"I am Lorobel Loran. What about you?"
With politeness that I did not at all expect from an adventurer belonging to the rumored reserve army of rowdy criminals, the woman next to me introduces herself.
Her age is probably in the twenties. She has a medium build, and is taller than me.
Her intelligent yet willful green eyes and blond hair cut short at her forehead is what makes her distinctive. Even though she is wearing normal clothes with not a single visible weapon on her, she really is giving off the smell of a strong person.
Among all the adventurers currently present in the Adventurer"s Guild, I think she"s at least a head above them all. That is what my instinct is telling me. The instinct that was honed from the experience of facing off against countless numbers of prey and demon beasts.
"I am Eil."
"Eil, huh. You"re not from this city, are you?"
"Sorry, private information."
I don"t want to talk about myself.
The more people know about me, the higher the chance I get involved in something troublesome. To be honest, I"m not even sure that I should have given my real name. But Lorobel gave hers, so I had no choice.
"You sure are wary despite being so young."
Cus otherwise I would never make it as a hunter.
"I"ll be here for only a few more days. So pay me no mind."
I don"t intend on staying in the royal capital for long, and neither do I intend on making any new friends. The moment I finish all my business, I"m going straight back to the village.
I have no aim that requires me to be in the royal capital.
Though Shishou"s "search for your potential" is still somewhere in my head……
But in the end, everything that I want to do, I can do in the village. Such as practicing with my new bow, or doing what a hunter does.
There"s not a single thing that requires me to be in the royal capital to do.
Above everything else, there are just too many people in the royal capital. It doesn"t suit me.
"Hmm…… though, well, I can guess the gist of it."
"Which is?"
"Ceremony of Determination. Right?"
Oh boy. To deduce the reason why I"m in the capital based on just that little bit of information.
Kids who"ve been brought to the capital from some village in the countryside. On orders of the king.
Surely Lorobel has seen enough kids in the same situation as me to be able to immediately guess that it"s the same for me.
"Are there actually a lot? People like me, I mean."
"To be honest, not really. Those who possess a Talent worthy enough to be summoned to the castle are actually quite rare."
Which means they"re rare, but not entirely unseen.
"So then, about those gla.s.ses of yours."
"Can I make it my remuneration?"
"What? Remuneration?"
"Answer my question first. Then I"ll answer yours."
As a hunter, there"s no way I"ll easily give other people information about myself.
Even Shishou taught me what he taught me because I"m his apprentice. It"s not like he would teach his techniques to any random person pa.s.sing by.
I don"t really want to talk, but I suppose I can bear with it if I think of it as an exchange of information.
"I see, so you"re making it a bargaining chip. Alright, if it"s something that I can answer, then I will."
Good, I"ve acquired an information source.
Seeing how strong Lorobel is, her history as an adventurer is surely quite long. At the very least, there"s no way she"s someone who"s just stepped into the guild for the first time today or yesterday.
In that case, chances are high that she knows something about Horun, who started here two years ago.
Let"s get right to it.
"I"m looking for an adventurer named Horun. Do you know her?"
"Horun? You mean——"
Then shocking words come out of Lorobel"s mouth.
"——the Saintess of Demon Exorcism?"
"No, not that one."
My sister is not made for a t.i.tle as sublime as "Saintess."
A t.i.tle that alludes to matting or straw or untanned beast leather suits her way better.
Something more uncouth, more rough, more violent…… that makes you conflicted whether it is edible or not…… whose whole selling point is "wildness"…… is the only way that I can describe what she is.
"So it"s not? Someone else named Horun aside from the Saintess of Demon Exorcism…… no one comes to mind."
Hmm, is that so.
"Incidentally, the Horun that I"m looking for probably has a face similar to mine."
Two years ago, Horun and I still looked pretty similar.
To the point where no one could doubt that we are siblings, that we are connected by blood.
To be honest, every time someone said that about us, I got a bit offended. It didn"t make me happy at all.
Now that two years have pa.s.sed, I may not know what"s happened to her, but I can"t imagine her having abruptly turned into someone entirely different.
"Ahh, so that"s what it was."
Lorobel nods as if something"s come to mind.
"When I first laid eyes on you, I was thinking that you look like someone I know, but couldn"t remember who it was. Yes, you look very much like Horun the Saintess of Demon Exorcism. The hairstyle is different, but the face is really similar. Now that I"m thinking about it, the color of your hair and eyes is also the same."
"But the Horun that I"m looking for is not that one, you see."
I don"t want to acknowledge it.
My sister is no Saintess.
Now, if there is a poor girl who caused a ton of problems at the Adventurer"s Guild and got banned from the premises, that would definitely be Horun. That"s just the kind of person my sister is.
