Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 11 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Departure

“This is goodbye, then. Thank you for everything.”

Augurey was standing in front of the wagon, speaking to Ferrici. Behind her was a group of the other villagers, including the innkeeper and the people whom Siren had manipulated. Their gazes were warm.

Since we’d finished collecting all of the materials necessary for our jobs, we were headed back to the capital, and they’d come to see us off. I guess my fears that they’d chase us out had been proven unfounded. Well, that could’ve been because some of them had spoken up for us to the other villagers—maybe Ferrici’s parents or the innkeeper.

Currently present were me, Lorraine, Augurey, and Goblin. The old man and Siren were hiding in the wagon. It was especially important that the latter remained inside, because things would get pretty messy if she showed herself. We were the only ones who knew what she actually looked like, and we hadn’t exactly made it public that she was the one behind the brainwashing incident, but this was a small village. Having an unfamiliar face would get you poked and prodded for your identity. That wouldn’t necessarily happen to Siren, since she’d pretended to be a traveling performer and had been staying at a villager’s home before the incident, but she would get questioned about why she was with us.

It went without saying that she’d used her unique ability to trick that villager into letting her stay in their home. I very much didn’t want to be there for the aftermath of that particular deception. Yep, it was definitely best for her to stay in the wagon.

As for the old man, I was fairly certain we didn’t need to worry about him anymore. That said, we still kept him restrained. Moreover, explaining to everybody we met that we weren’t abusing the elderly would get pretty tiring, so that was why he was in the wagon too.

“No, thank you,” Ferrici said. “You saved us—you don’t owe us anything.”

“Really, that’s not...”Augurey began. “Ah, I suppose it doesn’t matter now. If you ever come to the capital, pay us a visit. We’ll do our best to help you out.”

“I’ll make sure to do that,” Ferrici replied.

With that, we finished saying our goodbyes and left the village.

◆◇◆◇◆

Incidentally, the reason we were returning to the capital with Goblin’s group was that when we’d asked them where their chief was, they’d told us “everywhere and nowhere.”

We’d originally assumed that, after sending Goblin out as our messenger, he’d come back with a meeting location we could then head toward. However, the old man had said, “We have a number of bases of operation, but the chief is most often at our one in the capital, since he needs to coordinate everywhere else. He’s probably there right now. But even if he isn’t, it’ll be faster if we wait for him to come to us, instead of going to him.” So that was that—we would go to the capital and then send Goblin to their base there. After that, if a meeting seemed on the cards, we’d go there ourselves.

“Do you think he’ll agree to meet us?” Augurey asked. Perhaps because the silence had been boring him, he directed his question at the old man and Siren, who were in the wagon with us.

Goblin was at the reins outside, continuing with his job as our driver. Leaving him free might’ve seemed a bad idea at first glance, but as it turned out, his ability wasn’t anything particularly fearsome. When we’d asked him to explain it in detail, he’d told us that it only let him control and communicate with goblins and hobgoblins. His personal combat ability was actually roughly equivalent to that of an average Silver-class adventurer, but aside from that, nothing was particularly noteworthy about it. In the event that he decided to run, Lorraine could track him no matter where he went. He wouldn’t, though, since that would only make him a target in the eyes of his organization.

With that in mind, we’d figured it’d be fine to leave him unrestrained. We’d done the same for Siren too, given that her unique ability and combat strength weren’t really concerns for us. To nobody’s surprise, the old man was, without a doubt, the scariest of the three.

In a mild tone, the old man answered Augurey’s question. “That depends on how well Goblin does his job, but I wouldn’t worry too much. He knows his way around a negotiation.”

“He does,” Augurey agreed. “I suppose that’s why we hired him to be our wagon driver in the first place. He has a knack for getting into one’s good graces.”

“He does. I wouldn’t be surprised if it had something to do with his ability. Controlling and communicating with goblins is one thing, but perhaps it works on humans to some degree as well.”

Lorraine leaned forward, looking intrigued. “I don’t suppose you could elaborate on that?”

“Hmm... I was joking earlier, but unique abilities truly do affect their owners, myself included. For example, you know that I can make my body bigger, but even when I am small, my durability and strength are improved. What about you, Siren?”

“Huh? U-Um... Oh, right! I’ve always been really popular!”

For a brief moment, a smirk flashed across the old man’s face, but he nodded and continued. “If I had to guess, I would say that stems from how her ability allows her to bend the minds of others to make them more amenable to her. It takes careful preparation for her to establish complete control, but even without that, it has a gentle influence on people. It’s much the same with Goblin. Unique abilities are indeterminate things and often have unexpected applications.”

“Such as?” Lorraine asked.

“One example is that Siren’s ability has a slight effect on animals too. Isn’t that right?”

“It is. Cats and dogs just adore me, but it’s not only them. I’d even considered becoming a circus performer because of it.”

“That might have been a happier life for you,” the old man said. “But there you have it. As for me, I can make the things I’m holding ever so slightly larger. I attempted it with gems once, but it didn’t work, so it depends on the item.”

Siren’s eyes had lit up at the “gems” part, only to fade into disinterest again when she heard it hadn’t worked.

“So Goblin’s ability might have some effect on people too?” Lorraine asked.

The old man nodded; she’d probably taken the words right out of his mouth. “Indeed. You’d have to ask the man himself...but then again, he might not know. Still, it’s not too rare for an ability wielder to notice some kind of nuance about their power like that. Have you felt one?”

The old man had directed that last part at me. I wasn’t an ability wielder though. At least, I was pretty sure I wasn’t...

There was only one answer I could give him, then. “No, I can’t say I have...”

Siren perked up. “What? You’re an ability wielder too? I didn’t know you were one of us!”

I hadn’t taken her to be such a child at heart. On the outside, she looked like the kind of woman who’d twist you around her little finger, but maybe she was actually younger than I’d thought.

