“Hmm? A town crier came a while ago and announced that the summoned heroes will arrive in the afternoon or in the evening.” the man answered.

Huh!? They’re coming here?

“Are you alright sonny? Looks like you’ve seen a ghost.” the man said.

“Hmm? Y-yes, all is fine, thanks for answering.” I replied.

“If you say so.” the man said before leaving.

After the man left, Tia and I just stood there in a daze. We only returned to our senses when a familiar face came out of the Merchants’ Guild.

“Whoa, what’re you two standing there for? Don’t tell me you were waiting for me?” Johan asked jokingly.

“O-oh, uh-hmm, yeah, I guess we were waiting for you.” I replied.

“Well then since you waited for me, let me treat you to some lunch, if that’s okay with you.” he offered.

“Ah yeah, that’s fine with us, right Tia.” I said to her with a nudge.

“Oh-oh uhm-mm, I’ll be fine with anything.” she replied.

“Alright, let’s go to a restaurant later, do you have any other plans for today?” Johan asked.

“We’ll rest at our inn for now I guess.” I replied to which Tia responded with a nod.

“I’ll come pick you up later then? You’re staying at the SilverMoon right?” he asked.

“Yeah,  see you later then.” I said before waving goodbye and parting ways.

Tia and I went to our inn and straight to our room. Once inside Tia sat down on her bed and looked at me.

“What are we going to do Sir Gabriel?” she asked worriedly.

“We can’t leave today because I still need to get my guild card.” I replied.

“Should we just stay inside the?”

“We can’t just stay in here, and besides, Johan will treat us to lunch.”

“Y-yes but… “

“Shh, don’t worry everything will be okay, I think.”

“I-if you say so Sir Gabriel.”

Hmm what to do though, if only I have a skill for disguising myself and Tia.

‘Request: have a skill for disguising oneself and others… Alter appearance skill added… Suggestion: create skill to alter status… Yes / No… ‘

Woah, right when I need something, thanks voice inside my head. It’s better to be safe than sorry right? So I’ll be taking that hide status skill too.

‘Alter status skill added… alter status skill and alter appearance skill combined… Fake Identity Skill created and added… ‘

I think I’ll check my status first, I’ve gained some new skills since I last checked it. Status Open.

[STATUS:

          Name: Ian Gabriel Fernandez

          Age: 19

          Summoning Points: 43

          MP: 20/20

            STR: 25

AGI: 25

INT; 30

SKILLS:

Summoning Magic [Otherworld] : Lvl 1

 

• Summon Item

• Summon Soldier

• Create Building

 

Item Box : Lvl MAX

Fake Identity : Lvl MAX

RESISTANCE:

Mind Magic : Lvl 3

]

What the hell? Why are my 2 new skills max level already?

‘Answer: Skills will be useless if skill level is low… ‘

What is the max level of skills anyway?

‘Answer: Highest skill level is 9… MAX level cannot be measured using a numerical scale… ‘

O-kay? I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth anyways, as long as it helps me then I'll graciously receive it. Let's try the new skill now, Fake Identity.

[IDENTITY CHANGER

Appearance

Status

]

I selected the appearance and a customization screen appeared, it had a few options. The options include: Hair Color, Eye Color, Skin Color.

Just 3 options. Not that much customization, but it’s better than nothing.

Let’s try changing our hair color first. I have a black hair but most people here have either blonde or brown hair. I guess I’ll go with blonde hair then. I selected the hair color and selected the blonde option. I can still change the color, but let’s go with one of the presets right now.

I don’t have a mirror so I don’t know what happened. I was going to ask Tia but I saw that she already had her eyes and mouth wide open in surprise. Guess it works.

Time for the eyes, I have dark brown eyes. So I’ll just make them blue to match the blonde hair. As with the hair, I was also too lazy to fine tune the color of the eyes so I just picked a blue preset.

Next is my skin color, I have a medium beige complexion, which is already an okay  match for my chosen eye and hair color. I’ll just make it a bit lighter to fit my hair and eye color more.

There’s even a save option for this new look, I don’t want to constantly set my hair, eye, and skin color individually every time I need to change my look so I’ll go ahead and save it.

And viola, my appearance is now okay, not that I can see it though. I better ask Tia, “Tia, how do I look?”

“Uh-uhmm, SIr Gabriel?” she asked.

“Yup, Ian Gabriel Fernandez in flesh, the one and only.” I replied.

“Ho-ow did yo-ur appearance change?” she asked.

“Magic.” I answered with a chuckle, “We just heard that my friends will be going here right? So we better change our appearances. I can change yours too if you like.”

“Y-yes please, I don’t want to be captured.” Tia said.

“Okay, your wish is my command.” I replied, “I think I’ll just have to change your hair and eye color. What color do you want for your eyes and hair?”

“Th-the same as you if possible Sir Gabriel.” she answered.

“Hmm, okay.” I said before fiddling with the Fake Identity skill.

The alteration just took a few moments, after that Tia now had blonde hair compared to her previous light brown hair, and her eyes are now blue compared to her previous light brown eyes. I also saved Tia’s new look for quick access.

“There, it’s done. Too bad we don’t have a mirror.” I said as I placed my hand on my pocket and I remembered that I have my phone, “Oh wait, maybe we do have one.”

I took it out of my pocket and opened the camera app, I took a picture of Tia and gave it to her, “This is me!?” she asked in surprise, “How am I in here? Sir Gabriel, just what is this item?”

