Volume 2 - CH 1.2

The Guild Elf

Translated by SoundDestiny

Edited by Kaepinned

The kingdom in the western part of the continent – the Kingdom of Zain.

The royal capital at its centre was in a victorious mood after defeating a great power, the Arslanian Empire, in the previous war.

Invasion by a great presence with overwhelming national power and the treachery of the nobles with fiefdoms on the border plunged the Kingdom of Zain to the brink of destruction.

The one who saved the country from such a crisis was the king’s younger brother – Raidorl Zain, who was banished to the frontier five years ago.

The boy, who should have been banished to a frontier city because of a disagreement with his older brother over his selection for the holy sword Dáinsleif, grew up and went down to the battlefield to defeat the imperial army.

Having survived an unprecedented crisis, the royal capital was enveloped in festivities every day.

Many stalls lined the main streets, selling alcohol and food. Even though it was broad daylight, revelry was going on all over the place and men with red faces were laughing and sipping their glasses.

There was a building where a group of roughnecks hung out in one corner of the city that was in a festive mood.

At first glance, the building looked like a bar. But when the door opened, a wide hall was waiting with half of which was occupied by round tables and waitresses with aprons carrying drinks and food on trays.

However, the remaining half of the space was occupied by a horizontal counter, behind which a row of women in chicly designed suits were greeting visitors.

The name of the building was the ‘Adventurers’ Guild’. It was a facility where adventurers, those who made their living exterminating demons, gathered and undertook work.

On a board on the wall, countless sheets of paper were pasted up, on which were written requests from the royal capital and surrounding villages. Adventurers registered with the guild risked their lives to fulfil these requests and received money in return.

“Gahahahahahaha! Suck on the Empire! Long live the kingdom!”

“Winning the war makes the booze taste good!　Gyahahahahahahahaha!”

In the tavern adjacent to the guild, the same victory celebrations were being held as outside.

It was not as if they themselves had defeated the empire, but at the bar, the rugged-looking adventurers were slurping down their drinks without doing any work.

Adventurers who made a living by exterminating demons often had to face death. Therefore, many of them were playboys who lived for the day and had no money for the night. They could not pass up the opportunity to celebrate their victory, and the revelry had been going on for days in the taverns.

“They really have a nice disposition to drink alcohol in the daytime without taking any requests……”

“Even though I’m at work..I’m really sick of drunks.”

The guild’s receptionist gave a disgusted look to adventurers who were drinking at the guild’s counter.

The girls who whispered behind the drunkards, were all good-looking and looked gorgeous standing there in their women’s suits.

“The requests keep piling up because those people don’t do their jobs. How long is this going to go on like this?”

A young receptionist with a childish face murmured in annoyance.

Her name was Riona, with wavy chestnut hair down her back. She was a new receptionist who just joined the guild this spring.

As a new recruit, her job performance was questionable, but her cute, childlike appearance was very popular among adventurers and she was very useful in the guild.

Half of the receptionist’s job was to process and settle requests and the other half was to persuade adventurers to do the work for them. Many adventurers accepted unworthy requests, as recommended by the lovely-looking Riona.

Receptionists were often hired for their excellent looks in order to holster adventurers, and…..Riona was fulfilling her role without any incident.

……But now, the board was already full. There was nowhere to put the new request form.

Riona’s lips twitched and she moved the large number of documents in her hands up and down.

The guild’s requests had been piling up ever since the Kingdom of Zain went to war with its neighbours. The reason was that the adventurers who were supposed to take on the requests have fled the capital in fear of imperial invasion or volunteered to become soldiers to save their country.

During the war, the guilds had lost all human interest and looked like a collapsed bar. When the war was finally over, adventurers returned to the guild only to drink and feast. Requests were piling up without being fulfilled, putting pressure on the guild.

The guild was a business that put trust first. If requests were left unfulfilled, they would lose credibility and new requests would stop coming in.

The receptionist also used various methods to motivate adventurers and push them to submit requests, but …. this was not enough. The number of requests did not seem to be decreasing at all. On the contrary, the number of requests to exterminate demons seemed to be increasing more and more. The receptionists other than Riona were also tilting their heads in wonder at the apparent abnormality.

“It’s true that……It’s partly because these drunkards are slacking off, but there’s been a strange number of demon attacks recently, hasn’t there? There have been reports of sightings even in areas where demons don’t normally appear……Is this a sign of a natural disaster?”

