Chapter 175 – Parting Ways and Designated RequestHikaru left Leniwood"s shop together with Lavia. As for Paula, they would have to come back for her later.
「Should we go see Professor Katy? She did help with Lavia"s robes.」Hikaru said.
「We should.」Lavia replied.
The two strolled through the streets of Pond. The year was ending, but none of the year-end bustle could be felt in town, mostly because of the civil war. Snow would be falling soon. Compared to the long winters in Forestia, however, it wasn"t that cold here.
Katy had booked an inn near where Kelbeck lived. Hikaru and Lavia ran into her as she was walking around town, carrying a bag.
「Professor!」
「Oh, Hikaru. What a coincidence.」
「It"s not a coincidence. We were looking for you. Dodorono told us about what you did. Thank you.」
Katy smiled. She looked lovely, but the flame tattoo on her face ruined her beauty. That"s what Hikaru thought, at least.
「No big deal. It"s also a bit of an experiment. I"d love to hear some feedback later.」
「Okay, will do. I heard you"re going back to Scholarzard soon.」
Katy nodded.「Yeah. This bag contains things I"ll need on the trip. It was my first time crossing the border. I had people to talk to since you were around, but I"ll be alone on my way back. I bought books to kill time.」
「We"re going back to Scholarzard too.」
「Really? Isn"t this your, uhh… what"s the word… home?」
Not at all. But Hikaru felt attached to this town since it was the starting point to his life in this world. He liked the place, at least, that he"d prevent Pond from being destroyed.
「A lot happened for me here in Pond.」
Hikaru grasped Lavia"s hand tight, and she did the same. Lavia had some memories of the town as well.
「What about Kelbeck?」
「I talked a lot with my brother. About our magic item research, we"ll send each other letters.」
「You really do get along well, huh?」
「My brother is a gentle guy, so he"s easy to talk to.」
Gentle? With that face?
「H-Hikaru!」
A voice calling for Hikaru came from afar. He glanced at the direction of the voice and saw Jill running towards him, still in her uniform.
「I finally found you! I was about to issue a request to the adventurers to look for you.」
「Were you looking for me?」
「Come to the guild immediately! There"s a designated request for you!」
It was possible to personally ask someone for a request. In this case, no other adventurers could take it. The cost in turn was double the market rate. Still, it was up to the designated adventurer if he wanted to accept the job or not.
Jill grabbed Hikaru"s shoulders.「What did you do?!」
「What do you mean?」
「The client is Princess Kudyastoria!」
Hikaru had no idea about any of this.
They hurried to the Adventurers Guild. Katy came along as well because it sounded interesting. The guild was abuzz, but it turned quiet the moment Jill brought Hikaru along. There were more people than usual.
「Hikaru, what did you do this time?」Selyse raised her hand, smiling. The other three members of her party was present as well.
「You being here means you know about the request.」Hikaru said.
「We"re here by pure coincidence.」
「I wanna know what it"s about, so I"ll sit in with you!」
「Hey, Selica. Can"t you be more subtle?」
Both Selyse and Selica were curious about the request from the princess. Hikaru thought about it for a bit.
「All right. You guys can join us.」
「Really? I thought for sure you"d say no, considering you"re secretive.」
「But only you four. Other adventurers can"t come.」
Adventurers eager to join the discussion turned sullen. Ignoring them completely, Hikaru followed Jill to a different room.
Hikaru allowed the Four Stars of the East to be present mainly because he didn"t know what the request was about, and since the women had plenty of experience regarding designated requests, he thought he could get some information out of them.
In the room were two long sofas facing each other. Hikaru, Lavia, and Katy took their seats, then Selica and Selyse sat down beside him. Sarah and Sophie brought their own chairs.
Hikaru a.s.sumed Jill would sit right across, but she went out to call the submaster instead. Hikaru didn"t really like the overly-ambitious man, but he did bring rank C adventurers to escort Lavia to the royal capital. Thanks to him, he was able to rescue Lavia quite easily.
「Ah, Jill. You may leave.」the submaster said.
「But the paperwork…」
「I"ll ask Aurora to do it.」
The receptionist was silent.
「Jill.」
「Yes, Sir. I understand.」
Jill stepped out of the room with a disgruntled look. Hikaru waited for the door to close before asking a question.
「Is there a reason why you don"t want Jill here?」
「That woman"s tone is scary. Aurora is much easier to talk to.」
Hikaru grinned. I know how you feel.
Aurora entered the room. A pretty woman, she had the usual gloomy aura around her. She sat down silently beside the submaster and produced a piece of paper unlike the ones posted on the request bulletin board. It was an envelope sealed with the royal family"s crest.
「Normally, the guild checks the request and explains the contents to the adventurer, but this one"s strictly confidential. We were instructed to hand it directly to you.」
「I see.」
「We"re too busy at the moment. I don"t even know what they"re thinking. Oh, you may read it.」
The submaster was a greedy man, but all the chaos had left him exhausted. His face looked haggard, and his skin was pale. Working with the energetic Jill drained too much energy.
