A young boy, impatiently tapping his foot against the damp ground from the previous night's downpour stood in the long waiting line shuffling forward every few minutes when a few people ahead of him had finished with their entrance papers. He noted that the dark heavy clouds that blocked out most of the sun miles above him likely signaled that it would rain again for the second day in a row quite heavily. He tapped his index finger against his bicep to pass the time while he awaited his eventual turn, if he did not reach the front of the line and get through into the city before the sun went down then he would have to wait all night until the next morning to get inside the towering walls. He had traveled so far to reach his destination, and now he was so close, yet so far at the same time.
He thought that the journey to Orario was going to be the hardest part of his journey, it took him thirteen days since the day he set out from his small mountain village to reach the Labyrinth City of legend. When he had first seen the Tower of Babel poking out from above the horizon, he sprinted until he reached the crest of a hill and was able to take in the full sight of the city with his own eyes for the very first time.
It was just like his grandfather had explained, the Tower of Babel was the largest singular structure that he had ever seen, far bigger than the wind and water mills that surrounded the outer edges of the village he had grown up in since his youth. The walls that surrounded the city were impressive as well, he could not begin to imagine how many hours of labour went into its construction.
When he finally reached the city, he wanted to bolt past the gates and start to experience the local sights and sounds, his grandfather's information had not led him astray so far and he still had his grandfather's journal with names of locations that he could visit.
But just trying to run into the city without going through due process would land him in either the guardhouse or expelled from Orario, and with how far he had come, there was no turning back at this point. He would seek out and accomplish his goals, to explore the dungeon and become an adventurer, and if he tried hard enough he could achieve his real dream of becoming a true hero.
But not what the villagers back home would call a hero, like when he scored a lucky hit when he threw a rock that knocked over a goblin that was chasing a young girl from the village, way back when he was younger. Instead he would become the living image of what people really thought when they thought of a hero, someone that vanquished horrifying and disgusting monsters in the dungeon, and maybe, if he was lucky, saving some damsel in distress at the same time and earning her affection.
Becoming a hero really was his own personal dream. His grandfather could ramble on about all the different types of women that he had met and tangled with when he was in Orario. To his grandfather, it was all about the women, and becoming a renowned adventurer just made it easier to pick up women on the streets or in one of the numerous bars or inns scattered around Orario.
The young boy noticed the line shambling forward again, and he took several steps forward before coming to another stop, he leaned his body over to the right and counted less than a dozen people in line ahead of him. While considering that when he had started he could not even see the front of the line he was quite content with the pace that the line was moving at for now.
To pass the time he reached his left hand into his light brown, hip-length coat that had a small black patch stitched above his chest on his right shoulder, and pulled out the small journal that was one of the few items that he had taken with him when he left the village. The journal had belonged to his grandfather and was supposed to be a gift for him once he got a little older and made his first trip to Orario on his own, but with the tragic and untimely death of his grandfather while he was out fetching food for supper in the village, he got it a little earlier.
The journal contained a wealth of information that his grandfather must have thought would be valuable, the front half of the journal had pages with places he could go to do shopping, eating and drinking and numerous other services that he may need while living in Orario. The journal also contained dozens of pages with descriptions and stats on different monsters he could find in the dungeon, the pages were done in order of floor starting at the first floor and only going down to the ninth. Meaning, either his grandfather had never gone deeper than that, which sounded unlikely based on all of the stories that the boy had heard from his pervert of an old man. Or the second, and more likely option, is that he simply never finished the journal before he died, there were a few dozen empty pages that backed up his assumption that it was left unfinished.
The second half of the journal was what really had interested the young man, it had an unknown number of chapters, as he had only read 'CHAPTER ONE' , but based on what he had read in the chapter it was a series of helpful steps that would get him used to living in the city. The first chapter was proudly titled in big bold letters 'CHAPTER ONE, NEW BEGINNINGS' , he used his right hand index finger to flip from the title page while he held the book with his left hand.
Heya Boyo! If you are reading this then that means one of two things, either you finally grew up enough to head out on your own and I gave you the boot so I can have those sweet barmaids in town over every night and be as loud as I want without having to worry about waking you up! Orrrrr I am six feet under and currently worm food. He always hated that last line, he hated the whole paragraph and the lack of decency his grandfather had even in writing, but the last line always felt like a knife reopening an old healing wound.
So, you actually made it too Orario, huh? That's great, got the boring part out of the way at least! If you manage to get past those fucking long ass lines that is… The young boy could not help but break a small smirk, he was the one person that knew better than anyone how little patience his grandfather had with certain things, waiting in lines for things was one of the worst for him when he was still alive.
