She extended her hand to me with a smile, “In that case, please call me Juliet!”

  “Greetings, Juliet. Please call me Victor.”

  My response was instant and as sincere as her offering.

  As I shook hands with Juliet, Alrune’s voice sounded inside my head.

  “She wants you! She just gave you a once-over with her eyes, plus her breathing got a little faster when you touched.”

  After hearing this, it was hard for me to not respond to her right then and there, I ended up ignoring her comment and trying to look as if I heard nothing.

  We sat back down after our handshake, and the first to break the silence was Juliet.

  “While we wait for your ID, I wanted to ask: what are you planning now?”

  “I wanted to go register at the bounty hunter’s guild, buy some gear, and run a quick dungeon!”

  Juliet listened to me very attentively and offered assistance right away. “My twin sister works in the bounty hunter guild; I can get you registered with the data I already have here if you want. Regarding the gear, are you looking for something specific?”

  I thought for a moment about the gear I wanted. Since I was immune to mundane weapons, I didn’t need to worry about being protected from those; in that case, the best protection for me was enchanted clothing. It was best at negating mana-based attacks thanks to its enchantments, while being light and not hindering my movement one bit. As for the weapon, I just needed anything that I would be able to fence with, preferably something light.

  “It would be lovely if you could register me. As for the gear, I was planning on getting some enchanted clothes and a light blade.”

  She nodded. “OK, I will handle that for you. Your bounty hunter ID will be with me until you come to pick it up. As for the gear you mentioned, I suggest you check out the ‘Gentlemanly Warrior’ shop in the northern part of the commoner’s district. The stuff there is a bit pricey but is of very high quality, they even have a shop also in the noble district, selling the same stuff as here. Do you want my sister as your personal handler in the bounty hunter’s guild? People there tend to be rough around the edges and unpleasant; having a personal handler may prove very beneficial since you won’t have to deal with them so much.”

  Before I could answer, Alrune’s chuckle sounded in my head, followed by her voice.

  “So eager, so willing. If she is trying to hide the fact that she wants to fuck you, she is doing a very bad job!”

  Hearing her commentary, I struggled not to chuckle, barely managing to hold it back, while Alrune continued.

  “It’s a little annoying seeing that. Not sure why!”

  Hearing the yandere vibe behind the comment, I covered my mouth with hand and whispered back.

  “Alrune, do you have any idea how possessive you sounded just now?”

  She chuckled, amused.

  "Maybe I am! But don't lecture me when I can see how much you enjoy it. Besides, I've lived for centuries, Vic—I can read people like an open book.” She became silent for a moment, as if thinking about something, then continued. “I don't have a body to take care of your needs, you might as well enjoy her... and her sister too. Watching a threesome through your eyes sounds like a fine way for me to enjoy myself a little."

  I struggled to stay composed. Taking a deep breath, I hissed under my breath, "Nobody is fucking anybody! I'm just handling registrations, Alrune!"

  As I finished whispering, I heard two things. First was a response from Alrune.

  “So that’s the part you are challenging me on! Interesting!” Followed by gentle giggle.

  Then, from outside of my head, another melodic giggle that made me remember I am not alone. This one came from Juliet, who was looking at me with a beautiful smile, speaking.

  “So, mythical tethers really talk?”

  Remembering the conversation I just had with Alrune, I awkwardly chuckled. “Yep! They come complete with attitude and everything!”

  She giggled again. “Must be nice!”

  “What?”

  “To have somebody to talk to anytime you want. To never be truly alone! I sometimes talk to my tether, but it being only rare makes it a kinda one-sided conversation. It must be nice to have somebody who can see all aspects of you, someone you can talk to anytime.”

  “That sounded deep, nice, and very sad! The girl must have lived through some serious shit!” sounded in my head, but before I could react, Juliet spoke further after shaking her head.

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  “Sorry, this got dark out of nowhere. Never mind me, what were we talking about? Ah, I remember now. Do you want my sister as your personal handler?”

  “Sure!” My shock from what Alrune and Juliet just said was still there.

  “Perfect, I will let her know. Do you have a communication tablet?”

  “Not yet. I was planning to get one”

  She smiled. “In that case, here is one for free, with my contact already pre-saved. We can give them out to our personal customers. Once everything is handled in the bounty hunter’s guild, I will add my sister’s contact to it for you. Do you know which dungeon you want to start with?”

  “Not really. Any suggestions as to which one is the best?”

  She thought for a moment, pulled out a map of the city, and started pointing to the spots on the map as she spoke. “Depends. If you want just something quick and easy, I suggest the Goblin Cavern. If you want something rewarding, both experience-wise and loot-wise, and don’t mind it taking a long time per run, I suggest the Cursed Swamp. If you want a dungeon with decent rewards that can be run relatively quickly, then it is the Overrun Catacombs.”

  As I started to weigh the pros and cons of each option Alrune chimed in.

  “I would prefer not to go to a swamp! I don’t like swamps!”

