The first thing she saw upon exiting that cursed building was a bustling city, people ushering all over the place in an Avenue. No one was minding too much the people exiting the building, and a few of those shoved Elizabeth to the side while mumbling something about country bumpkins.
For Elizabeth though? She didn’t mind it that much since she was amazed at the sights. Even though she had lived in what she had considered a normal city, this one had way more traffic. Even the downtown center of her hometown didn’t have this much traffic, and it was objectively a highly affluent city to live in since two of the twelve lived there.
Actually…Why wasn’t her hometown this busy? They didn’t even have a teleport center like this one.
“Is this a capital or something? Actually, where are we?” Wondered aloud the blonde girl.
“Nope, this feels like Britain…They have these weird aesthetics on their buildings and try to low-key shove their magic when they can…” Said her pink-haired friend while walking to her, it seemed like she was used to this…?
“Did you live around here?” Asked the blonde girl while motioning around her.
Rossie just got her smartphone and checked something on it “Not here, but I’m a Britanian citizen. So I can smell their magic. Also, our guide should be here soon enough.” Finished saying the pink-haired girl.
They had a guide?
Also, she could smell the magic?
She didn’t sense anything different, a few people were looking at them oddly enough, but at least Rossie wasn’t recoiling from their stares anymore. Did the customs officer trigger some bad memory?
Either way, the blonde girl just expanded her senses in the shadows and basked in the feelings, she could feel some kind of [Authority] coming from a few buildings that rebuffed her approach, but on the street?
That was free game it seemed, so long she didn’t actually try to affect the environment no skill impeded her exploring. So she sent a few subordinates of Nyx to roam around. And a flick of her will made sure that some would wait around this building to see if they could pin where that rude customs officer would go.
She would get her vengeance, no one messed with her Rossie and got away with it, especially if he had triggered a bad memory on her friend. So while thinking about vengeance their guide finally arrived.
“Sorry for the wait.” Said a young woman, she looked like just around 20 years old, perhaps someone that was about to graduate. “I was here half an hour ago, but got a ping about you both getting delayed by customs.” She added while showing her datapad, it showcased a note about them getting flagged for possible [Villainy].
“Yeah, the custom thought Eli-Eli was a [Villain] can you believe it?” Said Rossie while huffing, as if she wasn’t the victim of this event.
She kinda admired that “Yeah, that was weird. It was like he had a problem with us just because our ID showed we came from a powered & magical school.” Added the blonde girl.
At which, she got looks from both, her guide and also from her friend.
“What?” Asked the blonde girl confused.
“Eli-Eli…He had a problem with us for being metahumans…Not with us for being students from a powered and magical school.” Said her friend while looking somewhat confused at her.
“Oh…are you sheltered or something? From the countryside? No, the countryside is worse in its attitude towards metahumans…No wait…Are you from Avalon?” Asked the guide while mumbling about nationalities.
“Avalon? No…I’m from…” Started speaking to the blonde girl while coming to a blank, actually, what was her hometown’s name….”Hah? What is called?” Wondered the blonde girl out loud.
She never wondered about that, no one ever spoke about the outside world now that she thought about it.
They knew about the top heroes of course, same with magical girls…And they got shown news about the outside world quite often, but since their town was peaceful no one ever had something to show on the news. Father liked to play sports so their local team wasn’t able to go to the nationals, even if some teams came to play against them.
But even that, the team’s name had Father’s name on it.
“Yeah…That’s the same face they always make, your hometown is called Avalon. No one really knows where it is, since [The Stardust Explorer] made sure no one that wasn’t a local could go there. And since [The American Crusader] lives there, no big problems happen either…They would need to be mad to try and be against powered or anti-mana folks in the hometown of one of those monsters.” Added while shrugging the guide.
“So what, the people outside of…Avalon? They hate us because we have powers?” Asked the blonde girl wondering how that got like so.
“Heh…Some do, some envy, some expect us to work for them because they are ‘True Humans’” Answered Rossie while motioning around them.
She finally noticed, when someone saw the emblem on their clothes they gave a wide margin around them. So maybe Rossie was bullied by a figure of power? She did tell her at the start that she was an orphan a few years of her early life after all.
