NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30
The Auriga Desert is a federation of city-states.
Given that it was established in such a barren place as a desert, it is inferior in every aspect compared to the other great powers on the continent, including the Empire, yet Auriga was still recognized as an important force.
While the strength of each individual city-state is nothing special, it is the Adventurer Guild that binds this loose federation together and exerts its own influence across the continent.
“Welcome.”
At the border connecting the southern region of the Empire and Auriga, the Adventurer Guild there is the largest and most magnificent on the continent.
With a bright smile, the staff asked, and I leaned against the reception desk and handed over the letter I had prepared in advance.
“I’d like to send this letter.”
The letter contained the place and time unilaterally written down for meeting that person.
The place was the Adventurer Guild here.
The time was exactly ten days from now.
“Oh. Could you tell me the recipient’s name?”
“Laila.”
“Laila, do you not have a surname?”
“Yes. She’s probably an adventurer affiliated with the guild.”
Before her retirement, she had told me.
– I’m going back to the desert.
– What are you going to do back in such a place? Eat scorpions? Or maybe chew on some cacti?
– You foolish child. The desert is my homeland. And there’s an Adventurer Guild there. I can definitely earn a living. If you have any thoughts, come join me.
If her words were true, she would likely be an adventurer by now.
The receptionist checked the registry, then nodded.
“Yes! Here it is. Level 4 Adventurer Laila. Confirmed.”
I let out a small sigh of relief.
Fortunately, she seemed to be alive and well.
Moreover, if she’s a Level 4 Adventurer, that’s quite a veteran level.
Considering that ordinary adventurers usually only reach around Level 6 after a lifetime of effort, that’s quite impressive.
“What name will the sender be using?”
“….”
I paused for a moment to think.
A letter sent by a stranger wouldn’t be duly received by the esteemed Level 4 Adventurer.
But I couldn’t use the name Elliot either.
Rumors about the abductor of the Saintess were rampant even right outside the Adventurer Guild.
Although the Cathedral hadn’t officially announced it, the gossip had spread like wildfire.
“Poppy.”
So I said.
The nickname Laila had given me.
– Why do you fight like a rabid dog?
– I’ve got no skills, so I have to survive like this. Got a problem with that?
– No, in fact, I’m quite satisfied. Yes. To fight like that is the mark of a true warrior, Poppy.
– Poppy?
– It’s the name of a pet I had back home. The golden fur is quite similar, so from now on, you’re Poppy.
– One more time.
– Huh?
– If you call me that garbage name once more, I’ll break your horn off.
– ….
Well, it wasn’t a name I particularly liked, but it would be faster to use this nickname here.
The receptionist chuckled, seeming to find the name Poppy amusing, then shook her head.
“Yes. The letter is prepared. It will be sent off in a few days at the earliest.”
“And I need an inn to stay until the letter is delivered. I heard the lodging is upstairs here.”
“Yes! How many guests do you have?”
“Just me and my younger sister back there, so 2 in total.”
“It’s usually one room for two guests; will that be okay with you?”
“Anyway, that should suffice.”
After hastily finishing the registration, I turned, and there was Ophelia, wearing a mask.
“It’s all done. Would you like to have a meal?”
“….”
“Ophelia?”
The pink lips revealed between her mask twitched, as if she wanted to ask something but couldn’t bring herself to.
It was nothing new.
Ophelia had been acting that way since we traveled from Shadowhold to here.
“Nothing… it’s fine.”
Eventually, Ophelia said that.
*
Ophelia had been observing Elliot continuously for the past ten days.
Ever since she heard he had a close female friend in Auriga Desert.
“A woman?”
That stirred Ophelia’s emotions.
The Elliot she knew was a commoner who had nothing besides the ties to the Cathedral.
It had to be that way.
Not only did he have a friend in another region, but it turned out to be a woman.
In other words, a girlfriend.
What’s more, he looked visibly uneasy, thinking that this friend might still be in the desert.
“…”
Annoyance welled up within Ophelia.
She didn’t know why it bothered her.
Coolly, she gazed at Elliot’s face.
Not bad-looking. His body was fit, and his skills were evident.
But his personality was dreadful.
Yet according to Emily, a man with a bad personality tends to be sweet to his girl.
Next, Ophelia recalled Elliot’s conversation with the receptionist.
“Could you tell me the recipient’s name?”
“Laila.”
Laila.
What a feminine and beautiful-sounding name it was.
She must undoubtedly be a noblewoman from Auriga.
Thinking about it, while Ophelia was also of commoner origin, being the adopted daughter of the Pope made her noble as well.
“Does Elliot have a preference for such? A noble fetish? Something like that?”
Ophelia had seen nobles from Auriga visit the Cathedral. With bronzed skin and dressed in scandalous outfits with veils and semi-transparent laces. Likely, Laila dressed in similar whore-like attire.
More than that, Elliot had used the name Poppy as the sender.
That was definitely a nickname.
