Chapter 1 - Part 2

It didn’t take long for us to walk to the river. It was just a distance of 15 minutes or so from the guild. We crossed a small bridge and finally, I could see a building in front of us. It was a small 2-story building, that looked like it could use a fresh coat of paint on the roof tiles. Yet the building had a homely feel to it.

There was a banner that hung from the front of the building, it had some sort of insignia embroidered on it. We walked closer to the entrance, and that’s when,

“If the two of you don’t get this done quickly, you aren’t leaving for dinner!”, I heard the loud voice of a woman from inside.

“Yes! Boss ma’am!!”, came the voice of a man.

“Rhoz, if you don’t knock that off, I’m gonna punch you straight in the face!”, came the woman’s voice again.

“Yes! Bo- I mean, Yes!!”

Uh oh… I can already feel that something is wrong…

I looked at Rin. It seems like she has no idea about what’s going on either.

I knocked lightly on the batwing doors.

There was a brief moment of silence.

“Come in.”, said the woman.

I pushed the doors open and walked inside.

There was a well-built woman standing in the middle of the room with her arms folded. She had a crimson horn growing on the right side of her forehead.

To her left seated on a table, there was a lizard-man and on the right, there was a wolf-man(?) wearing body armor.

The both of them seemed to be busy with paperwork.

“So what are you here for?”, asked the woman. She seems to the head-officer here.

“Umm... I came here to enlist as an officer?”, I replied in confusion.

There was another moment of silence.

The people doing their paperwork looked up in astonishment. The woman had a confused face. It seems like she was reconsidering what I had just said in her mind. The lizard-man looked at the woman,

“Did you hear that too, Anna?”, he said with a smirk, “Or was I daydreaming.”

“No, I heard that too.”, said the wolf-man, in a somewhat quiet voice.

“Keep quiet, you guys.”, said the woman called Anna, she looked me in the eyes, “Is this your idea of a joke? Huh? You think we don’t have enough problems already?”

“Huh? All I said was that I want to enlist as an officer here. Did I say something wrong?”, I asked her.

“You… you were being serious??”, she asked with a face that looked like she didn’t believe me.

“Don’t get us wrong man”, said the lizard-man, “It's just that… no-one usually just walks in here and says that, ya know?.”

“I was told that there wasn’t any official test here to become an officer.”, I said.

“Well, that is right, but you need the proper class to be able to work efficiently.”, said Anna.

“My class is guardian.”, I said.

The three of them stared at me dumbfounded, then turned to look at each other.

“Well, we’ll take your word for it. The names Anna and I’m the chief here.”

“Lazgar.”, interrupted the lizard-man. “Anna Lazgar.”

Anna clenched her fists and glared at the lizard-man.

“I get it! I get it! Jeez... Stop staring at me like that. Just call her Anna. Forget anything I just said.”, said the Lizard-man. “Also the names Rhoz. And the quiet guy over there is Alix.”, said Rhoz.

“Alix ström”, said the wolf-man, “A pleasure to meet you.”

“My name is Kei Satou. A pleasure to meet you all.”, I said giving a little bow.

“An other-worlder!”, exclaimed Rhoz.

“An other-worlder who is a guardian… Now that is very rare indeed.”, said Alix with a nod.

“This is exactly like how it was in his case, isn’t it?”, said Anna looking at Rhoz and Alix.

“Maybe it wasn’t just a coincidence that he ended up coming here.”, she said.

Ok… This is getting a little tough to understand.

“The thing is-”, Rhoz started to speak, but his voice was cut short by the wail of a siren.

All of us stopped and looked at the source of the sound. It was a small, round device fitted on the wall.

The three of them looked at each other and quickly nodded.

Both Rhoz and Alix got off their seats. Rhoz went over to a black sphere-like object on a desk at the back of the room. Both Anna and Alix started putting on their gear.

“What's this?”, I asked.

“The siren means that something bad has happened.”, said Anna, “Usually some urgent case that needs immediate attention.”

Over at the back, Rhoz had put his palms around the sphere and was chanting something. “Yes.”, he said. “Got that. Ok. We’re on our way.”

Wait a minute! Is that some kind of communication device?

“Ok, we’ve got some bad news.”, said Rhoz.

“How bad?”, asked Alix.

“Well, someone stabbed a shop-owner from the merchant district and has escaped with the money. No distinct identification was provided. All we know is that he is wearing a black hood. Also, he ran into the market, so it’s almost impossible to catch him now.”, said Rhoz.

“Do you think it’s the work of the noble thief?”, asked Anna.

Noble thief? I thought. What's that?