◆◇◆◇◆

Our journey back to the capital was exceedingly smooth. Goblin’s group didn’t cause any trouble, and hardly any monsters attacked us. Well, the roads we were using didn’t see many monsters in the first place. Our outbound journey had just been a mess because of Goblin and his ability.

What’s more, the weaker monsters were staying away on instinct because they were intimidated by the old man’s aura. And as for the ones that did come for us, Siren used some weak mental persuasion to make them pass us by or turn back. These two really were pretty handy to have around.

“Wouldn’t you three earn more if you worked as escorts or traveling merchants?” I asked.

The old man smiled. “That’s not a bad idea.”

“If you can make enough to cover for me too, I’m in!” Siren said.

The old man bonked her on the head with his fist. “Earn your own keep.”

I watched her rub her head in pain. The more I saw of this trio, the harder it was to dislike them. There was always the chance this was an intentional strategy of theirs, but that kind of thing was pretty pointless at this stage. Given what they’d done, it was hard to reconcile the fact that I didn’t dislike them, but I figured they probably weren’t bad people, deep down. That didn’t mean we could let our guards down around them, though.

And so our wagon continued on its journey. After a night’s camp, we reached the capital the next morning.

Our pace had been a little slow because we’d been cautious; we hadn’t been sure if the old man’s organization already knew about us yet. Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case. If it had been, then according to the old man, they would’ve definitely sent assassins after us during our journey. After all, it was more convenient to assassinate adventurers and merchants out on the roads where cleanup was easier, so hits were less common after the target made it into a town.

I had the feeling my knowledge was skewing in a weird direction with this old man and his associates around...but, hey, it was never a bad thing to learn.

I was a little nervous about entering the city. Augurey, Lorraine, and I would get in fine, but I was worried about whether they would let the old man and his group in. We’d removed his full body restraints by this point, of course, but his hands and feet were still bound. Lorraine had done her best to adjust the conjured bindings so they couldn’t be seen, but there was no telling how things would play out.

The old man, however, was very cooperative, and we all made it through without much hassle. He and his associates had identification that marked them as merchants. They had several different kinds, apparently, but had chosen those because they drew the least suspicion since they were currently working with Goblin.

In situations like this, an adventurer’s identification was the simplest option for getting in and out of cities and villages because it was hard to expose, but according to them, their organization wanted to keep the adventurer’s guild from sticking its nose into their affairs.

Even though it made sense that they would act accordingly, I was surprised by their attention to those kinds of details, and also grudgingly respectful of their diligence. They were far from being masterminds though. They could’ve just registered at the guild normally for legitimate identification. I mean, I managed to, and I was a literal monster.

“I suppose I’m off then,” Goblin said. “What will all of you do?”

We’d all disembarked from the wagon except him—he was probably planning on riding it straight to their base. A part of me wanted to go along with him out of curiosity, but that was just asking for trouble. For now, it would be wisest to leave things to him.

Augurey answered, “Let’s see... Any one of us can do it, but we have to deliver the materials we collected, for a start. That was why we set out in the first place.”

He was right. Those jobs had somehow dragged us into a frankly unbelievable situation, but, well, conflict came as part and parcel with the adventuring life. I would’ve been lying if I’d said it hadn’t been kind of fun. Maybe that was wrong of me, but at the end of the day, if a person didn’t derive at least a little bit of enjoyment from unexpected thrills or battle, they weren’t cut out to be an adventurer.

If you grew tired of those kinds of things, they would eventually sneak up on you while your guard was down and knock you dead. But if you found fun in them, you’d always find it in yourself to be prepared. Something new and interesting could be just around the corner. A life of excited curiosity was as valid a way to live as any other. Then again, the fact that so many adventurers were like that was why most people said to stay away from us.

“Indeed,” Lorraine said. “As for these two, it’s best if I keep an eye on them. I’m the only one who can maintain the bindings, as well as track them if they escape.”

The old man looked a little hurt. “It would be senseless for me to run away now. I could hardly use my ability in the middle of the city anyway. And if Siren uses hers, who knows who might notice and detain her. We ability wielders are rather looked down upon in cities, you see.”

That sounded rough. He was right though; some pretty formidable adventurers—Gold-classers too—and knights hung around the capital. Sometimes, people even stronger than that stayed here temporarily, though it was rare. If the old man used his ability, he’d only be making himself a massive target. No matter how tough he was, I doubted he could shrug off getting mobbed by a crowd of adventurers. As for Siren, her individual combat strength was pretty low. Having control over a few dozen citizens wouldn’t mean a thing against a hundred or so adventurers.

Lorraine looked somewhat apologetic as she shook her head. “Even so, that doesn’t mean we can simply throw caution to the wind. I still need to watch over you, at least.”

“True enough. I can’t object to that.” The old man then lapsed into silence.

Lorraine turned to Augurey and me. “We should also reconfirm when the grand guildmaster is expected to return. It seemed uncertain, so there’s a chance he could come back early. I know the guild staff said it was fine for us to make him wait, but we should still check.”

“Right, that almost slipped my mind,” I remarked.

“Sounds like a plan,” Augurey said. “I doubt he’s back yet, but it can’t hurt to make sure.”

We all nodded to each other, and that was that.

◆◇◆◇◆

The guild was absolutely packed with people when we entered. There were separate lines for reception, job assignments, jobs reports, new registrations, party applications, and so on, but all of them were long. There were multiples of each too. It just went to show how large a scale the capital’s guild operated on. It didn’t help that we’d come by during peak hours either.

It was an entirely different world to Maalt’s guild. I could see why a decent amount of adventurers couldn’t handle it and decided to leave. Still, even a place like Maalt wasn’t kind to those who underestimated the wilds. Adventurers who did so would only be forced into retirement—or into a grave. The frontier was harsh in its own way.

“No matter how many times I come here, the activity always impresses me,” Augurey said.

