Finn put on his clothes and left the inn where he lived, asking himself all sorts of questions he knew would probably never be answered.
"Am I in the same era as the protagonists of the 3rd and 4th books? I hope not. I don't want to live through a war. I'm only 15. Although I want to meet Cristel and Silia, the novel specifies that they were very powerful and brave women, and they were also described as very beautiful and possessing fantastical beauty. I also wonder what Vana looks like? According to the novel, she and Silia were one of the few women who had Valkyrie blood, which is why they had white hair" Finn thought as he reached the street.
Finn began walking through the enormous city, observing the technology of this world, which was powered by magic. Finn walked through the enormous and tangled city until he reached the city center, where all kinds of food stalls, shops, and hotels were located for visitors from other cities. After walking and browsing the shops in the center, he headed toward a large map of the city floating right in the middle of the street.
'It's like watching a 3D projection' Finn thought, amazed.
The map showed absolutely every shop in the city and the exact location of the four largest guilds in the kingdom and the capital. Each guild was located at the city gates, in order to protect the capital from any invasion or attack.
'Unfortunately, that didn't work much in the novels; the enemy kingdom ended up infiltrating anyway' Finn thought.
Finn checked the exact location of the guilds. Although he already knew where the FreeWalker guild was, for some reason the previous Finn didn't know anything about the other guilds or the people in his own guild. His memories were nothing more than the most important places to Finn, and the people were nothing more than moving blurs that sometimes spoke, only when he was given a mission. Not wanting to delay any longer, Finn headed toward the Freewalker guild. Currently, that was his only job, and if he wanted to survive in this world, he would have to complete missions like the old Finn did.
Finn walked for a few minutes before getting on what appeared to be a bus, but it didn't have wheels or a mechanical engine like the one in his world. It was powered by a large magical orb that was kept in the hood and used modified gravity magic to keep it floating in the air. Behind the bus, there was a small exhaust from which air came out and pushed the bus forward.
Finn waited on the bus for a few minutes until he finally reached the bus station, which was a few meters from the guild. Standing right in front of the guild's enormous wooden doors, Finn sighed calmly and entered, taking in the surroundings that amazed him.
The guild was enormous inside; Finn swore it was even bigger than it was on the outside. The guild was divided into several sections decorated with different cultures, which Finn recognized from his previous world, as well as the people or guild members who dressed differently; some were dressed in Roman dress, others in a more Asian style, and so on.
'In the novel, they mentioned that there were several cultures from around the world, but I never thought it was like that. I thought there were just a few decorations, not that each floor was completely themed around different cultures. It's like entering a fantasy world of each culture. It's amazing. I can't wait to see the different districts of each culture in the city,' Finn thought in wonder. 'Today I only walked the tourist path, which is a straight street, so I missed a lot of the city.'
Finn walked up to a large mural in the center of the guild. The mural extended to the guild's roof and had several floating paths that allowed all members to access it from any level of the guild. And although this mural was exposed to the public, everyone knew that the mural only had low-rank missions, from E-rank to C-rank. The high-rank missions, from B-rank and above, were on the top floor of the guild, which only certain people could access.
'Okay, what mission will I take? I don't want to take a too difficult mission since I'm only supposed to be a D-rank... that's right, my rank! How was I supposed to look at it?!' Finn searched through his clothes, trying to locate a specific item. 'According to the novel, guild members could see their information on a status screen that appeared when they pressed a golden card that everyone has...'
After a few seconds, Finn found the card stuck to his armband and pressed it without hesitation.
[
Name: Finn
Race: Human
Class: D
Gifts: None
Blessings: None
Strength: D
Agility: D+
Durability: C
Magic: D
UP: None
]
'UP?... UP!! How did I forget!? Unlocked potential is one of an adventurer's most important resources' Finn thought. 'UP, is a way to temporarily acquire more power, like a power-up. It is an invention of alchemists who managed to access more power through the anima, the more tuned someone is with their anima, the more U.P. they will have... the fact that I don't have one means that my tuning is really bad'
Before Finn could continue examining his condition, a young man with dark skin, thick curly hair, and what appeared to be a typical adventurer's outfit ran up to Finn, grabbing him by the collar and quickly dragging him toward the reception room where jobs were accepted and groups were formed.
