"The day is great!!"
Im currently walking with Amari on the streets of this cool place.
Apparently, no one recognized me. To be fair, we're a little far from where we were before.
"They use the same time system and calendar, by the way, it's only 14:00..."
"1-14?! ALREADY?! I HAVEN'T HAD LUNCH YET!"
I had planned to have lunch with my friends, they were going to bring food and we were going to have a picnic. But well, can't do that now.
Amari continue to speak calmly.
"Well, there are some restaurants nearby, but we don't have any money...."
"Bahhhhhh... Im hungry!!"
She yelled in my ear.
"I am too!! But i said we have no money!!"
Tsk, there's nothing we can do about it i guess.
"Hey Kai, i think you should try to disguise yourself a little at least, maybe someone will recognize you on the street, or you might become a wanted crimina-"
"Ahahhaha!! Like if that is going to hap-"
suddenly, a tall man approached me.
"Hey you there... Are you perhaps, that thief who stole some food a time ago?... You have that same weird black thing on your neck..."
Amari froze in fear behind me, trembling.
I looked around, scratched my left cheek and said.
"Hm... No."
...
He suddenly opened a smile.
"Oh then sorry!"
He placed his hand on my hand while walking by me.
"But you should remove that thing from your neck, looks like him."
So he faded away.
Amari still was frozen, not even looking at the man as he walked.
I, started to laugh.
"HAHAHAHA!! WHAT A DUMB GU-"
Amari quickly covered my mouth with her hands.
"SHUSH!! You are in public!"
Some people around us gave a very suspicious look at us, stopping moving for a few seconds.
But then, they just looked forward and kept walking.
Amari expressed a strong reaction of relief, while i just looked at her.
"Phew... Hey, you should remove that thing on your neck! Someone is going to recog-"
"NO WAY!!!"
I screamed quite loudly and angry.
"I WILL NEVER TAKE THIS OFF, EVEN IF I DIE!!!
We were almost face to face, think she really started taking this seriously.
"O-Ok Ok dude... B-But If you go to jail, I won't go with you!"
I turned around.
"Fine by me..."
A few seconds of silence fell over us, like two friends who had just had a deep discussion.
She looked at my back with a face of half guilt and pity.
Think she thought i was angry with her as she couldn't see my face.
"H-Hey Kai... I didn't knew it was so impo-"
"A GUILD!!!"
I pointed forward, to a self called Guild construction.
"A-Ah? Wait you know what a guild is but not a RPG?! FUCK IS WRONG WITH YO-"
"LETS GO!!"
I ran as fast as I could towards that guild.
"A-AH! WAIT!!"
I can't imagine, what will be there?!
Will we have missions to do, where i will defeat various monsters and bad guys!? I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THAT!!
We both arrived at that place.
It was quite crowded, probably because it was lunch time.
At left was just tables, chairs and benches, almost all occupied by people eating peacefully.
In the center there was a board with papers. I assume that's the mission board. How cool!
At right, well, there was a division/separation (counter) where the receptionist was, and some kind of metal balls on top of tables, about 5. I don't even know how to describe it, there were wires connected to them, and they were quite big, with control panels for each one next to them.
I looked at it all in wonder.
"WOW!! SO COOL!! I WANT TO GO TO THAT BOARD!! That's where the missions are, right?! I WANT TO TAKE THE HARDEST ONE!!"
I guess even though no one heard my loud and honest words, Amari tried to appear mature and responsible by grabbing me by the ear.
"Idiot, we need to go to the receptionist first obviously... AND DON'T YOU DARE TO SAY A WORD!!"
While grabbing me by the ear, she manged to move me to the receptionist place. She was more strong than i thought to be honest.
"HEY! LET ME GO! I WANT-"
We were already at the receptionist place.
She welcomed us with a smile, one of the kindest smiles I have ever seen in my entire life.
She looked to be in her 30s, and only wore clothes that showed from the shoulders up, much lower than the shoulders actually.
She bowed slightly before speaking (no idea why.)
"Welcome to the Guild of Beatitudo, the best city for novice Suiciders in the entire kingdom of Pseudo... My name is Mana, how can i help you?"
