"We can see it... The ports in the view!" I Shouted out in excitement
Ariel quietly stared at the scene with enthusiasm
It's been a week since we started the journey. Throughout this journey we encountered bandits a wolf pack, and we got to see many different types of animal. Now we've finally arrived, at the port of Atlas.
David who had been focused on the trip let out a laugh and spoke up "Welcome to the port of atlas, thank you for protecting me on the trip both of you. I don't think i would have been able to survive the bandit raid alone."
"Yeah, of course not, no one can escape our grasps." Said the bandit leader who was tied up on the carriage
"Oh you woke up? Alright then, let's go back to sleep" I said with a smile on my face as I hand chopped the side of his neck with magic strengthening
The bandit leader who had recently woke up went back to sleep
"It's fine, we both benefited from it after all. If it wasn't for you, i would've still been stuck on that kingdom. Plus you taught be how to butcher, we even got wolf pelt and the bandit leader."
"Y-Yeah.." Said david with a dumbfounded expression as he saw the bandit leader get handled by a kid
We had now finally arrived at the gate of the port which was in view.
"ID?" Asked the gatekeeper
Gabriel presented his merchant card to the gatekeeper who then he looked at us
I handed my adventurer's card to the gatekeeper and so did Ariel.
"The fee?" Asked the keeper
Fee? There's a fee for entering a kingdom? Of course there is, how much is it?
"How much?" I asked
"5 silver each" He replied
And there goes the reward we got from escorting david
I handed him the coins and he allowed us through.
"So that;s why no one was escorting you. You were just paying their fee. Unless they actually had a need to come here, they wouldn't." I said as i gave him a disappointed look
David who saw this, tilted his head to avoid my gaze
"Well that's fine isn't it? Dave taught us a lot of things and we can go sell the pelt in the adventurer's guild to make some money right? So no need to get so upset, cheer up okay?" Said Ariel
Seeing her stand up for dave was so cute.. Wait, who's dave? I only know a guy names David
"Thanks Ariel.." Said david
"Ariel.. You shouldn't spoil him too much.. Otherwise, he'll just do it again and it will end up in no one accepting and him reaching his deadline."
"Yes..." She said with a saddened expression
"B-But that's fine.. I suppose i can let it go for now.." I replied
"Mn! Thank you!" Said ariel as she grabbed on to my hand
"Well then, don't forget this is only the port. You'll have to pay a fee to go to the main city by boat, so don't waste too much time or money exploring the port. The city is much bigger and prettier"
"Sure, consider it a bonus." He replied
"No i'll think of it more as what you owe us." I said
Without getting off the carriage, david took us through the port. It was much, much smaller than the kingdom, but have many facilities. The port was also connected to the sea so the view was beautiful.
"It smells so like the ocean, the breeze is so fresh." I said as the carriage continued to head to the guild
"O-cean?" Ariel asked
"You haven't seen the ocean before?" I asked
"No.. I've always lived in that kingdom.. My uncle told me the ocean was full of water, and that you couldn't drink it." She said
I might actually tear up
"Your uncle was right, the ocean is full of water and it's undrinkable. Most people love playing and swimming in the ocean" i replied
"Swimming?" She asked
"Yeah, swimming. It's really fun, but if you can't swim you might drown."
"Mn.. Uncle told me about it.. I want to go swimming but i don't know how, so i might drown" She said with a saddened expression
"Hm? Don't think to hard on it, Swimming is easy to learn, especially for someone as smart as you. I'll teach you how to swim and i won't let you drown" I said with a confident demeanour
"Yes! Thank you!" She excitedly said as her eyes lit up
"Sorry to interrupt, but we've finally arrived at the guild."
