(Nox) “Ow, ow, ow, it hurts.”

That is how I woke up this time… I feel bad for Nox but… PUSH

(Nox) “OW!!!”

Maybe that was a bit too harsh… at least he’s not hugging me anymore, right?

(Stella) (You OK?)

(Nox) “Of course not!!! I just forced myself into a space tunnel only meant for one person!!!”

OK… I have no idea what he’s talking about.

(Stella) (What happened? Where are we?)

I look up and see trees, lots of trees.

(Nox) “Iter happened. God of space that likes playing pranks. He sent us through a space tunnel to... wherever this is.”

(Stella) (Bad thing?) At least I’m not alone. I will never admit this out loud.

(Nox) “Yes and no. Normally you would just be sent here early, I doubt he would send you to some random dimension, but I tried to drag you out and got pulled in… The whole tunnel got messed up because of that.”

(Stella) (Lots of pain?)

(Nox) “It must have hurt, right. I tried to take all the force but you probably still got hit by some of the force… sorry.”

I just realized this now but… how can I understand what he’s saying?

(Stella) (Nox, are you speaking English?)

(Nox) “What? Oh, no, I’m using magic to have people hear what I’m saying in whatever language they understand the most. Think of it as reverse telepathy. Don’t worry about talking to people, we will be able to understand the language after a while. Your telepathy will auto translate here like it did back home.”

(Stella) (Your home.)

(Nox) “You might as well think of it as your home too. Mom seems to want to keep you as a new daughter.”

That’s not even close to a good joke… Wait, he’s not smiling… is he serious?

(Nox) “Come on, let’s get up and find a town. Unless you want to stay here until a monster finds us?”

(Stella) (Monster?)

(Nox) “Yes, monster. Anywhere domains are strong enough, ambient mana either creates or mutates creatures and things into monsters. So, let’s get going before we get ambushed or something.”

I thought monsters were jokes to add funny names to food in the god world… then again, there was an orthos at the pet shop… that was real? Will we be ok?

(Stella) (Nox, are you strong?)

(Nox) “Why are you asking this now? Worried? My physique is like a normal humans but I can use magic and fight with a weapon well enough.”

I wonder what weapon he uses? I don’t see one on him… as for magic… do I want to see a death god use magic?

Will we be ok? Important things need to be said 3 times… will we be ok?

(Nox) “Let’s get up already. I doubt Iter would put us in the middle of nowhere, so there has to be a town, or at least a village, nearby.”

(Stella) (Still hurt?)

(Nox) “No, just a bit sore. I’ll be fine in a few hours.”

He says as he gets up before taking my hand and helping me to my feet.

(Nox) “Besides, we need to get you some clothes.”

WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?

I look down to see a white dress… S-safe…

Then I punched him as hard as I could.

(Nox) “HAHAHAHAHA!!!”

(Stella) (Stop laughing you jerk!!!)

He starts running away… If I don’t chase him I’ll be alone in a forest that has monsters in it…

I am sooo going to hit him again when I catch up!

And we ran. Well, he ran, I chased… until we found a road and saw people. I’ve never seen a horse before, let alone a horse carriage. This group has 6 carriages and, I think, 20 horses.

(Guard like guy) “Halt! State your business!”

I hide behind Nox, who I finally caught up too, and punch him in the back in a way the guard guy can’t see. The skills you pick up over a short lifetime. *Sigh*

(Nox) “We came from a small village and got lost in these woods. Is there a town nearby?”

(Guard like guy) *Damn peasants* “Just follow the road for 2 hours in the direction we’re going towards. You’ll get to 32nd town if you go straight or 18nth town after a week if you take the branching path.”

So, telepathy has it's downsides, I can hear even whispers of insults… is peasant an insult? Still, this guy is probably an actual knight or something to say peasants like that.

(Pretty female voice) “Rodric, why don’t you invite them for a ride. I would love some company for the rest of the trip.”

And somehow we got invited for a ride. I look towards Nox because I have no idea what to do. On Earth, I would refuse immediately if I was offered a ride but… this isn’t Earth.

(Nox) “We would appreciate the help.”

(Rodric) “Lady Ele-”

(Lady Ele-) “Rodric.”

(Rodric) “Understood. You, get on with the miss, and you get on one of the other carts.”

