Tying up her hair into twin tails, as well as changing her outfit into something more common than literally divine white robes, she was now unmistakably an elf. A gorgeous one at that, she internally added.
Since she had been able to effortlessly teleport into the enemies capital, she found it hard to believe she would have a serious problem flattening the place altogether. But then again, it would have surprised her if anything were able to blockade her teleportation, now that she was no longer operating at a mere fraction of her actual powers. That said, there was a place that made her curious, due to the amount of mana accumulated in the area. It seemed to be a place people stronger than the average citizens gathered, hence she chose to inspect it. Though she herself was suppressing all indications of her own strength as part of her disguise, she probably would not stick out too much and pass as just a regular person passing by.
Arriving at the interesting area, it seemed to be something like an inn, though she had trouble categorizing it from the outside. After entering, it became clear that it was more something one would call a job center, or guild. She had heard of these things, but found that they had little presence in the old Holy Enpire, and thus even less in the Absolute Empire after its takeover. Reason for this had been the strong influence of the government, where security and other concerns a guild would usually handle were taken care off by the state itself. The Holy Empire seemed to believe that its Holy Knights were the only security necessary for the people, which was correct until they all died in the battle of Vancia during the elves. Which was probably for the best, since they had the pleasure of never crossing paths with Yuki during that time. As for the Absolute Empire, a separate institution working on security concerns would be helpful, but ultimately undermine the people's dependence on Yamato and the Church for saftey and protection. And Yuki did not like the adventurer archetype.
However, it seemed here people like that had a chance to bloom, and earn money while keeping their town and nation safe. As she looked around, a receptionist locked eyes with her. Her short blond hair and green eyes were quite eye catching, and Yuki felt as though the woman was one of the more attractive elves. She also noticed her uniform and demeanor seeming professional, making her think this was not a small business model. Not wanting to make things too awkward after already looking her up and down for a couple of moments, she went ahead and approached the counter where she was warmly greeted right away.
"Hello and welcome to our adventure guild, my name is Suzuki, and I am here to answer any of your questions. Since I've never seen you here before, I will assume you are new here? Are you maybe looking to register yourself as an adventurer, create or join an already existing group?"
"…I'm just looking around, thanks."
"Okay then, please don't feel shy and ask me if there's anything I can help you with."
"Actually, I was wondering what that board over there is used for."
"Oh, that's where we hand private and state issued contracts for adventures to accept! As you can see, current there are none open but that's not the norm."
"How come it happened this time? I'm sure there's always something to do in this line of work."
"Well, yesterday was a busy day, and the bigger contracts are usually refreshed once a week. But smaller ones can be requested right here with me or my colleagues, so there's nothing to worry about there!"
"Busy day, huh… If I do decide to become an adventurer, is there like a ranking system?"
"Yes, you will be divided into a category. But if you are talented, rising up will be no problem for you."
"And if I'm not?"
"Lower contracts still pay enough for you to live off, but it's not for everyone. We can do measurements of your abilities, if you are interested?"
"Uhh, no thank you…"
"Are you sure? It's free of charge if you are a registered member."
"…"
"I would be a pretty awesome adventurer… The best, I'm sure. I don't think it would cause any problems either, it's not like I can't just quit whenever I want… But it seems like such a waste of time. Why would I go out of my way and help do some dumbass quest in my free time when I could spend that time with Yamato instead? But I guess just registering wouldn't hurt…"
"There is a crystal ready one room away, it goes really fast! But if you still aren't interested, then feel free to just walk around a bit more. We also have a food and drinks section, that even non-members can use for a bit of an increase in price."
"Could I just register without the crystal stuff too? I don't wanna get that seriously into it, y'know?"
"Sure, that works too! But there's still an exam, and you would be only allegeable for the lowest class."
"That's okay. How long does that take?"
"Oh, it's just a small physical assessment. It can be done in roundabout ten minutes. It's just to make sure you qualify for the work, since even small contracts can be dangerous."
"Uh huh…"
"I'm already bored… If I take control of this town, I might get rid of this thing right away. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be happening any time soon…"
The receptionist looked past Yuki at the door swinging open, as three people, to Yuki's surprise humans, entered. What somehow made them stand out even more than their race were their clothes. One man, with a red cape and dark blue armor without a helm, and two women, one hooded and with telescope like thing on her back, the other wearing pink star shaped sunglasses, with what appeared to be an electric guitar on her back. The man held a huge back over his shoulder, and immediately noticed Yuki, who had not even turned around.
Suzuki whispered over to her in a hurry as the trio approached the counter.
"You probably weren't going to anyway, but don't get involved with the humans…"
"Hm? Why?"
"W-Because they are— Ah, welcome back, brave heroes! We have been waiting for your glorious return, and you came back even sooner than expected! Wonderful! Now let's see what you brought back this time and—"
As the man dropped his bag on the counter, a head rolled out of it, that of a creature Yuki had never seen before. Though, she had not seen many animals outside ones of their old world, aside from Iky, so this was hardly a surprise. She assumed creatures of magical nature were quite rare in the area of the Absolute Empire, but not as rare in these lands. Inside the bag appeared to be some kind of lizard, a dragon perchance. Though a smaller kind, the bag was filled to the brim with what she would assume to be a lot more of those. Suzuki seemed rather disgusted by the sight, and only forced half a smile.