“No.”, replied Alix coolly, “There's no way he would do something that attracts so much attention. It’s just a petty thief.”

“Umm…”, Rin who had been silent all this time, walked to the front from behind me. “S-stabbed? Is the person ok?”, she asked worriedly. “I'm a healer so I can help you out.”, she said.

“Ok then, you can come with us.”, said Anna. “Let's move out!”

Now fully armed they began to head outside.

“Uh, so what about me?”, I asked.

“Wait here till we get back.”, said Alix.

“Hey take me with you guys! I can be of some help too.”, I protested.

“Well he is an other-worlder.”, said Anna, “You think you’ll be able to handle five people Rhoz?”, she asked.

“Of course!”, he said with a grin. “This is nothing!”

“Yeah right.”, mumbled Alix.

“Huuh?? You say something??”

“Nothing.”

We walked out of the building and Rhoz walked farther away from us.

He seemed to be chanting something.

“It's going to take 15 minutes for us to get to the market. Won’t it be too late by then?”, I asked.

If only there were vehicles here. At least a horse-drawn carriage would be better, I thought.

“Who said anything about walking?”, said Anna.

“Huh?”

By this time Rhoz had finished his chanting.

“All preparations complete! Now step closer guys!”, he said.

All of them stood around him. Seeing them I followed suit too.

“All-right then! Don’t forget the objective! First, find the man in the robe. Then engage!”, shouted Anna.

“Wait what!?-”

“Teleport!”, shouted Rhoz.

Before I had the time to ask anything, the world whooshed around me and I found myself standing at the entrance of the market.

Teleport!? You’ve got to be kidding me! At least say something before doing something weird like that! That scared the heck out of me!

The crowd in front of us looked a little surprised at our sudden appearance but didn’t look too shocked. Looks like people teleporting around is not that rare a thing!

The market was a sea of people. Identifying someone in here is going to be impossible. A little distance away, I saw some people parted in front of a shop.

Looks like that's the shop that was looted. There were a few guild staff standing in front of the shop. On noticing us, one of them ran towards us. It seems like the shopkeeper was bleeding profusely, and there had been no healers present nearby at that time. They had applied basic first-aid, but his bleeding wasn’t stopping. It might be that he was stabbed with a cursed weapon, said the guild staff. Rin turned to look at us. “I’ll be going now. I hope you catch the person who did this.”, she said.

“Leave it to us!”, said Rhoz while flashing a grin.

Rin rushed towards the shop with the guild staff.

“And how do you plan on doing that?”, asked Alix with a doubting look.

“I mean we’ll figure something out as usual right?”, Rhoz replied and turned to look at Anna. “Right?”

I started to rack my brain about what to do, then I remembered. That's it!

My skill! Uhh… What was it again? Focus Glare! That's right.

Finally… It’s time to be of some use. But… How do I use it!?

Ahh!! I never thought about that! How am I supposed to use this skill? Do I say its name out loud??… No… That's too embarrassing… What do I do???

I walked away from the group who were discussing what to do. I looked down to the ground and was contemplating on what to do when the skill activated. My vision became very sharp. So sharp that I could clearly see the grains making up the bricks on the road. What is this?? Microscopic sight?! No, wait. Is this extreme concentration? All the voices around me in the busy market faded away. There was silence. I cleared my thoughts and thought about the situation we were in. It almost felt like time was flowing slower than usual, with a dullness or something. I got it!! Yes! That should work!

I stopped thinking.

The world went back to the way it was. My vision returned to normal and the voices in the busy market rose back to its original volume.

“Umm… You ok there, Kei?”, asked Rhoz, “You were making a weird face for a second there.”, he said.

“Forget all that!”, I said. “I figured it out!”

“Huh?”

“I figured out a way to catch this guy!”, I exclaimed.

“Ok, go on.”, said Anna.

The three of them stood around me and I asked them,

“Is there some high ground here? Anything that I can stand on. You know, to be able to see this whole crowd.”

“Well, there is the market stage. Where all the events are held.”, said Rhoz thoughtfully.

“Is the stage tall enough for me to see the entire crowd?”, I asked.

“Yeah. But how are you going to find him even if you can see everyone? There are plenty of people who wear black robes in the market crowd.”, said Anna.

“I've got that figured out.”, I said. “First let’s head to the stage.”

Anna led the way as we hurriedly walked towards the stage.

I could see the stage now. It was built about 2 meters from the ground. This should do for now, I thought. We climbed up the stairs and faced the crowd in the market. Ok… Now.

“Can you attract the people's attention?”, I asked.

“Attract attention?”, asked Anna.

