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lightnovel-2048

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"I spent this money to get information, so don't worry about it. Plus, it's a master's duty to feed his slaves. Let's eat."

"Um... What should I do with these, then?" Niku was looking at the five coppers in her hand, troubled.

"If you ever feel like you want something, you can use those to buy it. And if those five coppers aren't enough, you just gotta save up some more."

"Um... O-Okay." Niku put the coppers into the small bag she was using as a makeshift purse. We then bit into our kebabs. Well... It's not bad. It's definitely not bad, but it kind of stinks a little, and it doesn't taste as good as a hamburger, which makes it less satisfying than it could have been. Or at least, that's what Niku was probably thinking, judging from the expression on her face.

I showed my guild quest slip to the guard at the gate and got outside without needing to pay anything. We found one rabbit on our way to the forest. It was bouncing around the grassy plains much like you would expect a rabbit to do. Honestly... it was super cute. White fur, red eyes, tiny... Yeah, it was cute. Cute and fluffy. A cute ball of fluff frolicking amidst the grass.

But moments later, Niku had decapitated it with a single slice. Her Golem Blade (Knife) easily sliced through its neck thanks to its vibration capabilities. It was pretty gruesome.

"Here's the meat."

"Th-Thanks. Good job. I'm proud of you." This kid's got no mercy. I picked up the rabbit's corpse by the feet as blood pumped out of its neck and held it upside-down for a bit. Once most of its blood had drained, I threw it into a leather bag we had brought. I threw in the head too because why not.

If Niku weren't here, my heart might have shattered and left me unable to complete the quest on my own. Somehow... killing rabbits made me feel more guilty than watching adventurers die in my dungeon. Though, I ended up killing a rabbit after that myself. The meat I ate every day always came from an animal somebody had killed. The burden of murder rested on my shoulders as well. Which meant that I had no excuse for not killing any rabbits here, unless I wanted to be a hypocrite.

Thanks to my Golem Blade and Wearable Golem, I managed to bag a rabbit. Some of its blood got on me, but all it took was a single {Purification} to get it off me. Wait... Come to think of it, Niku didn't even get a single drop of blood on her. I'm impressed. She's earned my respect.

Eventually, we bagged the ten rabbits and took them back to the client. Who killed how many? I got two and Niku got eight, what about it? Niku decapitated the rabbits as soon as she saw them, I can't compete with that. I asked her to let me help out, so she caught one and held it down for me with both hands so I could kill it instead of her. I managed to get one without her help... but I relied pretty heavily on my Wearable Golem helping out. Maybe Niku can take care of all the adventuring for me...

We handed over the rabbit-filled bag. The client grinned after seeing what was inside.

"Well, well... Looks can be deceiving, huh? Didn't expect you to be this skilled with a blade." Sorry, the girl did basically everything, not me. All I did was hold upside-down the rabbits that the great Niku hunted and throw them in the bag after they ran out of blood. Niku was the only one who went into the forest. I just stood around waiting for her.

But regardless of who caught them, the client was very impressed with the rabbits. It helped that their pelts were still usable thanks to how we drained their blood. All the rabbits, except one, earned the maximum payment of ten coppers, resulting in a net gain of ninety-seven coppers... though as a bonus for how solid they were overall, he paid us a whole silver coin instead. Huh? Which was the one worth seven coppers? Yeah, yeah. You know it was the one I caught on my own. My bad for slicing its torso in half.

And so, we returned to the guild with our quest slips. The sun was just starting to go down, indicating that it was slightly past noon. There were fewer people inside than yesterday, maybe due to most adventurers working until the afternoon. The same receptionist as always was behind the counter. There were a few other receptionists too, but thinking it best to deal with someone we had experience with, I brought the slips to her.

"...So, how were they? Too much for you, just like I said?" Yep, it sure was the same receptionist as always. I decided to just roll with her sharp tongue as a sign of the concern and affection she had for us now that we've known each other for two days.

"Nope, we finished them both. Here you go."

"Wow... You certainly did finish them. And you received high praise for your performance on both." The receptionist was looking at the slips with surprise. Heh, and ninety percent of that praise is for my little girl here. Hell yeah.

"In that case, congratulations. You can now rank up. Do you wish to rank up?"

"Wha?!" Rank up... In other words, we'd be leaving G-Rank and going up to F-Rank.

"There are two requirements for ranking up to F-Rank: Complete ten or more quests, and have one of those quests be a hunting or extermination quest. Additionally, if a quest is completed with high praise for the client, it counts as two quests. And furthermore... this Rabbit Hunting quest has three as a minimum number of rabbits, so it counts as one quest per three rabbits. In conclusion, you completed five quests with high praise, and thus fulfilled the requirements for ranking up. Do you wish to rank up?"

"Ah. Yes."

"Then please give me your guild cardThat reminds me, I've actually never seen Lord Simeon without his glasses on. It doesn't bother me, since his glasses actually add to his appeal... Not like mine. I'd even say they're one of those essential props that make him so attractive. Right up there with the riding crop!

