A few miles away from where Arima met the kidnapped elves.

 

Lifa was currently fighting a pack of big gray wolves. She was wrapped in a sort of shield made out of wind magic and was fighting by casting air blades like the ones she used against Arima. Occasionally, she would also conjure a wind sword and counter-attack. She was moving quite casually during the whole combat.

 

The difference in strength was obvious although the wolves appeared quite strong since they could use fire magic. Lifa soon subjugated the last wolf and relaxed a bit but then hurriedly looked up at the sky. The spirits were telling her that something was approaching and she took cover.

 

The more she waited, the more Lifa could see what was approaching. After a minute, she already looked dumbfounded. The two creatures, flying with four children on their back, stunned her. She recognized the elves, and one girl in particular.

 

"Layra?" Lifa pronounced a name and got out of her cover.

 

"Princess!" The same girl spotted Lifa and shouted.

 

The griffins landed a minute later and the elves stood on the ground. Lifa rushed to one of the girls and hugged her. "Layra! You're okay? What happened? And what are they?" Lifa asked the older girl and pointed at the griffins.

 

"Princess! We have been saved by a human before they could sell us,” she answered with a brightened expression. “These magic beasts are his work."

 

"What? Who was it?" Lifa thought of something and asked. The girl named Layra hastily explained her encounter with Arima.

 

"He talked about me? Then, he must be…!" Lifa was interrupted by the arrival of a small bird that flew beside them and landed on the head of a griffin. It was a falcon.

 

"Layra, is this also the work of that man?"

 

Layra nodded. "Yes, he said he used it to find you."

 

"As she said," someone's voice suddenly resounded and Lifa looked around her with widened eyes.

 

The voice laughed. "It's me. Over here."

 

Lifa looked at the falcon. "It's you? Arimane?"

 

"Arimane…?" Layra whispered.

 

"Yeah, I'm talking to you through this bird. I'll make it quick. Are those the kids you asked me to save?"

 

"Yes… they are. And I certainly have to thank you for freeing them. I never expected you to find them so quickly."

 

"It was just a coincidence. This apart, I am more surprised by your status.”

 

"Oh, naturally. It's not really something I would tell someone I just met, please excuse me."

 

"No, it's nothing. I understand that. What I would want to know is why a princess like you is here trying to find kidnapped children alone. But it's not my business anyway. I'll let you go now."

 

"I see, then let's meet again. I owe you. If you ever come to the Alliance you will be welcomed," Lifa said and smiled.

 

"Sure, see you. [Dispello] (Dispel)," Arima released his magic and the griffins vanished along with the bird in a beautiful show of black sparks.

 

"This kind of magic, I've never seen it before. It’s not that easy to summon magic beasts… but these seem to be made purely out of elemental magic… who is he?" Lifa looked attentively at the vanishing beasts and couldn't help but wonder

 

What would she think if she knew that he learned that magic an hour after he met her?

 

“Arimane...”

 

Lifa heard Layra whispering and looked at her confusedly. “What’s wrong? Do you recognize his name?”

 

“Well...” Layra mused. “It’s just that I read a similar name in a book once.”

 

“A book? What did it say?”

 

“If I remember correctly, ‘Arimane’ is a variant of ‘Ahriman’. Said to be responsible for material creation, he is the father of illusion and error, of cosmic falsehood, the deceptive spirit, the spirit of Darkness, Evil, and Death...”

 

Lifa shuddered. She glanced at where the magic beasts had disappeared. ‘This name should just be a coincidence... But what is this feeling of foredoom?’

 

***

 

Arima finally arrived at the town that was in his head thanks to Azes. He was now waiting for his turn to enter the town; Ridia. His turn soon came and a middle-aged soldier spoke to him.

 

"If you have papers to attest your identity then go, if you don't, pay five silvers."

 

‘This is quite a lax system…’ Arima thought handing the five silvers to the guard.