Then it might be possible to speculate that Laila and Elliot were former lovers.
No, not former, but possibly current.
“Is this guy a playboy?”
Not that she knew.
But based on the cheap novels sold in the Cathedral’s marketplace, a man with a bad personality and a girlfriend was probably a playboy.
That was the best conclusion Ophelia could draw from her limited knowledge.
In any case, he was a bad guy.
That was her verdict.
Grinding her teeth, she took a big bite of the porridge.
Elliot, sitting across from her, tilted his head, observing her expression as if her thoughts were written all over her face.
“Why are you sulking again?”
“I’m, not sulking!”
“Looks like you are sulking.”
“Whatever.”
As I said that with a glare, Elliot shrugged.
Ophelia stirred her gray porridge in the bowl.
“This lousy porridge is bad enough, but now we have to go to the filthy desert? My hair will be a mess with all the sand.”
Ophelia’s voice spread across the inn, and no one dared to stop her.
The residents of Auriga living in the inn had been infuriated by Ophelia’s derogatory remarks over the past few days but were all defeated in their attempts to confront her.
Essentially, this inn had become Ophelia’s kingdom.
“All necessary nutrients are included.”
“There’s no meat, though.”
“Are you a brat? How old are you to be picky about side dishes?”
“If you call me a brat one more time, I’ll break your neck.”
“Hah.”
Ophelia ate the porridge without any decorum.
She probably hadn’t laid a finger on it back in the Cathedral, but here she had no choice.
The desert was a barren land. The ingredients that came from a barren land had limitations.
“Isn’t it unfair?”
With a sulky attitude, Ophelia pouted.
Elliot tilted his head in response.
“What’s unfair?”
“I don’t know anything about you.”
“…So, you followed a stranger?”
“Yep.”
She admitted it readily.
Elliot’s eyebrows twitched.
“I don’t know you. But… on the other hand, you’ve heard everything about me from Belwin. How I grew up… what I did in the Academy… everything. All my secrets.”
That was the complaint Ophelia had brought up for the past few weeks.
It was a more pressing issue than Elliot’s former lover.
Ophelia hardly knew anything about the man named Elliot.
As for the tragedy in Lauren Village, she only guessed at it in her mind. Elliot neither confirmed nor denied it.
She didn’t know he had a girlfriend.
For three whole years, he hadn’t shared any details about himself with Ophelia. In contrast, Elliot seemed to see right through her.
The imbalance of information.
That was what made her angry.
“Were you sulking all this time because of that?”
“Shut up! I’m not sulking!”
Ophelia shot back angrily, lifting her head.
Elliot rarely wore a smile.
It was a face that looked at her like a cute younger sister.
“What is that disgusting face for?”
“…”
Elliot said nothing and simply shrugged.
“Well, anyway, we should stick together until we defeat the Demon King. It’d be odd for Ophelia not to know anything about me.”
“Hmph.”
“I’ll tell you.”
Ophelia’s eyes widened in surprise, not expecting him to say it so readily.
“It’s not a great story or anything.”
Elliot cleared his throat a few times and began to speak.
“I am…”
“This guy is the spawn of a slave.”
Before Elliot could finish his introduction, an unfamiliar figure interrupted the conversation.
A long clawed and scaled hand landed on Elliot’s shoulder.
“…”
Ophelia momentarily lost her wits and gazed at the intruder, who wasn’t human but a creature.
A towering height that reached the ceiling. Its entire body was covered in scales, and its bright blue pupils were slit vertically. It had wings and a tail at its waist, and massive horns protruded from above its head.
In other words…
“A dragon…?”
“More accurately, it’s a Dragonkin. Well, it’s more lizard-like than a true dragon.”
Elliot spoke on its behalf.
The Dragonkin erupted in laughter and patted Elliot’s back. Although Elliot was fairly large, he was no match for the Dragonkin. With every loud clap, Elliot’s body swayed back and forth.
“Hahaha. Poppy, it’s been a while.”
“Indeed.”
The Dragonkin, a being half human and half dragon, was so rare one could hardly see it once in a lifetime.
Ophelia blinked in surprise, realizing from their conversation that the Dragonkin had called Elliot Poppy.
Then that means…
“Could you be… Laila?”
The Dragonkin, upon hearing this, grinned and leaned forward.
The table tipped over, and the bowl of porridge spilled.
But she, or rather, Laila, paid no mind and boisterously declared,
“Yeah! I am Level 4 Adventurer, Laila!”
Seeing Laila’s proud demeanor, Ophelia looked at Elliot with a blank expression.
“A woman…?”
“I distinctly said female. Socially and biologically, Dragonkin are treated as humans.”
“…”
Ophelia trembled, realizing how absurd her previous worries had been.
But this one thing had to be confirmed.
With a face like she had bitten into a bug, Ophelia glared at Elliot.
“You don’t actually have a taste for someone like her, do you?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
His answer was as expected.