We gradually drew closer to the sounds of music and revelry. Once we'd descended the staircase into the entrance hall, we started to meet people who had only just arrived, and exchanged greetings with them as we made our way to the banquet hall.

Every one of them did a double take when they saw me. The layers of hushed voices built into a cacophony. "It's Marielle Clarac!" they said. "That's Marielle Clarac! The one from your city, Marielle Clarac!" "It's not some unknown mystery girl, it's Marielle Clarac! Look carefully, her hair is the same color!"

When we entered the party itself, every pair of eyes in the room fell on me! Well, not quite. The only people who could see me were those nearby. But I'd had that same feeling before. I remembered it well. It was very much like the first time I'd appeared in public after becoming engaged to Lord Simeon.

Whispers and murmurs of "Who's that?" emanated from the assembled noblewomen. A few said things such as: "Her? It can't be!" Not only did they struggle to realize it was me at first, but even when they did, they did not appear to be fully convinced.

Lord Simeon's gallant apparel drew the eye as well, which made us the center of attention to an even greater degree. I fought with all my might to maintain my prim and proper countenance, while underneath I was in a cold sweat. I could have screamed. I feel my chances of survival slipping by the moment! I want to go and hide in the shadows, right now!

Since I definitely couldn't do that, priority number one was saying hello to our hosts. Lord Simeon and I made our way over to Earl and Countess Pautrier.

Lord Cedric was with them as well, of course, and he was equally surprised by my appearance. "My word, I hardly recognized you. You look like a fairy who lives in a flower garden."

"I am most grateful that you invited us, Lord Cedric. I must say that you, too, look especially like a proper young gentleman today."

Considering this was his debut and introduction as House Pautrier's heir, he seemed remarkably calm. He had a confident air about him, as if he did this sort of thing every day. He always came across as cultured and refined, which gave the impression that he was more than suited to being the heir to an earldom. The guests who were meeting him here for the first time all offered him words of praise as well, and their faces matched those words, even if they said all kinds of other things in far-flung parts of the room, or in the shadows of their hand fans. At the very least, however, there was no one who openly found fault with him.

His clothes, a lustrous shade of dark green, suited his lean and toned body, and drew the eye even in a room full of ostentatious outfits like this. When Lord Simeon stood next to him, the two dashingly handsome young men made a peerlessly dazzling impression. Their excellent physiques made them very attractive when viewed at close range or from afar.

Yes, indeed, I thought. When the two stand beside one another, it's clear that their body types are very similar. Lord Simeon was slightly taller, but otherwise they had several aspects in common. Broad shoulders, surprisingly muscled chests, biceps that visibly stood out even through the fabric of their clothes... Their formal wear had no unnecessary slackness in the material at all, but rather clung to their bodies, so all of these aspects were on clear display.

Does Lord Cedric have some background in martial arts? That would seem odd, since he said he had no experience with fighting. I doubt his body could be this honed simply by doing occasional exercise... When I think about Prince Severin, for example, he has a keen interest in horse riding and gets plenty of exercise, but his body is nowhere near the level of a knight's. His Highness has the same slim physique as any other gentleman of his age.

I wondered if physical labor could result in a physique like that. I still hadn't asked him in any great detail about his life in Linden. It was possible that he'd been engaged in that sort of work.

...And yet not only his physique, but his entire manner comes across too differently from any other manual laborer I've ever seen.

As part of my efforts to gather reference material, I'd spent more than a little time watching laborers working downtown. I'd gone on jaunts to various places accompanied by a manservant, my editor, and occasionally even my older brother. When I thought back to the manual laborers I'd seen in the past, Lord Cedric's entire demeanor was nothing like them at all.

No matter how one looked at him, he came across as no more and no less than a nobleman. This could have just been the result of the efforts he'd made to live up to his status as a suitable heir. Perhaps, I considered, he had inherited it from his father to an extent as well. Given the position he found himself in, it was definitely a desirable attribute for him to come across this way. However, there was something not quite right, and I couldn't put my finger on it.

He was beset by a sea of guests offering their greetings, so I wasn't able to engage in much of a conversation with him. Lord Simeon and I soon had to give way to other people and move somewhere else. The two of us also separated for a while. He sought out his own friends, and I was looking for someone as well. It was only natural for us to go our separate ways for a time.

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" he asked with an anxious tone.

I smiled back at him, and nodded. "I told you, my eyesight's not so bad that I can't see where my feet are stepping. There's no need for any concern."

"That's not why I'm concerned. You're going to look for Patrice, I assume. Why? What are you planning?"

Oops. He has me all figured out once again. "I'm not planning anything. I merely want to observe him. I'm sure he wouldn't try to do anything to Lord Cedric here in public."

"Don't be overly attached to him as the perpetrator," Lord Simeon replied. "Just because the handwriting is similar doesn't mean we can firmly conclude that he himself wrote those threatening notes."

"But it really was exactly the same..."

"There are people out there who are especially skilled at imitating other people's handwriting. Certainly, there are various aspects of Patrice's behavior that cast him in a suspicious light, but we have to keep those things in mind for what they are, rather than using them to draw any hasty conclusions."