 

Based on the knowledge he received, this world’s currency would be referenced like this when compared to his world:

 

10 coppers => 1 silver = 1 USD;

100 silver => 1 gold = 100 USD;

100 gold => 1 white-silver = 10 000 USD;

100 white-silver => 1 shining-gold = 1 000 000 USD;

 

The white-silvers and shining-golds are commonly used by nobles. Almost every commoner would never see a white silver in his lifetime.

 

At that time, Arima possessed, without the jewels and precious stones, 38 coppers, 376 silvers, and 20 gold and you could say it was equivalent to 2 379 dollars and 80 cents.

 

‘It seems that those bandits did some pillaging along with kidnapping. Were they actually somewhat strong? Or maybe that mage used some sort of concealing magic…’ he thought.

 

He wandered in the streets whilst observing the new environment.

 

‘It's an old design but it's clean. The order is good too. It would correspond to the medieval period but in contrast, it's peaceful and safer here. Perhaps magic makes it more likable and comfortable and pushes aside science. Pretty classic.’

 

The first thing Arima wanted to do was register at the guild, the infamous organization. In fact, it was just a gathering of mercenaries. All sorts of people give tasks to the guild in exchange for money. It can be hunting, killing, cleaning, gathering, and helping with essentially anything.

 

The good thing was that the more a mercenary is strong or famous, the bigger his notoriety would be. So, it meant that more tasks would be given personally to him, and generally, good ones. Usually, they're only called mercs. There’s nothing such as ‘adventurers’ or ‘quests’.

 

Arima wanted to register to assure his status in this world. It's also what Azes proposed him to do. As he was walking through the alleys and avenues, he kept looking around. It was lively but the more he looked the more his expression darkened.

 

‘Why are people so good looking in this world?’

 

The people there, whether it was a man or a woman, looked good. When he found someone more or less normal, in the thousand or so people he observed, he sighed in relief.

 

And so, after a bit of difficulty, Arima finally found the guild branch of this town. Around where the guild was situated, one could find all sorts of shops. Inn's, weapon shops, blacksmith's, armor shops, clothing shops…

 

Arima entered the guild and found himself in a hall filled with receptions. Strangely, there wasn't a lot of people. Just a few persons who were calmly conversing at the receptions. But Arima could hear a great number of people on the second floor. He walked to one of the receptions and the woman behind greeted him with a smile.

 

"Welcome to the guild, for what purpose are you here?"

 

"To register."

 

"Alright, please fill this document," the receptionist handed a document and Arima eyed the content.

 

‘As I thought, even the words are in English. Maybe a gift from the old man,’ he grabbed a pen and filled the questions. The document comported a lot of miscellaneous questions, but the important ones were these:

 

Name: Arimane Blade Age: 25 Combat techniques: Magic Swordsman Experience in a fight or any type of subjugation: Yes

 

Arima handed back the file to the receptionist and she read it quickly. About his age, of course, he couldn't write his real one, so he provided an age matching more or less his current body.

 

"Good, Arimane is it? Do you wish to undergo the ranking test?"

 

"Yeah, I'll do that."

 

"Then follow me please." The woman left the reception and headed to a door located at the side of the hall. When they passed the door, they stepped inside a big training area. The whole area was at least 250 square meters and the roof was high up to around five meters.

 

"Space magic?" Arima let out unconsciously. He had a similar impression when he’d use his storage magic and clearly, the place was too big.

 

"Yes, you noticed well. This room was enlarged with a spatial magic-tool created by one of the founders of the guild," she explained.

 

"I see…" He looked around and spotted a dozen people training and sparring. The receptionist called one of the men training and he ran toward them.

 

"You called me, Maria?"

 

"Yes, I want you to test this person," she pointed at Arima. "His name is Arimane Blade. And Arimane, this person is Jeil, he is a B-rank merc," Maria introduced them to each other with a smile.

 

"Nice to meet you," Jeil greeted.

 

"Likewise," Arima responded.

