Chapter 16
#16 Newbie Adventurer Bern (14) - Meaning
Though he had received a somewhat unreasonable(?) scolding from Lucidra, Bern didn't mind.
Demons are beings that chatter with cunning tongues to bewitch humans.
So putting too much meaning into every word a demon says was a surefire way to fall into a trap.
[No, this isn't the kind of issue we're talking about here? Wow, seriously, wow!]
Leaving Lucidra behind, pounding her chest in frustration as if she were suffocating to death (a sight rather harmful for minors to see), the party regrouped at the Adventurers' Guild.
“Can't you lot, like, stay quiet for even one day...?”
Though the branch manager somehow looked as if he'd aged a year in a single day and summoned them personally to have a talk, it wasn't as though they were severely reprimanded.
In the first place, the Adventurers' Guild doesn't mediate disputes between adventurers.
The guild's essence is brokerage, and the relationship between adventurers and the guild is closer to a business transaction than a superior-subordinate one.
It's like how the owner of a convenience store wouldn't side with or punish one of two regular customers if they got into a fistfight outside.
Of course, if you cause a disturbance inside the guild, inflict injuries or property damage, or stab each other in the back 'during a request' and tarnish the guild's name, that's a different matter. But Bern's incident was at least far removed from that.
Of course, it was a pretty painful blow that Karina's party, one of the Eastern Branch's ace-level teams, had been sidelined for a while, but they had picked the fight first and then gotten soundly beaten. Complaining about Bern or Blanca over that would be ridiculous, wouldn't it?
“Sigh, forget it. They'd already been getting a little arrogant because they'd been doing so well lately, so if this knocks some sense into them, it's a long-term gain. Blanca, you're okay too, right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes. I'm fine thanks to Bern.”
“Well, that's a relief...?”
The branch manager, who had been about to brush the matter off casually, raised his head at the subtly flirtatious air in Blanca's voice.
A sidelong glance.
Sidelong glances.
Eyes darting nonstop to look at Bern's profile.
A body that kept fidgeting restlessly.
'What is this. Who is that.'
The branch manager felt a momentary sense of cognitive dissonance.
He had maintained a long association with Blanca since the days when she first came to the guild as a child and requested the subjugation of a lich.
Meaning he was one of the people who knew better than anyone how many had tried to approach Blanca, captivated by her delicate looks, and how impenetrable she had been with all of them.
So many of those turned down spread bad rumors behind her back, saying she was arrogant or looked down on others, to the point that it became one reason Blanca still couldn't easily get along with 2nd-rank adventurers even after being kicked from a 3rd-rank party.
And now?
“Ms. Blanca. For the next request, how about one that involves as many enemies as possible? What do you think?”
“I-I think Bern is right. I mean, um, we've already fought multiple enemies before, right? So, in that sense.”
“I see. It would certainly be easier to apply something you've already experienced.”
Bern nodded as if it were nothing, and Blanca's lips twitched upward as if even that reaction pleased her.
She did seem to be making an effort, offering reasons instead of just saying yes unconditionally and trying to keep a composed expression instead of grinning openly, but to the branch manager it only looked counterproductive.
'...I don't think even a country girl in love for the first time with a city boy would be that bad.'
Is this what it feels like to see a younger sister who always insisted she'd stay single for life suddenly thrashing around in the throes of love?
Feeling disbelief, bewilderment, and finally a strange loneliness, the branch manager turned his gaze to the last member.
Because he'd often seen how, when a romantic relationship formed within a party, a third party left out of the loop often became a problem.
If there were even a hint of that, as their elder and former superior he'd take some sort of measure...
“Ooh, big brother! Big sister! Clearing out the forest around the city—such a magnanimous spirit, placing the prevention of civilian casualties above personal gain! I, Renya, shall carve it deep into my bones and do my utmost so I may even follow in the footsteps of the two of you!!”
“......”
The branch manager wordlessly took out his pipe tobacco and lit it.
At this point, he just wanted to quit everything and rest.
***
There are requests commonly referred to as 『Cleanups』.