Amari looked in shock.
"S-SUICIDERS!?"
The receptionist just keep smiling.
"Of course! We shelter anyone who wants to be a suicider, and has the slightest knowledge of Sankalpa."
Even i, who was still on the ground being carried by Amari, stopped moving and screaming for a moment.
Amari was in shock, extremely confused.
"S-SUICIDERS?! WHAT YOU MEAN!?"
The woman tilted her head a bit.
"Uhm, you don't know?..."
Amari didn't respond.
Then the lady return her smile.
"Well that's not a problem. Suiciders are the persons who explore this world trying to uncover its misteries. And, they are like a family, helping each other with the missions on that board... Well, always with a reward..."
Amari calmed down a bit.
"Oh ok... Wait, if so, who creates these missions?"
"I think I expressed myself a little badly... Missions are usually placed by the Suiciders themselves, who usually need help with something, but higher star missions are usually requested by more powerful organizations or people... It can show up there as long as you simply have my approval."
Amari felt temporary relief.
"Oh ok... BUT THEN WHY IS IT CALLED SUICIDERS!?"
Mana giggled.
"Well uh, its my fault."
"W-What?..."
"We basically, have no restrictions or any type of support. For example, a novice can try a 5 star mission with no problem, nothing stops you from doing so. But if you die, we have no responsibility. As a result, the death rate is very high, hence the name."
"N-No support?... Thats a bit dangerous..."
"I mean, we don't give any type of direct support. If you are in danger, I'm not going to send anyone to rescue you for example."
She lifted a finger.
"Ah, but you dont pay any taxes!"
"Then you how make money?"
"Here we sell things like armors, swords, objects, lunch, dinner, all kinds of food, etc..."
"Fair i guess... You're the owner of this guild right?... Why you do that way?"
She smiled.
"Indeed, im actually the boss of all guilds, those of other cities are just part of this one... And answering you question... Because its funny."
Amari took some steps back.
"W-WHAT?!"
Then i said, floating on the air because she was holding me.
"I agreed."
Amari quickly yelled at me.
"SHU UP!! I AM HAVING A PROFESSIONAL CONVERSATION!!"
Mana only just realized my existence now.
"Ah, is that someone else looking to sign up?"
Amari turned back to her, smiling back.
"Oh yeah. He is actually my uh... y-younger brother!"
"UH?! I AM!?"
Mana giggled.
"Oh wow, and the 2 want to sign up as Suiciders? How cute... I hope you take good care of him."
Amari gave a tired laugh (definitely forced!)
"Oh, he's a brat..."
Hearing that in the ground, made me furious, squirming and trying to get away from her.
"NO!! YOU'RE THE BRAT HERE!! LET ME GO! THIS IS ALL A LIE! LET ME GOOOoooooOOOO!!"
As I continued to scream and try to break free, Mana put a hand over her mouth and looked at me with something like pity.
"Oh my... Kids are not allowed to do this job ok?"
Amari sighed deeply, laughing a little.
"Oh youre not going to believe... He is actually... hm... 14?"
Mana looked very suprised.
"Really? Oh my, I'm sorry, I really thought he was a child..."
Amari later told me that people over the age of 13 are already considered adults in this world.
I pointed at her, extremely angry .
"HEY SHUT UP!!! IM ACTUALLY 16-"
Amari punched me in the head, making a lump and shutting me up.
"SHUSH!!"
She then looked at, trying to act formal as ever.
"I-Im sorry..."
"No problem dont worry..."
"So... We both want to be a... Suiciders... How we sign in?"
Mana opened a gentle smile.
"Oh im glad to hear that... Well, to obtain your Suicider card, thus being able to do the quests and participate in the guild's market-"
She whispered in Amari's ear.
"To be honest, I would rather this didn't exist, and I would prefer that it didn't have anything to fill, but my superiors, the royal family of the kingdom, forced me to..."
She turned back.
"So, i just I need you to show me your Sankalpa level, the simplest is accepted.. Simply as that."
