Edited by: Shiyon

"Can you understand me?" (???) The woman asked me, a hint of unsureness could be heard in her voice, but her expression showed suspicion toward me.

"Y-yes!" (Rain) I stuttered out in disbelief. “I c-can understand you perfectly.”

"Great.” she said emotionlessly, as she took a more formal, but stern tone. “I will need some information from you, I expect you to cooperate fully.” She said with a harsh glare directed at me. It sounded like she was ready to attack me if I were to say no.

I nodded my head, allowing her to continue.

“Firstly, we need to know what country you originate from. Mind telling me?" (???)

"I'm from the nation of Japan." (Rain)

"I see… Japan… I'll look into it later. Secondly, what’s your name?" (???)

"Rain. Rain Ingvern." (Rain)

"Lilith. Lilith Aanval.” She answered back. “Third, What is the capital city of Alondar?" (Lilith)

"The capital of Alondar?" I asked, surprised at her sudden trivia question. (Rain) 

"Just what I expected. You're not from around here are you? You don’t have an ID on you, no Adventurer card, strange clothes. But it’s weird, normally I would assume you were an emigrant, but you don’t match any of the descriptions we have of the people bordering this country. How did you end up here?" (Lilith)

"Uh, yes… That’s...I don't know how I did." (Rain)

“So, you’re not from here, but from a country presumably far off, out in the middle of nowhere. But somehow, some way, you ended up in this place. This is what you are saying, correct?”

“Uhh… I-”

"Since you are not from here, I’ll reduce the punishment this time. We will try to verify your identity later, but for now we will simply assign a fine that has a repayment due date of one year. Furthermore, I permit you to stay here, but if you were to break any more rules, I will personally give out twice the maximum punishment for any crimes you commit." (Lilith)

"I’m allowed to stay?  Wow… I don't know what else to say other than thank you!" (Rain)

She gave me a weird look, as if to say, “What are you thanking me for?” before regaining her usual demeanor.

"You can exit in a few minutes after we have filed a report, you can then head over to either the adventurers guild for a temporary stay or register yourself as a permanent citizen here at the big building at the center of the city. I would recommend going to the adventurers guild first, as becoming a permanent citizen takes a lot more paperwork. You also need identification to purchase many different wares here." (Lilith)

A few minutes later, 2 guards came in and took off the rope which was binding me. Then they quickly let me out, leaving me alone in the bustling streets.

**

<3rd Person POV>

As the man in the dirty suit left, the woman, Lilith, commanded her subordinates in an ice-cold tone with a strange smirk.

"Follow him. Do not get caught. Now." (Lilith)

"Yes ma'am! We will send someone to monitor him. Please excuse us." (Unknown guard)

**

<Rain's POV>

I walked around, still hungry, around the streets. Merchants were selling goods, shops were open, people of different races walked around, elves, beastfolk,  It felt like something straight out of a video game. 

At first, I walked around clueless, looking for the adventurer guild. But eventually, I asked someone for directions.

After finally arriving at the adventurers guild, I nervously walked in. Inside, there were what I assumed to be parties or adventurers gathered around different tables. Some drinking, while others strategized. At the very end of the room were 3 guild receptionist's occupied with a few parties. I stood at the back of the shortest line while many gave me strange looks, I just wanted to hide, there was too much attention on me. 

What was actually a few seconds felt like minutes, the gazes made me want to bury myself, I just wanted to hide, I wanted to go back to earth, where not many know me, where even less care about me, where I blend in, where I'm not noticed…

As I was zoned-out, I hadn't realized that it was already my turn. I had zoned-out in front of the receptionist and by the time I realized it, she was lightly giggling.

'That's embarrassing…'

"I-I'm here to get an adventurers card, how can I get one?" (Rain)

The receptionist gave me a sweet smile, it felt like I was a cute child she was laughing at, but really, she was more like a child than me. She's short, has short caramel hair, twintails, light brown eyes, and a small yet curvy figure.

"Hello, is this your first time here?" (Receptionist)

"Yes." (Rain)

"No problem! I'm Lulu by the way! All you need is 30 copper coins and you can take the practical exam." (Lulu)

"Ah…" (Rain)

"Hm? What's wrong?" (Lulu)

"Ah, it's just that I don't have any money…" (Rain)

"No problem! If you look over there you'll see a quest board. You can take 2-star quests and below without an adventurers card. When you find the one you want to do, bring it here and I'll approve it. You'll make 30 copper in no time!" (Lulu)

After saying my thanks, I headed over to the quest board. There were hundreds of papers, many overlapping with each other. I grabbed one which said 'Aquire 25 Irmaranian forest flower leaves'. I brought it over to Lulu for confirmation. 

"Hmm, yep! This is fine! Do you know where to find them? Do you know what they look like?" (Lulu)

"No…" (Rain)

"Alright. Let me check the textbook, give me a second… Ah, found it! They're found in the forest not too deep in the forest nearby, they are very easy to spot in the forest because of their bright yellow petals, red leaves, and… That's all! All you need to do is rip out the leaves and leave it there so it grows again. One final thing, the guild takes 10 percent of all profits. Would you like to take this quest?" (Lulu)

"Uh, yes!" (Rain)

The quest I chose gave me 13 copper, which was hopefully enough for a meal. After all, I haven't eaten anything other than those berries…

I exited the building and headed towards the city gates, I walked past the guards and ventured off into the same forest I was in before I got into the city.

20 minutes into venturing into the forest, I found the herb and picked it's leaves. From 1 flower, I received 4 leaves from 1 flower and I could already see 2 more flowers ripe for picking. As I was collecting the leaves from the third flower, a few strange gelatinous creatures came out of some bushes. Slimes! They very slowly came towards me, I wasn't sure whether they were dangerous so I threw a few leaves on them, it was only because they were so slow and to my surprise, the leaves simply slid off of them, leaving no damage. 

I gently grabbed one by the sides, it slipped right out of my hands when I tried picking it up. The slime felt like jelly, except it was warm and much more liquidy. 

'This is nice'

But as I was playing with them, a big, sky blue slime in the shape of a woman's body, a sexy one at that, was watching me behind a tree. When my eyes met her she started coming towards me. Startled, I got up, or at least tried to. The slimes I was originally playing with stuck my hands down to the ground, it felt like my hands were super-glued to the ground.

The slime-woman stood right above me and 'melted' her slimy fluids on top of me, wrapping me in some sort of cocoon, only leaving my mouth and nose uncovered. I could feel us moving somewhere, I could only hope I wasn't going to die…