“We’re here.”
The little girl stopped, raised her hand, and pointed to a building at the end of the street.
It was a two-story stone building, its outer walls gray and dusty, no different from the surrounding structures. A faded wooden sign hung by the door, carved with a pattern of a sword and a staff crossed—the emblem of the Adventurers’ Guild.
“This is Grayrock City’s Adventurers’ Guild.”
Alpha followed her gaze, glanced at it, and nodded.
“Okay, thank you.”
The little girl froze for a moment, as if she hadn’t expected the other person to thank her.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found she didn’t know what to say.
In the end, she just hugged the bread in her arms tighter, lowered her head, and murmured a soft “mm.”
When she looked up again, Alpha had already turned and walked toward the building.
The little girl stood there, watching that back gradually grow distant. Then she looked down at the bread in her arms, still carrying a trace of warmth.
The bread was soft.
It smelled good.
She held it like it was something precious.
Then she, too, turned and limped away, disappearing into the depths of the alley.
Alpha stood at the entrance of the Adventurers’ Guild, looking up at the faded sign.
The door was half-open, with faint voices and footsteps drifting out from inside.
She took a deep breath and pushed open the door, stepping in.
The space inside was smaller than she had imagined.
A long counter stretched across the center, behind which sat a middle-aged man reading a newspaper. The walls were plastered with all kinds of papers—those were request slips, some already yellowed and curled at the edges, others still looking fresh.
On the left wall hung a large wooden board, lined with several rows of copper nails, each nail holding a stack of request slips. A few people in leather armor stood in front of the board, flipping through them and talking in low voices.
Against the right wall were a few benches, where several people who looked like adventurers sat. Some were cleaning weapons, some were resting with their eyes closed, and others were chatting softly.
Behind the counter, there was also a door, its destination unknown.
Alpha stood at the entrance, sweeping her gaze across everything, silently memorizing the layout in her mind.
A border city, after all, wasn’t exactly a bustling place.
This Adventurers’ Guild naturally seemed rather shabby.
Alpha didn’t rush to the counter or linger long. Instead, she turned and left the guild, like a passing young person who had only come out of curiosity.
Stepping outside, Alpha wandered around the vicinity and found a hotel that looked fairly clean.
“A room?”
The landlady behind the counter lifted her eyelids to glance at her, asking listlessly.
“Mm.”
“How long?”
“How much for a month?”
“Ten copper coins.” The landlady yawned. “If you’re staying temporarily, it’s one copper coin a day.”
Alpha was taken aback.
‘So cheap?’
She subconsciously touched the money pouch at her waist.
That pawnshop owner really hadn’t lied to her—fifty gold coins would be enough for her to live for many years in a remote little town like this.
Although she knew that one gold coin could be exchanged for one hundred silver coins, and one silver coin for one hundred copper coins, her sister had sheltered her too well in the past, leaving Alpha with little practical sense of currency value.
Thinking about it now, Alpha finally understood why Jaraven and his group had instantly changed their expressions and agreed to give her a ride along the way.
At the time, casually pulling out five gold coins in front of Jaraven must have made her look like a spoiled rich kid from a landlord family—an easy mark loaded with cash and short on brains.
“I’ll rent for one month.”
Alpha counted out ten copper coins from her pouch and placed them on the counter.
The landlady took the money, pulled a key out of the drawer, and tossed it to her.
“Second floor. Third door on the left from the stairwell.”
Alpha took the key, went upstairs, and found her room.
The room was small: a bed, a table, a chair, and a wooden clothes rack in the corner.
But it was clean.
Alpha closed the door, put her bundle on the bed, and took out the outfit she had prepared earlier—
Inside was a black night suit for easy movement, worn under a hooded black robe. She also covered her face with a mask, wrapping herself up so thoroughly that nothing was visible.
Alpha looked at the unfamiliar figure in the mirror, the black mask hiding most of her face, and let out a soft breath.
Her previous outfit had been too clean, too ordinary, too much like an “ordinary young girl.”
In a place like the Empire, going as an adventurer in that image would probably make few people believe she could complete a quest.
But this outfit now…
The black night suit outlined a slender yet upright figure. The mask covered her face, leaving only a pair of calm eyes visible.
Finally, it had a bit of an “adventurer” look to it—though, actually, it looked more like an “assassin”…
After changing, Alpha went back downstairs.
The landlady looked up at her, a flicker of surprise in her eyes, but quickly pretended not to have seen anything and continued yawning.
Pushing open the door of the Adventurers’ Guild again, Alpha’s entrance this time drew quite a bit of attention. The middle-aged man behind the counter finally lifted his head to look at her properly.
There was no helping it—this outfit was indeed far more conspicuous than her previous “ordinary girl” appearance, and it gave off a strong “don’t mess with me” vibe.
Alpha walked to the counter.
The middle-aged man looked up and asked, “Are you here to turn in a request, or do you need something? If you want to take a request, you can go straight to the request board over there.”
“I want to register as an adventurer.”
“Register as an adventurer?”
The man frowned slightly. This black-clad figure, who looked far from ordinary, had a voice that sounded a bit… young? Could it be a kid inside? Or had she used some magic item to alter her voice on purpose?
Alpha nodded calmly. “Mm.”
“What’s your name? Or rather… what alias do you plan to use as an adventurer?”
“Alpha.”
Without much hesitation, Alpha gave the name bestowed upon her by the Demon Lord.
The man nodded, picked up his quill, and wrote it down in the ledger.
“Class?”
“…Magic Swordsman.”
The man’s pen paused.
He looked up, surprise flickering in his eyes as he sized up the masked, black-robed figure before him again.
“Magic Swordsman?”
He repeated, a hint of uncertainty in his tone.
“Are you sure?”
Alpha looked at him calmly.
“I’m sure.”
The man was silent for two seconds, then lowered his head and continued writing in the ledger.
But Alpha noticed that he was writing a bit slower than before, as if lost in thought.
“Rank?”
“Second Order.”
This time, the man’s pen came to a complete halt.
He looked up again, and the way he regarded Alpha had completely changed.
A Magic Swordsman. Second Order.
That combination was rare in a border-town Adventurers’ Guild like this one.
A Magic Swordsman was itself a variant warrior class, requiring mastery of both magic and swordsmanship. Such people were either prodigies blessed with talent or noble children who had undergone systematic training from a young age.
Either way, they were no ordinary people.
The man studied Alpha a few more times. That black robe and mask indeed carried an… indescribable air.
What background did this one have?
Some young scion from a noble family?
‘Hmm… just from the way she stands, she’s terrifyingly strong!’