Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

Turning around, Kyle was greeted with a girl who was probably a tad bit younger than Kyle. On top of her leather armor, she wore a mantle, with a thick fabric covering her head. With a befitting short bow hanging down her back, she gave off ranger vibes. Although she was clearly still young, her facial features let you categorize her as quite the beauty, and her eyes were brimming with determination as she looked at Kyle. He felt his heart shaken at that for some reason, but he regained his composure and called out to her.

“Do you need something from me?”

At that point in time, Minagi had already disappeared. Her duty was to work in the shadows, so nobody could afford to see her together with Kyle.

“You must be Kyle-san, yes? My name is Erina. Um…I heard you were looking for a guard that could bring you to the [Nest of Dragons], and I was hoping you would hire me! Please!” Erina lowered her head to the point she got close to the ground.

“Well…” Kyle scratched his cheek, seeing that the expected event happened, and inspected the girl.

“H-Have you already decided by any chance?” Erina seemed anxious at Kyle’s reaction.

“No, not yet…”

“Then, won’t you consider it, please?! I am actually a professional at gathering herbs, and I head into the forest almost every day!” She tried her hardest to emphasize her skills, but Kyle was simply trying to figure out how he should go about rejecting her.

The reason he went looking for a guide was simply to spread the news that he was heading over to the [Nest of Dragons], and he actually never planned on hiring anybody. However, considering the amount of money Kyle offered, the chances of somebody actually accepting weren’t zero.

In order to avoid that, he threw in the request at [Flame Dragon of Dawn], and took it down a day later. If someone was crazy enough to agree, Kyle would give them a random trial to reject them. In Erina’s case, it would be because she’s too young. But, there was one thing he was curious about.

“Just to confirm one thing…I put in the request at [Flame Dragon of Dawn], but you’re not actually affiliated with them, right?” Kyle remembered that Erina was not present in the bar a moment ago.

“……Yes. I heard that you were offering a large sum of money for a guide to the [Nest of Dragons], so I came running over.” Erina said with a meek voice.

Only adventurers affiliated with the bar can accept the requests from there. It’s not like it’s prohibited to do so otherwise, but the majority of adventurers handled it that way. Any violation of that would result in a loss of trust on the bar’s end.

“Do you understand what that means?”

“I don’t mind. I am willing to quit as an adventurer with this as my last quest!” Her eyes were brimming with determination.

It seemed like she was willing to break the trust between adventurers. They were talking in the middle of the street, so of course, people were listening. Rumors would spread soon.

“Why are you this desperate to…”

“Naturally, it’s all because of the money. I need it, no matter what.” Erina exclaimed without any hesitation.

“Right…”

Kyle didn’t bother asking for what she could need the money. Every person had their own personal reasons and circumstances, and it wasn’t in his interest to invade her privacy. However, he perfectly understood that Erina was backed into a corner.

“U-Um…have you heard of the dark elves trying to erase the other races of humanfolk? I’m fairly knowledgeable when it comes to that!” Erina seemingly tried her hardest to gather Kyle’s interest, and in reality, he reacted to the words ‘dark elves’.

“Is that true? I’d like to get to the [Nest of Dragons] without running into them.”

“Y-Yes! My mother was a former adventurer, and I have a detailed map she made!” Erina was really selling herself.

“Hmmmm…” Kyle started thinking.

He really didn’t plan on hiring anybody, but it’s a fact that the incident with the dark elves was not part of his calculations. He didn’t want to cause any trouble that could have repercussions down the line.

“…Alright. I’ll hire you. However, you get the payment after you played your part, and no advance payment, you okay with that?”

“T-Thank you very much! I’ll do my best!” Hearing Kyle’s words, Erina’s expression softened up, as she showed a relieved smile.

“We’ll depart tomorrow at dawn, so come to the East gate, okay.”

“I understand! I have to prepare now, so if you would excuse me!” Erina once again lowered her head and dashed away.

Kyle watched her run off and was assaulted by a feeling he himself couldn’t describe. He faintly shook his head to rid himself of those feelings and headed to the location where Lieze and the others were waiting.

