She saw that the man was eyeing the item, so she asked about it.

“Hoho, you have a good eye little lady.”

The man, a demihuman resembling a mouse who looked around 50 years old, spoke up to Aliza as she inquired about the item.

“My eyes caught a glimpse of it as I was walking by, it dragged me in. What about you, sir? It looks like you also have your eye on this item, how will we solve this problem?”

“You asked about the price first... I’ll let it go, as a favor to you, little lady.”

Aliza was a little shocked at how fast he gave up. Maybe she was wrong, and he wasn’t a merchant, is what she thought to herself.

The man started to walk away...

“Wait...!”

Aliza called out to the man who had already given up on the item.

He turned around to face Aliza.

“By any chance, are you a merchant?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

That confirmed her suspicions, now to check if he was going to be travelling anytime soon.

“Will you be travelling anywhere in the next few days?”

The man looked a little confused at the questions that he was being asked.

“Yes, I will be, may I ask why?”

“Me and my friend have been wanting to go to the capital. Would you be willing to take us? I will give up on this item. Also, we will pay you and we can act as guards on your way.”

“Hahaha, if that was what you wanted, why didn’t you just ask from the start?”

“I’m sorry, I was going to try to use the item as a bargaining chip. I don’t actually know what it does, I only saw you eyeing it.”

“Haha, I see. Well, I won’t be travelling to the capital, but I am going in that direction. I’m willing to take you and your friend.”

Aliza felt relief after hearing those words. She thought she lost the chance when he became uninterested in the item.

“Thank you very much.”

The man started to look around and focused on Ace, who has been standing by, letting Aliza handle the negotiating.

“Is this your friend?”

“Yes, his name is Ace Bracker, and I am Aliza Runer.”

Ace now spoke up, also wanting to introduce himself.

“Hello, I am Ace Bracker, Aliza’s friend. Thank you for letting us come with you.”

The man smiled at Ace and introduced himself to the two of them.

“My name is Firut Legot. Glad to be working with you...”

“Is what I would like to say, but first, can you two come with me?”

The two friends looked at each other in confusion, but they didn’t have any time to think, as Mr. Legot was already walking away.

They started to follow him for a few seconds, before he turned into an alleyway.

Once they took a few steps into the alleyway, Mr. Legot turned around and looked at the two.

“Can I ask you two to take off your hoods?”

“---!”

Both of them jumped back in surprise, not thinking that they would have to remove their hoods.

“I can see that you two are a little hesitant to, but I need to have a trusting relationship if you two are going to be my guards. How do I know you won’t take my goods and run away?”

He was definitely being the logical one here. Who would want to work with someone when you can’t even see their face?

But their circumstances couldn’t let them take off their hoods. If they did... consider the deal cancelled.

--Wait...

Aliza thought to herself...

Why did he bring us to the alley?

He could’ve asked them to take their hoods off in front of the store.

Wy did he go through the trouble of bringing them to a secluded area?

She thought to herself once again, but there was only one thing she could think of...

“Do you already know about us?”

He gave a small, nervous smile as she asked him if she already knew about their identities.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to confirm it.”

After hearing his response, the next to speak was Ace.

“Why? Don’t demihumans hate humans? Why are you being considerate?”

Mr. Legot put on another nervous smile and placed his hand on his head, rubbing it.

“Haha... I’m a little on the older side... so I’ve been around before the war, when things were a little more on the peaceful side.”

“I have human friends who I would never treat harshly, so I won’t treat all the other humans who have done nothing wrong harshly.”

“Ah...”

Ace let out a noise hearing the old man’s response.

After meeting Mila and then Mr. Legot, Ace started to feel lucky.

What were the chances of meeting another person who would be nice to them?

The first thing Ace did after hearing his words were the same as when he discovered Mila...

“Thank you.”

“I’m grateful for you treating us kindly.”

Mr. Legot backed up and felt a little embarrassed.

“Haha... there’s no need for that.”

Ace then took off his hood to reveal his face to the merchant.

Seeing Ace take off his cover, Aliza followed behind, doing the same.

“Oh wow, what a handsome young man and pretty young lady.”

The two also started to get a little embarrassed hearing his words.

“Now I can say it. Glad to be working with you.”

And he stretched his hand out, wanting to confirm it with a handshake.

Ace was the first one to firmly grab his hand, affirming the partnership.

Mr. Legot then reached his hand out to Aliza, wanting to confirm it with her also.

Aliza grabbed his hand and shook it firmly, affirming the partnership between them.

After she shook his hand, he two travelers looked at each other and then back at Mr. Legot...

“Glad to be working with you.”

They said in unison, finalizing the cooperation agreement and the mission to find a merchant.