Vol 1 Chapter 2 (1/2)

The Dragon

The country neighboring Rondéville, Filéamis

In the eastern part of a forest, three youths alking

One of the in his hand and smiled wryly

“That Firehound was pretty strong”

“Only since you underestimated it”

“Ow-”

Poked with the scabbard’s tip, the raccoon beastkin almost stumbled

Though he scowled at the youth that looked like a bird with eyes of protest, he knew that he couldn’t deny it, laughing jokingly instead

Watching the two from the side, the otter beastkin mu overhead

“Really though, there hasn’t been any tension recently…”

The three youths were fro each other from childhood, they’ve lived their day-to-day lives astime

Deh they could even do a D-rank couard, it felt lacking in so

Still, they didn’t have the fighting spirit nor craving to strive for ranks higher than that, living day by day in a habitual fashi+on

“It’s fine, isn’t it? We’re still young, soood will happen sooner or later”

“Yeah… Hey, how ’bout going to the red-light district with our earnings this time?”

“Aaah, I want moneeey, I ooomen”

While talking leisurely, the three people advanced through the forest

This path was the shortest route to the town and was an ani into it in many places

Naturally, there wereto keep searching for enemies

After a fewbirdkin stood still

“What’s up?”

“… That thing there, what is it?”

Looking towards the direction he pointed out, there was a pure white oval buried in the tall grass

The group of three exchanged looks with each other and carefully drew closer to the object

“This is…”

“… An egg?”

It was an egg slightly smaller than a basketball

When they et a closer look, it shi+ned a wondrous seven-colored light Before they knew it, the three were entranced by the egg

Just then, they clearly heard a loud sound resounding fros

“… Is so there?”

“N-no, there’s nothing…”

The three once again focused on the egg

“Not sure, but… isn’t this rare?”

“… Might be expensive, we should probably sell it”

They all smiled at the raccoon beaskin’s words

Good luck had unexpectedly rained down on them

Without saying anything else, the three hurried towards the town

Changing time and location, now to the east of Rondéville

“What are you two doing next?”

A Balta Fort sentry greeted the tomen

Unlike the sentries that wore full body arht equipment But due to the weapons they carried, he could tell the tere guild members

Though the sentries were all male, he didn’t call out to them with a bad motive In a short period of ti Unable to guess the significance of the gesture, the tiger beastkin inclined his neck

“What did that mean?”

“Lodging Can we stay at the fort?”

Saying that, the beastkin woman looked at the human woman next to her

The two turned towards the sentries si her mouth to speak

“Though that was our plan… is so?”

Towards her concerned expression, the sentry denied it by waving his hand and giving a strained laugh

“Heading southwest froh you know? If you’re planning on staying a while I reco there”

“Lunéville?”

Speaking of towns near Batla Fort, Pinéaville and Harville ell-known

As Pinéaville was the closest port city to the Akradist Kingdo and fishi+ng industries In contrast, that liveliness lead to poor security in some parts

Harville was an inn town that connected the royal capital and Pinéaville on theby shi+p fro and food costs were increasing

But with the infor to this continent, they had never heard of a town named Lunéville

“It’s a good town Lodging is cheap and the public order is good”

“No matter what, the food is delicious!”

Another sentry leaned forward and said that

“Food? That’s it?”

“Yeah! They have really interesting food there!”

“It’s also nice to interact with the children there”

“Yeah! Everyone is so sociable, and that elf receptionist kid’s listless expression—”

Despite the sentries starting to get on a different topic, the toed looks

“Shall we?”

“Hmm…”

The human women looked at the sentries

They weren’t people ould deceive others to earn money, they understood that from the sentry’s conducts thus far In addition to that, to her who had left nobility, she could easily see through a person’s expression into their true character behind the darkness

“I think going there is fine”

“It’s settled then As for me, I want to see the elf”

“That’s why!?”

Her ed to the ed to the ed to Lunéville

“Heeeh, it’s pretty big”

“I was pretty anxious when the main road ended midway, but now I’m relieved”

No longer worrying about having to sleep outdoors, the talked headed Lunéville in high spirits

Theunder the street fro sensation

Used to seeing Akradist’s unifor the sea, Lunéville and Balta Fort’s townscape looked very ordinary

However, the Branch in front of them stood out

Though it didn’t change away fros, with its steps and porte-cochère projecting fro up at its design froh it was by no means picturesque, there was a sublime beauty within its admirable harmony [1]

But of the few people walking nearby, none stopped to view the building

“I wonder if everyone is used to seeing it?”

“… Maybe”

When their eyes iven a ti that they were countrymen, the two smiled at each other

“… Go in?”

