I left the hovel Inn. My destination was the birdhouse pub that the gate guard Hearth recommended.

If you want information in a fantasy world, there are three places you can get it at.

First, pubs. No matter what world you are in, alcohol has the universal power to make any lips loose.

The second, is merchant and adventure guilds. Information is the lifeblood of the guilds. If you are a fantasy lover then you might have placed this first, however, may I point out the fact that in most cases you would have to be a member of these guilds. Either that or end up in a situation where you owe the guilds a favor for the information. I personally rather invite a guild member for a drink and let the alcohol do its thing.

The third and last is the underground guilds. You know. Mafias, assassin’s guilds, thieves guilds, and any other shady group that happens to be around.

***

I entered the birdhouse pub in midafternoon. When I first came to this world, it was early morning. By Noon we arrived at the city and by afternoon we arrived at the hovel Inn.

Alcohol filled the air as it was poured into large wooden cups. There were drunkards here and there, but such a sight is to be expected in a pub,

I slowly made my way to the counter on sat down.

“You are new here.”

A man behind the counter spoke to me. He had white hair and a white mustache. He was cleaning a wooden cup with a cloth that had clearly seen better days.

“Hearth sent me,” I replied

“Hearth huh? I am John… Here, drink up…”

I seriously didn’t want to drink from that cup but I didn’t want to be rude.

“So… You are one of us…”

“One of us?” As I posed the question, a woman walked behind the counter.

She was an overweight woman who wore expensive-looking clothes. She seems to be opening what appears to be a cash register.

“Is this all the money you made today, John?”

“Yes, dear.”

“I am taking some. I need to buy Elizabeth and myself new dresses for the party tomorrow.”

“Didn’t you guys buy dresses just the other day?”

“Humph… Those are already old.” She uttered before leaving a sighing John.

“Yep… I am one of you.” I said

He had a wry smile when he heard that.

“Sorry to hear that…” he replied.

I changed the topic of conversation after some jabs at our partners expense. I needed to know as much about this world as I could. I already knew from the map that I was on the western continent and the capital was on the eastern continent.

The demon king had pretty much-conquered everything. Although he hinted at it, rather than saying it upfront. There were pockets of resistance here and there.

They called themselves, the white crusaders.

Perhaps I should make contact with them in the future.

As for the demon king himself. According to John, he appeared nearly 600 years ago out of nowhere. He killed a former hero before beginning a long conquest.

Once he had conquered everything, he then declared himself a demon king.

Countless heroes have come to try and save the world, only to be killed by the demon king.

He did say, however, that the demon king did keep one hero alive.

Hmm… I wonder if that is true… Everything about the demon king is presented as fact and little information is presented as rumors. Could this be a ploy on the part of the demon king? If it is, then it is a brilliant one. Any potential hero the goddess sends will have a hard time figuring what is true and what is false.

I sighed internally when I realized that.

I bid farewell to John and headed for the adventures guild next. Now that I had a general idea of the situation I need to now focus on leveling up and earning money.

The people of this world weren’t being oppressed by the demon king which meant a revolt was out of the question.

Looks like assassination is the way to go. I could also try and start a civil war between him and his underlings but that idea is pretty wild, to begin with.

The adventures guild was a well-kept building in the center of the city. When I entered, many adventures glared in my direction.

Classic rookie treatment… Well, my level is pretty low right now… I guess it is understandable.

I walked to the counter and was greeted by a cute guild staff member.

“Welcome to the Cascade guild, I am Maria.”

They jiggled …

I was receiving a death stare from the other adventures as I talked to her. She was probably the poster girl for the guild and I can see two big reasons why.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I have a way to get those crazy fans off my back.

“Hello, Maria. I am Sojuro. I and my wife recently came to this city from a faraway place. I was hoping to register as an adventure.”

“Sure thing,” She said before reaching for some forms

The death stares I was getting were gone as gossip that I was married spread throughout the guild.

"Here we go. Place your thumb right here.” She instructed

As I did that, the paper shined and my stats were written on them.

***

Name: Sojuro

Level: 15/100

Class: Sage

Attributes: None

HP: 18000/18000

MP: 20000/20000

Skills: Storage

***

Hmm… Looks like some of my information had been hidden or changed. Storage must have been added to mask the inventory skill... Looks like the goddess Helen isn’t totally useless.

“I will now explain the guild ranking and rules.”

I will spare you the boring details and summarize them for you. There are nine ranks, ranging from A-I. Apart from that, there is also the S rank.

Jobs or requests are posted on the notice board and you can choose any regardless of rank, however, should fail the request you have to pay the equivalent of the reward.

That is one way to discourage fools from biting more than they could chew.

I also learned that I can buy skill cards that grant skills from the guild. The price was based on how rare the skill was.

This was something I had experienced before with the exception that I could also by level up cards that increased my level. The cards become more expensive as I level up.

Maybe the cards store experience points. The higher your level the more points you need.

I couldn’t have gotten this information if Maria wasn’t so concerned by my low level. She also exchanged the horned bear for me. It was 12000 credits. Thanks to that, I now have roughly 24500 credits.

I waved at Maria as I left the guild.

What a nice girl… Oops, the death glares are back… I better get out of here.

I returned to the hovel Inn. I heard the salesgirl call for me but I ignored it. I wasn’t trying to be rude but I wanted to check if the goddess was alright before I talked to her.

For better or worse, my life is chained to hers.

I opened our room door and saw a woman in her underwear standing there. She blushed and I blushed too.

“Pervert!” She yelled before I slammed the door shut.

“I am sorry!” I yelled before dashing downstairs.

“Mr. Sojuro!” The salesgirl said

“What is going on here? Who is that woman in my room?” I cried

“That was what I was trying to tell you. Your wife left a while ago.”

“Eh? Where did she go?”

“She went to the winged-snake Inn.”

I was speechless…

Why would she do such a thing? No… I need to catch up to her first.

“Where is this inn?” I asked her

***

When I arrived at the winged-snake Inn, my jaw dropped. This place was more like a fancy stone-walled hotel than an inn.

I slowly walked on the red carpet while paying close attention to my surroundings.

“Are you looking for something, sir?”

The person who just spoke to me was dressed as a modern-day butler.

“I am just looking for my wife. Don’t mind me.”

“Name.” He spoke.

“Ah… Sojuro.”

“Wife’s Name?”

“Eto... Athena.”

“We have been expecting you, master Sojuro. Mistress Athena is in her chambers. Follow me.”

Every fiber of my being was telling me to run. This was a bad situation to be in… and yet… I couldn’t just leave that bimbo behind.

The butler ushered me into a large room on the upper floors. It was an expensive-looking room.

Fine food and wine were decked out on a dining room table.

The goddess was sitting on a coach as someone rubbed her shoulders.

My cheek twitched. There was no way, all of this was cheap.

The butler handed me something… I looked at it and went pale. Before leaving he whispered in my ear, “The wing-snake has eyes everywhere. Don’t even think of abandoning your obligation. Husband-sama.”

The paper was a bill for 2,000,000 credits.

THE GODDESS AND I HAVE A DEBT! WTF