The specific location was a large plaza in the center of town. It was also the most crowded and noisy place in all of Rinecol. The stone-paved plaza was bursting with people, as well as stalls selling odd goods; street-performers working for a bronze coin or some applause; a follower of the God Levain, who controls order and law, preaching their teachings; as well as other intriguing individuals. The ones standing out the most were the countless adventurers after all.

Some carried skin shining with myriad colors, probably from a hunt, and others carried large weapons bigger than a small infant. Despite that, Lieze’s group with Urza and Shildonia, possessing a certain level of beauty, stood out even more than them, so Kyle was able to regroup fairly quickly.

As always, Shildonia was eating the food from the various stalls. Famous goods from Eddos were grilled meat from monsters, and grilled crab, which she held in both hands right now. Lieze and Urza equally had finished a business trip, drinking some cold water.

“Good work out there…Where’s Seran?” Kyle thanked them for preparing for their trip and asked for Seran, who clearly wasn’t around.

“He’s probably taking a stroll as always. Should be coming any minute.” Lieze said with a faint sigh of exhaustion.

“This really is a country of adventurers, the prices of food and other daily necessities are oddly affordable. With this, we’re perfectly prepared for our departure tomorrow…What about you?” Urza seemed satisfied with her achievements and asked Kyle.

“Yeah, I ended up hiring a guide after all.”

“I thought you didn’t plan to?”

“Circumstances changed…” Kyle told the three about the poaching and the dark elves, to which Urza showed a complicated expression.

“The dark elves, huh…I never met one myself, but they really aren’t the type to bother with other humanfolk races…Not like I’m one to talk as an elf myself.”

Elves and dark elves supposedly had been one race at some point, but during the days of legend, they had been split in two. The elves themselves seemingly held no hostility towards them, but they weren’t exceptionally close either. They were probably comparable to distant relatives you’ve never seen.

“Do you know anything else?”

Kyle didn’t know much about dark elves himself. He fought together with dark elves during the Great Invasion, but never held a proper conversation.

“Right…Unlike elves, dark elves aren’t too skilled with spirit magic, which is why they prioritized their skills with bows, and they seem to be well-versed with alchemy…Fighting them in the forest is something I’d avoid. I don’t know what’ll happen even if you have me around.”

“Means that a guide is necessary after all. What kind of person is it?”

“A-Ahh…about that…”

Kyle hesitated a second in the face of Shildonia’s question but decided to confess in the end, fully prepared for execution.

“Hmmm…so it’s a girl, and you couldn’t refuse her.” Lieze’s gaze grew colder and sharper by the second.

“Were you sure about hiring her on the spot? We don’t know if she’ll even be that big of an asset.” Urza lightly glared at Kyle herself.

She was probably worried about possible fraud.

“Hm? I think…it should be fine. She mentioned she had a map.”

“Any chances she had a specific goal, which is why she approached only you?”

“No, none…I think…maybe…” Kyle grew quieter by the second.

Only now did he realize the possibility of her being a Mera follower, or someone tailing him from the Empire, and he cursed himself for it.

It didn’t seem like she was lying, but…why did I not think about that? That possibility should have popped up in my head first thing.

He was not doubting the girl at all, almost like he was dealing with Lieze and the others.

“Hmm, so you let your emotions get the better of you,” Shildonia said, flashing a somewhat teasing smile.

“…I’m not saying there was no sympathy involved, but I just thought she wasn’t lying, and she was fine with getting paid after the quest…”

Judging from how desperate Erina was, there was no doubting that she was short on money, but he didn’t hire her solely for that…or so he kept making excuses.

“Basically, it’s because she was cute, right?” Seran had appeared out of nowhere, adding a comment with a grin.

“Well, I have to admit that she was cute, but…Wait, don’t add more fuel to the fire!”

“Haha, seeing a cute girl in peril, of course, you’d want to help her. I totally get it.” Seran tapped Kyle on the shoulder.

“Hmmm, so you’re weak against cute girls.”

“I’ve been thinking this before, but maybe Kyle is the more dangerous one when it comes to women…”

Lieze’s and Urza’s cold stares pierced Kyle.

“I guess men never change, even after a thousand years.” Shildonia seemed nostalgic about something, as she commented.

“You guys really don’t hold back…” Kyle held his head and yet couldn’t argue back.