Inside the Guild—
Syla stood at the quest board, her figure looked small compared to the muscular adventurers that was also standing beside her, even though her height was almost 170cm, when facing a barbarian of an adventurer who stood at more than 200cm, Syla was more like a child than an adult.
'Let's see.. Herb Gathering.. Herb Gathering.. Goblin Extermination.. Direwolf Extermination.. Potion Delivery.. Carriage Escort... Orc Extermination.. Orc Extermination.. Orc again... Orc.. Orc.. It's mostly Orc Extermination, what the hell..' Syla thought, surprised by the obviously abundant amount of orc slaying quests.
'It's just like that man said..' Syla remembered when she overheard the conversation between an adventurer's group, it seems like they were right, orcs has been disrupting the nearby villages more than before.
'You know what, i'll take one of these orc quest.. And i'll also search if there's truly a dungeon of them near Beakwood..' Syla said to herself as she ripped one of the orc quest from the quest board and walked towards the receptionist for confirmation.
.
.
"You want to do this quest?" The receptionist said.
"Yes." Syla replied immediately without hesitation.
"Can i see your adventurer's plate?" The receptionist seems to be suspicious with Syla, since she was wearing a cloak and hid her face, the receptionist had to confirm it before she accepted the quest.
"Here it is." Syla responded before showing the receptionist her gold plate on her necklace.
"Huh!? A gold plate?!.. A- Ahh, sorry for my rudeness miss! Of course, i'll accept your quest.. Please wait a moment." The receptionist suddenly changed her attitude as soon as Syla showed her the gold plate.
She then took out a quill pen and wrote 'Accepted' at one of corner in the paper, after that she gave the quest paper to Syla again.
"Then, you'll have to bring 5 orc noses as your proof of completion, have a safe journey." The receptionist said with a smile as she closed her eyes.
"...Thank you." Syla then left the receptionist and put the quest paper inside her satchel, where it got crushed by all of her other things.
Her satchel was almost full because of all the gold coins that was given by Marrick, the Direwell's mayor, not to mention the lunch box that Syla used to eat when travelling.
When Syla was about to leave the guild and walk towards the town's gate, she was suddenly stopped by an adventurer.
"Yo, are you a lone wolf?" He said with a smug on his face.
"Who are you?" Syla asked calmly, startled by the unexpected approach.
"Ohh? you're a girl? I didn't expect that.. That's my question too, i've seen you a couple times, but you never revealed your face, i get that some adventurers prefer anonymity, but im too curious you know— Ah, by the way im also a solo adventurer, looks like you took one of the orc extermination quest.. I did too, so how about we go together? The more the easier right?" The man said.
"..I can handle it myself, no need." Syla replied, her voice turned cold as if her interest had disappeared.
She moved her leg forward and was about to pass the man infront of her when his hand appeared infront of her, blocking her way out.
"Now now, why don't you think about it again, orcs can be troublesome if they're in group you know." He said as he tried to change Syla's mind.
"I said i can handle it myself, now if you could move your hand out of the way, that'd be appreciated." Syla said sternly, her face slowly becoming more infuriated.
The man fell into silence, but he never let go of his cheeky face, then as if he was done playing, he smiled and reached towards Syla's hood.
"Acting all that tough even though you're just a fucking monster." He said before forcefully pulling the hood on Syla's head, revealing her appearance to everyone inside the guild.
'DAMNIT!' Syla screamed inside her mind.
If she attacked the man infront of her right at that moment, she would be framed by everyone, and she could be chased out of town, but if she didn't do anything, then everyone would still know that she was a demihuman, and from what Syla had gathered for the past few days, people in Beakwood isn't as tolerant as those in Direwell when it comes to other races than human.
Syla decided to just stay still in the end, she made the choice exactly as her hood was pulled by the man, when her face was shown, everyone's eyes were instantly hooked by her beauty, the guild for the first time almost went into complete silence, and Syla was put into the center of attention.
"A demihuman?!" One of the adventurer said.
"Hey.. That girl's a demihuman.."
"What the hell is she doing in here.."
"Are demihumans usually always beautiful like that?.."
"That ears kind of creeped me out.."
"I didn't expect this town to be infiltrated by someone like her.."
Whisper and mockery kept coming from across the guild hall, and Syla couldn't do anything about it except ignoring it, she saw how even the receptionist got surprised by her appearance, and it was clear that her presence was ultimately does not belong there.
"Hah, look at you." The man infront of Syla suddenly said, his face looked happy. "No one wants to have you in here, you should've just be obedient to your parents and stayed in the woods."
"..." Syla stayed quiet, even though her pupils were shrinking, and her fist was being clenched, she held her rage. She didn't retaliate, only a long sigh came out of her mouth as Syla put on her hood again and walked out of the guild.
"If i could, i would kill you on the spot, worthless piece of shit, monster that shouldn't even be considered people, it's laughable how you could have that pretty face and yet be inhuman." The man whispered before clicking his tongue and watched Syla left, he didn't preach further, but his face does have some disappointment in it.
As Syla was walking out of the guild, she felt a few gazes that was being directed at her, it seems like some people saw her from the outside, and they looked cautious when she walked pass them.
'...Every place has its own people and culture, but it seems like– Beakwood isn't going to be in one of my favorite place to visit again in the future." Syla thought quietly.
The gazes soon disappeared when Syla was far enough from the guild, those who didn't saw her face won't know about it, and thus they could only ignore her, all of the passerby that Syla saw looked kind, but underneath all of that faces, Syla knew that there would be many that'd change as soon as they knew about her appearance.
Although Syla knew that every person has their own reason for acting that way, she still couldn't escape from the feeling of her chest tightening. It was the first time Syla got rejected by everyone around her and no matter if she was a reincarnated or not, the thought of no one wanting her hurts more than she could've expect.
Syla arrived at the town's gate soon after and after showing her adventurer's plate to the guard, she was then allowed to go out and proceeded with her quest.
The vast grasslands and the edge of a forest in the distance couldn't form a smile on Syla's face, not after everything that happened earlier. Syla who usually was thrilled to see the scenery of the world, now didn't feel anything, she traversed across the dirt road and watched as a couple slimes appeared beside her.
"...What am i doing." Syla said to herself. "I should forget about it."