It refers to a class of requests centered on civilian settlements such as villages and cities, where you clear out monsters in the surrounding area. If there's a forest nearby, it's a forest cleanup; if there's a lake, a lake cleanup; if there's a swamp, a swamp cleanup, and so on.
The purpose is to regulate their numbers in advance, so overpopulated monsters don't encroach into the areas where humans live.
And this 『cleanup』 was, if not the very worst, then at least a rather disliked kind of request for adventurers.
Those who usually commission a cleanup are the nobles ruling the area, and as everyone knows, Birka's nobles generally have either corruption or incompetence—or both—as if it were a passive skill.
The people who still have enough diligence and brains to deploy private soldiers, exterminate monsters, and recover the resources are at least capable, even if corrupt; the rest can't even manage that and dump the cleanup on adventurers.
A subjugation operation that would normally require moving dozens of troops is instead handed to an adventurer party averaging about five members, which is exhausting from the start.
On top of that, nobles who hate paying the guild usually let the monsters sit right up against the limit, only handing the job over once things are on the verge of saturation, so the actual number that needs to be subjugated snowballs.
“His Lordship, the rightful owner of this land and the sole head of the Burota family, has graciously granted you the right to enter His Lordship's forest for three days. He has also mercifully allowed you to take the byproducts of monsters hunted during those same three days, so be grateful for His Lordship's great benevolence and do your utmost to subjugate them!”
And then, finally, the knight even had the nerve to boast as though grudgingly allowing the guild to recover the spoils after repeated demands was some favor he had granted.
By this point, even Bern let out a dry laugh.
“I honestly can't understand why those guys are strutting around calling themselves nobles. The lord protects the people, and the people pay the lord in return. I don't know why they're so damn proud when they can't even uphold that basic premise.”
“Is that so? In Birka, this is just everyday life. I guess Aizern is different.”
“Well...”
Bern, who had meant to say of course it was different, hesitated for a moment.
At least by the standards of his original self, the Crown Prince, the Aizern Empire wasn't such a hopelessly ruined country.
But the empire as perceived by the Crown Prince was only what he had learned from reports. It was not something he had confirmed with his own eyes or experienced with his own body.
Could he really say the possibility of corruption being rampant below was truly zero, when the people up top were only given suitably favorable reports?
'...I deliberately chose the distant Kingdom of Birka because I wanted to experience a new place, but perhaps it's worth checking the empire side at least once.'
With a resolve that, if Lucidra had heard it, she'd have shot back, 'Didn't you make a clone just to enjoy your free time? Why are you trying to work again?', Bern continued.
“Hmm, at least from what I've seen so far, yes. But I suppose there's still a chance something similar is happening in places I haven't seen.”
Blanca nodded.
“Right? I mean, what country is perfect, anyway.”
After chatting for a while about how the requests adventurers hated most were the ones involving lazy nobles, or how if the nobles around the royal family or capital weren't strong, adventurers would have smashed them to pieces long ago, they walked on for a while.
─Uuuhh... Uuu...
A bizarre wailing, like a woman sobbing, caught Bern's ear.
And about two beats later than Bern, Renya also gave a startled shudder.
Renya, who had a serious expression unlike usual, was originally an adventurer who served as a scout—in other words, a kind of ranger.
He reacted later than Bern, but considering the difference in their abilities, this was still more than a respectable level of detection.
And he also possessed knowledge Bern didn't have.
“Big brother, big sister, be careful. It's a pack of Purlfrugs. They're wolf-type monsters that hide their forms, imitate the cries of various species to lure prey, and ambush them when they get close.”
“Are they very different from ordinary wolves?”
“Their physical abilities are only a little higher. But if you listen to their cries for too long, you'll lose your sense of direction and start hearing hallucinations while feeling dazed, as if you haven't fully woken up yet, so be careful. If you're alone, it's best to cut off your hearing completely even if it's risky; if you have companions, you should wake each other up periodically. If neither is possible, then a quick, decisive fight is best.”
Bern nodded and looked around.
Their current location was a plain.
If monsters were trying to lure them even before they had set foot in the forest, let alone reached its edge, then the inside of the forest could already be called saturated with monsters.
Ordinary adventurers would hate this, but Bern was actually glad about the situation.
