Chapter 18: The Exiled Marquise Becomes an Adventurer, Part 4
To be honest, the Guild Staff’s attitude had left me feeling rather lost, but I couldn’t just turn back now, so I asked again.
“I’d like to register as an adventurer.”
The Guild Staff’s reaction was slightly better this time.
“Y-yes, we can prothess that here.”
She’s stumbling over her words quite a bit. Is she okay?
“Alright then, I’d like to register myself and her, two people, as adventurers.”
Does the Orclaugh Kingdom use the same adventurer registration forms? As I pondered this while waiting for the Guild Staff’s response, I noticed she was staring intently at my face.
This situation feels familiar, like just a moment ago.
Just as I was about to speak up to prompt her, the female Guild Staff member spoke first.
“Um! May I ask your name!?”
She’ll find out when I register anyway, won’t she?
While thinking that, I figured it might just be part of the procedure and answered.
“She is Erica Longdagger, and I am Shin Longdagger.”
I swear, I really just stated our names normally.
I wasn’t trying to look annoyed, nor was I seething with anger, and I shouldn’t have had a threatening expression either.
Maybe when I said Erica Longdagger, mentioning Erica-san’s name, I might have had a creepy smile, but I swear that’s all.
However, the Guild Staff’s reaction was far beyond unexpected.
“Longdagger! ‘Unbefitting Longdagger’! So you really were the real Longdagger!”
*
Faced with the Guild Staff member who had suddenly started shouting, I was abruptly overcome with anxiety.
Unbefitting Longdagger. Merseja-san definitely called me that too.
I missed the chance to ask what it meant back then and had forgotten about it, but hearing it shouted even by a Guild Staff member in another country naturally made me wonder.
Could it be… that my own unbefitting feelings of love for Erica-san are widely known throughout the world?
No, I certainly think it’s unbefitting myself.
The second son of an Impoverished Viscount Household saying he likes the beloved daughter of a Marquis House, and the Prime Minister’s daughter at that—no, I’ve never once said it out loud, but it’s obvious to anyone that she’s a flower on a high peak, completely out of my league. It’s unbefitting.
They say the Adventurers Guild has its own unique information network.
Sometimes, they even grasp details about things the country itself doesn’t know.
To think that their Guild information network had even grasped the extent of my unbefitting crush.
I’m more impressed by the strength of the Adventurers Guild’s information network than I am terrified.
No, but still, for the fact that I like Erica-san to have spread even to other countries… I could die from embarrassment.
“Excuse me, could I have a word?”
As I stood there, stunned that my unbefitting crush had spread across borders, Erica-san smoothly stepped forward.
“What exactly is the meaning of this ‘Unbefitting Longdagger’?”
Hm? Is she perhaps angry?
Her voice and her Magicka felt rigid.
“Eek!”
The female Guild Staff member, hit head-on by her voice, froze.
“I am also a Longdagger, so if that was meant as an insult… very well, I accept your challenge.”
The Guild Staff member, affected by her voice, started sweating profusely.
I understand the feeling, but I have to wonder about her suitability as an Adventurers Guild employee.
Adventurers are basically just a bunch of people who think about risking their lives to make a living through violence.
Besides, we’re clearly younger people, turning sixteen this year.
Surely, getting flustered every time someone is slightly displeased would make it impossible to do her job.
Well, then again, if Erica-san was angry, I’d prefer not to get close either.
“Well?”
Putting aside what the “well” was referring to, her words were polite, but the temperature dropped sharply.
“No, no, no, no, no! An insult? Not at all!”
The Guild Staff’s reaction was excessive, likely due to desperation.
“‘Unbefitting Longdagger’ is a famous Alias, you see! It carries respect and awe, but never an insult, absolutely not!”
Alias?
I tilted my head behind Erica-san.
It’s true that some adventurers gain Aliases.
My master has one, and so does my fellow disciple.
But I shouldn’t have anything like that.
Those are like nicknames given to special sorts of people.
It’s not something someone unremarkable like me would get.
…No, wait. Does this mean that harboring unbefitting affections makes you so well-known that you get an Alias?
How embarrassing! What should I do? This is seriously embarrassing.
“Is that so?” Erica-san asked, her voice tinged with surprise.
The Guild Staff member nodded her head up and down rapidly.
“Yes! Yes! It’s quite famous!”
Perhaps sensing that Erica-san’s mood had improved, the Guild Staff member pressed on.
Wait, hold on, is she going to explain the origin with that same momentum? That my unbefitting crush on Erica-san is famous enough to cross borders?
I have to stop her, I panicked, but the Guild Staff’s mouth didn’t stop.
“Being the fellow disciple of ‘Elza the Impaler’ and having ‘Kind Barbara’ as your master, ‘Unbefitting Longdagger’ is quite famous, you see.”
…Huh?
I was bewildered by the sudden mention of my fellow disciple and master’s names.
“We were threa—asked by the two of them to please take care of ‘Unbefitting Longdagger’ when he came to register here.”
Ahhh.
I couldn’t help but look up at the heavens.
I pretty much figured it out.
Threatening? What are those two doing?