Chapter 16 – Denali Wallken

Third person POV

 Later, at 9:12 a.m., the bus arrived at Leafmight, a big town in the middle of the plains of wheat and barley fields. Upon seeing it, the mother goblin looked up at the window. "Um, are we here?" Her child was sleeping on her lap.

 "Yes, we are here, according to my map," replied Russell back, before taking a quick look at his handy and trusty map.

The map was right; they had arrived at that town.

Azalea, meanwhile, was excited that she had arrived there.

 So, Russell stopped aside at a street and opened the door. "Alright, ma'am, we're here." Seeing that, the mother goblin confirmed that it was and tapped on her child's forehead. "Wake up, we're here."

The child woke up and looked at her. "Are we here?"

 "Yes, my child," his mother replied back.

She then put her child down on the floor and got off the seat, before both of them walked to the front to get off the bus.

But then, she remembered something and looked at Russell. "Um…do we need to pay for the ride?"

 "Yes, that'll be 2 gold coins, please," replied Russell.

So, the mother goblin grabbed her little money sack from her sack on her back to get some coins.

Once she did so, she gave the 2 gold coins to Russell. "Here you go. Thank you, sir."

Receiving the payment, Russell smiled. "You're welcome, ma'am. I am happy to serve you."

With that the mother goblin and her child got off the bus and went on in their day in town.

 After that, Russell closed the door and looked at his income on his fourth day in this new world, happy on how far he had come. Then, Azalea said, "Hey, you earned good."

 "Yeah, thanks a lot, Azalea-chan," replied Russell back.

He then put the money in a money box that can be locked with a key and locked with a single, iron key.

 "So, where's that adventurers' guild in this town?" he asked Azalea.

 "I'll tell you where it was," answered Azalea. "Just drive."

Russell then shifted his gear to Drive and did so.

Azalea then gave out directions for him to go to the adventurers' guild.

 A bit later, they arrived there. The guild was called the Emerald Guild, which was a big and dominant adventurers' guild in the whole of the Southern Plains. "Is this it?" Russell asked as he looked at the huge, brick and wooden building.

Azalea then moved across the aisle and looked at it. "Yes, this is it. We're here now."

Now she grabbed her knapsack and moved to the front. "Let's go in."

 "Okay, I'll just park my bus somewhere," replied Russell.

He then shifted his gear once more and drove his bus somewhere secluded.

He found a space not too far from the guild and parked there, before opening the door and turning off the engine.

 "Okay, let's do it." he stood up and grabbed his knapsack.

And so, both of them got off and walked towards the big guild building.

Arriving there, they are now standing in front of the building, looking at the front exterior of it.

 "Wow, look at this place," Russell commented.

Azalea then nodded. "Yes, this is the most dominant adventurers' guild in this kingdom."

 "I see."

 They then went in and entered the reception hall, which was spacious and nice. There they saw how it wasn't busy as Azalea remembered. There are a few adventurers and explorers of different ranks lounging around while laughing and engaging in conversations with each other. Others, who are alone, just sat there enjoying their solitude at this hour.

 "Nice reception hall," Russell commented once more.

He and Azalea then approached the reception desk.

There the receptionist, Denali Wallken, was reading some paperwork when the two youngsters came.

 "Hello there, Denali-san," Azalea greeted her warmly.

Denali then heard her and looked at her and Russell. "Oh, hi there, Azalea-chan. It's been a while."

She then turned towards Russell. "Huh? Who are you?"

 "Hello there, I'm Russell May." Russell smiled at her warmly and nicely. "Nice to meet you, ma'am."

 "Oh, nice to meet you, Russell-kun. Welcome to the Emerald Guild. How can I help you?"

 "Denali-san," Azalea said to her, "we're here to inform you that I'll be with him."

Denali was surprised to hear that because she knows that Azalea was never a part of a party in the guild. "Oh, is that so? Is he a part of this guild, too?"

 "Nope!" responded Russell happily. "I am a free adventurer."

 "What?" Denali was shocked to hear that.

She then looked at Azalea. "Azalea, what is this? Are you tagging along with an unlicensed adventurer?"

 "I know," responded Azalea positively, "but it didn't matter for me as long as he is a good and reliable person to me."

Denali then tried to persuade her from doing it since it was against the guild's rules, which forbids any of its members from tagging along with those who are either unlicensed or unofficial adventurers. It seems that the guild didn't like free adventurers and explorers. But then, Russell pulled out his bus driver's license and showed it to Denali. "Here, I may be not an official member of this guild, but this license proves that I am an adventurer, albeit a driver of a bus." Looking at it, Denali was completely unfamiliar with the new word known as bus and asked him about it and its meaning. And so, Russell explained to her about it in detail, including how it works. A few minutes later, Denali got it, but she was partially overwhelmed by those new vocabulary in Russell's explanation. "Okay then."