CH 4

*konnn* *konnn*

The sound of the dawn bell echoing made me straighten up.

“You shouldn’t be doing this!”

I tried flailing my legs to get him to put me down, but the ends of his mouth only dropped in dissatisfaction and he returned to rubbing against me. This guy, is he a cat?

The longer he held me, the more embarrassed I became. It was hard to see him because his bangs had grown, but Fikar was surprisingly handsome. People in this world have skeletons similar to Westerners, though, so it’s like all of them have a filter that makes them good-looking.

“You just got back, right, Fikar? Why don’t you go get changed and relax?”

Nodding, Fikar started walking with me still in his hands. Are you going to walk like this the whole 5 minutes back to the house? This isn’t strength training…

“Hold it, I still have to go to work… Also, I’m renting a room above the guild’s office right now. The house was too big for just one person.”

The ends of his mouth dropped even more.

The house where we had both lived was where Gartis-san’s younger brother had once lived with his family. They had run a store nearby until about three years ago, when they moved to the royal capital because their sons were being accepted to knight and medical schools one after another. Because of all the growing boys that had once lived there, the house was big. On the first floor, there was a living room, a kitchen, a pantry, a laundry room, a bathroom1, and a large storage room, while the second floor had four bedrooms. It was frankly a pain in the butt for me to clean all by myself.

This world was full of creatures completely different from the ones I knew, including those screaming plants. Many of them were large and ferocious, so there was a well-developed Adventurer’s Guild that took care of jobs like extermination and gathering rare materials.

Although the Adventurer’s Guild sometimes took care of the rare dangerous tasks like defeating a big dragon, most of their requests were so closely tied with everyday life and so many people were involved in its operations that most people said that it was less of an “Adventurer’s Guild” and moreso just a “Guild”.

For example, if there were a request to help gather herbs for cooking, both employer and client must’ve been members of the guild, so most people in this world were registered as adventurers regardless of their occupation. For this reason, there was a guild branch in every town to take care of requests and administrative duties.

Gartis-san was the director of the guild branch in Tortea and, after consulting him, I was allowed to borrow the spare room above the office on the condition that I take on many night shifts.

“The house was aired out the day before yesterday, but I might need to clean it some more… so stop it and let me down!”

Fikar nodded slowly, only to continue trying to walk away with me in his arms. I flailed around some more and he eventually stopped, letting out a sigh that embodied the feeling of inevitability. I let out a sigh, finally back on the ground. It’s okay for me to sigh here too, right?

Fikar was rather stubborn. He just didn’t express it in words.

I retrieved the basket of dried salt mushrooms and firmly declared, “It’s Vernal Equinox Day, you know! There’s lots of work to be done.”

Vernal Equinox Day was also a special day for the guild. It was also known as “Departure Day” and was said to be the best day for adventurers to start their journey. Originally, the famous hero of old, Nanchara-san, departed on this day and accomplished something important. Because of this apparent auspiciousness, it was also the day that particularly ambitious 6-year-olds might depart for Tortea.

Why would they come to this town?

The creatures around here were relatively small and gentle, and there were plenty of requests suitable for beginners.

In general, a region in this world had either mostly weak creatures or mostly strong creatures. For example, the city of Galgancia, dubbed the Rock Fortress, was surrounded by creatures so dangerous that no one could leave the city without wearing armor. Tortea, on the other hand, was so peaceful that there were pretty much no creatures that gathered here to feed, even if someone fell in the woods bloodied and battered. I’m glad that this was the place I had almost collapsed in.

It was a very safe town for “adventurer eggs”, the name given to beginners. Many children debut in the town where they were born, but there’s a custom of coming to Tortea if you dream of becoming a noble, a knight, or an acclaimed adventurer. After all, the famous hero Nanchara-san also started here.

“… anyway… Welcome back, Fikar. I’m going to be busy for now, so I’ll talk to you later.”

I said goodbye to Fikar, who had regret in his eyes and trudged off with a slouched back, and I hurried back to the office.

“Good morning, Sumire. You’re early again today.”

“Good morning, Cecile-san.”

Cecile-san was alone, making tea in the first-floor office. She had long light-peach colored hair and her emerald eyes were accentuated by her nearly-translucent white skin. I’ve heard that fairies exist in this world and are very beautiful, and people who claimed to have seen fairies said that Cecile-san was like a fairy. In other words, she was extremely beautiful.

