The trip back up to the surface was remarkably quick, they were rushed through several dark subterranean hallways and staircases before stepping out into a grassy field framed by statuary and bushes filled with flowers. The sun was high in the blue sky and only a few tiny whisps of clouds rolled by overhead. Simone let out a breath of relief, it was good to not have something hanging over her head. She glanced back at the others and saw quite the opposite reaction. Steward and Kik looked at the sky curiously, the latter squinting at the clouds and licking it’s lips. Roe gazed around her in wonder and confusion before practically jumping when she saw the sky itself.

“Your friends alright?” Talis asked, having come to a stop when they all made it to the surface.

“Just been underground for a while apparently,” Simone said, rubbing her neck, “We all just met up pretty much so I don’t know a whole lot about them.”

“Speaking of which, you gotta tell me how you got into the catacombs,” Talis pressed, grinning ear to ear.

“Wish I could, I fell down into these tunnels and then after some wandering ended up in the catacombs with the wall shutting behind me,” She said, doing her best to be as honest as possible without giving away too much. She didn’t know this guy well enough to give anything away that might end up some how incriminating her. Especially with the way the soldiers were looking at her. It felt like making it sound like an accident was a better way of going about things. “Crazy dangerous down there, barely made it out alive.”

Talis raised an eyebrow, “Huh, you are one unlucky person, you know that? Or really lucky, I was just up in the palace for security duty when the alarm went off.”

He let the point hang in the air as he glanced over at the soldiers who were still eyeing her with suspicion. She swallowed, taking his meaning to heart. Was he trying to say that she owed him a bit more information than what she was giving away? If so, that didn’t exactly help his case as far as trusting him was concerned. She didn’t know a damn thing about how all of this worked but the pretty bald-faced racism was enough to tell her that the humans weren’t exactly the good guys in all this either. Still, at least he was trying.

“Come on, we got a bit of a ways to go. You can wear this for now,” He said and held out his hand. An elegant looking satchel appeared in his palm and after a moment a hat popped into the air out of nowhere. He was definitely in the same kind of situation as her. He took the hat and set it on her head, initiating a prompt.

You have acquired: [Cap of the Mountebank]

This hat changes your appearance with a verbal command. Touch the rim of the hat and name the race you would like to simulate. This effect lasts for one hour or until the hat is removed, whichever is sooner. This effect may not be used again until the next dawn.

She was about to ask why an upstanding citizen like himself needed an item like this but decided not to think too hard about it at the moment, best not chase away a gift. She cleared her throat and grabbed the rim of the hat, “Human,” she said. She felt something wash over her skin and a moment later the human soldiers were gaping at her. She turned and looked to the others, putting her hands on her hips. “How do I look?”

Roe squinted at her and then frowned, “Honestly? I preferred the other look.”

Kik stared at the hat, “Kik wants that hat.”

Steward kept quiet which was probably for the best given how jumpy the humans were. Taking Roe’s words as a compliment and keeping a close eye on Kik she nodded to Talis who sighed dramatically and gestured forward, urging them to follow him.

The Capital City of Katal, named after the kingdom itself, was ludicrously big for what Simone had assumed was a medieval sort of city. Then again, she really didn’t know how big cities were back in those times back home so there wasn’t really a frame of reference to go off of. Even so, there were so many people. Citizens came and went from shops, houses, and even what looked like factories of some sort. The buildings themselves were tall and pressed tightly together with roofs all framed by multicolored tiling. Violets, greens, reds, even pinks. Given how uniform most of the buildings were built it seemed like the colors were the sole way of showing some kind of individuality.

Even so, the thing that jumped out most to her were the posters placed all over the sides of buildings. Images of men in women with impressive gear and bright smiles. Most of the messages on the posters said things like “Yazel wants you to support your local Adventurer!” or “Morga the Bright Light Adventurer!”

“Adventurers are pretty big around here, aren’t they?” Simone asked.

“You could say that,” Talis said, “After we started showing up five years ago, the Kingdom integrated us into the way things worked pretty quickly, thanks to the Archduke.”

Simone glanced at Roe who was lost in thought. The woman had been dazed since the namedrop of the Demon Lord back in the catacombs, only coming out for a quip or a small comment now and then. She seemed utterly unfazed by the odd looks that she was getting from passersby. A few people even pointed in her direction and whispered to one another. Simone frowned, she worried a little if she was going to be okay and promised herself she’d check up once they had a moment of privacy. She canted her head to the right thoughtfully, “So the Archduke is our ally?”

“He’s been on board with Adventurers since the very beginning, apparently. I got here three years ago so I don’t know all the details but I’ve had the opportunity to meet him a few times. Bertrand is pretty alright in my opinion,” Talis said, scratching his arms and rounding a tight corner before stepping into a wide street. “Here we are.”

Simone ground to a stop, what she thought at first was yet another street of crammed together buildings was in fact one humongous building stretching down an entire street before terminating at a culdesac. Looming over the circle of pavement at the end was a five story tall building with a pair of massive doors leading into the structure. Talis made a dramatic flourish and stepped in front of Simone, gesturing to the place.

“Welcome to the Guild hall!” He crowed before standing up straight and nodding to the soldiers, “You guys can head back, I got it from here.”

The men looked at one another irritably before sizing Simone up and leaving. Simone rubbed her neck and glanced at Talis, “I’m going to get a lot of that, aren’t I?”

“Until you get one of these,” He said, reaching up and gesturing to the pin of a sword and staff on his lapel, “Yeah, probably. You’re the first to pick an Azar that I know of but plenty of us have picked other races so the humans are starting to get used to it. I picked Elf, but I also managed to snag myself an Aspect that gives me Illusory powers so I pass myself off as a human most of the time,” He said offhandedly.

“What does that take?” Simone asked, “Getting one of those pins.”

“Just gotta register, sync up your journal, and meet one of the brass. Easy peasy,” He said, resting his hands on his hips. “I’m kinda excited to see what comes of it myself.”

He turned and kept walking before she could ask him what he meant. Instead, she hurried after him as he made a brisk pace towards the doors. “Hey, wait a minute!”

He ignored her, whistling to himself as they passed a small group of individuals who were talking amongst themselves around a set of open journals of varying qualities. Another group were sitting next to a building and rolling dice, one of them with a pile of gold coins next to them. There were orcs, elves, dwarves, and humans all present and accounted for among those gathered. All of them wearing pins on their clothing in one way or another. It boggled the mind. All of these people were from Earth? All of them had died in some way or another and come to this new world? She rubbed her head and felt a headache coming on as they stepped into the entry hall.

It looked like a bank, with almost a dozen booths manned by all sorts of people. More groups of adventurers were crowded around the booths, exchanging money and what looked like slips of paper. Talis hurried over to one booth and leaned against it, waving for her to follow.

“I don’t like this, something feels off,” Roe murmured.

“What’s this guy so excited about?” Simone agreed.

“Kik think he smiles too much,” Kik rumbled.

Simone rolled her jaw and let out a breath, patience, she had to be patient. She made her way over to the counter where an elven woman who was very much not wearing one of the pins smiled brightly up at her. She pushed a small tablet of stone forward that was emblazoned with a glowing cross.

“Talis told me all about your situation, welcome! It’s been a while since we had a new person register after being in the wild for as long as you have. Please put your Journal here so it can start connecting to the Journal Network, then we can get started!” She said with all the energy of a flight attendant.

Simone blinked, she looked up at Talis, “My journal?”

“Gotta get you all synced up, I’m really curious about what yours picked up while you were down there. Maybe we can get a bit of insight about your friends!” He said with just the faintest amount of flint in his tone.

Simone froze.

Shit.