Arthur deliberated about meeting Rain for a while before deciding against it.
'It isn't in my favor to reveal my cards this early. At the very least I cannot meet him in the real world. It is best I meet him in game.' Arthur concluded.
~Sigh~
"Things are really amping up huh…" Arthur shook his head and decided to just relax till it was time to login.
He simply ordered some food for dinner and watched a movie to pass time.
>Detected user Arthur Grey!Inspect Skill has failed!<
"Huh? It failed?" The player couldn't believe his eye.
"Wait, doesn't that only happen if the target is over 10 levels above us?" they felt confused.
"Yeah… there's no way he's a player then. He'd have to be at least level 20 or something."
"Pfft!~ haha! Sure, why don't you also tell me he's also the first one to arrive here dayyyyys in advance." They joked.
"He doesn't look like a guard though, their armors are different. His is way too 'fiery'." They wondered.
"Probably just an NPC adventurer." Someone suggested.
"Huh? There are other adventurers than players?" a player was surprised.
"Did you even read the basics dude? Of course, there are NPC adventurers too." His friend chided.
"Yeah, other than guards and other common NPCs, there are adventurer NPCs too. Did you not register at the Adventurers guild yet?"
"Nah man, I just got here an hour ago. And I barely have 30 minutes left to log out. So I was just rushing to get my class first." The player explained himself.
"Makes sense then. You should definitely register, they'll give you a run down of how things work there." The more 'senior' players informed the newbie. "You'll see the other NPC adventurers having good armor too. Heck some of them have really cool weapons. I saw one with a giant sword that was literally two meters tall!"
Arthur who watched all this happen was rather surprised, though it was all hidden due to his helmet that covered his face.
'Well, well… seems like I have another advantage I didn't think about before…' Arthur thought to himself. 'Even without using the Veil of Thousand Skins, as long as my level is 10 levels above most players, they won't be able to tell I'm a player like them… at least not until they obtain a stronger Appraisal skill or a player function that tells them about me.'
It was a good thing for Arthur as he didn't wish to get hounded by players. It could also expose his identity as Grey Watcher as players would be able to connect the most 'experienced guide maker to the person with significantly better armor than them.
'Another reason for me to stay higher leveled than them at all times. So far only Val knows about me, so I should talk to her about this too.' Arthur reckoned. "Oh wait, is she Online yet?" he opened up the friend list.
~Ding~
Friends: 1. Player Val [Offline]
"Guess she hasn't logged in yet…" Arthur muttered before continuing towards the guard captain's office.
He looked at the residents of the town and saw that most of them seemed to still be a bit anxious, but the atmosphere was relatively calm. At the very least, it didn't seem like they were worried about getting attacked anytime soon.
Even the guards were patrolling normally and didn't seem to be aggressively checking everything like they had in Arthur's past life.
'When players arrived in the town at first, they were heavily scrutinized by the guards all the time. It was kinda hard for them to get used to it. But since the invasion by the bandits didn't happen and the town was protected, it seems like they won't be going through that.' Arthur concluded seeing the changes.
He didn't know how it would affect the players, but he could guess that they wouldn't be facing as much antagonism from the guards. They were suspicious of everyone in Arthur's last life, understandably so due to the invasion of the bandits.
To them, the players who had suddenly arrived and were growing strong fast were obviously strange.
'Looks like Caleb will be having a busy time for sure.' Arthur chuckled thinking of all the nosy players crowding the guild.
Players by nature were curious and would often ask weird and crazy questions. Some would even try crazy things without thinking about the consequences.
This made Arthur think of something suddenly.
"I wonder who'll be the first player to become vilified?" Arthur thought. "It isn't exactly hard to do that, and pretty sure someone will attempt to do that, thinking it'll give them some secret quest or something." He muttered to himself just as he stepped into the guard building.
simply had things to rush because of Captain leaving." The staff Things had calmed down a little bit in the building though the staff still seemed to be busy for the most part.
"You guys okay?" Arthur peeked into the room.
"Ah, Arzhur! You're back." The staff seemed rather relieved seeing him.
"Yes, I have bounties to submit," Arthur replied.
"Of course, we're sorry we couldn't accommodate you earlier. We simply had things to rush because of Captain leaving." The staff clarified.
"It is fine, I talked to the captain too. It was understandable." Arthur didn't mind.
"Please come, I'll get you sorted out." The staff member placed the register on the table, gesturing Arthur.
"Can you show me the proofs?" The staff member asked.
"Sure," Arthur said before taking out the two bounty proofs.