The clerk's smile lasted less than a second before his scowl returned, almost as if his face wasn't able to pretend for any period of time longer than that. He looked at me, noticing the lack of upper body clothing, and sneered. He did not even register the presence of the girls.
"Let me guess," he began with a sigh. "You're an outsider, thinking you're hot stuff and that you can make it big here. You survived the trek, and now you think you're invincible. Where do you come from? The mountains?"
"The plains" I replied. It was the truth, after all. I had appeared in the great plains before falling down the ravine with the temple.
The clerk hummed. "You can talk! So you're not just a brute!"
"Are you trying to get yourself a beating?" I asked. Genuinely, what was up with this guy?
He lifted his hands up in mock surrender, but his face betrayed just how much he was enjoying this. "Alright, alright, peace. I suppose you want to register so you can begin to work, no? I see you're already racking up debt."
"Yes." I said.
He smiled. "Good, good. Let's get a few questions out of the way. Those two, are they summons?"
"I prefer not to say."
He hummed, frowning. "Whatever. Are they sentient?"
I nodded.
"Sentient slaves, alright," he muttered, scribbling something down. "You know it almost never ends well, right? Especially when people get… attached."
I shrugged.
"It's your life man. Just know that if they go on a rampage inside the city, we'll come for you."
"It won't be a problem, but I will keep that in mind," I said calmly.
The clerk seemed satisfied with that. "Class and level?"
"Again, I prefer not to say. Unless it's a requirement to work?"
"Nah," the man said. "I was just curious. General level and skills?"
"Are you curious again?" I asked.
He grinned at me. "What if I was?"
"What if I liked my privacy?"
"Tell you what," the clerk said, eyes glimmering in the light of the torch. "You tell me one thing about your status, and I give you the standard Guild welcome package of one Silver and cover the tab you have with Bib. You tell me another and I'll throw in a shirt for you, free of charge. How about that?"
I pretended to think about it, making eye contact with him. "Alright, deal. I have a General Skill called [Matter Reclamation] that helps me loot my kills. And my Strength is 36."
The clerk smiled. "Interesting skill. Good enough for me. Now, any idea what sorts of jobs you wanna do?"
"Anything for money."
"And for the record, are you truly an outsider?"
"Is that a problem?"
"No, no, of course. Outsiders come and go all the time in low tides, not a problem."
"Speaking of. Tides?"
"You saw the sign outside, yeah? Stands for Beast Tide Northern Oscillation - BTNO. It's the ebb and flow of monster tides in the northern hemisphere of the world. Below 50%, it's considered low tide. Not safe, but safe enough. Higher than that… well, you should probably resist the allure of the extra pay and stick to doing jobs inside the city. The closer to the main lithos, the better. Perhaps even underground if the number gets too high."
I had a lot of questions, but I had to bite my tongue. I was already pushing it by asking about the tides, especially if I decided to go with my outsider persona, and even though I didn't think the clerk could turn out to be too dangerous, it was better to be safe than sorry. Plus, all his questions about my status had set off alarm bells in my mind. He had even tried to withhold what was, supposedly, a standard welcome package of the Guild unless I told him stuff about me.
Was he just trying to pass the time and scratch an itch, or was he collecting information?
"Okay, thank you." I said in the end. Not knowing things hurt me in at almost physical level, but at least I knew enough.
He rummaged under the desk, fishing out a silver coin and then a shirt from an adjacent room. It was a loose fit, but at least I didn't look like a barbarian anymore. I could dial back the hauler persona, finally.
"Well, friend, you look adjusted to this place already! You'll fit right in. Now I'm going to need you to recite the Oath."
"Oath?"
The clerk's face softened with pity. "It's not binding. Hasn't been for a thousand years. Just a little formality from more civilized times. Say: I, first name and last name, swear to always protect the fate of civilization against the monster tides."
"That's it?" I asked, surprised.
"It used to be longer, but what does it matter? It doesn't work."
"Makes sense. Alright then. I, Sol Nightguard, swear to always protect the fate of civilization against the monster tides."
I felt the System stir, before it grew quiet again.
Insufficient energy.
The clerk grinned. "See? It doesn't work. We wouldn't have fallen to such as state if it did, but alas…"
"You don't like what has become of this place, do you?" I asked.
I knew it was a risk. I was exposing myself and asking the man to show his vulnerability. What he did was unexpected. He leaned in, his face a centimeter from mine, and spoke slowly.
"I. Hate. This. Place." He said, before pulling back and wearing his fake smile again. "Welcome to Perseverance's End."
◈◈◈
"Well, that was unpleasant."
