A New Roommate
We walked for a full day and finally reached Antico.
Pina wanted to look into lodging first, quests be damned — but we still had to eat to live. When I told her there was no need to rush, she looked at me with a complicated expression. Her eyes were overflowing with worry.
Was she really that anxious about me living alone? I cleaned my room diligently and ate my meals on schedule. Pina's fretting was just overblown. Maybe it was the same nature that made her look after her younger siblings.
You seem to have forgotten, but I'm older than you, you know…
The first place we stopped was the Association counter. I simply pulled out the materials and proved to the reception clerk that we'd taken down an Ekriki.
"You've returned."
"Yeah. Here."
Anyone would know whose they were just from the scale-hairs set into that jade-green hide. The clerk checked the request form and the materials, nodded, and brought out the reward — a bundle that looked a little heavy.
"Here is your payment."
The clerk offered us the same smile as always, even though it had been a while. We collected the materials and the bundle and left the Association.
My head was starting to hurt. I pressed my fingers to my forehead. The heat there burned hotter than the sweltering midsummer air outside. Was it from pushing myself without rest? A faint wave of dizziness washed over me.
"Shall we go check on the lodging?"
"…Yeah. Let's."
I couldn't worry Pina any further, so I just lowered my hand and nodded. Anxious, she hurried along with short, quick steps. Time had passed, so of course she was uneasy.
But Pina — life has a way of never going the way you plan.
"No vacancies right now."
"Ah…"
The hunter lodging manager shook his head.
Ah. The world was always going to grind along this stubbornly. For me, and for Pina alike.
I rested a hand on her shoulder.
"It's fine."
I said it quietly and nodded. But still, Pina mumbled. Had she really wanted to share a room with me that badly? There was a way I could have made it work — leaving the room I'd shared with Noah empty just didn't feel right either.
"We'll see each other plenty."
"…Alright."
Only then did Pina shake off her disappointment.
In this world, there was nothing you could do alone. No games, no phone — nothing. Talking to people was all there was.
I split the reward generously, same as last time. Pina tried to refuse at first, but the way the corners of her mouth kept twitching upward was hilarious. Watching her light up like that, I wondered if she'd just giggle if I kept tossing money at her. She had the air of a pet that perks up the moment you offer a treat.
Was she sending all that money home? Did she have no interest in dressing herself up? If I handed over everything I'd saved so far, would she finally throw out those worn-out clothes for good? I entertained the silly thought of telling her to buy something pretty. Not that it would ever happen.
We parted ways there. I wasn't in any condition to share a meal. Considering the state of my body, I decided it was better to split up for the day. At least I now knew where Pina's lodging was. Once I felt better, I'd go see her again.
Now it was time to meet my new roommate. Just what kind of person was I going to be living with for a while?
Knock, knock.
I rapped on the door. I didn't have a key right now. Whenever you left for a quest, you either handed the key to your roommate or returned it to the manager. The manager didn't have it, so whoever was inside must be holding onto it.
"Who is it?"
A rather stiff tone — but a soft voice. I blinked, wondering how I should introduce myself. Was it right to just say Alice? But if I gave my name straight out, it would feel like I was assuming this person already knew who I was.
"…Your roommate."
So what came out was a phrase that was a little easy to misread.
The door flew open. I flinched and took a half-step back.
Bright gold hair was the first thing that caught my eye. It looked long, but she'd braided it back so her neck was fully exposed. My gaze met a pair of eyes like clear sapphires.
"Hey."
"Ah… so you are the New Light. A pleasure to meet you."
She spoke in a calm voice. Having someone call me that to my face was deeply cringeworthy. Getting a title attached felt nice enough, but hearing it instead of my name right up close was a whole different sensation.
"I'm Alice."
"Pardon?"
"Call me Alice."
"…Understood."
She opened the door wider and stepped aside. I trudged inside. I wanted to exchange some kind of greeting, but I was simply too exhausted. All I could think about was washing up and collapsing into bed.
I dropped my bag in the corner and immediately pulled off my top. Shedding the sweat-soaked clothes brought an instant rush of cool relief. Even the dizziness in my head seemed to ease a little.
"Y-you…!"
"Ah, sorry."
Not exactly polite for a first meeting. Still, I was wearing underclothes, so it was probably fine. Leaving the flustered blonde behind, I gathered my clothes and shuffled toward the bath.
I shut the door and turned on the water at once. Right now I just wanted to wash. I stripped off everything I hadn't taken off yet and looked down at my bare body. No matter how many times I saw it, it was a body I still couldn't quite get used to.
Pale scars marked it in many places. Thanks to high-grade recovery potions, none of them were serious enough to leave lasting damage. Most of the wounds had been there from the beginning — marks carved into this body before I ever arrived. Medals that reminded me of what I had originally been.
I scrubbed the grime from my skin and pressed hard against my throbbing temples. The thought of just sleeping right there in the bath crossed my mind, but I barely managed to resist the impulse. Coming home had loosened every last bit of tension, and my body felt even more limp and boneless than before. I'd turned into something like a drained octopus. At the moment I was less a hunter and more a mollusk.
I patted myself dry with a towel, then smoothed on moisturizer made from monster materials so my skin wouldn't tighten. After that I pulled on clothes with sluggish movements and stepped back outside.
"…"
The blonde beauty still hadn't taken her eyes off me. I wanted to talk, but my sagging body only wanted the bed. I cracked my eyes open and looked at her. I was about to call her name when I realized we hadn't even properly introduced ourselves yet. Asking for her name now — would I even remember it in this state?
My head was spinning. Waterburst Fruit was supposed to clear debuffs, and yet it had given me one instead.
"…Let's do introductions later. I'm too tired."
"V-very well…"
I figured I'd at least remember how stiff her speech was. I flopped onto the bed and closed my eyes. Sleep claimed me almost at once.
