Chapter 73: Conflict in Riles and the Suspicious Girl
Narrator POV
A luxurious room, somewhere in Riles.
Inside was delicate and fancy-looking furniture.
It was visible that the things that can be found in this room are carefully made and would be worth some fortune.
Four men were sitting on the sofas located in the middle of the room.
The four sat next to or opposite each other.
A man is also sitting behind a fancy-looking working table located opposite the door.
He was drinking some sort of alcoholic drink and was to be having a good time laughing with the four other men in the room.
A knock sounded and a servant wearing butler-like clothing opened the door and meekly entered the room.
He was wearing a problematic expression on his face.
"Sir... I have something important to report" <Butler>
Thus he spoke.
.
.
.
“DAMN IT!” <Noble A>
A furious scream echoed throughout a dark-lit room.
A man sitting by the working table threw a glass filled with a high-quality alcoholic drink.
The man who got hit by the glass and the alcoholic drink was dripping all over his body.
He was kneeling with his head down and touching the floor.
The man threw the cup of drink at him because of the report he had to make for his master.
He reported a piece of information to his master and that report had displeased him enough to throw his drink at him.
He knew beforehand that his report would upset his master and he did expect to receive such action after he informed him of this matter.
Despite doing nothing wrong he felt that he failed his master by the sole fact that he reported such news to him at this moment.
Just a while ago, his master together with four other men were talking in a high mood.
He came in and reported some bad news.
Then after stating his report the atmosphere of the room became gloomy.
His master was fuming in anger behind the working table where he sits.
It was the same for the four men who were talking with him.
It was apparent that the report also involves these people as they too were furious upon hearing the reports.
Weirdly enough, the four men who are sitting by the sofas in the room has robe over their heads.
It was obvious that these people are wearing such attire to hide their faces from getting revealed
It was worn in such a way that it managed to perfectly hide their faces.
But from the way they move, slamming their hands, and gripping their leg tightly, they are shaking and grinding their teeth from anger.
Despite not being able to see their faces the servant knew that those men had the same furious expressions just like on his master’s face.
“I have no excuses, my lord.” <Butler>
The servant could only bow his head and apologize to his master after reporting the bad news.
“DAMN!” <Noble A>
His master slammed his hands over the table and shoved the papers placed on his table and scattered them all over the room.
He held his hands over his face and became restless.
Moments later, one of the men sitting on the sofa spoke.
“So… the saint managed to escape… this is not good.” <Noble B>
"How could this be? Even though our plan was perfect, she still managed to escape." <Noble C>
“Sh*t! things are getting out of hand. None of our plans are working.” <Noble D>
“First our plans were leaked to the public and alerted the Empire to act, now we failed in the assassination of the saint. Things will only be harder from here on.” <Noble B>
"Don't tell me that this time too? Did our plan got leaked somehow?" <Noble E>
"It appears so, there is no other way to explain how fast the holy knights managed to react to our assassination plan." <Noble C>
"F*CK! This means that one of the higher-ups in our organization is a traitor." <Noble B>
The four men looked at each other.
Soon after they started to blame one another.
The servant's master, the same person sitting behind the working table, the one who threw the cup of drink has managed to calm down.
Noticing that his comrades had started bickering with each other he slammed his hands on the table to call for their attention.
This time it was to silence the four men who were trying to blame and suspect one another.
"At this rate, our plans will fail. Stop with all the in-fighting and focus on how can we fix this. Luckily it seems that the whereabouts of the saint is still unknown. We must use this opportunity to find her and finish what we started. ” <Noble A>
Giving off a commanding tone, the four men stopped their mouths.
The pressure coming out of this man resulted in the four men gulping for no apparent reason.
All they could do was listen and agree to his words.
"WE MUST FIND THE SAINT AND KILL HER NO MATTER WHAT." <Noble A>
He declared while releasing an ominous aura around his body.
-----------------
Kazue POV.
"Hmnn…" <Kazue>
I am now staring problematically at the face of a beautiful girl sleeping near me.
"Zzz..." <Beauty>
Despite being asleep her face contorts in a way that one could see that she was troubled.
