Volume 3 - CH 19

The lunatic Grave had disappeared to somewhere. Even though he had heavy wound of losing one arm, for human of this world who could strengthen themselves with mana, he would definitely be able to survive, just like how I would.

To be honest, I wanted to kill that guy here. But, after actually facing him, I realized that we too was lacking in our preparation.

If it was the previous Grave, Viro and Samantha would be able to defeat him by themselves. But, Grave had continued training himself without getting conceited, grew even stronger, and made preparation in case he got targeted by multiple enemies like us.

Grave got away. But, that was only for now. I wonder how long it would take him to recover from his wound and get back into action?

If he could use Cure to regenerate his flesh, even the arm he lost could possibly be regained. To regenerate a whole arm, the treatment would have to be done bit by bit, at least half a year. And if he wanted to be able to use that arm just like before, it would take him one more year on top of that.

I too would become even stronger before that. No matter how strong Grave got, the next time I would definitely surpass him.

『Gururuu……』

「……Coeurl.」

As I renewed my determination, the Coeurl that was prowling at some distance let out a dissatisfied growl because Grave got away.

「What are you going to do? Chase after him? Or……」

──Are you going to settle thing with me?

I circulated mana throughout my body as though to ask it that. With that Viro and Samantha who was warily observing this way also radiated tension.

Most likely the two of them also planned to fight together with me but, even if they didn’t, I was going to accept if the Coeurl said that it would fight.

『…………』

Coeurl stared at me quietly with its crimson eyes, then the two whiskers that grew from its ears sparked with electricity a little.

<──ask──>

<──thou──>

<──name──>

My name……you want to know that?

「Aria.」

『……Guruu』

The Coeurl growled after I told it my name as though to murmur it.

<──seek──>

<──I──>

<──name──>

The Coeurl’s name……? It was asking for a name? What came next from the Coeurl wasn’t a “signal with meaning”, but actual image.

Deep inside a dark forest──.

The black powerful beast, living aloofly inside the darkness without even any companion──.

Was this……the Coeurl’s memory?

The Coeurl had been alone the whole time in its existence. There wasn’t any being that stayed together with it. For the Coeurl, other beings were either enemy or the weak who feared it.

In that moment, inside the memory that the Coeurl showed me, my figure that was staring at the Coeurl with a cold gaze flowed just for an instant before vanishing.

The black destroyer. The jet black beast howling alone as it looked up to the moon that climbed up at the black sky──.

Seeing that aloof figure──

「………”Nero”……?」

<──truth──>

That word spilled out from my mouth. The Coeurl understood the word’s meaning and recognized it as its 『name』. Then it turned its back toward me before vanishing into the forest while leaving behind “word”.

<──meet──>

<──moon──>

The Coeurl vanished into the forest. I stared at that direction as I muttered its “name”.

「……Nero……」

By “moon”, did it mean me?

Did the Coeurl──Nero recognized me as its equal? “I’ll meet you again”……if that was what Nero said, then we would surely meet again.

.

「……Aria?」

Viro quietly called out to me who was staring at the direction where Nero vanished into.

「Hm?」

「That mythical beast……what’s the deal with it? It looked as though it was conversing with you but……in the first place how did you end up fighting together with a mythical beast like that?」

I guess it was only natural for him to not comprehend the situation. When I looked at Viro and Samantha’s expressions, it looked like I had worried them greatly.

「There’s no problem. It only wanted to kill Grave for trying to use it. I don’t think it will return here now that Grave has run away.」

I gave a simple explanation. Viro fell into thought for a bit before letting out a small sigh.

「……Well, whatever. We managed to prevent Duke Helton’s assassination anyway. It’ll be a pity for the duke cause his Coeurl subjugation effort will end up in vain but, that’s not our problem.」

Grave was targeting the duke who belonged to the noble faction that was opposing the royal family, but it seemed that Viro’s client was also from the royalty faction and as long as we managed to stop the duke’s assassination, we weren’t required to do anything more.