"Ah thanks"
Ariel carried half the wolf pelt while i carried the other half and dragged the bandit leader inside. Before heading in, me and ariel turned around to thank David. "Thank you, david! Make sure next time we meet you aren't being much of a cheapskate! Stay safe!" i said as i waved at him
"Stay safe! Thank you for all the help david!" Ariel said as she waved at him
"Yeah! I'll try not to be much of a cheapskate anymore, thank you too kids, make sure you stay safe!" said david as he left with the carriage
"What a weird guy.. But he was a good person." I said
"Yes!" Ariel replied
We headed in, and were instantly amazed. The adventurers which were here were actually young. Not young as in our age, but some of them were teens while others were young adults.
"Finally!" I said as we walked in
As we walked in, most of the peoples gazes and attention were gathered to us
"Hey, Ariel... Aren't we standing out.. a bit too much?" I quietly asked
...
"Um, ariel?" I asked
Ariel who wasn't used to all the attention froze up
As me and ariel stood still, we could hear some of the mumbles of the adventurers
"Those kids, took out all of those wolves?" Whispered a random adventure
"Hey, look at the guy that the kid is dragging, isn't he a bandit?" Whispered another random adventure
Standing out is hard... We might not be able to find a party at this rate..
I let go of the Bandit leader tied to a rope, and grabbed on to Ariel's hand
"Let's go submit this pelt in" I said
"Y-Yes.." Replied ariel
I held on to her hand with one hand and carried the pelt on the other as i guided her to the receptionist
"Um receptionist, we'd like to exchange this wolf pelt for money."
"Wha- Y-Yes of course, just to be clear, you kids hunted the wolves to get this much pelt alone?"
"Actually it was just jo-"
"Yeah it was the two of us. We got lucky." I replied as i interrupted Ariel
I don't want to draw too much attention, to myself
"Ariel can you wait here, while i go get the bandit leader?" I asked
"Yes! I'm fine now, i was just surprised since we didn't really get much attention in the old guild." She replied
"I'm glad that you're fine" I said before heading back to get the bandit leader
After i got him, i dragged him to the receptionist and kindly said. "Um, this man is the leader of one of the bandits we fought, does he have any value?"
The Receptionist gave me a puzzled look as if she didn't know what to do.
"You guys didn't steal all of this pelt from anyone, right? And i need to check to see if he has a bounty."
"Yes. We hunted wolves during our trip here and were raided by a small group of bandits. This is their leader, he might have a bounty as he seemed experienced."
"I see.. I'll check his identity and see if there's any bounties on him. Also i'll check how much this pelt is worth, Also where are the rest of your party members?" She asked
"It's only us 2?" I replied
"What!?" She shouted out which resulted in more attention being gathered at our backs
Darn.. Now we're standing out even more.. Come on guys it's just wolves and a bandit leader, it's nothing that ba- okay nevermind.
"That's not good! You should try to find at least a 3rd member. This guild is full of people near your age group so just find someone you can trust. Okay!?" She said before heading off to one of the rooms with the bandit and wolf pelt.
"O-Okay, we'll find someone. Thank you for your help." I replied
The receptionist paced back and forth to pick up the remaining pelt and take it to a separate room
"Hey you, duel me."
I turned to the source of the voice and found a young looking girl, she had moderately long silver hair and deep silver eyes, she wore a robe and a pointy hat on her hair. Sort of like the ones you see on witches.
"W- What did you sa-"
"Duel me." She interrupted
"But why?" I asked
"I want to see if you're strong enough for me to join your party." She said
"Who said anything about you joi-"
Before i could finish what i was going to say, one of the adventurer's in the background spoke up "Guys! The kid who brought the bandit just got challenged to a duel!"
"What? More importantly, how did you hear that?! You're on the other side of the room!?!"
"What we're going to see a duel!? Aight Everybody let's go outside and watch!!"
The adventurers began to cheer
"Darn.. Now there's no way i can decline..Fine, i accept the duel."