"No, hold on. Going by the flow of the conversation so far, it"s pretty much a confirmed fact that the person you are searching for is Horun the Saintess, right?"
I don"t want to acknowledge it.
I don"t want to acknowledge it, but……
After that, I bring up several more detailed specifications.
It seems that contrary to what I would like to think, chances are high that this Saintess of Demon Exorcism is indeed my sister.
"To sum things up."
I don"t want to acknowledge it and neither do I want to sum up the conversation, but I suppose even I can"t hold onto the conviction that it"s the wrong person anymore, not when so many details are a match.
"I find it extremely hard to believe, like, really super ultra hard to believe, but it seems that Horun has became an adventurer in the royal capital known as a Saintess.
She then became the youngest member to join the adventurer"s team Black Swan of Dawn that"s made up of ten-odd Three Star adventurers.
She then immediately distinguished herself, and is skilled enough to now be known all around as the Saintess of Demon Exorcism."
Lorobel nods to indicate that I generally got it right. I really wish that I had gotten it wrong. It"s impossible, huh.
"To add to that, Black Swan of Dawn is a top-cla.s.s adventurer team even by royal capital standards. The requirement to go higher than Three Star is to defeat a demon lord cla.s.s, so in practicality Three Star is the highest possible rank."
Ugghhh……
"So basically the more Stars you have, the more awesome you are?"
"Yep. The ranks go from No Star to Five Star. Individual and team rankings are separate. Incidentally, I"m a Two Star."
Two Star.
If Lorobel is only a Two Star even though she"s this strong, then it means Horun is in a team with people who are even stronger?
"Are you from the same birthplace as Horun? Or are you actually related to her?"
Well, after having heard so much detail, I can understand how she"d suspect me to be relat——hm?
"Lorobel! Team up with me!"
A man is rushing over with loud footsteps while raising his voice.
Hmm…… he seems like the annoying insistent kind of ossan that I"m bad with. He even has a loud voice, to boot. Ah, I don"t think it needs to be said, but I don"t turn around. I"m not related, I"m not related. I don"t even want to look. Do not get me involved.
I"m already disliking him from the get-go, but even Lorobel who seems to know him is frowning in distaste.
"Galiv, huh. I clearly remember having turned you down though."
"Come on, don"t be like that. If us Two Star team together, we"d be able to take on even bigger jobs!"
Eh? That"s a surprise.
Don"t you have to be as strong as Lorobel to be a Two Star? That ossan doesn"t seem so strong though. The only thing big about him is his voice and att.i.tude. Does he have any actual achievements under his belt? Well, it"s not like I care, so, whatever.
"I"m in the middle of an important conversation. Go away."
"Important conversation? You mean, with this beansprout kid?"
Uwahh, he"s looking at me. I feel an unreserved gaze on the back of my head. There are even others who"ve begun looking this way because of the commotion. U~wahh, so they"re so looking. Let"s just eat this apple from my breakfast set first.
"Oi, stinky brat. What business do you have with Lorobel."
Whichever brat that is, someone"s calling out to you. Hurry up and answer the guy.
"Stop it, Galiv. It"s me who has business with him."
Lorobel tries to stop him, but…… this kind of guy probably won"t stop with something of that level.
"How about showing some respect and at least greeting your senpai, huh? As a rookie, huh?"
I am not a rookie. Cus I have zero intention of becoming an adventurer.
——Alright, I"ve finished my breakfast. So now I can——
"You little s.h.i.t! How about turning this way an——oh?!"
Beat an emergency retreat immediately.
The instant the ossan reaches a hand towards me, I get down from the chair, dodge the ossan"s hand, slip past him, then dash right out of the guild at full speed.
Ah~h, I"ve gone and done it.
I really did get messed with. Including Lorobel, I got messed with by two people in the span of time it took me to finish my breakfast. I really don"t like them, the kind of people who can"t take "no" for an answer.
But I didn"t have time to take out my money, so it"s completely become a case of dine-and-dash. I"ve got to return later to pay for the meal. Let"s go back again only after the whole commotion has subsided.
For now, well, I guess searching for, um, Horun the Saintess of Demon Exorcism?, should be my next priority.
According to the information from Lorobel, the characteristics of this Saintess person is almost an exact match for my sister. But I"m still holding out hope that it"s a completely different person. I"m still hoping that it"s just a really coincidental accidental resemblance.
I considered waiting for her at the Adventurer"s Guild, but I"ve had enough of being messed with. I don"t want to go there any more than I have to.
If I can get in contact with a member of the aforementioned Black Swan of Dawn team, then could I meet her through them?
——And by the way.
What was with that number floating above Rorobel"s head anyways?
It read 52 the entire time though.
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