Sarah the Driver
At long last, they would be arriving at Zubura today; not in the capital, but a town near the border. They didn"t need to go to the capital to get to the ruins. Hikaru felt like sightseeing, but Katy"s domineering att.i.tude made it hard to bring it up.
To give the horses some time to rest, Hikaru and the others took a small break at a town. Up ahead was a coniferous forest, the trees visible from the window of the café they arrived at.
「I"m so excited, Hikaru! I"ve seen ruins in the past, about twice, but they only showed me the highlights. I"ve been to a museum to where they displayed artifacts.」
「Wait, are there restrictions to viewing?」
「Of course. The ruins are one of the only few things that Zubura has to raise their standing. I asked the princ.i.p.al to issue free pa.s.ses for us, though.」
「Really? When did you do that?」
Hikaru didn"t know about the restrictions. He was impressed by Katy"s proactiveness.
「She dragged me along to the princ.i.p.al"s office to beg for it.」Mille said.「I didn"t even know what was going on.」
So Mille went with her. The princ.i.p.al is from Zubura. She probably has some power there. But I must say…
「I"m surprised you got approval. You"re from Kotobi.」Hikaru said.
「Yeah. I told her you were coming and she agreed.」
「Me?」
「The princ.i.p.al seems to have taken a liking to you.」
Hikaru went out to gather Dragon Kidney Flower to save the princ.i.p.al"s nephew. That"s when he met Silvester, a member of the former royal family of Zubura. The princ.i.p.al was aware of this.
But she also knew about all the trouble he had caused so far. The admins, especially, detested Hikaru. Who knew what they told the princ.i.p.al? Perhaps the princ.i.p.al herself thought Hikaru was troublesome to deal with.
「I hear you talking about the ruins!」
Selica, who was having a light meal with her party members on another table, approached them.
「Quit eavesdropping.」Hikaru said.
「Lies! I wasn"t eavesdropping. I can help with examining the ruins too, you know!」
「Right. You"re familiar with it as well, not just Hikaru.」Katy said.「Ah, I can"t wait to get there.」
「You can count on me!」
「That"s good to hear!」
Maybe I should just leave it to Selica and go sightseeing instead, Hikaru thought. But he couldn"t do that. It"s human nature to want to see an incredible discovery.
Of course, they"d be visiting ruins that were already explored before. But people tend to think “Maybe if I go there, I"ll find something new”—perhaps decipher ancient doc.u.ments, or dig up treasure chests.
I also love these kind of treasure-hunting activities…
It was only natural for a man to feel excited about using information as clues to discover treasures before anyone else could.
As soon as the carriage started moving, Selica and Katy started talking in one box seat, where the rest of the Four Stars were seated. Lavia began to doze on the other seat, exhausted from the long trip. Mille and Paula were already fast asleep. Hikaru put a blanket over Lavia and made her lie down so she could sleep more comfortably. He gave up the seat, though now he had limited options as to where to go.
「Ah, Hikaru. Would you like to sit here?」
Selyse smiled, offering him a seat. Beside her, Sophie stared at Hikaru with a frown. She"s doing this knowing Sophie and I don"t get along. Hikaru had recently gotten a better look at the darkness the Sun Maiden hid inside her. No way I"m sitting there.
「Oh? If it isn"t Hikaru.」
「I had no other choice. At least this spot is better than the other option.」
The driver"s seat was wide, so Hikaru sat beside Sarah. After having enough rest, the six horses" gait seemed to have gotten lighter. Soon the carriage entered the coniferous forest.
「I"m working hard out here, you know. It"s cold so I have to be dressed heavily too.」
「You didn"t have to come if you were gonna complain anyway.」
「Yeesh! You"ll never be popular with the girls with a mouth like that.」
「I"m good as long as I have Lavia.」
「Really? Can I have Paula then?」
「No, you can"t.」
A bit of opening and she tries to take Paula away. Gotta watch out for this one too.
「Not this, not that. You sure are stingy.」
「Fine. Thank you for driving us in this cold weather. You are a great help. There. How about that?」
「Sounds good. I like that. Now I have to keep at it! A youngster is thanking me for my efforts, after all.」
「Youngster, huh? I suppose I am younger by about three years.」
「Huh? You"re around 12 or 13, right?」
「No! I"m 15!」
「What?!」
Sarah was surprised. Her Soul Board indicated she was 18, three years older than him.
「So you"re a full-grown boy. That was unexpected.」
「What do you mean by that? I"m an actual adventurer.」Hikaru showed his guild card.
「Rank E and a Civilian. Come on. You have a rare job cla.s.s, don"t you? Tell me about it.」
「I only have Civilian.」
A barefaced lie. Sarah didn"t believe him either.
