Chapter 1: Orario, Here I Come!

[3rd POV]

"Ahh~ Orario, elves, and beast-eared girls, I'm finally here! Hahaha!"

A handsome young man raised his arm and shouted enthusiastically, with his eyes sparkling like stars as he looked around, ignoring the people around him who were giving him strange looks. 

He wore shiny armor decorated with gems, and a fancy sword was hanging at his waist. 

The streets were made of smooth white stone, stretching to a giant white tower that seemed to touch the sky. 

On either side of the street, shops and stalls displayed all kinds of strange and wonderful things he had never seen before.

The adventurers and demi-humans on the street wore all kinds of cool and strange equipment—swords with weird-shaped blades, armor with gaps that only covered part of their bodies, and other unique equipment. 

The demi-humans and elves looked at him disdainfully in response to his loud voice, while the human adventurers, on the other hand, gave him knowing smirks.

"Ahem…"

Feeling embarrassed under the cold stares of the elven adventurers, Kiyo scratched his flushed cheek and quickly escaped their sight.

'That was so embarrassing! I got too excited and just blurted out what I was thinking...'

He took a deep breath and patted his ornate, engraved breastplate. Then, he eagerly scanned his surroundings.

'It's not too different from what I remember, but experiencing it in real life is overwhelming, and my heart just won't stop pounding.'

He walked along the straight road leading to the Tower of Babel, flipping through his memories in his mind.

He had arrived in this world a month ago.

In his excitement, Kiyo reluctantly sold his nearly dead phone, with only 1% battery left, for 1 million valis.

Then, without hesitation, he spent 990,000 valis to buy this luxurious set of equipment from a dwarf before setting off for Orario.

"The first thing I need to do now is find a Familia to join. Only by receiving the blessings of the gods the key to unlocking my body's potential—can I truly become an adventurer."

Following the memories in his mind, Kiyo walked down West Main Street with eager anticipation. 

He wandered curiously over his surroundings as he approached the Adventurers' Guild.

As the center of the world, Orario was a huge city with eight main districts stretched outward from Babel Tower at its core, extending to the city's eight gates and dividing Orario into eight equal districts.

The Guild was located on the west main street, the area was also where most adventurers gathered and almost half of the shops there were related to adventurers.

'The blessings granted by the gods to their Familia members are all the same, so choosing a god should be based on their personality and the atmosphere of their Familia. After all, the gods in this world aren't much different from humans, and only all have different personalities.'

Kiyo wasn't sure what time period he was in. 

In fact, he wanted to join Hestia's Familia, but only if the main character hadn't joined yet.

Instead of joining the powerful Familia, Kiyo was more interested in building one from scratch.

After all, Bell's skill was quite powerful.

If Bell had already joined, Kiyo would simply give up on the idea. After all, the first member of Hestia's Familia held a special place in her heart.

Moreover, Kiyo knew he couldn't tolerate the Bell's overly selfless personality, nor could he endure how much Hestia spoiled him more than a normal familia member.

However, there weren't many choices left.

Freya's Familia, the strongest in Orario, was out of the question. The internal conflicts were far too brutal, with members even fighting each other to death just to win their goddess's favor.

In addition, Freya herself was a god who quickly lost interest—something he couldn't handle.

The Familia he liked the most was Hephaestus's Familia. They were the richest in Orario, and their goddess had a great personality without any weird fetishes.

If he joined, Kiyo might even get some second or third-class equipment for free. And even if he had to pay, it would probably only cost the price of materials.

Then there was Loki's Familia. It had the best atmosphere, was positively united, and ranked as the second strongest Familia in Orario. 

Plus, because of Loki's... preferences, most of the members were girls. He would definitely think about this one carefully.

As for the other Familias… Kiyo would only consider them if he couldn't join the one he really wanted.

As Kiyo drew closer to Babel Tower, the streets became crowded, and shops catering specifically to adventurers became even more densely packed.

A muscular, rough beast-man could be seen haggling with a shopkeeper over weapons while elegant mages browsed the shelves of an eerie-looking witch shop with strange signs.

After looking further ahead, Kiyo spotted a vast, seemingly endless white plaza where groups of adventurers gathered before heading into the dungeon's entrance beneath the towering white Babel Tower. 

The most eye-catching among them were the supporters, carrying huge backpacks filled with supplies.

He withdrew his curious gaze from the passing adventurers and lifted his head toward a huge building constructed entirely from massive white stones. 

Compared to the streets outside, this place was noticeably more crowded.

Adventurers walked in and out of the large entrance while others gathered before a public bulletin board, carefully reading the posted quests.

The flashy requests on the board were all posted by adventurers through the Guild.

There are some were looking for materials dropped by dungeon monsters, others were recruiting party members, and some were even searching for missing companions who had vanished in the dungeon's depths.

The Guild belonged to the Familia of the great god Ouranos, the first god to descend to the lower world and build Babel Tower to seal the dungeon's monsters. 

This place was deeply connected to the entire city of Orario, managing everything.

The gods of various Familias were more like Orario's nobility, each ruling over their own faction.

"I really can't tell what time period this is…"

Kiyo stared at the request board for a long time but couldn't find any clues about the information he was looking for. 

He scratched his cheek before turning toward the front desk in the main hall.

"Um..."

Just as Kiyo was about to speak, the other person spoke first.

"You've just arrived in Orario and are here to register as an adventurer, correct?"

"Huh? I haven't even said anything yet... Is this the experience of a Guild employee?" 

He looked at her in surprise.

This Guild employee was all too familiar to him.

She had short brown hair, glasses that hid her nature-like emerald green eyes, and a graceful yet sweet appearance. Her ears were shorter than an elf's, revealing her identity as a half-elf. 

She wore a black-and-white uniform, the most popular advisor among new adventurers, Eina Tulle.

Even if he hadn't recognized her at first glance, her name tag made it easy to identify her.

"It's not actually that amazing." 

The half-elf woman smiled, "It's just that most adventurers don't usually wear such… decorative light armor and swords like that."

The half-elf woman glanced him up and down with a smile.

After noticing the subtlety in her words and polite, professional smile, Kiyo suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe.

'Did she just say… 'decorative light armor'… and… 'sword'…? I got scam, didn't I?'