The End of the Eye of the Storms" Day
Catford"s Adventurers Guild"s atmosphere was electrifying. The sun had long set, but monster materials brought in were met with cheers and applause. No one had completed a kill quest for rank C monsters and above in Catford in twenty years. Incidentally, Lavia"s fire magic completely burned the rank B monsters—the Giant Rock Lizards—so they couldn"t recover any materials from them.
The guildmaster came out and declared「Tonight, foods and drinks are on the guild!」causing the crowd to go wild, then quickly returned to his office.
The adjacent tavern served plenty of food and booze. Adventurers downed drinks. At the center of them all was the Four Stars of the East, a party of four beautiful and gorgeous ladies. Selyse the Sun Maiden, who put her life on the line to save adventurers. Sophie the Saint, who healed the dying. Diving alone into a horde of monsters to draw attention away from the shelter, the brave Sarah. And Selica, the Sage who slaughtered monsters. Hikaru planned most of it, but still their reputation skyrocketed.
The adventurers who made fun of the ladies, saying they were dead, had long bailed. Only the neutral ones and the Four Stars" devotees were left. Adventurers would flock around free booze. If they learned more of the ladies" exploits, their fanbase would surely grow.
「This food"s quite good.」
Hikaru and the gang sat at a table in the corner of the tavern, digging into their food—a garlic-filled mix of potatoes fried in meat oil, a bit of bacon and salt to taste. Basically a junk food. But it wasn"t as though Hikaru disliked junk food. He missed McD"s french fries dearly.
「It could be a bit more spicy.」Lavia said.
「You always want them spicy.」Paula said.「I"ll go get some mustard!」
She scuttled towards the counter where adventurers quickly gathered around her, wanting to strike up a conversation. It didn"t look like she"d be back soon.
No one approached Hikaru"s table. They"ve arranged it so that his role in the current case was simply bringing the healer Paula. The Four Stars would receive all the glory as previously discussed.
The Four Stars sat on the center table where the most luxurious food was served. But they didn"t seem eager to eat. Drunk adventurers talked to them incessantly. Even merchants and n.o.bles joined in.
「It"s rough being a celebrity.」Hikaru said.
「You look happy, Hikaru.」
Why wouldn"t he be? He managed to test his job cla.s.s, he would get 90% of the proceeds of the monster materials as agreed with Selyse, and best of all, no one bothered him.
Only Paula drew the attention of the adventurers since she a.s.sisted Sophie. All she did was take over what Sophie did—prolonging the victims" lives, just making sure they didn"t die—while Sophie used healing magic individually. At least that was the plan. But Paula"s magic was so strong that she actually healed them. They gave Sophie all the credit, of course.
And since Sophie despised lying, her icy glare on Hikaru at the moment was understandable. Hikaru flashed a smile in return.
「Hey, Mr. Hero. You saved our hides this time.」Selyse arrived and took Paula"s seat. How she managed to slip out of that crowd was a mystery.
「Sorry, but my friend"s sitting there.」
「Hahaha. Most men would wear crude smiles when I arrive.」
「Maybe only crude men gather around you.」
「Perhaps. Unfortunately there aren"t a lot of adventurers around who can cut off a Giant Rock Viper"s head in one slice.」
「I don"t know what you"re talking about.」
「Do you really still need to hide it?」
「Just tell me what you want.」
Selyse looked just a bit disappointed.「The a.s.sessment of the materials will take a bit of time. Once they"ve computed the total price, they"ll deposit the money to my account. After that, I"ll transfer your share to your account.」
「Sounds good to me.」
「Are you sure? With what you did, you could get promoted to rank D… or even C. Forestia"s Adventurers Guild is short-handed, after all. They"ll seriously consider it.」
「Is there any benefit to getting promoted?」
「We can go on jobs together.」
「Haha. Good one.」
「What if I"m serious?」
「I don"t think I"ll be able to breathe surrounded by women.」
「I see your point. We"ve taken jobs where we were the only women around. It was quite rough. Oh, and you can take profitable requests when you"re higher ranked.」
「There are plenty of ways I can take high-paying jobs. Like making rank B adventurers owe me one.」
「Do we owe you one, though? We"re taking care of the annoying part, so I say we"re even.」
「You can"t put a price on life. Even if you gave me all the money from this job, it won"t be enough.」
Selyse laughed.「I"m just kidding.」
「It"s hard to tell when you"re joking or not.」
「My bad. It"s just fun talking with you.」
It felt like Selyse was getting more and more blunt. She"d usually wear a bright smile at adventurers, staff guild, or ordinary citizens, but when talking to Hikaru, she would show her scheming side. Lavia watched the two of them in silence.
