Manowa Chapter 159

Kazane's group received the quest application from the Guildmaster, but Jinrai was in the hospital, Yumika was in the middle of special spearmans.h.i.+p training at the Barnes dojo, and Tiara was staying with her mother. Also, because Louise was Tiara's escort and trainer, she couldn't accompany them.

「I was thinking about going with just the four of us, but what does everyone think?」

「That should be no problem.」

They had returned to the tavern, and Lyle agreed with Kazane's suggestion. He thought she was probably planning to take the opportunity to check the capabilities of the temporary members. Emily nodded after Lyle. And Naoki naturally had no objections.

「Well, you were originally a party of three, so there should be no problem, but...」

Louise said, then looked at Kazane and continued.

「Kazane, you... don't do anything more to spread our bad reputation.」

「It's not like I was trying to do that.」

Kazane said sullenly. It was true that their infamy wasn't built by Kazane alone, but there was no mistaking that the center of the turmoil was this shorty.

「Ah. But doesn't this request say that rank B is required to partic.i.p.ate? Isn't that impossible with this group of four?」

「Eh, Aneki. You haven't reached rank B yet?」

「Obviously.」

Kazane powerfully struck her nonexistent chest. Then she started choking. While coughing, Kazane took her card out of her Item Box and showed it to Naoki, who made a surprised expression.

「I thought you had become rank S or A long ago.」

「Me too.」

Those were Lyle and Emily's impressions. The rumors about the Ogre Killing Princess were so widespread that it seemed like it was so.

「No way, after all, I've only been an adventurer for around three and a half months.」

Lyle and Emily were open-mouthed after those words, but that was simply the truth. Naoki was promoted to Rank B a year ago, and it was said that he would be eligible for the rank A promotion test in about a year, but that was already an unusual pace.

Simply being strong wasn't enough for a promotion; the number of quests accomplished and the ratio of successful quests was also considered important. If Kazane asked, she could probably be promoted to rank B as an exceptional case, but she wasn't qualified for rank A yet.

(......Or rather, Magic Swordswoman?)

The only time Naoki had seen Kazane fight with a magic sword was when she turned into a dragon and beheaded the Crystal Dragon. Naoki's doubt was natural. But he swallowed that thought for now. His sister's gaze was clearly showing signs of suspicion.

「Well, I'm rank B, so there's no problem.」

So saying, this time Naoki showed his own guild card.

「What is this?」

Kazane made a vexed expression when she saw the rank B designation on Naoki's guild card. There was no way she could turn a blind eye to the younger brother surpa.s.sing the older sister.

By the way, within their party, Jinrai and Louise were rank B, and they were also eligible for the rank A promotion test. Both avoided the promotion to rank A because they disliked the increased ties of obligation that would occur from strengthening their connection to the guild. Staying rank B didn't cause them any problems when it came to accepting requests. If it was really necessary, they could merge parties with a rank A adventurer.

After losing the card match, Kazane rushed to the Merchant Guild's office. She did so to receive the Merchant Guild card she had completely forgotten about. The card only took an hour to obtain because Kazane's ident.i.ty was immediately verified through the magic on the Appraisal Gla.s.ses. Kazane seemed satisfied after seeing the surprised appearance of her younger brother when he saw it.

Although Kazane and the others decided to accept the quest, they had to go to the guild branch in the city that was making the request to actually accept it. Kazane and the others went to the Barnes dojo to inform Yumika of their departure before escorting Louise to the Elmar house, where they also spoke with Tiara. It seemed both Yumika and Tiara were unable to leave the city for now. And Kazane was played around with by Tiara's mother while she was there. It seemed she had taken a liking to her.

The final member to inform was Jinrai, and after doing so, Kazane and the others started heading for the requesting city Crimiona.

As usual, they traveled with Hippomaru-kun and the Thunder Chariot, but since it was Jinrai's day off, Lyle held the reins. And since Lyle had the same taste as Jinrai, he naturally drove recklessly. Needless to say, Kazane was also in high spirits.

◎ Crimiona City, Adventurers Guild Adjacent Bar

「The Crawling Lightning that appeared in Resurrect City also appeared here.」

「That thing they say acted violently at the arena?」

「No way, does that mean the fort matter is also a devil's work?」

The Crimiona bar that was usually calm at noon was in an uproar as if it was already nighttime. Even under normal circ.u.mstances, there was turmoil among the adventurers concerning the outbreak of monsters from the abandoned Blue Rifon Fort. On top of that, there was the appearance of the new kind of monster first witnessed in Resurrect City. That was also cause for an uproar.

「Brother.」

「Anekiii」

「My bad.」

「I didn't mean anything bad. I'm reflecting now.」

In that noisy atmosphere, there was a young party hanging their heads in the corner. Of course, it was Kazane and the others. By the way, there were no U-turns or drifts and it wasn't in Battle Mode like when they battled the Earth Dragons, so it wasn't like the ride quality was bad, and Naoki and Emily were fine when it came to that.

「No way, so that was the rumored『Crawling Lightning』」

When that came up in the conversation around them, Lyle remembered talking to Emily about it, but he didn't think it was like that. He never thought he would be treated like a monster before he knew it.

「Naoki, Onee-chan didn't touch the reins. Onee-chan wasn't bad. It seems I'm about to be scolded, so I want your testimony. It's a request from Onee-chan.」

「O, oh.」

「Ah, that's sly.」

Naoki unintentionally nodded after Kazane's request, and Lyle raised a reproachful voice. By the way, everyone had heard Kazane loudly shouting「Do it! Do it!」

「No, that's useless, isn't it? Kazane is equally guilty!」

Emily, who had watched the situation from inside the carriage, so shouted.