He pointed at me first then at Nox. I look at Nox again, I am kinda mute after all… it may be intentional but I don’t want to talk to people like them at all. Using telepathy will defeat the purpose of that…

(Nox) “My friend here is mute. Is it possible for us to stay together?”

He says towards the ladies carriage. The knight guard guy looks at us like we were some devil's advocate or something. Wait, I am with the god of death… does that count?

As I was thinking weird stuff, they started talking.

(Lady Ele-) “I don’t mind. Please come aboard. I would love to hear the story about how you ended up lost in these woods.”

Good thing I don’t need to talk. I can make up a lie or 2 but… how am I supposed to coordinate a lie with someone else?

So we both get on the ladies carriage under the scary glare of the mean guard. As the carriages start moving, Nox makes up a believable story.

(Nox) “So, it goes like this; while on a small road on the way to town, a monster appeared suddenly and our group got split up in the chaos. I grabbed my friend's hand and we ran in a random direction until we couldn’t move anymore. After we rested up a bit, we walked to find a road and ran into you.”

(Lady Ele-) “Great story... now tell me the truth.”

Poker face... poker face...

(Nox) “That is the truth, believe it or not.”

(Lady Ele-) “Your clothes are too clean, not to mention that the material is not something a peasant can afford. You don’t smell of sweat, let alone blood. And you are too calm for someone who claims to have nearly lost their life.”

She's got you there Nox. But those loopholes are easy to fix… but fixing them may give away the lie. Why is lying so complicated?

(Nox) “Your basis is on us being peasants.”

(Lady Ele-) “Are you saying you are not?”

(Nox) “I’m saying that you are jumping to conclusions without understanding the whole situation. Well, I’m also saying that, even though you were kind to us, I don’t need to justify myself to you.”

(Lady Ele-) “Alright, you win. However, I still wish for you to help me relieve my boredom… I know, let’s play a game. Mute girl, you can play this one too.”

… Mute girl… even if we haven’t told you our names, can’t you think of something less insulting to the actually disabled.

(Lady Ele-) “This game is simple, we each take 3 cards from this deck. Here take it.”

She shoves some cards into my hand… wait, aren’t these tarot cards. Fortune, Magician, Star… is this practically my life lately… I wonder if Nox got the death card.

(Lady Ele-) “Then, we each pick one of the others cards. I’ll take one of mute girls.”

Ah- she took my magician… Nox took one of her cards and I took one of Nox’s. The world card… I don’t know much about tarot but I don’t think this is how you play.

(Lady Ele-) “Next, we make a story about the cards. Mute girl, try your best to tell the story, it should be possible for you.”

She’s making fun of me right?

(Lady Ele-) “You can’t speak to tell the story in this game so I thought this would work best.”

She is definitely making fun of me.

(Lady Ele-) “All you need to do is guess the cards based on the story. Then I’ll go first to demonstrate.”

Half an hour later, I was free from the torment of entertaining a noble… for some reason, I get the feeling that she didn’t like me.

(Lady Ele-) “Then, kind sir, I hope we meet again.”

She definitely doesn’t like me, to the point of no longer acknowledging my existence. After she dropped us off at the gate of the town, she left. I wonder why she didn’t bring us through the gate? Are we that suspicious?

(Guard) “Please show your ID or guild card.”

(Nox) “We were told by our village headman to come to town to get our guild card.”

(Guard) “Orphans?”

(Nox) “Yes sir.”

(Guard) “Fine. All non-residents without ID must wear this bracelet. If you do not obtain an ID or exit town within 3 days you will be heavily fined and barred from entering town.”

Harsh…

(Guard) “If you cannot pay the fine, you will be sold into slavery as a debt slave.”

Now I don’t even want to stay here… and this guy is saying that like it’s something normal.

(Nox) “W-well be careful…”

So we put on the bracelets and went into town. Well, the harsh policy is definitely working. There are no homeless or ragged children on the streets, at least not on the main street or in the nearby alleyways.

So this is another worlds town… I explored the town in Nox’s home but that was much more modern, like an urban district. This place, on the other hand, looks like a typical medieval fantasy town. Stone roads and wood houses. Looks like the houses farther up the road are made of brick though.