“It’s a… magic device… yeah, a magic device.” I answered.

“Hmm… okay… “ Tia replied as she eyed me suspiciously.

I also looked at my new look using my phone, “That takes care of that, now for the reason our appearances were different from before.”

What’s the cheapest ring I can buy?

‘Answer: The cheapest ring costs 5 points… proceed to purchase… YES / NO… ‘

Oof, that’ll be a necessary expense so go for it, buy 2 pieces.

‘Confirmation received… purchasing 2 iron rings for 10 points… The remaining balance is 34 points… ‘

I retrieved the iron rings from my Item Box through my pocket, I should buy a bag and say it’s a magic bag or something. I'll ask Tia first if those exist here though.

“Here you go Tia, just wear this ring and I’ll just explain to them it’s a magic ring that changes our looks or something.” I said as I handed her a ring.

“Okay?” she replied.

I demonstrated to her the “effect” of the “magic” rings. First I put it on and set my looks to my real self, then when I took it off I changed to the blonde look. Tia let out a surprised gasp as I was demonstrating it, I recorded the demonstration on my phone.

“And that is how we’ll do it.” I said triumphantly, “Now your turn, I need to practice it on you too.”

Tia followed what I have demonstrated, and I also practiced the timing when I need to activate and deactivate the skill. I also recorded it on my phone to show to Tia afterwards.

Tia stopped her demonstration when I was satisfied with the timing, “That should be fine now, let’s go meet with Johan now, what time did he say to meet again?”

“He said he’ll buy us lunch, so I think just after the noon bell.” Tia replied.

“Noon bell?” I asked.

“Yes, since not everyone owns a clock, the town bells will be rang 3 times: morning, noon, and evening.” Tia answered.

That’ll be like 6:00, 12:00, and 18:00 I guess.

“I see, let’s go to the center plaza after the noon bell then.” I said and she replied with a nod.

I’ll need to set my phone’s clock to 12:00 once the noon bell rings, just to synchronize it with this world’s time.

We didn’t need to wait a long time because the noon bell rang half an hour later. We left our room, headed downstairs, and out of the building. As we came out of the inn, Johan was already there waiting.

“Did we keep you waiting?” I asked Johan.

“Not really, I have also just arrived.” he replied, “What are we waiting for, we're all here now so let’s go to the restaurant.”

We walked along the thoroughfare for a few minutes and then through some alleys before we arrived at the restaurant. If you can call it that, it’s just a whole in the wall with the sign, “Tavern in a wall”.

“Is this where we’ll be eating?” I asked Johan.

“Yeah, this is one of the most popular local food place.” Johan replied as he went inside the hole in the wall.

We followed inside and found it to be an actual restaurant, Johan was already seated at one of the chairs. We went to his table and sat down. I didn’t know what to order so I told Johan if he could choose for me, Tia asked him to pick her meal too. The three of us began to eat as soon as the food was served.

Holy cow this is good, it’s lightly seasoned but you can still taste some of the herbs and spices used and it doesn’t overpower the flavor of the meat. By the way, the dish that I got is steak, what steak you ask? I don’t know what it is, but the taste is like gamey beef or something.

After the meal some refreshments were served, I think this is the perfect time to execute my plans.

“Hey Johan, thanks for the meal. Can you come with us back to our inn? I think you’re trustworthy enough to tell our secret.” I whispered to him.

“Your secret?” he said with a gulp.

“Yeah, so are you trustworthy enough?” I asked.

“Y-Yes… A merchant’s reputation is built on trust.” he replied.

“I see, let’s go to the inn then.” I said as I stood up.

We left the restaurant and made our way to the inn and into our room. Johan sat on one bed while Tia and I sat on the other.

“So, about our secret.” I said and removed the “magic” ring.

Johan let out a surprised gasp, “Y-you’re appearance cha-changed. How about her?”

Tia also removed her “magic” ring and I activated the skill.

“Wh-whuu, h-how?”

“It’s because of the magic ring, it can change our appearances.” I began telling mt BS story, “We came from a wealthy family from the eastern kingdoms, but due to some problems our family fell into ruins and we were forced to run away. At first we had a retinue of soldiers and some followers accompanying us, but the roads were filled with danger; bandits, monsters, and wild animals. One by one everyone in our group was killed and some ran away. When we arrived in this kingdom the remaining people in our group turned against us and decided to sell us as slaves. We were taken to this kingdom’s capital where we managed to escape, we saw a river and decided to let its current carry us anywhere far from the capital. After our trip down the river it was when you found us walking down the road.”

“Wh-ho-I I don’t even know what to say.” Johan said.

“I doubt that they’ll find us here so we thought that we can now remove our rings, and besides they already know what we look like with or without our disguise rings.” I explained, “If ever they find us here, then we’ll just skip town, or if it comes down to it, fight them.”

“Gods help you, I’ll see what I can do, I’ll ask the branch master to look after you when I’m not around.” he said.

Whoa, good thing he believed it, disguises are now good.

Tia and I bowed our heads, “”Thank You!””

“It’s the least I can do,” he said and he stood up, “I better ask the branch manager now.”

As he was about to leave the room, cheers erupted from the outside. I opened the small window and peeked outside. There I saw a column of armored knights and in the middle of the formation are my friends who are also wearing some fancy armor.