The dirt road ended at a gray stone gate.
Ten-meter walls. Two guards at the entrance. A medium-sized city with the name VALDRIS carved into the main arch.
Kai looked at it for a moment.
"Is this the place you mentioned?"
"Yes."
"I'm surprised you can just walk in like it's nothing." He paused. "And even more surprised that they're so afraid of you."
Serah processed the question as if it were the first time anyone had phrased it that way.
"Afraid?"
"Yes. Afraid."
"Oh." Another silence. "So that's what it was."
Kai looked at her.
"You didn't know?"
"I never really thought about it." Serah observed the walls with a neutral expression. "Whenever I was hungry, I'd come near this town. And out of nowhere, they'd start bringing me food. So I just started taking human form so I could go into those places they call restaurants."
Kai processed that.
"And how much do they charge you? You must eat a lot."
Serah looked at him.
"Charge?"
Kai looked at her.
Silence.
"I see," said Kai.
---
[GarcíaFTW: SERAH DOESN'T KNOW WHAT CHARGING MEANS]
[NocheEterna99: she's been eating for free for centuries just from passive fear LMAO]
[StreamerHunter: 2,300 years and never paid a bill. Respect.]
[Current viewers: 71,204]
---
The guards at the north gate saw them arriving at the same time.
The first one saw Kai — young human, hands in pockets, calm stride.
The second one saw Serah.
There was a second of collective processing. Then the first guard reached for the alert bell.
Serah looked up.
She didn't say anything. Didn't do anything. She just stared at the walls with the most neutral, unconcerned expression possible.
The guard's hand stopped two centimeters from the bell.
The gates remained open.
Kai walked through without breaking stride.
---
What followed was interesting.
The people on Valdris's main street had the kind of reaction you develop in frontier cities — quick, calibrated, no unnecessary drama. They saw Serah and calculated the distance to the nearest wall in under two seconds.
But suddenly they weren't just looking at Serah anymore.
They'd look at her for a second, calculate that she wasn't attacking, then flick their eyes back to Kai.
A human. No armor. No sword. No visible guild symbols. Walking in front of an SSS-rank with his hands in his pockets like he was looking for a pharmacy.
The question was visible on every face they passed.
Who is that?
---
[NocheEterna99: BRO THE WHOLE CITY IS STARING AT HIM]
[GarcíaFTW: the SSS-rank walks by and everyone thinks "normal" but the rankless guy has them confused]
[StreamerHunter: the face of the vegetable stall lady when Kai says "good afternoon" and keeps walking. Art.]
[New viewers: +4,200]
---
The restaurant was called The Valdris Pot and could seat about thirty people.
When Serah pushed the door open, there were twenty-two customers inside.
By the time Kai walked in behind her, there were zero.
Only the owner remained — a man in his fifties, stocky, wearing a work apron and an expression somewhere between tired and scared.
There was food on the back table before Serah finished sitting down.
Bread. Roasted meat. Three kinds of sides. A pitcher of something that smelled good.
The owner placed it all while staring at the wall. Not at Serah. Not at Kai. The wall.
"Welcome," he said, in the tone of someone reciting an emergency protocol. "The usual, Lady Serah."
"Good," said Serah.
Kai sat across from her and looked at the food. Then he looked at the owner.
"Could I get the same?"
The owner looked at him for the first time. He assessed: human, no visible rank, sitting across from an SSS-rank with no signs of detectable physiological stress.
"Of course," he said, and disappeared into the kitchen at professional speed.
---
[GarcíaFTW: THEY EMPTIED THE RESTAURANT IN 4 SECONDS]
[NocheEterna99: the owner served the food while staring at THE WALL. This is his life now.]
[StreamerHunter: Kai ordered "the same" like he's a regular customer. This guy has nerves of steel or no nerves at all.]
---
[System — Notification]
[Gift received: Interdimensional Gold Coin x50 — User: NocheEterna99]
[Interdimensional Gold Coins can be exchanged for local currency in any city of Aethon.]
[Current exchange rate: 1 Coin = 3 silver coins of Aethon]
[Current balance: 50 Interdimensional Gold Coins]
Kai read the notification while waiting for the food.
"Hey," he said to the system in a low voice. "Can I use this to pay here?"
[Affirmative. Interdimensional Gold Coins are valid currency at establishments in Aethon.]
[Note: Most establishments in Valdris are not yet familiar with the currency. Showing the physical coin resolves any doubts.]
[Additional note: The current establishment likely will not charge the SSS entity.]
[But you are not the SSS entity.]
"I know," said Kai.
---
[NocheEterna99: YOU'RE WELCOME KAI. USE THE COINS WELL.]
[GarcíaFTW: the system clarified that THEY will charge HIM. Honest.]
[StreamerHunter: I just found out gifts turn into real money over there. Sending coins now.]
[Gift received: Interdimensional Gold Coin x20 — StreamerHunter]
[Gift received: Interdimensional Gold Coin x10 — GarcíaFTW]
[Gift received: Interdimensional Gold Coin x200 — User: unknown]
[Updated balance: 280 Interdimensional Gold Coins]
[Note: The 200-coin gift has no traceable origin.]