And I dreamed a dream that was not my own.
As August arrived, Antico was locked in a relentless heat wave. Fiore frowned at the blazing sky beyond the window, her porcelain skin folding into a delicate crease. A midsummer breeze stirred her golden hair. Her blue eyes were full of discontent.
Fiore hated Antico's stifling heat. This had never been her territory to begin with. The place was full of insects, and the roads were far more tangled than anywhere else. It was a location she simply could not bring herself to like, no matter how hard she tried.
Besides, the flower-garden city of Primavera was never this hot at this time of year. The stark difference in temperature left her sweating and thoroughly displeased. At least the lodging was relatively cool. Fiore sat on the bed in thin layers, fanning the fabric to stir a little air.
The reason she had come all the way from Primavera to Antico was simple: she wanted to see the New Light with her own eyes. Without the birth of that New Light, she would never have set foot in Antico at all. Even that decision had begun to feel like a mistake thanks to the heat — but having arrived, there was nothing for it. Meet the person and leave as soon as possible.
Life, however, was never that easy. Of all times, she had arrived precisely when the New Light was away on a quest. And so Fiore simply melted in Antico's oppressive heat, stuck in her lodging with nowhere to go.
Three days. Fiore had spent three straight days resting in that room.
This is nice.
She buried her face in the pillow and thought about how long she had been running. She never expected to spend her rest in a backwater like this. While she luxuriated in the sweet idleness, she also found herself growing curious about the whereabouts of the still-absent New Light.
They said she went to hunt an Ekriki.
Fiore touched her lips thoughtfully. A hunter of barely a month, already going after an Ekriki? Honestly, she found it suspicious. That suspicion was part of why she had come here in the first place.
There were several possibilities. A poacher who had been hunting illegally all this time, finally crawling out into the open — or a hunter with talent so divine that the name "New Light" truly fit. If it was the former, she was a target who deserved punishment, and Fiore would not hesitate to deliver it. But if it was the latter… that meant someone who could one day challenge the rank of Master Hunter.
Master Hunters were already few. Female ones were vanishingly rare. The thought of gaining another comrade was a little pleasing.
"Haa."
Fiore was a Master Hunter — one of those standing at the pinnacle of the profession, recognized for her skill and daring enough to be called Master. Just what kind of person was this New Light…? She lounged in the lodging, waiting with nothing but anticipation.
Knock, knock.
A sound came from the door that no one had knocked on for three days. Fiore stirred and rose from her seat. Come to think of it, her roommate still hadn't arrived. They would only cross paths briefly, but spending time alongside a Master Hunter would surely be an honor for them.
With a quiet pride of her own, Fiore cleared her throat a couple of times and approached the door.
"Who is it?"
She spoke in a deliberately solemn voice and waited for a reply.
"…Your roommate."
The flat words were drained of all strength, almost faint. Fiore opened the door — and found herself face to face with her roommate. She studied the girl's features carefully.
"Hey."
A face she was seeing for the first time, yet the voice was calm, as if they were already familiar. She was beautiful, just as the rumors said. The white hair was striking enough, but those soft pink eyes were utterly mysterious — the color of the cherry blossoms that bloomed in Primavera. Looking at her, Fiore almost thought she could smell their fragrance.
From that face and that appearance alone, she knew at once who this was.
…Don't tell me the New Light is my roommate?
She had planned to meet her once, but she never expected their fates to intertwine like this. Fiore absently touched her cheek and face. After three leisurely days of rest, she hadn't prepared a single thing.
Unlike the completely unbothered stranger before her, Fiore herself was thoroughly flustered.
"Ah… so you are the New Light. A pleasure to meet you."
She hid her discomposure and offered the greeting first. Having delivered it with composure, Fiore found herself puzzled by Alice's unchanging expression. Had she been mistaken? But the white hair and cherry-blossom eyes matched everything she had heard…
"Alice."
"Pardon?"
"Call me Alice."
"…Understood."
Alice. So this was the person Fiore had been looking for. But perhaps she didn't care for the name "New Light." Looking at Alice's exhausted face, it seemed the title didn't sit well with her at all. Fiore wanted to say more, but Alice strode inside as if refusing any further conversation.
Without a word, she unpacked and set down her weapons. A greatsword and dual blades — a rather unusual combination. Did that mean she could handle at least two weapon types? Fiore had heard she used a greatsword, but still.
She had been quietly observing Alice when the girl's next action left her stunned. Alice simply stripped off her clothes on the spot.
"Y-you…!"
More than the sight of someone peeling off their clothes in front of a stranger, it was the scars left on that body that held Fiore's eyes. They weren't glaringly obvious, but the moment the clothes came off, a scatter of small wounds revealed themselves. For someone said to have been a hunter for only a month, it was the body of someone who had weathered every hardship imaginable.
Fiore herself was not without scars — but nothing like Alice's.
"Ah, sorry."
Alice left the apology behind and fled into the bath as if escaping. Whether she was sorry for showing the scars or not, she vanished from sight in an instant. She had no reason to apologize. Fiore was the one who had made things awkward.
Fiore fretted restlessly until Alice finished her shower and came out. She never imagined she would make a blunder like this at first meeting. Of course someone returning from a quest would want a proper wash. The one who'd reacted strangely was Fiore herself.
But to think there would be scars like that…
"…Let's do introductions later. I'm too tired."
"V-very well…"
And just like that, the initiative was stolen from her. I am a Master Hunter. I came here to learn about you. She had wanted to say those things, but Alice gave her no chance. Already asleep, the girl was breathing in a steady rhythm — and every so often, she made a small, pained sound. Was she having a nightmare?
Ah. This person has lived a hard life.
That was all Fiore could manage to guess.