「I"m guessing that immense fire magic used to kill the Earth Dragon was from the blessing of a job cla.s.s.」
That had nothing to do with cla.s.ses. It was all the power of the revolver. On a side note, Hikaru received spare bullets from Katy and some more for this trip. Every last one was packed with Lavia"s Flame Gospel. All ten of them. He could destroy a small fortress with his weapon now.
「I didn"t kill an Earth Dragon.」
「Why don"t we tell each other about our job cla.s.ses?」
「What"s the point of that? There"s no benefit to it. All you do is reveal your secret. Besides, you can just lie about your cla.s.s.」
「Satisfying your curiosity is one benefit.」
「Man, you"re hopeless.」
「Rude! I"m older than you, you know!」
「Older? Show some more dignity first, then I"ll believe you.」
「All right! How about this? We show each other"s guild cards.」
Sarah took out her card and showed it to Hikaru.
【Adventurers Guild Card】
【Name】Sarah
【Registration】Pongee Elka Adventurers Guild, Kingdom of Ponsonia
【Rank】B
【Job Cla.s.s】City, Town, and Village People Rescue G.o.d: Civilian
【Party】Four Stars of the East (B)
It was the first time Hikaru saw the guild card of an adventurer in a party. Apparently the individual and party ranks were separated.
「Would you look at that? You"re a Civilian just like me.」Hikaru said.
「How about we show our cla.s.ses one at a time? Then you"ll get to see the rare cla.s.ses later on. We stop when we run out of job cla.s.ses to show.」
I see. Quite interesting. Hikaru checked his list of job cla.s.ses.
a.s.sa.s.sination G.o.d: Night Stalker2
Stealth G.o.d: Darkness Wanderer2
Throwing G.o.d: Dead Shot2
Chaos G.o.d: Eye of the Storm3
Wide Area Detection G.o.d: Grand Sonar4
Woods Strolling G.o.d: Forest Walker4
Labyrinth Exploring G.o.d: Dungeon Walker4
Heaven Searching G.o.d: Sinner4
Lower Cla.s.s Heaven"s Messenger: Lesser Angel5
Common Town Night Burglar G.o.d: Town Thief6
City, Town, and Village People Rescue G.o.d: Civilian10
He had eleven in total, which was apparently quite a lot.
Should I keep the Town Thief one from her? Hikaru was having trouble since he didn"t know much about job cla.s.ses in the first place. He considered showing Lesser Angel to her. Maybe she knew something about it, like its effects and why it appeared, since he was completely clueless. I think it showed up right after I killed the Earth Dragon.
It should be safe to show her Forest Walker and Dungeon Walker. Hikaru heard from the guild that if one had a four-character job cla.s.s, they"d be a high-level adventurer. Sarah should have one too.
Hikaru was a bit curious about Sarah"s job cla.s.ses as well, since they had similar fighting styles. If the need arose, he could just tell her he had nothing more to show. Sarah herself could do the same too.
「All right. Let"s do it.」Hikaru said.
「Really? Are you sure?」
「You"re the one who suggested it.」
「Well, you"re awfully secretive. I didn"t expect you to agree. Okay, let"s do this!」
Hikaru set his job cla.s.s to Lower Cla.s.s Heaven"s Messenger: Lesser Angel.
「You go first since this was your idea.」
「Okay!」
Sarah changed her cla.s.s and showed her card to Hikaru.
Common Town Night Burglar G.o.d: Town Thief
Hikaru stared at the card with a blank expression.
「I-It"s not what it looks like! I didn"t actually steal anything. This job cla.s.s usually appears to those who sneak into people"s houses.」
「You"re saying you didn"t commit any crime?」
「Of course!」
「I"m pretty sure entering someone"s home without permission is a crime.」
「What?! Well, what can I do?! Most of the requests that asked for me involved sneaking around!」
Gathering information and scouting, I guess? So the Adventurers Guild deals with those kinds of requests too, huh? Hikaru was impressed.
「I figured that was the case. Here.」
「What? You have it too?! You criminal!」
「Really, now?」
Hikaru managed to safely get Town Thief out of the way. Sarah sighed.
「I didn"t expect you to have it too. You do look like an expert in covert operations.」
「All thanks to my gear. Oh, and for the record, I didn"t steal anything.」
「Yeah, yeah, sure. I get it. I believe you.」
「Ow, ow, ow! Stop pinching my ears! You lack respect towards your elders!」
「Just show the next one.」
「This kid needs to learn respect!」Sarah yelled as she showed her next job cla.s.s.