Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation - Volume 3

Chapter 7: The Adventurers' Guild

The Adventurers' Guild was a gathering place for some of the toughest customers in the city. Some were physically powerful; others were skilled, veteran magicians. Some favored the sword. Others used axes, staves, or even their bare hands in battle. Some loudly boasted of their prowess, while others silently sneered at the braggarts. There were warriors clad in heavy armor, but also lightly dressed sorcerers. There were pig-like men and snake-women; men with insectoid wings and women with the legs of horses. All sorts of people from all sorts of races formed a single, teeming crowd. 

That was how things usually were in the guilds of the Demon Continent. The Rikarisu branch was certainly no exception.

Suddenly, someone flung its huge swinging doors open with a bang. 

Many of those inside turned their eyes toward the entrance, curious. It wasn't unusual for people to throw those doors open dramatically, but the reasons why they did so varied. Had some party just returned victorious? Perhaps a group of monsters were launching an attack and the guards at the gate had called for aid? Or was it just the wind playing tricks on everyone? Of course, there'd also been some talk that Dead End was wandering around this area recently, but surely—

Before anyone could follow this line of thought to its conclusion, three people strode through the open door.

The first in line was a boy with an oddly confident smirk on his face. He wore grimy but expensive-looking clothes and carried a staff wrapped in cloth. Despite his obvious youth, the battle-scarred crowd of grown-ups inside the guild didn't appear to intimidate him in the slightest. Who the heck is this kid? many wondered. He seemed completely out of place here. Might he belong to some race of demons who looked younger than they really were?

Following closely on this strange boy's heels, as if to hide in his shadow, was another youngster. This one seemed to be a girl. Her face was mostly hidden by a hood, but her eyes glittered watchfully from within it. There was something about her bearing that suggested she knew how to use that sword at her hip. A few veterans inside the guild instantly pegged her for a skilled fighter.

The last of the group to enter was a tall, imposing man with a red jewel on his forehead and a scar running diagonally across his face. These were the same distinguishing features as the infamous monster known as Dead End; some adventurers nearly cried out in alarm, only to notice at the last moment that this man's hair was blue rather than green. It had to be someone else who bore a strong resemblance to the murderous Superd.

Altogether, these three made a strange bunch. Strange...and unsettling. There wasn't a single ordinary adventurer among the three of them. No one could begin to guess what they were even doing here.

The trio came to a sudden halt, and the boy shouted at the watchful crowd: "Hey, c'mon! What's with the slack-jawed stares, folks?! Don't you know who this man right here is?!"

Uh, no. Why the hell would we? thought everyone simultaneously.

"This is the infamous Superd monster, Dead End Ruijerd himself! Don't just stand there, idiots! Make with the screaming and running for your lives!"

Come on, do you really think we're gonna buy that? thought everyone in unison. Everyone knew the Superds' hair was vivid green, not some dirty shade of blue.

"Can you believe these country bumpkins, Boss? They don't even know the face of terror when they see it! What a joke. All those rumors flying around, but we walked right in and no one even recognized you!"

Okay, so apparently this kid is hellbent on claiming that his pal here is a vicious, bloodthirsty devil. The more they thought about it, the more hilarious his high-pitched little tirade seemed. The unsettling aura this little band had previously projected faded away almost instantly.