IDAAFPA) Entering The City (unedited) (Patreon)

Hime spent the time in line chatting with Tilbert and petting Toto. She found out the old man had quite a big family, which all ran his other trading houses. Only when big events happened did he leave the main trading house and help out at the other locations. Hime wondered what would happen when he passed away if his family would end up fighting over his assets, but she did not dare dig too deep. It was not her problem after all.

After a few hours of waiting in line and lengthy inspections of the wagons before her, Hime finally came face to face with the guard on duty. “Name.”

“Hime.” 

“Reason for visiting?”

“I came to join the hunter’s guild.” Hime replied. She never thought she would be asked why she was coming here, but since there was a hunter’s guild, there was no reason not to join it. Tilbert told her that if she had a hunter’s ID, she would not be inspected when going in and out of any town. The ID itself would act as a kind of personal identification and passport.

Hearing this, the guard nodded and gave Hime a small crystal token. “Since you are registering at the guild, please give this to the hunter’s guild upon registration. They will send it back. It is to make sure you are not lying to enter the city. This is common practice.” The guard paused before continuing. “Do not think I am being racist. If you were just visiting the city, I would charge you two silver and give you a three-day pass stamp on your hand, which we can track. This crystal is a kind of free pass. Since you are here to register with the guild, we do not charge an entry fee, but registration but be completed. If you fail your entry test to the guild, you will need to come back here to receive a stamp and pay two silver or leave town.”

Hime nodded at the guard’s explanation. She never thought he was being racist in the slightest. He did not have that look in his eye that those who disliked her kind would have, like the man from before. She could feel the hate oozing off him even if he was drunk. “Understood… But… Doesn’t not giving me a stamp make it easy for me to fail my test and still roam the city after, untracked? ”

The guard’s eyes widen before he let out a laugh. “You do make a good point, but once a crystal has been issued, a guard will be posted at the guild, and the guild staff will alert them if said person has failed their test before they even leave the testing room.”

“Ah! You guys really do have everything covered, then. Glad to hear it. While not everyone in the city might not be perfect, this method does protect the citizens of the city.” She had only brought it up in case some kind of loophole in their system had gone unnoticed, but now it seemed things were fine. 

“Yes, we do try. Like, say you took the token and did not go to the guild within a few hours to take your test. We would put out an arrest warrant for you until you did go to the guild. And we only hand those tokens out before noon time. Otherwise, you would be forced to get a stamp and pay two silver. So you are quite lucky to get one since it is still an hour before noon.” The guard explained further. 

“Well, thank you-nya!” Hime smiled brightly, causing the guard, who was still young, to blush.

“Haha! Hime, don’t tease the young man too much. He will think you like him.” Tilbert could see the idea popping up in the young guard’s mind. He was a man, so he knew if a girl was too over-friendly that some guys might get the wrong idea.

“Hmmm?” Hime turned to Tilbert, slightly confused, but Tilbert only shook his head at her. Still feeling confused, Hime waved at Tilibert to say goodbye. “Tilbert, I will visit your trading house in a few days. I will see you then.”

“Take care. If you go look for an Inn after you finish up at the guild, I would suggest the Old Sandy Inn. They got bathes and good food. And some of the best security around. Mention my name, and the old woman will give you a discount.” Tilbert waved back at Hime and watched the young cat girl run off into he city. The guard also watched her run off with a bit of longing in his eyes. “Don’t even think about it. Look how old you are, and look how old she is.”

“Old Tilbert, you are really running my day!” The guard whined. But only got a laugh in return. With a sigh, the guard looked up at Tilbert and said: “Besides, are you sure it was wise to send her to that thing? To this day, I still haven’t been able to figure out if that is a man or a woman.”

“Hahaha! Old Bertta is one of a kind, but you have to admit a cute young girl like Hime will be well protected there.” Old Bertta in question was one of the few oddities of South Falls City, which can be said on the list of places you do not want to mess around in. If you angered Old Bertta, the gates of hell will open, and you will be skinned and burned alive.

“Ah… This is true. No one dares to do anything at that inn or its guests. Just knowing she stays there is enough to keep her safe within the city.”