On the second floor of the Adventurers’ Guild was a place called the reference room.
We were told that any adventurer with clearance could enter and use the room.
“Oh, is this your first time here?”
“Un.”
“Please show me your adventurer card.”
Sitting at the front desk before the reference room was a small, elderly man. He was bald, with a white beard that fell down to his chest, and eyebrows long enough to cover his eyes. Add to all that his robes, and he looked like a mystical sage.
『He’s just oozing wisdom.』
“So you’re the rumored Spellsword girl.”
“Rumored?”
“Quite. There are myriad stories pertaining to you. I could tell it was you at a glance.”
The rumors must have proliferated. It was no surprise, considering Fran stuck out so much. I took solace in the fact that, based on the old man’s reaction, the rumors didn’t seem unpleasant.
『Hmm. It’s quiet.』
Well, it was difficult to imagine adventurers being the type to delve through reference books.
But there were a few people here and there. They were all either scout- or mage-type adventurers. They were probably researching their requests because they lived by the maxim, ‘brains over brawn.’ Such was the hard life of intellectuals in adventurer parties.
After looking for a while, we collected several resources on Dungeons.
『The closest Dungeon to Alessa is in Ulmuto.』
Ulmuto was a dungeon city far to the south of Alessa. Shockingly enough, the city grew prosperous and grew by trading materials and items recovered from the Dungeon. The city was in the kingdom of Cranzel, and since we didn’t have to cross the kingdom’s borders, getting there wouldn’t be that difficult.
And the other Dungeon was the one in Alessa.
We asked the old man about it, but he said entry was prohibited.
“Why’s that?”
“The Dungeon Master was slain, so only the Core remains. You are aware that with the Core, the Dungeon can be controlled to a certain extent, correct?”
“Un. I know.”
Dunadrond told us that when he was yelling at us before we started the raid on the Goblin Dungeon.
According to him, by operating the Core after the Dungeon Master is dispatched, the sp.a.w.ning of items and demonic beasts could be at least minimally controlled.
“The Alessa Dungeon only has its Core. Of course, the Core has been set up to sp.a.w.n valuable materials and the like. To put it another way, the Dungeon is being treated similarly to a gold mine. Thus, the Adventurers’ Guild is both supervising the Dungeon and keeping any intruders away.”
So that was it. The Guild was making sure the Dungeon wasn’t ruined before adventurers could use it.
I guess I’d better cross that off the list of candidates.
Then the only one left is Ulmuto——.
‘Ulmuto sounds fun. I want to go.’
『Same here. Then let’s look up more info on Ulmuto.』
‘Un.’
『What do you want to find out first?』
‘Un. What kind of tasty food is in Ulmuto.’
『Don’t you think there’re some other things we should look up?』
Like travel expenses or how to get there.
‘You’re right.’
『You understand what I mean?』
‘Also the specialties of the towns we’ll visit.’
『Ahh, of course.』
After looking up Ulmuto’s specialties and the like as Fran wanted, we looked up roads and trade stations on the way to Ulmuto.
We found that there were both land and sea routes. Which one was best?
On the land route, we would likely encounter several villages’ gourmet dishes and beautiful scenery. There would almost certainly be beautiful, fantasy-like vistas.
On the sea route, we would go on a beautiful s.h.i.+p journey. The s.h.i.+ne of the gleaming sun and the refres.h.i.+ng sea breeze. The s.h.i.+p splitting through the waves and clever dolphins playing tricks on us. Well, there weren’t likely to be dolphins in this world, but we would still likely understand the charms of travel by s.h.i.+p.
『Which do you prefer, Fran? Sea or land travel?』
‘Going by land is cheaper.’
『Well, there’s that. But have you ever ridden on a s.h.i.+p before?』
‘Once when I was a slave. I was chained up in the bottom though.’
I felt so bad for her. But to think that that was her only memory of a s.h.i.+p! No! I couldn’t let this stand!
『I-I see. Then it should be okay to enjoy going on a s.h.i.+p, right?』
‘Enjoy?’
『Of course. Traveling on a s.h.i.+p is super fun. And there should be all kinds of tasty seafood too.』
‘…Fish?’
『And shrimp and crab and sh.e.l.lfish and all kinds of food.』
‘Un. I always thought that sea was the only way to go.’
Fran wiped off the drool running down her mouth and nodded enthusiastically with a light in her eyes. So food was the reason?
And so, our destination was Ulmuto. And we decided to get there by sea.
Two hours later.
We were walking out of Alessa.
Since we finished researching Dungeons and magic, we took a herb gathering request.
We planned on looking for demonic beasts while we were out.
“Yo, you going on a request again?”
“Un.”
Durte, a gatekeeper, spoke to us. He was the person who first let us into the city. After thinking about it, we’ve gotten a lot closer to him. Well, that made sense considering Fran likely stuck out as she went in and out of the city. He was a nice person who greeted Fran with a smile several times even though she was so taciturn.
I could tell easily. At first glance, Fran was as untalkative as ever, but she spoke more fluidly with Durte than with any other gatekeeper. Proof of this was that she was more candidly with him.
“You’re as cute as ever today.”
…He doesn’t like little girls, does he?
If that’s true, then I need to rethink their relations.h.i.+p.
“Oh yeah, do you know Baron Alsando?” (tn: Originally translated to Alsand because that’s an actual name. I decided to use its original translation.)
“?”
Fran tilted her head to the side. Did she forget about him already? Well, that was no surprise since she wasn’t interested in him whatsoever.
『Him. He’s that n.o.ble who barged into the Guildmaster’s room and kept blabbering on.』
“Ahh, the weakling vice-captain?”
Durte’s eyes bulge in surprise, and he laughed after hearing what Fran said.
“Hahahaha. Yes, yes, the weakling vice-captain.”
“What about him?”
“Ahh, apparently he’s looking for you. You should be careful. Yesterday, one of his subordinates came here and asked if you pa.s.sed by.”
I see. That’s unusual.
“The guy’s a n.o.bleman, so he does as he pleases in the city. And apparently he also has a Skill that let’s him detect lies.”
“I know.”
More accurately, he used to have that Skill. Because I took it.
“I was told it’s an extremely useful skill in the n.o.bleman circles. He’s used it to find his opponents’ vulnerabilities and oust his rivals. Because people like them lie like they breathe.”
Durte-san, you sure are talkative today? We were on the same side, then. Because he was so prejudiced against the n.o.bles.
Because I thought that n.o.bles were incompetent dunces with only their family names to boast about.
“Even though that Baron started some trouble, his family covered up everything. Which went straight to his head, allowing him to do more stupid things. So he might go after you, Fran.”
Hmm. Did Fran catch his attention at the guild?
Because Fran was with Klimt when they forced him to leave.
“Okay. I’ll be careful.”
“That’d be for the best. I heard some dangerous rumors.”
“Rumors?”
“Yeah. Apparently, Baron Alsando started acting strangely a few days ago.”
“In what way?”
“He behaved poorly in court and committed some huge offense against a member of royalty. There aren’t any details, but his family was so mad that they might even have him accept the punishments to come. These symptoms got worse to the point where there’re some rumors that he was cursed or that the G.o.d of death visited him.”
Wow, you mean to say someone like him may have been stalking us? That was a scary thought.
There was even the possibility that he would attack us for purely emotional reasons. We really needed to keep on guard.
“Good luck out there.”
“Un.”