Shin came out of Tsuki no Hokora and crossed the woods until he was in front of the ramparts and started to walk along it. Since he didn’t know which way the town entrance was, he went along with his feeling. He somehow knew that he would reach the town entrance sooner or later if he just walked while following the ramparts.
Shin thought as he saw the ramparts again. Because【Analyze】 was originally a skill to see the details of players and monsters, he didn’t know much about its magic bestowal beyond skill level Ⅴ. But from Tiera’s story, all skills were valuable and he could guess that there were excellent skill successors out there.
After walking for around 15 minutes, he could see a line formed in front of the rampart. It seemed like there was a town gate nearby.
And there were various people wearing all kinds of clothes. Furthermore, there was a human boy who wore tattered clothing, a female beast equipped with an armor and a dwarf who was accompanied by a small dragon. The person who wore a robe might be a magician, and the guy with a big wagon might be a merchant. Shin looked around while seeing the line moving slowly. Since all players in the game had a neat appearance (though there were some people who dressed in strange clothes), Shin was astonished by the scenery.
A soldier who was equipped with an armor just like a townsguard, was checking something like an identification card. Besides that, they also checked the luggage in the wagon briefly. Shin walked straight to the gate since he had a letter of introduction from Tiera.
About 20 mels from the gate, a guard noticed Shin who wasn’t waiting in line, and Shin had a suspicious look on his face.
One of the guards approached Shin as he was about 10 mels from the gate.
Said the guard, while pointing at the end of the line. The line was so long that the end of the line couldn’t be seen.
He took out the letter of introduction from Item Box, while pretending to take it out from his chest pocket.
The guard took the letter from Shin, looked at the contents, and revealed a shocked look. Not to mention, his hands were trembling afterward.
Shin didn’t know why the guard was surprised, or what were the effects of a letter of introduction from Tsuki no Hokora.
He was even worried about the guard whose hands were trembling.
At the same time, Shin saw a horse that was 1.5 times bigger than a normal horse, stopped at the front gate.
While Shin was looking at the horse, the guard returned.
The guard’s manners changed completely and he became very polite. It was so sudden that it felt out of place.
The road was opened for them while Shin felt stares from the people in the line. Besides that, the place was filled with people and several large wagons going in and out. Along the edge of the street, there were various stalls standing in a row, selling things like food, armor, accessories, strange items, and so on.
Another guard talked to Shin. It seemed like he took over the task of the guard who spoke to Shin previously.
Shin didn’t mean to act big just because he got the letter of introduction by chance. Meanwhile, the guard with the guide’s role, mixed up the formal and informal tone in his speech.
Shin was formerly a student. He wasn’t accustomed by an older man using honorifics toward him.
Beid laughed after saying that. He gave an impression of a bear because of his brown hair and beard. According to 【Analyze • Ⅹ】, Beid was level 100. It was said that the strongest knight was level 158, so Shin couldn’t judge whether Beid was strong or not.
Even though he intended to go to the adventurers’ guild, he didn’t remember saying it to the guard. But then he recalled where he had asked Tiera for any good places to gather information.
For some reason he was surprised.
It seemed the letter of introduction was a rather big deal around here.
Shin murmured as he regretted not knowing this awesome stuff earlier. Actually, he thought it was just a simple border pass. If Beid’s story was true, it was only natural that the guards were surprised.
Shin who just realized it, tried to get it back. But as Shin made a U-turn, he was stopped by Beid.
Shin unconsciously gave Beid a thumbs-up. Shin’s original image of him as a crude person was instantly erased, giving him a better impression of Beid.
Shin then placed the letter of introduction in the 『Important Things』 zone in the Item Box. This zone had an anti-theft function attached . Skills like 【Steal】 or 【Robbery】 were not effective in this zone, so Shin didn’t have to worry about it getting stolen or robbed.
Shin didn’t know that Tiera had another elf as acquaintance, yet he firmly memorized her name.
