FAKKU Writers' Lounge

Taking a deep breath, I had decided to calm myself. I looked around all over the place. The stalls, the crowds, everything... except for the shrine itself. I steadily walked over the shrine, my eyes locked in the figure. It's as if she was a diamond in the sand among the girls, the jewel shining amongst everything, and the light from the lanterns which laid themselves over her golden blond hair complimented her lustrous presence. I walked towards her in awe; my jaws dropped open for God knows how long ago. It felt like an eternity as I had marched up to her in daze. She felt an unknown being's presence and turned to face me, after which, we viewed each other in our entirety.

A thick scent of aromatic cappuccino fills up the lounge where I'm sitting out, this guildhouse has a really nice interior just like in these modern coffee shops. Walls coated with light-brownish-tone of maple wood, with various decorations like medieval-styled paintings, sculpted animal heads, various gun models, I don't know if they were just models or an actual gun. On some of these models I could see the famous Mauser and Remington shotguns, in addition of the renowned Desert Eagle and Dragunov Sniper.

"I guess the owner is not too fond of auto or semi-auto weapons eh?" scanning the walls around me with my eyes, I took a brief glance towards Estrella who's sitting on the sofa across me, separated by a hardwood table with artistic wooden carving atop of it.

"There's the AK models right on another corner of this building, particularly grandpa's room. What owner are you talking about anyway? This guild is owned by my family to say the least." reaching out elegantly to the table, she took out the cup of coffee along with its tray, slowly bringing up the cup closer to her mouth. Before taking in the first sip, she inhaled the strong smell of Arabica beans with a faint seasoning of Almond cream and sweet, skimmed milk.

I know this taste since I've ordered this flavor before, Cafe' Au Lait. With the 1:1 ratio between the coffee and milk, differing from my bitter-but-extravagant tasting single shot espresso, no cream, nor sugar whether its brown, white, or corn-based. Meanwhile, I already downed my share of coffee while she's still enjoying her own, still half-filled to this point. She must be quite a connoisseur when it comes to enjoying her treat.

"Ah I see. The coffee here is great, I love tasting many different kinds other than Cafe' Latte. On the last one I came to I ordered that one, man it's too sweet! They didn't understand about not putting more than one tablepsoon of sugar did they? Ha! What a trauma...I swore I'm lucky not to get diabetes from it..."

"Hahahaha...you seem to be quite enthusiastic while talking about coffee, Kirk."

"You bet I am, it's been a routine for me to visit each one of these places during my adventure, oh boy it offers such a relaxing time."

Xxx


So different from way back

"YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING SON, GET UP AND WORK, YOU LAZY PIG!"

Maybe I'm not their real son after all, and they all just seem to diss me because I'm stupid, but I have to strongly disagree with them about the lazy part. I've worked ten times as hard compared to my older brothers who just seem to dawdle around, and yet what did I get? When that point goes across, I soon lost my cool about a year ago, starting to take a closer look on whatever guns I can find.

Someday I might use them to murder my own family, all of them. They're just ridiculously evil bastards who deserved their places in rotten graves. Thanks to all of your slave-driving that I've grown big and strong, to the point it brought me to the point of pity about rising my fist to beat down their withered fat asses. Never had I tasted a single slice of meat other than the day before I left with Carla, no I didn't ate the meat at all.

Only the delicious Potato Soup, that's probably the only reason I kept staying here and work as long as I couldn't go on by my own. Even if vegetable dishes the only thing I ate, and they're mostly untouched leftovers...they did taste great. Due to this nutritious meals I've grown healthy and vigorous enough for adventuring...should I actually thank them or diss them towards the end after all?

Probably neither of those.

When did the first time I ever ate a slice of meat? Possibly at the first town I stopped with Carla, on one of the restaurants here.

It was a meat dumpling. Truly delicious, though I still prefer the vegetables over that.

Xxx


Speaking of meats, a scent of grilled steaks came in wafting from somewhere, followed by two pairs of footsteps coming inside the building. One of them was loud with a vigorous feel in it, and the other was quite serene. Estrella quickly downed her cup of coffee in one go, grinning mischievously at me for the reason I didn't know, there she goes to welcoming two men standing in the doorway near the guest lounge.

"Good afternoon lady, we're currently having some barbecue on the front yards. Feel free to join in will ya." sounds of heavy armor rustling echoes throughout the building as this person came closer to her.

"I'm not hungry, perhaps our new guest would like to join you?"

A big man with black, spiky hair wearing a silver armor plating and thick leather pants came into clear view. With a piercing glance he looks back and forth between me and Estrella "So this is the new guy Lucian's talkin'..." he said again, putting his palm on the chin while doing so, scrutinizing me from head to toe. "Doesn't look too shabby he is...eh, nice too meet you sir Kirk.."

"Err...nice too meet you too...uh..I pass, I'm kind of vegetarian myself."

"...though it seems you might need some guidance, feel free to consult me whenever I'm available, ha!" kind of ignoring what I said earlier, he continues on his previous sentence and quickly goes back outside.

Taking a look at his normal ear, I could assume that he's human just like Estrella.

While I'm a bit distracted from noticing the other man who walked in, I finally had the chance to take a closer look at the other person while the big armored man walks away.

"He might not look like it, but he's actually shy towards strangers...not to mention, a bit delicate. By the way his name's Leon." with a somewhat soft, composed voice, an elf about the same as my height came into view. He wore a simplistic explorer's outfit with those jacket containing lots of pockets. His shoulder-length blond hair kind of reminds me of someone...

"Ah, pleasure to meet you, my name's Kirk."

It looks like I'm able to hold a decent conversation with this man, he seem to emit a friendly aura.

"Kirk, this is Elrond and he's an expert about exploration and adventuring in general. You could probably learn a lot of things from him."

"That's an overstatement, Stella. And even if gramps said to do so, it's all up to him whether he'll take the guidance or not."

"G-gladly sir! I'll take what it gets to become a better adventurer." hurriedly cutting up their conversation, I find myself being driven towards this awkward moment. It all happens so fast.

"Save the lengthy chatter for later on. Okay my name's Elrond and let's go outside the city again...we're in a dire need to unleash your potentials as an adventurer, there's no time left to spare. Ask no more questions, the answer will came up to you in time."

Xxx


We went towards the forest where I came from. The same clearing where I first ended up, though for some reason...there's something amiss within this place.

"And now, let's begin the basic tutorial." said Elrond with a calm tone

This isn't going to be that easy, so I thought.

Unlocking my potentials as an adventurer? I don't think that there's anything special I had, but let's just wait and see what happens.