A few moments later...

---

"I knew I sensed something foul!" An irritating voice tore through my ears just as I landed on the wooden piers of Zlato. Standing up from my kneeling position, I took a look around, only to quirk my eyebrow as my eyes landed on a particularly irate drow.

A dark elf from the now-nearby continent of Ennergres, with pale-grey skin, long ears, glowing red eyes and dark hair, wearing a black, skintight suit indicative of an assassin, though he had his hood down surprisingly. His soul screeched with animosity towards me, even though I never even knew the guy. Honestly? He seemed exactly like what the common edge-lord and/or neck-beard would play as in a tabletop game. A permanently angry, potentially-misunderstood-but-not-really, rogue with more poison in his heart than on his swords.

On that note, he also had two curved swords, both elongated with pointed tips much akin to the fangs of a wolf. "Heh. What? You too scared to speak up, bonebag?" Bonebag? Now that's a new one. Though, since the Inerti are basically seventy percent bone plating, I suppose it fits quite well.

He threw me a look that made me seem like his most hated enemy and rival. I just blinked at the guy, took a look at his soul and realized he presented literally zero actual threat, before simply shrugging, putting on my backpack and walking past him. "Y-you! You dare ignore me!?" He screeched out, causing a small crowd to turn in our direction just as the slaves began to descend from the ship.

Not that having a ton of people around him did anything to prevent what happened next; as he promptly yelled out and attacked me. "[Hatred's March]!" Raising his swords into the air, his mana erupted from every muscle within his body, turning red before infusing itself back into his body, empowering his physical prowess by a good magnitude.

Hmm, might be worth stealing that!... the ability, not the name.

Anyway, I turned around, unsheathed my sword and blocked his blows with painstaking ease before sending a kick to his side, without my plate boots mind you, and causing him to fly directly into some barrels close to us. Then, I simply continued on my merry way.

"Grghgh! Grr! AAAAARGH!" He wasn't done yet though, as he picked himself up in an instant, despite his bleeding thigh and charged towards me again, infusing his mana into the swords instead this time. "[Hateful Blows]!" The swords grew red as I let out a sigh, meeting against my pale blade again and again without managing to achieve anything at all.

"Stubborn mosquito..." I muttered out in an annoyed tone, causing the dark elf's rage to heighten to the point where his soul become laughably easy to read, so I did just that.

Oh.

Well, that explains his ridiculous hatred for someone he's never seen before in his life; the guy is a former Inerti slave, having sacrificed several other slaves to escape and then killed the rest in order to secure food for himself, masquerading as the 'guy who brings the food to everyone on below deck'. Once the captain and the crew found out that they were sailing along with a ship full of corpses, mainly due to the mass of dangerous sea creatures that surrounded their ship, they went to try and kill the elf, but he managed to somehow slaughter enough of them to force the rest into subservience.

However, as they arrived close to Zlato's port, he killed them all and threw them overboard, before swimming over to the city, claiming to be the only survivor of an Inerti attack. Curiously, even though nobody with a brain bought that lie, they still let him inside.

Hmm, I suppose people hate the Inerti more than I guessed? It could be the reason why nobody is stepping in to protect me. Hell, they'll probably blame this on me if I kill him...

Unless...

As I continued my inner contemplations, I mistakenly put a little too much strength into my swing.

"Ah, looks like its over."

"Eh? But they've barely even started!"

"That girl's swing is going to skewer him. Watch."

The chatter broke me free from my thoughts as I attempted to stop myself from committing murder in a new town, as it was way too early for that, but I realized that if I spared his life, his assault would reach me before I could defend myself, so I just let the sword fly. "[Heroic Intervention]!" An unfamiliar voice echoed from within the crowd as a bright flash of holy light blinded me for a few seconds.

Rubbing my eyes in annoyance, I found myself staring at a rather handsome boy with golden hair and bright, blue eyes, wearing full plate armour, comboed with a sword and shield. A paladin! I had a soft spot for paladins!

... its just too bad that he's human. "AAAAARGh-... uurhh..." The paladin spat out some blood as I looked downwards, noticing that my swing dented his shield inwards, likely causing his arm to break, though that wouldn't be enough to make him spit out blood, so I tilted my head in confusion.