As Yuki glanced at the group, she could not help but share that disgust, though probably for a different reason. Much to her displeasure, she met eyes with the man, his blond, slick back hair and brown eyes together with the color scheme of his clothes reminding her of superheroes from Yamato's world, or rather fictitious stories about them. As she analyzed their abilities, she found that they did have the title "Otherworldler", which meant they might share an origin with Bambini, though that seemed unlikely.
"Impressed, beautiful?"
"…Not particularly, no."
"Common, is that a way to speak to your hero? We have been summoned here just for you guys, haven't we?"
"Y-yes of course, great hero! And we are forever thankful for your support against the sources of evil!", Suzuki threw in.
"As you should… But is it to much to ask hearing the same thing from a regular citizen? Why did you have to say it for her, don't you think she can speak for herself?"
"Apologies, you are completely right of course!"
"Who do you think you are… I am not the one you must apologize to, it is this woman whom you've robbed of her chance to respond on her own!"
"Y-yes, of course… Miss, I'm truly sorry. I hope you will consider visiting us again despite my rude and unacceptable behavior…"
As Yuki looked at the bowing Suzuki, she could not help but notice her being extremely angry, despite her actual hiding it quite well. It was not directed at Yuki however, but instead at the man with cape, which began irritating Yuki as well. Her attention deviated towards the two woman accompanying him, who had remained silent throughout this whole encounter until now. The girl with the sunglasses, actually was even more unusually dressed than Yuki had first seem out of the corner of her eye. Her outfit seemed completely out of place, reminding of the kind of dress an idol would wear. All in a pinkish and white color, which offered neither camouflage nor physical protection. The other girl seemed plain and boring, and Yuki had nothing interesting to say about her. Except, that she was staring at her even more intensely from under that hood than the man was.
"…What's your problem?"
"E-excuse me…?"
"You heard me. What are you looking at?"
"N-nothing! And even if I was, what's it to you?"
"What did you just say to me?"
"You heard me! I'm a hero! You can't talk to me like that!"
Yuki had to admit that she thought the woman would be somewhat of a pushover, and was somewhat taken aback when she seemed to not back down immediately. Though that of course did not lead to respect but rather increased irritation at the group as a whole. But sadly, she could not kill them without destroying the elven persona she actually began to partially enjoy. And because it seemed as though they were not completely weak and talentless either, she could not even have the situation escalate to a smaller fight, as she would have to lose that encounter for it to not harm her cover. Since she did not want to lose, she would therefore have to calm everyone down.
"Hm… You're right. I apologize. I am new here and was not yet familiar with your faces, hence I misjudged you."
"Damn right you did! Now get on your knees and try that again!", the woman said, now with boosted confidence.
"Now, that's taking it a bit too far, Shizuka. She already apologized, and you are to blame as well. Looks like we've interrupted something, so I think it'd be best if we take our payment and go somewhere else for everyone to cool off."
"B-but, Tokio!"
"He's right, ya'know? Besides, my legs hurt from all the standing around listening to all of y'all talking about some boring stuff. And I'm hungry. And thirsty. I don't deserve to suffer this much, especially because of something mundane as this dispute! Because I, am a star~!"
"Y-you too, Kira!?"
"What? I told you my reasons already. A true best friend wouldn't let me suffer like this."
"Y-you're right… I guess we can go…"
As Tokio took the money from the receptionist Suzuki, they promptly left as announced, all while Yuki stood there without saying a word after being ordered to beg.
"Miss, are you alright? That must have been unpleasant. Trust me, I know… These disgusting humans think because of some powers all of the sudden they are—"
"—Is there a fee for registering…?"
"Y-yes, right… A small one, two bronze coins and you should be all—"
Yuki threw a silver coin at the counter since she did not have it in less and walked off.
"Keep the change, I need to be somewhere…"
"Ah, wait miss, you haven't told me your… Name…"
But Yuki was already gone. Probably for the better. As she immediatelywent for a near by alley and teleported out of the city into a deep piece of forest, where she took a calm and deep breath to make sure she had not just imagined what had happened. After making sure she had not been dreaming or anything alike, she was about to fly back home and complain about it to Yamato, who would understandingly pat her head and hold her tightly, something suddenly bit down on her ankle. As she looked down, barely restraining herself from just stomping whatever it was to a pulp, as her mood was already extremely low, she found one of the same creatures the heroes had biting her. A small, green dragon, maybe 40 cm long. If she had to guess, a juvenile. Not that it mattered. As she lifted her summoned sword, she noticed another presence. But it was too late, and she was hit by the fire breath of an adult, at least twenty meters tall. Needless to say it did not harm her, but it was what gave her the rest. She returned to the Absolute Citadel completely red and blood drenched, because she was so angry that she lifted the barrier that usually prevented blood from sticking to her, just so she could better imagine that dragon having been the Heroes. The forest was about the size of a football field less filled with trees, as the area was now leveled and just dirt and ashes.