Identity

The tension in the receptionists' faces slowly eased.

The first girl, now calmer, grabbed my arm and dragged me back to the counter. The other people stepped aside as the second receptionist followed.

She was faintly trembling.

When we reached it, she stopped me there and let go of my arm. She gestured for me to wait, and then both of them followed the corridor on the left to return to their posts.

I wiped the remaining tears from my eyes and placed the spear and the backpack down, just as I had done previously.

The first girl came back to the desk, while the second one went to sit down by the other guy in front of a table in the back.

She placed her hands over my right hand and looked me in the eyes.

Her shivering hadn’t fully subsided, and her eyes were moist.

Her sad expression told me everything.

She seemed quite concerned about me.

“Yes! Yes!” I said, nodding with a smile. I wanted to show her that I was alright now.

Everything was fine.

She smiled back at me.

I felt terrible for causing so many people to worry. I couldn't apologise enough for the disturbance I had made.

I bowed, apologising once more, but she quickly extended her arm to stop me.

When I lifted my head, she continued smiling.

She then pointed at me and slowly traced a rectangular shape in the air.

She seemed to be asking me for something but avoided speaking in her language, likely aware I wouldn’t understand.

I remember yelling in English back then. She probably chose not to speak too much to avoid overwhelming me.

“No,” I replied, slowly shaking my head. I hadn’t understood what she was trying to tell me, but it felt like the right thing to say.

She took a piece of paper from a cabinet beneath her desk and grabbed what looked like a brush, dipping it in black ink she had inside a small glass bottle by her side.

The tool was shorter than a normal paintbrush, and the handle had a thick, round-ended design.

It was made for the exact grip Yrish had used with the pencil.

She looked at me and gestured with her free hand for me to take my hood off.

As she pointed it out, I couldn’t even remember putting it back on.

I remembered it falling off during the commotion, though not exactly when, and noticed I could see better to the sides.

I must have put it back on instinctively.

When I took the hood off, she attentively gazed at my face, especially examining my hair and the sides.

She then turned to face the piece of paper and began scribbling something on it.

She looked back at me when she finished writing and paused for a few seconds. With her mouth narrowly open, she intoned a faint “hmmm”, deep in thought.

Her thoughtful expression cleared momentarily, and she turned around.

“Vert gokare~ kra goroter u rasci e dio lo zete e Riges er larime?” she asked in a steady voice, turning to the two receptionists in the back.

They both began searching cabinets and piles of documents.

After a minute or two, the male receptionist handed her two papers.

“Henbo!” she smiled and took both papers from his hand. I figured it meant something like “thank you” based on how she said it.

The male receptionist nodded before returning to the back.

The sheets looked worn and dingy, one more than the other.

She placed the older-looking one in front of me and the other one on the lower side of the desk, next to her.

Looking at the paper, it seemed like a map. There appeared to be five main islands, with some smaller ones on the sides or in between.

I had never seen this map before.

Was this this world’s map?

If that was the case, those large islands were most likely continents, but the map showed no more than their outlines.

She got up and bent in my direction. She pointed close to the bottom-right side of one of the continents. It was next to the map’s central ocean and directly left of a smaller island.

“Riges,” she said, removing her finger from the place she had pointed to and pointing down.

The place she pointed to on the map was where we were right now.

This took me a bit by surprise. I had yet to see the ocean, so I didn’t believe we were so close to it.

Looking closer at the map, it appeared we were on the largest continent, both in area and length.

She then pointed to me and twirled her finger over the map, as if asking me where I was from.

I paused to think for a few seconds.

There was no place I was truly from.

I had no idea where the places we had passed through were, but I assumed they were left of Riges since we had been travelling mostly east.

Should I point at Tristte?

I wasn’t from there, but it was the town where I had stayed the longest.

Would she even believe I was from there? She already knew I didn’t speak their language, and Tristte spoke one that was very similar, if not identical, to theirs.

Should I simply try to pinpoint where I spawned in this world?

After careful consideration of my options, I opted for the latter. I attempted to point to where I arrived when I was reincarnated.

I couldn’t tell exactly where it was, but I pointed roughly to the left, not too far. I remembered there were mountains to the west when I arrived.

She furrowed her brow and stared at the place I pointed to.

She called both of the receptionists in the back and showed them the same place. The same hint of confusion shone on their faces.

I began trembling a bit.

After talking for a bit, both of them returned to the back. Lifting her head and gazing at my face, she smiled radiantly and wrote something down once more. Instead of writing just one line like last time, she added something to it.

Was she suspicious about the place I pointed at? I didn’t know.

She turned to me once more, this time raising her right hand. She counted on her knuckles, pointing at me. It was the same method the Old Man had shown me.

Was she asking for my age?

I found the system cumbersome, but I slowly counted from right to left until I reached twenty-three.

When I finished counting, she began writing.

They seemed to be gathering my personal information for a guild registration, most likely for my guild card. The receptionist did trace a card-shaped object in the beginning, after all.

In other fantasy settings, it would be the card showing my guild rank.

Amidst the guild’s noisy hum, I overheard her whispering the word "jalhere~" as she wrote. That was one of the few words I already knew. She was probably going to ask for my name.

When she raised her head, she first repeated the word and pointed at herself.

With a joyful smile on her face, she exclaimed, “Talira~”, most likely her name.

Then, she pointed at me and repeated the same words.

I paused.

I had been waiting for this question for a while, but a single thing sprang to mind at that moment.

There was only one name I could think of giving myself.

I wanted to believe I wasn’t the same as in my old world. I had changed.

This was still too new for me, but when I died, I let go of a part of myself.

My eyes welled slightly. I tightly gripped both fists.

A brief but hopeful smile spread across my face.

“Sorai~!” I answered.