Adventurer?

First, I ran as far away from the Grand Ducal estate as I could. I kept running south, so I must be pretty far away by now, right?

Looking around, I spotted a small village.

This is… one of the small villages near the territory.

Though it’s nearby, it’s not exactly right next door. Maybe a day away by carriage?

I’d visited a few times on inspection trips, so it was somewhat familiar.

“Transform.”

When I whispered to the necklace, my hair changed from black to silver. My eyes probably turned blue, too.

Since I was the Grand Duke’s daughter—and the youngest one at that—this was a magic item for disguising myself that Flien had told me to carry at all times in case of emergencies.

I wrapped cloth around my sword to hide that it was a fine blade, and carefully wound it around the hilt in particular so the family crest wouldn’t show.

In that state, I slipped into the village.

There was no way anyone in this village could notice me moving this fast when even the guards at the Grand Ducal estate couldn’t.

I was tired, so I should find an inn first. The moon was fully risen, so it was probably around midnight.

A Swordmaster could go a week without sleeping, but being tired was another matter.

“Oh my, miss. Did you come alone?”

“Yes.”

After stealing some clothes from a nearby clothing shop and putting them on, I went into a random inn, where a plump-looking woman welcomed me.

I couldn’t keep wearing the clothes I’d worn at the Grand Ducal estate. I left a gold coin behind, so that should be enough to pay for the clothes.

“Oh, you poor thing. You must’ve had a hard time. I’ll let you stay for free tonight, so go on and get some sleep.”

“…Thank you.”

Yes! A kind-hearted innkeeper auntie was an absolute must in fantasy!

I had plenty of money, actually, but I gratefully accepted her kindness.

After all, everything I had was in gold coins…!

An inn like this would only cost a few copper coins. Paying in gold would be weird! They’d get suspicious!

…

After getting a little sleep, I woke up early the next morning and headed straight to the Adventurers’ Guild.

The easiest way to prove your identity in this world: become an adventurer.

Anyone could do it, and if you had a high rank, you could receive some pretty significant perks.

For someone who needed to hide her identity, there was no easier identity to forge than an adventurer’s.

No, if you thought about it, even nobles sometimes got Adventurer Cards, so it wasn’t really forging one.

“Welcome~”

When I entered the guild, a pretty blonde receptionist greeted me.

Yes! Now this is fantasy!

“I’d like to register as an adventurer.”

Even as I marveled at how perfectly this matched the cliché, I didn’t forget what I was there to do.

“You’d like to register as an adventurer! Please place your hand on this crystal orb!”

The thing she cheerfully pointed to was a crystal orb about the size of a fist.

It was called a “mana detector.”

A device that measured the user’s mana and could read up to B-rank.

They said more sophisticated ones could measure S-rank, but there was no way a guild in some remote frontier would have one of those.

“Your rank will be determined by how brightly the crystal orb shines. You can get up to B-rank, so do your best!”

With encouragement from the pretty blonde receptionist, I placed my hand on the orb, and it lit up brilliantly in an instant.

Well, I was a Swordmaster. There was no way I wouldn’t make B-rank. If I hadn’t restrained my mana, it would’ve exploded like in some manga or novel.

Knowing that cliché helped me prepare, but

“Wow! I’ve never seen it shine this brightly before! You’re definitely B-rank!”

The receptionist was happy for me as if it were her own achievement. She could treat a complete stranger this warmly? What a social butterfly.

“Thank you. By the way, how long will it take to get my Adventurer Card…?”

“Your Adventurer Card should be ready in about ten minutes!”

“Thank you.”

An Adventurer Card was exactly what it sounded like: a card proving you were an adventurer.

There was nothing better for proving your identity. And at B-rank, I could enjoy all sorts of perks.

For example, help finding a commission.

I could ask them to pick out whichever one I wanted from the jobs posted at the Adventurers’ Guild.

Like this.

“Do you have any escort commissions headed toward Gaia Academy?”

“You have business at the academy! In that case, we happen to have a commission. There’s a merchant caravan heading to Gaia, the capital where the academy is, in about an hour. The pay is low, but they’ll cover your food, clothing, and lodging.”

“It’s leaving in an hour? Could I join them?”

“Of course! At B-rank, they’ll probably be begging you to come! I think they were just hoping a C-rank would show up, to begin with.”

Well, even with food and lodging covered, it wasn’t a commission a B-rank adventurer should take. The pay was way too low.

But it was perfect for me. I got lucky.

“I’ll take it. Could you let the caravan know?”

“Of course! I hope you have a wonderful adventure!”

The receptionist said that, then hurried off somewhere. She was a nice person.

…

An hour later, with my Adventurer Card issued, I went to the meeting place. On the way, I stopped at a blacksmith and bought a decent sword, too.

It was nowhere near as good as the one I’d gotten at my coming-of-age ceremony, but it was better than nothing.

Hm? Was it okay to spend money at the blacksmith? I mean, I just had to make sure nobody knew who gave me the money, right?

…I stole it. So what? I left money behind, didn’t I?

When I arrived, several other adventurers had already gathered.

Going by the vague sense I got, there were ten D-ranks and five C-ranks.

At a glance, the D-ranks seemed to have been gathered from wherever, while the five C-ranks looked like a party.

“Hello.”

Since I was the last to arrive, it was only right to greet them first.

At my greeting, everyone nearby looked at me, including someone who seemed to be the caravan master.

“Oh! Are you Lady El?”

“Yes.”

El was the alias I’d come up with. I couldn’t exactly use the name Flia.

“Well, having a B-rank adventurer escort me is a great relief. Hahaha!”

“I’m the lucky one. It’s fortunate there was a caravan heading to Gaia.”

As we exchanged the usual pleasantries, a red-haired man who looked like the C-rank party’s leader approached.

“Caravan Master. A B-rank showed up unexpectedly. They’re not going to cut our pay, are they?”

Well, I could see why he’d think that. Someone new had shown up out of nowhere, and a much stronger B-rank at that. They might decide to drop a few C- or D-ranks.

“Of course not! Our caravan lives and dies by its reputation, so we would never do such a thing!”

“Then that’s good.”

The red-haired man said that, glared at me, and left. Hmm… I feel like he’s wary of me.

Oh well.

“I look forward to working with you, Caravan Master.”

“Likewise. All right! Let’s get going!”

At the caravan master’s words, the carriage started moving, and I sat in the escort wagon to rest.

Hm? Was it really okay for an escort to sit in the carriage?

Well, I could detect most monsters and bandits from 500 meters away, so I only had to step in when needed.

And since there were enough people keeping watch, I, the strongest one, could take it easy and join the fight if one broke out.

Still… the C-rank party seemed to hate that and kept glaring at me from outside the carriage.

Well… if they were only going to stare, I had no plans to say anything…

“Tch. She just became an adventurer and already struts around like that just because she’s B-rank.”

…but then they had to go and say that.

“Hmph. B-rank or not, a brat’s still a brat. She probably got lucky and became B-rank, but look at her acting so high and mighty.”

The C-rank party had somehow come over near me and started talking however they pleased.

The red-haired leader was insulting me, and the red-haired woman beside him was looking down on me.

They were both redheads, but their vibes were different, so they probably weren’t family or anything.

They were pretty similar when it came to making people hate them, though.

“She definitely bribed them. She’s kind of pretty, so she must’ve slept with the guild master.”

"…What?“

Slept with someone? Me?

“What? Hit a nerve? Well, all she has is a pretty face, and the only thing she knows how to do is seduce men…”

-Swish

The red-haired woman’s hair was sliced off with a cutting sound. The trees behind her were, too.

“…!”

“Say that again.”

How dare she. Say something like that to me?

The blue aura gathered around my sword flickered ominously, as if responding to my anger.

I barely managed to stop myself from drawing my Aura Blade, but even this much should serve as a warning.

“If you want to stay alive, you’d better keep that tongue in check.”

Saying that, I sheathed my sword.

A sword that cracked from just a little mana running through it.

Tch. Once I get to the capital, I’ll have to buy a proper one.

-Thud

“Hey! Are you okay?”

I heard something collapse outside the carriage.

The red-haired woman must have dropped to the ground.

Part of me wanted to kill her outright, but I gave up, since that would only make things troublesome.

What a shame.

“Caravan Master. Don’t stop.”

“Oh, yes! Keep moving!”

The procession, which had hesitated briefly, started moving again.

The other adventurers returned to their positions and resumed keeping watch.

I especially got the sense that the C-rank party was trying to stay as far away from me as possible.

They’d realized I wasn’t an ordinary B-rank.

Maybe they thought I was around A-rank?

Whatever the case, as long as they didn’t pick another fight, it had nothing to do with me.

…Honestly, I did want to kill that redhead, but I should hold back.

This was my first commission as an adventurer. I should keep things nice and peaceful.

When I looked at the redhead as if to say I was letting it go just this once, her face turned not just pale, but purple.

Hmph. Serves her right.