「Guu. I don't want to be scolded anymore.」

Kazane recalled the sermon in Resurrect. She disliked being scolded now.

「And Naoki, you're too soft on your sister! Jeez!!」

「Sorry.」

Naoki was also reflecting.

「That's right, Naoki. Emily, you should tell him off more.」

「No, brother, you're the one that needs to reflect the most. Kazane was told by Louise-san not to cause any more trouble, wasn't she?」

「It can't be helped. We don't invite trouble, trouble simply comes to us. It's the same theory behind corpses falling over when the boy detective walks down the road.」

「I have no idea what you're talking about, but you obviously invited it yourself this time!」

It was a sound argument.

「Mumu, Naoki. Emily is strict.」

「Well, she inherited that from Cindy.」

It seemed that Jinrai's wife and Emily's grandmother Cindy was usually a fairly strict person. It seemed a dragon who wasn't doing as they were told would be made to do so with a fist.

「Well, we'll leave the discussion there for now and go accept the quest.」

It was left there. That was probably insufficient, Emily thought to herself, and she nodded while thinking she would have to tell them off again afterward. Kazane and Lyle guessed Emily's intention from her facial expression, so they both thought (let's run away when we're done) and nodded to each other. That irritated Naoki. And after they accepted the quest at the reception desk, the two were easily caught due to Naoki's betrayal. There was no way Naoki would permit any kind of rendezvous between the two of them.

And after Kazane received a thorough sermon from Emily, she wondered if she was more like Cindy-san or Jinrai-san.

They decided to rest in Crimiona City that night and leave for the fort the next day, so they started searching for an inn.

◎ Crimiona City, Toitoi Inn

「Normal will stand watch inside the room. Dragoon will guard Hippomaru-kun and the rest. With this weapon.」

With a heave-ho, Kazane took the Indestructible Scoop out of her Item Box and handed it to Dragoon. It was accepted by Dragoon reverently. The Dragonhorn Tonfa had become standard equipment for Hippomaru-kun, and the 3-meter magic sword couldn't be handled with Childstone power, so Dragoon's standard equipment had been changed to the Indestructible Scoop. Good at digging, good at thrusting, good at striking, and good enough at cutting, the shovel was the strongest weapon for close combat.

「It's quite imposing.」

Lyle was sitting on a bed and said so.

After they left the bar, they discovered an inn to stay at, and once they were in their room, Kazane suddenly activated the two Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun bodies. Normal had been slightly reworked to move with Childstone power.

Lyle and Emily had seen Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun Normal in s.h.i.+rodieh and knew the Ogre Killing Princess was a puppeteer, so they weren't surprised when such things started moving around.

But both people were a little intimidated by Tatsuyos.h.i.+-kun Dragoon's imposing figure. The silver shovel gave it an even more bizarre atmosphere.

「Aneki, we're being aimed at by some people after all?」

But unlike the two who were overwhelmed by the atmosphere, Naoki understood Kazane's intention. Naoki wasn't an outstanding inter-personal adventurer like Yumika. However, since he was attacked by an Earth Dragon Modoki when he first came to this world, his growth had been specialized around『living.』Therefore, Naoki had obtained the『Sense』Skill. The Skill didn't have an omnidirectional effect like Intuition, but it was a Skill that was useful for discovering traps or materials during dungeon searches and quests.

And Naoki's Skill had been reacting since they entered this city.

「It's suspicious; it looks like several people have been tailing us in s.h.i.+fts. It seems their aim is us, but I don't know why.」

Kazane replied. Kazane understood they were being followed due to『Intuition』and『Dog's Sense of Smell.』But their aim was still unknown.

(Even if it's basically impossible to overtake Hippomaru-kun with a horse, there should be a way to transmit information here. It's possible they're just monitoring us, but maybe they're aiming at something else? Maybe they're looking to steal Hippomaru-kun and the rest, or perhaps they want to kidnap Lyle and Emily, since they're the children of this country's general?)

At the moment, they were simply prowling, so there was no basis for capturing them, and it might become a quarrel. Hopefully they'll attack soon... while thinking a thought Kazane herself knew wasn't proper, she decided that the only measure she would take tonight would be strengthening their defenses while they slept.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Adhesion Sword『Gum』, Spell Dagger, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Ogre Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator

Level : 30

Health: 107

Magic Power: 181+420

Strength: 52+10

Agility: 43+4

Endurance: 29

Wisdom : 57

Dexterity : 38

Spell : 『Fly』 『Torch』 『Fire』 『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』

Skill : 『Warrior's Memory』 『Night Vision』 『Crus.h.i.+ng Blow』 『Dog's Sense of Smell』 『Golem Maker: Lv3』 『Rush』 『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』 『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』 『Air Jump: Lv2』 『Killing Leg: Lv3』 『Fear Voice』 『Invisible』 『Tiger Eye』 『Wall Walking』 『Intuition』 『Cheat Death』 『Nimble』『Charge』『Material s.h.i.+eld』『Information Link』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Placement』『Thunder Chariot』『St.u.r.dy Teeth』『Crystallization』

Yumika:「I'm in the middle of training right now.」

Kazane:「Something feels a little suspicious, so be careful over there as well.」

Yumika:「Roger.」