Chapter 13: A New Identity

The first stop for Lucas and Relia to get familiar with the capital was the Adventurers’ Guild.

Since they would need to purchase quite a few things later, coming here first would also avoid the hassle of handling paperwork with bulky bags afterward.

Rather than calling it handling paperwork, it was more like submitting documents provided by Evina.

The Goddess of Creation had instructed Lucas to go to the Ancient Shrine.

If he was really going there, having an official identity at the Adventurers’ Guild was necessary.

He decided to give the Goddess of Creation a good scolding the next time he saw her—this was truly exhausting.

“Oh, you must be Mr. Lucas, as Miss Evina mentioned,” said the receptionist as she glanced over the documents Lucas handed in.

“Please wait a moment.”

The counter clerk went to the back, and after a few dozen seconds, another receptionist returned with new documents.

Lucas was asked to write his name on the form, and along with it came a bronze badge.

This was exactly what Lucas needed.

This badge was the official identity of an adventurer and a symbol of status.

The badges forged from Glimmergold Ore belonged to the highest-ranking adventurers in the guild.

But as Lucas understood, adventurers holding such badges were few and far between since records began.

“Please keep this badge safe. The process to replace a lost badge is quite complicated,” the receptionist reminded Lucas.

“Evina has already coordinated with the guild on your behalf. From now on, I will be your primary contact at the guild. When you have promotion documents, just give them to me directly, and I will handle the promotion procedures for you.”

“About that, I’d like to ask if there’s any faster way to get promoted?”

Lucas showed her the bronze badge he just received.

Even though he had entered the guild through Evina’s connections, he still had to climb the ranks step by step from the lowest bronze level.

If he took it step by step, the process would be extremely tedious.

“As long as Evina can provide promotion documents, we can help you apply. Please note, adventurers with the current bronze badge level cannot enter other planes in Morovira.”

These so-called planes were the biggest obstacle to reaching the Ancient Shrine.

Ever since learning that he ultimately had to go to the Ancient Shrine, Lucas had occasionally cursed the Goddess of Creation in his heart these past few days.

She had set a rule that passing the tests of the forty-two guardians across the twenty planes she created was the only way to meet her true form at the Ancient Shrine.

Forty-two.

Forty-two guardians, damn it.

Did she really know how difficult it was to meet this condition?

And though there were said to be twenty planes, several still had no known entry method to this day.

Whenever he thought about this, Lucas felt a headache coming on.

“Is there anything else you want to ask?”

“No, that’s all.”

Lucas pocketed the bronze badge and left the Adventurers’ Guild.

Relia had been waiting outside for a while, and he didn’t want to keep her waiting too long.

Relia’s purpose today, besides getting familiar with the capital, was mainly to buy some supplies.

The middle-class district where they lived sold mostly luxurious clothing and jewelry, but Relia wasn’t interested in those.

Having grown up with Lucas, she was already used to living frugally.

To Relia, as long as something was usable, that was enough.

She had rarely bought clothes since childhood; most of her clothing had been sewn by herself, including the dress she was wearing now.

Relia didn’t want those items, but Lucas had a different idea.

Now that they were settling in the capital and his future earnings looked promising, he still hoped to give Relia a special gift.

Well, that was something to think about later.

Relia’s biggest purchases were ingredients and seasonings.

Back when they lived at the border, Relia handled all the cooking for Lucas.

The available ingredients were limited, but she always did her best to make sure Lucas ate well.

Her cooking skills were quite good, always managing to make the best dishes with limited ingredients.

Lucas wondered what kind of meals Relia could make now with the ingredients available here.

Carrying the heavy bags of food, Lucas and Relia headed home.

Upon returning to the middle-class district, Relia didn’t go straight home but pulled Lucas toward another location.

She stopped in front of a bookstore.

“Relia, you’re buying books?”

Their previous residence had limited resources and barely any books to read.

The few they had read together ensured at least they weren’t completely illiterate.

Relia coming here to buy books surprised Lucas a bit. But what she said next surprised him even more.

“Because, in the documents Evina gave me yesterday, it said I’m supposed to serve as the personal attendant to the princess of the kingdom at that time.”

Relia’s words almost made Lucas drop the things in his hands.

He hadn’t misheard, right?

“Also, the job requirements are surprisingly low. The duties just involve cleaning the princess’s office, organizing her documents, and then I can go home when the time’s up. So I thought, I might as well buy some books to study a bit, so I don’t mess up at work.”

Lucas didn’t answer Relia immediately but quietly pondered to himself.

Both he and Relia were just people from the border region, and it would take time to fully adapt to life in the capital.

Why had Relia suddenly been appointed as the personal attendant to the princess?

Why hadn’t Relia told him about this yesterday, at least so he could ask Evina about it?

No, wait—Evina provided a large sum of money and a pretty decent residence.

Could the captain of the kingdom’s knights really just casually hand over that many gold coins?

Ten thousand gold coins—that was a number Lucas had worked almost seventeen years to earn, and an ordinary family could hardly even dream of it.

Yesterday, Lucas hadn’t thought about this angle, but now something felt off.

Inviting him to join the knights and giving him such good conditions—was it really just to help handle the Eight Sins?

“Lucas?”

Relia came up close to him.

“What’s wrong? You’ve been spacing out.”

Relia was already holding a pile of books and had just come out.

Lucas snapped back to reality, realizing he had been standing there lost in thought for quite a while.

“No, I was just thinking about some things.”

“That’s good. I thought maybe you weren’t feeling well again. Alright, let’s go back. It’s getting late, and you must be hungry too, right?”

“Yeah, a little.”

Compared to food, Lucas was still more concerned about everything Evina had arranged.

On the way back, his mind kept drifting.

Until the cry of an eagle snapped Lucas awake.

Following the sound, Lucas spotted a huge black eagle perched on the roof by the doorstep.

It seemed to have been waiting for him here.

The moment it saw Lucas, the black eagle flew down from the roof and landed on his shoulder.

Where did this come from?

“Lucas, is there something on its leg?”

Relia pointed at the black eagle.