Chapter 3

After about four more hours on the road, they arrived at their destination. A small town nestled in the forest. Stone walls surrounded the town, and carriages lined up on the only road leading into it.

“I don't know traffic exists here as well,” Kakashi murmured. Most of the carriages leading into the town carried cut-down trees, while the carriages moving out carried processed wood.

“This town is known for its high-quality wood, so while it's tucked in the middle of a forest like this, traffic is common,” Neila explained.

“Are we here to pick up wood as well?”

“Nope,” Syorin answered. “We're here to rest.”

“We've been on the road for two days at this point. We'll need to resupply.”

“I see…”

While carriages are common in fiction, and they drive at much slower speeds compared to being in a car, and it still felt unreal to experience that firsthand.

Sitting in a slow-moving carriage, enjoying the view, telling stories about his past world. The things that the people there considered commonplace were shocking to the three girls. Even Astill, who claimed she didn't care, silently listened to his descriptions.

“By the way, since you have nowhere to go, will you be coming with us?” Syorin asked.

“You don't mind?”

“I mind, but these two won't hear a word I say. Mess with me, and I'll make sure you regret it.”

Kakashi shrank back from Astill’s heavy gaze. She looked like she would actually kill him if he crossed her.

“Don't worry about her.” Syorin patted his shoulders. “She may look scary sometimes, but she's a softie inside.”

“Everything about that sounds insulting.”

The carriage moved forward bit by bit. Eventually, it was their turn. A guard came up and asked for identification. Neila reached into her jacket and pulled out a card from her wallet.

“Dragon hunters, huh. Been a while since I last saw one. There was a dragon around here?”

“A white one, four hours from here. We took care of it,” Neila answered. A different guard took a look at the rear of the carriage, checking for its contents.

“I heard about some dragons around these parts. Glad to hear it's taken care of.”

“Just doing our job.”

“You're clear. Welcome to Larela. Enjoy your stay.” The guard moved out of the way.

“Thank you.”

Neila drove the carriage into the town. There were a lot of sawmills around the entrance, and they occupied the main road up until the first intersection.

From there, there were a lot of residential buildings. Most of the buildings were built with wood, showcasing the town's pride in wood construction. They stopped in front of a large, two-story building.

“Alright, we're here,” Neila said. All four of them got off.

The building they stopped in front of was the town's local inn. The writing ‘Larela’s best inn’ was written behind the front desk. While being the best inn in the town wasn't wrong, the plank didn't say anything about the fact that this was the town's only inn.

“They're not bad, though,” Neila commented while they waited. In front of the receptionist was someone else checking in. An old woman was supported by a younger girl.

Neila walked up to them and offered her help. Together, they supported the old woman into her room while the receptionist guided them.

“Neila's always like that,” Syorin said with a smile. “Never hesitate to act, unlike a certain someone.”

“Sorry, I don't like sticking my nose in someone else's business,” Astill quipped.

After a while, the receptionist and Neila returned.

“Welcome to our inn, sorry for the wait. Would you like four rooms?” the receptionist lady asked.

“Yep.”

“I'm not paying for his room.”

“I can sleep in here.” He occasionally slept on the floor, and the sofas in the reception room looked comfortable and warm.

“Don't worry, I'll pay for you,” Neila offered.

“I'll chime in,” Syorin added.

“Th- thank you.”

The receptionist received their payment and counted it. She put it into a kind of cashier, or maybe closer to a safebox, then took out four sets of keys from a cupboard behind her.

“Here are your keys.”

“Thank you.” Neila received them, then handed three of them to her three friends.

“We'll meet here in an hour.”

Kakashi understood what she meant by the word ‘hour’, so he assumed this world had a similar time system to Earth. He received the keys from Neila and headed to his room. The four of them got rooms on the second floor. While Neila and Syorin’s rooms were near the stairs, Kakashi’s and Astill's were further back.

“Just so you know, I'll never consider you an ally.”

“... Sorry.”

“Apologizing doesn't make any difference.” Astill unlocked the door, entered, and slammed it. Kakashi stared at that door and realized that there was no point in trying to talk things out. He could only hope that she would warm up to him eventually.

He turned around to look at the door to his own room, realizing the inn was using regular keys. Of course, he didn't expect any electronic ones, but it still looked interesting.

Even the door had some fine ornaments sculpted on. Pushing the door open, he was greeted with a regular inn room. Most of its furniture was made of wood, and there was no air conditioning, but the weather wasn't that hot anyway.

