"Let's go quickly and register ourselves."
Liu Yang grabbed her hand tight and pulled her with him.
He pushed the door with his free hand, it creaked open, and he dragged her inside.
His chest bounced up and down with every step, soft boobs jumping like it had its own mind, but he ignored it and stomped straight in.
The guild was big. Really big. The air inside felt hollow, like sound would echo if anyone talked, as it was empty.
The floor was made of flat stone, and the middle was just open space, wide like it was made to hold the crowd of adventures.
At the very end of the hall placed a long wooden desk. It was polished brown. That was the receptionist's desk. Behind the desk, there were stairs going up, curling to the second floor.
On the right side of the desk, a gate were opened, showing another room leading inside. Maybe more rooms there, maybe offices, maybe storage. Who knows from outside.
On the left wall, near the entrance, there was a huge board, nailed into the wall. Sheets of paper pinned all over it, some ripped at the edges, some new. Those were quests posted on the quest wall.
But the place was empty. No adventurers. No chatter. No clinking mugs. Just silence. A giant hall with no one inside.
He walked straight to the long desk. Empty. No one there. Not even a shadow.
His eyes dropped on the small bell sitting on top.
He stretched his finger and pressed it.
Ding.
He pressed again.
Ding.
His lips twitched. He slapped the bell harder.
Ding, ding, ding, ding!
He leaned on the desk, his face flat, and started hammering the bell.
DING DING DING DING DING!
The sound kept bouncing in the big hall. It was loud, too loud, like when someone keeps pressing the doorbell of your house again and again.
"Hello? Anybody?" he muttered, his finger still slapping the bell.
He kept hitting it like the bell would suddenly grow legs and bring someone out.
"For god's sake, quit poundin' that bloody bell!" a woman's voice snapped from behind. "I'm comin', ya loud sod! Wolf's hour ain't exactly rush hour, ya know!"
The back door slammed open.
She walked out.
A woman. Not too young, not too old, her face had that sharp look of someone who had seen fights.
Blond hair tied back, but loose strands flowing by her cheeks. A scar cut across her face, thin like a wolf's claw.
Her chest was big, her white top clung tight, showing even the lines of her abs.
Her trousers were black and tight, stretched over her thighs and her buttocks, showing the full round curve of it with every step she took.
Her eyes were black and cold.
"Well then," she said, her words rolling smooth but sharp like a whip, "which one of you decided to play the bloody town crier with my bell?"
Liu Yang blinked at her, his mouth half-open.
"Who… who are you?" he asked, voice still shaking from her sudden entrance.
The woman's lips curled into the faintest smirk. Her black eyes narrowed, and her chin lifted like she was above the whole world.
She smirked faint, eyes narrowing, chin tilted like she owned the whole world.
"Rowena Ashvale. Guild secretary. Keeper of idiots. And if ya hit that bell again, I'll plant it up your arse so deep you'll be dingin' when ya fart."
Her finger brushed across the scar on her cheek, her trousers pulling tight across her thighs as she shifted her weight, her eyes were looking directly at him.
Liu Yang's brain froze. His lips parted.
"…eh?"
Then his thoughts exploded.
"Oi—oi, what the hell did she just say? Did she just say she'd stuff the bell up me arse so I'll be dingin' when I fart—wait, why the fuck am I thinking in her accent now?!"
He slapped his own forehead.
"No no no. Stop it. I'm not a drunk sailor. I don't even say arse—I say ass! A-S-S! Normal accent. NORMAL."
His eyes twitched, but his brain kept slipping.
"Bloody hell, this woman's got me infected. One minute I'm Liu Yang, respectable demon man trapped in skirt cosplay… next minute I'm 'oi oi govnah, ding-dong arsebell, innit?'"
The second he opened his mouth, no apology came out, no greeting, nothing polite.
"I want to register as an adventurer," he blurted, his words tumbling out fast, his chest heaving, sweat still sticking his hair to his forehead.
Inside his head his voice was screaming.
"No time, no talking, no flirting with this lady, I just need the guild card! Before my boobs vanish, before my horns pop out, before my skirt poofs away!"
His eyes rolled up, his fingers twitching as he tried to count.
"Wait… it was twenty minutes… then two minutes forty-seven seconds to the gate… then running here… how much left? Ten? Nine? No, wait, maybe seven?!"
His whole body shook like he was trying to do math on a battlefield.
"Dammit! Whatever it is, it's not enough! Just hurry, hurry, hurry!"
His chest slammed on the counter, his face close to Rowena, sweat dripping off his chin.
"I want to register as an adventurer!"
Rowena arched a brow, slow and unimpressed.
"Yeah? No shit. I heard ya the first time, love. What d'ya think, I'm deaf?"
Then she bent down behind the desk, looking for something.
As she bent, her tight trousers pulled across her butt, the curve showing clear. A bit of white waistband peeked out, even a flash of pink panty stretching out.
Any other time his eyes would've popped, his nose bleeding like some pervert. But right now? Nothing. He forced his eyes straight ahead.
"Please… hurry… please hurry…" he begged like chanting some prayer
Rowena's head popped up from under the desk, one brow cocked high.
"My, my… bit pushy, ain't ya? You'd think you was the bloody Queen marchin' in 'ere at wolf's hour."
Her voice cut sharp, every word carrying that sting of someone who'd heard it all before.
She folded her arms under her chest, leaning back on the desk like she owned it.
"Ya wanna register, yeah? Fine. But you'll bleedin' wait till I dig up the forms. Paperwork don't just fall out the air, love."
Liu Yang's fists shook. His eyes rolled back at the ceiling, his whole head screaming inside.
"Bloody? Love? What the hell, woman—I don't have bloody time! My boobs are on countdown! Tick tock tick tock!"