"Back off, you bunch of bitches! I asked Finn first, and you know it. Now he'll be my team!" Darwin exclaimed, drawing his sword in a threatening tone. He turned to look at the receptionist. "Damian, hurry up and register our group. I don't know how long I can hold these beasts off!"
'What's going on?!' Finn thought, frightened, watching as several people in the guild approached them, eyeing Finn like a prize.
Damian let out a small sigh and simply did what Darwin asked, while the other adventurers yelled at him not to. Within seconds, Damian held up a piece of paper showing everyone that Finn and Darwin were now a team. With the team's confirmation, the other adventurers quickly dispersed, though they were still clearly angry.
"Sigh, you know Amelia's going to be really mad about this, right? You should have waited for her to get back from her vacations" Damian said, looking seriously at Darwin.
"And what was I supposed to do? I didn't know those idiots would kick Finn out yesterday" Darwin replied. "If I waited for someone else, they'd put him on their team, and then Amelia would scold me again."
"Sigh... You're right. Whatever, I'll hand over the group to her anyway, so there shouldn't be any problems" Damian said.
"See, we all win in the end, right Finn?" Darwin asked, still holding Finn by the neck.
"Yeah..." Finn nodded quickly, not knowing what to say.
"Anyway, what's their first mission going to be? You know you have to accept a mission within three days to confirm your group" Damian said, making Darwin pause.
"Shit, I hadn't thought of that..." Darwin confessed. "Give us any mission, an easy one to start with!"
"Sigh, an easy mission, huh?..." Damian started searching behind the counter until he pulled out a large red notebook with several sheets of paper in it.
Damian flipped through the pages, searching for the right mission for a few seconds.
"What do you think about cleaning the capital's stables? It's a pretty simple mission, good for starting out with a D-class group with no job like yours" Damian recommended, but Darwin didn't look very convinced.
"I don't know, cleaning horse shit is not that appealing to me" Darwin said, causing Damian to nod and move on.
"How about helping a farmer on the outskirts harvest his potatoes?" Damian asked.
"Hmm… that's better, we'll take that one" Darwin said.
"Okay, show me your bracers, I'll register your mission" Damian said.
The two showed him their arms; they were wearing leather bracers with a slot for their cards. Damian passed a white card over the bracers and then inserted it into a kind of wheel that projected a semi-transparent window. Inside the window were photos of Finn and Darwin with a small rectangle below them that said: Mission Accepted.
"Okay, that's all done. You can go on your mission now" said Damian.
"Thank you very much, Damian. I promise I'll say good things about you around town as compensation!" Darwin said, saying goodbye and pulling Finn out of the guild.
Watching them leave, Damian sighed tiredly and then went back to work arranging documents, but after a few seconds, Damian's face turned into confusion and disbelief.
'Finn just spoke?... Nah, I must be really tired. I've been working over 20 hours of overtime this week' Damian thought, returning to work.
—
Finn and Darwin left the city heading east. Their mission was on a small farm located just past a small section of forest that stretched from the south and west.
"Can you believe it, Finn? We're finally going on missions together!" Darwin said excitedly.
"Yeah... don't even think about it" Finn replied.
"Don't worry, Finn. I won't abandon you like those ungrateful bastards of yours..." As he continued speaking, Darwin began to suspect that something wasn't right, something didn't fit in this situation. "What did you say, Finn?"
"Me? Nothing" Finn replied.
"YOU ARE TALKING!?" Darwin shouted in surprise.
"So what? Aren't you too?" Finn asked.
"But… but you aren't supposed to be able to talk!" Darwin replied, surprised.
'Shit, was the Finn of this world mute before I arrived?' Finn wondered, confused and not knowing what to do. "I'm cured" he replied.
"Curses can't be cured!" Darwin exclaimed.
'Shit' Finn thought again. "I uncursed myself" he replied.
"What? Is that even possible!?" Darwin asked. "How?!"
"With faith" Finn replied again, hoping Darwin would believe it.
"...Unbelievable" Darwin replied, astonished. "Amelia won't believe it."
"I don't know who you're talking about" Finn said.
