City(1/2)

The Adventurers were definitely stronger than goblins. This was what Haru had in mind when he saw the leader easily cut the goblin's meat down. Noticing how she was using a sword very similar to the one he had, Haru could only observe her. He felt that looking at someone who understood more than him the sword, he could learn something, but in reality all he could see were simple movements, he wanted to see something much stronger, but for now even this simple directional cut was enough.

'It doesn't seem to make use of that feeling though...It's weird.'

Haru had no idea how to describe the feeling he was feeling. It was like he knew something he wasn't even sure about. The woman could have been stronger than him, that was certain, but at the same time the way the sword moves doesn't carry the trail of that feeling.

'Is it because [Swordsman] has not yet been unlocked?'

He could only come to this conclusion, but still it was all too strange for him. He didn't even have a falna yet, so even imagining a skill like [Swordsman] already unlocked seemed absurd, but there was no other explanation for why he could feel a feeling behind the actions that the sword of the woman wasn't present...

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"Did you like the show?"

The woman, after exterminating all the monsters in the area, looked proud of herself. She was convinced that having witnessed her power, he would surely change his mind about an adventurer's true strength, but his expression didn't convey to her the surprise that she wanted to see.

"Actually I do. Thanks to that fight I was able to discover something important."

Confused for a moment, the woman was about to ask for explanations, but seeing that his calm eyes now expressed a determination so great as to be comparable to a fire in full force, she chose not to add anything. As long as she managed to pass something on to him, it was enough for her, even though she didn't know that Haru meant something completely different.

At the party's reunion, Lum chose to continue as the goblins weren't a danger. After killing so many, she doubted that other goblins would show up before them. Since the monsters above ground have no external influence, they are able to make the best choices to preserve their existence, and instead of trying to take a single adventurer to the grave at the cost of a large part of their tribe, They prefer to wait for smaller prey to appear or are not strong enough to defend themselves.

So, with Haru reflecting on ways to make his sword training more effective, the group after about an hour or so of walk left the great forest. On the way, It was occasional the presence of a wagon, this because Orario was famous not only for being a place where all races can enter with simply the presence of an ID, but also because this was the most powerful trading city on the entire continent. Thanks to adventurers in fact, money ran much faster than any other city, and with a faster ride, people defined as 'poor' are often followed by 'weakness'. The only way to be poor in Orario was in fact to be both weak and without connections of any kind, which is why one could see few people definable with these adjectives, but unfortunately no city escaped from having this side within itself.

With the sun that hadn't quite set yet, a queue of people in front of him and noise coming from just ahead of them with two people who were fighting over the place in line, Haru had easily crossed the road from his village to the city he had heard so much about...

---

Going back to the morning of that day however, Haru had actually done something out of his routine. As the blacksmith cared so much for him even if she tried to cover it up after she admitted it herself, he chose to warn her of his imminent departure, and that one day he would surely return to the village to repay her for her kindness.

'Come to think of it, lately it's always the others who gave me so much, and I haven't had a chance to repay any of them.'

That was his thought. Haru was rather tired of depending on others, and dreamed of being able one day to repay his every debt, no matter how long it would take. The blacksmith told him not to worry about a remote place at the beginning of a mountain whose name nobody knew, and to live his life to the fullest. The phrase made Haru brood as usual, but as she was the person who had given him such an expensive sword, he chose not to correct it, although after a while he realized that he was no longer in hospital, and that actually, Now that little sentence was much more valuable than before.

He thought about it while he was doing his routine, and he came to the conclusion it was true. Although his goal wouldn't change, he could also avoid being hasty. He could live the life he had been given, otherwise he imagined that Asumi wouldn't be happy at all. After all this was a new opportunity to life, there wasn't only a road with a task to be carried out, there were many roads with different objectives that gave light to something different, Haru had to point to the paths that would allow him to do what was taken from him. He remembered the feeling of not being able to do what he wanted for a single year, but that ace of time was enough to make him feel like he was in a prison, no, even worse than that. It was possible to escape from the latter, but it was impossible to escape that disease, at least before Asumi had invented medicine.

'..I'll do what I couldn't in my previous world, from this city, Orario.'

As these thoughts distracted him, Haru realized that it was already their turn, and as the adventurers showed their IDs, Lum explained to the guards what situation Haru was in and assured that he hadn't come to Orario with bad intentions, so the guards began to explain to him that once he was in, it would be appropriate to go to the guild with the adventurers to register a citizen ID, or if he wanted to be an adventurer, simply ask to become one. The licence that will then be entrusted to him will have the same value as a citizen ID.

"..I understand. Thank you for your consideration."

Though with a playful character, Haru respected others, and tended to show his more informal sides only to those he considered to be friends. Now surrounded by people he didn't know, he could only be formal and the guards were pleasantly surprised since most people were 'rude'. Letting him pass without further problems, he wasted no time thanking the adventurers as well for their services, But as Thes looked away visibly angry, Lum smiled quite radiantly.

"There is no problem, even if our mission is over, how about you come with us to the guild? It will be easier for you to obtain an ID... or is your goal to register as an adventurer?"

Obviously Haru wanted to be an adventurer. Being a simple citizen in Orario wouldn't be of any use to him.

"I want to be an adventurer, no doubt about that."

Lum expected no less from such an unusual person. Coming here without a wagon could only mean two things. He may have had some powerful connection here in Orario, but that was hard to believe because otherwise higher level adventurers would be sent especially to protect Haru from any kind of harm, or the second option, Haru aspired to become an adventurer, and having already shown him what an adventurer was capable of, Lum felt happy because she thought she, even if in a very small part, had inspired him to believe more in his dream. Being an adventurer was very dangerous and it was very, very easy to lose your life inside the dungeon, but at least he could gain the strength needed in this city to live more comfortably than a normal citizen.

With Thes further bored, and Lum doing this kind of thinking, the group passed through the streets of Orario while Haru could focus on admiring how different the houses, the shops, all seemed to be completely different to a normal Japanese city. But instead of feeling desperate, Haru could only be surprised. He had never really been able to observe the city, but now that he was inside he realized the latter was much bigger than what he had imagined.

Not knowing the road in the slightest, Haru also paid attention to the streets they were walking. One of the things Haru excelled at was memory, and in fact he was assimilating in his mind the key points that differentiated the various streets, such as the amount of shops and what kind of shops could be found.

It was certainly a training for his mind, since he had never been faced with so much information that he had to memorize, and he was certain he would miss something along the way, but it didn't matter now as it was only the first time he crossed these streets, remembering everything at a single glance was not a skill that he could say he owned in his arsenal.

Looking out of the corner of her eye at Haru, Lum saw how he looked extremely careful to the streets with gleaming eyes. Seeing him so surprised, intrigued and at the same time curious, Lum couldn't help but think that Haru seemed rather cute, but decided not to think about it too much.

For now, he was far too weak, and even flirting with him would only complicate things. It was the norm here for many men to be stronger than women, so she chose to follow this stereotype, if Haru would become stronger than her in the future, then she would definitely have tried, or at least she was just trying to self-mock her situation, But she didn't know underestimating Haru was something she shouldn't have done...

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Having travelled all the way, Haru and the adventurers were faced with a construction he could immediately understand was the palace where he could register as an adventurer. In fact, it was rather noticeable for the difference in construction and not only. Haru wasn't particularly aware of the materials that were in his previous world and those present here, but he could see the difference in quality compared to other buildings built nearby. It was just as if the whole area had been built just to make the palace stand out further, but he didn't have much time to think about the details as they were already heading towards what was the entrance...

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