“Yeah, after that I need you to make an announcement informing everyone about this incident.”, I said.

“Why would we do that??”, asked Rhoz, “Wouldn’t that just make the thief realize we’re after him and let him slink away faster?”

“No, wait Rhoz.”, said Anna, “I think he’s onto something here. So what do we do then?”, she asked.

“Leave that to me.”, I said. “Once I find him we need someone to go after him though.”, I said.

“I’ll do that.”, said Anna.

“Ok then. Now the problem is how we’re going to make it so that everyone in the market can hear us.”, I said.

“Leave that to me! That's simple!”, said Rhoz.

“I’ll attract the crowd's attention and clear a path.”, said Alix and the quiet wolf-man jumped off the stage and walked among the crowd.

He stopped after walking a little into the crowd. Then he lifted his hands and clenched his fists. His eyes seemed to glow red and his usually hidden fangs were sharp and glistening. He started to growl.

“Umm… What is he do-“, I was about to ask him when Rhoz interrupted.

“Alix is a berserker. He goes absolutely wild in his berserker mode. So it’s better to stay away from him right now.”

“Wait, so won’t he hurt the people in the market”, I asked, as I remembered about the berserkers from fantasy works. They were warriors known for their wild and uncontrolled ferocity, fighting with pure raw strength, not feeling any pain. But they had terrible defense in exchange for not feeling pain. Also if they go too deep they become unable to recognize friend or foe in their crazed state and attack anything that moves. So that calm and quiet Alix was a Berserker!?

“Don’t worry about that.”, said Rhoz, “He can control himself quite well… I think.”

Wait did he just say I think??!

The people in the crowd must have realized what was happening and started to move away from him. Alix let out a howl. He was completely different from how he looked just moments ago. His eyes glowed red and he had a feral look on his face. The crowd parted around him and hearing his howl the entire market was looking our way. He continued to growl and he looked around.

Ok! We’ve got everyone's attention. Now the announcement.

“Ok then!”, said Rhoz, pointing his arm at Anna, “Amplify!”

Now everyone was looking at the stage.

Anna took a deep breath and began to speak, her voice booming loudly across the market due to Rhoz’s amplify skill.

“There has been a crime in this area. One of the shop-owners has been stabbed and the culprit has fled the area. It would seem that they are among you know. They are wearing a black robe and may be concealing a weapon.”

As she continued her announcement, I looked at the crowd.

Ok… It was time to use it again.

Focus Glare!!

The noise started to fade. Time was moving slow. My vision magnified. I could clearly focus on each individual face in the crowd. Most people in the crowd had a confused look on their faces. I quickly glanced around the crowd for people in black robes. No, it’s not that guy. Not him either. Looks like Anna was about to finish her announcement. I had to do this fast.

There! I found a man who had a panicked look on his face and his breathing was irregular. Everyone else in the crowd had a confused face, except for this man. He was wearing a black robe.

That's got to be him! I relaxed my body and let my head go limp.

Snap! The effects of focus glare had stopped. Time resumed to flow normally and my vision returned.

“There! It’s that guy!”, I pointed and turned to look at Anna only to realize that she’d already jumped off the stage and was running towards the guy.

She was running like a sprinter and closed the distance within seconds as the crowd had split, giving way due to Alix. The criminal started to run too, pushing people out of his way, but he was no match for Anna, who was running like a cheetah. She cornered him to a building and then, BOOM!!

She punched him so hard that he crashed onto the brick building, probably breaking some of his bones.

Yikes! One-hit KO! Those muscles weren’t just for show, I thought.

I should remember to remain on Anna’s good side in the future.

The thief lied on the ground, crumpled in a heap. I almost felt sorry for him.

Me and Rhoz, ran towards Anna, with Alix, having calmed down, following us.

Once we reached the spot where the thief was sprawled on the ground, I saw that some of the bricks on the building had been broken.

What kind of monstrous power did she possess??!

I looked at the man lying on the ground. There was a black dagger lying next to him on the ground. This must be what he used to stab the shop owner with, I thought. Anna looked at the dagger. “That's definitely a cursed blade.”, she said, “But where did he find such a powerful blade. He definitely couldn’t have just found it or bought it.”, she said with a hand on her chin.

People started to crowd around us.

“Well it's getting a little crowded over here.”, said Alix.

Rhoz was searching the unconscious thief, and he found a pouch made of leather, filled with gold coins. “This must be the loot.”, he said.

Suddenly, the crowd around us parted again and Rin and a few guild staff walked towards us.

“Oh I’m glad that you are all safe!”, she said. Then she looked at the thief lying on the ground and put her hand on her mouth in shock.