I nodded. “Maalt’s out on the frontier, but it’s still a decently sized town. It’s not deserted by any stretch of the imagination, but compared to this...”

“Right? I could at least recognize every other adventurer in Maalt, more or less, but here they all blur together.”

“I guess that’s just how it is. It’s kind of sad, in a way, but that’s the big city for you.”

“Doing your best country bumpkin impression, I see.”

We chatted idly, and eventually one of the reception counters for reporting completed jobs opened up.

“Oh, that’s our cue, Rentt. Careful not to drop the cage.”

By “cage,” Augurey meant the one Lorraine had made for us to keep the aqua hatul in. The monster was still inside it, fitted with a special magic tool around its neck that prevented it from creating the water blades it’d fired at us when we’d been trying to capture it. Lorraine had put it on before we departed the village.

Strictly speaking, the guild would have prepared one and placed it on themselves, so we only needed to bring the aqua hatul to them, but the monster was very nimble and prone to running. There was always a demand for them owing to nobles who wanted them as pets, but it was a common story for them to escape during any stage of the delivery process. Since that kind of thing could lead to a cut in the job’s reward, Lorraine had taken prior precautions.

If the aqua hatul couldn’t use any magic, then even if it escaped its cage, the guild staff could at the very least do something about it. Probably. Since this was the capital, they had a good amount of combat-capable members, but the majority of the staff specialized in administrative work. Still, while catching a monster wasn’t easy, they had the resources to manage it.

“Next, please.”

Obeying the employee’s call, Augurey and I stepped forward.

“How may I help you today?”

“We’re here to report three completed requests,” Augurey said, handing over copies of the job postings.

In Maalt, the guild knew exactly who had taken which jobs, but the one in the capital dealt with so many people that achieving a similar feat was impossible. Instead, you were given a copy of the job posting when you accepted one, and you would use it to make your report when you finished. The staff could still check who’d taken the job if you didn’t have a copy, but that was a waste of everyone’s time. “Different place, different customs” was a fairly common saying, and it was no less true of adventurer’s guilds.

“Let’s see, here. Capture of a live aqua hatul, collection of luteum golem mud or clay, and the harvesting of wyvern elata. May I see the requested items?”

“Of course.” I nodded and placed the cage on the reception counter. “Here’s the aqua hatul.”

“Here it is indeed. Oh, but if I’m not mistaken, this isn’t a guild-loaned cage, is it? And... My, it’s already collared. May I ask...?”

In general, apart from the cheap bottles and other harvesting necessities, which they sold in large volumes, the guild also loaned out expensive equipment for capture requests. It was only practical, since if they didn’t, they’d face the problem of adventurers avoiding such requests due to the expenses incurred. Magic tools which could hold monsters weren’t cheap, and even if you did have the coin, it wasn’t guaranteed that you’d be able to find a place that sold them. Therefore, the guild provided various lending services. That said, they had their own budget to worry about, which was why most of their provided equipment was of fairly average quality, and well-worn at that. It wasn’t unheard of for guild equipment to break or fail during a request.

Since these incidents were unavoidable, no blame would be placed on the borrower, but that was only after a lengthy investigation process and lots of questioning to make sure that was what had really happened. Long story short, it was a huge pain in the behind.

That was why we’d decided not to use any loaner equipment for these jobs. The magic cage and collar were both Lorraine’s personal creations. While such a thing would usually be a considerable expense, as luck would have it, Lorraine was not only a first-rate mage, but an extremely skilled alchemist too.

Making magic tools was her specialty, and she’d whipped up the cage and collar on a very reasonable budget. The former certainly didn’t look like it with all of the engravings etched into it, but according to Lorraine, she’d basically stamped those on and called it a day, so it wasn’t as elaborate as it appeared.

“One of our party members is an alchemist,” I explained. “She made them. You can just return them to us later.”

We obviously weren’t going to just hand them over for free. Even the guild’s loaner equipment was returned after an aqua hatul was handed over, once the client transferred the monster to their own cage. We just needed the guild to do the same for our equipment.

“An alchemist? I see. Even so, this is especially well-made. The aqua hatul looks quite comfortable.”

The aqua hatul was lazily slouching within the cage. Occasionally, it would gingerly touch the bars, only to receive a slight shock that made it give up and lie back down. Every so often, it would try again.

It hadn’t been harmed in any real way because of how Lorraine had made the cage. Contrary to what you might think, she was fairly fond of animals. Even if an aqua hatul was a monster, she didn’t want to cause it any unnecessary pain.

So why was everything fair game when it came to her experiments, you ask? My answer to that would be...good question.

◆◇◆◇◆

The female guild employee continued. “Then next, the collection of luteum golem mud or clay.”

I began taking the mud we’d collected out of my magic bag. There was so much of it that the countertop began to quickly run out of space.

“Ah. Oh. Um... This is...quite a lot...”

The employee looked somewhat flustered, but the request had never actually specified an amount. It had asked for as much as we could collect, so we’d taken the liberty to do just that.

Being aware of the client’s circumstances was a vital part of being an adventurer, but I didn’t think we had any problems in that regard either. The client, in this case, was a large—even for the capital—alchemy workshop, and according to Lorraine, they’d welcome as much as we could provide.

She’d also said that luteum golem mud and clay were frequently used in alchemy, and some workshops even made magic ceramics and porcelain, such as pots and jars, out of them to sell at a profit, so they were always in need of more. She’d been fairly certain that workshops would want to stock up on a lot too, since in about two months, it would be the time of year when nobles threw a lot of parties. For this reason, she’d given us the go-ahead to off-load everything we had, saying she would take whatever was left over. However, she’d been pretty confident that wouldn’t happen.

The guild employee, despite her surprise, soon proved Lorraine correct. “As no amount was specified and the client requested as much as we could provide, we will gladly accept all of this.”

She called over a few other staff members to help, and they began examining the quality of the mud. When they were done, she turned to us.