It was a completely unremarkable room, thus he left almost immediately. He sat on the sofa, observing as the receptionist greeted another set of guests.

I wonder if I could learn anything sitting here…

He wanted to venture out on his own, but that would be dangerous. He thought about asking either Neila or Syorin to show him around, but remembered that they had spent most of their days on the road. They would love to get some rest.

Just then, he noticed footsteps coming from the stairs. Neila came down, looking surprised to see him.

“Kakashi? What are you doing here? Are you not resting?”

Kakashi shook his head. “I spent most of my time sitting down.”

If anything, Neila should be the most tired of them all, since she was the one guiding the horse.

“If you don’t mind me asking… what are you going to do?”

“Don't worry about us,” she smiled, waving her hand. “We're not like Astill… Astill doesn't hate you, either. She's just not comfortable around strangers.”

It sure didn't look like that to him.

“As for me, I haven't taken care of my horse. After doing that, I'll submit our hunt to the adventurers' guild.”

“Can I come?”

“Of course. Feel free to.”

The two left the inn. Neila moved her carriage to the parking area behind the building and left her horse in the stable master’s hands.

“Rest well.”

The horse let out a neigh and began eating the hay the inn provided. Neila left it and headed to the Adventurers' Guild, Kakashi walking beside him.

“How long have you been in our world?” Neila asked while they walked.

“I have just arrived.”

“I'm surprised at how well you're fitting in. You don't seem surprised in the slightest.”

“My old world isn't exactly great… Besides, I guess I'm prepared.”

“Because of those light novels you read?”

Kakashi nodded. He always dreamt about escaping Earth and starting his adventure in a different world. Experiencing it was scary, but he's grateful for the kindness the girls had shown him. Especially considering his suspicious circumstances.

“Do adventurers' guilds exist in your world?”

“I think guilds do, and while adventurers' guilds exist in fiction… I don't think they exist in real life.”

There are job searching platforms, but they don't post jobs like hunting monsters and the like. The jobs they did offer were much more boring.

“Well, here we are, the guild.”

The guild wasn't located far from the inn, not that anything was. Even from here, he could see the gate where they entered from, albeit small.

Much like the size of the town, the building itself was also small. There were only two desks and one bulletin board with no other adventurers there. Neila strided to the desk on the left.

“Hello, how may I help you?”

“I would like to finish a quest.”

Neila gave the receptionist her card. It was a plain white card with nothing on it. The receptionist took it and placed her hands above the card. The card glowed, text appearing on it. Kakashi could read it, unsurprising considering he could speak this language.

“The last quest you've taken is the dragon hunt quest, right?”

“Yep, got our loot here.” She gave the receptionist the bags. The other receptionist came over to help and check. The bags glowed and expanded, and the two took a look. After a while, they both nodded in satisfaction.

“Your dragon meat has been received. The money has been transferred to your party.”

The receptionist returned the card to Neila. She tapped it, changing the screen to show the amount of money she received. Tapping it again showed her transaction history.

“Okay, thank you.”

“Have a nice day.”

“Would you like to get an adventurer's card, Kakashi? I'll pay for your registration fee.”

Kakashi shook his head. “I'm not sure, yet.”

If he really wanted to join this party, then he must win over Astill. Astill may allow him to be onboard for now, but who knows how long that would last. Besides, there were still a lot of things he had yet to discover. He wasn't sure how to use his controller, for one. He didn't want to create a card only to end up not using it.

“Okay. Just remember that you'll need a card to send and receive money. You don't have to make one with this guild, though.”

“I see…”

“Now, if you go over here,” Neila guided Kakashi over to the bulletin board, where the quests were. There weren't a lot, and most of them looked easy.

“This is the quest board, and as its name states, it's where you accept quests.”

“Interesting…”

It was similar to the one he saw in fiction. Like in isekai stories, it was also classified based on its difficulty. That said, two of them had red marks.

“What's this?”

“Oh, these state that there are other parties who have taken them. You can try to complete it before them, but in general, it's not recommended.”

“If you complete it before them…?”

“You'll get the reward. They'll only get money based on whatever loot they bring back.”

“Wouldn't that lead to fights?”

“Astill used to fight with someone because she got beaten to the punch.” Neila smiled wryly. “She literally tried to punch him.”

“That… sounds very like her.”

Another reminder to not mess with her.

“Yeah. Anyway, want to go around town?”

“Sure.”

Neila took him out of the guild and showed him around.