The paladin knelt, then fell to the ground, with the drow's blades sticking out of his spine. "E-eh?..." The elf's entire body shook and many gasps ensued from the crowd as he knelt before his human companion. I knew from the previous soul reading that he never gave two shits about the paladin until now. "B-but why?! Why would you do this?!"

The paladin let out a dry, morose laugh. "K-killing p-people isn't r-right, o-okay?" He smiled brightly, even as he delivered that cheesy line and was bleeding out heavily, unable to properly move due to his severed spine.

"W-who cares about people?! Why would you sacrifice yourself for something as pointless as th-" Unwilling and uncaring to watch this cringe-fest unfold, I readied up a nice kick and promptly sent the drows head flying like a football with a beautiful schlop.

"E-eh?..." The paladin imitated his now-deceased drow friend as he was painted in the blood of his ally, his brain going into a state of utter shock. Snorting as I watched the head fly while bursting with blood, I promptly gathered holy energy into my right palm. The swirling orb of pure power made the paladins eye's grow wide. "W-wha- why?! What - I-" It seemed as if he was at a total loss for words, though.

Oh well, not that I care. "[Restoration]." Within moments, the orb of light descended unto the paladin, rising him from the sky, ripping out the drows swords and the bits of shield-metal from his arm, restoring his body to full health.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Hey! Stop screaming!"

"Mate, that is restoration magic she's using! As in, the tier of holy magic right under resurrection!"

"... *sigh* Some people just get talents they don't deserve, I swear."

Once the paladin was fully healed, he promptly fell back down on his feet and vomited over his 'friends' headless corpse. Anyway, I turned around and walked towards the crowd, cleaning the blood off of my boot in some nearby snow. Then I looked around, to the left, to the right, in absolute confusion, as the crowd began to disperse.

"Eh?" I tilted my head while blinking repeatedly as a heavily-bearded orc approached me. He stood over two meters tall, had an incredibly muscular body and was covered in furs... well, his lower body and head were covered in furs, his torso and abdomen were completely exposed, showing off a wonderful piece of manly eye-candy. A seasoned man, with plenty of scars and a very, very visible six-pack.

A slight warmth struck my cheeks and I found myself being thankful for the Inerti's lack of emotional expressibility. "Hrghm." The orc grunted when he was finally near me, causing me to blink in even greater confusion.

I mean, his deep voice was kinda hot too but... what? "Hrgh!" He grunted again, causing me to blink just before I thought to read his soul a bit. "You're confused because nobody is coming to arrest you, right?"

I blinked in confusion after reading the open thoughts on his soul. "Ehh-... y-yes?" Somehow managing to reply, I had to blink yet again as the orc nodded in a sage manner. "Don't worry, same thing happened to me when I first came into this city. They don't have any guards since its a city of adventurers. Hormones and egos fly around and murder is just a fact of life."

"Eh?.. wait, so- you're saying that killing people won't get me thrown in jail?!" He nodded again, as a small crowd of people had to gather, looking at us both in utter confusion. "Yes. Rather than bother with crime, your reputation's everything in this place. Granted, killing that drow likely ain't gonna do you many favours when it comes to rep, but you're an Inerti so it don't matter as much anyway."

"Oh. Reputation, huh? I see, I see." Muttering to myself as I rubbed my chin, I found myself nodding in approval of the system. Rather than it simply working out for me in the current moment, it actually made sense for a city of glory hounds. Rivalry is dangerous and this system ensures that only the best of the best stay alive long enough to get rich.

"Yeah, just be careful. Not having any crime system in place don't mean some good-two shoe freaks ain't gonna try to cut you down in an alley, later." I let out a massive sigh once I heard/saw this. Great, just what I needed. "... more bugs..."

Meanwhile, the crowd around us realized what was going on.

"Wai- does she actually understand what Grunt is saying?!"

"Is she a mind-reader then?"

"Oh great, just what we needed, a fucking mind-reader Inerti."

Shaking myself out of a stupor, I promptly clasped my hands together and gave the orc my best puppy eyes. "So~, Grunt~, is it? Would you be so kind as to escort me to the Adventurers Guild?"

He chuckled, grinned and then laughed. "Sure thing, but my name isn't 'grunt'. I'm Myon'nir."

"Well, its nice to meet you~! I'm Anne~." So I put a hand under my escorts big, meaty arm and let him guide me through the city, as the crowd of onlookers let us pass with a myriad of expressions: confusion, jealousy, excitement, horror as well as a couple approving nosebleeds.