"He accepted the duel!!" Said the same adventurer who heard me from the other side of the room
The adventurers let out another cheer
"Aren't these guys a little too excited to watch kids fight?" I asked
"Kids? I'll have you know i'm already an adult! I turned 15 this year" Said the the silver haired challenger
"Oh sorry, do they always do this when there's a duel?" I asked
"Every adventurer's guild does, it's normal." She replied
Ariel who had been quiet this whole time, decided to speak up
"Why do you want to duel john?" She said with an annoyed face
"Well i overheard you talking to receptionist, she said you should find party members so, i was planning on joining your party as a condition if i won."
"That's the reason.. You could have just asked! I would've let you join either way!" I shouted
"R-Really!? T-Then, Thank you for allowing me to join, my name is Serena Valeriana, i'm a mage. Thanks for having me on board." She said as she bowed
"The pleasure's all mine. My name is John and this is Ariel. We're both mages" I said as i bowed
Oi.. I got caught up in the moment.. No matter how you look at it, isn't this moving too fast!?
"Either way, I believe we should still have that duel, we'll be able to understand more about each other's abilities." Serena Suggested
"Yeah you have a point. Besides i don't think the audience wants to wait any longer. Very well, this will also show people that i'm not weak."
"John.. Wait a minute.. Aren't things moving too fast!?" said Ariel
So you thought so too ..
"Yeah, but we needed a third member, anyways, so i don't really mind."
"But.. You could have at least asked me for my opinion.. We're partners after all.." She said with puffed up cheeks
"You're right.. Sorry. Um serena.. I forgot to consult with my party member, whether or not she would mind you joining so let's set up new conditions."
"Alright, i understand." She replied
"If you win, you join our party, or we can join your party. Whatever you want. If I win, Ariel will decide whether or not you can join us. Sorry"
"It's fine.. I was the one to rush it all, so it's my fault. Very well, i agree to the conditions. If i win, i'll join your party" She said with a slightly saddened expression
"Very well, then it's decided. Let's just wait for the receptionist to come back."
After a few minutes, the receptionist came back with a box
"Uhm, for the wolf pelt, you were given 10 Gold coins as they were in perfect condition and there were at least enough pelt worth 20 wolves which is 50 silver each. This box also holds 55 Gold coins, the bounty on the Bandit leader you brought in. He confirmed that it was indeed you who beat him. So there are no issues."
Both Serena and Ariel looked shocked at the amount of gold In the box. At the same time i could feel a few evil gazes fall on my back.
They never learn.. The receptionist handed me the box and i showed a confused expression
"Um receptionist, This Box is the size of a pencil case.. does it really have all those coins?" I asked
"John.. That's not a normal box.." Said Serena
"What?" I asked
"Oh my, is this your first time seeing a Magic Tool Box? While it looks small, it's only so that it can be easily transported. While it indeed is small, inside can fit anything as long as the space doesn't exceed 10 cubic meters. All your gold is in there, all you need to do is open and pull it out. If you don't believe me you could check it right now."
"No, it's fine. You're trustworthy, and if i were to take everything out now, that would grab too much attention. Thank you very much for the reward. Also, how were you able to get information on the bandit? He wasn't willing to talk when i asked him."
The receptionist gave me a cold smile as she said. "The guild has it's ways."
I'm never picking a fight with receptionists...
"Well then..." I said as i turned around to look at the people adventurers which stood before me
Some of them stood up and were waiting near the entrance for me and Serena to have our duel, while the remaining ones ignored it and looked like they were just relaxing. I could tell just by looking that these guys were strong.
Unlike the young adventurers who were excited to see a fight, these guys remained composed and diligent. I respect people like them.
But i guess that just proves that every adventurer is unique. They're not like the ones you see in fairy tails and they're not all Buff men. Some of the ones here are swordsman teens around 16-18 years of age, while others look like mages and tanks in their 20s and 30s.
Honestly, they look a lot more motivated than the adventurers of Halfaust though. I wonder how diverse the adventurers in Atlas will be.. I can't wait to find out!
"Let's head to our duel, Shall we?" I Said before heading to the entrance.
Man.. So many things that i could never expect are happening. I'm so glad i became an adventurer!