“If it was a natural catastrophe, it should have happened before the war started! Then the people of the Empire and the adventurers who are slacking off over there would have all been killed!”

“That’s a harsh thing to say, isn’t it……Well, it’s no wonder you’ve been working so hard and never taking a day off.”

Riona glared at the adventurers who were drinking bitterly. The senior receptionist patted her on the shoulder sympathetically, and she laboured over the stressed-out junior.

“Ah, welcomー”

At the same time, the entrance door opened and the doorbell rang. Riona looked at the entrance to see if there were more drunks again but saw a young man and woman stepping into the guild.

A man with silver hair and a woman with golden hair. Both were well-dressed. Both of them had swords at their waists, and their seamless gait indicated that they were people who were used to fighting.

‘Not a lover, not a companion……eh, what kind of relationship is that?’

At first glance, they might not look like a beautiful couple but there was a subtle distance between them, indicating that they were not that close. At the very least, they did not appear to be lovers or a couple.

The man had an imposing appearance and looked familiar. Riona did not recognise him, but he might be an adventurer who had been active in another town. The woman, on the other hand, was scurrying around like a lady, and it was clear that this was her first visit to the guild.

“I want to meet the guildmaster. Can you call her for me?”

The man walked straight up to the counter and spoke to Riona, who was just in front of him. The woman was reading one of the request forms on the board with interest, without paying any attention to the man.

“Well……do you have an appointment?”

“No, I do not. But I do have a……letter of introduction.”

The man took out a sealed letter and placed it on the counter.

Riona picked it up and checked the envelope, which was signed on the back in dirty handwriting. The distinctive script, which looked like a dancing worm, was very difficult to read, but she could barely decipher that it was signed 『Zafis Bartolomeo』.

It was an unfamiliar name. At least, Riona had never heard of it.

“Could you please wait while I get confirmation?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Er, …… then, to the Guildmaster…….”

Riona turned around and tried to walk to the back of the guild, and after walking a few metres, she realised she hadn’t heard the important thing.

“Aaah! I beg your pardon! May I ask your name……?”

Riona rushed back to the counter and asked the man his name in a cracked voice.

The man opened his mouth with a dumbfounded look on his face, as if he had just been asked what she should normally have asked first.

“….It’s Raidorl. Raidorl Zain. If you want me to say my title……well, I’m the king’s younger brother, in case you’re wondering.”

The man – Raidorl Zain – said it clearly and snorted with a somewhat stunned look.

〇　　　　　　　　　〇　　　　　　　　　〇

The young receptionist, who appeared to be a newcomer, acted quickly.

When she heard Raidorl’s name, she disappeared into the back room, looking flustered, confused and returned without making Raidorl wait more than five minutes.

“O,ooooooo..thank you for waiting!　Please come into the back room!”

[TL:Omataseitashimashita! Hence, the O,ooo.]

“….Aaa.”

She didn’t do anything wrong but the receptionist, who even had…..tears in her eyes, made Raidorl feel sorry for some reason.

‘I’m not sure what happened, but I’ll apologise when I get the chance…….Her name is……『Riona』?’

Raidorl checked the nameplate attached to her chest, and the name of the new receptionist was etched in his mind.

“’I’m going to go and talk to the guildmaster, …… what about you?”

“I’m good. Onii-san can go and see her alone.”

When Raidorl checked with his companion, the blonde girl – Imperial Princess Celia Von Arslanian – replied without looking back. Celia was reading the paper on the request board intently, her blue eyes sparkling. Raidorl wondered what made her seem so interested looking at it.

“…..Well, okay.”

Raidorl shrugged his shoulders and stepped into the room behind the counter.

At the entrance to the room to which he had been brought, a metal plaque was hung, saying: 『No entry except by authorised personnel』.

“P,please enter! Master is waiting for you!”

“Well, thank you for guiding me…….”

“Of course……Heyan?!!”

The receptionist called Riona opened the door for Raidorl and then hit her head on the door she opened herself and shouted in agony. What an…… extremely amusing creature. It was enough to make Raidorl want to forget his purpose and observe her for a while.

“Come in. Please come in.”

“Mmm…..”