Hikaru accepted the envelope, ripped it open, and took out the letter.
「Hmm…」
「What"s it about?」Lavia asked.
「You can read it too. And Professor Katy as well.」
After reading it, Hikaru handed Lavia the letter.
「Uhm, Hikaru, was it? You just have to tell us if you accept this request or not.」the submaster said.「You can keep the details to yourself. Although to prove you"ve completed the task, you"d have to contact the royal family directly—」
「Apparently, they want me to send a letter to Agiapole in Bios and I have to do it in ten days. I can choose whatever route I want, but the fastest one would be cutting straight through Einbeast. They can escort me up to Leather Elka and they will lend me a horse.」
「What?」
The submaster blinked in surprise. He didn"t expect Hikaru to tell him everything.
「I get paid 500,000 in advance. If I managed to deliver the letter successfully within ten days, they"ll pay me 2 million as reward. If I fail, the foreign minister will know since he"s headed there as well.」
「Wh-Wh-What kind of letter are you delivering?」
「Who knows? It"s not mentioned in the letter.」
But Hikaru guessed it had something to do with the current conflict. Tension was high, and both sides could clash any day now. There"s no way the foreign minister would travel to a foreign country for no reason.
It"s gotta have something to do with a ceasefire. Since Rising Falls is useless, Austrin is begging Bios for help. I believe Bios has been called to mediate a number of times in the past.
Hikaru got it all right, almost.
「Are you going to accept the job?」Lavia asked.
Hikaru wasn"t sure. Then, Sarah spoke up.
「Why"d they ask for Hikaru?」
A valid question.
「Sweet Pleasure must"ve told them about him!」Selica said.
「Ah, yes. You"re probably right.」
「You should go.」Sophie remarked.
「Why is that?」Hikaru sensed a questionable reason behind her words.
「Bios is a very beautiful country. It"s worth visiting.」
「I see.」Hikaru nodded.
The church"s HQ is located in Bios. She"s probably thinking that if Paula went there, everyone from the church would want her.
Sophie"s plan was to bring Paula to the church.
「Ten days, huh…」Katy muttered.「Why the time limit? And why not let the foreign minister bring the letter with him if he"s headed there anyway?」
「That got me thinking as well.」Selyse said.「Asking adventurers for help means the princess is desperate. Otherwise, the n.o.bles wouldn"t have agreed to this.」
「Isn"t ten days too difficult?」Hikaru asked.「I bet others will also be headed there with copies of the letter. Asking adventurers for help may be surprising, but it"s not entirely unusual.」
「Yeah. But still, this ten days thing is bugging me. The princess is desperate to get the letter there within the time limit. In other words, someone more powerful than her imposed this condition. I"m guessing the Pope.」
「The Pope…」
Hikaru recalled that one night in Leather Elka when he stole the Drakon Ball Staff. Ryver sent some kind of a report to the Pope.
The Pope… Or rather the Church and temples believe in G.o.d. In that case, they believed in drakons as well since they"re G.o.d"s servants. But Ryver was trying to obtain the staff… Do they think of it as just some artifact related to drakons?
Hikaru glanced at the white drakon wrapped around Lavia"s neck.
There"s still Drake"s case. It might be a good idea to visit the Church"s headquarters.
Lavia had been staring at him for a while.
「What do you want to do?」Hikaru asked her.
「I want to see beautiful temples!」
「Okay. Then I"ll take the job.」
The submaster was shocked from Hikaru"s quick decision.
「Are you sure? Ponsonia and Einbeast aren"t exactly on good terms at the moment. It could be dangerous. No, it"s definitely dangerous.」
「Well, danger always follows adventurers. Besides, I"m sure the princess asked me because she thinks I can succeed. A rank E… Oh, wait I"m rank D now. A rank D adventurer can cross borders easily.」
「That"s… true, I suppose.」
「If Lavia wants to go, then I"ll go as well.」
「I-I see.」
The submaster asked Aurora to proceed with the paperwork. Embarra.s.sed, Lavia elbowed Hikaru"s side. She"s so adorable when embarra.s.sed, Hikaru thought.
「I"m sorry, Professor. Looks like we won"t be going with you back to Scholarzard.」
「It"s fine. To be honest, I envy you a bit. Adventurers have so much freedom.」
「I"d like to attend Claude"s wedding if we make it back by spring.」
「I"m sure he"d want that too.」
The ma.s.s wedding would be held this coming spring. Can we make it back before then? If nothing big happens, I"m sure we can.
「I wanna go to Bios too!」Selica exclaimed.
「You"re not going anywhere.」Selyse said.「The war"s still going on.」
Selica pouted. She was just as carefree as well.
After a while, Aurora finished the paperwork. Hikaru would head to the royal capital tomorrow to receive the letter and then head straight for Agiapole.
Money left: 182,602 gilans (+112,050,000 gilans)