The girl on the other hand was groaning, her face was periodically twitching and twisting.
She must be having a nightmare.
“Now what…” <Kazue>
[Why am I now together with this girl?]
Earlier, I went out in the field to complete some quests I took in the adventurer’s guild.
When I decided to camp out for the night I sensed something approaching my camp.
To my surprise, this girl appeared before me.
When she appeared she seems to be in disarray and was asking for help.
From the looks of it, she seems to have some sort of injury on her head.
Her head was covered in blood and was desperately asking for help before she passed out.
[Don't tell me, this will lead to some sort of an "Amnesia" plot twist. Give me a break I don't intend to get involved with this girl further. I Only decided to help her since I could not leave a helpless girl in the middle of nowhere. Plus I was going to camp here for the night anyway. For now, I decided to look over this girl. I hope she'll wake up soon.]
At the moment, I am now deep into the field located beyond the walls of Vestir.
I am now in an area where I encounter monsters a bit more frequently as I am quite far from the city.
This is where I met this girl.
[Hmnn... come to think of it. How did this girl end up in the middle of nowhere? I wonder if there is a village nearby? I wonder what’s up with this girl.]
Watching over the girl who was sleeping tightly inside the makeshift tent I made I noticed several things.
At first glance, one would deduce that she is wearing fancy clothing.
Under her black robe, the girl is wearing a beautiful white robe with golden lining and embroidery.
For some reason, it reminds me of the clothes clergymen and nuns would wear.
I also notice that this girl was especially beautiful, if I am to rank her amongst all of the girls I’ve met, she is easily the #1.
Yes, I am telling that this girl was even more beautiful than Chiho, that is why I was quite amazed when I saw her face for the first time.
She seems to be a kind of high-class lady of some sort
The kind of lady who is groomed and pampered all her life.
She looks frail and her skin was as white as snow.
If I was a boy, I may have fallen in love at first sight.
She was that gorgeous.
Lastly, I have this feeling of familiarity with her for some reason.
How mysterious.
Leaving her beauty aside, my instinct is telling me that if I involve myself with this person I would end up in a tricky situation.
This girl is caught in some kind of trouble.
The fact that this girl was wearing a black robe to hide her face is an obvious giveaway.
To be honest, I seriously considered dumping her and leaving.
Well, I had the urge but I am not that bad of a person to do it.
In the meantime, I decided to at least listen to her circumstance.
I treated the wound on her forehead and poured some potion over it.
From the way the wound appears, I deduced that it was caused by blunt force trauma, it is either she fell and bumped her head on a hard object or she was hit by a blunt weapon.
I bet it’s the former.
Thankfully, the potion managed to do the job.
So, please don't give me that "I have amnesia" thing later ok?
“But well… I must say it’s not every day one would encounter such beauty in the middle of god knows where.” <Kazue>
I said mockingly as I pictured myself in a familiar situation.
[Somehow, I feel that this kind of development is that… “hero saves damsel in distress” kind of development, isn’t it? If I was the main character of some cliché’ isekai story I would expect that this girl would become the heroine of this story arc, hehehe, just kidding.]
"Uwah… this might end up like that after all. What a pain... Oh well…" <Kazue>
I said it jokingly but I was afraid that my prediction might come true.
I just accepted the situation as it is and decided to do my usual thing.
I clasped my hands together and proceed on my daily nightly prayers to the God of Judgement.
I prayed my usual prayers, I asked that the god of Judgement would provide me with her blessings and help me in my endeavor.
I also prayed for the safety of my closest friends who ended up in this world and were traveling to defeat the demon lord with Hano Ryuusei.
Lastly, I silently voiced out my troubles as if having a tantrum.
As soon as I was done praying, I noticed that the beautiful girl lying down on the makeshift tent I made for her to be comfortable started grasping for empty air.
She was still asleep but was struggling to grasp something.
She was calling for a name,
“An (ey)-, A(ey)-, A(ey)-” <Beauty> 1A/N: she’s muttering this in a way that the word “A-“pronounced similar to the letter “A”/ (Ei)
At first, I thought she was only muttering a random word.