“… Yeah”

Asking each other to try and prepare thenified feeling Looking inside the Branch, they stiffened at the view once again

A large nu hall

There were people talking excitedly, people engrossed in eating, as well as staff running to and fro serving tables Despite being a reasonably large town, the aely s to think all of the town’s people were crammed in there

“Welcome”

A clear voice reached their ears, returning the tho had stoppedto their senses

Not needing to search for the owner of the voice, their gazes were attracted to the girl standing behind the reception desk

With long and radiant golden hair, the girl had snohite skin and deep blue eyes that were reminiscent of the ocean She expressed a beautiful sic that

They saw long ears on the sides of her small face

Though their knowledge wasn’t too precise, there was nothat appearance

(That’s…)

(The rumored elf…)

The same as just a h lured in

They wondered if the people irl Or perhaps, they were drunk froical power?

While Elivia was suspicious of their surroundings, and while Katia considered her to be a irl

“You guys are pretty successful here”

Letting those words slip out unhindered, Elivia was surprised at herself

With a sirl responded with a simple, “Thankfully”

Frole word, the tere already charmed

Despite being members of the sas of jealousy, not tosimilar to veneration, so to speak

“Are you two here on a mission?”

There were two reasons for the to the Branch first

Accept a co expenses, as well as to collect infor the commission

“No, ere recommended to this place by sentries at Balta Fort”

“They said if ere going to stay somewhere, Lunéville would definitely be better than Pinéaville or Harville”

With the two unhesitatingly answering, the elf girl seemed to be convinced

“Oh, you girls here for the first time?”

“Welcome to this place then”

Katia and Elivia were aware that their appearances were ordinary

But even so, they were tomen and it wouldn’t be unusual to be assaulted, and had even been stared at with dangerous eyes several tiave theilant In order to stop it fro

However, despite their vigilance, the uests

“Please”

Proirl, the two sat in empty seats

Looking over the dining hall again, uilds they’d visited so far, there was the same level of success, but the hustle and bustle wasn’t as harmonious as this place’s

“Have you decided on an inn to stay at?”

“No, I decided to come and eat first The sentries at the fort said the food here was delicious”

Saying it somewhat provocatively, Elivia was surprised

(It happened again)

Before she knew it, she had no vigilance or tension towards her like when she talked with Katia, her co with the elf was amiable

She thought it was strange, but didn’t think anything was suspicious

The elf girl’s expression softened a little further at Elivia’s words

“I don’t knohether or not ill be able to meet your expectations, but… Elizah—”

Calling out in a clear voice, a fox beastkin dressed in the sairl came over

Though many fox beastkins’ eyes were tsuriallant She had swaying light brown hair and large ears with a big tail tipped white Together with her garments, she produced an adorable atmosphere

“What’s up, Ilya Ah—”

Saying up to there, Elizah saw the two girls sitting at the counter and realized why she was called

“Welcome You’ll have your menus in a moment”

With a refined s menus from the stack of them next to the counter’s hatch, she immediately returned to the two

Looking at the menus in their hands, the two’s eyes opened wide

Each ite with that was each dish’s effect and the way to cancel it

Evenat the various pictures caused their sto able to choose

“Let’s seeee Our gold is a bit spotty, guess we need work…”

While the torrying next to the counter, severalpaid their bill and stood up

One man and woman had a sword, oneto the uard was balanced

The group stood in front of the bulletin board, talking with each other as they looked through the co, they picked one

“Ilya-chan, this one please”

They brought a coation written on it

“Certainly”

Receiving their registration cards along with the co the subjugation as accepted

Not noticing the teroup were roused about the commission’s subject

“Pavel, isn’t this one even easier?”

“Oi oi, that Rondébear we hunted the other day was pretty high leveled y’know? Though even if there were a lot of theht, Ilya-chan?”

Ilya looked at the commission chart Siet was a Laoloa Boar A huge wild boar that inhabited the Laoloa continent’s mountains As the swordsman named Pavel said, the Rondéville Boar that lived near Rondéville had weakened abilities and constitutions

Since they weren’t doing any haration amount of ten was probably to decrease their nu harvest season

As Ilya was thinking that looking at the group of

“That’s right So long as you bear in et surrounded, I expect you won’t have any problems”

“See!”

“However, since their second breeding season has just finished, pleasethe, even the non-aggressive ones will be driven into a frenzy”

“Ah, seriously…? Got it…”

The Laoloa Boar had the habit of chasing soed

They didn’t rebut her tone of certainty, instead not only e advice

Co such a conversation, Ilya presented their registration cards and the commission chart on the counter back to them

The aze towards Javier

“So long as Javier-san watches our backs froistration card back”

“Ah, right! Understood!”

