Ling led me to a small town he was staying at, but the people there trembled when they saw me for the first time, but they soon came to give me gifts.
"Here, so you might spar my life." A old man hands me a fine box. What a nice old man he is, I can't believe people go around giving prized possessions like this. Maybe I should do the same.
"Old child of man." Opening my subspace, I draw out a long golden sword, causing him to flinch with excitement. "Astlong's old friend made this for Astlong." I hand it to his shaking hands, and he just holds it with a stern expression. "Now you may go." I nod at the stunned Ling. He must be surprised I didn't give him a better item, but little does Ling know that sword can cut mountains with barely a swing. When the old man finds out he should be pleased.
This is kinda fun. Too bad Ling stopped anyone else from giving me stuff, why did he have to ruin the trade?
We left the next day to a large city. Sadly, the guards stopped me at the gate.
"Relax my man." Ling leans against my shoulder.
"Relax?" The guard scoffs. "That man is clearly a cursed folk."
"Not cursed folk." I begin to correct him, but Ling holds my mouth shut.
"Yes, he is an adventurer like me." Ling speaks such bold face lies like they are the truth, what a sinister man.
The guard looks up in order to see my face. "He must be quite the adventurer, surprised we haven't heard of him."
"Surely you have heard of…" I try to speak, but Ling once more cuts me off.
"See he is new, hasn't even gotten his listens yet."
The guard sighs. "There is no law forbidding cursed folk to enter the city. You should be fine."
I am forced to slightly duck to avoid hitting my head on the gate. Who builds gates this small anyways? A carriage would struggle to enter.
It was soon after that I realized we went through the back gate, and the city was much bigger than I thought. Towering buildings, a strong castle standing far off into the distance, and multiple towers scattered about. But we didn't go to any of these, instead we visited a fine looking inn.
The door creaked open, and we were met with the hustle and bustle of daily life. Dwarfs chug down beers, as elves clean their bows, and humans do whatever humans do, yet all of this stopped the moment Ling entered.
They all just stared at him, do they not like Ling? Perhaps I should beat them up so they understand how good of a guy he is.
I had to crawl on all fours in order to enter, a strange task, but not one I found hard at all. Restanding my head scrapes the roof, and their eyes slowly shift up to look at me.
"Ling, do these people dislike you?" I ask.
Ling snorts. "Nope, at least I hope not." He now looks hesitant. "Do they?"
It was remarkable how fast they went back to what they were doing.
"Hey big guy." A woman behind the bar speaks to me. "You here to sign up?"
"I am here to kill the demon king." I calmly correct her.
She nods, her gray hair shifting to and fro. "I believe it. If I was the demon king I would be sweating right now."
I nod slowly. "Do demons sweat?" I ask. "Beast folk don't sweat."
"Not literally." She smirks. "Anyways, I just need you sign a few things."
Ling cuts in between us. "It's cool that you are all lovey dovey, but I need to talk with you for a sec." He pulls me to the side. "You are not Astlong."
"But I am Astlong the mighty." I speak.
"No." He shakes his head. "Everyone here knows that name, you are now, I don't know come up with something."
"Ast." I say with a smug expression.
"That isn't even a name." He frowns. "Call yourself something better."
"Astlonger."
"No."
Is this such a complicated task?
"Leo." After much hard thought, till my brain nearly melted, I came up with this genius name.
"Lion, you're naming yourself lion?" Ling smirks. "I like it. It suits you."
"Is Ling saying Astlong would lose in a fight with a lion?"
"No." Ling shakes his head again. "How did you even get that out of what I said?"
"Good, because Astlong wouldn't."
"Did you hear?" someone whispers as I walk back to counter. "A sword saint has appeared."
"I heard." The other responds. "Apparently he is super old, and wields a golden sword."
A sword saint with a golden sword. I can't help but stop in my tracks. I hope I meet him some day.
When I arrive at the counter the gray haired woman greets me once again.
"So." She smiles. "The adventurous system works like this." She points to a board. "You can accept quests, but the quests have to be of your level. It goes copper, silver, gold, diamond, and titanium. It is listed on the sheets, but if you get confused don't be afraid to come and ask me."
What a kind woman, maybe humans aren't so bad after all.
"If ast…" I stop before correcting myself. "If Leo wishes to climb these levels, how might he do this."
"Oh, good question." She hands me a sheet. "You can't instantly jump levels, but after completing a few quests, we have inspectors you can duel that will determine if you may advance." Pointing at somethings on the sheet she has me sign, though the pen barely fit in my hand so the hand writing was beyond terrible.
I walk up to Ling who was sitting at a table, his feet resting on its ledge. "I like these children of man." I attempt to take a seat opposite him, but the legs buckle under my weight, and I end up sitting on the floor. At least now we are almost eye level.
"Yeah, we are kind of a cool race." He messes with a piece of paper. "Pluss, I bet you got the hots for her."
Hots? This word is unknown to me. I shift to look at the girl standing behind the counter and she smiles back at me.