Chapter 347

“N-new… house?”

I was so behind on organizing my thoughts that I just repeated what Blazer had said to me. But then it was Bruce, not Blazer, who answered,

“We rounded up our funds to add to the money Tifa had prepared, and got enough to buy us a new base of operations. That’s pretty much it. We’ll be keeping in touch with Itsuki back at our old place, and she’ll be sending the kids over so they could live here instead.”

I see, I see.

So that’s one of the other reasons why they left War Demon Nation and its progressively stricter regulations behind, and moved over to Eddo, the capital of T’oued. The Pochisley Agency still carried out its original purpose — paying off children who wanted to leave Beilanea’s Colorful Food District; using the Teleportation spell, they could be sent over this way. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, since they’ll get to familiarize themselves with foreign cultures from a young age, too.

“But are you sure this is all right? Did you already go through the procedures to– …Oh.”

I almost forgot — Back in the day, I also entered through… technically illegal means. Still, wouldn’t it be trouble down the line, operating here without ever going through immigration?

Ryan looked at me, seeming to know what I was thinking.

“In fact, we did, yes. The Resistance has taken care of all the necessary steps. It is not without its price, of course.”

“What do you mean, price?”

“We are to provide military assistance to T’oued in times of emergency — Simply put, the whole team of Silver is under this Nation’s employment.”

“I see.”

A team of adventurers with an average rank of S would be invaluable to the Nation, no doubt about that. But I’d assume that going through the normal procedures would take a lot of time… The Resistance — or maybe just Irene and Warren — must have really known what they were doing, being able to get things done so quickly.

And that note Ryan gave to Blazer when we first arrived here must have been about this.

“Hey, how long are you gonna stand there for? C’mon, take a seat.”

I nodded to Reid and sat down on one of the cushions in front of me. Haruhana and Mana proceeded to sit at my sides.

For some reason, though, Pochi sat on my lap — and Lylia stood behind me. What’s with this cross-shaped formation, and why do I feel so heavily pressured?.

“Hehehe… Well, Blazer, let’s get started.”

“Start what?”

I turned to ask Betty, but she only chuckled before turning back to Blazer.

“All right, let’s begin the Silver’s meeting.”

Oh, I see.

“So, Ryan, I heard that we’ve been assigned a mission already?”

“Yes — The Nation of T’oued has sent a request for the Silver to eliminate a large group of monsters that had been sighted near the town of Hita’achi. The town in question is to the north-west of here. The reward for successful extermination is 60,000 Gold. The details do not specify the number of targets, but considering that this is government work, the compensation does not seem bad at all.”

“Heh, that’s more than what the War Demon Nation would have paid, for sure.”

With Bruce saying that, Blazer shook his head and replied,

“If the horde turns out to have SS-ranked monsters, though, I don’t think it’d be worth the difficulty.”

“Blazer, man… That actually makes it better!”

“Yeah, my brother is right… for once. I know you’re prioritizing everyone’s safety, but we’ve got to gain as much experience as we can, to prepare for the Devil King’s resurrection.”

“Hmm…”

Blazer put his hand over his chin and spent a moment thinking.

Both his and the siblings’ opinions were valid. He wanted to maximize the organization’s chances of continued survival, while Bruce and Betty wanted to fight SS-ranked monsters for the sake of long-term benefits.

And we don’t know if Lylia’s suggestion is viable yet. There’s the procedure we have to complete to get past Kamiyama, and then there’s a ton of other stuff that we need to do.

“What’s your take on this, Asley?”

“Huh? Really, you’re asking me?”

Blazer’s question caused all eyes to focus on me. I’m not a member of the Silver, but Blazer must have a good reason to ask me for an opinion.

Looks like I have to give him the best answer I can.

“Well, thinking about it, we’ve gotten so strong that we can’t exactly get stronger without going against dangerous targets, right? I wouldn’t want us to do things the hard way either, but we won’t be able to draw out our full potential unless we face death at least once… I guess? Hahaha…”

I gave a serious answer, but then Pochi relaxed her tense expression. Wait, did I say something I wasn’t supposed to?

“…I guess I’ve been prioritizing things differently.”

Blazer grumbled, and Bruce and Reid started chuckling.

“H-hey, how about I go with you, then?”

“Nah, no way. You’ve got a lot on your plate already.”

“Yeah, what she said. You’re the magic classroom’s teacher, and there’s still the Kamiyama procedures to complete.”