“Oh!… Umm… Is he the criminal?”, she asked us.

“Yeah. This is the guy.”, I said, “Did you manage to heal the shop owner?”, I asked her.

“Yes!”, she said with a smile. “His bleeding wouldn’t stop because he was struck by a cursed blade. But my sacred spell break skill can dispel curses, so he is safe. But it sometimes makes you wish, what if we had these skills in our world. To be able to heal someone with just a simple spell is great!”

She turned to look at Rhoz and saw the leather pouch he was holding.

“Oh! The shopkeeper had said that the item that was robbed was a leather pouch.”, she said.

The blade and the pouch were handed over to the guild staff who took responsibility for returning them.

“We need to do some investigation on the blade. To find out where it’s from and who has applied cursed magic on it. But for now, let’s give it to the guild for safekeeping. For now, let’s take this guy into custody. Time to head back to the station”, said Anna.

Sigh! Finally, it was over! My first mission of sorts in this world.

I felt a huge weight off my shoulders and I took a deep breath and let my body slacken. That's when I started to lose consciousness. My knees buckled and I started to fall but Alix caught me. I felt really tired and I heard Rhoz saying to me that its ok to take a rest. Oh well then! I decided to close my eyes.

When I regained consciousness, I was lying on a bench in the station. I groggily lifted my head up. Rhoz and Alix were sitting on their desks and doing paperwork. Anna was not present in the room. I sat up. Rhoz looked at me, “So you finally woke up huh? sleeping beauty! Hehehe”

Uhh… This guy… “Why did I get that tired suddenly?”, I asked, the tiredness audible in my voice. “I didn’t really do anything.”

“Looking at that weird face you were making back on the stage, I thought you were using a skill. No?”, he asked.

“Well… Yes. I was using a skill. Wait, weird face??”, I asked.

“Maybe it uses a lot of mana or stamina.”, he said matter-of-factly. “Never seen that kind of skill before though.”, he said ignoring my question.

Now that I think about it, I did use the skill twice in a row. Maybe that took a toll on my stamina. I should remember to use it sparingly, only when important. Otherwise, it will end up like today, I thought.

I propped myself on the bench and sat with my hands on my knees.

“You can wash your face above.”, said Rhoz pointing to a set of stairs at the back of the room. “Its the second door on the right.”, he said.

I said my thanks and walked to the floor above. I washed my face in the bathroom and went back down. As I was walking down the stairs, I looked out through the entrance and saw that it was dark outside. That's when I looked at the small cell that was in the station. It was empty. Wait a minute, where’s the thief? When I asked Rhoz, he replied, “While you were out, an escort from the capital came to collect the criminal. It was a case of attempted homicide after all. He was taken to be judged at the court in the capital.”

“Weird guy…”, said Alix, “Kept saying something like ‘it was him’ or something like that.”

“Hehe, but what’s more weird is that he was still able to talk after getting a sucker punch from Anna.”, joked Rhoz while chuckling.

“You have any problem with that??”, came a voice from outside. Rhoz gulped.

It was from Anna. She had a… mattress(?) in her hands and meekly following behind her was Rin. The both of them walked into the room and Anna gave the mattress to Rhoz, who nervously took it and went upstairs.

“Looks like you’re doing well.”, she said.

“Thank god you’re alright!”, said Rin with a sigh of relief.

After a moment of awkward silence, I felt it was about time I asked.

“So…”, I mumbled, “umm…About the job.”

“Huh?”, said Anna, visibly confused.

“You know… enlisting as an officer.”, I said.

“You’re still talking about that? We already even got a mattress ready for you.”, she said.

“Wait, so I’m in?? Also, mattress? What does the mattress have to do with any of this?”, I asked.

“The living quarters upstairs, of course.”, she said. “You are going to be living here, right? And you don’t want to sleep on the floor. Right??”, she said while giving me a glare.

“Uhhh… No?” Looks like my accommodation problems have been solved.

“You can share the room with Rhoz and Alix. Me and Rin will be in another room.”, she said.

“Ehh!? M-me too?”, exclaimed Rin. “I’m not an officer or anything. I-I was just-”

She was cut off by Anna.

“Well, we have been thinking about hiring a healer for quite some time, since none of us know healing magic and you came along, so all is well!”, said Anna folding her arms.

“Bu- But”, protested Rin, but a quick shake of the head from Alix said that it would be best for her to not go against Anna’s wishes.

She let out a small sigh. “I guess it’s fine.”, she said, realizing that it was better for her to just agree to Anna’s words. “This is better than fighting dangerous monsters, I guess.”, she said.