Hmmm...

I wonder what orc meat tastes like~?

The minos were really good!

---

A few minutes later... - PoV change

---

Having waved goodbye to her new 'friend', Anne found herself entering a rather spacious, tall building with numerous floors, far more than the wood it was made out of should be able to carry. Every column, bit of flooring, support beam and wall radiated a deep-seated magic, long lasting enchantments made by people far more skilled than Anne ever imagined herself being. Pretty much every building in Zlato was the same, though that shouldn't be a surprise due to the fact that this place was an ancient city of adventurers.

With that said, the woman found herself being stared at in a manner very similar to a cowboy walking into an old, dusty tavern and being seized up by everyone present inside. To her left, there was a crowd of people gathered around various tables, with clearly separated parties being served by beautiful waitresses and waiters, while on the right stood an enclosed area with a huge bounty board, as well as what looked to be several administration offices. What surprised Anne was that there were several other Inerti around; a grey-cloaked, old wizard that was playing cards with his fellows, a youthful woman polishing her silvery rapier while eyeing her as well as another man, bound in full plate to the point where his head could not be seen, with the only reason why Anne even knew that he was an Inerti being that she could see it on his soul.

"A person raised outside of Sarcopha, a runaway heiress and a disgruntled, fallen knight." Anne thought to herself, causing the aforementioned trio react with shock, as the wizard dropped his cards, the woman stopped polishing her weapon and the plate-bound man twitched roughly beneath his armour.

They were all watching her now.

Anne shrugged and snorted, walking over to one of the welcoming stands near the administration offices. "Hello? I'd like to register as an adventurer." Anne quipped with a soft smile as she approached what seemed to be some form of cat-woman, clad head to toe in fur, though she had an otherwise humanoid form. "A beastkin of the feline variety, I guess." Musing to herself, Anne waited patiently for the assistant to answer, fully enjoying all the stares digging into her back.

The assistant was turned the wrong way around before kicking her chair and turning to see her new patron, only for her eyes to widen and for her to scream. "O-oh, of course, plea- AH?! EEP!" Quirking an eyebrow at her, Anne let out an annoyed sigh as the woman's soul kept screaming: INERTI! INERTI! AAAH!

With a shaky hand, the girl pointed to her right. "P-p-please! G-g-go!" Normally, Anne would kill this lesser creature, but since reputation was everything in this place, she merely sighed and rolled her eyes, promptly moving over to the right, coming face to face with a rather professional-looking elven woman with a beautiful sun-tan, an amazing bust and a skirt that definitely enhanced her features.

Anne was no longer annoyed. The elf chuckled at the Inerti's reaction as Anne found herself slightly blushing. "Ah, hello. Please forgive my co-worker, she is rather new and still not used to dealing with our Inerti patrons. How may I help you?" She spoke in a velvet voice that left Anne feeling slightly sheepish.

"I-uhm, like I said, would like to register as an adventurer." The older woman nodded softly and bent over to grab some form of paper document, allowing Anne to snag a good look at her cleavage. "Here you go! Please, help yourself to a pen and fill- Are you listening to me, miss?"

Anne blinked and coughed. "Well, I am now."

The woman adopted an annoyed expression and let out a sigh, having likely become used to this. "Sorry darling, but I'm not into women, though you are cute. Now please, take a pen, find an empty table and fill this form." Anne shrugged and nodded in understanding, doing as she was told.

By the time she turned around, she found that all of the stares had dispersed and the place had gone back to normal, though the Inerti trio were still paying very close attention to her. It didn't take long for Anne to find an empty table, somehow managing to find a spot for six. She figured it was reserved by some adventurers that had yet to arrive from some quest, but took the seat closest to the wall anyway.

Once she was sure nobody would stop her or give her trouble, Anne set down the paper and read it, filling out the form as she went. "Name: Anne Sedellean. Race: Inerti. Class: ..."

"Class...?" Anne muttered out in confusion and against her own better judgement, though no one bothered to reply. "Not like anyone heard me, anyway."

Anne fell into thought, trying to figure out what class would suit her best. She reasoned that this was just some kind of tradition kept by the adventurers guild since it was a convenient way to describe someone's skillset to a patron without revealing too much about the person themselves. She could however, see herself fitting into most categories, if not all the classes she knew from her gaming history, especially those from rpgs.