“Also, only someone from Avalon refers to metahumans as powered or magical users outside a school. Here in the real world?” Said the guide while motioning around “It only matters what type of metahuman you are in a high stake fight. But for the common folk, it doesn’t matter if you have super strength because a [Skill] gave it to you, or because you cast a [Spell]. At the end of the day, you can squish their little hatred-filled head without much problem.”
That was…A dark thought to have about the world at large…
Weren’t the [Heroes] a beacon of hope for the less fortunate?
Weren’t the [Mages] a bastion of knowledge to propel the world to a better place?
At the very least, her father was a symbol of hope, he said so to her before leaving…
“Don’t get discouraged…”Said the guide while fishing around her tablet. “Elizabeth, once you get to C-Grade you will be able to skip most of the tedious customs. Most of the haters tend to work there, trying to get metahumans into trouble.” She said while shrugging.
“And I know you will get to C-Grade quick enough Eli-Eli. And I will be right behind you!” Added her pink-haired friend while giving her one of her signature hugs, she smiled at that. At the very least it seemed that her friend wasn’t too troubled by the problem she had before.
She was still getting a full scan with her [Identify] when they got to their new home.
“Anyway, move on girls. We have to go and visit the town hall to get your ID’s for your work. Unless the custom was right…In which case you will need to register as meta-human and then go to the [Black Market] and give your respective greeting to the Bossman of the area you intend to work in.” Said the guide nonchalantly while guiding both girls to a car on the side. It was a limousine with the emblem of an eagle carrying a scroll away, the coat of arms of the Saintsworth’s conglomerate.
What?
“Aren’t you supposed to tell us to work as [Heroes]?” Asked Elizabeth wondering what was wrong with that woman.
“Or [Magical Girls], we could be magical girls too.” Added quickly Rossie, right…She got carried away because her work as powered would be as a [Villian] or at least a [Minion].
“Heh, half of the students that come here will be working in the underworld. Of those working there at least a portion are future heroes thinking they are smart in scouting the ‘Villians’. Poor kids getting a wake-up treatment.” Smirked the woman….Was she in the underworld too?
“Before you get ideas in that pretty head of you. I’m a normie.” She said while pointing to a wristband on her right hand.
“…You both will need to get one of these if you wish to use [Skills] or [Magic] in the streets without getting into trouble. The [Mana Sensors] might not be as good as those in the capital. But [The Traveler] still gets Britania good stuff from the Saintsworths Conglomerate.” Finished saying the guide.
"Why do you have one if you aren't a metahuman then?" Asked the blonde girl.
"I need it if I want to use [Artifacts] with [Skills] or [Spells] imbued in them. Like this baby." She said while pointing to one of her earrings. "This one has [Skill: Concentration] to allow me to get that extra mileage out of my workday."
For her part, Rossie just fished a bracelet from her purse and donned a silver bracelet, didn’t her father give her one of those when she was leaving for school?
She fished around her sling backpack to see if it was still around, since most of her stuff was at the school she only brought the stuff she knew wouldn’t be provided. Also a few sets of clothing and personal hygiene stuff.
“This thing?” She asked while showing an obsidian bracelet with some gold and blue decorations.
“Oh wow, never saw a premium one. Your parents must have splurged quite a bit. That will allow you to use most of your skills or magic without interruption from the local network, so long you don’t overstep into private residences. And if you end up working in the underworld…That thing will also work as a pseudo ID, so you won’t need to buy a fake one. “ Said their guide, she then looked to the one Rossie had and continued “The silver one your friend has is the normal one, so long she gets consent to use her skills or magic, she can use them in a public setting. She will need to go to the council hall to get permission to use magic in public if she wants to work as a Hero or Magical Girl.”
Then she opened a little fridge on the side to grab a drink. And after passing both girls some juices (Rossie ended with the strawberry one, while she was on the end of a mango juice) she grabbed for herself a nondescription bottle with the tag scrapped away, she recognized it as a brand beer that her father liked to drink though.
“Or if pink hair wants to work as a [Villain] or [Minion] she would need to go first to a hair salon to dye her hair to maybe red or green…Then pay for a fake ID, and pay for a new bracelet to link that fake ID. And pray to get a good employer.” The guide continued while emptying half the bottle in one drink. Was she allowed to drink while at work?