"I—well..."

"And I'm sure I needn't remind you, but you mustn't let your guard down around Cedric either. I can't say anything too specific where others might overhear us, but I can say that he's someone around whom you should exercise plenty of caution."

He said this with such a serious expression that it startled me. My gut instinct was to say: Lord Cedric? Why would you say such nonsense? But I couldn't, because—as I had to remind myself—I, too, had a sense that he was hiding something.

On the surface he came across as the perfect heir, but I had an unmistakable sense that below the surface, there was some sort of a catch. I wondered if Lord Simeon already knew the truth about Lord Cedric that lay at the heart of my feelings of unease. What was making him express so firmly that I should exercise caution?

I asked him, "What exactly do you mean?"

"I'll explain later. For now, I ask you just to stay alert. And not to accompany any men who invite you to spend time with them. Don't accept any drinks you're offered, either. There are those who would try to harm you by mixing in excessive quantities of alcohol."

His words had begun as something more earnest, but had quickly become a standard lecture. My shoulders sagged. Oh well. Whatever secret Lord Cedric might be harboring, I doubt anything will happen at the party. After listening to all of Lord Simeon's lecture, I left him and went my own way.

Why does the Vice Captain have to be so overprotective? It's been years since my debut, and I've spent all of those years as a wallflower. What are the chances of men deciding to talk to me now, after all this time?

But the moment I had that thought, a group of men appeared before me. "Excuse me, young lady. Might I ask your name?" I was flabbergasted, and for a moment I stood still, unsure of how to reply. Wha...? Is he talking to me? If I wasn't mistaken, he was the third son of House Larrieux.

"Would you be so kind as to accompany me for one dance?" This gentleman was the heir to House Taillon.

"I'm so glad I could be here to see such a lovely flower in bloom. Please not just too kind, but you're also too serious."

"You're the only one who'd say that."

"You can rely on others every once in a while too, you know."

"I'll do just that."

Some of the tension left Kiriha's voice. Satisfied with that, Koutarou turned his attention in the form of a glare on the massive black hound in front of him. The monster was over fifty meters tall, and nearly a hundred long. It was about five times bigger than Ohime. It was the difference in size between a parent and child. Ohime would never win in a clash of raw power, which was why Koutarou and the others had to pool their strength to stand a chance.

"Koutarou, my preparations are done now as well."

"Then let's get started."

"Everyone, here we go! This will put an end to all of it!"

With her powerful declaration, Kiriha began accelerating Ohime. Her target was none other than the black hound, and she charged at it at full speed.

"So you're coming, daughter of Kurano! I don't know what you're planning, but it's all useless! I am stronger than anyone and everything! Not even the Goddess of Creation could stand against me!"

The black hound stamped one of its large feet as if to threaten Kiriha. There was still some hundred odd meters between the black hound and Ohime, but at Ohime's current speed, it wouldn't take long to close that distance.

"Maki-chan!"

"Yes!"

"Magic Shield! Modifier: Effective Time, Twice!"

"Greater Lightning Reflexes!"

As Kiriha charged in, two spells were cast on Koutarou—one from Yurika and one from Maki. The former increased his armor's defenses and the latter his reflexes. Both were needed to protect him.

Mere moments later, Ohime reached the speed of sound and broke through the sound barrier. The roaring it created shook the entire cave, making the holes in the ceiling one size category larger.

"Then I shall go too."

Taking that as his signal, Alunaya sprung into action as well. A blue light suddenly enveloped his crimson body. It was a spell he'd activated. The light grew stronger and stronger until it eventually swallowed him.

"Here I come!"

All of a sudden, the blue light vanished along with Alunaya.

"Wh-What?! Why is he here?!"

"Isn't that obvious?! To defeat you!"

Alunaya had used a teleportation spell to magically slip inside the black hound's barrier and force it into close-range combat.

"Your sudden appearance caught me by surprise, but that's all there is to your power, isn't it?!"

"Nnngh!"

However, even the powerful Alunaya was at a disadvantage. At only around half the hound's size, it clearly had the upper hand in a fight. Alunaya would have to make up for the difference with magic, but it wouldn't be easy.

"How foolish to think you could challenge me with such meager strength!"

With an overwhelming advantage in size and weight, the black hound had no problem knocking Alunaya back. It then distanced itself from the dragon to finish him off at range with its black orbs.

"You are the foolish one... No, that girl might just be too clever."

"What?!"

"Tayumaaaa!"

It was there that Ohime flew past Alunaya and charged the black hound.

"It's no use! Your attacks have no effect on me!"

The black hound sneered at Ohime's pilot—Kiriha. His magical and spiritual energy barriers were sturdy enough to block any of the attacks she could use. He had nothing to fear even if she came right for him.

"I wouldn't be so sure! That may have been true a few seconds ago, but not now!"

"What are you saying— What?! How?!"

The impossible was happening right in front of the black hound. The barrier should have stopped Ohime in its tracks, but the airframe was pushing right through.

"What did you do?!"

"I haven't done anything. This is your doing, Tayuma."

"Mine?!"