"Halt! You're about to enter the Luminous Kingdom's Capital…" One of the many guards stopped us. "You… seem like a rather… colorful group. A lot of filthy Demi-humans… But you're Players, so I guess it's fine, hmph… Well, you'll need to pay to enter anyways. I assume you're not registered yet."
"Who are you calling a filthy demi-human, you shit for brains?!" Rita was about to beat the man senseless, until she realized the NPC-protecting barrier activated around him.
"Rita, calm down, we can't hurt NPC, remember?" I sighed. "Sorry about that… She's quite wild sometimes. And I am rather sorry that you see us as filthy beings, I'll make sure to prove you all wrong." I smiled back at the guard. "How much is it to enter?"
"Hmph, don't get too ahead of yourself, you tree woman." The guard muttered. "But to enter… It is a hundred gold per head!" He smiled rather deviously, thinking we couldn't afford that much.
"Oh? That's cheap." Titan said. "Here." He threw thousands of coins into the man's face.
The soldier was about to let loose, but stopped as Mark glared down at him, his body being over three meters tall, covered on flames and many animal-like heads carved on his wood, his head in specific resembled a menacing phoenix-shaped helmet, with a skull below it.
"What?" Mark asked. "I paid for everyone, let us in… Or do you want to hurt me? You know that if you dare do so, the barrier that the gods use to protect you will disappear. So let's get along, little guy."
"T-Tch… You may pass…" The guard sighed in frustration, as we walked in.
The other guards were glaring at us with similar faces. It seemed that the rumors of this Kingdom being against non-humans was really true. I thought it was just some ancient law that they had long ago forgotten about, because I first heard about it from Titania.
But it looks like they have not changed at all through this entire time! Huh, just in what basis do they discriminate against other races to this extent? It just doesn't make much sense when the entire world of Arcadia is populated by them…
"Sorry about that, we should had stepped first to explain that you came with us…" Angelina walked to my side. "They let us in without problems. As long as you've got one of these cards."
She showed us a golden card she brought out of her inventory, which showed her name, some registration numbers, the letter A- and big words saying, "Paladin Guild".
"Oh, so you don't have to pay as long as you're part of some guild?" Wondered Lily. "That's convenient! I should join the Shaman guild…"
"Yeah, more or less." Angelina nodded. "Though, still sorry about this…"
"It's fine." I smiled. "We wouldn't had gotten this far without growing to have patience against mean people, right?"
"Yeah." Mark nodded. "It was alright, though, I am still wondering why they are so… racist. Don't tell me they are just humans all over this Kingdom, when there are so many other races out there?"
"Well, the majority are humans, the second most largest group are half-elves and half-dwarves, and the smallest group is every other race that might be living here." Said Angelina. "And about their hate… Well, it's complicated."
"They didn't seem too bothered over Angelina though, because she's an Archangel and they're considered a sacred race of people they pray to." Anikitty said with a mean look at Angelina. "But yeah, this place's got its history… I'm not saying they're justified though, but there's a reason behind their hate, to an extent."
"Well, it is related mostly with history." Said Gandalf. "From what we've gathered, the Luminous Kingdom had fought in several wars in the past, most of them against invasive or barbaric demi-human tribes that once dominated the grasslands. Some that come to mind were the Lowland Orcs, the Swamp Lizardmen, or the Stonemen."
"Well, the reason why you don't see these tribes around anymore is… I guess it should be self-explanatory, nya…" Anikitty sighed. "Though we've discovered the survivors moved farther away, until the Luminous Kingdom couldn't chase them anymore. Well, they started the wars though, but still…"
"I never have heard of these things happening before…" Brisingra finally decided to speak after being silent for a while. Perhaps she felt overwhelmed by all the new people she hadn't meet before. "My Kingdom being wary of humans might have also originated from this… Though our ancient hero was a human our King adopted. A lot of our people are half-dwarf descendants."
"Of course you haven't Princess, it's history these people don't want to reveal." Laughed Gandalf. "There's a whole Kingdoms Alliance across the Continent of Verdant named the Verdant Union. The Luminous Kingdom is one of the core Kingdoms of this Union, offering all sorts of resources to other Kingdoms in exchange for their unique ones.
Because of this position, they prefer not to reveal their turbulent past to the masses, but at the same time, the racism they developed over these wars still exists even nowadays."
"It's amazing how complex this game is. It is really just a whole virtual reality, the AI is incredibly complex, to the point where it is just the same as humans." Angelina smiled. "It's fascinating, isn't it?"
"Y-Yeah…" I nodded, laughing a bit, as I glanced back at my friends.
"What is she talking about? Of course we're real…" Brisingra raised an eyebrow.
"Don't mind her." I shrugged. "Anyways, Brisingra, are you okay with just pretending to be a commoner? Maybe they could had treated you better if you revealed your identity…"
"And then get targeted by thugs or some evil plot this Kingdom might be brewing? No thanks." Brisingra sighed. "I better just pretend to be another Adventurer. It is kind of a nice change of pace, actually! Would you mind if I registered in the Adventurer Guild?"
"Oh, of course not." I giggled. "How about we go there first before going to any other guilds?" I asked everyone.
"Sure, let's do it." Mark nodded.
"Alright!" Lily was excited.
"I'm all for it bestie." Rita smiled.
"Then let's become official Adventurers!" I commanded my colorful group, as Angelina guided us across the streets, the many people around us glanced with eyes filled with surprise.