We visited many places, but mostly we stuck around Mazino.
While we were moving around, I had to wear a mask so no one could recognize me walking with this guy. Ren seemed pretty concerned to be walking with someone wearing a mask. After a while, he asked me about it, but I told him that it's pretty normal.
We visited most of the stuff in here, like Hod's restaurant where we ordered a barbeque meal. He felt nostalgic from tasting the barbeque sauce, but he told me it was quite off.
That's the closest I can get without mustard. Give me a break.
I told him about my line of work, which is an adventurer, and he got interested immediately.
"So you kill monsters and get paid?? Damn, that's really cool."
"Cool and all, but these things can actually kill you."
"Right. But it's still cool."
"Damn right."
After eating, we decided to register him as an adventurer. Keila was confused as to why the masked man was walking around in the kingdom, but she ignored her thoughts and registered Ren.
"Look at that! I'm an adventurer!"
He said while flaunting his ID card at me. The sides of the card are still black, because he has not gone through a test yet to become Red ranked.
The name says Ben, though. He really doesn't want to be called Ren at all, even though the difference is only a single damn letter.
"Hey. You still had a long way to go."
I showed him my card where it has the Blue sides as the color. He read the contents while being slightly amazed.
I told him everything about the adventurers as we headed towards the arena. The ranks, the missions, systems, and the relation of one adventurer with another. He understood everything easily because these things are more or less similar to what they show in movies, and he is pretty crazy about them.
"And how can I use magic?"
He suddenly asked, and I got taken by surprise.
"… Let's save that for later. First, you have to beat that guy."
We entered the arena belonging to the Office, and I pointed towards the guy in the middle.
Jrake is no longer the test taker in the arena since he retired and went to his village to live with Klane. So, the Office found another big postured adventurer to do Jrake's work, and that big postured adventurer is currently watching over some adventurers training at the arena.
After looking at him for ten flat seconds, Ren quickly turned to me.
"... He is big."
"Yeah? Well, trust me. The previous tester is even scarier."
I began walking forward, and Ren followed right after. It doesn't seem like he is too afraid, since he probably knows that he also has abnormal abilities inside his body.
He just needs to awaken that ability somehow. It doesn't have to be magic, nor does it need to be flashy. He just needs to use it.
The two of us approached the tester in the middle who is training the low ranking adventurers. He noticed our approach, and he also began turning our way.
"Are you the tester?"
I asked him, and he placed his hands on his hips.
"Yes. You boys need something?"
"Well, this guy just started as an adventurer. I heard you're the guy for that kind of stuff."
"Oh, a newbie, huh? What about you?"
The guy then turned to me, as if he was very curious.
Why is he asking me?
"I'm already ranked. No need to worry."
"What rank are you?"
Since when do they ask these questions? Oh dear. What am I going to answer…
I gave up and took out my second identity card, and I lifted it up for him to see. He kneeled a little since he was so tall, and he tried to read the card in my hand.
First, he read the name.
Second, he read the other contents.
Third, he spotted the white silver edges.
Finally, he panicked.
"W-White ranked Masked Devil!??"
He shouted all of a sudden, which did take the attention of the entire arena.
Great.
"This guy is my friend. So please take care of him."
I tapped the shoulder belonging to my dear confused best friend from another world, and he became even more confused.
"So you're a hot shot around here?"
He said to me, but I simply lifted my shoulders. I turned around and left the two of them, and I leaned my back on the wall below the spectators seat. Noticing that I left, the two awkwardly turned to each other and began studying each other's appearances.
"From your clothes… are you a fisherman? How the hell did you get here?"
"Well, let's say I traveled far…"
The tester addressed the elephant in the room, and Ren could only look away as he answered.
But the tester minded none of that anymore and turned away.
"Grab a sword from the rack."
"A-A sword?"
He pointed at the weapons rack on the side, and Ren quickly got worried.
'What if I somehow hurt this guy…'
That thought was written all over his face.
He walked towards the rack and grabbed a sword. He didn't realize it was pretty heavy, but he had trained his muscles with the fishing poles. Pulling in giant fishes is pretty much a daily life for him.
He lifted the sword high with both of his hands, and he tried swinging them around.
"Ho? Interesting."
The tester must have noticed it. The fact that Ren can swing a sword that easily, it's as if he has a talent or some sort.
Truthfully, I don't even know whether or not it's talent.
Because nobody can find a talent until it reveals itself.
The two of them glared at each other while holding their own swords. Unlike Jrake, this tester used a regular sized sword, so his combat style should be faster than a certain bald guy.
A body that big, but he isn't a tanker or heavy swordsman? His style might be quite unique.
"So, I will be scoring you. You just have to attack me continuously while I try countering and defending. How good you are at the fight will determine your passing score."
"O-Okay…"
"… And I have my expectations high since you are friends with that guy."
The tester said while gazing slightly at me, which confuses Ren.
"I see. What's so great about him anyways?"
The tester quickly exited his stance.
"My god, kid, do you even know who the Masked Devil is?"
"N-No, not exactly…"
"Oh… then let's just get on with it!"
How long are they going to talk about me…?
The tester put on a stance again, and this time he nodded at Ren, telling him to begin.
And so, Ren dashed forward.
The way he ran with the sword already seemed natural, and he quickly got close.
He slashed the sword front, only to get it knocked upwards by the tester.
The big guy was able to read Ren's movements perfectly, since it was so predictable. Of course, Ren noticed this.
Ren clinched his teeth and moved the sword again, but the tester is still better than him.
The two clashed pretty intensely at each other, but the tester isn't doing any attacks except for some counters. He is purposely defending all the attacks that are coming from Ren, and sometimes throws in a counter or two just to spice things up.
The other adventurers who were training in the arena stopped whatever they were doing and watched the two battles.
Seeing how quick and agile Ren is moving with the sword, everyone is definitely surprised.
"Woah… Is he really a newbie?"
"And his clothes, is he really a fisherman?"
Yeah… I am also pretty amazed myself.
This guy watched movies and played games. Certainly he had imagined himself playing with swords while doing those things. And as a result, he might have imagined doing a lot of those techniques he saw in movies.
And even after this long in this world, he was still able to remember those stuff. He might be better than me in sword arts in the future.
Ren noticed that all of his attacks had been blocked gracefully, so he began trying something different. He slashed horizontally, but the tester ducked. The tester then kicked Ren's foot, and his upper body fell forward at high speed.
By the time Ren looked up, the tip of a blade was already in front of his face.
"You are good! As expected!"
The tester moved his hand to help Ren up, and Ren took it awkwardly. The two shook hands while talking about Ren's plus and minus. Ren was very shocked to know that he is actually not bad at swords, even though this is his first time.
He told the tester that it was all because of the fishing pole, and everyone who heard laughed.
As anyone would say, talent will someday reveal itself.
The tester then wrote something on a piece of paper and he gave it to Ren. Ren returned the borrowed sword to him and left to greet me.
I walked to him, and he showed me the approval paper.
"I did it! That was fun!"
He said with a grin, and I chuckled.
It's always fun. Always.
"Indeed it was... Let's go."
"This place… is an arena, right?"
Ren turned around and glanced at the entire arena. He studied from the spectators seat, and even the middle arena.
"Yeah, and?"
"If I can, I want to keep on fighting. It's so much fun."
He said while being overly excited. I simply grinned.
I guess everyone from our world are just battle addicts.