“Also, pink girl, don’t drink while in the city with the bracelet on. [The Traveler]…” The guide started to say, only to be interrupted by Rossie who finished by saying “…Doesn’t like us to drink and work at the same time. I know that motto is all over Britain, my old orphanage was in Camelot.”
That sounded like her hometown, was she from Britain then?
“Ooooh, we got a capital city girl with us….” Said the guide while passing Rossie some cupcakes. “So you both are capital city girls huh…That is one funny coincidence” Mumbled the guide while passing Elizabeth a cupcake too.
She accepted and said “So where is Avalon located?” after wich, she gave it a bite. Mango-flavored one? Were the Saintsworth lovers of mango or something?
“…” For her part, the guide didn’t say anything and just stared at her like she had grown a second head.
“Amm…Eli-Eli….Avalon is the hometown of [The American Crusader].” She said while smiling like a caring mother teaching her dumb child something obvious.
Of course, she knew that her father always was going about the good old days. And how nowadays the public was spoiled with all the new tech Tinkers made and the safety Heroes brought to the world.
Oh…OOOOOOHHHH….
“Right…[The American Crusader]…American…America?” Asked the blonde girl while wondering if she could search in her smartphone using shadow tendrils.
She didn’t like feeling like the stupid blonde girl that didn’t know anything about the world.
“The American United Federation…Not that the world uses that name…Your president doesn’t even live in the capital anymore. Not after pissing off [The American Crusader] 10 years ago…Dunno what happened then, but after that most of the residents of Avalon that came to the outside world started being like you. Not knowing about the hate metahumans suffer…” Answered the guide “Also, there is a nice library for residents of Avalon available at the town hall…I suggest you go there unless you want to keep this dumb blonde cliche you have going.”
And on that note, they kept talking about the city and where to find the best places to both eat and work. Rossie got a few cards and coupons to hair salons so she could dye her hair if she wanted to work in the underworld.
By the point they arrived at the town hall, Elizabeth was almost 100% sure their guide worked in the underworld.
She almost lamented having left more than half of her current shadow dragon count in the customs office building to tail that rude customs officer. But for now, she had more important things to worry about.Like what would be waiting for them in the Town Hall.
The first thing she saw upon exiting that cursed building was a bustling city, people ushering all over the place in an Avenue. No one was minding too much the people exiting the building, and a few of those shoved Elizabeth to the side while mumbling something about country bumpkins.
For Elizabeth though? She didn’t mind it that much since she was amazed at the sights. Even though she had lived in what she had considered a normal city, this one had way more traffic. Even the downtown center of her hometown didn’t have this much traffic, and it was objectively a highly affluent city to live in since two of the twelve lived there.
Actually…Why wasn’t her hometown this busy? They didn’t even have a teleport center like this one.
“Is this a capital or something? Actually, where are we?” Wondered aloud the blonde girl.
“Nope, this feels like Britain…They have these weird aesthetics on their buildings and try to low-key shove their magic when they can…” Said her pink-haired friend while walking to her, it seemed like she was used to this…?
“Did you live around here?” Asked the blonde girl while motioning around her.
Rossie just got her smartphone and checked something on it “Not here, but I’m a Britanian citizen. So I can smell their magic. Also, our guide should be here soon enough.” Finished saying the pink-haired girl.
They had a guide?
Also, she could smell the magic?
She didn’t sense anything different, a few people were looking at them oddly enough, but at least Rossie wasn’t recoiling from their stares anymore. Did the customs officer trigger some bad memory?
Either way, the blonde girl just expanded her senses in the shadows and basked in the feelings, she could feel some kind of [Authority] coming from a few buildings that rebuffed her approach, but on the street?
That was free game it seemed, so long she didn’t actually try to affect the environment no skill impeded her exploring. So she sent a few subordinates of Nyx to roam around. And a flick of her will made sure that some would wait around this building to see if they could pin where that rude customs officer would go.
She would get her vengeance, no one messed with her Rossie and got away with it, especially if he had triggered a bad memory on her friend. So while thinking about vengeance their guide finally arrived.
“Sorry for the wait.” Said a young woman, she looked like just around 20 years old, perhaps someone that was about to graduate. “I was here half an hour ago, but got a ping about you both getting delayed by customs.” She added while showing her datapad, it showcased a note about them getting flagged for possible [Villainy].