As the matter of the introduction letter was settled, Shin heard Beid’s explanation about the town.
“The south commercial district, as said just now, generally has everything you need like foods, items, miscellaneous goods and so forth. The guilds are in the east district. Many headquarters of guilds are located there, such as adventurers’ guild, merchants guild, blacksmiths guild and so on.
Beid hesitated as he talked about the north district. Shin had an idea about it, so he asked Beid daringly.
Beid advised Shin with a bitter expression.
However, it was not only this country, but most big countries also have such places.
Meanwhile, Shin observed the town situation as he listened to Beid. In the commercial district, various people were coming and going, Shin saw a man with an appearance of an adventurer. The man was carrying a large sword and wore a full body armor.
Shin was excited and almost called out to him , especially after he saw the man was carrying a Dragon Sword. Beid said it was a weapon from an island country called ‘Hinomoto’, which is in the east of the continent.
In the meantime, Shin arrived at the adventurers’ guild. The building was larger than the neighboring building, and had a signboard with a sword and a spear crossed were painted. Somehow, this was the representation of the adventurers’ guild.
Shin went into the adventurers’ guild building after seeing off Beid who lightly waved his hand.
He opened the guild’s door and entered.
From the entrance door, the receptionist desk could be seen on the right side, and the bar on the left side. At the center hall, there was a bulletin board which had many requests posted on it.
Since rowdy NPCs often hung around in adventurers’ guilds when he played the game, Shin had that image when entering the guild. Nevertheless, no garbage could be seen on the floor, nor adventurers shouting at each other, nor glares from other adventurers.
It was merely a group of adventurers who had just finished their tasks and were having a toast. The bar seemed to be just a normal bar.
Shin went straight toward the receptionist desk, even though he felt hungry after seeing the bar.
The beautiful woman who was the receptionist greeted Shin as he approached. She had light brown hair that reached her shoulders. Apparently, the reception desk of guilds were always filled with beautiful women.
There was also a tall man with a height of about 2 mels and scars on his face next to the receptionist. It goes without saying, Shin casually detoured to the woman’s side at the reception.
He voiced his gratitude and went up the stairs. Without stopping, Shin was thinking that there was no such procedure during the game. Then he saw the second room and entered it.
Shin approached the desk on the middle, as there were only three desks.
He replied to the receptionist with a bewildered look. Shin was confused, as the receptionist’s face and that of the receptionist below, were like two peas in a pod. The only difference was that this receptionist had her hair in a ponytail.
He took out one J silver coin from Item Box. Shin thought it looked a little unnatural since he took it out from his chest, but Cilica received the coin without any suspicion.
In the document, there were entries to be filled up such as name, race, main weapon, able to use magic or not, and so on.
Since there was an entry for place of birth, Shin just had to skip it, because he was not from this world. The race was filled as a human just in case.
Main weapon was sword, able to use magic, and because there was entry for age, one year of the death game was added in his true age, so he wrote down as 21 years old.
It was a bit late to bring it up now, but the document was written in Japanese. The spoken language was Japanese, so it was only natural that it was also being used in the document. Shin was thankful because of it. He was worried in the beginning, as he thought it would be written with characters like wriggling earthworms.
After that, he gave the document to Cilica, and she just skimmed it through. She was probably checking if it was incomplete.
“Then the document is complete. Next, please drip one drop of blood on this card.
Cilica handed Shin a needle and a silver card.
Shin pricked the tip of his finger and dripped the blood on the card. The card didn’t reject the blood and absorbed it like a sponge.
It seemed that he would need to wait until tomorrow before receiving his card.
Shin asked since he was interested. The maximum number of people in a party was six people during the game.
It seemed that the number of party members remained unchanged. However, the request (it was called Quest in the game) for further numbers of people seemed different from the game, there was no joint work or multiple parties.
‘The management seemed to lack of efficiency. But since the information network wasn’t developed, it couldn’t be helped’, Shin thought.
