Chapter 87 81: System Contract (1)

"What? He's a complete newbie? Should we snag him up?"

"He does seem strong, but how does he not know about the fairies?"

"Do you guys think he's single?"

"Dude, just shut up."

The voices around me grew more intense. The lady at the reception sighed.

"You're lucky you came two minutes before the deadline," she pointed at the clock behind her. "Anyway, its ok if you don't know. You'll figure it out anyway. What name should I register you as? Remember this will be printed on your identification if you pass."

I reached into my pockets to bring out my identification when she gestured at me to stop and shook her head.

"You can just tell me your real name. The identification is not necessary."

I knew that adventurers could use their guild card as an identification all over the world, but what was this about? First something about a system and now being told I can use whatever name I want? What would they do if a criminal takes up the job, would they protect even someone like that?

As if she understood what I was thinking, the receptionist smirked. She was enjoying this, huh?

"Don't worry about that. You can give me whatever name you want."

Any name...

"Then, please register me as Kaiser."

"..."

"Pfft!"

"Bahahaha! Kaiser he says!"

"No way!"

These guys were pissing me off. The receptionist chortled too as she shook her head and took in a deep breath.

"Kaiser's already taken, kid. Kaiser 1 to Kaiser 419 are taken too. How about you go with Kaiser420?"

Was she picking out a username for me now!?

But to think the name I used as Yujin was already taken. That many times.

I sighed and shook my head.

"T-then, how about..." A cool name. "Register me as Dawn, please."

The receptionist shook her head. "It was taken up just a bit back."

Damn it.

"What about twilight then?"

"Gone."

"Morning!?"

"Blep."

"Fuck! Night! Give me the name Night!"

"Just give up."

The people around were laughing a bit too hard. I held in my desire to burn this place down and let out a long sigh. "Dusk. How's that?"

"Man, you're persistent," she said. It was only now that I noticed her tapping on a teal slate below her table as she spoke. Was that a computer or something? Noticing my gaze, the receptionist smiled again.

"Aren't you a clueless cutie?"

"The name."

She tapped on her teal tablet a few more times. With each of her movements, the characters filling the tablets would change, it was just like watching a modern computer operate, but there was something different. I couldn't understand the principle behind it, or more specifically, I couldn't detect even a strand of mana flow.

"You're in luck. Dusk it is. We'll have two parts of the day giving the exams tomorrow, probably."

A sigh of relief left me. Choosing names was hell, I remembered my little sister trying to choose a name for all her gacha games and groaning about it. Every time I suggested Kaiser to her back then, it was always taken up as well. Some things didn't change even in a different world.

"Alright," she said. Clapping her hands together. "Age?"

"Fourteen."

"What, for reals?"

I nodded.

Some whistles came out from the deck above. I shifted my gaze to see a band of five heavily muscular men flexing their muscles and showing me a thumbs-up. I couldn't see their faces, but people who complimented others' muscles were all good folks, so I showed them a thumbs-up back.

The receptionist stood up, she looked me up and down, and entered something else in her tablet before stepping away from behind the desk.

"That's all you need?"

"It is. Now follow me, kiddo."

I shrugged and followed behind the receptionist. She was strict, but I guess one had to be so to rein in a wild bunch like adventurers. Though when I looked at the other counters, I didn't think that was necessarily the case.

The receptionist walked over to a door leading to the back of the room, waving at me to come along. As I passed them by, many adventurers laughed meaningfully while some others wished me good luck.

I made it a goal in my heart to take all of their names and get some new ones registered with a 1 added on. That'll show them.

The receptionist walked inside a narrow passageway after I closed the door behind us. She didn't say anything to me as she led me to another thin door ahead. The large wooden door in the passageway exuded a strange vibe.

"Alright, go in," the receptionist said, sticking herself to the wall.

"So this is where you smuggle organs from."

"Just get in kid. Don't pull such a joke with the people inside."

I turned to the receptionist, who was completely flattened against the wall, and tilted my head.

"What's inside, a judgment council?"

"No, it's what you have to make a contract with. The fairies."

"Fairies...?"

"I am warning you now, if you have a turbulent soul you'll be killed right away. Same if you're a wanted criminal anywhere in the world. The fairies don't think much of it."

The adventurer guild required you to form a contract with fairies?

This was the first time I was hearing something like this. Could it be, the system she was talking about was related to fairies too?

Hearing the word fairy over and over, I remembered something. It was a fleeting line that Albert had once uttered.

'You click on the fairy button and access the main menu, apparently, they used procedural programming and AI to make the fairy unique for every user, it was a neat feature.'

Albert.

These are real fairies.

I was well aware of the existence of fairies, but my conversation with my teacher of magic and the many different books only talked about how they were unique beings of Alfheim who showed cooperation with the mortal realm.

"So, you make a contract with a fairy everywhere?" I asked.

"It's not exactly common knowledge since people just refer to them as systems," the receptionist replied. "But yeah, all adventurers aiming to go in labyrinths need to have one. The biggest school in the continent is the only place other than the adventurer guild that is in a relationship with Alfheim, so you're pretty lucky here."

I nodded stiffly.

Just as I thought. There was too much of this world I didn't know about.

"Go in, kid," she said. "I wish you luck. Contract a nasty fairy, and you'll be stuck for life."

With those words, I opened the door and stepped inside. Darkness filled my sight and the door creaked shut, before the world changed.