"What? You don't remember Amelia? But you do remember me, right?" Darwin asked.
"Sorry, I only remember a few places and voices, but other than that, everything else is dark" Finn revealed. 'I'm not lying, though. I don't remember them, and most of my memories of this world are dark and blurry.'
"Wow, that must be a side effect of your curse" Darwin surmised. "Amelia once told me that Merlin checked on you before I came in and said you'd been cursed by a demon or something."
"I see. The curse must have consumed my memories then." Finn quickly proposed a theory, hoping Darwin would believe it.
"That would be the most likely outcome… But don't worry!" Darwin said, smiling. "With me here, as your new companion, those memories are useless. Everything will be fine, you'll see!" Darwin said, trying to comfort Finn.
The two continued on their way to the farm. Darwin spoke more animatedly now, talking about all sorts of things that had happened to him on his quests and how long he'd been waiting to team up with him.
—
A day had passed since Finn and Darwin's departure. It was currently 5:30 in the morning, and the guild was just opening its doors. Damian, as the receptionist and master of keys, had been in charge of officially opening the guild to the adventurers and then set about organizing the documents the Master had given him.
"Hey Damian, I'm back," a voice called from the guild door.
"Oh, Amelia, is your vacation over?" Damian asked, watching a young woman enter the receptionist's lounge.
Amelia was a young woman with dark skin, wavy white hair, hazel eyes, and two lamb's horns wrapped around her head. Amelia arrived at the receptionist's lounge wearing a long Roman dress, chosen by the women of the guild as her official uniform.
"Sigh, that's right. I thought this week would be good for me to get some rest," Amelia said, getting everything ready to start work. "Besides, it's not like I'm going to miss much by being away for a week. These idiots never change, whether for better or worse. They'll always make the same mistakes."
"Oh, that's what you think…" Damian said with a mocking smile, showing her a piece of paper.
"What's this?" Amelia looked at the paper, seeing two photos of two people she knew very well. "HUH? That jerk. I'm leaving for a week, and now he's joining a team with Finn just the day before I get back!!? When I see him, I'll rip the fucker's balls off!" Amelia said angrily.
"Come on, come on, calm down, Amelia. Everything happened so suddenly. On Saturday, Team Spots kicked Finn out of their group to bring in another C-class adventurer, and early Sunday, Darwin arrived at the guild to wait for Finn to arrive and form a group with him. The true is, there were a lot of adventurers waiting for Finn, too" Damian revealed, causing Amelia to get even angrier.
"That shitty group. I always knew Finn was too much for them!" Amelia said angrily. "Tsk, the only good thing about this is that at least it'll be Darwin who's with Finn now, and not some other adventurer who wants to take advantage of him because of his curse" Amelia said, a little calmer.
"Speaking of that... I may have imagined it, but I'm pretty sure I heard Finn speak for a momen," Damian said.
Amelia turned to look at him, examining him from head to toe for a few seconds before speaking.
"...Are you an idiot or are you eating rocks?" Amelia asked, not believing him.
"What's the need to insult?" Damian said, scratching his head.
"Everyone who knows Finn has a curse that took away more than 90% of his soul when he was just a newborn. Merlin himself told us when he brought Finn to the guild three years ago" Amelia said.
"Calm down, Amelia. I'm just saying what I thought I heard…" Damian said, trying to calm her down.
"Sigh, anyway, make sure you keep a close eye on them. With Darwin in the group, they'll most likely get into a lot of trouble" Amelia said, resigned, since she was the one who wanted to be the one in charge of supervising them.
"You can keep them" Damian said with a smile.
"Wait, really?" Amelia asked incredulously.
"Sure, you're the one who keeps track of them separately. It would be easier if you also kept track of the group" Damian stated. 'Honestly, I already have a lot on my plate. One more group to oversee would drive me crazy. Besides, she always wanted to have those two on the same team under her supervision' Damian thought.
"Kya, thank you so much!" Amelia said, hugging Damian.
"Yes, yes, yes, you're getting my suit dirty" Damian said, patting Amelia on the back.
"I promise I'll make it up to you!" Amelia said before leaving to do all the paperwork for the supervisor transfer.