Judging by the strength of his response after hearing his name called, Javier was all fired up

The wos, Katia and Elivia included, obviously shi+fted their focus to see what happened as usual However, that wasn’t all this time

Since the person was Ilya, one couldn’t help but to have a look of coiven looks of envy as they wanted to talk to her themselves

“Please note that subjugation outside of the appropriate area does not count… Good luck”

When Ilya bowed as though she didn’tin front of her, Orlette, the soed the man back by the nape of his neck

“Yeah yeah Cya later, Ilya We’re co back to eat here e finish the job!”

“I’ll look forward to it, Orletta-san”

After watching the four exit, Ilya turned back towards the two people sitting at the counter

“Are you ready to place your orders?”

“Ah, not yet”

Even though Ilya’s eyes and herswatched Guessing that Ilya are of theistration, Katia hung her head in shahed in embarrassment

“It’san elf, but it’s true that they’re worthy of being called beauties”

Even when complimented, Ilya almost didn’t show any reaction at all

Considering that she was in an occupation where there were ine that people would say things like that over and over again to someone like her In truth, Ilya just accepted coh they were for someone else since she knehat made her body when she reincarnated, but Elivia didn’t know that

(Maybe it seemed like flattery…)

As Elivia was regretting it just a bit while reflecting, Katia noticed her

“The staff here are polite… Elivia, can’t we make this our base for a while?”

“I really want to, but…”

Elivia looked at the bulletin board filled with commission charts

Though there were subjugation co the list of orders, they were all a ways away froes say that Lunéville was peaceful on their way, but considering that they were doing jobs for the uild, the distance from the base to the area for the commissions were too far away

“And so, it’s only fine if you take co rewards like those people earlier”

“Ah… so that’s it…”

Muttering her consent, Elivia looked around the dining room

The nuh, and roup of people, they stayed around to spend their incomes over and over

Saying it another way, the only merit to do that is this town… or rather, this Branch

Taking that into consideration, Elivia turned and gave a wry smile to Ilya

“Ah, u you for a little while”

“My name’s Katia This one here is Elivia”

“Katia-san and Elivia-san, is it? I’ll do my best to support you”

After that, the two people forgot about their fatigue fro with Ilya about various things

Ru closed due to racket about fixed dos like that

They talked about a wide range of things, but Ilya was a really good listener… up to the point the two girls ca they were a Windia noble and a cohter

The uild Though the information had also come to the Branch, it was too late for etiquette by the time they had the opportunity to listen to the nation’s side of the story, getting caught up in the moment was also one of the reasons

One of the things Ilya had a particular interest in was the story concerning the Ice Dragon Contrasting the disaster designated demon, the Tyrant Spider, that recently appeared near Lunéville, this was a calas could be a matter of life and death for many people

[Clairvoyance] [Mind Reading] [Eidetic Hearing] [Prophetic Dreams] [Star Memory]

If Ilya freely used those skills, she could be aware of the world’s past, present, and future They were difficult to use though

If she said she knew things imprudently, she would be asked how she knew of the would become difficult since it would put the cart before the horse

And so, Ilya decided to wait until she came across new information

People visiting Lunéville, like Katia and Elivia, often bring gossip to hear

(If people keep co from the cities, it looks like we’ll need to increase the size of the Branch…)

While thinking about such a thing as that, Ilya fell asleep

Around the ti asleep

A figure wrapped in darkness ran in the forest to the west of Rondéville

“Hah…!! Hah…!!”

The scorching pain in his throat orsening, but his body needed air to keep co

Though he kept getting tripped up fro weeds, he concentrated solely on running

“Gaul! Stop!”

“-!?”

His name called out, the raccoon beastkin, Gaul, scowled at the owner of the voice

Though there was a possibility they could lose their threat in the darkness, he couldn’t believe that he gave away their position willingly

However, the birdkin youth Gaul was scowling at grabbed his shoulder, forcibly stopping him mid-step

“Oi, are you sane!? Ruben! Run!”

“It’s alright! That guy isn’t co anymore!”

“Eh…!?”

Looking around while breathing heavily, he saw an otter beastkin running over

However, his speed was far froilant toward his surroundings

“… Hah~”

Gaul sat down hard on the spot

Catching up, the otter beastkin hung his head when he looked at the thing Gaul carried

“The egg… this is all because we didn’t get rid of it…”

“W-ere able to get away soerous to throw it away!”

“How?”

Gaul groaned at the birdkin youth’s, Ruben’s, bitter grumble The tense air faded the otter beastkin’s bitter smile

Their breathing in order, the three looked around, analyzing the their surroundings, collecting themselves

“… Where are we?”

“I have no clue since we’ve been running all around… Ruben, can you fly?”

