“I refuse.”
“Haaah!?”
When I flatly refused, Viro, who hadn’t expected me to refuse, let out a bewildered, high-pitched voice.
‘Rainbow Sword’—if I remember correctly, they were one of the few Rank 5 Adventurer parties in this country.
I don’t know why Viro invited me to join them. But if it’s to replace Samantha, a proper Magician should join, and Viro has been searching for a Magician all along.
Besides, I’ve always been a solo player, so I don’t really understand party battles. I’m not saying I can’t do it, but I judged that my combat style, which uses Stealth and Assassination, is more effective in solo situations, like the Orc battle.
“Hyahahaha, flatly rejected, eh, kid!”
“Old hag, don’t talk like I got dumped by a woman! I have at least one woman, you know!”
“Are you being bled dry again? You never learn…”
Viro panicked for some reason at Samantha’s gaze, which was a mix of amazement and pity.
“No, no, no, it’s different this time! Aria, don’t believe the old hag’s nonsense! No, that’s not the point.”
Viro finally remembered the main topic and suddenly turned to me.
“Listen carefully, Aria.”
Viro explained the reasons why he invited me.
Aside from the matter of Samantha’s successor as a Magician, it seems that Viro, as a scout, had also begun looking for his own replacement.
General Adventurers consider retiring around the age of forty. However, high-ranked Adventurers with a lot of Mana age slower, and it’s not uncommon for them to be active until their fifties. Viro is in his late thirties, but he looks like he’s in his early thirties and is still active.
“I’m not retiring anytime soon, but ‘Rainbow Sword,’ with its long history, is special. Not just anyone can be a successor, and it takes several years to pass on the know-how. Besides… my woman wants me to get a proper paying job, and I’ve been formally invited by the Shadow Unit…”
“…………”
The story started to drift in a strange direction.
“Little girl, only listen to half of what the kid says about his woman! He tells that story every few years and then comes crawling back!”
“Understood.”
“This time it’s for real. No, that’s not the point. In short, I judged that you could take over my role. Besides, you can’t just be any Adventurer to become a Princess’s guard. It’s a request to the Adventurer ‘Rainbow Sword,’ so no matter how much the Princess trusts you, others won’t think so.”
Certainly, my position is that of a former orphaned Adventurer. Even if I’m Rank 4, I don’t have social credibility.
“Don’t think of it as joining a party, think of it as joining a clan. You know I take on jobs individually, right? We’re all highly skilled, so we take on requests individually, and we only become a party for big jobs. Besides, you’ll just leave if you don’t like it, right?”
I quietly nodded at Viro’s words, who knows me well.
“…I see.”
I understood that only trusted Adventurer parties like “Rainbow Sword” can accept national jobs.
Before, I was introduced by the reliable Viro as a “child maid,” so I was overlooked without much suspicion. But in my current state, I wouldn’t even be able to approach Elena.
The Shadow Unit must be short-handed enough to invite Viro as Grave’s replacement. I also guessed that it would be stricter than before to let in suspicious people.
As for the story of Samantha’s successor, Magicians are necessary for adventures, but not necessarily essential for the party. “Rainbow Sword” has been searching for a few young, high-ranked Magicians for a long time, and it seems that there are problems with the request relationship when they are suspended for a long time. So, they decided to resume activities with a Rank 3 Light Magician, taking the opportunity of this royal family escort.
As for the story of checking the Underworld, the name of “Rainbow Sword,” which has a history of over a hundred years, is not just for show, and it seems to be a considerable deterrent force. …But,
“This isn’t fun. It’s set up so I can’t refuse from the start.”
“That’s the dirtiness of adults. But that’s why you realize you can’t refuse because you have the brains to understand it. I trusted that you would notice.”
Viro, who calls himself a dirty adult, laughed and lightly tapped my shoulder as I was indignant.
Well… I guess it can’t be helped. The royal family has guards, so it won’t change much even if I’m not there, but if I protect her, Elena’s chances of returning will increase.
“Understood, Viro. I’ll join ‘Rainbow Sword’ as a ‘clan,’ not as a ‘party.’ Is that okay?”
“Of course, Aria. I’m counting on you.”
“Hyahahaha!”
It was decided that I would join the Rank 5 Adventurer party, “Rainbow Sword.”