But once you get past those lines and into Orario, the first thing you have to do is find yourself a Familia. Like a sweet Goddess! Or go for a God if you swing that way, I never knew for sure which gender you prefered with how you always tried to get away from the girls in town! He only ever ran away because all of the girls his age in town called him 'Bunny Boy' for his white hair and they all liked to play a game called 'Catch the Rabbit', which was just them chasing him around and trying to tackle him into the dirt.
Once you get yourself into a Familia then it should be easy sailing from there boyo, and once you get yourself into a Familia then feel free to check out the next chapter. Or don't, what am I going to do? Come back to life and force you to read the whole thing? Anyway, take your time to get accustomed to the city and enjoy yourself. No need to rush things after all, my boy, have some fun, get yourself into some trouble and get laid for once in your life! The young boy could not help but smirk slightly as he finished the last sentence and closed the journal. He had not read onto the next chapter and did not plan to until he was actually in a Familia. If his grandfather was there with him he would probably say something along the lines of 'Are you really going to let a silly piece of paper tell you what to do?' or something somehow more sarcastic or crude. But for now he was content with the knowledge that the journal had gifted him.
"Next!" the young boy heard a voice call out loud and it jolted him slightly back to the present. He closed the book and tucked it safely back into his jacket as he looked behind him for a moment and saw that he was indeed at the front of the line that stretched on for seemingly miles behind him. He took a step forward and was greeted face to face with a guard that he assumed worked for the city of Orario. He was sitting down on a wooden chair with his helmet off and resting on a rectangular wooden table in front of him, along with the helmet there was a large stack of papers on the right side of the table, and another, even larger stack of papers to the left side.
The guard pulled a singular sheet of paper from the right and dipped his feather pen into a small glass jar of ink several times before looking up at the young boy, and started speaking in a monotone voice. "Name?" he simply asked as he placed the tip of the pen at the top of the page in a header box.
"Uh, Totsuka Hideka...I can spell it for you if you—"
"It's fine, I got it, kid. Male… I am assuming?" The guard asked his second question as he filled in the header box with the young boy's first and last name.
"Y-yeah, male." Totsuka responded meekly as he reached his right hand up and scratched at the back of his head with a small weary smile.
The guard filled in another box that was slightly lower than the previous two, and looked up for a second before his gaze was shifted back down to the piece of paper. Totsuka had prepared himself for another question but the only words that he heard from the guard were mumbles under his breath. "White hair… red eyes… human… slender build.."
After several more minutes of quiet mumbling and grumbling, the guard looked up again with his feathered pen now at the bottom of the page hovering just above the final box "Business in Orario and duration of your stay?"
"I am going to join a Familia, become an adventurer and enter the dungeon!" Totsuka proudly stated as the small confident smirk returned to his face.
"Uhuh...you and thirteen other people this morning, kid. So I assume permanent stay in Orario then?" The guard asked, leaning forward and resting his right arm's elbow on the wooden table. It creaked loudly, and for a moment Totsuka thought that the table was going to break, before the squeak ceased.
"That's right, I need to pay a fee for that, right?" Totsuka asked as he reached his right hand around to the left side of his hip and untied the small coin pouch that he had attached to his belt. He had traded and sold some items that he did not need or could carry with him before he left the village, and sold all the firewood that he had stocked up for the winter as he wouldn't be there to use it, along with all food that was stored in the house he had shared with his grandfather. Earning him a decent chunk of coin to add to the small savings that his grandfather had left him and a generous gift that the villagers had put together for him before he left, totalling to just over twenty thousand Valis overall.
"Yeah, if you are just visiting the fee depends on how long you are staying for, but if you want permanent residence then that is going to cost you twelve thousand Valis."
"Twelve thousand! T-that can't be right, no that has to be wrong..." He reached in and pulled out the small journal from his pocket and flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for and turned the journal around and showed it to the guard. "See, my grandfather said that it should only cost around one thousand two hundred Valis, not twelve thousand!" Totsuka said as he tapped his finger against the line.
The guard leaned forward and skimmed the page over, before he sat back and shrugged "Sorry kid, maybe that was the price a long time ago, but ever since I have worked here it has been twelve thousand Valis flat. If you can't pay the full amount then you can enter now but you will have to pay the fee within a few weeks or you will be kicked out. You could just pay for a visit for now, or the last option, you can fuck off for now and get enough money to stay in Orario later."