Amari looked confused. Me who as on the floor in the fetal position, raised one eye in their direction.
Amari said.
"S-Sankalpa?... What?"
Mana looked at us like if we offended her.
"Im sorry... Are you trolling me?!"
Amari felt a bit embarrassed.
"N-No... I never heard of that..."
Mana responded in a very direct manner.
"Well then, you can't join. And also, i can't talk about it to anybody who don't know about it. Sorry."
She looked at us like if we were some thiefs, she was suspicious of something. Well, we are but that's not what im talking about!
Amari tried to calm herself down, giving a nervous smile.
"H-Haha, don't worry, we-"
"Bye."
She suddenly closed the curtains in the counter, letting us alone there.
Amari just kept looking at the closed curtains for a second.
"W-What..."
I stood up, and started to yell at the curtains.
"HEY YOU RUDE!! COME BACK HERE!! WERE NOT DONE TALKING!"
Amari looked at me, a bit in disbelief and not knowing how to act.
But then quickly she looked towards the curtains, a pointed angry.
"You know what, you're right! COME BACK HERE YOU BITCH!!"
We started saying one at a time.
"IDIOT!"
"SLUT!!"
"STUPID!"
"EGIRL!!"
"BATTLE-AXE!"
Amari suddenly looked at me confused.
"What? What kind of insult is tha-"
As she looked at the me, she saw that the whole Suiciders that were lunching, or just hanging around, they all had their eyes on us, looks of pure disgust and anger.
Apparently, Mana is someone who is quite respected there.
"COUGAR!-"
Before I could finish speaking, she grabbed me by the arm and showed me that everyone was looking at us.
She said with the most embarrassed eyes possible, stuttering a lot, quietly even though it was directed at the Suiciders.
"I-I am very sorry..."
"GAMAHUCHE!-"
"Ok that's enough."
She pulled me by the arm towards the exit.
As we were almost leaving.
"Wait wait wait!! I need to see that board!"
I put my feet on the ground, dragging them as hard as I could.
Amari them stopped, right at the exit gate.
"But why? Were not even Suiciders..."
"Oh cmon please!... I just want to see it!... Pleaseeeeeee...."
She sighed.
"Right, do as you want."
She let go of me, and I ran as fast as I could towards the board, with a huge smile on my face.
"Yeah finally!! Lets see..."
I looked at that board. It was in a language that I didn't understand, but somehow I could read it.
I don't know, it's some kind of magic thing? Maybe the same for what I'm speaking right now, which is not the language I learned, and I only realized it now... But ah, who cares?
"WOW!! IM FINALLY SEEING IT!"
Amari then appeared at my side, trying to look calm but was obvious that she wanted to go away from there.
"Uh why? Its not something special..."
She analyzed the papers.
"Hm, each star represents the degree of difficulty, 1 being the easiest and 5 being the hardest... makes sense."
I was reading all the names, all the information.
"Wow! The 5 stars missions, defeat the Ant king, defeat the attack titan, defeat the sun god, defeat a gay vampire!? This looks more like a hunt... COOL!!!"
Amari sighed.
"Are you done yet?"
"Oh wait, THERES A SIX STAR QUEST!?"
I pointed at the top of the board, there was a special 6 star mission.
"Collect the pieces of the Divine Crown... At the request of the royal family of Pseudo... WAHH! THE REWARD IS TOO BIG!! 1 BILLION OF... STRANGE SYMBOLS!!!"
"Its called "Shields", name of local currency... For each part found they pay you 1 billion Shields, and they keep the piece..."
I quickly started to look at the others papers, completely ignoring the 6 star one.
Amari looked at me, at the board, at me, at the board, and realized i didn't cared for the 6 star one.
"Hey! Isn't that what you wanted!? Collect the pieces of the Crown and become the Emperor of the World?..."
I continued to read all the papers that were there, there were so many!
"Yeah yeah, but theres something more important..."
"More important? What could be more important than having any wish?"
Then, i finally finished reading all the quests.
I looked down, extremely downcast and sad.
"Hey Amari... None of the rewards are food..."
Amari yelled at me.
