Kyuuketsu Hime wa Barairo no Yume o Miru

Episode 5 The Adventurers

The emu, its legs’ length is already just beyond 1.7 meter in the adulthood. A huge bird that lightly exceeds 3m to the tip of the head, fully covered in feathers.

Emu aren’t able to fly, instead it’s able to run at a very high speed, also given that the bird eats in repulsive way, it doesn’t hesitate to eat any weed around.

Even the price is way cheap compared to a horse or a land dragon, something that’s absolutely necessary for the likes of Joey, who is a poor adventurer.

However it has many weaknesses. To begin with, first, Emus can carry a payload nowhere near a horse, not even to the degree of a donkey.

Also, it doesn’t have a really smart brain so it can’t take any complex command.

The most fatal one, since it has a strangely bad-temperament, it doesn’t act very nice except toward its tamer companion.

That’s why the emu was tied, and in the moment when the bird was caught in sight,

“Heeeー, is that an emu?! It looks like chocobo, so cuteー”

Without time to stop, the fully-smiled Hiyuki approached the bird in a half run. Joey became flurried towards her defenseless appearance.

“W-WAIT! That bird has a very bad temperament――”

Before he finishes his warning, as expected, the alerted emu is bending one of its leg, and seems like it’s going to kick her into the air ―At that moment, Hiyuki and the emu meet each other eyes.

Just then, the emu make a surprise expression that was never made, the bird instantly undo its alerted stance, and on contrary, dip its head into the ground surface in a completely submissive stance.

“…Eh? Eh? Why…?”

While Joey looks confused behind, Hiyuki is touching the Emu’s feather. And then as she brus.h.i.+ng the bird gently,

“Uwaaah~, this child is so cute~. Something like this exists, eh. I want to bring home 5-6 of these”

Hiyuki expresses her though free of care.

O, oh well its fine I guess, it doesn’t turn out as a serious problem…

Joey sighed in relief as he let it off, he proceed to untie the reins that tied it to the tree,

“Yos.h.i.+ yos.h.i.+, you not going to be hurt, good child”

While gently patting the emu’s lower chin, Joey gets on the saddle and puts both of his feet into the stirrup, he fixes the bird’s body properly.

“So Hiyuki, get on behind me. Originally, it was a single seat saddle so it’s narrow, but since you are tiny, it will be fine”

“You don’t have to say tiny”

While pouting a bit, Hiyuki sits in a princess ride behind Joey back with her feet collected together.

…I, I see, skirt huh.

While his heart’s throbbing hard because of such gesture, he gives an advice to her.

“It’s good if you put your hands tightly onto my back so you won’t fall down”

“O, okay…”

Being told so, Hiyuki glued her slender body into Joey back.

Just as she did, the girl’s particular fragrance that smells like the flower, like sugar, and especially her unknown lovely smell, a mysterious smell like the sensation of the night, and also the pair of her soft lips―The feeling could be understood clearly than that of imagination, as the elastic sensation hits the Joey’s back, his whole body becomes hot, and together with his manly urges that seem to erupt, he shakes his head in panic.

“”I, its bad――!””

Joey unintentionally murmurs his voice out loud.

“Hmm? Did you say something?”

Turning her head to take a glimpse for a moment, Hiyuki saw the side of Joey’s neck, he turned down his face in embarra.s.sment.

“I, it’s nothing. ――I was just thinking its bad that there were no food anywhere here”

“Oh what… if you hungry I have some kind of dried meat you know? Besides, when we arrive to the town of Arra, there’s going to be a lot of food either at the food stall or in the restaurant or anywhere. Could you hold it?”

“W, well, I am fine. More or less, I have some sort of emergency food…but, if possible I don’t want easily put my hand into it, since I don’t know about the situations that would come”

“Oh, so it’s that matter. Surely eating it now would be a dilemma against using it for a real emergency. Then please endure it since there’s a lot of delicious food at the town!”

“Yeah, I am enduring”

Making haste at once, he pulls the reins to make the bird stand up, but for some reason the bird won’t do as he wants. That moment, the emu directed its gaze toward Hiyuki like asking for her instruction, Hiyuki also gets it and nodded lightly, thereupon the bird began to follow Joey instruction and stands up.

“What’s going on with this fellow? What a great bird. It’s better to follow a girl whom he just met than its master huh?”

As Joey mutters his complaint of this situation, Hiyuki laughs and brush gently the emu’s feathers.

“Ahahaha, it will be my honor. But, disobeying Joey is not good you know”

Hearing her, the emu just squawked in agreement.

The free city of Arra, prospered by its important location in the intersection of main road, the city’s also in the vicinity of the ancient ruin (dungeon) and the great sea, then accompanied by the White Dragon mountain range behind the city where high quality metals were collected. Therefore, it was a great mecca for merchants, craftsmen, and youngsters that come from the countryside to make a name or archive their ambition.

Naturally, the adventurer’s guild also responded the scale, they built a 3 floor building made of stone that surpa.s.sed any building in this city, even someone who didn’t want to see it when walking on the main street, they will notice its majestic appearance.

The amount of registered adventurers are no less than 20K people, from the bottom which is the G rank, who are still apprentices, up to the A rank in the top, who can even fight a dragon alone.

Among those guild members, it’s normal to see each of them having a rowdy personality, a cranky one, and even those with a failure of personality. But, on the evening this day, an unknown girl made an intrusion leaded by an F rank greenhorn, a really out of place one, and then her partner left her and caught the attention of someone eye..

“Hey hey, Joey-kun, which princess is her?! How come you kidnap her! Or don’t tell me, you were eloping!?”