A voice called out from inside the room. He wanted to observe the cowering receptionist a little longer, but since he had been invited by the owner of the room, he could not refuse to enter. Raidorl stepped into the room and slowly closed the door so as not to hit the receptionist who was fainting in agony in the corridor.

“Welcome, Your Royal Highness and the king’s brother, Raidorl Zain. My name is Saina Cruz and I am in charge of this guild.”

Waiting for Raidorl in a chic, tidy room was a young woman in a casual suit. The woman, who identified herself as Saina Cruz, was about in her early twenties and had a very unusual appearance,  green hair and green eyes.

As recommended by Cruz, Raidorl sat on the sofa in the middle of the room, while Cruz sat on the sofa opposite him across the table.

“…..Sorry to interrupt your busy schedule, Guildmaster”

“If I am introduced by the renowned adventurer Zafis-sama, then I cannot help but meet you. And even more so when it is the arrival of the hero who became the kingdom’s salvation.”

“『Zafis–sama』……Is that drunken old man really such a big shot?”

Zafis Bartolomeo. A leader of the adventurers in the pioneer city. He was a mentor to Raidorl, but his only merit was to fight……and he gave the strong impression of being a useless man who drank alcohol all year round.

He was not the kind of respectable man who would command the respect of someone in the high position of guild master in the royal capital.

However, Cruz still offered words of praise with a gentle smile on her face.

“Zafis-sama is the one who proposed the construction of a pioneer city as a frontline base, concerned about the frequent damage caused by demons in the southern part of the kingdom. In addition, instead of the royal court being reluctant to provide funds, he gave up his personal fortune and built the town by persuading influential people to donate money. His pioneering spirit and high aspirations to protect the kingdom from the threat of demons have been emulated by many adventurers.”

“………I see.”

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Raidorl nodded his head somewhat bitterly.

When he heard someone praise  his sword master and second father, Zafis, Raidorl was more embarrassed than happy.

Raidorl decided to change the subject, casually turning his face away.

“By the way…..Cruz-dono is quite young. I suppose it must have been quite an achievement to rise to the rank of Guildmaster at your age?”

“No, I am old enough not to be called young, you know?”

Cruz brushed her shoulder-length green hair back with an elegant hand. Then long, pointed ears emerge from beneath the soft hair.

“I am an elf, so I age more slowly than most humans. I may look this way, but I am long past a hundred years old, you know?”

“Elves or……subhumans must have gone to a lot of trouble to settle in human settlements.”

The elves were a subhuman race living mainly in the southern part of the continent.

They lived in the forests and rarely left the forests where they were born and they were very closed-minded. Nevertheless, there were the occasional oddballs who ventured out of the forest into the outside world and moved to human settlements.

They were rarely seen in the Kingdom of Zain, and this was the first time that Raidorl had seen them in person.

In this country, discrimination against subhumans was not strong, so they didn’t have much difficulty. But if the Empire had taken over, they would have been treated very badly.

“The Arslanian Empire’s discrimination against subhumans is well known. That empire is often at war with the subhuman countries of the South, so it’s not surprising…..”

“I can only thank His Highness Raidorl for driving away the Imperial Army. I will help you in any way I can…….So, what can my guild do for you today?”

Cruz asked the main question.

Raidorl nodded with a smile on his mouth, [Hmm], and mentioned the purpose of his visit to the guild.

〇　　　　　　　　　〇　　　　　　　　　〇

After an unscheduled meeting with Raidorl, Saina Cruz sat down on a chair and sighed deeply.

“…….”

The elf, freed from her nervousness, turned her attention idly to the paintings in the parlour. The paintings, which had been on display since the time of the previous guildmaster, were sunburnt from the sunlight through the windows and the colours had faded in some places.

‘It’s time to replace them with new ones……. Shall we redecorate the whole room?　It would be a nice change of pace.’

As she was pondering to escape from reality…..there was a discreet knock at the door of the room. After a beat, the door was opened by the new receptionist, Riona.

“Aa, His Royal Highness has returned? I’m sorry it took me so long to make the tea. I wanted to make a nice pot of tea, but the tea leaves are in the back of the cabinet and it took me a while…….”

“……It’s fine. It seems he didn’t intend to stay long either, so you can drink it for him.”

“Really? Well then, I’ll take your word for it…..”

Riona sat on the sofa where Raidorl had been sitting earlier and sipped the fine tea she had brewed for the Royal Highness.

