Town

The Demon Continent was covered in rocks, and the ground rose and fell sharply.

The earth was hard, and if you dug even a little, it crumbled into loose, rattling dirt. There were no nutrients at all; it was one step away from being a desert.

If you spent all your time cooped up in land like this, even the Demon Race would start wars, wouldn't they?

There were almost no plants here. Now and then, we saw strange rocks that looked like cacti.

In that kind of environment, we followed Aisha's instincts for about two months, and at last, we saw a town.

My little sister... might actually have been a genius.

Rikarisu Town.

One of the three great cities of the Demon Continent.

During the Human-Demon War, it had served as the base of the Great Demon Emperor Kishirika Kishirisu.

Because of that, it had another name: "Old Kishirisu Castle."

The first thing about this town that amazed people was its location. It had been built on an enormous crater.

The crater had acted as a natural wall, stopping enemy invasions countless times.

Even now, it served to defend against the intrusion of monsters, a natural barrier.

At the center of town stood the half-ruined Kishirisu Castle.

This castle had been destroyed in the Laplace War, and traces still remained from the battle between the Demon Kings of Kishirika's faction and the Demon God Laplace.

Its dependable walls and the Iron Fortress, which still retained traces of its former glory—these two things were known to the world as symbols of the Great Demon Emperor's majesty and the cruel history of the Demon Race.

Rikarisu Town was a town with a long history, and moreover, travelers could only discover its true beauty at dusk.

Excerpt from Travels Around the World by the adventurer Bradycond.

That was what I knew about "Rikarisu Town."

There were three entrances into the town, with gaps in the crater serving as what you'd call gates.

The crater was tall, and even from the air, it would be difficult to invade from anywhere besides the entrances.

Each entrance had two gatekeepers.

In other words, the city's security was strict.

At any rate...

"Stop right there!"

Two soldiers were standing at the town entrance.

One was an unfriendly-looking guy with a snake's head, and the other was a guy with a pig-like head who gave off an arrogant air.

"Who are you people?! What did you come here for?!"

The one speaking with a hand on the sword at his waist was the snake-headed guy.

"We're travelers."

I had Eris hold Aisha's hand, then took a step forward myself, looking as if I wanted to negotiate with them.

"Adventurers?"

"Something like that."

The two gatekeepers looked at me, then at Eris and Aisha.

For me and Eris, saying we had come out to be adventurers at our age was probably perfectly normal, but Aisha was too young.

On top of that, we weren't exactly clean. Rather, we were extremely filthy.

We looked less like adventurers and more like refugees.

Still...

Seeing how suspicious they were of us, I took two monster horns from the pocket of my clothes.

They were the horns of One-Horned Demon Wolves. I had collected them from the monsters we had hunted earlier, and if my guess was right, they should have been worth money.

I quietly slipped the two horns into their hands, then removed the cloth wrapped around the Arrogant Water Dragon King in my hand.

Once they saw such a splendid staff, their suspicion vanished as well, and they nodded.

"Mm. A powerful mage! You may enter!"

"Thank you."

Eris and Aisha followed behind me, and together we entered the town.

Before stepping through the gate, I turned back and asked, "By the way, is there anywhere in this town where we can earn money?"

"There is. The Adventurer Guild. Aren't you adventurers? Just head straight there. You can also exchange the monster materials you're carrying for money there."

"I see. Thank you for letting me know."

We entered the town. Compared to Roa, the houses were a little smaller, spreading out in every direction.

But the town's layout was a lot like Roa's. Near the entrance, inns and stables aimed at merchants stood one after another.

"Adventurers, huh..."

Summing up everything I had heard so far, adventurers were basically dispatched workers.

People with skills registered at a staffing company called the Adventurer Guild, took jobs introduced by them, and raised their evaluation.

People commissioned work through the Adventurer Guild, and adventurers confident in their abilities accepted those jobs.

"I'm still not sure whether we should become adventurers to earn money, but let's register first, shall we? That way we'll have identification too. What do you think, Eris?"

"Adventurers! I wanna! I wanna do it!"

Eris's eyes sparkled as she nodded over and over. Come to think of it, she had listened to Ghislaine's stories from her adventurer days who knew how many times. Eris really did admire that kind of adventure...

"Brother! I... I... I want... um... I want an adventurer's identity too..."

Aisha said, fidgeting bashfully.

I patted her on the head.

"Of course. If it's just an identity."

"Mm! Thank you, Brother!"

The Adventurer Guild.

Many mighty warriors had gathered there.

Some were confident in their bodies, while others were confident in their magic.

Some used swords, some used axes, some used staves, and some fought bare-handed.

Some loudly boasted that they were stronger than anyone else, while others silently laughed at them in their hearts.

There were swordsmen in armor, and lightly equipped mages too.

There were men like pigs, women whose lower halves were snakes, men with wings, and women with horse legs.

All kinds of races had gathered together, filling the place with noise and bustle.

This was the Adventurer Guild of the Demon Continent.

The three of us walked straight in as if it were nothing. The adventurers inside merely glanced at us once before paying us no more attention.

When we reached the counter, I stood on tiptoe.

"Miss clerk, can we register as adventurers now?"

"Yes. Please fill out these forms."

She handed over three sheets of paper and sharpened charcoal. Each sheet was the same.

They had fields for name and occupation, as well as notes and regulations.

What were people who couldn't read supposed to do?

Just as that thought crossed my mind...

"If you can't read, I can read it out for you."

So that was how they handled it.

"No need, thank you."

It was written in Demon God Language, but I could read it.

So I read it aloud to Eris and Aisha, word by word.

Eris started looking fed up halfway through, while Aisha listened and learned the characters at the same time.

"Miss clerk, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Can we fill this out in any language?"

"What language were you planning to use?"

"For example... Human Language?"

"Ah, if it's that, then there's no problem."

In other words, you couldn't fill it out in some special script used by a tiny tribe or the like.

I filled it out in Demon God Language. Rather than being taken for a human, it would be more convenient to be seen as a young-looking member of the Demon Race.

Come to think of it, this clerk didn't seem to care about Aisha's age either. Did she think Aisha was a dwarf or some other race?

I had Eris fill hers out herself, then turned and asked Aisha.

"Aisha, can you write your own name?"

Aisha nodded firmly and began writing her name on the paper.

Incidentally, everything spoken in the Adventurer Guild was in Demon God Language, so Eris and Aisha couldn't understand what the people around them were saying.

If Eris heard the people around us mocking children like that, she might actually draw her sword and attack them.

I smiled and ignored those adventurers who had nothing better to do than laugh at kids.

"Once you're done writing, please place your hand on this."

What they prepared for us was a transparent plate about the size of a game box, with a magic circle carved into the center and a metal card placed underneath.

Hmm... what is this?

"Like this?"

I gently placed my hand on it, and after the staff member confirmed it, they smacked one end of the plate with a finger.

Name: Rudeus Greyrat
Occupation: Magician
Rank: F

The staff member read out the contents of the paper in a flat voice, then tapped it again with a finger.

Then the magic circle gave off a faint red glow before immediately disappearing.

"This is your adventurer card. Please take it."

On the utterly plain iron plate were letters glowing with a vague light.

After Eris and Aisha also finished registering, I took all the monster materials I had on me and exchanged them for money.

Since I didn't have anything like a sack with me, I had only taken small parts from the monsters that looked valuable, such as eyeballs, nails, and shorter horns.

But... probably because they were from the vicious monsters of the northeastern Demon Continent, they were actually worth quite a bit.

After exchanging them for money, the three of us turned around and prepared to leave the Adventurer Guild.