I took a deep breath of fresh air, feeling the coolness of the night settle on my skin. After registering, I was given a nice little necklace with my data saying that I was officially an E-ranker! It also allowed me to see the status of the BTNO—or beast tide meter, as I liked to call it—in real time.
We had left the Guild and Perserverance's End as quickly as possible, and did not stop until we were far enough away from the city that we could pretend it was nothing more than a bad dream.
I fished the silver coin from my pockets and gave it to Vespera, who hid it under her armor. We decided to split the cash between the three of us, just in case.
"What now?" the demon girl asked.
I rubbed my arms. The fabric of the shirt was rough on my skin, but at least it made me feel civilized.
"Now? Now the tutorial is finally over," I said with a sigh that slowly morphed into a grin.
At her puzzled expression, echoed by Elyra, I took the time to explain the reference. We walked slowly, almost without a destination in mind, searching for nice spots to spend the night. With an BTNO score of 27% now, we deemed it was safe enough.
I asked around just to make sure, and apparently it was a common thing to sleep outside among the hunters. Not all of them liked it, but those who did were—counterintuitively—the most civilized of them all. They disliked the city and spent as much time as possible away from it. According to some, the world was almost peaceful and relaxing outside of the high tides, although their definition of relax also included at least three fights a day against monsters. A bit skewed, even for my hauler standards.
Another thing we were pleased to learn was that we didn't need to pick up jobs. The Guild bought pretty much anything at slightly below market rate, offering the advantage of 24/7 trading without the benefit of being able to haggle for prices. If we wanted to make better money, we were free to find our own clients, but most people didn't bother.
Elyra yawned, hiding her face behind a hand and mumbling cutely.
"I do not know about you two," she said. "But I am rather tired. That city drained me of all my energy."
Vespera, on the other hand, was practically jumping around with nervous energy. "What?" she asked, feeling our gazes. "I'm excited! The city sucks, so what? Life begins now. For all three of us!"
Her energy was almost infectious, but Elyra wasn't having it.
"How about this," I offered. "We can go back to last night's camp. If the pelts are still there, all we need to do is make a fire and we'll be warm. If the trek isn't enough for you to work out your excess energy, you can fish a late dinner in the river. Deal?"
She grinned. "Deal. And tomorrow I want to set off exploring. No going back to the city unless we need to."
She took off in a hurry, grabbing our hands and dragging us towards the river. Her energy really was infectious, and before long we were all running, chasing each other and having a great time. I felt good, I realized. I had been walking around the city with a heavy weight on my back, but now I felt light and happy. Life was awful in there, but we didn't have to be a part of it. We were free.
Chapter 15.5 (NSFW)
This chapter is a NSFW extra for Gold Tier patrons, to thank them for their support! It does not progress the main plot.
It's a full length one, 2k words!
When we arrived at the camp, we were pleased to see that our stuff was still there. We were hot, sweaty and tired, and none of us was feeling like fishing or doing anything other than relaxing under the warm furs looted from the monster bear, courtesy of the System.
We still took the time to gather some wood, because even though it was late summer, a chill wind had picked up from the mountains. And, besides, nothing beat having a roaring fire next to you while you looked up at the stars. It's something I never did in my old life.
We settled down, huddling close to each other. Elyra and Vespera squeezed near me, and I felt their body heat warm the bubble of air under the fur. They were like two furnaces, running much hotter than me. The demon girl's bare legs brushed against mine, a hint of a grin on her face, and their humid heat made them stick to my skin, sending a shiver up my whole body.
To my right, Elyra had grabbed my hand and pulled it to her stomach. I felt her shift, propping herself against the large tree a little bit higher before gravity pulled her body down again.
"Mm, I am tired," she mumbled.
Shifting again, she kneaded the flesh of my shoulder like it was a pillow and then gently rested her face on it.
"Don't be up too late, you two…" she said sleepily.
She didn't close her eyes immediately, instead looking at the hypnotic flames in the firepit. A warm blanket of silence enveloped us, until I finally felt her breathing begin to even out. She was asleep.
On the opposite side of me, Vespera shifted. When I looked at her, I saw her playful face and was about to speak, but she silenced me with a finger on my lips.
Grinning, she huddled closer until her right leg stuck to mine. Then she pulled it up and over, and scooted even closer. I was keeping my hands on my lap, letting her tease me without doing much of anything, but she wasn't having it.
Her hands grabbed me, and she brought my hand to her chest, slinging it behind her neck. My breath got stuck in my throat when I realized that she wasn't wearing anything.
She had dismissed her armor, and my hand was cupping her perfectly shaped…
[…continues on Patreon[1]]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/posts/bound-to-fallen-152679169