“This is all of exceedingly good quality. May I ask where you sourced it from?”

“We got it near Lake Petorama,” I explained.

The guild employee nodded, seemingly convinced. “Ah, no wonder. That area is abundant in mana, and the water is quite clean too. The luteum golems that live there tend to make for excellent quality materials. As for your payment, will this suffice?”

The sum written on the sheet of paper she held out was more than enough to satisfy us. Augurey and I nodded to one another, and he signed off on it.

“Finally, we have the wyvern elata. Oh, that explains why you went to Lake Petorama. But...I was under the impression that a number of wyverns are currently nesting there.”

“We can’t give you the specifics, but we worked our way around them,” I said. “The harvesting went fine. Here.”

I began taking the bundles of wyvern elata out of my magic bag. We’d pulled them up roots, soil, and all, so we’d wrapped them each in cloth. We had quite a lot of these too, despite the fact that wyvern elata were usually hard to come by.

Sure enough, the guild employee beamed at us. “These are excellent. Few adventurers have brought us such well-preserved harvests recently. I’ll take these and see about providing you with a bonus payment.”

As a matter of fact, the amount she offered us was an extra fifty percent on top of the usual going rate. Once again, neither Augurey nor I had any objections, so we signed off on it happily.

“That seems to be everything. You’ve fulfilled all of your requests without any issues. May I have your adventurer licenses for a moment?”

We handed them over, and the guild employee checked them against some documents.

“Oh?” She turned to look at me. “Congratulations, Master Rentt Vivie. Completing these requests has qualified you to take the Silver-class Ascension Exam. Would you like to do so?”

“Wait. Really?” I asked.

Although I’d had a lot on my hands recently, I’d still completed the odd job here and there in my spare time. They’d all been quick ones too—chores, really. Most of them could’ve been handled by an Iron-class, but since the clients had been concerned that a total novice would only produce shoddy work, they’d dug a little deeper into their pockets and put out requests for a more experienced Bronze-class adventurer. As such, the requests had been counted as Bronze-class upon completion too.

Still, I hadn’t qualified for Silver-class no matter how many of those jobs I’d stacked up, so I’d been convinced the day I could take the Ascension Exam was a long way off...

“Yes,” the guild employee said. “The requests you turned in today were relatively difficult, in spite of their high necessity, and there was a shortage of people willing to take them, so the merit awarded for them was increased. The requests were also intended for Silver-class adventurers and above, so your Bronze-class status also awarded you a considerable amount of additional merit. As a result, you have acquired the qualifications necessary to undertake the Silver-class Ascension Exam.”

“Me...? Silver?”

The news came so suddenly that it dazed me. I had known that this would happen eventually. After all, unlike the me of the past, the more effort I put in, the stronger my body grew. I’d fought a string of tough opponents recently too, so I was pretty sure my skills were improving as well.

All things considered, it wasn’t particularly weird that this was happening. It was more so the opposite—I’d expected it. Be that as it may, could I have said the same if you’d asked me just a year ago? I had always believed I would become a Mithril-class adventurer one day—my faith in that had been unshakable—but did that mean the cold truth of reality had never once crossed my mind?

No. Of course not. Every time slaying a handful of slimes and skeletons—weak monsters—had brought me to my limit, that reality had hung over me on the trek back home.

The future ahead of me had seemed so dark and heavy. Whenever my mind wandered, the same questions had always ambushed me. Will tomorrow be the day I die? Is that how it will end for me? Never having achieved a single thing. A corpse in the upper layers of the Water Moon Dungeon.

Yet now, I was qualified to take the Silver-class Ascension Exam. Was this truly happening? Or was I just dreaming? I couldn’t stop myself from doubting that it was real, but Augurey and the guild employee were there, and it was because of them that I knew this couldn’t be a dream.

“Not bad, Rentt,” Augurey said. “Now we’re even again. I must confess, though. I would’ve liked to make Gold-class first.”

“I’m afraid I should remind you that the Silver-class Ascension Exam is quite difficult. Although, having taken the Bronze-class exam already, I’m sure you understand that,” the guild employee added.

Augurey was openly happy for me, while the guild employee had given me a very pragmatic warning, keeping my feet solidly on the ground. And she was right. It wasn’t easy. I’d gotten stronger, but the moment I got carried away with myself, I’d slip and lose my footing. That was exactly right. Still...I was climbing. Little by little, but I was really climbing.

As the joy slowly but steadily warmed my heart, I didn’t do a thing to stop it.

◆◇◆◇◆

That said, I couldn’t drop everything and take the exam right away. I had a lot I needed to take care of first. At the very least, I wouldn’t be free until I’d negotiated with the organization that had sent Goblin’s group after us, and escorted the grand guildmaster to Maalt. There was also the question of the princess, but I could probably put that off for later by making up some kind of excuse. Maybe. And that about summed it up for now, unless something changed.

I’d always dreamed of achieving Silver-class, but now that I was actually qualified to take the exam, there were a number of practical problems I needed to deal with. For one, the prospect of suddenly taking it without any preparation was frankly terrifying. I had to ensure that I was fully prepared first, which included having all the right gear, so taking the exam on the spot was out of the question.

Well, not that it would be today, of course. The guild employee had asked me if I wanted to take it, but she’d likely meant the soonest upcoming one.

“I’m happy about qualifying to take the exam, but I’d like to hold off on it for a little longer,” I said. “My first time taking the Bronze-class one taught me that it’s not something you jump into and expect to pass.”

The guild employee smiled and nodded. “A wise decision. A cautious adventurer is a good adventurer. I’m glad to see you possess that quality.”

From the slightly relieved look on her face, it wasn’t hard to guess that a lot of people signed up for the exam the moment they qualified. Maybe they sourced their confidence from the fact that they’d already passed the Bronze-class exam.

