Chapter 154 (2/2)

「I knew it.」Jill said, peering at the list.「They're not here.」

「Who's not here?」

「Well, they're downstairs at the moment.」

「Who?」

「A rank B party, the Four Stars of the East. They're not on this list.」

The submaster's mouth gaped open and shut as he rose from his seat. He looks like a fish, Gloria thought. Then he bolted out of the office, screaming “I'll give them the warmest welcome ever!”

Jill and Gloria quickly followed him. The guild's lobby was in an uproar. As it should be. The Four Stars of the East were among the best and famous adventurers in Ponsonia.

「Wow, it's the real Four Stars!」

「How do you know that? Have you even seen them before?」

「Yooo! They're all so cute!」

「Why are they here in Pond? Is this town really that dangerous?」

The submaster walked up to the ladies, pus.h.i.+ng aside the adventurers on the way.

「What a wonderful surprise! I thought you left the kingdom, but now you're back! Of course. Ponsonia is in the middle of a crisis, after all—」the submaster said, rubbing his hands together.

「So you're Pond's submaster.」Selyse said with a smile. 「You're the one who gave our job to someone else, correct?」

The submaster froze. Serves you right, Jill thought. Not only did he forget what he did, he was shameless enough to approach the ladies. As Jill watched what the Four East were going to do to the submaster, someone called to her.

「So you're Jill!」

「Wha?!」

Selica Tanoue. Jill knew her, of course. The smallest one in the group, she had long, black hair tied to both sides and wore a white robe of fine quality. Known as a powerful wizard, she emerged in the adventurer world out of the blue and made it all the way up to rank B in no time at all.

「Uh, I… Yes, that's me.」

「I was told to give this to you!」Selica handed her a bag that smelled somewhat strong.

「It's garlic! Please give it to the guy at Pasta Magic!」

「To the owner?」

A large, bear-like man popped in Jill's mind.

「Hikaru said you'd get it. Huh, I guess not!」

Jill's mind froze. What did she say?

Hikaru, a black-haired adventurer who one day appeared before Jill, and vanished all of a sudden. Not a day pa.s.sed when she didn't think of the boy. He disappeared after getting promoted to rank E. He mentioned going to the dungeon, and then one day she received word that he cleared the Underground City of the Ancient G.o.ds. What's more, the one who testified to this was none other than Gafrasti N. Valves, a key figure in Ponsonia's current internal discord. It was all too absurd.

「Where's Hikaru right now—」

「Lady Tanoue.」Gloria interjected. 「Are you perhaps a distant relative of Hikaru? You have the same hair color.」

「Please. We're not relatives! We simply come from the same place!」

「Same place…」Until now, Gloria still suspected Hikaru of hiding some high-level job cla.s.s.

「Uh, Lady Tanoue…」

「Everyone, please lend me your ears.」

Jill wanted to ask a question when Selyse clapped her hands to call everyone's attention.

「There's high chance that Pond will be the center of the battlefield. Knights and the army from the capital will come here soon. The town will be in chaos.」

There was a stir among the adventurers. Fear and worry gripped them all. After a moment, Selyse resumed her speech.

「In times like this, the citizens have only you to count on. You should stay close to them. And I want you to guide those who want to flee to the capital.」

「Are you going to escort the citizens too?」

「We will fight the enemy on the frontlines. We won't allow them to take one step in this town.」Selyse said. 「But at the end of the day, our enemy is on the inside. The doubt and fear in everyone's heart might cause them to panic. I need you all to take care of the town while we fight. Can you do that?」

No one objected.

「Yeah!」

「d.a.m.n right we can!」

「We're adventurers of this town! We know this place more than anyone else!」

「Let's do it!」

Selyse seemed satisfied by their answers.

「The submaster will give you detailed requests. I'm counting on you all.」

She succeeded in negotiating with the submaster—whose face was pale—and handed things over to him. He would use the guild to issue requests to the adventurers, all to keep the peace in town. In exchange, Selyse would forget about how he stole their job before.

「Aurora, Gloria, Jill. Come with me.」

『All according to plan so far. I wonder what Hikaru will do…』Selica muttered under her breath, low enough that only Jill caught what she said.

Jill couldn't understand a word—only that she mentioned Hikaru's name.

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