「So anyway, there are other perks to having a higher rank. You can access information through the guild"s network, and meet people you wouldn"t normally see. Also… although this one takes a bit of effort, you can enter the library called the Adventurers" Wisdom.」
「A library?」Lavia asked.
「Yes. You have to be at least rank C, though. And it"s located in Bios, so getting in won"t be easy.」
The suzerain state of Bios was the headquarters of this world"s Church. From Catford, one would have to go through Ponsonia and then Einbeast.
Forestia and Bios had a close relationship. More precisely, no country made an enemy out of Bios. G.o.d existed in this world, and no one wanted to invade a nation with no military power.
Lavia was clearly interested in the word “library”. I don"t really feel like proactively going up the ranks, Hikaru thought, but maybe we can take a bit of a tour. Maybe with Stealth, we can get a free pa.s.s into the library.
Once we"ve seen everything in Forestia, we could go to Bios.
「Selyse!」Selica called. More men gathered around them now, too many to handle.
「They"re calling you.」
「I should go back. It"s hard being a celebrity.」
「It"s what you wanted, right? Can"t say I feel sorry for you.」
「I have one last question, though, if you don"t mind.」Selyse wore a serious look.「Giant Rock Vipers are basically snakes, right? Wasn"t it strange how they attacked in groups?」
Hikaru thought that as well. But it was a tough question to answer. Their unusual behavior could be attributed to them simply being monsters.
「I don"t know. Maybe something odd happened.」
「Yes, exactly. That"s why there are peculiar monsters as well. Then there"s the abnormal outbreak at Un el Portan. Have you thought that perhaps something strange is going on?」
Selyse had no points on “Instinct”. It was something she arrived at logically. As such, her speculation carried weight.
「I"m not an expert on monsters.」Hikaru said.
It wasn"t as if he had no theories in mind. If there were only vipers around, he probably wouldn"t have thought much about it. But they fought lizards too. Lizards could evolve into dragons, right? The abnormal outbreak in Un el Portan was caused by a subspecies of the Earth Dragon. Drakons and dragons. It seemed as though something strange was happening with these two species.
「Okay.」Selyse stood up and returned to her table. Whether she was satisfied with Hikaru"s answer or not, he didn"t know.
Paula returned with a jar of chili pepper and garlic soaked in olive oil, something used in Italian cooking.
「Thanks for waiting. Was Selyse here just now?」
「Yeah. The crowd made it hard to breathe, so she escaped here. Selica called her back, though.」
「What"s wrong, Lavia?」
「I think Selyse just wanted to have a chat with you.」
「What do you mean?」
「It feels like she shows her true face when talking to you.」
「Oh, I know what you mean. She shows me her dark side.」
「That"s not what I"m saying.」
「Hmm?」
「S-So she"s a rival!」Paula cut in.
「A rival? I don"t intend to compete with a rank B adventurer.」
「Lavisan, is Hikaru-sama the dense type?」
「He"s actually quite sharp. But he"s a bit slow with these kinds of things.」
「Wow, rude. I"ll have you know I can tell what someone is planning based on their gestures and how they talk.」
Paula and Lavia exchanged glances.
「So Hikaru-sama is dense.」
「Gotta watch out.」
The girls were whispering to each other. Hikaru was glad they got along, but he felt alienated as well. He felt just a bit sad.
Anyway, I guess this “stormy” day is over. It"ll be a while until I use the job cla.s.s again.
「Hey, let"s meet up with Professor Mille and Katy tomorrow to discuss our next plans. I don"t think we need to stay in Catford any longer—」
「Is the Four Stars of the East here?!」
The guildmaster showed up at the bar with an indescribable look on his face. Sensing something wrong, everyone gradually became quiet.
「What"s wrong, guildmaster?」Selyse rose from her seat.
The guildmaster made a beeline for her.「You"re from Ponsonia, correct?」
「Yes.」
「Do you know about the dispute between the Prince and the Princess?」
「We do.」
「We just received new info. I double checked it and apparently it"s true.」
「What is it?」
Adventurers who didn"t know the situation in Ponsonia were talking among themselves.「Seriously?」「That place sure sounds dangerous.」
The guildmaster nodded.「Einbeast has declared war against Ponsonia. They already marched their forces and are closing in on the fort city of Leather Elka.」