She usually worked as a weaver, but sometimes came to help in the guild when things got busy.

“Dad wanted you to come to the initiation ceremony. It’ll be your first time seeing it, right?”

Also, she was the daughter of the bear-man, Gartis-san, and the big strong woman, Mesil-san. I can’t help but wonder about the mysterious genes of this family. 

“Yay~ I did a lot of prep yesterday, so all I need now is some Basero ink.”

Basero ink was a kind of ink used for the youngest adventurers, made from 25 kinds of powdered herbs that were mixed and liquified by a magician. Whenever I hear “magician”, I always imagine a wizard stirring a pot of boiling, eerie-colored liquid, but the magicians in this world didn’t seem to do that at all.

There was a large amount of powder piled up for the coming season and there was no point in making only just enough for the day, so there was still work to do.

Leaving the office to Cecile-san, I went to the cobblestone plaza in the town center, where many people were already gathered even though it was early in the morning.

This was the one day of the year that stores would already begin to attract customers at this hour. The festive pastries and candies associated with this day were popular as good luck charms and sold out quickly. The crowds were concentrated near the stores that lined the plaza, some facing the storefronts and some facing the center of the plaza.

In the center of it all stood several guild workers and adventurers, including Gartis-san, and some small, fidgety children. There were a total of twelve 6-year-olds participating in this year’s Departure Day ceremonies. I knew some of them from the neighborhood, but there were others I had never seen before. Some looked nervously at their parents in the crowd, some sang happily, and some wanted to touch the sword of an adult adventurer. 

Soon enough, a trumpet was blown and the free-spirited children were lined up in a row, where they would each receive a small knife from Gartis-san, who was dressed like an adventurer in armor. The knives were made from the fang of a large dragon called an “Ooryu”, so they were sturdy enough to never break even if they were to be roasted over a fire regularly — many veterans still carry it with them. I got one with a flower engraving on its sheath when I joined the guild.

When it was their turn, each child knelt on the cobblestones and extended their hands. Gartis-san then placed the knife there with both hands and ruffled the kids’ hair carefreely. The child might then look at the knife shyly, or they might jump with joy, to the amusement of the crowd.

Then, 10 adventurers formed two opposing rows, raising their weapons to form an archway for the children to depart through. These adventurers were admired by the children — they were the best in town and each of their weapons was interesting, ranging from the axe used by Gartis-san to a greatsword and a club.

After some encouragement from the adventurers, the children were led off by knights on horseback as the crowd applauded. I wondered if I could spot any parents wiping away tears.

“Yaa~ This is always the best! Reminds me of when I was young.”

“I remember how excited I was at the start~”

“Seeing all the new little adventurers, it feels like spring has arrived!”

As I watched the spectators follow the children, Gartis-san, who had finished his big role, approached me with Mesil-san.

“Gartis-san, that was so cool~”

“Ga~hahaha, wasn’t it? It’s the highlight of my duties as the director!”

“Don’t praise him too much, Sumire, or he’ll get carried away. If you keep going, the office is going to be a lot noisier for a little while.”

Yes, in other towns, Departure Day is to set off for Tortea. But since this is already Tortea, Departure Day here ends with a parade around the area. I’ve heard that children who travel from far away on dangerous journeys are sometimes accompanied by many strong knights, but in Tortea, they don’t even leave the city, so the knights just lead their horses with a gentle trot. It’s truly idyllic.

“Now, Sumire, let’s go back and get ready! It’s going to be your first time as a leader!”

“Coming~”

A leader is one who is tasked with guiding inexperienced adventurers through their first requests. For safety reasons, leaders are required to be at least two levels higher than the highest-ranked adventurer being led.

And today, it’s the day I debut as a leader.

TL Notes:

1: I’m not sure what exactly “体を洗う場所にトイレ” means, but it sounds like a full bathroom?…

2: On a more general note, I’m not really sure how to approach a first-person narrative like this story since I usually read/write third-person narratives. I’m trying to stick to my usual ‘default’ tense of past tense, but I feel like it’s a little clunky for the time being because of all the times where present tense just feels more natural. I’m very hesitant to switch my ‘default’ tense to present tense, so I’ll keep trying for now — I know that some people really hate it when they have to read an author/writer that constantly switches tenses for little to no reason.