“Blanca, don't worry about fire hazards or anything like that. Just focus on taking the enemy down. I can extinguish the flames whenever I want.”
“...Yes, I'll try.”
“Renya. You don't need to join the attack, so stay by Blanca's side and watch for any possible ambushes.”
“I will stake my life on it and make sure not even a single claw touches you, big sister!”
Bern adjusted his grip on his sword and glared at the forest ahead.
It was time to hunt.
***
Hard to imagine from her appearance alone, but Blanca surprisingly had some knowledge of swords as well.
Not that she had any romantic notions about being a spellblade, of course, but simply because the offensive magic she'd learned was limited to just two fire-type spells, situations where she couldn't just spam magic came up fairly often.
A prime example was fighting in a forest.
If she unleashed fire magic recklessly in a forest packed on all sides with things that could burn, she might take down the enemy—but afterward she'd die too, in the resulting fire.
No, even if her life were spared, she could still end up ruining her finances.
Wasn't the very reason she ended up in debt to the guild because her magic went berserk and burned down a noble's hunting grounds?
But.
At least at this moment, Blanca had no need to swing her sword at all.
Thud! Thud! Thump!
With a series of loud impact sounds, a pack of wolves with gray fur piled up in front of Blanca like a stack of luggage.
Some had broken limbs, some were cracked, some were grotesquely bent, but at least they were still alive.
And toward that heap of wolves, Blanca cast her spell without hesitation.
『Rock-Burning Magic』
It wasn't as overwhelmingly powerful as when she'd once used it with oil in the Goblin Lord's lair, but the flames were still hot enough to burn flesh and blood, turning the Purlfrugs into roasted meat in an instant.
Some embers spilled out into the surrounding area from the excessive aftermath, but that was fine.
Before those embers could blossom into proper flames, another Purlfrug fell onto the spot and snuffed them out with its own body.
And whenever enough of them gathered, she incinerated them again with 『Rock-Burning Magic』.
As she repeated the process, Blanca was trembling with exhilaration.
Because of Bern's prowess in easily subduing the Purlfrugs and piling them neatly before her? That was certainly astonishing, but for Blanca, who had already gotten a good look at Bern's skill, it was something to admire, not to be shocked by.
The reason she was trembling was something else.
'My mana... isn't going down!'
Blanca's natural mana wasn't all that high.
The intermediate spell 『Rock-Burning Magic』, if used with no other magic at all, was limited to twice a day.
Yet even after using that intermediate spell more than ten times already, her mana still hadn't gone down.
No, it was decreasing—but the amount and speed at which mana was being replenished were even greater.
It absorbs the life essence of whatever the user defeats and grants it to the owner.
If mana is empty, it fills it; if mana is full, it expands the vessel.
When Blanca heard Bern explain the ring's detailed mechanism, what she thought—having regained some of her composure—was, 'Then if I want to increase my mana capacity itself, I need to defeat things without using magic, huh?'
She thought it was a somewhat demanding condition, but she didn't complain. Even this alone was such a huge blessing.
But the ring's actual effect, once she used it, was far beyond that level.
If she annihilated an enemy with an intermediate spell, all the mana spent on the spell was instantly restored, and any excess vital energy increased her maximum mana.
It had only been a few dozen minutes since they started hunting, yet Blanca had already doubled her mana capacity despite repeatedly spamming intermediate spells.
It was beyond what could be dismissed as simply "efficient."
Even the mana cultivation methods of most noble houses seemed like they would pale in comparison to the ring's performance.
Where on earth had he obtained a ring like this, and how?
If it hadn't been for the condition that she not pry into the nature of Bern's power or techniques, there were far too many things she wanted to grab him and ask him about.
No, that's not it.
What she really wanted to ask him was—
Gnash.
Blanca bit down on her lip and forcibly suppressed her wandering thoughts.
Daydreaming in the middle of battle—how rude would that be to Bern, who was even now working hard for her?
He had said he needed a "companion" and handed her the ring.
Then all she had to do was live up to that as his companion.
Right.
Asking whether there was any other meaning behind giving her the ring—that was something she absolutely must not do.