“Fuu, it smells good……By the way, what business did His Royal Highness have that brings him here?”

“…..It’s better not to ask, young lady.”

“Haa? It is a story about royalty, after all, so is it about politics?”

“I’m telling you not to ask. Really.”

Cruz let out a wearisome and exhausted sound and gulped down the tea in her teacup in one gulp. She couldn’t say it was impolite. The story that came out from Raidorl’s mouth had made her throat dry up.

‘I never thought that His Royal Highness had such ambitions…..’

What Raidorl told her was his ambitions and plans for political change that she had no liberty to speak of. She didn’t know why Raidorl told such a story to her, whom she had never met before but she felt sincerely bitter that she had been chosen to share such a terrible secret.

‘I resent……you for sending me such a monster, Zafis-san’.

Zafis Bartolomeo, Raidorl’s sword master and guildmaster of the frontier city, was an old benefactor to Cruz.

When Cruz was still a rookie adventurer, she had her life saved many times in the battles with demons, and she also had the experience of being sheltered and defended by adventurers who had discriminatory feelings towards subhumans when she got involved. Without Zafis, Cruz might not have reached her current position.

There was no way she could have treated the king’s royal brother, who came to her through Zafis’s introduction, with such disdain. Even if the story he brought to her was treacherous to the royal family, she would be remiss if she did not lend him as much help as possible.

“The rumoured hero was actually an ordinary man. I thought he would be a big man with muscles.”

While Cruz continued to worry in agony, her subordinate Riona was drinking tea with a carefree expression on her face. Cruz’s lips twisted bitterly as she envied her subordinate, who knew nothing.

“…..If that looks like an ordinary man, it’s probably because your eyes are blind.”

“Ee?”

“He’s like a hungry evil dragon. There are certain kinds of adventurers that should never be offended, but …. he is definitely a supreme dragon. If you make an enemy of it, it could easily sink a town or two.”

As an elf, Cruz was endowed with the ability to see magic.

In her eyes, the man named Raidorl Zain looked like a monster, as if he were different from a human being.

‘The black magic that rose from his body……even the demon I fought only once when I was in active service, was not clothed in such an ominous magic power. It’s like a mythical demon god.’

Cruz wondered what the joke is, because Raidorl Zain is the Excalibur Holder, the holder of a Holy Sword, who has been endowed with the power of God. She wonders if he is not blessed with a holy sword but with a magical sword.

“Riona, I believe that His Royal Highness will now be acting as adventurer, please proceed to accept any request, regardless of rank. You don’t have to check his guild card either. Please make sure that the other staff members are aware of this.”

“Eeee? That’s a violation of the guild’s rules!”

“It’s fine. Ranking the heroes chosen by the Holy Sword is meaningless. Besides, it was written in the letter of introduction about his achievements in the…..frontier city and there is no doubt that his highness is as capable as the highest-ranked adventurers.”

Cruz picked up the teapot and poured a refill into her cup, which she downed in another gulp.

Her throat ached from forcing down the hot tea, but she didn’t care and rested her weight on the back of the sofa.

“…. It’s a small price to pay for this level of cooperation to fulfil my duty. I’m relieved that I wasn’t made a part of the treason.”

“Haaa?”

Riona tilted her head, and Cruz let out a hot breath from her throat with a [haah].

〇　　　　　　　　　〇　　　　　　　　　〇

When Raidorl returned to the reception area after his meeting with the Guildmaster, his companion, who was waiting for him, hung up her flashing eyelids and protested.

“Onii-san!! You’re late!”

“’I thought I’d finished early. Princess can be impatient.”

Celia, who was waiting in the hall where the reception desk was located, protested.

Celia was dressed in light leather armour, which was easy to move in and her clothes alone made her look like a female adventurer.

However, her shining blonde hair, which was pulled back behind her head, and her blue eyes, which looked as if they were filled with blue sapphires, made her stand out in the Adventurers’ Guild, the abode of the roughest of the rough.

At her feet, a few men dressed like adventurers were falling into a stupor, their eyes flashing white.

“Who are they?”

“They got involved somehow, so I beat them up. This kind of thing is another promise of adventurers, isn’t it?”

“Aaa…. I’m convinced. That’s certainly a promise.”

Seeing Celia tilting her head prettily, Raidorl somehow guessed what was going on.

