Chapter 26
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Forming a Party
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The voice that suddenly called out to me was laced with a variety of emotions.
Surprise, suspicion, a hint of hostility, and curiosity.
Fortunately, there was no disgust.
"...It's just a habit from growing up always watching my step, so I don't make any noise."
I brushed it off with the description from my trait.
'You are a filthy orphan from the slums, and no one welcomes you making your presence known and strutting around boldly. To avoid their gazes and the hatred and suffering that come with them, you've learned to walk silently.'
Something like that.
If these traits refer to past events, then this isn't entirely a lie either.
"I've seen plenty of kids who walk without making a sound—pickpockets and petty thieves know how to muffle their footsteps too. But you're definitely weird."
"...In what way, exactly?"
"It's common to suppress sounds from your body, but controlling the rustle of your clothes or the jingle of your scabbard as your body moves? That's rare."
It irritated me that he grabbed me out of nowhere and started interrogating me like this, but there was nothing to do except accept it.
Not that I could accept this unreasonable situation, but I could understand it.
I had a Gloomy Aura.
Now it was natural for me to only look at the ground, or at most someone's lips if I glanced up, so I didn't really feel it anymore since I avoided the misfortune of eye contact.
Even without direct eye contact, it exuded a seriously unpleasant vibe.
Anyone would get wary seeing a creepy little girl moving around silently.
"I know I might seem weird, but aren't you pushing too hard...?"
This was the best protest I could muster in this situation.
I figured the Silver Adventurer would brush off my pathetic complaint and keep pressing with pointless questions, but instead, he let out a thoughtful hum before promptly admitting his mistake.
"...I see. My apologies."
"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah?"
"I must have come on too strong. Sorry about that."
"...No, it's fine."
I hadn't expected him to admit fault so readily, so I dazedly accepted his apology.
This was a first.
Usually, instead of owning up to their mistakes, conversations with others always ended with something like, "Anyway, it's your fault."
Receiving such gracious treatment left me feeling awkward and unsure how to respond.
"W-Well, then I'll be going."
"...Yeah."
Even after leaving the guild, a chilling sensation crawled up my spine.
"Come on, why am I reacting like this just from getting a perfectly normal apology? Like my body's breaking out in hives or something?"
Was it because I'd been treated like dirt for so long that it felt too natural?
I let out a hollow laugh at this incomprehensible reaction, even to myself.
I must have stood there like that for about five minutes.
Feeling ridiculous, I scowled and started walking.
That Silver Adventurer definitely noticed my trait's presence.
I didn't think it made me invincible, but it seemed I needed to be more cautious.
Honestly, after performing well in the thief subjugation and even assassinating the goblin leader, I'd complacently thought someone like me was pretty decent.
This was a good chance to ditch that idiotic mindset, so maybe it was for the best.
I stretched and slapped my cheeks to shake off the fatigue clouding my mind.
"Meeting the Saint will happen eventually if I just wait..."
The Saint was walking the pilgrimage route.
So if I waited in the capital, I could meet her.
Since the pilgrimage's endpoint was here, the capital of the Heron Kingdom.
However, it didn't make sense for me to just sit idle until she arrived.
I needed to think about what to do next.
Having achieved the short-term goal of 'reaching the capital,' it was time for a new one.
Without goals, I'd just get lazy.
First and foremost, it'd be nice to stand on equal footing.
Maybe if our ranks were similar.
The Saint right now was a Silver Adventurer.
Meanwhile, I was barely even an Apprentice Adventurer.
"Gotta sort this out first."
At minimum, I needed to reach Bronze rank—Silver if possible—so I could talk to her on the same level.
That's what I thought.
My actual achievements were already Bronze-level or better, but the goblin leader kill didn't count toward my record since it wasn't an official request.
If there had been lots of witnesses all confirming it consistently, backed by evidence, maybe—but I doubted the villagers who'd tried to cheat me out of my reward would give statements for something like this.
