Chapter 29
“...Young master. After going through all that trouble, you still don’t plan to step into the spotlight?”
It was the middle of the night, a wonderful hour when moonlight spilled into the mansion, and for some reason I was facing a burly man—Enrique.
And for some reason, Enrique was asking me with a solemn expression.
“Are you really sure? You’ll stop the mayor’s conspiracy and protect the people from the bandits’ attack. If everyone finds out the heir to the esteemed House Randall was the one who did it, they’ll all be falling over themselves to praise you. Your future would be secure, too.”
I shook my head.
Enrique, that’s not it.
“I have no need for fame.”
“Then why?!”
Enrique asked, unable to hold back any longer.
But I made sure to explain it clearly.
“I told you before, didn’t I? This is my duty, and it’s everything to me. This act will save lives. If so, I don’t care if no one ever knows it was me.”
That’s right.
If I did my best here, I could avoid being killed in the end and live out an ordinary life as a background character.
To be specific, my life would be saved.
“Are you serious?”
Enrique stared at me intently.
I smiled brightly at him.
“—Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I declared it with conviction.
“I see...”
Enrique sighed.
“...Young master.”
After a moment of silence, Enrique began to speak, as if recalling something.
“Even back when I was with the guild, I kept turning down jobs I didn’t like. Nobles who got on my nerves, merchants who tried to take advantage of me. No matter how much the guild receptionist begged me, I wouldn’t take them.”
“...Yeah.”
Enrique had started confessing something out of the blue with a serious look on his face.
But I couldn’t hide how appalled I was.
Like, you actually did that???
I didn’t know much about the guild myself, but I figured only one of its top adventurers could afford to turn down jobs like that.
It was like refusing to work while still being picky about your job, or getting bad grades on your tests and not even turning in your homework.
Enrique was a run-of-the-mill F-rank adventurer who liked putting on a tough-guy act. If he’d been turning down jobs like that...
“Before I knew it, I’d been kicked out of the guild.”
“Figures.”
I answered a little too quickly.
Of course he had.
If you didn’t have the skills and acted like that, naturally you’d get kicked out.
“B-By the way, how did the other adventurers react...?”
“The other adventurers? Ah, every last one of them would look away from me.”
“...Yikes.”
“Hahaha! What’s with that reaction? It’s been a long time since I met someone who wasn’t intimidated by me.”
Uh-oh.
Everyone around him was totally put off by him, too.
But Enrique didn’t notice my reaction and continued cheerfully, “But you know...”
“For the first time, I want to cut loose alongside you—not because I was hired, but because it’s you and no one else.”
“E-Enrique...”
Enrique held out his hand.
“Anyway, I’m counting on you. Young master—no...” Enrique laughed as he said this.
His eyes gleamed as he flashed a ferocious grin.
“Hey—Genesis.”
“R-Right.”
I reluctantly took his hand.
At least it seemed like Enrique was motivated.
He’s not a bad guy, really...
I may not be great at fitting into society myself, but this man had actually been kicked out of the Adventurers’ Guild—a place often derided as “a gathering of social misfits.”
Once this was over, I thought, maybe I should study basic manners and common sense with him.
And then—
“Still, Genesis, huh? That’s the first time I’ve heard that name, but it strikes a chord. It’s a fine name...”
“O-Oh, really? G-Good for you. I did put a lot of effort into coming up with it...”
It was a cringey name from my dark past that I’d probably never use again, but apparently it appealed to his chuunibyo side, too.
Lyon was a pretty big city.
After leaving the mansion, we’d told them we had urgent business and caught a carriage.
Luckily, there’d been a nobles’ meeting about monster countermeasures that day, so the carriages had been running late. After that, we passed through the city checkpoint.
From there, we boosted our speed with physical enhancement.
The village that was going to be attacked was closer to the mountains, so it was faster to just run there.
As we ran, Enrique asked me,
“So I’m heading to that village, Hafen, right? Then I save the villagers from the bandits’ attack?”
“That’s right.”
“Helping people isn’t really my thing, though,” Enrique said, scratching his head.
“So, Genesis. What are you going to do?”
“I have something else to take care of, so I’ll take a detour and head over there.”
“Something else?”
Enrique frowned, wondering where that could be, and I casually told him,
“Yeah—I’m going to see the face of a future hero.”