Ilta's grin took on a sharper edge as she flicked her thumb towards the towering silhouette of Babel.
"Follow this street all the way to the large square surrounding the tower, then make a left towards the Upper north-west area of the city. You'll know it the moment you get there, you can't miss the Pantheon. Tell them Ilta sent you."
LeoNova nodded, then turned towards the rather vague direction she'd indicated. Behind him, he heard her call out, "Try not to break anyone else before you get there, Goldie!"
He kept walking, not responding to her little taunt. Though her eyes kept trailing his figure as he walked, dissolving into the crowd.
Coming from the western gates, he moved eastward to the center of the huge city. As he moved, the crowd thinned slightly, though the stares lingered.
LeoNova moved with deliberate calm, his golden eyes absorbing every detail.
A surprising detail he'd noticed that was different about the beast-people here, was the position of their ears.
Instead of being on the top of their heads like it was shown in the anime, their beast ears were located at the side of their heads, right where a normal human's ears would be.
Thier ears still had a far wider range of motion than a human's though.
It made them look even more realistic and it perfectly aligned with his aesthetics.
As he walked, The encounter with Ilta played back through his mind, the underlying tension lingered like the taste of iron on his tongue, her amusement, her predatory glances.
LeoNova exhaled, slowly flexing his fingers. The woman hadn't even drawn a weapon, hadn't shifted into a stance, yet her mere presence had prickled his skin with something deeper than wariness.
The weight of a First-Class Adventurer wasn't just in the way she carried herself, nor the coiled lethality beneath her lazy grins. It was in the air around her, thick as the ozone before a storm.
'Ilta Farna, the vice-captain of the Ganesha familia, and a level 5 adventurer.'
He clenched his fists.
''I will get stronger.'' The words coiled in LeoNova's chest like a caged beast. Not a wish but a promise, carved into his marrow like burning embers.
He kept moving forward. With newfound resolve now coursing through his veins, he continued his path towards the city's center.
Babel's shadow loomed over the city like a colossus, its obsidian bulk dominating the skyline until every other structure seemed like a child's toy.
Arriving at the central square around the tower's thick base, he inclined his head, gazing up towards the very top of the ancient construct.
The massive structure seemed to pierce through the clouds, reaching up into the heavens. The sight alone sent tingles running up through his spine.
The central square was quite active, civilians and adventurers alike from all kinds of races went about, going in, out and around the towering construct.
After the inititial excitement and novelty, his pulse settled, reverting to his calm and collected demeanor.
He turned left, as Ilta had directed, heading towards the Upper north-western district.
After walking for about five minutes, he paused, his eyes gleaming as he saw it.
The Pantheon, the main building of the Adventurers Guild. Its emblem, boldly displayed on its structure.
It wasn't the largest construct in Orario, Babel saw to that, but it carried a weight, a presence, as if the stones themselves had absorbed centuries of whispered quests.
Adventurers flowed in and out through the Guild's entrance.
Some emerged laughing, clapping each other on the backs. Others slumped inward, their battered armor creaking with every step, eyes hollow from whatever horrors they'd faced below.
LeoNova stood at the threshold.
The Pantheon hummed like a beehive, voices overlapping, boots scuffing the floor, the occasional clatter of a dropped weapon.
Inside, the guild bustled with activity. Adventurers in various states of disrepair crowded the counters, arguing over quest rewards or nursing fresh wounds.
LeoNova slipped through the din with surprising ease.
The initial flurry of glances lasted only seconds, his bright golden hair and shimmering gold pupils were indeed unusual, but this was the Adventurers Guild. Here, even a man with three heads would barely merit a few more glances after the first stunned moment. They shrugged and turned back to their haggling and loud chatter. Orario had seen much stranger.
He moved towards the nearest counter, where a half-elf woman sat sorting papers. Behind her, shelves groaned under ledgers thicker than most men's thighs.
Before he could speak, a commotion erupted to his left, a towering Amazoness slammed her palms onto another counter. "You call this a payout for a damned Kobold nail?" Her voice carried enough venom to make nearby adventurers flinch. The receptionist facing her, a high-cheekboned elf with silver hair, didn't even blink.
"Standardized rates," she said coolly.