“But most of the time, the things people do themselves are far scarier than any monster out there.”, said Alix in a quiet voice. Come on man! Quit scaring her, I wanted to say.

Rin gulped as if instantly regretting having joined us.

“Alright, I’m done setting up the bed.”, said Rhoz as he walked down the stairs.

“Ok then, Let’s head out!”, said Anna.

“Head out?”, I asked.

“Of course!”, said Rhoz. “We successfully caught a criminal and got two new members in the same day! It’s time to celebrate!”

Rhoz was jumping around in excitement and Anna had a gleam on her face.

“When will you quit acting like kids?”, sighed Alix.

Well, I guess it does call for a celebration that I had found my place in this world. New comrades and a new home. “Alright then! Let’s go!”, I said pumping my fist in the air. “Yeah!”, shouted everyone.

That night all of us went over to Nosgred’s.

On seeing me his eyes lit up. “Ah! If it isn’t Mr.Kei. Back again?”, he said with a chuckle. “And looks like you got yourself some friends too.”

Since it was night time, the bar was filled with people unlike how it had been when I came here earlier. Almost all of the tables were filled, but we managed to find a table for five.

“Bring on the food and drinks!”, shouted Rhoz, in his usual cheerful manner.

Anna seemed to have a sly smile on her face. Looks like she was planning something. Rin said that she would pass on the drinks and Alix didn’t say anything.

Once everyone was done ordering, we started to talk.

“So Alix is a berserker? I thought we had to be a guardian to become a cop.”, I asked.

“Well.”, Rhoz said while smiling, “None of us are guardians.”

There was silence. Rin and I looked at each other in confusion.

“I am a spell-caster and Anna is a warrior. So yeah. No guardians here. Except you that is.”, he said.

“But I thought only people of the guardian class could become police officers.”, I said.

“There is no particular rule like that-”, said Anna, she stopped her sentence as our food and drinks had arrived. “It's just that, usually people of other classes don’t work as officers.”, she said as she gripped her mug in her hand.

“So what about the stations in other cities?”, I asked.

“Well, the stations in other cities usually have about 4-5 guardians and people of normal classes too.”, said Rhoz, “If I were to say, I think we are the outcasts of the police world. Actually, we are the first cops here in Axinus. There wasn’t even a station here before we set it up.”, he said.

“So you guys set it up? By yourselves?”, I asked.

“Well, we were not alone.”, said Anna, taking a sip of her drink. “We had help from our chief. He was an other-worlder like you. A guardian. We requested the capital to help us set up a station and we were granted an official permit. Usually, the police stations in cities are handed down amongst noble families, and the chief is usually the descendent of those families. So we are very different from them.”, said Anna.

The previous chief was an other-worlder? And he was a guardian, huh…

“But that's a story for another time.”, said Anna, and the look on her face was pained, so I decided not to bug her too much.

“Anyways!”, said Rhoz, “Heres to the newbies!”

“Cheers!”

Later, as time passed on, Rhoz decided to challenge everyone to a drinking competition. He lost after a few rounds, but Anna and Alix were going strong. The both of them were having a stare-down and gulping down their drinks one after the other. Anna with a wild expression and Alix remaining calm as usual.

But after a few more rounds, Anna emerged victorious after Alix decided to give up. Looks like Anna was a big drinker. Maybe feeling confident after her win, she challenged everyone at the bar to an arm-wrestling contest. And even in her drunken state, she managed to destroy everyone. Everyone was having so much fun. Rin was asking Anna to stop drinking and was smiling at everyone’s antics. Sigh. Looks like life in this world is going to be nothing short of fantastic!

After spending a lot of time outside, we decided to head back.

Anna was stumbling around carrying the knocked-out Rhoz and Alix in each of her hands, while me and Rin guided her. Once we reached the station, I helped Anna carry the guys to our room and Rin said goodnight and headed to her room. She said that she would take her belongings from the inn where she stayed tomorrow.

Anna went down to lock up the entrance.

As we were about to retire to our rooms, Anna stopped me and said, “We need to wake up early tomorrow. We’re heading to the capital.”

“The capital?”, I asked.

“Yes.”, she said, “We have to officially register you at the head office. Also you’ve never seen the capital right? Look forward to it. Goodnight then.”, saying that she walked into her room and shut the door.

The capital, huh. Things are progressing quite smoothly. And it’s only the first day. I entered our room and saw Rhoz snoring and Alix almost invisible with his fur in the dark. A smile crossed my face. Looks like I’ll get used to this soon. I settled down on my bed, I was too excited to sleep, but the exhaustion from the day made me fall asleep within moments.