  Her statement made me chuckle a bit, Juliet noticed and was about to ask when I spoke.

  “Since my almighty tether dislikes swamps, we will be going to the catacombs!”

  Juliet giggled sweetly and nodded. “Good!” No longer needing to ask about my chuckle.

  As she spoke, an assistant brought in my ID card. Juliet grabbed it, had a good look at it, and handed it to me.

  “Here is your ID card. You are an E-rank for now. To advance to rank D, you need to reach level 25 tether and clear at least fifty basic dungeons! In case you are going to need something, just contact me with a communication tablet. Every time you enter a dungeon and want to leave the safe room, you have to press the ID against the control stone next to the blocked door—you will know it when you see it. And every time you complete a dungeon, you need to press it against the control stone next to the exit portal so that your status updates here in the guild. Understood?”

  It was exactly like that in the novel, but I still wondered how it worked. It was never explained in the book. The author even refused to comment on it in interviews.

  “How does that even work? Why are there control stones in the dungeons?”

  Juliet just shrugged. “Honestly, no clue! It has always been like that!”

  Disappointed by the answer, I just sighed and nodded; there was no point in asking any further. After that, we said our goodbyes for now. Juliet wished me good luck, and I left the guild, heading straight for the Gentlemanly Warrior shop. Finding it was easy, mostly thanks to the giant banner placed on top of the tall building.

  As I entered the establishment, a female employee walked up to me right away, greeting me.

  “Welcome to the Gentlemanly Warrior. What can we do for you?”

  “I would like to buy a few sets of enchanted clothing and a nice blade on the lighter side.”

  The woman nodded and pointed me towards the left side of the shop.

  “Let’s go that way. We should have exactly what you are looking for there.”

  She led me to the side of the shop filled with men’s fashion. After thorough deliberation, I decided to go with a black button-up shirt, a dark burgundy vest, a black tailcoat with dark burgundy inner seams and small details, black pants with dark burgundy details, and nice lace-up ankle-high shoes, accompanied by a dark burgundy ascot and gloves. All were enchanted and very protective against all mana-related attacks. Enjoying the outfit thoroughly, I decided to buy three sets of it. I didn’t even have to worry about sizes since, thanks to its enchantments, it adapted to my body exactly the moment I put it on.

  With my clothes ready, I turned to the shop employee. “Now that we have the clothing out of the way, let’s check out the weapons.”

  She nodded and pointed to the back of the shop. “Please follow me.”

  She led me into a separate room filled with all kinds of fencing swords. You could find everything here, from estocs and rapiers to small swords and sabers—pretty much anything you can imagine a gentleman carrying through the city. Originally, I just wanted to grab something I would be able to use, but seeing the selection, I knew I could use anything here.

  Seeing me looking around the blades, unable to pick one, the woman spoke, “Can I help you in any way?”

  “Sure, you can. I am not sure what weapon would be the most suitable for me!”

  She nodded. “Which weapons are you proficient with?”

  “All of them. On top of that I can use longswords and greatswords.”

  She froze for a while, then shook her head and continued. “I understand. In that case, what combat style do you prefer? Are you more of a strength type—mostly enhancing your body via skills and delivering devastating blows? Or more of a technique kind of fencer—using enhancements on your blade, making it into a highly destructive tool, and wielding it with technique and speed?”

  This question made me pause for a moment; this required some serious thought. One thing was certain: I wanted to use both, body and blade enhancements, but there were two ways to do body enhancement. The first focused on strength and toughness, making you into a juggernaut shrugging off blows; this was more popular in the world since it offers a very sizable passive defense boost and allows you to punch a bear to death with bare hands. The second is enhancement focusing on speed, prioritizing your reflexes, processing power, and senses over physical durability. This one is less popular due to the fact that its boost to defense comes in the form of an increased ability to parry attacks, not in the ability to just take them. Strength enhancement users normally didn't rely that much on blade enhancement skills. Most of them just used magic swords and called it a day, saving mana. While with speed enhancement, you pretty much had to use the sword enhancement skill.

  Upon reflecting on the matter as a whole, strength enhancement was rather lackluster for me. Since my Heavenly Body already did what increased toughness would do, and more. A dedicated sword enhancement skill with increased speed was much more effective offensively than strength enhancement could ever be.

  “The second one. Speed and technique with a dedicated sword enhancement!”

  The woman nodded and walked up to the weapon stand, grabbing several smaller blades. She spread them on the table in the middle of the room, speaking.

  “You can go with any one of these, and if none of them suits you, we can go check the cane swords!”

  “Cane swords?” I became curious.

  “Cane swords are sexy!” Alrune’s voice sounded in my head, making me chuckle once more.

  “Yes, a cane sword. Basically a cane that has a blade hidden inside. They are made to maximize the blade enhancement effectiveness and look very stylish. You can even enhance the ‘scabbard’ and use it as a parrying tool. A very flexible weapon!”

  “Please lead the way!”