“Yeah I’ve already recovered o”

Saying that, Ruben flew off clad in wind

Noric in order to fly However, birdkin were able to achieve the sa the chant

While looking up at his friend flying around in the sky, Gaul asked his other friend a question

“Teee horse?”

“… No”

In their e of a horned horse hat looked like scales instead of fur The three of them had ran away because that horse attacked them

“But, that didn’t see’s parent… it chased Ruben and I as well”

“… Well, horses don’t lay eggs to begin with”

“It could’ve been a deh”

“A demon?”

Gaul tried to dis stupid, but recalled that the horse had been using ic

Saying it was a de by itself, but it wasit

“… Are des?”

“No idea…”

The next h the air, cutting through the languid conversation

Scared, they sprung up and looked around Then, bang The sound of soh the air

Stiffened by the sudden unexpected event, they realized what it could have been after a moment

“” Ruben!? “”

They pushed their way through the grass to the origin of the sound

“D-don’t come!!”

“” -!? “”

“That’s… blood!”

When Gaul looked at hi to the birdkin’s body

He couldn’t ure’s identity However, its arm extended aardly

“Teemo!!”

“-!?”

Feeling he should push Teemo away first in order to ward it off, he felt a dull pain in his upper arm

However, i pain in his upper ar else out

“Aguah—!!”

“Dammit!!”

Red scattered… faster than he could see, its dagger ith blood Gaul tried to draw his sword from his waist, but he couldn’t move

Looking at his right ar out of it

“Gu-…!!”

Frigid pain running through his mind, Gaul broke out in a sweat

Sinking to the ground due to terror and pain, he saw the black figure that had been standing behind Teeht in front of him

Fwoosh, the sound of air being sliced Guessing that was brandishi+ng its dagger that sliced through Teemo–

“Uwaaaaaah!!”

In order to defend hi held under his arm

Then, there was a momentary pause

The attack didn’t come?

As soon as he thought that–

“Uwaaah!!”

“-!”

He heard a dull sound, the figure was bloay before his eyes

Following the figure’s path, he understood seeing Teeure

However, the binding didn’t last long, it kicked off Teemo and tumbled

“Gaul, quick!!”

Teemo immediately stood up and pulled Gaul’s arm

“Ruben too! Can you stand!?”

Ruben stirred slightly after hearing Teemo’s voice

But seeing that he couldn’t stand, Tee that ti without caring

“Idiot… bastard…!”

“I’ an idiot!!”

Ruben gnashed his teeth at his friends’ excessive dialogue

Then, he started thinking about their opponent while being carried

At first he thought it was a bandit However, with his throwing skills and not killing him when he was down, he didn’t think a simple bandit would use tactics like that to lure his comrades

But if it wasn’t a sieted?

“… I think his target is this egg”

Gaul interrupted Ruben’s train of thought

Teemo was the one to answer

“Definitely, when he, al, he panicked!”

“Then if we hand over the egg…”

“… That’s useless”

Ruben interrupted Gaul

“Useless!? Why!?”

“If the egg was his only purpose… don’t you think aie…”

“Y-yeah…”

“But when the time comes, use it as a shi+eld… Definitely don’t part with it…”

Saying up to there, Ruben thrust himself from Teemo’s back

“Ruben!?”

“You’re burdens, sorry”

With those words, Ruben reigned in his friends that were shouting in anger

I’ burdens, but I’m even more sorry for your deaths

“It’s unfortunate, but I’ll be going ahead”

When his body floated at that ic

So by hi

“… Don’t die”

“You too”

“Absolutely, make it back alive…!”

However, as soon as Ruben took off into the sky, a dagger pierced his foot

“Wh, at…!?”

The dagger was thrown fro Was there more than one enemy?

“Dammit…!!”

Drained of energy, he absolutely had to call for help

Enduring the pain with sheer willpower, Ruben focused his ic

While hearing the far away sounds of weapons hitting weapons, he cut through the sky like a blade

Early the nextat her door, Ilya woke up

“Wake up, Ilya!”

Equipping herself in a hurry, she called out to Ria on the other side of the door

“What’s the matter?”

“An injured person! It’s serious!”

A those who complete their requests or those who report their failures, there were naturally those who get injured during the mission

Though the guild was obliged to have soic in each Branch, their abilities were just to fulfill the requirements of first aid

Therefore, in the case it didn’t stop with first aid treatet medical treatment at a hospital or a technique user of the church

However, since Lunéville wasn’t a major city like the royal capital, it didn’t have a hospital And due to the thieves guild fro a Lottévester Faith church were at an impasse

Inevitably, Ilya couldn’t help but assist the critically injured cases

“As usual, it’s at the private room on the second floor”

“Got it!”

Without saying anything else, Ilya heard the sound of her running

After she finished changing her clothes, Ilya descended the stairs from her private roo the second and third floors