Chapter 200: A Job Unsuited for Longdagger 6
*
“We finally made it! We’re here, Beard-san!”
Seeing the city illuminated by the morning glow, Shara shouted and high-fived Drim.
Before Loakum, the capital city of the Helcums Territory and the rendezvous point with their protection target, Shara and Drim let out cries of joy.
Maricia, who, perhaps due to her personality and abilities, had naturally taken up the rearguard position in the party, watched them with a wry smile.
Shara, still inexperienced as an adventurer, had never camped out for so many consecutive days and nights, and the fatigue seemed to have built up.
Even for me, camping continuously for this long was a first. I didn’t feel tired, but perhaps I should rest well today.
“Shin.”
Just as I was thinking that while everyone else seemed tired, maybe I should stretch my back, and was arching backward, Erica called out to me from behind.
I turned around to find Erica standing there, wearing a white Mask.
That’s right, for some reason, Erica had taken a liking to the white Mask and had been spending most of her time wearing it lately.
She apparently took it off when sleeping, but what exactly about it struck a chord with her?
Truly, this world is full of mysteries.
Making a mental note to gift Erica a Mask someday, I tilted my head at her, asking, “What’s up?”
“What are your plans for today?”
“First, we need to find an inn.”
This city, Loakum in the Helcums Territory, wasn’t so small that you’d have to doubt whether inns even existed, but it would be a mistake to assume we could easily find one in a city we’ve never visited before.
Worst case, we’d end up sleeping alongside a crowd of strangers in a room furnished with wooden sticks barely worthy of being called chairs, under the guise of an inn.
You might wonder if anyone actually uses such places, but being able to sleep within a safe Barrier is valuable enough to be a business in itself.
Naturally, I had no intention of letting Erica stay in such a place.
“And after that… what about then?”
After that?
I paused for a moment at Erica’s words. Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it at all. As long as we found a decent inn, my only plan was to grab some food and rest up for tomorrow.
In other words, I had no plans.
But Erica was specifically asking about my plans after finding an inn.
If that was the case, there was only one possibility.
There was something I was supposed to do.
What was it? What did I have to do? This was the first city we’d visited to meet the target of our protection request.
What were the city’s characteristics? It was a city on the plains that collected Magicka bit by bit from the general populace to generate its Barrier and water supply, thriving as a relay point on a trade route.
If I had to name a similar city, it would be Sudvaldo in Faltar, but Loakum was much larger.
What was it? What was I missing?
“Well… if you don’t have any plans, perhaps we—”
No! Erica was losing patience with my slowness and was about to give me the answer!
“No! I do have plans!”
Like hell I do! My calm inner self screamed for the first time in a while.
But strangely enough, once you say you have plans, you start to feel like you actually do.
“I’m the leader of this party, after all.”
Incidentally, that wasn’t actually true.
Well, among the party members who directly received the request, I had the most experience as an adventurer, so there probably wouldn’t be an issue if I called myself that.
Yuunou-san, who likely had more experience than me, was strictly an outside temporary member.
Normally, I would be the leader. Though, if Erica said black, even a rainbow color would be black to me.
“Is… that so?”
I sensed Erica swallowing her words beneath the Mask.
“Yeah. Something I need to take care of right away.”
What on earth was I planning to take care of? Even though I felt like there was something, there absolutely wasn’t, so only questions piled up.
“If that’s the case, then it can’t be helped.”
The Masked Erica said, sounding disappointed.
What exactly am I going to do? Wondering that, I asked Yuunou-san, Maricia, to handle finding an inn, decided on a meeting time and place, and entered the city alone.
…Seriously, what am I planning to do?
*
Erica watched Shin head into the city alone ahead of them, sighing beneath her Mask.
She had intended to ask him if he wanted to explore the city together since his schedule was free, but once he said he had duties as the party leader, she couldn’t possibly insist.
Things weren’t going well. Erica felt a little down.
Is it because I’m wearing the Mask?
She thought this as she stroked the Mask.
Maybe I should take it off… But that was impossible.
Erica was aware of what kind of face she would make if she took it off, and she gave up on the idea.
Whenever she looked at Shin’s face, her cheeks would inevitably soften, uncontrollably so. It was fine if Shara (one of her own) saw it, but they were currently with an outsider.