Betty and Mana reminded me of my current tasks — and yes, they were right.

Then, I felt a sudden gust of wind blowing behind me, passing by my right side and stopping in front.

“I’ll go.”

“You will, Lylia?”

“What? I have taken some interest in this team of adventurers, that’s all. And if I’m with you, you’ll be able to hunt stronger monsters while staying relatively safe, right?”

Lylia folded her arms and said to Blazer.

She was right — under Lylia’s supervision, even SS-ranked monsters wouldn’t be that scary. And she must be good enough at teaching to give proper combat advice by now, too.

“What do you think, Leader? I think Miss Lylia’s suggestion is not a bad one at all.”

Ryan is totally in — man, he really knows how to handle the situation. Normally, it’d be better to ask for the leader’s final decision, but he just non-subtly implied his approval as the team’s second-in-command.

Which means the others from Faltown are also going to…

“Leader, I want in on this as well.”

“Me too, me too! I’ll do my best!”

There we go. Reyna and Adolf promptly placed their votes of agreement.

“I wanna go, too.”

“Same.”

And so did Reid and Mana.

Haruhana said nothing.

And Natsu was swaying around while sitting on her cushion. Looks like she’s raring to go, too.

“…Right. And we wouldn’t want to decline our first mission from this Nation, either. Let’s have Miss Lylia… babysit us for this mission, then.”

This long process to reach a decision really goes to show how big the team has become. The thing that enables them to get along this well is probably the mutual trust — Blazer trusting Ryan to make the right choices, and vice versa.

…Hmm? Wait a second…

“By the way, where are Idéa and Midors right now?”

They weren’t present during the party quest run, and they’re not here, either. Wouldn’t the team have a hard time out there, what with Natsu being the only available mage right now?

“Sir Barun suggested that they went north with him for training, so they’re going there right now.”

“Sir Barun’s… training?”

“Actually, no. There’s a skilled mage up there, apparently, who’s open to taking in a few students. I gave them permission to go, of course.”

Barun has gotten much stronger, too, from what I’ve sensed during the brief time I met him. But now he’s going to train under someone else — that someone must be quite powerful.

“They could’ve just waited to take lessons from the new classroom! Isn’t that right, Master?”

Hearing Pochi, Betty let out a dry chuckle.

And of course, I was of the same opinion as her.

“C’mon, Pochi… Sir Barun might count himself in, but there’s NO WAY the two others are going to let me teach them.”

“Ah! Yes, because they used to bully you back in school! I almost forgot!”

“What!? Don’t bring that up!”

I was too late to shut Pochi’s mouth. Everyone heard it — that embarrassing, dark spot in the history of my life.

“You know, Asley, the thing you chose to do wasn’t exactly the easy way either. Those two are probably sorry for what they did, and that’s why they wouldn’t feel right about doing things your way.”

Sounds like Bruce is trying to cover for them… but man, his reasoning feels as flimsy as it gets.

If I hadn’t helped Lina too much when we entered the Magic University, maybe I might’ve been able to get along with Hornel, Midors, and Idéa just fine. Or maybe I could’ve better handled my interactions with them… But man, why does the maintaining of human relationships have to be so hard?

“Well, never mind them! I’m gonna take Asley’s classes!”

Natsu spoke up cheerfully, saying exactly what I wanted to hear right now.

“You can count on me, Natsu! If you get good enough, I’ll teach you a super awesome water spell!”

“Yeah! Ahahaha!”

After that, we moved on to discussing today’s monster hunts, offering whatever opinion, consideration, and advice we had come up with. Lylia, Pochi, and I participated as well, of course, and we were able to exchange quite a lot of valuable information.

By the end of the meeting, Lylia was surprised, saying that she had never seen a team so thorough and careful when it comes to hunting monsters.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

The following day, Lylia and the Silver headed to Hita’achi early in the morning, and I woke up in my room in this new house. 

The Pochi pillow is as good as it’s ever been, but it feels kind of strange, waking up in a big yet empty building like this.

I proceeded to drag Pochi along as I headed to the bathroom.

“Hmm, it should be this way, right?”

“Master… I’m still sleepy.”

Huh, strange. I’m hearing some noises coming from the living room.

Did someone forget something, and came back to grab it?

I decided to head to the living room instead. And once there, I saw someone I didn’t expect to be here now, cooking breakfast.

“Good morning, Sir Asley.”

Haruhana is standing there, cheerfully preparing three servings’ worth of food.

“…Huh?”