The explanation from Cilica lasted for about 20 minutes. Even if Shin heard everything, he could not memorize all of it.
Cilica executed a graceful bow, and Shin left the counter.
Shin went down the stairs and spoke with the receptionist who guided him before.
Shin followed Celica’s gaze after she said that. It was the figure of a new adventurer, who left the guild while tilting his head. He was the person next to Shin when he received an explanation earlier.
Shin momentarily felt the pressure from Celica’s smile. As a matter of fact, Shin probably thought it was troublesome to pay attention to it.
Shin asked as he just recalled what Beid said to him. However, the big man next to Celica threw a glance at Shin a couple of times for some reason. Shin’s intuition was sounding alarms, but he decided to ignore it for now.
There were only two people (Celica and the big man) in the receptionist desk. Shin wanted to say ‘Miss’ before the receptionist, but was unable to, due to the big man next to Celica.
Apparently, Shin got the wrong timing. Since she was an adventurer, she might not always here.
Shin was hoping for a better luck tomorrow.
Celica bowed slightly and then Shin headed to the bar. He hadn’t eaten since he was transported to this world.
There were several guests in the bar besides the group of adventurers before. The average level was around 90.
Shin found a seat in a less crowded area. He then read the menu. Although the menu was written in Japanese, he didn’t understand what kind of dish would be served, so he just asked for today’s recommended set.
Shin turned around and faced the waitress. He didn’t know why the waitress knew his name, then he saw the waitress’s face.
It was Celica with whom he just parted a while ago.
That’s not normal…Shin wanted to retort. It had only been 3 minutes since he left the receptionist desk, and then Celica appeared. He couldn’t help but think it was impossible.
After a while, a dish was served which consisted of a steak with a thickness of about 3 cemels, a salad of raw vegetables, and a soup. It was not a dish that could be cooked in a short time.
In the meantime, no one seemed to go to the receptionist desk since Celica left, so only the big man was there. Shin could sympathize with the adventurers who were taking requests at this time.
Shin said so and started eating. For some reason, Celica settled herself on the seat in front of Shin.
It couldn’t be helped, but it was uncomfortable to eat while being stared at.
Anyway, the dish was delicious, especially the steak. The salad had a pleasant texture, the stewed chicken meat was crispy and the soup was quite good.
However, the situation was quite uncomfortable. He couldn’t enjoy his meal.
It seemed that she didn’t want to leave.
She just replied with a smile. She said not to mind her, but Shin still felt uncomfortable.
Still, Shin thought he was being made fun of.
Shin said so, and Celica answered in a lowered voice.
Shin only heard the words ‘letter of introduction’, and he could understand. Apparently, this was more important than Shin thought.
Shin said that as a joke, however Celica had become silent unexpectedly. In addition, he could felt her gaze wander around.
From her firm voice, Shin could confirm that it was the truth. He felt disheartened, as he had to meet the highest authority in the guild on his first day.
He secretly sighed, because it was an abnormal event to meet a guild master on his first day after coming to this world.
Celica looked behind Shin after she said that.
The guild master was there behind Shin.
Shin knew there was someone behind him, but he didn’t think it was the guild master. He turned around reluctantly, and regretted his futile decision.
The person who stood behind Shin was an unexpected person.
It was the big man from the receptionist desk who just talked and laughed.
It was the big man who was throwing glances at Shin.
It was the big man who made Shin’s intuition send warning signs.
In other words, it was the big man.
He was surprised that he used an informal tone unconsciously.
The big man, who was said to be the guild master, talked with a smile.
Apparently, Barlux was the name of the guild master. Speaking of guild master, Shin was surprised as he imagined a person of old age. The guild master’s appearance looked like a man in his late 30s to early 40s. There was a big scar on his face, if combined with his large stature, he gave of the feeling of intimidation right away. Despite that, he had this friendly smile which reduced the intimidating feeling by half.
Yet, his level was 228, the highest level he had seen in this world.
