Chapter 24
She's pretty. She really has the vibe of an archetypal lady knight.
Seeing the word heroine written above her head, she seems like a sub-heroine who might become a companion.
It's a shame she isn't blonde, but sky-blue hair is nice too. Her long hair fell to her waist and fluttered in the wind, and that alone was enough to make a picture.
She had blue eyes like Sophia, but unlike Sophia, they gave her a sharp rather than round impression. If Sophia were a rabbit, would this knight be more like a cat?
So should I call it charisma? She had the air of a cool beauty, and the armor openly showing off her cleavage made her look sexy as well.
Was that armor actually highly defensive...? It was the sort of outfit that made it hard to attack her.
“I never thought there’d be an adventurer in such a rural backwater capable of taking this monster on alone!”
Oh, her voice was surprisingly delicate. She might be younger than I thought.
The contrast between her cute voice and serious way of speaking was charming, and it reminded me of Yena from the previous ‘Heroine Netori,’ who would sometimes pretend to be an adult. She was cute.
“Oppa…”
Did I make it too obvious that I was staring?
Sophia called out to me in an anxious voice and grabbed my arm.
It seemed less like she was conscious of the knight as a woman and more like she was afraid of someone skilled enough to sever in one stroke the neck of the goblin that had given even Siwoo such a hard time.
But she didn't seem to have any reason to be afraid. This was probably a subjugation force sent from Marta.
“Excuse me, may I ask who you are?”
“Hm? Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Louise Klein! I’m the deputy commander of the Marta City Guard! Pleased to meet you!”
Damn, I almost laughed. Her voice and manner of speaking were completely mismatched.
As I tried to hold back my laughter and made a bizarre face, Louise looked at me strangely.
Whew... Let’s calm down.
Still, the Marta City Guard? I had expected them to be nothing more than a simple local militia, but if someone this skilled was their deputy commander, I needed to rethink that.
“Nice to meet you. We’re apprentice adventurers heading from Minamo Village to Marta to become adventurers.”
“Hmm? Apprentices? Someone of your skill is only an apprentice? Ha!”
Louise looked at Siwoo and let out an incredulous laugh.
She genuinely seemed impressed by Siwoo’s skill. Had she sensed something only a skilled person could recognize? Even though she was stronger herself...
As I watched the two of them, Louise’s subordinates, who appeared to be guards, came up from behind us.
“Wooooah! I knew we could count on you, Deputy Commander! You sliced that monster apart with one stroke!”
“As expected of the Blue Flash! The Goddess of Marta!”
“Blue Flash! Louise!”
As her subordinates calmly brought over a cart and cleaned up the scene, they praised Louise for bringing the situation to an end.
But weren’t they just teasing her at this point? Or was this the culture of the Marta City Guard...?
“Hm! Enough! All I did was catch it by surprise.”
See? Even Louise hates it...
Looking closely, I noticed Louise’s ears twitching every time her subordinates flattered her.
On top of that, the corners of her mouth kept twitching slightly, so Louise seemed to be enjoying the situation.
What the heck... Unlike her first impression, she was actually cute.
Her subordinates continued praising Louise until the work was done, and although she told them to stop, she never actually stopped them.
====
“I see... You were originally planning to apply to the guards?”
“Yes. I’ve changed my mind now, but becoming a guard was once my dream.”
“Hm! What a shame! If you had joined as one of my subordinates, you would have been quite useful.”
We decided to enter Marta together with the guards.
We'd already gotten friendly, and I was planning to ask her to go together so I could build connections, but Louise was the one who suggested it first.
Apparently, she was fairly interested in Siwoo.
Louise was a sub-heroine, so... was this our chance?
When I glanced at Sophia, she seemed to have had the same thought, because she was looking at the two of them with a delighted expression.
I went over to Sophia and pointed at the two of them, and she nodded vigorously.
We looked at each other and grinned.
After that, Sophia and I did everything we could to keep the conversation going between them until we reached Marta.