“A-, A-, Aaron” <Beauty>
The words are starting to sound louder and louder.
“A (Eii)-!!!” <Beauty>
She yelled and got up into a sitting posture all of a sudden.
She's now awake.
“Huh?” <Beauty>
The blonde girl looked around in confusion.
She doesn’t have any idea about her current situation.
When she saw me nearby, she immediately came on guard and leaned away from my direction.
“Who are you? Where am I?! Where’s A-?” <Beauty>
“Uh… ahuh… how do I answer you right now… Uhmm let’s start with my name, my name is Mizusawa Kazue, you can just call me Kazue. I am an adventurer. Right now, we are in the fields near Vestir.” <Kazue>
While still vigilant she carefully listened to my voice and internalize her situation.
She reached out to her forehead as if feeling a headache.
“O-o-ouch” <Beauty>
She felt the bandage I wrapped around her head.
[Oh I guess, the potion did not manage to fully heal her injury huh?]
“What happened...” <Beauty>
She asked.
[Don't ask me...]
This question was not aimed toward Me but rather at herself.
She started recollecting her thoughts.
“…” <Beauty>
I gave her some time to think for herself.
I expect that if I just leave her alone, she would eventually recollect herself.
After some time, the girl eventually relaxed as things started to get clear in her mind.
Noticing that she was not thinking straight, I spoke.
“So… is your mind clear now?” <Kazue>
She was surprised to realize that I was still there.
She nods weakly in response.
It seems that she has forgotten the fact that I was there in the first place.
[!!! Don't tell me AMNESIA THINGY… No... She must have a lot of things in mind right now.]
Although she was the one who wanted answers just a while ago, it was I who asked a question first after she regained her calm.
She must have concluded that between the two of us, the one who knows more about what was happening was her not me.
“Can I ask you something?” <Kazue>
I said.
She hesitated but in the end, she nods letting me know that It was OK to ask.
“Who are you…???” <Kazue>
I got straight to the point and asked her name.
“I am Ca-…”<Beauty>
She almost replied instantly but hesitated right before she said her name.
“Ca? Ca- what?” <Kazue>
[Oi oi, don't tell me something like "ca- ca- ca- can't remember" or something.]
I repeated the last words, For now, I assumed that “ca” was the first syllable of her name.
“Ah! Ca-ru-ca-se- CA…RISE! Right! My name is Carise…” <Beauty/Carise?>
[Phew... at the very least she seems to know her name. but... It's clear that she ended up lying and came up with another one. She must be cautious of me at the moment so I'll let it slide.]
I observed the face of the girl who calls herself Carise.
I knew right away that she must have given me a fake name.
Her face gave it off, it was screaming “I am Lying”.
[This girl must suck at playing poker. She doesn’t know how to hide her reaction.]
At any rate, I decided to just let it pass and go with the flow, she must have reasons to not tell her name.
“Ahuh… so… Carise-san…why are you in the middle of nowhere?” <Kazue>
“Uhm… that…” <Carise?>
Her eyes started looking all over the place.
She awkwardly played with her fingers.
Her eyes were rolling around as if she doesn’t know how to answer a simple question.
Her hands are wandering all over the place.
She seems restless.
I squinted my eyes at her
“I.. um… I… ah…” <Carise?>
I patiently wait for her to say a proper word.
[At this rate she'll end up making up lies.]
“Right! I was having a walk and… before I realize it I found myself here!” <Carise?>
[Yup, Lies]
“here… you mean… in the middle of nowhere?” <Kazue>
“Ahaha, yeah!” <Carise?>
“How?” <Kazue>
“Like I said I…. walked…???" <Carise?>
“Why are you answering in a questioning tone?" <Kazue>
When I pointed this out she twitched as if something stabbed through her.
I continued asking her questions.
"OK... Where do you live?” <Kazue>
“… Vesti… no… oh! From a village… nearby” <Carise?>
“Village? What village?’ <Kazue>
“Vi-vi-vi-- Virise! Yeah! I’m from Virise village!” <Carise?>
[Uh… this girl sucks at lying doesn’t she? From the looks of it it seems that she’s from Vestir.]
