Lifa was currently fighting with a pack of big gray wolves. She was wrapped in a sort of barrier made out of wind magic and was fighting by casting wind blades like the ones she attacked Arima with. Occasionally Lifa would make a sword out of wind and counter-attack while dodging.

Soon she finished the last wolf and relaxed but then she turned her head to look at the sky. The spirits were telling her that something was approaching. She took cover behind a tree.

The further she waited the more Lifa could see what was nearing her and she widened her eyes and looked dumbfounded. She saw two beasts flying and on them were two boys and two girls and one of them was recognized by Lifa

"Layra?" Lifa p.r.o.nounced a name and got out of her cover "Princess!" The same girl spotted Lifa and shouted.

The griffins landed a minute later and the elves stood on the ground. Lifa rushed to one of the girls and hugged her.

"Layra! You're okay! What happened? And what are they?" Lifa asked the older girl and pointed at the griffins.

"Princess! We have been saved by a human before reaching a city and these are the result of his magic" She explained

"What? Who was it?" Lifa thought of something and she asked. The girl named Layra hastily explained her encounter with Arima.

"He said I asked him? Then, he must be…!" Lifa was interrupted by the appearance of a bird that flew beside them and then landed on the head of one of the griffins. It was a falcon.

Lifa pointed at the bird "Layra, is this also the act of that man?"

Layra nodded "Yes, he said he used it to find you"

"Like she said" Then someone's voice was heard and Lifa became cautious and looked around her.

The voice laughed "It's me, here"

Lifa looked at the direction of the falcon "It's you? Arimane?" she asked

"Arimane?" Layra faintly said

"Yeah, I'm talking to you through this bird, I'll make this quick. Is that the kids you asked me to save?" Arima answered

"Yes, it is, and I have to thank you for freeing them"

"That's good. It was just a coincidence. This apart, I am more surprised by your statute, you know?"

"Ah, yes, I didn't tell you. It's not really something I would tell someone I just met, please excuse me"

"No, it's nothing. I understand this. What I would want to know is why a princess like you is here trying to find kidnapped children alone, but it's not my business. I'll let you go now."

"Oh, I see, then let's meet again, I owe you, if you ever come to the Alliance you will be welcomed" Lifa said and smiled

"Sure, next time, [Dispello] (Dispel)" Arima released his magic and the griffins vanished along with the bird in beautiful black sparks.

"This kind of magic, I've never seen it. In the end, who is he?" Lifa looked attentively at the vanis.h.i.+ng beasts and couldn't help but wonder

What would she think if she knew that he learned that magic an hour after he met her?

************************************************

Arimane was right now in front of the city which was in his knowledge thanks to the G.o.d.

He was waiting his turn for entering the city, Ridia. His turn soon came. A middle-aged soldier talked to him.

"If you have papers to attest your ident.i.ty then go, if you don't, pay five silvers" Arima instantly took out five silver coins and gave them to the guard

Based on the knowledge from the G.o.d, the currency in this world is like that for reference:

10 coppers –>1 silver = 1 dollar

100 silvers –> 1 gold = 100 dollars

100 gold –>1 white silver = 10 000 dollars

100 w. silver –> 1 s.h.i.+ning gold = 1 000 000 dollars

The white silver and s.h.i.+ning golds are commonly used by n.o.bles. Almost every commoner never would see a white silver in his lifetime.

By the way, Arima possessed now, without the jewels and precious stones, 38 coppers, 376 silvers, and 20 gold and you can say it is equivalent to 2 379 dollars and 80 cents "(It seems that those bandits did some pillaging along with kidnapping, were they actually somewhat strong? Or maybe that mage used some kind of concealing magic)" Arima thought

He walked in the street while looking at his surroundings.

"(It's an old design but it's clean, the order is good too. It seems it would correspond to the medieval period but in contrast, it's peaceful and safer here. Perhaps magic in this world make it more likable and comfortable and push aside science)" He thought

The first thing Arima would like to do is register at the guild. The organization that you can see often in novels. In fact, it's just a gathering of mercenaries. All sort of people gives tasks to the guild in exchange for money. It can be hunting, killing, cleaning, gathering, and helping in anything.

The good thing is that the more a mercenary is strong or famous, the bigger his notoriety would be, so it means that more tasks will be given personally to him, and generally, good ones. Usually, they're only called mercs, there is nothing as "adventurer" or "quests". After all, this is real, it's not a novel, right? … right?

… Arima wanted to register to a.s.sure his standing in this world. It's also what the G.o.d proposed to do in his mind.

While he was walking in the streets he looked around. It was lively. But the more he looked the more Arima's expression darkened "(Why are people so good looking in this world?)" The people there, whether it is a man or a woman, they looked good. Only when he found someone more or less normal, in the thousand or so people he observed, he sighed in relief.

And so Arima, after a bit of difficulty, finally found the guild branch of this city. Around where the guild was, one could find all sorts of shops: Inn's, weapons, blacksmith's, armors, clothes…

Arima entered the guild and found himself in a hall where there were many receptions. Strangely there wasn't a lot of people, just a few persons who were calmly talking at the receptions. But Arima could hear a great number of people on the second floor.

