Chapter Two: A New World
"So… this is real…" Ulysses gave a light smile as he looked around at the small city before him.
The buildings around here were akin to those in outlying towns and villages from his home in Austria. The city was similar in design to one's he'd grown up in but it was definitely smaller in comparison.
"AHHH! …AHHH!" Aqua's screams brought Ulysses back to the reality at hand; She was grabbing at her head and yelling like a madman.
"Miss Aqua…" Ulysses turned to face her. "You don't look very dignified screaming like that. You shou-"
"AHHH!" The goddess interrupted with another scream as she pounced over to grab Ulysses.
"Whoa! W-What are you doing? Restrain yourself!" Ulysses pushed away from her teary-eyed attempt to strangle him. "If this is too much for you to bear, then return to your realm! I'll figure this out on my own."
"W-What are you saying? I'm troubled because I can't go back!" She went back to pulling at her hair and even began pacing. "What am I going to do from now on? Hurry up and tell me what I should do!"
Aqua's tears flowed while she babbled through her complaints.
"What to do now, indeed… well…" Ulysses gave a reassuring smile. "Why not gather information in the town? While information gathering isn't exactly my forte, I've known plenty of scouts who've told me that taverns and town squares are excellent places for doing such."
"Huh?" Aqua stopped to meet Ulysses' gaze. "Th-that's… don't try to act reliable! Not after the way you died!"
Ulysses instantly dropped the smile.
"Do you or do you not want to go back to your realm, Miss Aqua?" He deadpanned.
"I… I do…" Aqua let out a short breath.
"Then we should work together, no?" Ulysses offered. "We should start by understanding this world a bit better; I can use my title to talk with the Nobility and, who knows, maybe we can even get ourselves a nice estate and a Headquarters to run this war against the Demon King." He suggested.
Aqua nodded slowly, then looked up to Ulysses with a smile that was almost too genuine for how quickly her mood shifted.
"Yeah… okay… but we can skip the information gathering part! I know pretty much everything about this world!" She suddenly perked up. "Let's start by heading to the Adventurers guild! We can get ourselves registered and we'll be able to make a name for ourselves!"
Ulysses blinked a few times to comprehend what she just said.
"Whoa… well… I'm glad to see you recover quickly." Ulysses' smile made its way back onto his face. "Alright, we'll do as you say. Would you mind leading the way?"
Ulysses was expecting her to have that same energy from just a moment ago but, instead, she just stared at him blankly.
"I may be great but I'm not that great! I know the common knowledge of this world, but not the specifics of this town."
Ulysses paused, taking a moment to allow his scowl to sink in.
"What happened to 'Everything about this world'?" He growled. "Aren't you a Goddess?"
"Exactly! I am a Goddess, Not a town governor! Why should I care about every detail of every tiny town?"
Ulysses let out a brief sigh and face-palmed.
"Nevermind, just… follow me…" He said as he began walking.
Aqua smirked and followed behind him.
"By the way, I don't mind you addressing me as a Goddess, but call me Aqua whenever possible. We don't want the citizens surrounding us all the time! I mean, I'm still one of the revered gods in this world!"
"Mhm." Civettius replied off-handedly.
It took a bit of time but, honestly, significantly less than Ulysses thought it would; It turns out that this town's primary source of income and advertisement is it's Adventurer's Guild so the building was quite prominent. It also helps that practically every armed and armored person came to and from the building.
"I think this is it, Aqua." Ulysses announced, a bit proud of himself.
"I'm… impressed, actually! I didn't expect you to be so good at navigating!" Aqua nodded.
"Well…" Ulysses' cheeks reddened at her praise and he scratched the back of his head. "It's no big deal; Let's... lets just head inside, already." He walked in quickly to get away from the embarrassing atmosphere.
Once inside, Ulysses was struck with the thick atmosphere of a Tavern; The smell of alcohol and food was invasive to his senses.
"Ah, welcome, adventurers!" A waitress addressed them. "If you're new, approach the counter! Otherwise, pick a table to be served or find a quest on the board!"
The place was filled with men and women in medieval looking combat gear, carrying swords, axes, spears, bows and shields. Many looked up from their tables to observe Ulysses and Aqua.
"Hey, why are they staring at us? Is it my holy aura? They must've discovered that I'm a Goddess." Aqua whispered.
"That… or they just saw two new people dressed in unusual clothing… one of which…" Ulysses stopped to look at Aqua. He was going to finish by saying she was unnaturally beautiful but he didn't want to stroke her ego. "Nevermind, just ignore them."
Ulysses walked straight towards the counter, trying his best to disregard the daggers he felt from the gazes being stabbed into his back.
There were four counters available when Ulysses approached; He picked the closest one, manned by a short, stocky guy with fiery red hair and a thick beard.
"Good morning, Sir! What can I do ya fer?" He bellowed out.
"Good morning." Ulysses nodded. "I'm here to… um…" Wait, what were they doing again?
Ulysses looked back at Aqua who seemed to be spacing out a bit.