I looked at her with a "are you serious" gaze.
“I see… I understand…” <Kazue>
“You do?” <Carise?>
She was shocked that I believed her word.
[I gave up and just let her lies slide since it was bothersome to pry.]
“… oh my, I might have talent in telling a lie…” <Carise?>
She muttered in a low voice amazed at what she did.
“What?” <Kazue>
“No! it’s nothing.” <Carise?>
She breathes out some air relived.
I turned around and muttered what was on my mind in a whisper.
"[No, no, no, you suck at lying missy. You’re as transparent as glass.]" <Kazue>
“I get it, I get it… So… what are your plans now?” <Kazue>
“Plans?” <Carise?>
“I mean, what will you do after this? Will you return home? Go somewhere or something…” <Kazue>
“Uh…I…” <Carise?>
“So you know, I am in the middle of a quest right now. You said that you were from a village right? I assume it’s nearby? If so I could just walk you there so I could continue doing my adventurer work.” <Kazue>
“Uh… that…” <Carise?>
“What? Do you have a problem with that?” <Kazue>
“That would be a problem…” <Carise?>
“Haaah???” <Kazue>
“Oh! Hahaha! Right! You said that you’re working as an adventurer right? I wonder what is your quest all about…” <Carise?>
[She’s trying to dodge the question… oh well, whatever I guess this is much better than her asking me to do problematic things for her.]
“I’m looking to hunt some monster.” <Kazue>
“Oh! What monster are you hunting?” <Carise?>
Carise seems to be genuinely curious about my job.
“High Orcs” <Kazue>
“oh! High Orcs?! If I am correct that’s a C-rank monster! Hee! So you must be a C-rank adventurer! That’s amazing! It’s rare to see an adventurer as young as you are a C-rank.” <Carise?>
“No, I was just promoted from E-rank to D-rank a few days ago…” <Kazue>
“Eh? But you’re hunting a C-rank monster… or was I wrong and High Orcs are a D-rank monster?” <Carise?>
“No, High Orc is a C-rank monster…” <Kazue>
“Eh?” <Carise?>
“??” <Kazue>
“Shannon... So… you’re telling me that you recently got promoted to D-rank and you want to take on a monster that even C-rank adventurers would have a problem dealing with?” <Carise?>
“Well… that sounds about right? For the record, I am doing this because this quest pays a lot.” <Kazue>
“Are you crazy?” <Carise?>
“Well… em’ not, but I do hear people say that I am weird… a lot…” <Kazue>
The girl who calls herself Carise turned and placed her palm over her forehead.
“What’s with this adventurer…” <Carise?>
“???” <Kazue>
She looks back at me and sighs
“It can't be helped… alright!” <Carise?>
She mustered herself and made a fist pump with her two hands.
“Can I accompany you in your quest?” <Carise?>
“Hah?” <Kazue>
“I said, Can I accompany you in your quest?” <Carise?>
“No, no I heard you the first time… what I want to say… is why? Don’t you have to return to your village or something?” <Kazue>
“Actually! I was bored and I want to see an adventurer work with my two eyes!” <Carise?>
[Oh, surprisingly she doesn’t seem to be lying this time. Does this mean she wants to see an adventurer at work? But…]
“Nope, Go home.” <Kazue>
I denied her request to join me.
“Eh?! Why?!” <Carise?>
“You’ll only drag me down. I don’t want to bring someone who will become a burden during my quest.” <Kazue>
“Burden! How rude, despite how I look I am good at using “support magic” I can heal and cast some buff on you know.” <Carise?>
“He… so you can use such magic.” <Kazue>
“That would be an easy task for me! Don’t look down on me!” <Carise?>
[Meaning she’s no ordinary villager either if she was one there’s no way she’ll have the ability to use “support magic” which is a skill innate for the job class “Cleric”.]
Either way, she looked confident in her abilities.
“Hee… so you can use such magic, I wonder since you’re not an adventurer yourself I wonder what work you do?” <Kazue>
I asked this question as if it was natural and in the flow of the conversation.
