With a rough idea of what she wanted to know, Furina skillfully and naturally steered the conversation, shifting from her general impressions of the Familia to the members within it, and eventually to Tiona's daily life.
She was essentially fishing for information from Tiona, hoping to gain a deeper insight into the inner workings of the Loki Familia.
Tiona, who always acted on her intuition and disliked reading between the lines or overthinking things, openly answered each of Furina's questions.
Having sensed no malice from Furina—and receiving no warning signals from her intuition—she felt perfectly comfortable speaking her mind.
After their engaging and easy-going conversation, the trio noticed an Amazon with sleek, long hair enter the Guild hall. She scanned the room before locking eyes on their group.
Although Furina and Sushang were newcomers, even with their preconceived notions, they could tell this Amazon woman was different.
Whatever other Amazons were like, she was certainly a far cry from Tiona.
"Oh? Tione! Over here!"
"Didn't you say you wanted to find some suitable quests to earn money...? Hmm? Ms. Furina?" The Amazon woman, significantly more mature in both height and physique than Tiona, looked at the white-haired girl with surprise.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Tiona." Furina offered a polite, graceful smile.
"Oh... I'm happy to see you again, too."
Her elegant manners and composed posture made her seem like the very template of a 'lady' stepping off an opera stage. Tione found herself subconsciously straightening her back, wishing to align her own demeanor with that of a 'lady.'
"I didn't expect to see you here, Ms. Furina. And this is..."
"Li Sushang! Just call me Sushang!"
The brown-haired girl's smile differed from Furina's; it was casual, hearty, and displayed a set of white teeth, looking altogether warm and straightforward. "Are you Tiona's sister? Tiona was just mentioning you to us!"
"Mentioning me...?"
Tione darted a glance at the Amazon girl on the sofa, certain that she hadn't said anything flattering.
Tiona, meanwhile, scooted over with enthusiasm to make room, smiling, "I'm trying to convince Sushang and Furina to join the Loki Familia! Loki has been pestering everyone about wanting Furina to join, hasn't she?"
That was true enough, but since when had Tione become so attentive to Loki's antics?
Tione looked at the pair opposite her once more, then let her gaze settle on Sushang's face. That explained it.
However...
"Do you plan on joining a Familia, Ms. Furina?" Tione asked, looking at her with some surprise.
"Yes. I hadn't planned on staying here long, so I never considered joining a Familia, but now..." Furina trailed off, looking as though there was some sensitive reason she couldn't disclose.
"I see."
In Orario, there were too many things that people had no control over—that was true both inside and outside the city—and there was an unspoken understanding among everyone not to pry too deeply into another person's past.
"I won't tell you that the Loki Familia is your best option; everyone has different reasons for joining a Familia. I just hope you can find one that suits you... Of course, that doesn't mean you aren't welcome here. If you do join, both Tiona and Loki would be delighted."
This Amazon woman, the elder sister, exuded an air of intellect that defied the typical Amazon stereotype.
Though her words sounded like mere pleasantries, both Sushang and Furina could sense the sincerity behind them.
"Alright, stop bothering Ms. Sushang and Ms. Furina with your chatter."
Tione turned back to Tiona, who had given up her seat, and gave her a deadpan look. "I'm here now, which means we don't exactly have time to kill, do we?"
"I wasn't slacking off!" Tiona complained. "I've already accepted a request!"
"Then let's get going immediately." Tione nodded, then waved at the two of them. "Well then, excuse us."
Both sides had made a fairly good first impression on the other, but they weren't exactly close, so they exchanged simple farewells.
Next up was heading upstairs to fill out their forms—this was the registration to obtain adventurer status.
Although they weren't in a Familia yet, they could register in advance and simply update their information later once they joined one.
Compared to the rather noisy atmosphere on the first floor, the second floor was undoubtedly much quieter, especially at the registration office.
They had expected quite a few people to be there, but in reality, there were fewer than ten people in the entire room.
After explaining their intent to register to the staff, they received standardized parchment forms. The characters on them were naturally not Teyvat script, but fortunately, the differences weren't drastic.
After a brief period of study, Furina could roughly understand the writing, though she would struggle if asked to write it herself. Or so she thought.
Upon actually holding the parchment, Furina was surprised to find that she could read the text fluently, as smoothly as her native tongue.
The staff member in the room then explained, "The parchment is imbued with a god's blessing. Even if you haven't joined a Familia, the blessing will assist you in filling out the form."
People from all over the world gathered in Orario, so languages were naturally diverse; the existence of such a blessing was quite necessary.
A god's blessing could do things like this? If one were to extrapolate, did that mean gaining a god's blessing allowed one to instantly comprehend languages they had never studied?
Though she found it surprising and magical, Furina quickly set aside her unnecessary thoughts and focused on the form. Sushang, naturally, did the same.
She had expected there to be a lot to fill out, but in reality, the content required was quite minimal: Name, Gender, Age, Place of Birth, Familia, and Adventurer Level.
There was absolutely nothing about 'Skills' or 'Magic,' nor was there any display of achievements like 'Number of Requests Completed.'
This seemed normal enough; an adventurer's status board didn't appear to be public information here. While the specific reason wasn't clear, it was likely an unspoken rule to protect the adventurers.
After quickly filling out her information, Furina looked over at Sushang, who had also finished.
The two stepped forward to hand the parchment to the staff member. The employee didn't speak immediately; they scrutinized the forms, then glanced at the two girls individually. Moments later, their 'ID photos' appeared in the blank space at the bottom of the parchment.
"Registration is complete." Only then did the staff member signal that they could leave, setting the parchment back on the table.
Furina, who had been wondering how a form like this would distinguish one person from another for the Familia, finally understood. So, it was all about the face.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL