Chapter 5: Newbie Adventurer Bern (3) - The Sky-Blue-Haired Adventurer

#5화 New Adventurer Bern (3) - The Sky-Blue-Haired Adventurer

Bern’s incident in the heart of the city instantly became the hottest topic at the adventurer guild.

Good heavens, so the rookie who had only seemed diligent and earnest had actually beaten the senior adventurers to a pulp?

Damn it, I should’ve gone to see it with my own eyes!

Hahaha! Exactly. An adventurer ought to have that kind of nerve!

I knew those bastards would get their comeuppance someday!

Bern tilted his head at the reactions around him.

The guild receptionist who had explained the situation to him, Blanca, said.

Why?

No, I was just wondering if this reaction was really the right one. Still, isn’t this basically a case where a newcomer who’d only just joined got beaten up by someone in the same organization?

You seem to be under some strange misconception, but the adventurers in the guild don’t really have any sense of camaraderie or belonging toward one another.

Blanca spoke in a cynical tone and gave an example.

For example, let’s say you’re a regular customer who keeps going to some famous merchant house. If another customer there—one who isn’t even a particularly decent person and is just a nuisance—got beaten up somewhere outside, would you be angry?

So it’s the same kind of thing?

It’s not all that different. Just as you have to compete with other customers when a store puts out a limited item, adventurers are in the position of having to compete with other adventurers to get good requests. If customers start fighting inside the store, the shop owner would naturally step in, but he wouldn’t interfere with what they did outside the store, would he? The guild is the same.

Then there won’t be any particular penalty for this either, I suppose.

If you had taken the same request as those men and backstabbed them in the middle of it, that would be a different story, but as things stand, yes.

I see.

From within his shadow, Lucidra asked.

[You seem disappointed? Isn’t that a good thing?]

'No, I was kind of hoping for a development like, “This insolent rookie dared to lay a hand on a senior as lofty as the heavens!”'

[…..]

Whether he noticed or not that Lucidra was staring at him with cold eyes from within his shadow, Bern bowed his head to Blanca.

Thank you for answering all my questions.

It’s nothing. No need to thank me for something this small. Besides, I actually had something to tell you.

Something to tell me?

With a tap, Blanca set a wooden badge slightly smaller than a palm on top of the counter.

This is an adventurer badge issued from Grade 2 onward. It means you’re now properly recognized in the guild as someone who can pull his own weight.

Oh?

Bern picked it up, a little excited.

Unlike the many shocking things he’d shown as a Grade 1 adventurer, this was the same reaction any other rookie adventurer would have, so a few of the staff at the counter looked at him with fond smiles.

The other adventurers in the guild were the same, their eyes lighting up.

A Grade 1 adventurer is basically little more than a handyman, but from Grade 2 onward they are unmistakably treated as professionals.

Especially because this is the stage where requests begin to involve real combat in earnest, whether you have a capable teammate or not makes a huge difference in your survival rate.

In that sense, Bern was an incredibly tempting talent.

He looked young and worked diligently, so there was no burden in putting him to work, and on top of that, his personality wasn’t too warm and friendly, but it wasn’t sharp either.

Besides, if he could knock out five men of roughly the same build by himself, then there was no doubt his skill was real.

Just as they were carefully sizing up the surroundings and preparing to speak to Bern...

“Bern. Why don’t you join my party?”

At Blanca’s words, after she had just been helping Bern at the counter, even the adventurers and guild staff were stunned.

“W-Wait a second. Blanca. What do you mean, party? What kind of party can a receptionist form?”

“I was only hired temporarily anyway, and my term is almost over, right? There’s no problem with making plans a little early.”

“You’re not renewing your contract? What about the manager...?”

“I won’t.”

It was an answer that sounded final.

The guild staff exchanged bewildered looks, and the adventurers who had their shot stolen right before them started whispering as well.

“What’s wrong with you all? If this drags on, we’ll lose our shot—hurry up and stop her!”

“No, she’s Grade 3. And a mage, too. Charging at her head-on would be a bit much.”

“I hear her recent performance has been really bad.”

“Still, she’s Grade 3.”