Arima neared one of the receptions. And the woman behind greeted him with a smile.

"Welcome to the guild, for what purpose are you here?"

"I am here to register" Arima responded

"Yes, please fill this doc.u.ment" The receptionist handed a doc.u.ment and Arima

He eyed the content "(As I thought, even the words are in English, maybe a gift from the old man)"

Arima took a pen and filled the questions. The doc.u.ment comported a lot of miscellaneous questions, but the important ones were these:

Name: Arimane Blade

Age: 25

Combat techniques: Magic Swordsman

Experience in the fight: Yes

Ever killed (For possible bandits' subjugation): Yes

Arima handed back the file to the receptionist. She read it. About his age, of course, he couldn't write his real one, so he wrote an age matching more or less his actual body.

"Good, Arimane is it?" She said "Do you want to pa.s.s the rank test?" She asked

"Yeah, I'll do that" Arima accepted

"Then follow me please" The woman left the reception and headed to a door in the side of the hall. Arima followed her. When they pa.s.sed the door, they arrived into a big training area. The whole area was at least 250 square meters and the roof was high to around 5 meters.

"s.p.a.ce magic?" Arima let out unconsciously. He felt a similar impression with his storage magic and obviously, the place was too big.

"Yes, you noticed well. This room was enlarged with a s.p.a.ce magic tool created by one of the founders of the guild" She explained

"I see" He looked around and spotted a dozen people training and sparring. The receptionist called one of the men training and the latter rushed where Arima was.

"You called me, Maria?" He asked the receptionist.

"Yes, I want you to test this person." Maria pointed at Arima "His name is Arimane Blade, and Arimane, this person is Jeil, he is a B rank merc." Maria, the receptionist, presented them to each other.

"Nice to meet you" Jeil greeted

"Same" Arima responded

"Ok, then let's go, you will fight with Jeil to determine your rank. If you lose, then Jeil will decide your rank, if it's a draw then you're rank B and if you win then your rank will be either B or A, depending on your performance" Maria explained to Arima

"I understand" He followed Jeil to the center of the training area and stood 10 meters apart from each other.

"Ready?" Jeil prompted while taking out his one-handed sword.

"Yes" Arima took out Karma out of nowhere which surprised a bit Jeil.

Maria observed the two "Then ready~? Go!" She announced the beginning of the match.

Jeil kicked the ground "[Acceleration, Hardening]" In less than 2 seconds he was already 4 meters close to Arima. In contrast, Arima was still standing motionless, stance less, his sheathed katana in his left hand.

("He won't move?") Jeil wondered and when he was at 2 meters, Arima chanted a magic

"[Columna Ignis] (Fire pillar)" A big pillar of dark fire emerged from the ground, enveloping Arima and sending Jeil flying away who hit it with his sword.

"What?!" Jeil didn't take much damage but was surprised by the knockback. Arima didn't stop there.

"[Deinde – Eruptio] (Next – Eruption)" The pillar of fire divided himself into 10 fireb.a.l.l.s, static in the air. Arima flicked his fingers and the fireb.a.l.l.s flew towards Jeil.

"Seriously? [Acceleration, Hardening, second]" Jeil buffed himself and tried to destroy the fireb.a.l.l.s, he was moving extremely quickly to defend against the ten attacks at the same time, his sword left after images. In the end, he cut nine out of ten and was propelled even more into the air by the last one.

"[Propero et Lunam gradus] (Speed up and Moon step)" Arima finally moved and jumped, leaving an afterimage, two sounds like wind being generated followed. One could see the air at two specific places being distorted with a few sparks in addition. It's where Arima was stepping to advance. He just used a neutral body enhancing magic to boost his speed and lightning magic to create footholds using as a base the principle of electromagnetism. And so, Arima appeared above Jeil in mid-air, he grabbed his katana, he unsheathed it only to half and struck Jeil in the abdomen with the handle.

Jeil was sent flying, cras.h.i.+ng in the ground, dispersing dust.

"Tch" Jeil clicked his tongue and stood in a second. At that moment, Arima attacked from above and struck him with Karma. Jeil parred the strike with his sword with one of his hands on the blade "[Strengthening]!" Jeil shouted. Without losing time, Arima continued to attack Jeil with combos. The two exchanged blows for ten seconds. With sparks flying and the sound of steel clas.h.i.+ng.

Then, at some point, Arima used his scabbard to stop a strike, took his katana in a reverse grip and instantly placed his blade in front of Jeil's neck.

Jeil looked at the silver blade pressing against his throat and relaxed his body as a matter of fact.

"Games set" Arima said smiling.

"I admit defeat" Jeil said while raising his hands.

Arima chuckled and sheathed his sword. He then oddly threw the katana and it disappeared. He then looked around and remarked that the fight had attracted the people training here. Even though the match took only around 40 seconds, they still saw enough to be in awe of Arima's prowess. In truth, Arima wasn't serious. He just wanted to judge the strength of the people in this world. He didn't even use his strongest displacement magic, 'Wild spark'. If he did fight seriously, he would have won in a few seconds.

Arima walked to Maria, and then the latter woke up from her trance and forced a cough "Then I'll register you as an early A rank magic swordsman, follow me back to the hall, I'll make your member card"