"AH?! HOW DUMB YOU ARE!? WHY WOULD IT EVEN BE?! AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN ACCEPT IT!"
Oh balls.
A time later, we were walking around the city again, trying to find something to do or better, eat.
I walked with my hands behind my head, not very excited anymore.
"Wahhhhh... I am so hungry... i need to eat..."
Amari was walking on my front.
"Well, get used to it, your life will be like this from now on."
Those words hit my mind like a stone.
No, i cant live like that, there is no way!
I quickly ran over and grabbed her from behind, with my arms around her neck.
"WAHHHH! NO!! AMARI PLEASE YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING!!"
She was caught of caught, getting blushed and quickly trying to let me go.
"W-WHAT?! L-LET ME GO!!"
She kept trying to get me to let go, but I held on with all my strength!
"NO AMARI!! PLEASE HELP ME!!!"
"THEN, HELP ME TO FIND OUT WHAT IS THAT SANKALPA THING!!!"
Hearing that, I let go of her, landing on my feet behind her (she probably thought she managed to get me to let go, but it was actually intentional haha)
She became absolutely embarrassed, thinking that everyone would be looking at us.
But before she could do anything.
"Hey sir, you know what Sankalpa is?"
Amari quickly turned to me.
"Oh wait, that may actually work..."
As soon as he heard my words, the man looked at me with a huge look of disgust.
"You... Get out..."
He simply kept walking forward.
"HEY! I I JUST ASKED FOR SOMETHING NOTHING MUCH!! YOU STUPID BALDY-"
Amari quickly covered my mouth with her hands, not letting me talk.
"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!!, lord why are you such a kid..."
Then, i stopped being impulsive, and I calmed down, with that she took her hand off my mouth.
"Hey, Amari... You've been here for a week, right?..."
"Hm, yeah?..."
"AND YOU YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNEW ABOUT THE GUILD?"
She blushed deeply, feeling both guilty and embarrassed.
"A-AH, N-NO I-I-I... KNEW ABOUT IT!"
"SO WHY DID YOU NEVER GO THERE?!"
She looked at me red, clasping her hands, giving an embarrassed smile, and speaking very quietly, with a mixture of guilt and shame.
"I-I was scared..."
"AND I AM THE KID-... Wait a goddamn second... WHAT IS THAT?!"
Far way, buying something at a tent, I noticed something terrible in the distance.
No, that couldn't be real, it was the worst thing I've ever seen in my entire life.
Amari, already knowing what was going to happen, gave me a nervous smile.
"H-Hey Kai... Just let it g-"
I quickly started to run at the direction of that person.
It was outrageous!
Someone was wearing, THE SAME BLACK NECK GAITER AS ME!!!
Amari ran after me, desperately trying to stop me from getting into trouble.
"K-KAI!! WAIT!! STOP!"
"AS IF I COULD! I CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN!!!"
Then, after a brief angry run, I arrived at the tent where that person was buying meat.
I pointed at the person, extremely person.
"HEY YOU STUPID COPYCAT!! YOU'RE NOT ALLIWED TO WEAR THAT!! THAT IS ONLY MINE!!!"
The person slowly looked at me.
It was a woman, a young woman, looks like she is 10 or something.
She has short dark brown hair with long bangs parted in several parts and brown eyes. A petite body looking like a doll, with small breasts.
She was wearing a very wild outfit, it seemed like it was made to attract attention: a dark brown cape, with a weird white wizard hat, a dark yellow dress/shirt with light yellow details, which also covers her arms with wide sleeves, in addition to serving as a skirt. Dark yellow long socks (or pantyhouse, i have no ideia) and extremely wide light yellow boots. She has several bandages and wounds on her body. And, my black neck gaiter on her neck...
Even before she even said a word, I couldn't contain myself, and unfortunately I said.
"WOW!! THAT OUTFIT IS REALLY COOL!!"
Sorry.
But when she looked at me, i was able to see that she was also holding a dark brown staff.
After hearing my words, she didn't even though, and immediately gave a proud smile, also putting her small hand on her chest.