“Come on, no matter how you look at it, isn’t it a bit much to cling to a rookie like that?”

They did try to lower their voices, but it was still hard to hide completely.

With Bern’s excellent physical abilities, he could hear almost every conversation clearly, and Blanca was trying to act calm, but if you looked closely, her cheeks were a little red, as if indignant.

Bern opened his mouth.

I can’t give you a definite answer right now. There are too many eyes here. Is there somewhere we can talk at our leisure?

…6:00 p.m. In front of Echo Inn. If you can’t wait, now is fine too.

At her offer, which sounded as if she’d even quit receptionist work and follow him immediately if he asked, Bern shook his head.

It wasn’t all that urgent anyway.

“Understood. I’ll see you then.”

“Right. Then.”

As Bern turned and walked away, Lucidra’s mocking whisper came to his ears.

[Popular, huh? That woman. The way she was looking at you wasn’t normal either. Compared to her original look, she’s a little plain, but this face of hers seems to have appeal in its own way.]

'Lucidra.'

[What?]

'Thinking of everything in that sort of way is a kind of illness.'

[You little bastard, seriously....]

***

“Hey, Bern. If you’re going to do it anyway, why not join our party? We’ll teach you survival skills and anything else you want—just bring yourself.”

“No, come over to our side instead! It’s customary to shave a bit off a rookie’s share when dividing the rewards, but we’ll give you the same cut as everyone else.”

While waiting for the appointment time.

There were plenty of adventurers trying to recruit Bern, but he politely declined, saying he already had plans.

Of course, that didn’t mean he’d already decided to party up with Blanca.

Looking at the strange reactions he had seen around the guild, it was clear she had some circumstances of her own.

Finding out the rumors about Blanca wasn’t difficult, and Bern was able to finish a rough investigation before the appointed time.

-A veteran adventurer with three years of experience.

-Among adventurers, she was a fairly rare mage, and because she could use both attack and healing magic, she was highly sought after as an ace.

-She was evaluated as someone who could soon rise to Grade 4, but six months ago she made the blunder of burning down a noble’s hunting grounds on a request.

-To compensate for the losses, she blew away most of the property she had on hand, and the main equipment she was carrying during that battle was broken as well. The power of the magic she was proud of was also greatly weakened.

-After being kicked out of the Grade 3 party she had been running with, she sometimes took requests with Grade 2 adventurers, but she couldn’t mesh with them easily and had kept turning in poor results.

[Junk.]

Lucidra gave her assessment in a single word.

She’s Grade 3 in name only; her actual skill is about Grade 2, isn’t it? Her reputation around here doesn’t seem very good either. If you go around puffing yourself up about rank or whatever, you’ll just make things harder on yourself.

Hmm.

[No, what is there to think about? It’d be better to raise a clueless rookie from scratch. They’re more obedient and easier to handle, too.]

'I’m a rookie too, so how am I supposed to raise a rookie?'

[What rookie? You’re no rookie, you goddamn fraud pretending to be one.]

'I am a rookie as an adventurer. Besides, isn’t it curious?'

[What is?]

'Why she made that request in front of everyone, even at the cost of ruining her own reputation.'

From Bern’s point of view, the reason Blanca was being cursed at like this now was entirely because she had tried to recruit him as a companion.

It didn’t seem like she had been particularly well regarded before, either, but judging from the fact that no one had shown her much discomfort while she was working as a receptionist, it must have been the sort of thing only people in the know were aware of.

But because she’d made that move with everyone’s eyes on her, as if trying to snatch Bern away from the Grade 2s who had set their sights on him, her attention shot up instantly and the rumor spread in no time.

Still, would Blanca herself really not have known that?

A three-year veteran adventurer, and one who had even worked as a receptionist, if only temporarily—would she really not know?

Bern had been curious about Blanca’s intentions, and after finally hearing the reason from Blanca herself, his curiosity turned into admiration.

“The reason I did it in front of everyone? Because that way, you’d be even a little more interested in me.”

“You mean you ruined your own reputation just for my interest?”

“You wouldn’t know I was serious unless I showed that much resolve, would you?”

Sky-blue eyes looked straight at Bern.

On top of that, she had brought him straight to the inn room where she was staying when he asked for a place where they could talk away from other people’s ears; by now, even calling her bold felt a little insufficient.

[Hey, run. That woman is definitely the clingy type. The kind who becomes troublesome if you get involved with her.]

Bern lightly brushed aside the advice babbling from within his shadow and asked.

“You do negotiations in a rather unusual way. If you cut off your own escape route like that, you’ll be at a disadvantage in all sorts of ways, won’t you?”

In fact, all the others who had asked Bern to join them as a companion had been like that.

I want you on my team. But it’s not like everything falls apart if you’re not there. That sort of stance.

That isn’t bad—in fact, I’d say that’s the textbook way to negotiate.

Because if you make it obvious that “I can’t survive without you!” then the other side can use that as leverage to make outrageous demands, and you won’t be able to refuse, right?

“If I had done that, I’d have been nothing more than one of countless options in your memory. Maybe I wouldn’t even have had the chance to talk to you alone like this.”

“I see.”

If Blanca had asked Bern to join her as a “normal” companion, he wouldn’t have been nearly this interested.

And even if the negotiation turns unfavorable, that’s fine. If I can get even the one thing I’m asking for, I’ll accept whatever price it takes.

“Whatever price?”

“Yes.”

She couldn’t possibly not know the meaning of what she’d just said.

In fact, Blanca’s fist was trembling faintly.

The fact that she’d flushed red at the jeers around her showed she wasn’t emotionless or indifferent.

She just had a goal she wanted to achieve even if she had to suppress those emotions.

“It doesn’t sound like you just mean for us to become companions and work together. What exactly are you aiming for?”

“Lich hunting.”

At the answer, as if she’d been waiting for the question, Bern’s eyes widened briefly.

“A lich? That lich? By continental rating standards, it’s at least Grade 5. Once it’s Grade 6 or higher, it’s treated as a national crisis?”

“That’s right. The one I’m after hasn’t been a lich for very long, so among liches it’s on the weak side, but even so it’s an opponent I’ll have to put my life on the line against.”

Even saying it that way is putting it mildly.

For one thing, the opponent is one of the ultimate forms a mage can reach—one that can freely manipulate the souls of the dead and dominate them.

If it goes badly, death won’t be enough—you could end up becoming the lich’s slave even after death, wandering the afterlife forever.

“Specific information?”

“There probably is some at the guild, but information on high-level monsters like liches can’t be viewed by an ordinary receptionist or a low-rank adventurer. At the very least, you or I would need to be Grade 4.”

“Other companions or sponsors?”

“None. We’ll have to find more from now on.”

“Could your public reputation be a disguise, and you’re actually a mage of Grade 4 or above?”

“…Sorry, but my raw ability is only around Grade 2. My staff, which had been amplifying my mana, snapped.”

As the questions and answers continued, Blanca’s shoulders drew in tighter and a shadow settled over her face.

“I know it’s a ridiculous request. Even so, I have to kill that bastard no matter what.”

“Why?”

“Because that bastard has the soul of my mentor—the mother who raised me—trapped there.”

It wasn’t the kind of thing you could easily blurt out to someone else, especially not to someone who hadn’t even clearly agreed to become a companion yet.

And the fact that she said it without hiding it also meant Blanca’s expectations of Bern were very high.

After a moment of silence, Bern said.

“I have conditions.”

Color returned to Blanca’s face. But soon enough, it was tinged with tension.

“One, as an adventurer, I’m still lacking in a lot of ways. Can you teach me everything you’ve built up over the years without holding back, and support me in my work as an adventurer?”

“I’ll do my utmost to help.”

“Two, I may sometimes use powers or techniques that are hard for you to understand. Can you keep quiet about that?”

“My mouth’s always been pretty tight.”

“As for three... I can’t really think of one. Let’s leave it at that for now.”

Bern extended his right hand and said.

“Please take good care of me from now on, Blanca.”

Blanca looked skeptical, as if wondering if that was really all the conditions there were, but since Bern had said ‘for now,’ she guessed there would be additional requests later and readily took his hand.

“Please take good care of me too, Bern.”