Walking through the forest of mismatched and ideologically opposed trees, if it weren't a tree from legend then it was present, on the brick-paved road, Inkaro happily marched in swift strides while Nuenala trailed shortly behind in a mute jog to keep up with him. As she watched the tree line for any purification trees, rare as they were, the girl still couldn't shake the odd feeling gnawing at the back of her mind.

  "It's a surprise this place is still in this state; I wonder who could have caused this, you got any idea, Inkaro?"

  Lacking the slightest bit of hesitation, Inkaro stated insensitively but sounding utterly convincing, "Yeah, it truly is a mystery."

  "Heh, what are you on about? This has your handiwork written all over it," Nuenala announced while dramatically pointing out a purification tree.

  In cheerful jest, Inkaro asked, "If something occurred due to a byproduct of someone's action, can you really say it's their handiwork?"

  "Yes, yes, you do. That's why it's: take responsibility for the CONSEQUENCES of your actions!" Nuenala exclaimed boldly, her volume of voice smacking Inkaro like a firm slap that forced him to stumble over his feet.

  "Is that so? Next, you're going to say anything the beegirls do is my responsibility despite them being... wait...."

  Lowering his gaze and raising a hand, Inkaro attentively pinched each of his left hand's centre three fingers until he had done it two times to each of them. "...they'd be mentally nine after being transformed six years ago."

  "Now you're getting it. You're basically their dad. Hehe, a step-dad at ten, that's almost as absurd as that one legend."

  "Can you not compare me to a mythological guy known for collecting calamities that he'd make his adopted children?"

  Nuenala heaved her chest with pride, crossing her arms firmly over the flat surface, as he cast an insidiously coy smirk at Inkaro. He could only weakly avert his gaze from the coy girl and spot a few of those very beegirls huddled behind a tree as they tried to remain unnoticed. "Okay, it's not entirely inaccurate."

  Seeing the perfect opportunity to get under the guy's skin, Nuenala said in a snide jab, "Freakishly obsessed on a singular topic, has a legion of magical monster girls, and has a short-"

  "Ok-ok, I get it! I won't do any conspicuous grimoire experiments outside of home. Just don't give people the wrong, but annoyingly similar, idea about me."

  After an hour of constant walking through the forest, slowly getting less diverse until it was a normal birch forest, the tips of some tile-roofed buildings crept over the horizon of the open plains and into the duo's view. Nuenala lazed about like a pro on the floating magic, its form pulsing a faint lime as it was emitted from the gem on Inkaro's chain.

  Not do so from exhaustion but from boredom, the tiny girl played a connect the colour game on her magi-crystal phone, biding her time until Inkaro brought her to somewhere of note. Overproduced and overlapping sound effects rang through her phone, keeping the girl engrossed in raising her score with such a strong grip she failed to notice she'd to notice the moat-avoiding bridge. But her trained focus was easily broken by a faint tap on the head, causing her to jump slightly.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  She huffed indignantly, blushing slightly as she pulled her Attribute Plaque out of her pocket and handed it to the game interupter. After swiping through both of them to the physical characteristics page faster than the girl had been with her game, Inkaro swiftly showed the plaques to one of the town's gate guards.

  The guard signalled they were clear to go, adding that it was refreshing that some kids weren't so defensive about showing identification as the duo passed him and entered the town.

  "Finally, a town, why'd I have to be born in such a remote village that only gets transport for that appraisal thing in youth school?" Nuenala whined before transitioning from her lathargic posture to a more upright one. "Oh, and try not to cause a scene, Lizu's told me all about the kind of thing overpowered people do when joining the Adventurer's Guild."

  "Let's just hope no one comments on your height," Inkaro shot back as he returned Nuenala her Attribute Plaque, which she angrily swiped.

  While her retrieval of her property was fierce and violent under a certain light, any modicum of threat that could be extruded from her actions was drowned and overpowered by her increasingly reddening cheeks as she pouted.

  "That was ONE time! And he deserved it...," Nuenala said in her defence before following it up in a grumble, "...calling me cutie patootie like I'm a pampered pet. The nerve!"

  Stepping into the hall of the Adventurer's Guild, a wave of dismay covered Inkaro's face as he saw the interior of the place; it was the antithesis of eighty percent of all Adventurers' Guilds he'd seen in fiction, much to his disappointment. It was spotless, both in cleanliness and any ill-mannered individuals, the wooden pillar lining its first-level floor and holding up the second level's suspended floor walkway.

  But his main issue? The building looked nothing like a bar, and more along the lines of a decorated hallway.

  Watching his face contorted into an exaggerated frown, Nuenala couldn't hold back a snicker and mentioned, "What's with that glum look? You look like a half-melted snowmans."

  The incorrect use of grammar stung the guy even harder than the girl's prior verbal jab, and Inkaro could only slump his head until his chin struck his chest.

  "Of all the games to play, you played the one that's a glorified stat," Inkaro grumbled as 'game' about fruit forced its way into his mind.

  "And of all the things you can be knowledgeable about outside of grimoires, is bad video games? So tell me, who's really in any position to be judgy nere?"

  "Touché."

  Whilst the duo bickered, the receptionist watched with a reserved grin. She found it refreshing how lively the duo were, since the guild hall was boringly empty before their arrival. "Ah, to be young."

  Whilst Inkaro didn't budge at her words, the receptionist's remark caught Nuenala's attention and put an even stronger pout on her face that the receptionist found equally endearing as the duo's prior bickering.

  "Now, what might bring you here? Although I can bet a guess, you plan on becoming an adventurer, no?"

  "Heh, you betcha. None of those monsters will know what hit them when they meet the might of my grimoires," Inkaro proclaimed, striking his feet against the wooden floor with a thunderously booming thud before striking an even more fierce and heroic pose.

  Nuenala sat behind the guy with a neutral expression, unsure if she should be shocked by the proclimation or unsurprised that he wormed grimoires into it somehow. "Why did you turn into a hero ranger archetype?"

  Raising a hand over her mouth to hold back her grin from growing any stronger, the receptionist cheerfully remarked, "How energetic and enthusiastic. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were overconfident."

  "This guy is mentally incapable of being overconfident, because it's only a matter of time before anything he says becomes fact," Nuenala said teasingly while wagging her small hands at the guy, like they were fans for royalty.

  "Is that so? We'll see if that's the case or not when you've taken the guild tests, now won't we?"