"Aqua?" Ulysses asked.
"Hm? Oh! What?"
"What are we here to do?"
"Oh! You don't remember? Wow, you're really a worthless soldier." She mocked.
"Look who's talking…" Ulysses murmured before stepping off to the side for Aqua to take over.
"Ah! Uh, right! We're here to register as Adventurers." Aqua said, approaching the counter.
"O-hoh! I see! Pretty girl like you out ta stomp some Toads are ya? Well do ya understand the basics fer adventuring?" The man asked.
Ulysses raised his finger to ask about that before he was cut off by Aqua.
"Of course! We wouldn't be signing up if we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into!" Aqua stood proudly, causing Ulysses to groan at her arrogance.
"Great! Then ya have the money fer the Registration Fee?" He let out a warm yet wide grin.
Aqua paused for a moment.
"... Registration Fee?"
"Yes'm! Ya have ta pay the Registration if ya want ta start earnin' some gubbins by these here quests!" The man explained.
"Hey, Ulysses! You wouldn't happen to have some cash on you, would ya?" Aqua asked, nervously touching her index fingers together.
Ulysses shuffled his hands into the pockets of his grey frock coat and eventually pulled out a small leather pouch.
"Yeah, I've got roughly eight hundred gulden." Ulysses counted through it.
"Wassit Gold-then?" The man interejected.
"Wha? You don't have money for this world?" Aqua said aloud.
The man at the counter gave Aqua an odd stare.
Ulysses grabbed Aqua's wrist and led her away from the counter, leaning in to whisper.
"Don't speak so loudly about that." Ulysses sneered. "Mentioning 'worlds' is going to raise questions I'd rather not answer."
"Okay, okay… but do you really not have money for this world?"
"Are you serious?" Ulysses' whisper raised to a muffled yell. "Why would I have any?"
"I dunno… by chance?" Aqua shrugged.
"Ugh…" Ulysses shook his head and placed his hand on his chin. "So, what do we do about this?" He took a look over the crowd before his eyes settled on the quest board.
There was a woman standing there, maybe a year or so younger than himself, wearing metal armor all over her body; She had blonde hair done up in a ponytail but she looked troubled.
Ulysses let out a sigh, maybe she could provide some information on this.
"Give me a moment." He told Aqua as he went to approach the female knight. "Excuse me, Miss."
"Hm?" She stopped and turned towards him, revealing her cold, blue eyes. "Can I help you?" She asked, completely expressionless.
"Er, yes… My companion and I are trying to get registered in the Adventurer's Guild but we lack the necessary funds; Would you perhaps know how we could raise money to deal with this issue?"
"You… You're looking to join the Adventurer's Guild?" The intensity of her eyes pierced through Ulysses but he wasn't the kind of person to be intimidated by it.
He nodded in response.
"Do you, perhaps, have a party already?" She asked.
"A… Party?" Ulysses raised an eyebrow.
"Yes…" The girl tilted her head slightly. "A party."
"I'm afraid I don't understand." Ulysses scratched the back of his head.
"Are you not from around here?" She waited until Ulysses nodded before continuing. "A party is when multiple adventurers gather together to take on a quest. The average party size is roughly four to six people."
"Oh? Then, no. I do not have a party as of yet; It is just my companion and myself." Ulysses let his gaze drop a bit.
"Then… perhaps I can pay for your Registration Fee." The woman suggested.
"You… you would?" Ulysses met her eyes with a look of surprise.
"Of course… but under the condition that you allow me to accompany you on a few quests." She reasoned.
"I-I do not understand why you would do such a thing… but I am not one to reject your mercy. Thank you, Miss." Ulysses ended with a short bow.
"Darkness." She responded, casually.
"Hm?" Ulysses came back up from his bow.
"You can call me Darkness." She said once more.
"Ah… Miss Darkness… My name is Ulysses M. Civettius, though, just Ulysses is fine." He smiled.
"Well, then Ulysses, it's a pleasure to work with you." She held out her hand.
He took it and shook firmly; Looks like things might finally go his way.
After Darkness paid for the duo's Registration, the man behind the desk began explaining the basics.
"Alrighty, then! Since ya said ya wanted to be an adventurin' sort, you should have some basic level of know-whats! But I'll be explainin' til ya understand, right from the start!… First of all, adventurers are a jack-of-all trades type o' profession! They be responsible fer tha annihilation of monsters wandering here-abouts tha town. Ya can also go on takin' odd jobs that require your talents; Ya see, there are all sorts o' different jobs that require different talents! To simplify these shenanigans, we classify all these folk as just Adventurer! Ya followin' me, lad?"
Ulysses blinked a few times to register what he'd just been told but followed it up with a nod.
"Good!" The man handed Aqua and Ulysses one card each. "Please look ta this here spot." He began. "Do ya see this funky word? says 'Level'? As both of ya should know if ya haven't been dropped on yer wee babby 'ead, all things in this world have souls in 'em, no matter what form it takes; If ya eat em or stab em, you can absorb a part o' their memory; this is known as 'Experience Points'. These Points are normally immeasurable, but uh…"
The red-haired man pointed to one part of the card and continued.
