11. Special Urgent Request
Thud. Thud. Thud. I woke to the sound of someone pounding on the door. Who the hell was banging away at this early hour? Grumbling irritably as I came to, I checked the time. It was nearly noon already. With the curtains drawn tight over the window, no sunlight had seeped in, so I hadn't realized. Not early at all, then? Nah, I'd just slept in.
Blame it on last night's intense workout that dragged on until the wee hours of the morning. As I tried to sit up in bed, I felt a faint weight on my arm. Glancing over, there was Cheong-ah, stark naked, clutching my arm to her chest like a teddy bear, still fast asleep. Drool trickled from the corner of her mouth—not gross, but endearingly dopey in a way I'd never seen from her usual elegant self.
"Mm."
My arm, buried in the devastatingly ample swell of her breasts, should have felt nothing but softness, but strangely, it was numb. A prickling pins-and-needles sensation crept in instead. She'd clung to me like that all night, cutting off circulation until my arm had gone ghostly pale.
Watching her sleep so peacefully with my arm in her grasp brought back memories of last night.
'I'm jealous, so hold me just one more time tighter than you did Bella.'
It wasn't her usual tsundere dismissal of jealousy as no big deal. She'd whined it outright, throwing a proper fit. Hearing that, I'd lost my mind and held her—over and over—until the first rooster crowed at dawn. Traces of our passion littered the room: her body, mine, every corner. The quilt was the only thing still pristine. Lesson learned from past messes—I'd stashed it safely in the linen closet beforehand.
"...Though the sheets got wrecked anyway."
Muttering to myself, I stroked Cheong-ah's hair. A sleepy murmur escaped her lips.
"Mm... Hubby..."
I carefully extracted my arm from her embrace. In her sleep, her hand groped blindly across the bed, searching for me. Quick as I could, I swapped in the pillow I'd been using and tucked it into her arms.
"Sniff... Sniff. Mm."
She sniffed at it, inhaling my scent from the pillow, then sighed contentedly with a soft smile and drifted back into deep slumber. Phew, glad I didn't wake her.
Right then, the knocking resumed. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Damn. Cheong-ah's sleeping. I threw on a robe draped haphazardly over a chair by the table, irritation flaring, and cracked the door open quietly instead of yanking it wide.
"What? Who's there...?"
A cheerful greeting came from below eye level.
"Yeonja. Slept well?"
Looking down, I saw a donut-braided ash-gray hairstyle framing a short cheongsam. Below that, spats hugged her legs, and black half-gloves studded with metal rings adorned her hands—a cute little girl.
"Dina?"
It was Dina. The cheongsam might seem sudden, but Cheong-ah had said it was traditional attire from some Yuldo ethnic group. It suited Dina's leg-focused fighting style perfectly and looked adorable to boot. I had to admit, it wasn't bad at all—highlighting her cuteness while seeming practical for movement.
Dina tilted her head quizzically.
"Hm, sleeping in today, are we? You and that grumpy girl over there both."
"Ah, yeah... Just felt extra sleepy today. Me and Cheong-ah."
I couldn't exactly tell Dina we'd overdone it last night or worked out till dawn, so I brushed it off as us being lazy. Even knowing her true age was well over three thousand, her childlike appearance made it awkward to say outright. She bought it hook, line, and sinker, beaming innocently like any girl her apparent age. But her speech dripped with ancient gravitas.
"I see. Children need their sleep, after all. This old body of mine barely rests anymore. Rest while you can."
"Children...?"
Was I a kid? I'd be staring down thirty in a few years. Sure, pre-seal she'd lived past eighty, and three millennia had passed since, so maybe I looked young to her. Not that I minded the "youthful" treatment. Hell, I liked it.
"So, what brings you knocking? Breakfast? You could've grabbed some from the innkeeper if you were hungry."
"Hm, breakfast was ages ago. At my age, missing meals brings woe. Besides, lunch is nigh. Too late for breakfast inquiries."
"Ah, so you woke me for lunch together?"
"Nay. Not food. Another matter. Yeonja, what do you take me for, that food's your first guess?"
"Well..."
...What else? From our first meeting, she'd devoured mountains at the restaurant. A one-off from starvation? No—her appetite was legendary. Gold coins per meal. I could still hear Cheong-ah sighing lately about party food costs skyrocketing since Dina joined. Something about how I'd stopped her from blowing cash on magic tools, only for meals to eat up the savings? Well, those tools weren't useless...
Thinking back, yesterday's solo quest with just Bella had been a big help thanks to them. Lost in thought, I fell silent. Dina prodded gently.
"Yeonja? Why the sudden quiet?"
"Sorry, zoned out. So, why'd you wake me?"
"Ah, well. That grumpy girl and the beast lass both said they were resting, so this one thought to take a quest solo and stopped by the guild."
"Ah, gotcha."
"Aye. But the guild was unusually abuzz. Curious, I inquired, and the diligent girl pulled this one aside."
"Diligent? Oh, Karen?"
"Yes, her. She led me to the branch manager, who wished a word."
"Branch manager? Why him?"
Why would Hopkins summon Dina separately? After Aria's quest and getting our platinum badges, then Bella's transfer from mercenaries to adventurers, we'd barely crossed paths. This was odd.
"Hm, he sought you, our party's leader, but figured you wouldn't show today. Asked this one to relay a message."
"Message? What?"
"Wait a moment. He placed it here..."
Dina fished a scroll from the leather pouch at her waist and handed it over.
[Guild Scroll: Special Urgent Request]
"Here. Something about a special urgent request, he said. I tried reading it, but the script's ancient to them now—couldn't make heads or tails. Only three thousand years old, and they call it archaic. Insulting."
"Dina, three thousand years isn't 'only'."
"I know. Just a jest. This one barely lived eighty years before sealing—how could I call three millennia short? Even old folks' jokes deserve a chuckle, not such seriousness."
"...Sorry. Didn't catch the humor."
"No matter. Read it quick. Sounded important from what the branch manager said."
"Yeah, okay. Hang on."
I unrolled the scroll. My literacy was still basic, but I pieced it together. First line: special urgent request. Then orcs, adventurers, full mobilization, about ten years ago, Empire...? What did the Empire have to do with ten years back? I'd have to ask Bella later when she woke. Good thing the Empire bit aside, the rest was clear enough.
"What does it say?"
"Roughly... It's a group request. Mobilizing adventurers from this city and nearby ones. Remember that quest Bella and I did yesterday?"
"Aye?"
"Some anomaly we found there... sounds serious."
With the Empire mention from ten years ago and calling in every adventurer from surrounding cities, yeah, it fit.
"To handle that, then."
"Seems so. Why call it 'special' and make such a fuss, though? The branch manager could've just said 'quest'."
"...Dunno. Says come to the guild to hear details."
"Hmph. That man's a bother. Well? What now?"
"Huh?"
"He wants you at the guild. Shall we go?"
"Ah, yeah. But not right now..."
Cheong-ah and Bella were still out cold, bodies likely sore. No need to rouse them yet.
"When, then?"
"Once Cheong-ah and Bella wake up."
"Understood. Back to bed, then?"
Dina eyed me sidelong, her drooping eyes giving a weary look. I wanted more shut-eye, but seeing her like that tugged at me. Smiling, I patted her head.
Her face lit up like the sun.
"How about lunch first?"
"Splendid!"
"What'll it be?"
"Fish today. Steamed and grilled!"
"Order away."