Barlux went back to his room after he said that.
Shin talked based on the images he had in games and novels.
“I understand your thought. What Shin-sama said is not entirely wrong. In fact, most of the guild masters in other cities are elderly persons. Nevertheless, Barlux-sama is a former S rank adventurer, so his experience and connections are not inferior to the other guild masters.
Shin was still ignorant about this world’s common sense, but he could still imagine that the road to rank S wasn’t easy. If viewed from that level, that person would be considered a guild master.
He finished his meal while thinking about such things.
At the same time, he felt glances from everywhere after the appearance of the guild master. And then, he proceeded to the reception desk, guided by Celica.
There were rooms behind the reception desk, the room which Shin was guided to had complete furniture for a guest such as sofa, table, desk and bookshelf. Although Shin didn’t know its price, it gave the impression of first-class goods.
When Shin entered the room, Barlux shook Shin’s hand while he introduced himself.
Shin could feel that the hand he shook was stiff and rugged, and it was definitely powerful.
Shin sat on the sofa while Celica served tea on the table.
The letter of introduction was taken out from Item Box, and he gave it to Barlux. At the same time, Barlux placed another paper on the table. Then, a pattern of a crescent moon that was drawn on the center of the letter, shined in silver.
From Barlux’s explanation, it seemed to be the method of confirmation for the letter of introduction. And it appeared to be impossible to produce an imitation, as it would be found out right away.
Although he was astonished at the unexpected function, Shin couldn’t help but think that he should had gotten an explanation when he received it.
Barlux said as he laughed.
And it was true that something outstanding happened to Tiera, like a more than 100 years old curse was dispelled.
Still, were the eyes for people acquired through the wisdom of age?
As Shin thought about age, dread chilled up his spine.
The smiling face of Tiera with a background of flames came into his mind.
Because he had a bad premonition, he stopped thinking about it.
Said Barlux as he corrected his posture. It looked like this would be where the main subject would start.
There was no doubt that what Beid was saying before was true. Although he didn’t talk about the guild or the information.
It could be misused for terrorism, smuggling of dangerous material, assassination and so on. Judging from a criminal’s and a crime syndicate’s viewpoint, they would desire it very badly.
Shin was thinking. With this letter of introduction, there would be advantages and disadvantages.
As for the advantages, it would become easier for him to cross the countries. And he could obtain trust from the country easily.
However, the disadvantage would be the danger from getting targeted of certain individuals or organizations.
At least, the advantages were indispensable for Shin. At the time of explanation of the guild by Cilica, he heard that entry to every country would become relatively easy if he had a guild card.
However, he considered that there was a difference in a moment of peril, and that there should be one that could strongly guarantee his identity in the case of an emergency.
There was also a demerit, as he was already known to the guards when he came to the town, and also to the people who were lining up at the southern gate. Besides, he was already known to the guild. He didn’t know the extent of protection of confidential information here, even if it was already exposed. Rather, it would be better if he acted just like normal.
From Tiera’s story, only a few people have an Item Box. In the 『Important Things』, even members of ‘Rokuten’ could not remove items he placed inside.
Although he didn’t have any way to confirm it.
He concluded after thinking about it for a while.
After all, he had decided on the answer before he thought about the issue of advantages and disadvantages.
Some might think that what Shin was doing was reckless and dangerous, but unfortunately, Shin’s life was targeted a lot. Shin obtained experiences that could deal with assassination and surprise attacks from surviving one year in THE NEW GATE, which had turned into a death game.
Even though his true intention was that he didn’t want to destroy the letter.
That was the guild master’s view, it seemed. That person could not be made light of.
Indeed, he was a former S rank. He seemed to possess the ability to see through other’s capability, even if he didn’t have the skills.
It appeared that Barlux said that not just out of curiosity.
He might need to confirm it not only as a person, but also for the guild, as the expectation of ability correlates to some degree if the level was known.