"Ha! I know that!! I am-"
"Loli."
Out of nowhere, Amari appeared and said that word with the greatest tranquility in the world.
I don't know what that means, but the girl became extremely angry and embarrassed.
"W-WHAT DID YOU J-JUST CALLED ME?! I-IM TURNING 14 NEXT WEEK!!!"
I don't know what that word means, but it made her extremely angry. Must be some wild insult.
Oh but focus, she has my black gaiter!!!
I hit myself in the face a few times.
"OH WAIT WAIT WAIT... THAT THING IS MINE!!!"
She looked a bit suprised, holding the neck gaiter.
"Oh this? Well I found it for sale somewhere, and I decided to buy it because why not... It's really cool! You can cover your nose and it looks even cooler!!"
She demonstraded to me, with a proud smile.
"AS IF I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!"
She then noticed that i also had one.
"Oh, inspired by me is it? Well I understand, a lot of people think I'm amazing and p-"
I pointed at her, extremely furious.
"YOU COPIED ME YOU STUPID!! I'VE BEEN WEARING THIS SINCE I WAS..."
Had to make some calculations.
"6!!!"
Amari spoke softly beside me.
"Hey Kai, this is not worth it... Its just a-"
The girl crossed her ams, looking at the side with a look and smile as if I were inferior.
"Ha! And what you can do about it?! I bought this one so its mine! The great-"
I interrupted her furiously.
"I CAN BE THE ONLY ONE HAVING ONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!"
But then suddenly, she looked at me with just a normal face. Not looking proud or anything, just fine.
"Well, if its really important to you, i don't mind to giving it to you..."
"I WOULD RATHER IF YOU BURNED THAT!!!"
She kept her "ok" face.
"Yeah whatever, fine be me."
"AND AFTER, I WILL BURN THE SHOP OF WHO IS SELLING THOSE!!!"
Amari screamed.
"H-HE JUST MADE A PUBLIC TERRORIST ANNOUNCEMENT!!"
The girl ket her oddly calm smile.
"Fine by me kiddo-"
"WHY EVERYONE CALLS ME THAT!? IM 16!!! YOU DONT EVEN REACH MY BELLY BUTTON!!"
Amari whispered in my ear.
"Hm actually, she is short, but youre not very tall, so i think she does..."
The girl was very suprised.
"Y-YOU ARE WHAT!?"
She composed herself, putting her hands and staff behind her back, closing her eyes and speaking in a somewhat posh manner.
"Cough cough... So, let's settle this with a duel. If you win, I'll destroy this thing, but if I win..."
She opened one eye, and gave me a defiant smile.
"I will join your crew."
Amari was very suprised and shocked, definitely not expecting this.
"W-Wait what? Y-you want to join us?-"
I gave a confident smile, thrusting one fist into the other.
"Fine by me!!! If you win, I'll let you join the Kai's crew!!"
Amari yelled.
"WE NEVER DECIDED ON THAT NAME!!!"
The girl laughed a bit, and took a deep breath, speaking in an epic way, extending her staff in the air.
"Alright, I -"
"LETS GO ALREADY!"
"LET ME SAY MY NAME AT LEAST!!!"
She said, angry with me.
Then she cough cough again, and went to the same position as before.
"I, SAYURI, CHALLENGE..."
"KAI!!!"
"KAI, FOR A DUEL IN THE PRESENCE OF EVERYONE HERE AROUND US, WHO SERVED AS WITNESS SO THAT EVERYTHING-"
I was already fed up with so much nonsense.
"LETS JUST GO!!"
She again, yelled angry at me, blushed.
"Y-YOU IDIOT!! W-WE NEED TO DO THE DUEL RITUAL OBVIOUSLY!!"
Amari whispered on my ear.
"Hey uh, I would not recommend you accept the duel, since they are usually to the death and you just want to fight for a neck gaiter... Oh wait, actually if she wants to join us, she can't kill you... But well, it is in this so-called ritual that the rules and objectives of the duel are defined, so that there is no cheating later. In this case, so that she not only doesn't destroy the black thing, or you refuse her to join us."
