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nI wanted to ask why they were wearing such strange things but restrained myself in order to not draw any more attention than I already had.

nBut, my hopes were crushed as two of the strangely dressed people in front of me came up to me and asked,

n“Boy, where did you come from?”

nI shifted my face to a more childish expression as I thought I could use these people to hopefully enter the city and get me some food… water would be nice… new clothes as well.

n,m “Where am I?” I ask, trying to act more of my age.

nI wanted to throw up from the expression I forced myself to make but suppressed it as a woman in light armor responded.

n“You’re in Amlas,” She says with a smile.

nHuh… Amlas? Not New York City?

n“Where is New York City? I’m from there,”

n“New York City? That’s pretty far from here… It’s about a day’s walk away from here,” The mature man in full armor responds.

nHe was standing right beside the woman and observed me carefully as if he could see right through me.

nWell… I don’t need to go to New York anyway. It didn’t have anything I needed, and I just wanted to go there since it was the closest city possible.

nGuess I overshot.

n“I’m hungry and thirsty,” I say, directing my eyes at the woman who clearly took pity on me.

nShe would be easier to manipulate rather than the stern man beside her.

n“Oh, wait a second, I have some rations and a bit of water left. Here, have my water bottle, and I’ll get the ration sack,” She says, handing me a leather pouch plugged with a cork.

nShe then dashed off to the front of the group, where it seemed a porter was holding all their equipment.

nHe was massive…

nHe looked as if he could lift a mountain with how much muscle he had.

nBut for some reason, he was just carrying around a giant backpack.

nI drank the entire sack of water and ate all of the rations the woman had given me before asking for more.

nShe kindly smiled before giving me another batch which I consumed once again.

nAnd another.

nAnd another.

n“Oomf… I’m gonna throw up,” I mutter, kneeling on the ground.

n“Why did you drink and eat so much?” The woman asks, patting my back as she got on one knee next to me.

n“I just… I just thought I’d never get to eat and drink this much again,” I respond.

n“Aweeee… It’s okay, come to us if you ever need help. I’ll give you food much tastier than this next time,”

nThat was too easy.

n“Thank you, miss,” I say as I got up, holding my stomach.

nMy stomach was hurting, but I dramatized the reaction a bit to weaken the guard around everybody surrounding us.

nI then glanced back at the man from before, and he stared at me with cold eyes.

n“Ellie, let me have a chat with this kid for a second,” He says, and Ellie immediately complies.

nHuh… So I guess this guy is the final boss.

nHe pulls me to the side before crouching down to my height.

n“Look… I don’t give a ** what you do… But if you touch my raid party… I swear I’ll kill you,” He says, his bloodlust completely overwhelming me.

nHis entire body had disappeared, leaving just a silhouette with glowing yellow eyes.

n“S-Sure,” I respond, sweat dripping down my cheek.

n“Good. Now, I’m not as heartless as to leave a starving child to die out here, so we’ll help you in, but we’re not taking care of you like your parents,” He says before getting up and walking back to his group.

nThat was scary…

n…

n“John! What’s up, man! Anything been happening recently?” The man from before gleefully greeted the guard at the end of the bridge.

nThree guards were blocking the entrance into the city.

nMetal armor, a sword slung across their waist, and a badge on their chest plates.

n“Nope. Just the usual… I’m thinking of asking for a transfer request. Maybe I’ll go help take out some of the surrounding powerful dungeons,” The guard replied.

n“Well, you can join our raid party any time you want. Just give me a call, and I’ll let you in,” The man from before says as we continue our way forward.

nBut suddenly, I was interrupted by a blade blocking my way.

n“He’s with us,”

n“I still can’t let him in. He looks like a slummer from another city,”

n“I can guarantee he is not,”

n“Any proof?”

n“No, you just have to believe my word,”

nThe two men stared at each other until, after a few passing seconds, the guard retracted his sword and slung it back across his waist.

n“*sigh*… None of you better snitch,” The guard says, pointing at the entrees and guards around him.

nHe clicked his tongue in one last protest of annoyance before letting me through.

nMarvelous.

nThat was the only thing that came to mind.

nThe city was grand, made of materials I never thought existed.

n“Pretty cool right,” One of the guys from the group said as we walked down the side of the road, getting greeted by a few people on the way.

nAfter a few minutes of walking, we arrived at a building, but instead of it having a door to get inside, it was like a stand that you would sell food at.

n“Raid Party?”

n“Iron Lions,”

n“Did you fail or succeed?”

nThe man from before continuously answered the receptionist’s questions.

nI glanced at the words atop the stand engraved into the building.

n“An Adventurer Guild?” I muttered.

n“This place is where we gain access to dungeons and complete certain tasks within them. We then exchange the items we got from the dungeon for money here,” The woman named Ellie informs.

n“Ellie, stop rambling useless ** to him. He won’t understand it,” A man from the group says just as the man finished his business.

n“Okay, what’s the passcode to your ring again?” The receptionist mutters as she takes the ring slid across the quartz piece separating the two.

n“Don’t bull** me,”

nThe receptionist chuckled a bit before muttering something that caused the ring to glow a dim gold.

nThen the corpses of what I assumed to be wolves appeared behind her in the room behind the stand.

n“Here, you don’t have to keep jumping. Let me help you up,” Ellie says as she places her hands under my armpits and lifts me up onto her shoulder.

n“Anyway, Arthur, who is that kid? He looks like he’s knocking on death’s door,” The receptionist asks as she counts each corpse.

nThose wolf corpses… have horns atop their head.

nSo they are monsters as well.

nAlso, that man’s name is Arthur… noted.

n“He’s some kid we picked up on the street. He did look like he was about to die, so we gave him some food and water,”

n“I see… Well, your reward has been sent to your bank account. Have a nice evening,” She says before we walk away.

nAfter a couple of hours of walking, the sun had fallen, and we quickly arrived at an inn.

nIt had an old feeling to it, and the wood smell was a bit nostalgic.

n“Okay, we’re going to try and find you a place to stay tomorrow, so sleep with us tonight,” Arthur says, clearly not as annoyed with me as before.

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