Barlux raised one eyebrow after hearing Shin’s level. As expected from the guild master, he seemed to know if the level was too low.
Even though he didn’t want to say it smoothly because he heard the No. 2 was level 158, he was unable to deceive him.
Still, Shin didn’t want to admit his true level. He just added 50 levels to what he declared earlier.
Barlux visibly showed an impressed smile as Shin told him his level again. Celica, who stood near the wall, unintentionally voiced her amazement.
Shin knew that Barlux was also above level 200, so that should not have surprised him.
Although level 150 seemed to be too low, 200 in contrast, seemed too high.
A strong princess!!! Shin wanted to retort.
Because Barlux said the No. 1 of the country, he thought it might be the king or prince, or even a royal guard, but never a second princess.
It seemed that the strongest in the kingdom wasn’t just for show. The Horn Dragon that went out with Tiera’s story would had been killed if she fought it.
Shin had an unpleasant foreboding about this.
Barlux told him plain and simple. He probably wanted to see Shin’s capability . He knew that it wasn’t necessary to be capable, even if Shin was a high level person.
Shin frowned as his premonition came true.
Because of the glances he received at receptionist desk, he only felt a combative intention from Barlux’s eyes.
But somehow, he ignored Barlux’s intention. Though Shin also wanted to see the capability of a former S rank adventurer.
When it was made public that Shin possessed a letter of introduction, Shin had to show that he had the capabilities to protect it.
He arrived at a room about the same size as the one earlier after following Barlux. There was no furniture in the room, only a crystal about the size of a soccer ball, floating in the center of the room.
It resembled the transition point Shin often saw during the game.
Apparently, the transition point seemed intact. It could be used by touching the crystal and saying the location.
Subsequently, they arrived in a place that had a considerable area like a Colosseum. It had a resting place, a training area inside the plaza, and an audience seating, except there were currently no adventurers around.
It appeared that Shin didn’t have to worry about his surroundings. It was a great help, since Shin didn’t want to stand out.
As he said that, Barlux’s whole body was wrapped with blue light. The light disappeared after one second, and Barlux was equipped with light blue armor and gauntlets. The light blue armor appeared to be much thinner the a common light armor, it seemed to emphasize the easiness of movement. On the contrary, the gauntlets were heavy blue armor, that covered the fingers to the elbows.
It seemed that the equipment items for the arm showed a glove of Japanese style, the displayed gauntlet was of Western style. It might not be a significant difference, but there were slight additional bonuses for glove to AGI and gauntlet to VIT. The purpose of Barlux in wearing gauntlets might be to compensate for the thin armor.
According to 【Analyze】, Barlux’s job was, not surprisingly, a fist fighter. Shin was more surprised by the sudden equip of the armor and gauntlets, like a transformation hero.
In THE NEW GATE, the armor and gauntlets were equipped in the same way, too. The light formed and materialized after that. The reason was so it could perfectly fit into the avatar’s physique. Hence, this is why Shin had been avoiding wearing armor like Barlux, because it was flashy.
He had nothing to say about Barlux’s equipment scene, as it was a common scene anyway.
Shin didn’t have anything particularly to be equipped. To some extent, he wouldn’t use weapons since he understood the power of his opponent to some degree.
In an instant, Barlux’s figure became blurry. Though the distances between the two of them was about 10 mels, he closed up to 5 mels in a blink and charged towards Shin.
If Shin had been without the bonus speed he obtained from Human reincarnation, he would lose against the equipment’ speed.
The sound of wind cutting could be heard as they unleashed their fists towards each other. Barlux’s equipment was confirmed.
Light armor 【Light Blue Crystal Armor】 and gauntlet【Blue Fang Gauntlet】, Shin thought. It was definitely not a mistake, as Shin had sold both of them in the store before.
Barlux said, while frowning, as he unleashed his fists to Shin, but Shin eluded them.
【Light Blue Crystal Armor】 was a rare armor with high AGI.