Totsuka had wanted to try and argue with the guard, but the few people behind him started to sound like they were getting impatient with him. Feeling the building pressure from both the line and the guard, he caved. He reached into his pouch and counted out the correct amount of Valis and set them on the table, the guard pulled it across the table, and a second guard walked over with a small locked chest. The guard that was sitting down pulled out a key from around his neck and unlocked the small chest, adding the coins to it before closing the chest, locking it again and storing the key back into his shirt.
"Welcome to Orario. Good luck, kid." The guard said and as Totsuka opened his mouth to give his thanks the guard called out "Next!" loudly and a man bumped into his shoulder and pushed past him to stand in front of the table he had just finished having his information taken down. Totsuka started to walk away as he saw the guard add his piece of paper to the completed stack before pulling out another empty sheet for the next person in the neverending line.
Totsuka walked for a short while as he smiled to himself "I did it, grandfather… I finally made it to Orario!" He shouted loud enough for even his grandfather to hear in the heavens. A number of stall workers and citizens that were passing by gave him a few weird looks, but nothing more than a momentary glance before reassessing their daily activities.
"I guess the first thing I should do is go looking for a Familia to join… maybe look for something to eat too along the way." Totsuka said to himself under his breath as he reached into his jacket and pulled out his grandfather's journal again. On the very first page was a map of Orario. Though Totsuka assumed that the map could possibly be out of date, he hoped that a majority of the city and its important buildings that were listed on the second page were the same. He started to look over the map as he walked in a straight line down the street towards the center of Orario.
"So many Familias to choose from… and this is not even all of them I bet… guess I should start at the top and work my way down. So, Goddess Freya… Goddess Loki… Goddess Ishtar… Goddess Ishtar's name has 'fun for a one night stand' written beside it..." Totsuka did not want to waste any brain power trying to think what his grandfather had exactly meant by the writing so he just told himself that it was his old man's poor attempt at humour. There was another Goddesses name listed below them but it was crossed out several times and he could only make out that her name started with the letter 'H', but the remaining letters that made up the name were illegible. Totsuka would never claim to know every God and Goddess, there were dozens that had descended down from the heavens throughout the years. But the only Goddess he knew that started with the letter 'H' was the Goddess of marriage and family Hera, but she had been banished from Orario along with the God Zeus decades prior.
Pushing the list of Goddesses to the back of his mind he looked at the second half of the list and the few Gods that were listed at the top, "God Ganesha… God Apollo… and God Hermes…" Totsuka again questioned the meaning behind his grandfather's scribblings as 'Great drinking buddy!' was listed in brackets beside God Hermes. Totsuka just shook his head and pretended to not even notice his granddad's written ramblings.
He stopped dead in his tracks and peaked over the edge of his journal as the scent of fresh food snaked its way into his nose and made his stomach grumble. He had been surviving off of stale bread and berries for a majority of his journey to Orario, besides the occasional squirrel that he had caught with a snare while he slept and made a stew out it in the morning, so he was looking forward to a proper meal. He looked around and spotted a small stand with a bearded man standing behind it with his hands placed on his hips and every few seconds he would call out "Monster Meat Kebabs! Get your piping hot Monster Meat Kebabs here!"
Totsuka hurried over to the stand, stopping in front of the man and looked at the table where multiple sticks with chunks of meat and vegetables skewered on them were being roasted over fire on a metal grate. "Hey… can I get one of those please? They look and smell just amazing.." Totsuka said to the man as his hands instinctively started to reach towards his coin pouch.
"Sure thing kid, that will be three hundred Valis, or you can get two for five hundred instead." The man started to prepare a kebab for him while he waited for payment and a response from the white haired boy.
As much as Totsuka wanted to buy himself two, he forced himself to bite his tongue and just settle for one. He had already spent more than half of his savings just to enter Orario, and if he was not careful he would have nothing left before he knew it . He did have his emergency savings which was three thousand Valis stored inside his pair of brown boots. The coins did make walking uncomfortable at times, and they had given him several blisters and cuts over his journey. But it was better to endure some pain than getting his coin pouch stolen and then having no Valis to his name.
He pulled out three hundred from his pouch and handed it to the man with his right hand as he grabbed a kebab with his left, he didn't bother waiting before he took a bite and chewed on the juicy meat and peppers for as long as he could to savour the taste before swallowing. He thanked the man before continuing on his way deeper into Orario. He checked his map again and set his sights towards the nearest Familia of note before stashing his journal away again, and started walking with a spring to his step.