"I guess I'm some kind of paladin/necromancer?" She thought to herself, before nigh instantly dispersing the thought. An Inerti necromancer? Such a thing was beyond heretical, though there were good reasons to describe herself as such. Anne did possess a great capacity for death magic, such that its holy variant was her primary source of dealing ranged damage to an opponent.

Summoning forth the many intricacies of Anea Sedea allowed for the creation of numerous death-dealing spells, for its winds rent the souls they passed through, its sands choked the life out of those they were thrown upon and its stones had the curious power to deteriorate physical matter, almost as if causing it to rapidly age and wither.

Other than that, Anne was also adept at most forms of elemental magic, using water of clean herself and fire to start campfires, though her skills with the aforementioned remained at that level. She could possibly gain a higher form of power if she trained herself in them, but Anne wasn't interested in throwing fireballs at people.

And why would she be, when she could instead melt both them and their armour with a ray of holy, purifying light? Lasers were far cooler than fireballs, after all. More than that, lighting her sword on holy fire meant that it glowed golden and not orange, which suited her far more as gold was much easier to attune to death than red or orange.

This was simply because magic itself is attuned directly to the beliefs and wishes of its users and since there are plenty of people around willing to trade lives for coin, its not difficult to see the reason why gold is even more powerful a magical reagent of death than black, second only to grey or silver.

That brought her to crux of her dilemma, because no matter how long she thought about and/or against it, Anne realized that she was a paladin. A paladin of death, that is to say.

She winced outwardly as she thought of this due to her own preference for the class in rpgs. Paladins were meant to be powerful melee fighters, champions of justice and honour, wielding divine-granted power against the forces of evil. And while Anne does indeed suit most of the aforementioned traits, she isn't exactly a 'champion of justice'. No, it could be said that due to her fight against the heroic correction corrupting her soul, she was the complete opposite of that.

Yet the thought of accepting herself as a paladin in her own right wasn't something she found completely unattractive. Besides, she was an Inerti and most of her peoples armies were made up of paladins, priests and inquisitors, as nearly the entire species had a powerful connection to holy magic, which was supposedly based in faith.

Anne scowled as she thought of those teachings, rolling her eyes in remembrance of the day her powers were explained to her.

---

"Your faith in our great lord Atlyon, is quite grand for one your age, your highness!" A male Inerti dressed in golden, crimson robes approached the First Princess with a smile etched into his expression.

Anne merely quirked a confused eyebrow at the unnaturally proud man. "Faith?"

"Yes, your highness! Your great faith in our Lord has granted you great powers in the holy light! Do you not feel your belief forging the great connec-" The priest was interrupted as the girls mother walked inside of the training room and motioned for Anne to come to her.

The Princess noticed her mothers great disgust directed at the priest, so she said nothing, bowed before them both and then ran to her mother.

---

In truth, Anne knew why her mother took her away from the clergyman, for his ridiculous preaching was an insult to the entire family.

Atlyon was her grandfather, her ancestor. Why would she ever need to have 'faith' in him, in that manner? Faith, when directed at ones own creator and forefather, was nothing short of an insult. It was as if some spoiled brats decided that their parents didn't exist unless they firmly believed in the fact that they do.

Anne had no such ridiculous delusion afflicting her mind. Atlyon was the god from whose her powers originate, but a grandfather first and foremost. Though the priest did give her a valuable piece of information; that being the fact that usually, one's 'faith' is what opens up the mental connection between a user of holy magic and their respective deity, with the level of power one can call upon being a combination of that person's faith and the gods willingness to give that power to them.

No such gateway existed for Anne, nor was it required, as she was directly descended from Atlyon, which meant that she could freely use his power as if it were her own, to a limit set by her grandfather. This is why she does not normally need to speak any prayers to Atlyon as having ones own granddaughter praying to you is something the man found extremely distasteful and recommended to Anne that she only prayed for his help when she actually needed it.

This was the true reason as to why her magic was more powerful when she offered a legitimate prayer, while also the main point against her becoming a paladin, as she would definitely not be one if she had to actively pray and gather goodwill with some cosmic entity in order to use holy magic.

But then again, a paladin is someone judged by their actions alone, while prayers were more important for priests and inquisitors. "Maybe I should dedicate some battles to grandfather in the future?" Anne thought to herself with a hum, hoping that the person-in-question would find such an act endearing.