And the 【Blue Fang Gauntlet】 was a special unique weapon with high offensive power. It was made from the raw material of a unique monster of Lv. 600 named Blue Mitt Hound. 【Blue Fang Gauntlet】 was often equipped by high level players that used bare hands martial arts.
Barlux momentarily stopped his vigorous attack and distanced himself from Shin. He was talking while smiling wryly, but his eyes remained sharp to ascertain Shin’s next move.
Whereas, Shin didn’t actively attack the distanced Barlux, because he was wary about the ability of the gauntlet.
Besides high offensive power, its other ability was【When defending an attack using the gauntlet, the attacker receives 1/10 of his attack damage】. But there was a limitation in the gauntlet, it would only execute this ability if the wearer’s STR values was 100 or more, higher than the opponent’s.
Shin was watching the【Blue Fang Gauntlet】 and noticed the effect wasn’t activated.
Shin was not in the mood to respond to the guild master’s talks.
While they were exchanging banter, Shin was thinking what to do next.
What he understood from the earlier fight, was that Barlux was a bare handed type. Although his range of attack was short, Barlux’s bare handed style excelled in attack speed, and the attack speed would rise with the effect from 【Light Blue Crystal Armor】. Therefore making it more difficult to defeat him.
He checked his skills and took a stance.
Barlux reacted to his movement, but Shin stepped forward quicker.
Shin left an afterimage after dashing towards Barlux. His steps shattered the soil as Shin jumped onto the air.
In one breath, the distance of his right hand reached the target. Because it was an attack without a feint, Barlux reflexively defended with his gauntlet.
On the verge of his fist hitting the gauntlet, Shin changed the direction of his momentum and executed a sweep kick with his left leg.
Though Barlux tried to reduce the damage by moving to the left, his reaction was delayed by Shin’s fist.
As a result, Barlux flew into the air.
【Blue Fang Gauntlet】 effects didn’t activate, because Shin didn’t hit it directly, so he didn’t have to worry about his damage being reflected.
Shin gripped Barlux’s gauntlet, which was defenseless now, and used the martial art skill 【Willow Throw】.
【Willow Throw】 was a technique of super low damage for capturing monster. So Shin didn’t have to worry about Barlux receiving fatal wounds. He used the skill without any hesitation.
The body of Barlux was thrown in the air and slammed onto the ground almost instantly. And then, Shin locked Barlux’s joint so he could not move.
After confirming that Barlux couldn’t move, Shin asked. The match would not end quickly if they had the same stats.
Barlux stood up and extended his right hand to Shin.
Shin nodded and returned his handshake. Although it should be the same hand, Shin felt somewhat different.
Be it one individual or a guild, Barlux didn’t seem to have any trouble lending power personally.
Returning into the room with the transition point, Celica who waited, welcomed the two of them by giving them potions.
Shin tried to refuse at first because he was unhurt, but decided to get it as Barlux insisted he take it.
After separating from Barlux, Shin walked to the passage to return to the guild hall with Celica.
Because they were walking silently, Celica brought up the match with Barlux as the topic. He was a little anxious because the match ended quicker than the desired time.
Shin sighed, as he promised not to repeat the situation where he would fight with a guild master in the future. While walking with Celica, a warrior with a level about 200 passed by them.
High level adventurers often wore an intimidating atmosphere, different from a commoner’s. Even for Celica, who, because of her job, had met a lot of them, she still unconsciously would get tense. However, no such presence could be felt from Shin. Rather, Celica felt something like a sense of security.
Celica was thinking about such things as the two of them arrived at the hall.
Shin asked while lowering his head a little. He felt ashamed because he couldn’t differentiate between the good or bad inns in the area. But he didn’t want to stay in the poor quality inns from day one.
Though Shin had a slight uneasiness about the word ‘Bear’, he believed that it would be all right, because Celica recommended it to him.
After expressing his gratitude to Celica, he exited the guild’s building.
Then, Shin began to walk leisurely towards the inn.