"With this card, the Points you absorb should be appearin' here! The level that matches yer Experience Points will be put here; This shows how strong ya are! Er... in an easily... whas' that word... tangible? yea, a tangible way! How many baddies you do in will also be tracked here in case yer inta measurin'! With the accumulation of experience points, all creatures will grow stronger rapidly at some point, we call that levelin' up; Simply put, levelin' up will grant ya all sorts o' benefits, such as skill points ta learn new skills; So, please do yer best out there ta increase that level o' yers!"
Ulysses furrowed his brow as her tried to comprehend what this man was saying; He'd heard, in the past, of ancient civilizations on Earth that did things like eating or killing to gain the abilities of their foes, but he'd always disregarded that as the delusions of a backwards people; Now that evidence was here in front of him, there wasn't much he could refute.
"First, fill in yer height, weight, age and other details we should know."
Ulysses nodded slowly before taking a quill to write with.
178 cm tall, 79 Kg, Twenty One years old, silver eyes and black hair.
The man took the card to look for a moment before continuing.
"Now then, if you'll touch this card here, it will display tha strength of each o' yer abilities; This'll be key fer referencin' when we choose yer job. After accumulatin' skill points, you can learn all sorts o' skills that are available for yer job; This is one of the most important things ta know when choosin' yer occupations."
Ulysses shrugged and touched the card.
"All right, thank ya, kindly Mister... Civettius, right? Lessee here…" The man took a quick look over the numbers that appeared on the card. "Your Intelligence is very high! That's a great stat ta have! Your Vitality and Agility are also quite above the average and just slightly ahead o' yer Strength and Speed... but, uh, don't try anythin' risky cause your Luck is kind of low. Also, no mean to alarm and what have you but, uh, your Magic ability is pretty pants if ya feel me; Do be careful about that one."
"So… what does that all mean, exactly?" Ulysses asked.
"Well, based on yer stats, I think you'd be an excellent Rogue! You could do well as either an Archer or an Assassin!"
"Assassin? That's just a public job here?" Ulysses raised an eyebrow.
"Hm? Oh! Hehe, you really 'ave been raised under a rock, eh? Well, hopefully, Assassins don't actually do in tha other adventurers! It's just the name for the job listing and skills ta go with it! They aren't true assassins as you may believe." The man chuckled.
"I see… would there be any other jobs available to me?" Ulysses asked.
"Well, if you're more the fightin' type, there is a job listed as 'Fighter'. While the more advanced jobs, such as Knight n Sword Master, aren't available right now, you'd of definitely get the potential ta become one! If combat ain't yer fancy, then you'd also do quite well as a blacksmith!"
Ulysses mulled it over for a moment, taking time to consider this; A job could very well set the precedence for what he does from this point on.
"Well," Aqua stepped in front of Ulysses. "While he's over thinking everything, here's my card! Be sure to be impressed!"
"If I ain't wearin' me mama's beard..." The man's eyes opened with shock. "What're these numbers on about? Leavin' this poor-lookin' Intelligence and abysmal Luck aside, the rest of your stats look like they've been given by the gods themselves! Especially this magic stat ya have, it's higher than an male orc reunited with his village!"
"So, I'm amazing, right?" Aqua proudly shrugged. "I knew it! Oh my, it's normal by my standard."
"Well, Miss! Tha Mage-type jobs ain't really an option for ya because o' that Intelligence problem ya got, but that doesn't mean you can't just immediately snatch up another top-tier job right now if ya feel like it! There's tha holy knight, Crusader; or the swordsman I mentioned earlier, Sword Master; not to ferget the top-tier cleric, Archpriest. You can choose any o' these right now!"
"Well, it's a pity that 'goddess' isn't available as a job; Guess I'll settle for Archpriest, then."
"Archpriest! As an Archpriest, you can use all kinds of recovery and support spells; They can even take on tha role of vanguards! Truly an all-rounder type! I'll register ya now, miss…" The man quickly shuffled some papers and stamps around. "That should do 'er. Welcome to the adventurer's guild, Miss Aqua! All o' our staff will be on tha look out fer your inevitable victories!" He said with a wide grin.
Ulysses rolled his eyes at all the commotion, he didn't fully understand what all of this meant but he knew for certain what he figured he should be.
"I'll… I'll be a Fighter if that's all the same." Ulysses stepped forward to place his card back on the counter.
"Hm? Oh, yes, right! Almost forgot about you there, sir! I'll get ya registered as well!" He nodded quickly.
With this, Ulysses and Aqua's adventure began… Whatever that may entail…
Comments:
To November-5hit: Yes! you're right! these first few chapters will share some similarities to the original source! You'll see the story take a major turn in the next couple chapters! Please stick around, Ill try not to disappoint!
To Gunboat Diplomat: I'm glad to see that you're trying different genres! Hopefully you like this story!
To DWAR: I'll be posting every Saturday! Keep posted!