 

"Then let's begin. You’ll fight again Jeil to determine your rank. If you lose, Jeil will decide your rank. If it's a draw then you'll be ranked B, and if you win then it will either be A or B, depending on your performance," Maria explained.

 

"I understand," Arima followed Jeil to the center of the training area and they stood ten meters apart from each other.

 

"Ready?" Jeil inquired whilst drawing his one-handed sword.

 

"Yes," Arima took out Karma out of nowhere which surprised a bit his opponent.

 

Maria observed the two. "Then ready~? Go!" She announced the beginning of the match.

 

Jeil kicked the ground. "[Acceleration, Hardening]." In less than a second, he had already closed in by more than five meters. In contrast, Arima was still standing motionless, stance less, his sheathed katana in his left hand.

 

‘He won't move?’ Jeil wondered and when he was two meters away from his opponent, he started swinging his sword. Arima chanted a magic at that exact moment.

 

"[Columna Ignis] (Fire pillar)." A big pillar of dark fire emerged from the ground, enveloping Arima and sending Jeil flying away after blocking his blade.

 

‘What?!’ Jeil didn't take much damage but was surprised by the knockback. ‘A mage? No, a magic swordsman?’

 

Arima didn't stop there. "[Deinde – Eruptio] (Next – Eruption)." The pillar of fire divided itself into ten fireballs, static in the air. Arima flicked his fingers and the fireballs flew toward Jeil.

 

"Seriously? [Acceleration, Second Tier Reinforcing]," Jeil buffed himself and tried to slash the fireballs. He was moving extremely quickly to defend against the ten attacks at the same time, his sword left afterimages each time he moved. In the end, he cut nine out of ten and was propelled even more into the air by the last one.

 

"[Propero et Lunam Gradus] (Speed up -and- Moon Step)." Arima finally moved and jumped, leaving a blurry image behind him. Two sounds like wind being generated followed. One could see the air distort at certain places, with a few sparks in addition. That was where he was stepping to advance.

 

He had used a neutral body-enhancing magic to boost his speed, and then lightning magic to create footholds using as a base the principle of electromagnetism. Arima’s knowledge was quite deep and he realized that with a good understanding, not only could you use magic better but you could even surpass what modern science could accomplish. His imagination was quite impressive as well, and it was undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of magic.

 

And so, Arima appeared right above Jeil in mid-air. He gripped his katana and unsheathed it only to half before striking Jeil in the abdomen with the handle.

 

Jeil was sent flying and crashed on the ground.

 

"Tch," he clicked his tongue and stood up in a second. Arima then fell down and struck him with Karma. Jeil parried the strike with his sword, and used his free hand to push the blade. That clash dispersed the cloud of dust formed by his fall.

 

"[Strengthening. Physical charge, Volc]!" He shouted while Arima continued to attack him with combos. His sword gained a red luster and his skin turned rocky and flushed. The two exchanged blows for ten seconds. Fire was erupting with every clash, with sparks flying around and the sound of steel vibrating.

 

At some point, Arima used his scabbard to stop a strike and disperse the flames. He took his katana in a reverse grip and instantly placed his blade in front of Jeil's neck. That last move was incredibly fast.

 

Jeil looked at the silver blade pressing against his throat and relaxed his body as a matter of fact.

 

"Game’s set."

 

"I admit defeat," Jeil said whilst raising his hands.

 

Arima snickered and sheathed his sword. He dropped the katana and it vanished to return inside his soul. He then looked around and realized that the fight had attracted the people training around. Even though the match only took around forty seconds, they still had seen enough to be in awe of Arima's prowess.

 

In truth, he wasn't serious. He just wanted to assess the strength of the people in this world. He didn't even use his strongest displacement magic until now, Wild Spark. If he did fight seriously, he would have won in a few seconds.

 

Arima walked to Maria, and then the latter woke up from her trance and cleared her throat. “I'll register you as an early A rank magic-swordsman then. Follow me back to the hall. I'll issue your member card."