I looked at the city from a distance, only able to see the wall that seemed to cover the entire city, the roofs of some tall buildings, and the columns of smoke rising from the chimneys. I stood there alone, contemplating what to do. I hadn't thought much about it, but I wasn't sure if going into the city was a good idea; literally the first person I met there tried to kill me.

I genuinely considered returning to the witch's cabin and living there, but that also had its risks. First, there were the monsters - if what Aurelia said was true, it was thanks to her that there were few of them. And secondly, there were THE GOBLINS. I don't remember anything about my family, friends, and a good part of my life, but among what I do remember are several series, anime, and manga I read, and the goblin I saw reminded me too much of those from an anime.

"To hell with it, I'd rather face whatever is in that city than those green bastards."

...

After organizing some things, like putting my knife and a few coins of each type in the ring, I began to walk towards the city. After a few minutes, I saw an entrance with two guards on each side of the gate. I used analysis on them.

{
Soldier Level 12
}
{
Soldier Level 9
}

Both seemed young men, maybe in their early twenties. Both noticed me walking towards the gate, but besides looking at me, they didn't do anything. When I got to about five meters (16.4042 feet), one of them spoke.

"What's your business in the city?"

"I'm here to stay," I said, recalling the cover story I had created.

"And are you coming alone from the forest, miss?" questioned the other guard.

"I come from another city on the outskirts of the forest. Simply walking alongside the forest saved me a lot of time." I crossed my fingers at this point; I genuinely didn't know if there was another city near the forest.

"By any chance, did you encounter a monster on your way, especially a goblin?"

"Just some squirrels."

"Oh, then you've been lucky. Lately, several goblins have been appearing in the forest, and many people have gone missing. May the gods have mercy on them," he said the last part with a grimace.

"Do you have any identification with you?" Damn.

"...No."

"Then it's five coppers to enter." I internally sighed with relief at not having any more trouble entering. I took five copper coins from my ring and handed them to the guard. As I gave the coins to the guard, I saw him looking at my ring with slightly widened eyes, but he quickly averted his gaze. Maybe dimensional rings aren't as common as I thought.

"Alright, you may enter. Anything else you need help with?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Can you tell me where the adventurers' guild is?"

"Sure, just enter and keep walking straight towards the center of town, and it'll be there," he said, pointing with his hand towards the city.

"Thank you," I replied as I walked towards the city.

{
Mission: (Path to Civilization) Completed
}

The system notification appeared just as I passed through the gate. I wanted to check the rewards for the mission and also remembered that I hadn't looked at the reward for the hidden mission, but it would be suspicious to stop halfway and right after asking for directions, so I left it for later.

I looked around. The first thing that stood out was the people; while most were humans, there were also some I could identify as elves by their long ears, dwarves by their stature and beard, and what I think were beastmen of different types, like wolves, bears, tigers, etc.

The houses and buildings seemed to be made of wood, unlike the road, which appeared to be entirely made of rocks. There were stalls along the street at random intervals selling various things from food to jewelry.

I kept walking while looking around with curiosity, from soldiers patrolling to children playing. I admit that everything is more peaceful than I thought it would be. After a couple of minutes of walking, I came across a circular plaza with a statue of a man in armor raising a sword towards the sky. I began to look at the buildings around the park when my gaze stopped at the sign of one of them. On the sign was the image of the head of some kind of horned reptile with a sword stuck between its horns, and below it said "Adventurers' Guild". I guess that's where I have to go.

The door of the guild was one of those you see in cowboy movies, a double door without any handles. From the outside, I could hear a lot of noise. Upon entering, I was hit by a strong smell of sweat and alcohol. There were many people sitting at tables, eating or talking. On my way here, I had seen many people who were not soldiers with armor and weapons, but everyone here had armor and weapons of all kinds. Some had metal armor, others leather or cloth, swords, maces, bows, spears, even a woman had a whip.

I looked to the back and saw what I assumed was the reception. There were several separate booths where there were quite beautiful women, I have to admit, but no men, all wearing a green skirt suit with a black and white headband. I walked towards one of the women who seemed not to be busy.

As I walked, no one bothered me, at most they just glanced at me before going back to whatever they were doing. The receptionist, upon seeing me walking towards her, gave me a smile and when I arrived she said, "Welcome to the Erestwood Adventurers' Guild, how can I help you?"

"I would like to register as an adventurer."

The receptionist's eyes widened a bit at my response, but she quickly replied, "Of course, I just need you to follow me to a separate room to ask you some questions."

She gestured with her hand towards a door, and I walked towards it, the receptionist and I entered. In the room, there was a table with a white sphere in the center on top of a purple pillow, there were 4 chairs on each side of the table, and there was no other decoration in the room except for another door at the opposite end from where we entered.

The receptionist sat at the table and I sat across from her. She placed a clipboard on the table and said, "To start, are you an otherworlder?"

I quickly responded, "No."

The sphere in the center of the table glowed red. The receptionist opened her eyes and mouth wide, but then composed herself and said with a trembling voice, "P-please wait here."

She left through the door opposite to the one we entered. I stared at the door for a few seconds before saying, "Shit."