Louise seemed satisfied to keep talking with Siwoo, and Siwoo didn’t seem to dislike Louise either.
He was probably interested in Louise as a skilled fighter rather than as a woman, but hey, even that was something.
Their conversation was mostly about the group of goblins we had taken down earlier. From what I heard, those goblins had been modified by demons.
Each of them had the abilities of a different monster, and the leader of the goblins—the one that had fought Siwoo—had fused with a troll.
No wonder its wounds had healed right away.
Goblins were normally rank-7 monsters, the lowest rank, but thanks to their special abilities, those goblins had been raised to rank 5.
For reference, the leader had been a monster nearly at rank 4, so it was no wonder Louise had been surprised by Siwoo.
“Woohoo! As expected of the deputy commander! You took that guy down!”
“Damn it! The deputy commander left me with nothing to do!”
“Hm! That’s enough praise! Open the gate already!”
When we arrived at the city, the guards started teasing Louise. Apparently, it wasn't just a tradition among the guards, either; Marta's residents and adventurers joined in.
“As expected of the Blue Flash! I think I’m falling for her!”
“Ahh... Now I can leave with peace of mind...”
“Ahem!”
It clearly wasn't the first or second time this had happened. The others seemed to know that Louise liked it when they did this, too.
“If you take this letter of recommendation with you, you should be able to become an adventurer without any trouble! I guarantee it!”
Unfortunately, Louise and Siwoo didn’t make plans to have a meal alone together or train together.
Maybe Louise was inexperienced when it came to romance, or perhaps she still didn’t see Siwoo as a man. Either way, they didn’t get as far as I wanted.
Instead, we obtained a letter of recommendation from Louise, whose favorability toward us had risen somewhat. Whether you had a guarantor or not made a big difference, so thanks to her, we had gained a valuable connection.
“Thank you, Louise! You really are the goddess of Marta!”
“Hm! Flattery won’t get you anything more—I can’t do anything special for an adventurer who isn’t one of my subordinates! Then, farewell! Perhaps we’ll meet again if the opportunity arises.”
I'm telling you, she's cute.
Louise left with her subordinates, her ears twitching and a satisfied expression on her face.
====
This unexpected quest yielded three things.
First was the letter of recommendation I had just received.
The deputy commander of the Marta City Guard was personally vouching for me, so I should be able to become an adventurer without much trouble.
Next was the green dagger.
It was a dagger I had secured before the guards arrived.
This was a poisoned dagger. I should have realized it at a glance—it was obviously the color of poison...
To test it, I had Sophia stand by while I nicked my arm with it, and the same bone-searing pain as before came rushing back.
It seemed good enough to use as a secondary weapon, so Sophia and I each took one, and put the last one in our inventory.
I planned to sell this one in the real world.
Lastly, leveling up.
Normally, to strengthen our stats, we had to kill monsters to obtain magic stones, absorb those magic stones, and then internalize them.
It was a complicated process, but its effects were reliable, so magic stones traded at fairly high prices.
But here, monsters didn’t drop magic stones. Instead, killing them granted experience, allowing us to raise our stats by leveling up. Just like in a game.
In ‘Heroine Netori,’ I had never thought I’d be able to enhance my stats as well as obtain skills, so I’d gotten lucky.
As for the reward, we didn’t receive one for defeating the goblins.
The cliff had collapsed because of the bomb I threw, blocking the road, and we agreed to forgo a reward in exchange for the guards clearing it.
Still, getting a letter of recommendation and the guards’ goodwill wasn’t bad.
“Oppa! This must be the adventurers' guild.”
“You’re right. The entrance alone gives off exactly that vibe.”
While thinking about various things, we arrived at the adventurers' guild before we knew it. As Louise had said, we walked straight down the main road, and a large building appeared.
From just inside the entrance came the sounds of people drinking, arguing, singing, and so on—sounds that immediately made me think, Ah, this is definitely an adventurers' guild.
“Sophia, Deokbae hyung! Shall we go in, then?”
“Yes!”
“Let’s go!”