The girl in question is sitting on the guild’s cheap sofa while swaying her feet, a really beautiful girl drawing attention from the surrounding.

Furthermore that clothing, it’s something that’s never been seen before, something which needed a plentiful of amount of money, time and effort to spend, even non-experts would know that it’s such a gem.

To all appearances, her charm is that of a princess from some country, who’s currently going out traveling incognito.

Normally, wild enthusiasm were crowded at the 1st floor guild information desk and even payment tellers, just today, the staff members with the adventurers who happened to be present held their breath together, watching every single movement of the girl.

Among them, the main culprit who brought the attention to her is Joey’s acquaintance, the girl staff at the teller ―Mia, from the cat race tribe who turned 20 years old this year, she is pressing on Joey in such att.i.tude by leaning out from the counter.

Usually, when a youngster was just simply starting to talk with a beautiful senior like Mia, they will blush, can’t calm down while looking around restlessly, and talks rapidly when taking a request info or reporting it (even Mia was aware of such Joey’s innocent boy att.i.tude so she use this for her own convenience at an occasional time), but in the case of Joey now, even this time she brings her face so close that they’re about to fully meet, he just made unamused face and sighs.

“…That can’t be true of course, she’s merely my client, to escort her and guide her around, the person herself who said that she wanted to see the guild so I brought her along, but is there a problem Mia-san?”

“Eh, no, nothing of that sort…”

Different from the usual one, Joey’s blunt att.i.tude gives her a bit of shock, again, she send a gaze towards the girl, this is where Mia replied with complicated girl feeling.

Seeing that Mia has calmed down, Joey begins to talk about the request.

“By the way, concerning about the wild dog subjugation request, I wonder if the time period is still safe”

“Ooh, that request” Mia nodded, with her expression changing into business mode. “From the 5 days time limit there are still 2 days left. What, you can’t find it yet?”

“No, I was able to pretty much find and fight it, but you see, it wasn’t one dog but there was two. Possibly they were a pair. I was barely done for so I think I would do over the preparation”

“Hmmmm, so it’s a pair. Then I will contact the client again try to ask for higher reward and extend the time period”

“I see, I am saved….”

“But Joey-kun, to say it bluntly, one, or even two wild dogs is not really a matter for a full-fledged adventurer. ―Isn’t this subjugation request too early after all? Or perhaps shouldn’t you bring in someone into a group?

Toward Joey who made a relieved sigh, Mia advises him like an older sister who’s scolding her little brother.

“…But, if someone with F rank like me joins in, isn’t it just prolonging my burden?

“Even if it prolongs your burden, it’s still important to gain experience”

Mia was warns him further, but Joey seems to not quite agree with her.

It was certain that in the world, since the beginning, there was a person who became well known since a young age or an adventurer who gained a splendid achievement. But, each of these people is what they call ‘a genius’.

Compared to that, no matter how it looked, the boy’s ability is just average.

There is no choice for him but to become a full-fledged by putting a long time effort.

That’s why, if he wasn’t giving in his way soon, sooner or later he will have to resign his life as adventurer, or even lose his life…

While working in the guild for not very long, Mia has already seen a lot of these young people, she sighed in gloomy mood.

“―By the way, Mia-san. I wonder if I could use this?”

So, to change the atmosphere that was about to darken, Joey lined up some coins above the counter from his pocket while saying in a carefree tone.

“….I never seen these coin design”

Before long she tries to check the weight by taking out one of the gold coins.

It isn’t a fake object judging from the weight…Far from that, it feels heavier than the continent common pein gold coin that was made by mixing silver with gold.

(―By some chance, it’s made from pure gold?!)

Then another coin, it’s 2 times bigger than the gold one, at first Mia thought it was a silver coin when she picked it up, then it s.h.i.+ned brilliantly in a rainbow color as it’s reflecting the light from candle, making her about to raise a scream, in panic she caught her breath.

(Th, this is…do, don’t tell me, its orihalc.u.m―?!)

She returns the coin to its original by pressing down her trembling hand, quickly Mia entrusts a message to the staff behind the counter, halfway while waiting for the reply she gives Joey a question.

“Hey, Joey-kun. Where did you obtain these coins?”

“Aah, that girl handed it over for the request reward back then”

While Joey gets nervous from the unusual serious gaze from Mia’s menacing att.i.tude, he pointed towards the girl who’s cheerfully viewing the request board where all sorts of request memos were written there.

The person concerned seems bothered by the dust in the room, once a while she pats her shoulders and knees.

“―Hmm, as I thought”

There, the staff who was entrusted by the message back then has come back with a change of expression, that person whispered something to Mia.

“Joey-kun, sorry but, since you would hear some various considerations, could you go to the guild leader room together with her?”

In such words, of course the boy wouldn’t think that as a trivial matter, his face went blue very fast.

“W, what happen? Perhaps this was stolen goods or something?”

“Nothing that sort of. It just that you had to know some considerations that’s hard to understand”

“……”

Before one knows, the girl had come to the counter and replied, relieving Joey’s hesitation.

“I don’t really mind it, you see? Besides, I want to do some confirmation so it’s kind of a fortune that I will see the guild leader room”

In her words, Joey also nodded resolving himself.

“I see, that’s nice. Since the guild leader room is on the 3rd floor I will guide you. This way please―”

After Mia said so they were following Mia into the staircase, still, Hiyuki is patting the side of her shoulder.

“Say, about what you are doing just now, is this place dusty?”

From the question from Joey who followed behind, Hiyuki smiles provocatively and replied like dodging something.

“Nah, I felt there was a spider thread just a little while ago… Well, even if it wasn’t about the coin I think it’s time to attend their invitation”

(End of Ep 5)

TL Notes