(Nox) “What should we do first… probably get an ID, I don’t want to forget about it while looking at the different shops.”

(Stella) (Let’s go to the guild tomorrow. I want to explore this worlds town today.)

(Nox) “...”

(Stella) (What?)

(Nox) “I think that’s the most you’ve said since the day we met.”

(Stella) (Should I talk less?)

(Nox) “No, no, please talk more.”

(???) “Hey, you 2 look new in town.”

In the middle of our conversation, a strange guy with bright red hair suddenly shows up behind us.

(Nox) “Yeah, just got here. We came to get our guild cards.”

(Redhead) “I see… then I suggest getting them as soon as possible. I don’t know how much money you have but you can save some of it by sleeping in the guild. Ah, this is limited to those who registered within the month. Think of it as the guilds way of helping new kids. Well, if you have money then it’s better to use an inn.”

(Nox) “No, thank you very much. I completely forgot about our money issue.”

(Redhead) “No worries, I was the same when I got to town. Come on, I’ll lead you to the guild.”

(Stella) (How did he know we were new?)

(Nox) “How did you guess we were new in town?”

(Redhead) “Those bracelets are something everyone knows about, and it’s my job to find and lead newcomers like you to the guild. Now, let's go.”

15 minutes later, and we are in front of a huge building.

(Redhead) “This is the adventurer's guild. Remember to tell the receptionist your circumstances when you register.”

(Nox) “Thank you again for the help.”

(Redhead) “No worries, I actually do get paid to do this. HEY LAYLA!!!.”

Up ahead at the desk, a woman with light blue hair who’s in her mid 20’s looks over to us.

(Layla) “Zack, you're back early today.”

Is it my imagination, or do people just not introduce themselves in this world? Why am I only hearing his name now?

(Zack) “Of course I’m back, can’t you see this fine fresh meat behind me?”

(Layla) *Sigh* “That old joke again… don’t worry about what he just said, Zack is just trying to trick you like he was when he first joined.”

(Zack) “No fair! You didn’t help me back then, why are you helping them now?”

(Layla) “Because that’s a girl your trying to scare away. Let’s start over… Hi, my name is Layla. What can I do for you today?”

Well, I am mute so why are you asking me? I look over to Nox.

(Nox) “Hello, I’m Nox and this is Stella. We’re here to register and get these bracelets off.”

(Layla) “In that case, have you ever taken a guild test?”

(Nox) “No.”

(Layla) “Then you will need to take the basic test and fill out these forms.”

She handed us 2 papers to fill out. They didn’t have anything special on them. They had things like name, age, race, current profession. There’s no birthplace… I guess adventurers don't stick around long enough for something like that to matter.

(Layla) “You don’t need to fill in everything, actually just your names are enough. This information will be added to your guild card so many women don't even write their ages. This information can also be updated at any guild so no need to worry about your profession.”

Nox and I just fill out our names and hand back the forms. What else could we do… say Nox is a super old god… and I don’t even know if I’m still human…

(Layla) “All done? You can start your tests tomorrow, as the testing rooms are being used for some rank up exam today. If you don't have a place to stay, feel free to use the resting rooms to the left. Also, we will remove your bracelets after you get your card.”

After she said that she gave Zack a harsh glare.

(Zack) “Y-you said you were tight on money, right? I’ll treat you today, just pay me back when you can.”

(Nox) “We appreciate the help. Do you mind showing us around town before we get something to eat?”

Layla is still glaring at him… is she that scary?

(Zack) “I don't mind at all! Work is over for me today. See you later Layla.”

I think he just got forced into this… how many times has this happened for him to start shaking at a glare?

And so we left the guild.

After wandering the town for a while, we stopped at a vendor stall and ate… BBQ duel horned bull? Apparently, this is a common monster in a nearby plain. Something even an E-Rank adventurer can take down… We’ll get the rank explanation tomorrow when we get the guild card it seems.

After that, we walked back to the guild, said our goodbyes, and went to sleep in the guilds restrooms… not toilets, do not get them confused, like a certain someone… Layla told me some stories when we got back.

Nox also insisted to sleep next to me for my protection… I get that this room is open to anyone but… Wait, he didn't give me a choice… Whatever, I’m going to bed.

Good night.