Infinity Is My Affinity?!?-Chapter 68: I... Messed Up

Ignoring the unconscious body of the orc, Nico hitched the sling of his shotgun higher on his shoulder before crossing the threshold into the interior of the Adventurer’s Guild.

But his path was immediately blocked by the same wall of muscle that sent the Orc flying.

Standing directly in front of him, looming like a guard tower, was a massive man of tanned skin and a bald head that gleamed under the mana lamps.

The flowing, intricate robes of a mage he wore, covered biceps that were thicker than Nico’s thighs.

Nico’s breath hitched in his throat, half from the recognition that hit him and half from the sheer pressure he exuded.

[It’s him,] Nico thought while keeping his face impassive. [The mage from the Southern Border... we ran into his party just after escaping the forest.]

The man’s eyes locked onto Nico instantly before shifting to the nonchalant Dragon behind him.

[Does he remember us?] Nico wondered with a heart hammering against his chest. [Or did Amaya wipe his memories along with the Southern Border Defence?]

Deciding that avoidance was the best strategy, Nico lowered his head slightly and stepped forward, trying to slip past the mountain of a man without making eye contact.

But just as he was about to pass, the man spoke with a sneer that curled his thick lips.

"So you’re supposed to be Shinkotsu’s new golden boy..."

[Good, he doesn’t remember us,] Nico thought, letting out a silent breath of relief.

"Uh-huh..." Nico grunted without even looking his way or slowing his pace, with Nom-Nom following closely behind.

And just as he thought he had left the interaction behind, Nico felt a large hand clamp down on his shoulder.

The weight alone was heavy enough to physically tilt Nico’s posture to the side.

Nom-Nom’s head snapped up instantly.

Her violet eyes locked onto the man’s wrist with a feral intensity, her jaw unhinging slightly as she prepared to bite the offending limb cleanly off his body.

"You know, it’s common courtesy to turn to the person speaking to you..." The man said in a voice that rumbled like grinding stones while he completely ignored the Greater Dragon, whose oppressive aura was now leaking out unchecked and saturating the air around them. "Especially so when that person is going to be your senior... assuming you’re here to register."

[A shakedown, huh...] Nico internally sighed.

"And why are we even speaking?" Nico asked, turning around to fully face the man while shrugging the heavy hand off his shoulder with a sharp twist of his body. "Unless the consequences of our actions cross each other’s, I see no reason we even look at each other... Unless, of course, you’re the kind of sadistic, overpowered man-child of a senior that just loves to shove his nose up his junior’s butts... tongue out and all."

The insult rang through the hall like a gunshot, and the bustle of the guild died instantly the moment Nico’s words left his mouth.

Every fork stopped halfway to a mouth. Every tankard froze on the table. Even the fire in the hearth seemed to hold its breath.

The man’s hand hovered in the air where Nico’s shoulder had been for a stunned beat more before his fingers twitched, and a thick vein began to pulse dangerously against his temple.

Heavy and suffocating mana around him began to condense, pressing down on Nico’s lungs like a physical weight.

While Nico didn’t so much as flinch. Channelling his mana, he readied the barrage of his spells, ready for the moment he moved.

Nom-Nom, too, stared at the man, ready to pounce the moment he even twitched.

But a second later, much to Nico’s surprise, the pressure vanished.

The man simply sighed before looking up at Nico with profound disappointment.

"A dressed-up lucky rat..." the man muttered, shaking his head slowly. "At the end of the day, is still just that... a rat."

And with that, he simply lowered his hand before turning his back on Nico and walking out the door, stepping over the unconscious orc without a second glance, effectively dismissing Nico as something not even worth crushing.

Nico just stood there, watching his massive retreating back in stunned silence.

[Wasn’t this supposed to be the standard adventurer tough guy shakedown?] Nico wondered, before turning back to the guild hall.

But as he looked at the room, he realized the atmosphere hadn’t returned to normal. In fact, it had curdled.

The interior was cavernous, designed with the efficiency of a bank and the layout of a tavern, but right now, it felt like a courtroom.

At the far end, the receptionists were frozen behind their wooden counters. To his right, the bar was silent. To his left, the Waiting Area, with a path leading downstairs with ’Arena’ written on top of it, was a sea of statues.

Every single adventurer in the hall had stopped what they were doing to stare at him.

Humans, Demon-Folk, Beast-folk, Dwarves, Elves. And not a single one of them looked friendly.

They weren’t looking at him with the curiosity reserved for a newcomer. They were staring at him with cold, flat rejection.

And a beat later, a whisper broke the silence, carried from a nearby table.

"Did he just... talk to the Chief like that?"

"The little shit. You know, the Chief spent all of last week fighting just to make sure my party got the pay we deserved."

"Yeah, I heard... and shit, disrespecting the Old Man on day one... That’s...."

"Don’t know about you, but the kid’s dead to us."

Nico shifted uncomfortably under the weight of the collective hostility as the realization washed over him like a bucket of ice water.

He hadn’t just insulted some bully. He had insulted the Union Head, the Biggest Brother.

[I messed up...] Nico thought, scratching the back of his head as the cold glares bored into his skin. [He wasn’t shaking me down. He was checking the new guy... and I just spat in his face in front of his entire family.]

The hostility in the room was palpable, like a physical wall of "You Are Not Welcome Here."

Deciding that standing in the middle of the room was only making it worse, Nico adjusted his Samue and forced himself to walk toward the counter marked Registration.

And so he walked the longest walk of his life.

The murmurs that followed him parted only slightly to let him pass before closing in behind him like water.

He reached the counter, expecting some sort of refuge, but when he looked up, even the young woman behind the desk wasn’t smiling.

She looked at him with eyes that were professional, polite, but utterly cold.

"Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild," she said in a voice devoid of warmth. "I assume you are here because no one’s willing to put up with you..."

[Yeah... that might as well be true now.]