Volume 1
Chapter 19
A Blonde Man
Spoke to Me
Translator : PolterGlast
The Scene Shifts
Slightly.
Ever since Kushina had
accepted the request, a figure had been following him without fail. Whether
Kushina was carrying out the request or returning to the guild, the shadow
tailing him was always keeping a distance, neither too close nor too far.
Although he never spoke to Kushina, considering that he had been following from
within the guild, it was certain that this man was also affiliated with the
guild.
As soon as Kushina
finished reporting on the completion of the request, the shadow tailing Kushina
left the guild without doing anything else.
Exiting the guild, he
walked briskly for a considerable distance before entering a dimly lit back
alley. Stopping in front of an old door, he knocked twice, once, and three
times, and after a pause, the door swung open on its own.
The inside was almost
pitch black. The only thing visible by the outside light was the stone floor at
the entrance.
Without hesitation, he
stepped inside and began to descend as if he knew there were stairs there.
For a while, only the
sound of this shadow descending the stairs echoed.
Upon reaching the
lower floor, there was a light, though only from a torch. Thanks to it, one
could barely make out the entire room. The inside was like an old-fashioned
bar, and behind the counter was a man wearing a roughly made leather outfit.
The man was floating water about the size of his palm, perhaps using magic, and
was washing a glass.
There were also a
number of other people (all men) in the room.
"Oh, you're
here."
One of them called out
to the shadow.
"Good work for
gathering information again today. So? How was it, any harvest?"
The man who had spoken
prompted the conversation while holding a glass of beer in one hand.
"……Newcomers have
joined us."
The shadow replied
with a gloomy expression.
"Oh? That's good.
What were they like?"
"One was a
haughty woman. The other seemed to be her attendant."
"What the, are
they nobles?"
"Their clothes
and demeanor suggested as much, but... when they first came in, they insisted
they were penniless. That doesn't make sense."
If they were nobles,
the things they wore would be expensive, so they could easily get a decent
amount of money by selling one item. Besides, nobles were full of pride. They
would never say, "I have no money," no matter what. Based on this
reasoning, the shadow was asserting that the two were not nobles.
"Hmm? Well, it
doesn't matter if they're not nobles. More importantly, what was their
rank?"
"………."
The shadow fell silent
at that.
"What's wrong?
Why such a long face?"
"Their ranks were
the problem."
"Huh?"
"Those two were
classified as White-ranked adventurers."
""Ha~a!?""
Not just the man who
had spoken, but everyone else in the room except for the man at the counter
exclaimed in surprise.
The room, which had
been somewhat dreary until just a moment ago, suddenly became noisy.
"W-White-ranked...?"
"I thought that
was just a legend."
"N-No way, it
must be a mistake..."
"O-Oi... Were they
really White-ranked?"
"Yeah, there's no
mistake. I tailed the guy today as soon as he took a request. He was a real
monster."
"No way..."
Sweat ran down the
man's cheek.
"Since you, a
rank 5, said so, then he must be a real monster. ...This's exciting."
"Please don't
mess with them. It would be a problem if they interfered with our plan."
"I know, I know.
I'm not that stupid."
"I wonder about
that."
"More
importantly, the problem is..."
"Yeah, that's
right. Whether these two are our enemies or allies."
"Sigh... I hope
they'll just ignore us outsiders."
"Yeah, I hope so
too. But there's no absolute in life. It's better to be cautious. I think I'll
keep investigating.
Anyway, is the plan
going smoothly?"
The shadow turned to a
young man in the back of the room.
"Y-Yes! We're
right on track! They've completely taken the bait on the information we
leaked..."
"Then that's
good. Continue with the plan. Guide them well."
"Yes sir!"
"Everyone, if
anything unexpected happens, report it immediately. Don't try to solve it on
your own."
""Ou!""
""Yes!""
Everyone in the room
(except for the man at the counter) replied in unison.
"Haa... I'm
always amazed by your popularity."
"I'm not such a
great person myself, but I'm glad to hear that. I'm grateful to you too."
"Ha, stop it.
It's too late for that now. Since we've come this far───I'll see it through to
the end."
The man who had been
talking to the shadow smiled wryly and looked directly into the shadow's eyes.
The shadow smiled
back, seeming pleased.
□□□
Several days passed
since then.
I would receive one
request a day, and complete it, while Kakyouin-san would be immersed in the
guild's library. That was our routine. Ever since then, there hasn't been a
single challenging request. I simply worked steadily, received my reward, and
returned.
The only thing that
had changed was that I no longer smiled in front of Kakyouin-san. I always
smiled during requests because I didn't want to cause any trouble, but I
stopped smiling in front of Kakyouin-san because I would get scolded.
Aside from that,
nothing much else had changed, so I was spending my days feeling 'bored'.
"Well then, I'm
off, Kakyouin-san."
"Yeah."
Today was no
different. I was about to leave the guild after accepting a request. Kakyouin-san,
as usual, would probably go to lock herself in the reference room.
Just as I was about to
head for the guild's entrance───
"Hey rookie, can
I talk to you for a moment?"
A man called out to
me.
He had slightly
peculiar blond hair, but he didn't seem hard to approach. He gave off a
friendly vibe, like a kind older brother. He was wearing slightly modified
leather armor, and... wait, this guy───
"Ah, you're the
person who was always behind me."
"───!?"
When I said that, the
man took a few steps back in surprise.
"Y-You
noticed..."
"Yeah."
At those words, the
man had sweat dripping down his cheek.
"It's bad of me,
rookie, to have been following you knowing that you knew. Why didn't you say
anything?"
Ah, so he was tailing
me after all.
"Well, I thought
maybe you were just coincidentally taking requests near mine."
It would be
troublesome if I got into a fight because of my mistake.
That's what I was
actually thinking, so I just told the truth, but the man seemed to be pondering
it.
"………I see, so
you're the type to avoid trouble."
He muttered something
like that.
"Um..."
"───! Sorry, sorry! I
mean, let's get to the point!"
"Well..."
Who is this guy?
"First, let me
introduce myself! I'm Tekiru Shitsuha, a Rank 5 Indigo-ranked adventurer. Nice
to meet you!"
"Ha~a..."
"May I ask your
name?"
"Huh? Oh, um, my
name is Mutou Kushina."
I thought he knew my
name since he was following me, but it seems he didn't, so I was surprised, and───I answered him the
same way he did───but for some reason,
he looked a bit taken aback.
"I-I see. Okay,
Kushina, once again, nice to meet you."
"Yeah, nice to
meet you too."
"So, about what I
wanted to talk about... Kushina, would you like to form a party with me?"
"Huh?"
I tilted my head at
those words.
-----
Thank you for my Patrons !!
[Platinum]
Aiden Elliott
MaxKne
Swagaraga
[Gold]
B random
DavidA
[Silver]
blue shooting
Creris
Frédéric Bertrand-Hudon
Gtsfan321
Pristia
Anton Lim
Ctdela
Curious Panda
Read Advanced Chapters only on my Patreon
-----