The way I saw it, with how nasty the Bronze-class exam already was, the Silver-class one had to be worse. I figured that only made sense, but then again, your average adventurer tended to be the confident type. It was probably more common for one of us to see a Bronze-class exam pass as a sign that Silver-class was guaranteed too. Then, after they’d failed a few times, they’d realize the truth. In that sense, maybe it was pretty similar to the Bronze-class exam. At the end of the day, people just didn’t like to study.

“I’m not so sure about that,” I said. “I don’t think I’m that admirable, really. I just take things slow and steady. That’s how I’ve always done things, and it’s how I always will.”

“You really never change,” Augurey said. “You were the same back in Maalt. It doesn’t matter what became of you. I’m sure you’ll stand firm when you’re Silver-class too, and even beyond that.”

“I hope you’re right...” I replied.

Augurey’s comment about “what became of me” had gone unnoticed by the guild employee, but the meaning was obvious to me. He’d been talking about how I hadn’t changed even after I turned into a monster. He was right too. My nature had stayed the same. It had when I’d become a monster, and it would when I became a Mithril-class adventurer.

“Oh, are you two from Maalt?” the guild employee asked. “No wonder you’re so proficient at harvesting plants.”

“Do adventurers from Maalt have a reputation for that?” I asked.

The guild employee nodded. “Yes. They didn’t used to, but in the last five or six years, most of the adventurers that have moved from Maalt to the capital have been very skilled. The alchemists and herbalists sing their praises.”

“Huh,” I said, nodding. “You don’t say.”

Augurey poked my arm and muttered next to my ear. “She’s talking about all the rookies you taught. Or don’t you remember?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t anything that impressive.”

I’d only taught them the basics that any adventurer needed to know. Although, since I’d studied to be a herbalist myself, maybe I had been a little obsessive about imparting to them the proper way to harvest plants.

“The first surprise every rookie from Maalt gets when they come here is the bonus pay they always earn for the plants they deliver. I know a few of them, and they all say the same thing. Don’t make it out like it’s not a big deal.”

“You think? But anyone can manage it so long as they use a little care.”

“Most adventurers wouldn’t bother putting in that care.”

“Ouch. Can’t really argue with that though.”

“Right?”

Apparently I’d taught Maalt’s rookies something useful. That hadn’t stopped the dragon from eating me, though, which just went to show I hadn’t been careful enough. I’d let curiosity get the better of me. While Augurey’s scares might not have matched mine, I was sure he’d had his fair share of them too. We could both do well by learning from my lessons. We couldn’t let ourselves forget how it felt to be complete rookies, taking great care to do each and every job properly. Not now, not ever.

“Now then, I’ve finished processing your adventurer licenses.” The guild employee handed them back to us. “Is there anything else you require today?”

The stock phrase jolted my memory. “Is the grand guildmaster back yet?”

“Do you have business with him?”

“Yeah, I was sent by Maalt’s guild to make a report to him about the situation there and to escort him back. We heard he’d be back soon, so I thought I’d check in.”

“Ah... I’m terribly sorry, but I’m afraid he hasn’t returned yet. On the contrary, we’re not quite sure when he even will. We’d truly hate to make you wait too long, so if you’d like, we could arrange matters here to make it so that you can return without him, but...”

If they were willing to go that far, then it was likely they really didn’t know when he’d return. Still, that didn’t mean we could just nod along and waltz on back to Maalt. Besides, I didn’t mind staying in the capital for a bit longer. I was grateful that they were willing to free us from the responsibility and let us go back in the worst-case scenario, but for now, I could still wait.

“No, you don’t need to go that far yet,” I said. “Just let us know if he comes back. We have some business to take care of here anyway, so it’s no problem if we stay for a while. There might be times when we’re out, though, so please leave a message at our inn.”

I’d been fairly businesslike with my response, but the guild employee looked positively crestfallen.

“Of course... I’m terribly, terribly sorry about our grand guildmaster. I’ll be sure to lecture his ear off when he comes back. I can only ask that you please bear with us for a little longer...”

◆◇◆◇◆

When we returned to the inn, I could hear Lorraine and the old man having a spirited conversation.

“So you mean to say that unique abilities can reside in anybody?”

“By my reckoning, yes. But whether a person can make use of them depends on their individual talent, just like with mana or spirit. All the same, abilities are treated differently...”

“Why do you think that is?”

“It’s a historical problem, I’d say. I think, in ages old, before people knew of magic or spirit, there were probably still those born with abilities. How do you think they would’ve been treated by a society with no special powers at all?”

“They’d likely have been persecuted.”

“Mmm. Almost certainly...but maybe not all of them. Some might have been treated as chosen ones, or even as gods.”

“And yet, the way ability wielders are treated today...”

“Indeed. But I’m sure you understand why quite well already. Persecution and reverence stem from the same viewpoint. Namely...”

“It’s in the name, isn’t it?”

“You’re as clever as you seem. Yes, ‘unique’ abilities. Those who wield them are seen as outsiders. Whether they’re treated well or poorly doesn’t change that. And so...”

“In the present, while the origins of magic and spirit are invisible to the naked eye, the theories behind them are known throughout the world, to a degree. Thus, unexplainable powers have fallen by the wayside, so to speak.”

“Yes. Unfortunate, isn’t it? Consider for a moment: someone with an ability like mine is born next door to you. If nobody around is capable of standing up to them... Well, you’d have a harder time convincing people not to be scared.”

“This is quite enlightening.”

That was pretty much the gist of what I heard before Augurey and I entered the room. Lorraine and the old man, being of the capability they were, had no doubt already noticed us as we approached. Still, that hadn’t been enough to distract them from their conversation. It sounded like they wanted to get to the truth behind unique abilities and share it with the world. If there’d been any doubt left in my mind that the old man still felt hostile toward us, it was now put to rest. Maybe, in a sense, he felt like we were all in the same boat.