“Yeah, the custom thought Eli-Eli was a [Villain] can you believe it?” Said Rossie while huffing, as if she wasn’t the victim of this event.
She kinda admired that “Yeah, that was weird. It was like he had a problem with us just because our ID showed we came from a powered & magical school.” Added the blonde girl.
At which, she got looks from both, her guide and also from her friend.
“What?” Asked the blonde girl confused.
“Eli-Eli…He had a problem with us for being metahumans…Not with us for being students from a powered and magical school.” Said her friend while looking somewhat confused at her.
“Oh…are you sheltered or something? From the countryside? No, the countryside is worse in its attitude towards metahumans…No wait…Are you from Avalon?” Asked the guide while mumbling about nationalities.
“Avalon? No…I’m from…” Started speaking to the blonde girl while coming to a blank, actually, what was her hometown’s name….”Hah? What is called?” Wondered the blonde girl out loud.
She never wondered about that, no one ever spoke about the outside world now that she thought about it.
They knew about the top heroes of course, same with magical girls…And they got shown news about the outside world quite often, but since their town was peaceful no one ever had something to show on the news. Father liked to play sports so their local team wasn’t able to go to the nationals, even if some teams came to play against them.
But even that, the team’s name had Father’s name on it.
“Yeah…That’s the same face they always make, your hometown is called Avalon. No one really knows where it is, since [The Stardust Explorer] made sure no one that wasn’t a local could go there. And since [The American Crusader] lives there, no big problems happen either…They would need to be mad to try and be against powered or anti-mana folks in the hometown of one of those monsters.” Added while shrugging the guide.
“So what, the people outside of…Avalon? They hate us because we have powers?” Asked the blonde girl wondering how that got like so.
“Heh…Some do, some envy, some expect us to work for them because they are ‘True Humans’” Answered Rossie while motioning around them.
She finally noticed, when someone saw the emblem on their clothes they gave a wide margin around them. So maybe Rossie was bullied by a figure of power? She did tell her at the start that she was an orphan a few years of her early life after all.
“Also, only someone from Avalon refers to metahumans as powered or magical users outside a school. Here in the real world?” Said the guide while motioning around “It only matters what type of metahuman you are in a high stake fight. But for the common folk, it doesn’t matter if you have super strength because a [Skill] gave it to you, or because you cast a [Spell]. At the end of the day, you can squish their little hatred-filled head without much problem.”
That was…A dark thought to have about the world at large…
Weren’t the [Heroes] a beacon of hope for the less fortunate?
Weren’t the [Mages] a bastion of knowledge to propel the world to a better place?
At the very least, her father was a symbol of hope, he said so to her before leaving…
“Don’t get discouraged…”Said the guide while fishing around her tablet. “Elizabeth, once you get to C-Grade you will be able to skip most of the tedious customs. Most of the haters tend to work there, trying to get metahumans into trouble.” She said while shrugging.
“And I know you will get to C-Grade quick enough Eli-Eli. And I will be right behind you!” Added her pink-haired friend while giving her one of her signature hugs, she smiled at that. At the very least it seemed that her friend wasn’t too troubled by the problem she had before.
She was still getting a full scan with her [Identify] when they got to their new home.
“Anyway, move on girls. We have to go and visit the town hall to get your ID’s for your work. Unless the custom was right…In which case you will need to register as meta-human and then go to the [Black Market] and give your respective greeting to the Bossman of the area you intend to work in.” Said the guide nonchalantly while guiding both girls to a car on the side. It was a limousine with the emblem of an eagle carrying a scroll away, the coat of arms of the Saintsworth’s conglomerate.
What?
“Aren’t you supposed to tell us to work as [Heroes]?” Asked Elizabeth wondering what was wrong with that woman.
“Or [Magical Girls], we could be magical girls too.” Added quickly Rossie, right…She got carried away because her work as powered would be as a [Villian] or at least a [Minion].
“Heh, half of the students that come here will be working in the underworld. Of those working there at least a portion are future heroes thinking they are smart in scouting the ‘Villians’. Poor kids getting a wake-up treatment.” Smirked the woman….Was she in the underworld too?
“Before you get ideas in that pretty head of you. I’m a normie.” She said while pointing to a wristband on her right hand.