I tried to probe for information from her by asking this.
“Work? I work for the chur--!!!” <Carise?>
She realized that she was about to tell something that she should not and quickly covered her mouth with her two hands.
[Chur...?? Ah!… I see... fufu, look how cute this girl is. I see so she’s from the church… She's wearing some sort of clerical clothing after all... yup, yup.]
“I see so you’re from the church…” <Kazue>
“Eh! Hahahaha nobody said church! What are you talking about? Who’s from the church?” <Carise?>
“You?” <Kazue>
“I am not!!!” <Carise?>
“ehh… but I heard you saying Church, tho...” <Kazue>
“I did not!” <Carise?>
She quickly denied it in a furious tone.
The way this girl acted reminds me of the times when I teased Chiho about liking Hano.
She acts like a kid trying to deny her crush after getting teased by her friends.
It also reminds me of the time when I try to tease Eiko,
Her reactions are similar to how Eiko would react during those times.
“Ehh…~ you’re lying…” <Kazue>
"I am not!" <Carise?>
[Haha, this is kinda refreshing. She's a beauty who is even greater than Chiho, but why does this girl remind me more of Eiko rather than Chiho? Maybe it is because It is fun to tease her.]
"Hmnn~~~" <Kazue>
I teasingly hummed at her.
“I am not!” <Carise?>
She pouts cutely while trying to deny my claims.
“Then what do you do for work?” <Kazue>
“I… Right! I work for the guild! I work there as a healer… Right!” <Carise?>
“Hmpf… let’s leave it at that…” <Kazue>
“leave it at that… you don’t believe me don’t you?” <Carise?>
“I do, I do…” <Kazue>
“So you’re willing to let me join you in your quest then?” <Carise?>
“Whatever, do as you like but don’t expect me to save you when you found yourself in trouble, OK?" <Kazue>
"OK.” <Carise?>
She salutes me imitating what a soldier would do with a big smile on her face.
-Sigh-
To be honest I don’t feel good about helping this girl but since I already rode the ship I should just go with the flow.
I just hope that I did not trigger a huge flag just now.
I looked at the girl once again.
I clasped my hands together.
I continued to pray to the god of judgment which was intercepted by this girl waking up.
[God, please don’t let some weird flag trigger while I am with this suspicious girl.]
After that, I did not ask more as I did not want to involve myself too much with this girl.
I gave her some of my food and introduced her to my familiars.
It surprised me that she was not shocked seeing my familiars.
Normally when other people see my familiar, they would hesitate to even go near them but this girl was not even bothered by my familiars.
She was even eager to know them and became touchy with them.
Hayate who is usually not willing to let people other than me touch his fur gave the girl permission to touch him
“Uwah…”
[This girl is quite amazing. She managed to tame Hayate so easily.]
.
.
.
Morning came
“Alright let’s go!” <Carise?>
“Uhgg… you’re lively aren’t you? I can't believe you were the same girl looking for help last night.” <Kazue>
“Help? Haha w-w-what a-a-are you talking about, I did not ask for help.” <Carise?>
-sigh-
She was acting as if she never looked for help last night.
Her figure before she passed out came flashing into my mind.
She seems to segway the topic but I know for a fact that the reason why she wanted to go on an adventure with me is that she's trying to avoid someone or something.
Before she passed out she was certainly desperate for help.
The fact that she’s not even asking for help now is weird.
[Maybe, she still doesn't trust me enough to ask for my help or she doesn’t want me to get involved with her matters? If that is the case then I will gladly keep myself away from getting involved in your problems.]
“What are you doing? Let’s go! Fuuu this is exciting! This will be the first time I would ever see an adventurer doing a quest with my own eyes!” <Carise?>
She urged me to go.
“yes, yes… Let’s go.” <Kazue>
We went hunting for monsters together with my familiars.
I acted as the Vanguard.
Carise acted as the support.
Hayate acts as the scout.
Kaori act as a ranged attacker.
And Isamu worked with me as the main Tank.