“Ah, you’re back,” the old man said. “No trouble handing in your requests?”

The scary thing was, it didn’t even feel out of place that he was asking me that. I wondered why. Was it because we were both outsiders in the eyes of society? I was a monster, and he was an ability wielder. Sure, those were technically different things, but if we were found out, we’d be persecuted all the same.

Smiling wryly, I replied, “Yeah. They were pretty happy with how we handled all of them—especially the plant harvesting. They said we were really skilled.”

“Really? So that’s what you were doing. We never looked into the exact jobs you took.”

“Yeah, we were harvesting wyvern elata.”

“That’s a common ingredient in fever medicine. You dug them up by the roots, yes?”

“You know your stuff. That’s exactly what we did.”

Siren, sitting at the edge of the room with her arms around her knees, mumbled, “He knows a lot about making medicine. Saved my life with it, when I was little.”

“Oho, you remember that?” the old man asked. “I thought you’d completely forgotten, what with the way you’ve been acting out lately.”

“How could I?! I...owe you my life...” Siren readjusted her hold on her knees and buried her face in them, further proving to me that her every gesture was childish.

The old man watched her as he spoke to us, smiling. “She’s in her rebellious phase. Despite how she looks, she’s still seventeen.”

“Seventeen?!” Augurey exclaimed. “I took her to be much older.”

Me too. From the whole femme fatale thing she had going on, I would’ve guessed she was in her late twenties—not because she seemed mature or anything, but because of the bewitching appeal she exuded...or something like that. That said, now that I knew better, I could see that, beneath all the heavy makeup, her features looked pretty young.

“Now you have the truth of it,” the old man said. “She’s somewhat of a daughter and grandchild to Goblin and me. We’d planned on helping her come into her own as an adult, bit by bit.”

“So when you form parties in your organization, you work together for long enough to develop close relationships?” Lorraine asked.

“I suppose we do. Well, it’s more like the person with the most seniority—me, in this case—goes around scouting out other ability wielders. The people we choose become our subordinates, forming something of a family, and from there we develop bonds as strong as iron. That’s how it goes, more or less.”

“I see... So you have allies other than Goblin and Siren?”

“Yes. I just didn’t bring anyone else along because I thought the three of us would be enough. But the other...how should I put it, factions? The people who belong to other factions are less known to me. I couldn’t tell you much about them.”

It sounded like the old man’s organization of ability wielders was made up of a number of groups arranged in a pyramid command structure. The person at the top would be their chief, who coordinated them all, so they wouldn’t have much reason to interact with each other. They probably shared the same goals and took care to not interfere in one another’s work, but it wasn’t hard to guess that they weren’t close enough to share the specific details of their abilities with each other.

“I’m sure you can guess from what I’ve told you,” the old man said, “but if anyone is going to interfere with your visit, it’ll be the other factions. There’s a high chance they’ll just ignore what I have to say. You’d best stay alert.”

Lorraine put a hand to her forehead. “Again with the danger...”

I agreed with her sentiments, but, hey, it wasn’t like we had much choice in the matter.

“All we can do is pray that Goblin manages to talk them around,” the old man said. “It’s entirely possible this will all end peacefully.”

I kind of doubted that, considering how my luck usually played out, but I quickly shook those thoughts off. I’d just chalk the bad feeling I had up to my imagination. Yep, just my imagination.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Oh, right, Lorraine.” Augurey looked delighted. “You should hear what happened at the guild earlier.”

Even for me, it wasn’t hard to guess what he was about to say.

“Did something happen?” Lorraine asked.

“You bet it did!” Augurey replied. “Rentt finally qualified to take the Silver-class Ascension Exam!”

“Truly? Congratulations, Rentt! It’s been a long time coming. It rankles a bit that you’ll be my match...but occasions this happy don’t come along often. Shall we have a celebratory drink tonight?”

With how high Lorraine’s spirits were, you’d think it had happened to her instead of me.

The old man looked puzzled by Lorraine and Augurey’s behavior. “With your capabilities, shouldn’t acquiring Silver-class qualifications be easy? Is it really something to be so happy over?”

“The thing is,” Lorraine explained, “from your point of view, maybe that’s true. But from ours...it’s different. Truly.”

Her eyes looked a little teary. She gathered herself, though, and prevented any tears from falling, perhaps because her pride wouldn’t let them.

The old man inclined his head to the side. “What do you mean? We all saw the strength of the blow he dealt me. For him, a simple Ascension Exam should be...”

From how the conversation was going, he likely had some idea that it’d taken me a long time to finally get to this point, but he had no clue why that was the case. Completely understandable, really.

Nevertheless, we couldn’t get into specifics without giving away that I was a monster, so I kept my reply vague. “What can I say? I spent ten years at Copper-class, making a living from hunting slimes and goblins. The whole time, I had my sights set on rising...but I never could. Back then, it felt like I was completely blind to the way forward.”

“Even with your strength?” the old man asked.

“Yeah. It was kind of a coincidence, me getting a little stronger. I...never could’ve seen it coming. Still, now I’ve finally got a shot at becoming a Silver-class adventurer. I’m beyond thrilled.”

“Hmm... A coincidence, eh? I think I see what you mean. So your ability awakened only recently?”

The old man sounded like he’d struck upon an idea. Unfortunately, he was completely wrong. I became a monster recently, sure, but it wasn’t like I could just say that. After I thought about it for a bit, though, I realized his guess was actually pretty close. It sounded like a useful cover story too, so I decided to go along with it.

“Eh, something like that,” I said.

“I see. Well, there’s no rhyme or reason as to when abilities decide to awaken. Just as some can use them from birth, others simply wake up to them one day. You’re quite a late bloomer, in that regard.”

Lorraine spoke up, sounding curious. “When did it happen for you?”

“I’ve been able to use mine since I was a child. The same goes for Siren and Goblin. If I was pressed, I’d say cases like ours are the majority, but who knows? It’s not exactly a studied field, and those whose abilities do awaken late tend to have more tragic stories than we.”