Participating in the party has both advantages and disadvantages for me, but I judge that there are more advantages this time.
It seems that they sometimes act as a party about once a year like this time, but if I can usually act individually like Viro, it’s not such a bad story.
“I’ll briefly talk about the schedule.”
It’s four months from now that the young royals, including Elena, will go to the Dungeon.
Originally, it seems that there was about a year, but two of the escort targets will enter the Magic Academy from the beginning of next year, so it was suddenly moved up to the end of the year.
The Dungeon they will dive into is—
“One of the three major Dungeons in this country, located on an isolated island under the direct control of Duke Foodel.”
The three major Dungeons in this country are the Dungeon in the royal family’s directly controlled territory where I dived into the lower levels with Carla, the Dungeon in the Duchy of Laxton in the southwest of the country, and this time’s isolated island Dungeon under the direct control of Duke Foodel.
The large-scale Dungeons are managed by the royal family and the noble families who are the cornerstones of the country, the Duke families. Perhaps there is something important in the large-scale Dungeons to that extent.
…Is the purpose to pass it on to the next generation of the royal family?
Elena… I wonder if she’ll be okay.
The next mission was decided as I was swept along. I thought about going back to my master’s place once since there are still four months left, but it seems that I also need to meet the other members of “Rainbow Sword” in the Royal Capital once.
Well, that’s reasonable. Besides, I don’t have time to ask Galbas to take care of my weapons, but I was thinking of asking his younger brother Gelf to maintain my armor.
…Recently, it’s become difficult to move around my waist and chest.
“Then, should we go back to the Royal Capital first? If it’s me and Aria, we can get there in three weeks.”
“What about Samantha?”
“There was also the story of the old hag’s reward. If we were able to subjugate them, we would transfer the money through the Guild, but what will the old hag do? Will you go meet Dolton?”
When Viro turned to Samantha, she suddenly grimaced as if she had eaten something strange.
“I don’t want to see the face of that old dwarf now! You can tell the other guys appropriately, kid. I’m going home to play with my great-grandchildren.”
“Understood. What about the reward?”
“I don’t need such small change! Buy some equipment for that little girl! Well then, see you later, kid, little girl!! Hyahahaha!”
Samantha said that with great vigor, and just like when I first met her, she ran out onto the street without me even having time to call out to her, and disappeared in an instant, leaving behind a cloud of dust.
“…Is she really senile?”
“I’m starting to lose confidence… her words and actions are definitely ‘senile,’ but…”
She’s over a hundred years old even though she’s a human, but I felt like she’ll live for another hundred years. …She’s not really a Yokai, is she?
“Aria, besides combat power, do you have anything that shows you’re Rank 4?”
Viro asked me that on the way to the Royal Capital.
“It’s Dark Magic that became Level 4. I’ve memorized the Level 4 [Illusion] spell, so I think I can use it if I practice a little?”
“Then that’s good. As a prerequisite for joining ‘Rainbow Sword,’ update your rank at the Adventurer’s Guild in the Royal Capital. Until now, I was going to let you join first and register the party later, but it’s easier to talk if you’re registered.”
“Understood.”
It’s necessary to join Rainbow Sword in order to guard Elena. Even so, the impression you get from Rank 3 and 4 is completely different, so Viro seems to have thought that it’s necessary to update in order to get me to be directly guarding her.
It hasn’t even been half a year since I updated to Rank 3, but will something troublesome happen again…?
Both Viro and I are heading to the Royal Capital, but Viro decided to separate and act separately once in order to contact various places.
I need to head to the Royal Capital alone and be able to use Level 4 Dark Magic by the time I arrive.
In that case, I don’t feel much meaning in stopping by the city during the trip other than to replenish food. While moving through the Forest and practicing [Illusion] in the middle of the night, my eyes, which suddenly felt some kind of “premonition” and looked up, caught a glimpse of the figure of a “black beast” in the moon hanging over the distant mountaintop.
“…………”
Nero… are you there?
After taking some time, I arrived in the Royal Capital without any problems about a month later.
I heard some rumors along the way that the Duke, who had dispatched a Mystic Beast subjugation force, apparently didn’t achieve any particular results but announced that he had ensured the safety of the route and settled the matter.
I’ve been to the Royal Capital a few times, but now that I think about it, this might be my first time showing my face at the Adventurer’s Guild here.