Revealing that face was unacceptable for a lady.
But still, was asking someone out on a date really this difficult?
She had resolved herself to steal a man away from her best friend. Time was limited, and there was no room for hesitation, yet she just didn’t know how to go about it.
The person in question, Luu, the Maiden of Light, had no awareness that Shin was “her man,” but there was no telling what might happen after she got to know Shin in one year.
Or rather, if Shin confessed his feelings to her, she would definitely accept.
The one confessing would be Shin, not some random nobody.
If he confessed, she would undoubtedly accept immediately and marry him. At least, that’s what Erica herself would do.
If that happened, stealing Shin from her best friend would be extremely difficult.
In fact, she didn’t think she could do it.
An image of Shin’s smiling face, having achieved his heart’s desire, floated in her mind.
She almost found herself wishing him happiness.
Just imagining it made her tear up; her chest ached surprisingly badly.
What? If that happens, what should I do? Should I destroy the world? No, that’s no good. It’s the world where Shin found happiness; I can’t destroy it.
As I thought, I must steal Shin away from my best friend.
Hearing Shara call her name, Erica raised a hand in response while thinking.
There should have been a word to describe this kind of act…
Ah, that’s right.
I am going to steal Shin away!
Erica gave a small nod, having found the word, and clenched her fists as if renewing her resolve.
*
“It’s a Raid!”
The man, who ran an illicit business based in Loakum, initially thought the shout coming from the first floor was some kind of joke.
After all, it wasn’t even noon yet. Launching a Raid in the morning was outside the bounds of common sense.
Even hearing the subsequent screams and commotion, he could only think it was a bad joke.
The door flew open, and the subordinates in the room with him were slammed into the wall before they could even shout in anger.
Faced with the surreal sight of his subordinates, former adventurers, fainting without even time to scream, the man could barely manage to draw his Sword.
“Who the hell are you!”
He managed to shout that, less out of Pride and more out of fear.
The Masked Man, who had appeared with nightmarish suddenness, was staring right at him.
“Are you from Polga’s place!?”
He named the rival organization. A guy hiding his face with a Mask couldn’t be a decent person.
If so, the opposing organization was limited. At the very least, it shouldn’t be the Knights Order or adventurers hired for a request.
“No, that’s wrong.”
The man, not expecting a reply, was somewhat taken aback.
“I think that Bol-something place is the one I just crushed.”
If you’re going to say ‘Bol’, at least finish with ‘ga’, the man first retorted internally.
“Huh? Crushed? Huh?”
A beat later, he realized the Masked Man had said something outrageous.
“You see? The clever me figured it out.”
The Masked Man said in a boastful voice, twirling his sheathed Sword in his hand.
“It’s my job to clean up the city where an important woman will be staying.”
What was this man talking about?
He couldn’t understand. At least, for a man who had made a name for himself in the underworld, the words were incomprehensible.
The idea of going around crushing criminal organizations first thing in the morning for some woman simply didn’t make sense.
The only reason these words, which sounded like a joke, felt true was because the Masked Man’s voice had an “intensity” to it—the kind unique to madmen.
In other words, if things continued like this, he too would end up embedded in the wall.
Faced with this “checkmate,” cold sweat trickled down the man’s face.
“Hey! What are your demands! Money!?”
The man shouted, even though he knew it was unlikely. There was no way a madman would desire something so straightforward.
But he had to say something; he was too scared not to. Just imagining the words that would next come from this madman’s mouth made him want to tremble.
The black eyes peering from behind the slits seemed to look at him properly for the first time.
The Masked Man spoke.
“My wife’s smile.”
That’s something you figure out yourself.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, the man lost consciousness.
＊＊＊Afterword＊＊＊
Thank you, as always, for your comments, likes, stars, and everything else.
Hooray! This marks the 200th chapter of the main story.
Currently, in the Kakuyomu Contest 10’s Short Story Division, it holds 8th place in the weekly overall rankings.
Since it’s a short story, I know it’s difficult to maintain a weekly ranking, so I expect the rank will probably drop by tomorrow, but… since I started posting on Kakuyomu, this is the first time I’ve reached the single digits in any kind of ranking, so I’m incredibly happy.
This is all thanks to everyone who reads my work.
Thank you very much.