“What do you mean?”

“How would you feel if, one day, your friend suddenly turned into a monster?”

Lorraine and Augurey seemed taken aback at the old man’s question. I was a little surprised myself—he’d described my exact situation dead-on—but as he continued, I saw where he was going, and I relaxed.

“You see what I’m getting at. It’s much the same for when somebody’s ability awakens at an older age. Remember our discussion about outsiders being rejected? That practice holds all the more true. A child can...still be loved, as well as pitied, because they were simply born that way. Adults, however... Well, they become unexplainable monsters. That’s the only way people can see them. And there aren’t many folk who’d stay friends with a monster, no?”

Lorraine and Augurey smiled wryly.

“I wouldn’t abandon a friend merely because of a change in their appearance,” Lorraine said, her tone mild. “So long as they were still the same person inside, that would hold true forever. Although...I might ask them for their cooperation in some of my experiments.”

Augurey sounded similarly gentle. “The same goes for me. If standing out from the crowd was enough to break a friendship off, I’d be the one in trouble. People see me as quite eccentric, you know. Because of my clothes. But also, because of my clothes.”

Both of them finished up with a joke, but I knew they were being entirely serious. I wondered who they were talking about. Just kidding. It was me, of course.

The old man seemed to figure that out too. “You have good friends, Rentt.”

“I guess I do, huh?”

My eyes were getting warm, but tears weren’t really something my body produced. I could if I wanted to, but it was just as simple to keep them in. It felt like I had a lot more precise control over my body than when I’d been human. That wasn’t a bad thing, but it did make me feel kind of lonely. During times like this, it’d be nice if I could just be honest and cry.

“I suppose the reason you can maintain your composure so well despite your ability awakening so late is that you have people like these two around you,” the old man said. “But to most of our ilk, the world isn’t so kind. Ability wielders are exposed to malice and betrayal...and many end up warped because of it.”

“You don’t seem like one of them,” Lorraine said.

“I shut everybody up with my strength. Besides, I’m older now. It’s a surprisingly hard thing to do, keeping a grudge against others burning. And I have something to protect now as well. It’s a person’s bonds with others that allow them to be human, yes? Even if they happen to be a monster.”

The old man obviously had himself, Goblin, and Siren in mind, but his words resonated with me too because I thought he was exactly right. I had people like Lorraine and Augurey who accepted me for who I was. That was why, even though my body was that of a monster, I could still be the same person. I was sure of that.

If the chief of the old man’s organization of ability wielders was anything like him, then it couldn’t be that bad of a group—for one that took assassination jobs, that is. But, hey, they probably took other kinds too, right?

◆◇◆◇◆

Flap flap flap!

A sound came from outside the window. I looked over and saw that it was a pigeon, and after a more careful inspection, I realized that something was tied to its leg.

“That’s the pigeon Goblin uses for messages,” the old man said. “You can open the window and let it in, if you’d like.”

I figured he’d given us the chance to say no because of the possibility that it could harm us in some way. After all, there was a chance the paper had been engraved with a magic circle that activated a spell the moment it was opened. But although mass-producing something like that would be quite effective for hits, it wasn’t very practical, considering all the costs involved.

The most expensive investment would be the pigeon itself. Training one that could fly to an intended destination took time, money, and a whole lot else. And then it would be gone in an instant. Not very efficient at all.

After looking at the pigeon, we turned to Lorraine. With her magic eyes, she could see those kinds of traps.

Paper with magic circles on it was a kind of magic item, and since the spell invariably activated when you opened the paper, it usually came preloaded with mana. That was why it didn’t really see usage as a weapon; a trained eye could see through it.

Lorraine studied it cautiously for a bit, then nodded. “It should be fine.”

I opened the window and the pigeon flapped over to roost on Siren’s head.

She paused, before saying, “Scram, you,” but made no attempt to get it off. Maybe she liked animals.

The old man approached her, speaking to us as he did so. “See? I told you animals liked her.” He untied the note from the pigeon’s foot, opened it, and showed it to us.

Unfortunately, it was all in code, so we had no idea what it said. We asked the old man to decipher it, and as he did so, the conversation kind of drifted toward Siren’s ability.

“That was pretty neat,” I said. “It flew straight for Siren. Looks kind of fun.”

“Sure, one bird is cute,” Siren said, looking weary, “but you try going somewhere with hundreds of birds with my ability. It’ll feel like you’re dying.”

I pictured it, and it was terrifying. To begin with, birds—especially wild ones—were surprisingly dirty animals. In enough numbers, their droppings would be plopping about everywhere. Gross.

“You didn’t have any problems in the woods though,” I said. We’d traveled through them just a few days ago, and I hadn’t seen any unusual gatherings of birds or animals around her.

“I can keep it in check if I want to,” Siren said. “But I haven’t always been able to do that. Some of the things I’ve been through...”

It seemed like she proceeded to put what she’d said into practice right away, because she shifted like she was focusing on some kind of invisible power. The pigeon flew off her head as though it had been freed from a spell and landed on a hat stand in the corner of the room.

Siren exhaled. “Doing that always tires me out.” She relaxed, and the pigeon jerked up and flew back over to sit atop her head.

“If it tires you out so soon, then the journey must have been rough,” Lorraine said.

“Distance is a factor too,” Siren replied. “If they’re this close, then I need to stay really focused. But if they’re, let’s say, outside of this room or farther away, then I don’t have to try so hard.”

While it sounded like an extremely handy power to have at first, given that it was basically magic that didn’t need mana to fuel it, it seemed like it wasn’t all upsides. It had its own difficulties too. Unique abilities came hand in hand with hardship in the first place, so it was hard to envy having them at all, really.

The old man looked as though he’d finished reading, so I spoke up. “So what does it say?”

