Chapter 19: The Exiled Marquise Finally Becomes an Adventurer, Part 1
I became an adventurer at the age of twelve.
That’s a bit too young to become an adventurer.
Unless there’s some extraordinary reason, no one normally thinks of becoming an adventurer at twelve.
I didn’t understand it back then, but that’s just how the world works.
Commoners could become bakers if they wanted, or lumberjacks if they chose.
Unlike me, a noble, they had many options.
So, it stands to reason, naturally, that deciding at twelve to make a living fighting monsters through violence, risking your life, requires a significant reason.
In my case, I had absolutely none.
If I had to give a reason, it was simply that I wanted to become an adventurer. That was all.
According to my master, that was a good thing, apparently.
“Kind Barbara” invited me, a twelve-year-old kid who clearly looked like nobility, to become her disciple.
This was before I knew my master was a Rank 9 monster.
A short while later, Elza, who was the same age as me, became my fellow disciple, and for the next three years, I trained under my master as an adventurer.
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Suddenly, I looked up at the ceiling, pinched the bridge of my nose with my right hand as if enduring a headache, and let out a sigh, “Ahhh.” Erica and the Guild Staff gave me suspicious looks.
Truthfully feeling a slight headache, I spoke to the Guild Staff.
“Please forget everything those two said.”
“Eh? So you won’t demand special registration starting at Rank 7?”
“I won’t.”
The Guild Staff’s face brightened slightly.
“But if we refuse, you won’t threaten to skewer all the Guild Staff or anything?”
“I won’t. And even Elza wouldn’t go so far as to skewer Guild Staff.”
Their face brightened further.
“So, even if we don’t give you special treatment, ‘Kind Barbara’ won’t come to show her kindness to the Guild Master?”
“Sorry, that might still happen.”
The Guild Staff paused to think for a moment, then muttered something like “if it’s just the Guild Master…” and sighed in relief.
Poor Guild Master.
“Thank goodness… Truly, thank goodness… All of us at the Guild offer our gratitude to ‘Unbefitting Longdagger’-sama.”
The Guild Staff thanked me, slightly teary-eyed, but considering the situation, I wasn’t really in a position to be thanked.
If anything, I was the one who should be apologizing.
Well, I don’t know what those two said, but I’m truly sorry.
Apologizing inwardly, I added something since I was at it.
“Also, I don’t have an Alias, so just Longdagger or Shin is fine. Even if I did have one, being called by an Alias is embarrassing.”
Hearing my words, the female Guild Staff tilted her head.
“Longdagger-sama’s Alias is officially registered with the Guild, however?”
“Huh?”
“At Rank 1, you single-handedly defeated a herd of Shield Bulls; at Rank 2, a Lancer Python; and at Rank 4, a Needle Spider Queen, also through solo subjugation. These feats are truly unbecoming of someone of your rank. Furthermore, despite being nobility, you possess the ambition to bow your head and beg for instruction from commoner adventurers. You are indeed an adventurer worthy of the Alias ‘Unbefitting Longdagger’.”
The Guild Staff read smoothly from an open book right in front of my stunned self.
“What is that?”
“The Adventurers Guild Directory, of course? Once an Alias is officially recognized by the Guild, it gets listed.”
“I have no memory of ever using that name.”
“It says here the Alias recommender was Barbara.”
Nnngh!
Nnnngh!!
Nnnnnngh!!!
I was seized by the urge to scream right then and there if possible.
Victims of my master’s kindness usually end up like this.
I rarely found myself in the victim’s position, but experiencing the effects of “Kind Barbara’s” kindness after so long took quite a toll.
I desperately suppressed the urge to scream.
My face might have been twitching slightly.
“I see. Thank you for telling me.”
I somehow managed to squeeze out my thanks.