Duke Helton was trying to subjugate the Coeurl in order to win fame. Viro’s client would be troubled politically if he died from assassination but, it seemed there was no need to make his attempt to gain fame succeeded.

That was why, Viro himself looked like he didn’t care about anything else but…….

「But, Grave escaped. Isn’t it our job to assassinate him?」

I asked if there would be problem that we were unable to accomplish the request. Viro too looked bitter about that, even so he shrugged without care.

「About that, I can only report it to the client including the matter about you and Grave. For now the client should be satisfied if we just show them that guy’s arm and weapon.」

「I hope so.」

The magic sword that was in the grasp of the bitten off left arm had been collected by Grave amidst the confusion, but the other sword that he threw at the end was still remaining.

We allowed him to get away, so it was impossible to get the full reward, but Grave had declared that he would target the princess and me, so Viro would try to negotiate that we didn’t really “fail” by taking that into consideration.

「Even though we would be able to beat him if only he didn’t use that strange smoke bomb. It was my first time seeing a smoke bomb that spread that far and also contained poison.」

「You’re still lacking study boy!!」

Samantha suddenly cut into the conversation with a loud voice like someone trying to call at a person in another room.

「That was a 『gem』 from dungeon! I think it might be a type of poison gem but. He was a lucky guy, hyo hyo hyo」

Samantha laughed like a folklore monster. Viro’s eyes widened hearing what she said.

「Haa!? That was a “poison gem”!? Seriously? That’s something designated as dangerous substance by adventurer guild! I once saw a gem but, that thing was also one?」

「The shape differ depending on the dungeon. If that thing was a real poison gem, all of us including that guy would die. After all it’s something that can massacre a small village on its own.」

「So……it was a fake?」

「No, it only had different use. Originally a gem was something to seal high rank sorcery. It wasn’t a poison for human but, it might be intended for use against animal. After all the smoke had the same color with the smoke of the poison gem I used in the past, so I also got tricked!」

「So you once used it huh, granny……」

I see……that was why Nero also couldn’t pursue. Luring mythical beast to human settlement alone was an act that made me wanted to doubt the sanity of that man, but it seemed that Grave had prepared such thing as insurance.

It was said that a dungeon was an ancient hermit crab that turned into monster and turned cavern or ruin into their “shell”. They fed on living thing’s mana and life force, read the residual thought of the dead, then used things like ore or magic stone to produce 『treasures that human liked』.

They were just things created by monster, so most treasures found inside dungeon were no different than trash, but there would be items like gold or silver ingot sometimes when the dungeon “got it right”. Among them sometimes there were also things like the magic swords that Grave used or special magic item that human couldn’t create.

The single-use 『gem』 that Samantha told us about was also one of those. It seemed there was a law in Claydale Kingdom when that kind of thing, especially something dangerous like poison gem was discovered, it had to be reported to the adventurer guild and the country would forcefully purchase it.

I didn’t know what the country was planning by gathering such thing but……it seemed Samantha once used it.

「Most likely that was something Grave stole from the palace’s treasure storage when he was still with the black ops, or he did business with some shady group. Boy! Little girl! Don’t let your guard down! He might have other incomprehensible thing with him next time too!」

「Uhee……」

「…………」

Anyway there was nothing else to do for now. Grave also wouldn’t be able to move anymore for a while, so our work was over.

.

「Aria. About your reward……」

Viro broached such topic when thing calmed down.

「We failed to assassinate Grave right? I don’t really care about it.」

The “reward” that Viro offered me was about keeping the assassin guild and thief guild in check so they would stop attacking me too often──in other words, the reward was my safety. It bothered me a little because this current situation was making it troublesome for me to get involved with ordinary people, but my objective was also Grave himself, so I had forgotten about this reward until now.

Besides if I was seriously bothered by it, I think that crushing the belligerent assassin guild branch of central west district would be the more effective way to keep them in check.

「…………」

Perhaps I’d be able to crush them when my Short Sword Skill reached level 4……?

