Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Neglect of Duty - 4
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Inside the request office, three people sat around a wooden table placed in the center.
If someone saw this scene from behind, they would view it as utterly bizarre.
Among the three gathered, one was silently wiping away tear stains while the other two whispered to each other.
For starters, they began by correcting the misinformation Ellie had.
"...That person is the Guild Master of the Crimson Flame Guild?"
The fact that Sua was not a 'woman she was seeing for the first time'.
Here, they decided not to bring up Sua's novice days when she met Ellie on the 1st floor to receive a request.
More than one or two adventurers had received requests from Ellie, and it was so far in the past that it wouldn't be strange if she had forgotten.
There had been nothing special between Sua and Ellie either.
Ellie had watched the inter-guild duel alongside me.
Naturally, she had also seen the duel between Amelia, Guild Master of the Crimson Flame Guild, and Luna, Guild Master of the Moonlight Guild—the matchup that drew the most attention from adventurers.
Yet there were various reasons why Ellie hadn't recognized her right away.
First off, residents rarely had opportunities to see rankers up close.
Encounters were extremely limited, and even if rankers were on the 1st floor, villagers had no reason to approach them closely.
It was easy to identify her affiliation with the Crimson Flame Guild.
However, Ellie—who couldn't watch the rankers' streams—found it difficult to pick out the Guild Master based on outfit alone.
Her attire screamed "fire mage" at first glance, but most of her guild members wore similar mage hats and red-accented designs.
True to her status as a figure drawing massive interest and popularity from adventurers, there were even occasional adventurers imitating her style.
These were valid reasons, but not the core one.
What confused Ellie the most was none other than Sua's current aura and demeanor.
Sua always projected an aloof, authoritative image in public—brimming with outward confidence, regardless of her inner feelings.
But her present appearance was not just melancholic; it even bordered on timid.
The gap was too vast for the same person.
This part left even me perplexed.
I had no clue what could have happened to make the woman who always teased me playfully now apologize, vowing never to bother recruiting me again.
"So, that means she's the mage you told me about?"
"Right. Her real name is Sua, not Amelia."
Ellie, having heard my past stories, realized the woman before her was the figure from those tales.
Though the new name 'Amelia' hadn't appeared in them, Sua had played a major role in the climbing process—aside from the period I ascended the tower alone with the Sword Saint.
As a mage whose firepower outmatched anyone, she had filled a crucial role in their combat strength.
This naturally led to Ellie's next question.
"But why does she know you, Earthbound Spirit?"
"Huh?"
"She's supposed to remember nothing at all."
It wasn't strange that I knew about Sua.
Even if the rounds of tower climbs had vanished, my memories remained intact in my mind.
What puzzled Ellie was why Sua knew me.
All the times we'd climbed together had been erased, and after adventurers moved to the 2nd floor, we had no connections left—or so it seemed.
Yet Sua and I had just conversed casually, sharing content far too intimate for mere strangers.
Even with all prior bonds reset, Sua clearly shared a fresh camaraderie with me.
"For the Guild Master who's number one in the rankings to... what business does she have seeking out Earthbound Spirit?"
"It'd be a long story..."
I'm not climbing the tower, while Sua leads the fastest climb among existing adventurer guilds.
Our lives run in opposite directions, yet we're still acquaintances.
Sua made chances to talk every time she descended to the 1st floor.
Her initial reason for seeking me out: among adventurers, I was one she was relatively close to, and I'd suddenly dropped out of the alliance.
She figured something must have gone wrong with me, since the person who'd wrapped up their old life and entered the tower wouldn't even follow to the 2nd floor.
Next, it was to uncover the source of my power.
A guy stuck on the 1st floor wielding swordsmanship more refined than frontline climbers—she must have suspected I'd found some hidden piece in the village, like Rien.
After that, the goal shifted to recruiting me directly into her guild.
Including Sua, countless guild members and rankers investigated my background but turned up nothing.
Naturally so, since that proficiency stemmed from countless experiences.
Deeming further intel futile, the Guild Master sought to harness my strength as a guild asset.
Of course, even that final aim was doomed to fail.
Lately, her visits tapered off; absent specific purposes like guild promotion to new adventurers, she no longer descended to the 1st floor.
Her pitches to me became mere afterthoughts while handling other business.
In cases like this—rare influxes of adventurers—seeing Sua's face was a novelty in itself.
"Wow, you're still here?"
"Calling you Earthbound Spirit, Earthbound Spirit... did you really turn into one?"
It was only natural for Sua to say things like that.
With every new floor, her skills, items, and everything evolved—but I stayed the same.
In a tower without aging, my appearance barely changed either.
In short, despite not climbing, I'd built a new kind of bond with Sua through repeated meetings.
"So she's been visiting you often up till now?"
"Mostly for recruitment stuff."
"Why didn't I know? Not just me—no villager ever mentioned a famous adventurer dropping by the 1st floor frequently. Not even rumors."
"Probably 'cause she never stayed long. She'd come down a few days before adventurer rushes or pop in briefly at night."
Ellie's gaze shifted.
Now I knew exactly what that look meant.
She's a little angry.
"How many times exactly have you met? At night? Just the two of you?"
"Ah, no. Not like that."
"Misunderstandings keep popping up lately. I really hope this one's another."
For now, the situation was sorted.
Ellie brimmed with unconvinced points, but with the person right there, it looked odd for us to keep whispering—so the rest had to wait for later.
Some things I couldn't answer; others, I simply wouldn't.
Sua's baffling emotional state was a mystery even to me.
"Stay after today's request. I'll grill her on everything and send her packing once I get answers."
Ellie handed over the request with a hardened expression.
She showed no sign of letting it slide easily.
This is bad.
"I even know exactly how long it takes Earthbound Spirit to hunt five slimes and get back, so don't think about killing time pointlessly in the forest."
"...Wasn't planning to."
"Then go carefully."
From clearing requests so many times, just as I'd grown accustomed to Ellie, she'd grown accustomed to me.
She didn't need records; she could gauge by feel how many minutes my quests took.
Barring outliers like last time, when adventurers overhunted slimes and slowed things down.
With the request in hand, it was truly time to head to the forest.
As I pondered what Sua would do while I hunted slimes, I glanced at her chair—but it was empty.
"I, me too..."
Sua stood at the reception desk.
Receiving the exact same request as me—the only one available.
Ellie was a receptionist; she assigned quests to adventurers.
Personal feelings aside, work came first.
She fixed Sua with cat-like eyes while politely explaining the quest details.
The road to the forest.
I was traveling with Sua.
Same quest, and the village's only hunting ground was the damp forest—so our paths naturally overlapped.
"Reminds me of the old days."
"......"
"Back then, we all walked this path together."
The old days...
Her emotions seemingly settled, Sua spoke up again.
It felt more like musing aloud than direct conversation.
Probably meant for my ears, but nothing sprang to mind for a reply—so I stayed silent this time.
In truth, pre-regression life on the 1st floor was a distant haze; I couldn't empathize with her memories.
Fragments surfaced at best, and my notes held only paper-worthy intel or deeply personal diary entries.
I'd never jotted down daily life with others anywhere.
Looking back, those moments deserved recording more than merchants with good gear or adventurers with rare traits.
They were the things truly worth remembering.