LeoNova exhaled through his nose and turned away from the brewing argument. His boots clicked against polished marble as he approached the counter. The receptionist hadn't noticed him yet, her emerald eyes were fixed on a ledger, the tip of her quill tapping absently against the table. 'Eina Tulle' he thought, recognizing the beautiful half elf woman.
He cleared his throat.
Eina's quill stilled mid-tap. She looked up, then down, until her emerald eyes locked onto his golden ones. A pause. Her lips parted slightly, then smoothed into professional politeness. "Welcome to the Guild. How may I assist you?"
Behind the counter, her fingers tightened imperceptibly around the quill's shaft.
"I'd like to register as an adventurer" LeoNova said, watching the way her pupils dilated just slightly at his words, an almost imperceptible tell, but he caught it.
She set her quill down with deliberate precision. "Registration requires sponsorship from an existing familia," she said, voice perfectly even. "Have you been..."
"No familia."
The half-elf's emerald eyes flickered downward to his small hands then back up to his golden irises.
"That complicates matters," she said evenly, adjusting her black bow tie. "Without familia backing, we cannot go through with the registration." Her gaze darted to his battle-worn clothes, the faint bloodstains still visible on his collar.
LeoNova exhaled through his nose. 'So, I'll need to join a familia first, huh?' he thought.
"Ganesha Familia, Hephaestus Familia, Miach Familia, Hermes Familia, Demeter Familia," Eina recited mechanically, her fingers drumming the ledger's edge. "Those are the major familias currently accepting applicants."
LeoNova's golden eyes flickered.
"What about the Hestia familia" he asked.
Eina's emerald eyes shifted with something unreadable before her professional mask slid back into place. "The Hestia Familia," she repeated, her tone carefully neutral. "A newly registered familia. Currently...." Her gaze darted to a side ledger filled with cramped notations. "It doesn't have any members."
LeoNova's pulse quickened. Exactly as he'd hoped, at this point in time, it seems that Bell has yet to arrive in Orario. "Where can I find her?"
Eina's fingers tightened around her quill. She hesitated, an uncharacteristic break in her usual efficiency, before exhaling through her nose. "The Goddess Hestia currently resides at an abandoned church in the upper midwestern section of Orario..." Her lips pressed into a thin line. "But..."
"But?" LeoNova's golden eyes burned brighter.
Eina sighed. "The Hestia Familia..."
"Being a brand new Familia. It lacks a lot of resources which are crucial for a beginner Adventurer's growth and survival."
"You'd be starting from nothing."
Her fingers tapped the ledger's edge once, twice, before stilling. "No equipment. No funds for potions. No veteran adventurers to guide you through the Dungeon's early floors."
Across the counter, LeoNova's golden eyes didn't waver.
"I wouldn't recommend joining such a familia," Eina repeated, softer this time.
"You wouldn't recommend it," he echoed softly, tilting his head just enough to watch her pupils dilate in surprise. "But you didn't say it's forbidden."
Eina's breath hitched, just once, before she smoothed her fingers down her vest. "The Guild doesn't regulate which familias adventurers choose," she admitted, "Only that they have one."
LeoNova leaned forward slightly, his golden pupils reflecting the overhead lantern light like molten coins. "Then I've made my choice."
Eina's fingers twitched against the ledger's edge, an almost imperceptible tell. She inhaled sharply through her nose. "You're remarkably stubborn for someone who hasn't even stepped foot in the Dungeon."
LeoNova flexed his fingers against the polished wood counter. "And you're remarkably concerned for someone who just met me."
Eina's emerald eyes flickered behind the lamplight, her throat tightening around unsaid words. She pulled a fresh parchment from beneath the ledger with exaggerated care. "Fine. It's your choice." Her quill scratched across the surface with surgical precision. "I'll note your intent to join the Hestia Familia, pending confirmation from the goddess herself."
LeoNova exhaled through his nose.
"I appreciate your assistance," he said, stepping back from the counter, "but I'll find her myself."
"Suit yourself then." she quipped.
Though her emerald eyes flicked up to watch as he was about to turn away.
He paused mid-step, then reached into his tattered vest.
"Oh, can I exchange these for valis?" he withdrew three magic stones and placed them on her counter with an audible *clink*.