“Goblin met with the chief and managed to reach an agreement,” he replied. “I knew it was right to leave the job up to him.”

Augurey whistled. “Not bad.” It might’ve seemed casual, but he was just like that. “So where’s the meeting place? And are we going now?”

“No, that would be too soon,” the old man said. “You’re to go to our base of operations tomorrow.”

“Are you going to take us there?”

“If you don’t mind. But I’m a little hesitant for all of us to go. One of you should stay behind. I’d like Siren to do the same too, if possible.”

The old man was, in all likelihood, thinking about how they could be killed for failing their mission if they went. It sounded like he wanted Siren to get out alive, at least. Plus, if we left her with one of us and the organization decided to try and kill the rest of us going to their base, we could threaten to expose them to make them think twice. All in all, the old man’s suggestion seemed like the best idea. The only problem was...

“Who’s going to stay?” Lorraine asked, looking at me and Augurey.

Augurey quickly replied, “I think it should be me. Oh, but it’s not because I’m scared, okay? They could send somebody here after you leave, and since I’m more familiar with the city, I would do a better job of giving them the runaround.”

“True, you would,” Lorraine said. “Rentt and I don’t know the capital that well. Does this work for you, Rentt?”

I nodded.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Hey,” Goblin said, entering the room. “You probably don’t need me anymore, but I came back anyway. Got something I should tell you too.”

Today was the day we would be heading for the organization’s base of operations, with the old man to guide us. There’d been no real need for Goblin to drop by, considering we’d gotten his messenger pigeon, but from the sound of things, they’d sent him to get us anyway. He seemed a little listless, and from his appearance, I could kind of tell why.

“Why are you so beaten up?” I asked.

Goblin was covered in wounds. His clothes were fresh, but they didn’t hide all of his injuries. Although none of them seemed too serious, scars and bruises practically covered his whole body. The organization must have found out beforehand that he’d failed his mission, and tortured him terribly.

“Yeah, about that...” Goblin scratched his head. “I explained what happened to everybody—by everybody, I mean just the people gramps personally scouted, not the others—but none of them believed me when I said gramps lost to two Silvers and a Copper. I’ve got gramps’s word that happened though, and I saw that massive spell you fired in the distance, so I doubled down and repeated myself over and over...but no dice. In the end, it turned into a bit of a scuffle, so here I am.”

The old man looked exasperated. “Those little... Well, so be it. They’ll understand if they hear it from me directly.”

He was coming with us to their base today, so I supposed that would all get cleared up. They’d have to believe it if it came from the person himself...right? I hoped so, anyway.

Goblin seemed to be having the same doubts as I was, because he spoke up, a faraway look in his eyes. “We can only hope... Anyway, I came to tell you all to be careful. You never know with that lot around. Ah, as for the main issue, there’s no problem. The chief’s happy to meet you.”

“How did you get him to agree?” Lorraine asked.

“I said, ‘Upon close observation of the targets, we discovered that there were discrepancies in the prior information we were given. Consequently, to our sincerest regret, direct contact became necessary. Furthermore, according to Spriggan’s assessment, the targets were individuals who it would be problematic to make enemies of. We were unsure of our chances of success without backup, but left with no choice, we confronted them.’”

Goblin continued. “‘Then, our targets expressed to us their desire to meet with our superior. Naturally, this is no simple request, but as we believed there was merit in it, we returned to give our report, to ask how you wish to proceed. Should you wish not to hear them out, then perhaps bringing them back to our base of operations may qualify as us fulfilling our duty?’ That’s more or less what I tried to get across.”

Huh, so he’d decided to mostly stick to the truth? It didn’t sound like he’d mentioned that they’d lost to us or that we wanted them to stop targeting us, but those were hard subjects to bring up. I thought that was the correct choice, because if he got too detailed about it, they’d likely just call him a traitor.

Still, given what Goblin had said, there was definitely a chance the organization would try to kill us when we got to their base. I’d manage, somehow or other, but Lorraine would... Actually, she was perfectly capable of protecting herself. At any rate, if push came to shove, we had options. Leaving that aside...

“‘Spriggan’?” I asked.

One of the words Goblin had used had me curious. Well, I could tell who it was referring to via context. I only brought it up because I wanted a more definite answer.

“I’m sure you figured it out, but that’s me,” the old man said. “I’m called ‘Spriggan.’”

“Spriggan...” Lorraine repeated. “A type of fairy with the ability to grow bigger. It’s said they’re similar to dwarves, but not much is specifically known about them. I imagine the code name is derived from your ability.”

“Yes. Just like ‘Goblin’ and ‘Siren.’ Although I must say, I seldom have to explain it to others like this.”

The old man smiled wryly. He was still forced to tell us the truth, so we’d apparently stumbled across something important.

Augurey turned to the old ma—to Spriggan, looking curious. “Do the other members of your organization have similar names?”

“Not everybody, but most of the principal figures, yes.”

“Why don’t the others?”

“There are a good number of us with weak abilities, or ones that are rather unclear. Finding a name that accurately represents their individuality is difficult. But we only use code names within the organization anyway. We all have our own real ones, of course, so we’re not too fussy over code names. You could consider it a form of entertainment.”

He was right; the way they picked their code names did sound a little low-effort. If they only used them internally, then keeping things simple made sense. Considering the fact they were supposed to be a secret, us finding out was a bit unfortunate for them.

“Does the chief have one too?” Lorraine asked.

She’d probably figured that if we knew his code name, we could come up with some countermeasures. Curiosity was likely a big part of her reason for asking too. If all she wanted was the countermeasures, she could’ve just asked about the chief’s ability directly.

“The chief is the chief,” Goblin said. “The name doesn’t represent any kind of ability either.”

“What is the chief’s ability?”

“Naturally, I’d like to say that I can’t tell you... Wouldn’t that be courageously dashing of me? But the truth is, I’m afraid I really don’t know.”