The Royal Capital’s Adventurer’s Guild was a building about the size of a noble’s mansion, located directly behind the Commercial Guild on the main street. The reason it’s near the Commercial Guild is that the Commercial Guild, which invested in its establishment, can efficiently purchase materials, but that positional relationship has become a tradition in every city.
Inside the Guild, several tables and chairs for negotiations were arranged in a stone-floored lobby about the size of a dance hall, magical lights shone from the open ceiling, and at the back, about ten reception counters and a row of pretty receptionists, which I hadn’t seen much in other cities, were lined up.
Aside from the scale and luxury, the structure itself is no different from a typical Guild. I arrived a little after noon, and there were a dozen or so Adventurers inside, who cast sidelong glances at me, a young girl who had just entered.
Just from a quick glance, there are hardly any “youngsters” here, both in terms of age and ability.
Many Adventurers who come to the Royal Capital have honed their skills in various places and seek connections with nobles and wealthy people, so naturally, their age and rank become higher.
There must be some rookie Adventurers born in the Royal Capital and those who just stopped by while traveling, but aside from the latter, I heard that there are mostly high-rank requests in the Royal Capital, so rookies will soon leave the Royal Capital.
Inevitably, most of the Adventurers here are Rank 3 or higher, but those who looked surprised or blatantly turned their faces away from me probably used 【Appraisal Skill】 on me.
The Guild receptionists also seemed to have Appraisal Skills as a matter of course, and several of them who “saw” me left their seats, and a receptionist in her late twenties walked straight towards me from the very back.
“Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild. Might you be the ‘Ash-Covered Princess’?”
“…I’ve never called myself that.”
“My apologies, Aria-sama. Your reputation has reached the Royal Capital, but I didn’t expect you to be so young. I heard from ‘Rainbow Sword’-sama, so I will be in charge of your rank update and other matters.”
“Okay.”
I heard that large organizations like each Guild have 【Long-Range Magic Communication Tools】.
They use them to gather information from various places, and Viro must have used them to contact me.
Even so, I didn’t think that the “nickname” that had spread arbitrarily in the Underworld would become so widespread that it would be commonly used in the Adventurer’s Guild.
This receptionist, for example, just called me by that name in the same way as calling a high-ranked Adventurer by their general nickname, with no ulterior motive.
But the name “Ash-Covered Princess” resounds more in the Underworld than in the surface world, and I had forgotten that there are “Underworld-leaning” people among the Adventurers.
“Hey, is this little girl the ‘Ash-Covered Princess’?”
Perhaps he had heard the conversation between me and the receptionist, a frivolous-looking scout in his late twenties called out with a sneering face.
“Aria-sama is my responsibility. Can we talk later?”
“It won’t take long. I’d love to hear what kind of good tricks this pretty little girl used to pretend to have crushed the Assassin Guild and get in with ‘Rainbow Sword’-sama.”
“…………”
I see, this man, who seems to be Rank 3, judged “me” by my appearance and seems to think that I got in with Viro by some means other than my own ability.
“Why don’t you say something? Show me your skills.”
“Aria-sama, please…”
The receptionist, who “sees” my combat ability, appeals to me, worried about him rather than me.
I don’t particularly want to cause bloodshed from the first day either.
“It’s okay. This guy just wants to see my skills.”
“…Eh?”
When I raised my right hand vigorously, the man’s face showed a moment of caution. But it was too late. If he didn’t evade or defend at that point, he wouldn’t be able to prevent my attack.
“–Gah!?”
At the same time as raising my hand, I took out the 【Ball-Shaped】 Pendulum from 【Shadow Storage】 and slammed it directly into the man’s head.
I held back, so the man was still alive, but I kicked his legs out from under him and coldly looked down at him as I quietly drew my Black Dagger.
“That’s enough! The match is over!”
I felt a huge pressure like a Cyclone from the Guild entrance, and instantly used Body Enhancement to create distance, and a voice involuntarily escaped my mouth when I saw the face of the large man who had intervened.
“…Feld?”
It’s a reunion.
Will Feld notice Aria after meeting her for the first time in a long time?
Nero has parted ways with Aria, but he seems to have decided to stay nearby.
Next time, a reunion in the Royal Capital.
Added Samantha to the character introductions.