Celia was a fiercely competitive girl who would rather use her 『sword』 than speak but her appearance was that of a pretty young lady. It was obvious that if such a beautiful girl was in an adventurers’ guild that prided itself on its prowess, she would be approached by the worst kind of people.

“It would have been a good wake-up call for those drunkards who drink in the daytime…..though they may never wake up again.”

“That’s not the point…Onii-san. I’m not going to let you get away with this. You brought me all the way down here.”

“Aa, it went well. I’ve spoken to the guildmaster. We’re going to be adventurers for a while now. I’ve already found some good requests for you.”

“Hmph.”

Raidorl flapped a few sheets of paper in his hand. Celia looked at the end of her hand with interest, like a cat shaking its pussycat’s paw…..[Eei!] and snatched the papers from Raidorl’s hands.

“Let’s see…..this is another guild request form, right? How is it different from the one on the wall over there?”

“It’s not just a request form. It’s a salted request that has been sitting in the guild for months because no one has been able to fulfil it, even though it came in.”

“Enshi?”

[TL: Enshi: Preserved/Salted. Usually for pickiling, but in this context, it’s : very old]

Celia tilted her head as Raidorl stretched his body.

“Why would we take a request that has  been neglected since no one has interest in it? Can’t we just get a new request posted over there?”

“Say, Celia. What if you submit a request to the guild and it is never fulfilled?”

“You would withdraw the……request?”

Raidorl nodded in response to Celia’s answer.

“Yes. But……These requests have been left for months without being withdrawn. Do you know why that is?”

“Uh, umm…..”

Celia groaned and twisted her head.

“Well…..it’s a hassle, so they haven’t taken it down or something?”

“Yeah, that could be one of the reasons…..but the biggest reason is because of the ongoing damage caused by the demons.”

The fact that they withdrew the guild’s request did not mean that the original cause of their request to the guild would disappear. Therefore, they continued to submit requests in the hope that one day someone might accept them.

There were many people in need on the other side of these request forms. There were people who had been victimised by demons and were crying out for help.

“So you’re saying that Onii-san goes out of his way to take on difficult requests to help people?　Heh, good point!”

“It’s not like I’m going to do it without a plan. I think I’ve done a lot of good in the war against the Empire, but I’m still short of…..power and prestige. I’m the young royal brother who offers a helping hand to those in need…….Everyone loves heroes, right?”

“………..?”

Raidorl smirked and looked out of character. Celia put a question mark above her head, as if she didn’t know what it meant.

Raidorl flipped through the request form he received from Celia and read the contents out loud.

“Taking down the Killer Falcon, capturing the Red Ice Snake, delivering the Rock Mandragora, investigating the cause of the dried up lake, and investigating the unidentified demons that have appeared on the plains ……All sounds like troublesome requests, but with two Excalibur Holders, they’ll be done in no time. I’m sure we’ll get it all sorted out.”

“…. I knew I was in your head count. I knew that would be the case when you brought me here, but Onii-san is so selfish!”

Celia put her hands on her hips and puffed out her cheeks in frustration. She was probably trying to show that she was [angry]. Celia was probably trying to appeal to Raidorl but her gestures were cute and not at all frightening.

“It doesn’t matter, does it? You can’t leave the kingdom until the negotiations with the Empire are over anyway. Help me out in your spare time.”

“I never said I didn’t like it! I’m just angry that I have to do what Onii-san says and I am interested in the adventurers’ activities too. Besides……even if they’re from another kingdom, I want to help people in need!”

Celia assured him with a hearty smile. Raidorl chuckled, ruffling her golden hair and stroking it with a rough hand.

“You are really a good person. Here, good girl, good girl.”

“Do, don’t you dare touch my head! You! Onii-san ecchi!!”

Celia hurriedly escaped from Raidorl’s hands. Having lived her whole life as an imperial princess, Celia had probably never had her head touched so casually by a man of her own age. Her face was dyed red with shame and embarrassment.

“Well, then, let’s go sightseeing in the kingdom after accomplishing the request. First of all, let’s go and see the lake together. Didn’t I promise to show you around before?”

“Did you……promise it? I can’t quite remember.”

Raidorl left the guild with a request form in hand. Celia followed, swinging her pony-tailed blonde hair from side to side.

“Wha, what were those people…”

“Who knows…..”

The guild’s receptionists and others watched their backs as they walked away, their eyes full of curiosity.