「……You, are thinking about something dangerous aren’t you? No, about your reward, even without the request this time, I still plan to talk with you about it if I judge that you are strong enough.」

「Strong enough?」

How did strength got related to the reward?

「Hyahhahhah!! There’s no problem at all with this little girl if it’s about her strength! After all her combat strength almost catch up with her useless teacher already-!」

「What did you say-!!」

Viro was shocked by Samantha’s words and he “looked” at me.

「……Ha?」

Viro’s eyes widened after using Appraisal on me. He took out appraisal crystal from his pocket and appraised me once more. Then he held his head with his hands while looking to the sky. He looked more exasperated rather than lamenting.

「Rank 4 huh……just how did you do that in this short time……?」

「In my case it’s just because I focused on sorcery. I still haven’t caught up with Viro in close quarter combat.」

「Thanks……」

There was no lie in what I said but, it seemed that it sounded like a consolation in Viro’s ears. His shoulders dropped in dejection. But, it seemed he was able to switch his mood right away and lifted up his face energetically. He grinned refreshingly……no it was a fishy smile that was far from looking refreshing.

「Yosh, learn all of my adventurer skills in several years. For now just do your best to be at least “useful” in one year. First you gotta learn skills that you’re still lacking and how to explore a dungeon’s lower level.」

「……What’re you saying?」

Viro suddenly started talking about adventurer and dungeon. I looked at him with distrust, but he continued talking while still smirking at me.

「Now now, this is also related to your “reward”, and it’s also a request for a new job. According to the newest information that I got before bumping into you, our party got approached with an offer to protect some nobles who will enter into a dungeon. The nobles are also going to bring their own guards, but there won’t be many. For this, it will be best to have a lot of scout joining the exploration, and you can aren’t just a scout but you can also use light sorcery, so we will be happy to have you with us, what do you think?」

「Go there by yourself and die on your own for all I care.」

I instantly answered like that the moment Viro mentioned the word 『noble』.

We were called 『adventurer』only because we had the strength to enter a dangerous place like dungeon. I got no intention of protecting some nobles who would enter into such dangerous place just for fun.

Even Viro became spontaneously turned speechless with how flatly I refused.

「Is that all? Then, see you later.」

「wait wait wait, wait a second, Aria-! Listen until I finished first!」

I didn’t need both the new job and the reward, so I tried to leave right away, but Viro came back to his senses and hurriedly stopped me.

「You always decide too fast in everything! Just how manly you can be-! Listen Aria. I’m telling you this only because it’s you but, the 『first princess』 is involved with this matter. Do you understand? It’s that princess you’re acquainted with.」

「……Tell me more.」

Viro said that it was an extremely secret information, was it alright for him to tell me this easily…….

According to Viro, young members of the royal family and their fiancées would secretly enter a dungeon, so high ranked adventurers were required to act as their vanguard.

Why was someone with bad health like Elena had to enter into a dungeon? Viro wouldn’t teach me what they were planning inside a dungeon but, in order to guarantee their safety, the black ops recommended Viro’s party to the royal family and the royal family made the request.

「…………」

「You want to protect the princess right? After reporting this matter about Grave to the black ops, I think that the country will also sound you out about this request but, are you going to refuse getting involved with the princess?」

This man brought me another troublesome matter that I couldn’t refuse.

「……Understood. I’ll protect Elena. But, how’s that related to my reward this time?」

Was he telling me that the country and the black ops would make some arrangement for me?

I might not be the right person to say this but, the black ops organization was feared by the underworld but, they were also being seen as “enemy” who obeyed the nobility as their hunting dog. I was doubtful whether getting protected by an enemy organization would serve as deterrence against them.

I stared at Viro doubtfully with half-lidded eyes. It seemed Viro finally guessed what I was doubting and spoke of words that I never expected.

「What’re you saying? You’re going to enter our Rainbow Sword party to replace this retiring granny.」

.

I sighed again after hearing that unexpected words. Troublesome things just kept coming.