[The system has attempted to identify the user three times.]
[The system has failed three times.]
Kai looked at that last notification a second longer than the others.
Then the food arrived and he stopped looking at it.
---
They ate.
Serah did so with the efficiency of someone for whom eating is a function, not an experience. Kai did so with the focus of someone who hasn't eaten in over a day and has the humility to admit it internally.
Halfway through the meal, Kai took out an Interdimensional Gold Coin and placed it on the table.
Serah looked at it.
"What's that for?"
"To pay."
"The owner isn't going to charge you."
"He won't charge you. But he'll charge me."
Serah processed the distinction. Then she looked at the coin with something that, in someone with fewer centuries under her belt, might have been called curiosity.
"Where did it come from?"
"My viewers. The ones watching me from the other side of the portal. They send gifts and the system converts them into usable currency here."
"They feed you?"
"Basically."
Serah looked toward the corner where the chat comments floated invisibly — she couldn't see them, but she'd been in this world long enough to feel that she was being watched from there.
"How many are there?"
"Seventy-one thousand right now."
Serah returned to her food.
"Interesting," she said, in the tone with which interesting is unexpected from someone 2,300 years old.
---
When they finished, the owner reappeared. He cleared the plates while staring at the wall. When it was Kai's turn, Kai placed the coin in his hand.
The owner looked at it.
"It's interdimensional currency," said Kai. "Worth three local silver coins. If it's not acceptable, I can look for change."
The owner examined it. Bit it lightly. Nodded.
"It's fine," he said. "I owe you change."
"Keep the rest as a tip."
The owner paused. Then, for the first time since they'd entered, he lifted his gaze from wall level and looked directly at Kai.
"Are you new to Valdris?"
"I arrived today."
"Will you be staying?"
"For now."
The owner nodded slowly, with the expression of someone recalibrating important information.
"Welcome," he said. And this time it didn't sound like an emergency protocol.
---
[GarcíaFTW: KAI LEFT A TIP. THE OWNER LOOKED HIM IN THE EYE FOR THE FIRST TIME.]
[NocheEterna99: that owner just decided Kai is a normal person and he has no idea]
[StreamerHunter: "welcome" with a face that says "this human is the weirdest one who's ever walked in here and that includes the SSS-rank"]
---
The Hunters Guild of Valdris was two streets from the restaurant.
Kai walked there using the mental map he'd built while entering the city.
Serah followed.
People on the street were still staring at them.
They were still staring more at Kai than at Serah.
---
The guildmaster was a man in his fifties with the kind of posture that develops in people who have seen too much to be surprised but not enough to be completely at ease.
He saw Kai enter.
He saw Serah stop at the door.
He took a second to calibrate.
"New hunter registration," said Kai.
"Yes." The guildmaster set down the papers he'd been reviewing, but kept turning his head from Kai to the doorway, watching Serah out of the corner of his eye. "Name."
"Kai Reno."
"World of origin?"
"Earth."
"Noted. Abilities."
"Martial arts. No magic. No elemental affinity."
The guildmaster wrote. Stopped. Reread.
"Just martial arts?"
"The system couldn't classify the rank."
"Let's go to evaluation."
---
-∆-∆-∆
The gauge was a blue crystal the size of a melon.
Kai placed his hand on it.
ERROR.
They switched the crystal.
ERROR.
They brought out the emergency backup, the one from the locked display case.
ERROR.
Silence.
The guildmaster took off his glasses and cleaned them with a cloth he pulled from his pocket, moving like someone who does that when they need a second to think.
"Rank F," he said. "It's the minimum assignable."
"Fine." Kai signed where indicated. "Can I see the board?"
---
-∆-∆-∆
The board had papers organized by color.
Blue for F and E. Green for D and C. Yellow for B. Orange for A. Red for S and above.
There was exactly one red paper.
Kai took it.
"That one's been up for three weeks," said the guildmaster. "No S-rank team has accepted it."
"Why?"
"Unstable zone. Unconfirmed threat. Three reconnaissance teams went in. Came back without usable information."
"They came back?"
"Yes. Just without usable information."
Kai read the paper. Triple pay. Northeast zone. Threat category: open.
"Minimum rank?"
"Recommended: S. Officially required: none."
Kai folded the paper.
"I leave tomorrow."
The guildmaster looked toward the door where Serah was still leaning against the frame.
"Are you going alone?"
Kai followed his gaze. Serah was watching him with her usual neutral expression.
"More or less," said Kai.
---
-∆-∆-∆
[NocheEterna99: HE TOOK THE ONLY RED QUEST]
[GarcíaFTW: rank F. S-rank quest. with an SSS companion who technically isn't a companion]
[StreamerHunter: tomorrow is going to be the best stream of my life. I know it. I can feel it.]
[System — Notification]
[Quest accepted: Unstable Zone — Sector 7]
[User rank: F]
[Minimum recommended rank: S]
[The system wishes the user good luck.]