With a shrug, Anne finally decided to put 'paladin' under her class and moved on to finish the rest of the paper. "Tell us about yourself: ... hmm, what to write..." She looked around for inspiration and found that while the male Inerti had long since stopped staring at her, the runaway heiress was still giving her a careful, evil-eye.

Anne's eyes went wide as she smiled. "That's it!" This action spooked the fallen noblewoman across the hall, though nobody else paid any attention to it. "Runaway noble heiress." Anne smirked as she described herself with that simple sentence and finished filling in the form, before delivering it to the sexy elven receptionist up front.

"Here you go." She said just as the woman turned to face her with a nod. "Please, stay here for a while so I can ask you a few questions." The elf quipped in her velvety voice, to which Anne complied with a smile.

Reading through the paper quickly, the woman seemed to check-mark something on another document entirely before turning her head upwards. "It says here that you are a paladin. Is this a joke or something?"

Anne tilted her head in confusion and slight anger at the sudden question. "Excuse me?"

"W-well, its just that... you're an Inerti, right? Pardon me if you find this offensive, but the very idea that your kind can use holy magic at all is just a laughable myth-" Anne promptly rose her hand and gathered a sphere of brilliant light into her hand, pointing it at the woman, whom she no longer found quite so attractive.

This action caused much of the hall to rise and draw their weapons. Anne simply smiled at the woman. "[Greater Heal]." The brimming, singing light infused itself into the woman, causing her to glow for a few moments and her ebony skin to gain a bit of healthy colour. Within moments, the elven woman rose from her chair and bowed her head.

"I apologise. That was highly unprofessional." She calmly returned to her work as the Guild Hall settled back alongside her. "Hmm, I guess that means these girls are highly valued by everyone present. Oh well, no surprise there." The First Princess thought to herself with a shrug, though she said nothing to the woman.

A few moment later, the elf turned her head upwards again. "You described yourself as a runaway noble heiress. If this is true, the guild wants you to know that we are not responsible nor wish to be involved in any familial drama you may have left behind. Should your fellow countrymen come looking for you, we will tell them of your last known location, but nothing more."

Anne shrugged and nodded. "Seems fair enough."

Nodding towards her, the elven woman took out a separate document and asked another question. "This may confuse you, but here at the guild, we have a tradition that we like to keep called 'alignments'. Please, take a look at this paper and tell me which alignment you believe suits you best."

Anne blinked with her mouth agape. "They have an alignment form?... this place was definitely started by a reincarnator." She thought to herself as she closed her mouth and took the paper, reading through its assorted information with some interest. "Lawful good, lawful evil, neutral good... yup, they're all here..."

She could barely hide her snorts and disbelief as the elven woman let out a massive sigh. "Ridiculous, isn't it? I have no clue why the upper management insists on keeping this 'tradition' going. Its not like anyone will ever be able to give a proper assessment of themselves."

Anne nodded towards the woman, finding the whole ordeal to be in rather bad taste. "I'm finding myself stuck between Neutral Evil and Chaotic Neutral."

"Just draw a circle around any of them, please? I don't want to spend any more time on this than necessary." The woman groaned in annoyance, causing Anne to shrug and nod, simply singing herself as a 'Neutral Evil' before handing the paper in.

Looking over the document, the woman quirked an eyebrow at Anne. "A paladin with an evil alignment, eh? Boy, you're going to be the topic of the month, aren't you?"

Shrugging at the woman, Anne asked. "So, am I an adventurer now?"

To her surprise, the elf shook her head in negative towards Anne. "No. There is a mandatory one day period before the Guild can officially recognize you as a member and even then, you start out as a rookie no matter how strong you are. So tomorrow, you're going to drag yourself to me, preferably in the morning hours, where I'll give you a selection of quests to choose from. Once you pick a bounty, you're off to it and depending on your accomplishments in accordance with the quest, you're given a rank and officially become an adventurer."

Anne nodded as she listened to the receptionist speak. "Reputation really is everything, eh?"

The elf nodded right back. "Indeed. A long time ago, we used to have trials where newcomers would fight against known adventurers and then be given a ranking, but this resulted in far too many 'accidents' due to racism and people generally wishing to cut out the competition before it can grow."

"What a cruel world this is~." Anne mused to herself before waving the receptionist goodbye and moving to the outside of the hall. "Well, see you tomorrow then!"

The elf merely offered her a nod in turn.