In a way, our party is now complete thanks to the addition of Carise who is surprisingly a capable supporter.
We went on further into the fields looking for the monsters I need to hunt.
On the way, we met several monsters, and I together with Isamu, Kaori, and Hayate dealt with them without problems.
The girl, Carise or so she says her name was also helped by casting buffs on me, and thanks to that I could deal with the monsters in the way with much ease.
To be honest I am a bit surprised.
Carise’s buff skill made this easier for me.
At first, I did not mind if she ends up being useless but she was not lying about her buff-type skills.
It was a nice thing to have my status increased with the buff she placed on me.
“I’m surprised your buff skills are very useful.” <Kazue>
“Right?! What did I tell you? You can praise me more.” <Carise?>
She gave me a smug look asking me to praise her more.
“Yes, yes, your buff is great I can’t be more thankful for your help Carise-sama.” <Kazue>
Honestly, I was quite impressed with the effects of her so-called "Buff" skills.
I feel that my abilities are boosted to another level once again.
“What’s the problem?” <Carise?>
She gave me a dumb look.
“Ah, no… nothing…” <Kazue>
[If not for her natural airhead tendencies I would have been more impressed with her.]
“Sigh…” <Carise?>
Then I hear her soft mutters again behind a soft sigh.
“-sigh- If I knew that you’re this kind of person I would not have lied about my name…” <Carise?>
“What did you say?” <Kazue>
Despite me hearing what she said, I pretended to ask as if I did not hear her say it.
I am doing this to give her a chance to say the truth to me.
Well, I am quite interested in why she keeps on lying to me though.
“Nothing” <Carise?>
She said with a smile.
As expected, she chose to lie again.
“… is that so?” <Kazue>
I did not want to force her to tell me the truth either.
But looking at her reaction, I am sure that she realized that I have noticed all of her lies by this time.
But all she could do was smile bitterly.
-sigh-
[What should I do with this girl.]
We continued to explore the field of Vestir to find the monster I’d been looking for.
Not long after we finally found that monster roaming around the area.
“That’s it… that’s the one.” <Kazue>
A monster was walking by the field.
It was a humanoid-looking monster who carries a large ax and wears leather armor.
The head of the monster was not human but that of a pig.
It was an Orc.
But unlike the Orcs I've encountered so far, this particular Orc did not have a fat body.
It has a refined buffed body ripped with muscles.
Just by looking at it, I knew that it would be hard to cut through its skin.
It is a lot more intimidating than that of the orcs I've faced before.
This is my quest target this time, a C-rank monster, a High Orc.
I smiled, I just realized that I am about to fight against a monster who is at the same rank as the monster “Undead Knight”.
Back then, I was still inexperienced, but I can confidently say that I’ve become much stronger and much more experienced than how I was back then.
Back then, my level and status were much lower, my equipment was sub-par, plus I only had limited skills to work with at that time.
This time around even though I was about to fight a relatively strong monster, I am excited to fight against such a monster.
I can reason out that the reason why I’m going to fight this monster is because of money.
[To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve faced a monster that would give me some "battle rush". The last time I had a challenging fight was against the Kobold-General. Well, I don’t expect this one to be as strong as that one but at the very least I expect it to put up a fight…]
“Kukuku, I’ve been itching for some challenging monster to slay… I hope you can give me some challenge, High Orc-san”
I readied my sword and stepped in front of the monster I was after.
Author Note:
Hi there~!
It's been a while again.
I've been working a lot lately and I haven't had a chance to update this story for a while.
I was writing here and there whenever I found the time but I can't find time to go over what I wrote and edit it.
If you check my post on my page, I said there that have a lot of chapters in store but haven't had a chance to go over them and edit them.
You see, whenever I finish my work for the day I can't push myself to work on this story and end up sleeping or relaxing.
Haa~ I miss the time when COVID made a lot of time for me... hahaha
anyway Sorry for the SUUUPER LATE UPDATE.
Anyway... I have lots of chapters to upload, just give me time to edit them. v>,<v
Oh, I wonder if I'll have time to draw some illustrations with those chapters too...
We'll see.