I listened attentively as I stretched my legs.
"Oh thats it?... Guess i have no choice then... But Amari!"
I looked onto her eyes.
"This is not for a stupid reason, the neck gaiter is super important to me!!"
Amari gave a small smile.
"As you wish, 'captain'."
She walked away, and I gave a good confident laugh, looking at the girl. Her name is Sayuri right? Ah, who cares.
The girl then return to her speech, speaking in a very loud tone so everyone can hear.
"So, today, I Sayuri, challenge Kai to a duel, in the presence of everyone here around us, who will serve as witnesses so that the battle is clean, free and without cheating..."
10 minutes later...
"DAMN ITS FINALLY OVER!!!"
A circle of people had formed around us. It was a tremendous crowd, I think these duels are really respected here.
We were positioned quite far apart from each other, with a man in the middle who would serve as referee.
On second thought, she's probably a wizard or something, who strikes from afar, I shouldn't have accepted a battle that starts from a distance, that's an advantage for her since I only have my punches...
She just kept talking and every now and then she would say, "You, Kai, do you accept?", and I just said yes to everything because I was running out of patience... Are there any more important rules that I didn't notice? Oh, who cares.
I looked at her with a confident smile, i can win this!
She proudly showed her staff in her left hand, also confident and smiling.
In the middle, the ref said.
"Ok now, as soon as I go to the circumference of the circle and shout "GO!" you can start fighting..."
He turned back and started to walk to the edge of our battlefield. (In this case he walked towards the audience, which formed the battlefield, an open space, without the tents that had been specifically removed for this.)
...
GOD HE'S SO SLOW!!! IS HE A TURTLE OR SOMETHING!?
I even wanted to yell at him, but every time I wanted to, it seems like he's almost there, but then I realize he's still far away and it's an infinite loop!
But after what seemed like an hour, he finally made it.
"OK! ARE YOU READY!?!?!?"
I looked at her eyes and clenched my fists, the two of us looking at each other with extreme confidence.
"GO!"
Ok, I need to get closer and close the distance, because then-
"Bium."
She shot a kind of white light, laser o ray, from her staff that went towards me.
I didn't had time to react, it hitted me and I fell to the ground, unable to move.
I lost, that way...
The people around looked on, and simply went back to their normal lives as if it was nothing.
"Oh yeah, that was good." "Yeah, was a good duel to watch." "Yeah yeah, it was fun to seem"
They made comments like that as they dispersed.
No one was sad, angry or disappointed, for some reason.
"KAI!!!"
Amari came running towards me, extremely worried.
I managed to move my back, and sit on the ground, extremely hurt.
"I-Im fine... I lost it..."
suddenly, the girl appeared on my front, with a very proud smile and a hand on the hip, holding the neck gaiter on the same hand.
Oh yeah, before the battle she took it off so it wouldn't be destroyed under any circumstances... I WISH IT HAD BEEN!
"So, i win... Thus, joining your gang..."
I looked furiously at her, i couldn't believe what was goin on. This was not fair, she can't have that-
She suddenly threw the neck gaiter to the floor.
"PTCHIU!"
Out of her staff, a red beam went out and hitted the neck gaiter, making it burn.
"You wanted me to burn it right?... Oh yeah."
She turned back, and pointed her staff at a building.
"PTCHIU!"
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE ATTACK NAME-"
She shoot at the building, making it catch fire.
She looked at me with a wide smile.
"That was the store i bought this from, hehe."
Me and Amari were in shock.
Amari looked at her without understanding what was happening.
"W-Wait what, why did you-"
Before she could elaborate further, we saw a lot of what I assume to be cops, running after us in distance.
"RUN AWAY!!"
The girl yelled, kinda desperate, running on my front.
I quickly stand up and started to run too, alongside the 2 girls.
"HEY! WHAT IS YOUR NAME!?"
Think she got quite angry by my line.
"I ALREADY TOLD YOU MANY TIMES IDIOT! ITS SAYURI!"
We take a quick look back, they are quick as hell!!
"RUN!! JUST RUN!!"