A meeting

((Hey there! For anyone who had been reading this and is coming back to see a new chapter getting put it, I redid this whole entire thing, so head back to the beginning and check it out! I think this is more fun, at least for me.))

It didn’t take long, especially down near the docks, it was pretty much the only building that didn’t look like a warehouse, shop, or cheap tavern with rooms for rent. It was tall and made of bright polished white stone, honestly impressive though rather imposing for something trying to maintain this idea of righteous justice.

I walked inside glancing around for a moment, seeing a massive first floor. There was a front desk area where it looked like I could go to register and get information, a large gathering area full of tables many of which were occupied by various parties made of the many races of the Light, a huge notice board that took up an entire wall, and of course a bar.

I instantly started surveying that crowd with God’s Eye, pretty much every table I glanced at was in the single digits for levels, a few parties in the teen so nothing…

What the fuck!?

Except for that table in the corner, that entire party is in the 40s, the lowest being 45, the highest at 49 approaching fifty, what the hell is a party that high doing here? Am I closer to something important than I thought? I was under the impression I was out in the sticks because I didn’t see much besides this river port, but maybe I’m just too used to Modern cityscapes…or maybe there’s something nearby.

There were five of them in total, two humans, a dwarf, and an elf, and the goddesses said Amazons were human but she was probably only a foot shorter than my monster form.

There was one female presenting human wearing lighter armor that appeared to be made of some kind of scales from a monster, she wielded a bow on her back that seemed to shimmer slightly different colors depending on how the light hit it.

The other human was male presenting wearing heavy, full plate armor shining a brilliant silver. He was sitting next to what I can only describe as a shonen-anime-sized war axe and a shield of similar size.

The dwarf was wearing similar armor to the human male, but his weapon was a bar mace that seemed to vibrate as it just sat there on the ground.

The elf was wearing long absolutely beautiful silver and blue robes, holding a staff of what looked like bone topped with a glowing sapphire, she also had a number of rings and earrings that seemed to have their own slight shimmer.

Finally the Amazon, she was tall, absolutely ripped, and muscular, wearing honestly very little ramshackle leather and padded armor pieces and fur, covering maybe 30% of her body. I noticed hanging on her hip two spiked brass knuckles hung from her belt.

Apparently, my gawking didn’t go unnoticed, the girl behind the front desk cleared her throat and waved me over with a smile. She was an elf with bright blue hair and green eyes, wearing a sensible uniform of a white shirt and long red skirt, matched by a red vest.

“Hey there, you seem to be new. I saw you checking out the celebrities rolling through town.” She said with a laugh.

“Yeah, I’m just a bit of a traveler, hoping for a place to stay and some work. I noticed they looked more experienced than most, who are they?”

She seemed surprised and laughed a bit, “Wow must have been in the wilderness for a while. That party trained under the Hero Tomoko Sakurai. Since she defeated the Demon King a few years back she’s been training groups of heroes, this is the first to graduate. They call themselves the Light Sentries.”

Light Sentries…overdramatic much? “That’s incredible, why are they around here?”

“Well, the Hornet Infestation to the north over the mountains has been getting worse. They were sent to investigate. Though with what we saw land in the lone mountain just a day or two walk from here, they may be checking that out too.” She says with some worry.

Fuck.

“Yeah, I saw that too, crazy…now about work and a place to stay?”

“Oh! Of course, if you want I can get you registered and you’ll be given a place to stay and you can join or form a party and start going on quests immediately!” She said with an obvious customer service voice that just brought back some…gross memories.

“That sounds fine to me, how do we do this?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.

“Just give me your name, class, and level then I’ll put you in the All-Record system as a new adventurer.”

“ My name is Caelum, I’m a level one sorcerer.” I’d keep the dual class thing a secret for now. “What’s the All-Record System?”

“Caelum…interesting, I’ve never heard someone have a name straight from a spellcasting language. That means Sky I think, pretty name!” The clerk said as she got writing. “The All-Record System is just an arcane record-keeping system that the Arch-Imago created as a favor for the Hero after they beat the Demon King and started going their separate ways, since the Hero wanted to be involved in Guilds and Citrinas owed her, but didn’t feel like sticking around.”

Good to know my name stands out, why is Latin a spell-casting language in some other world!? Ugh, fine. “Good to know, thank you, Miss…”

She handed me a card with my name and information, and a basic forward-facing picture that I did not pose for. She must have noticed my surprise and just smiled again, “The System does a very low-level surface scan for ID, and my name is Bria.”

Thank fuck it’s low-level. I nod and smile at her with a bit of a wink, “Thank you, Bria.” As I walk away I notice her blushing, seemingly flustered. The perk of having angelic beauty I guess. But what the fuck do I do now? I need to find out if the ‘Light Sentries’ are going to drop by my new home, no WAY I can stop them. How many of those Emanations can I make at a time? Maybe I could swarm them in the field…but defeating a powerful party trained by the Hero herself would certainly constitute a Victory for The Dark even if I’m not actively serving them, they don’t know that yet. That should give me the Status Effect power, I need to know what they are planning.

I walk up to them and smile warmly, trying to infuse the beauty of my new core with any seductive or alluring or friendly power of presence I may have in me. “Hey there, my name is Caelum I’m a new adventurer, would you mind if I tagged along?”