“…You both will need to get one of these if you wish to use [Skills] or [Magic] in the streets without getting into trouble. The [Mana Sensors] might not be as good as those in the capital. But [The Traveler] still gets Britania good stuff from the Saintsworths Conglomerate.” Finished saying the guide.
"Why do you have one if you aren't a metahuman then?" Asked the blonde girl.
"I need it if I want to use [Artifacts] with [Skills] or [Spells] imbued in them. Like this baby." She said while pointing to one of her earrings. "This one has [Skill: Concentration] to allow me to get that extra mileage out of my workday."
For her part, Rossie just fished a bracelet from her purse and donned a silver bracelet, didn’t her father give her one of those when she was leaving for school?
She fished around her sling backpack to see if it was still around, since most of her stuff was at the school she only brought the stuff she knew wouldn’t be provided. Also a few sets of clothing and personal hygiene stuff.
“This thing?” She asked while showing an obsidian bracelet with some gold and blue decorations.
“Oh wow, never saw a premium one. Your parents must have splurged quite a bit. That will allow you to use most of your skills or magic without interruption from the local network, so long you don’t overstep into private residences. And if you end up working in the underworld…That thing will also work as a pseudo ID, so you won’t need to buy a fake one. “ Said their guide, she then looked to the one Rossie had and continued “The silver one your friend has is the normal one, so long she gets consent to use her skills or magic, she can use them in a public setting. She will need to go to the council hall to get permission to use magic in public if she wants to work as a Hero or Magical Girl.”
Then she opened a little fridge on the side to grab a drink. And after passing both girls some juices (Rossie ended with the strawberry one, while she was on the end of a mango juice) she grabbed for herself a nondescription bottle with the tag scrapped away, she recognized it as a brand beer that her father liked to drink though.
“Or if pink hair wants to work as a [Villain] or [Minion] she would need to go first to a hair salon to dye her hair to maybe red or green…Then pay for a fake ID, and pay for a new bracelet to link that fake ID. And pray to get a good employer.” The guide continued while emptying half the bottle in one drink. Was she allowed to drink while at work?
“Also, pink girl, don’t drink while in the city with the bracelet on. [The Traveler]…” The guide started to say, only to be interrupted by Rossie who finished by saying “…Doesn’t like us to drink and work at the same time. I know that motto is all over Britain, my old orphanage was in Camelot.”
That sounded like her hometown, was she from Britain then?
“Ooooh, we got a capital city girl with us….” Said the guide while passing Rossie some cupcakes. “So you both are capital city girls huh…That is one funny coincidence” Mumbled the guide while passing Elizabeth a cupcake too.
She accepted and said “So where is Avalon located?” after wich, she gave it a bite. Mango-flavored one? Were the Saintsworth lovers of mango or something?
“…” For her part, the guide didn’t say anything and just stared at her like she had grown a second head.
“Amm…Eli-Eli….Avalon is the hometown of [The American Crusader].” She said while smiling like a caring mother teaching her dumb child something obvious.
Of course, she knew that her father always was going about the good old days. And how nowadays the public was spoiled with all the new tech Tinkers made and the safety Heroes brought to the world.
Oh…OOOOOOHHHH….
“Right…[The American Crusader]…American…America?” Asked the blonde girl while wondering if she could search in her smartphone using shadow tendrils.
She didn’t like feeling like the stupid blonde girl that didn’t know anything about the world.
“The American United Federation…Not that the world uses that name…Your president doesn’t even live in the capital anymore. Not after pissing off [The American Crusader] 10 years ago…Dunno what happened then, but after that most of the residents of Avalon that came to the outside world started being like you. Not knowing about the hate metahumans suffer…” Answered the guide “Also, there is a nice library for residents of Avalon available at the town hall…I suggest you go there unless you want to keep this dumb blonde cliche you have going.”
And on that note, they kept talking about the city and where to find the best places to both eat and work. Rossie got a few cards and coupons to hair salons so she could dye her hair if she wanted to work in the underworld.
By the point they arrived at the town hall, Elizabeth was almost 100% sure their guide worked in the underworld.
She almost lamented having left more than half of her current shadow dragon count in the customs office building to tail that rude customs officer. But for now, she had more important things to worry about.Like what would be waiting for them in the Town Hall.