It normally takes a year to go from Apprentice to Bronze, but overwhelming achievements made that irrelevant.
The Saint had appeared just a few months ago and was already Silver.
I could do the same.
Even if he was the kind of guy who couldn't save a single little girl because of his own shortcomings, at least on the surface, we'd be similar enough to have a conversation.
Of course, enthusiasm alone wouldn't cut it, so I needed a solid plan from now on.
The capital's Adventurer's Guild requests were very different from any I'd seen before.
As the kingdom's capital, security was stable.
So local tasks were just odd jobs like errands.
The capital didn't really need an Adventurer's Guild.
Yet it existed for dispatch requests.
The capital was stable.
But elsewhere?
Not at all.
So the capital guild handled requests from regional branches that they couldn't resolve locally, dispatching capital adventurers.
Being beyond local capabilities meant high risk.
Thus, high pay and great for achievements.
Exactly what I wanted.
"Good."
With a new goal set, I just had to run toward it again.
Setting goals is the hard part; pursuing them is easier.
Ah, not saying I'd take a dispatch request right now.
I needed to buy clothes, recover from the long journey, and wait for my sword repair.
So, time to go shopping for clothes.
Even standing still, my displeasure shows—if my clothes are ragged too, I'll just get looked down on.
I stopped by a clothing store to browse.
The clerk eyed me and judged me broke, trying to shoo me out—until I showed my pouch full of silver coins, and suddenly he was all polite.
Money was separate from my creepiness, apparently.
With a smiling face, he offered me cute outfits.
"...Not these. Don't you have something comfortable for moving around?"
"Hmm, activewear?"
The clerk thought for a moment, then showed me a few items.
A short shirt exposing the navel and shorts revealing more than half the thighs.
"...This is activewear?"
Wasn't it a bit much for that?
Not that I had any real aversion.
I'd stripped naked to seduce goblins, so short clothes were nothing.
My life had inured me to such things.
But this was more a matter of common sense.
"...Hmm."
I vaguely recalled Chesher, the adventurer friendly with Ban, wearing something like this.
But as far as I knew, Chesher was an adventurer-slash-prostitute.
When asked which she leaned more toward, it was prostitute.
So clothes like what that kind of person wore felt off-putting in various ways.
I could wear them if I had to, but it felt unnecessary.
"These don't sell well, actually... If you buy now, I'll give you a special discount."
"...Cheap?"
"Yes!"
His reluctant expression made it seem genuine, and I was tempted.
He was clearly trying to offload unsold stock, but why not?
Prices in the capital were insane, so even with some spare cash, I had to be frugal—I couldn't splurge on clothes.
They were a bit short, but sturdy clothes at a bargain sounded good.
"They're short, but with your tiny build, it won't be too exposing!"
True.
Yeah.
Even if short, on my small frame, it wouldn't be overly revealing.
"I'll take those, then. Hold on a sec."
Apart from the clothes, there were a few must-haves.
Like gloves, for instance.
My hands sweated under tension, making the sword hilt slippery.
I found some decent leather gloves and bought them with the clothes.
Leather gloves: 1 silver and 30 coppers. Shirt and shorts together: 2 silvers.
I changed right there in the store.
Then checked myself in the store's mirror.
A breeze brushed my navel, giving a subtle sensation, but it was still better than my old ragged, half-torn mess.
My unkempt hair covering my face like a wild animal, the scars on my small, frail body.
No matter how I looked, it was pitiful—but maybe because Rie put real effort into character creation.
It wasn't ugly so much as cute and pitiable.
I couldn't get used to seeing myself, something I almost never did.
Lifting my bangs revealed purple eyes that emitted no light.
Empty, dead eyes that couldn't reflect light.
Suddenly, I found my reflection repulsive.
A wave of disgust hit me, like staring at a heavily decayed corpse.
Startled, I stepped back from the mirror, and the clerk approached, wondering what was wrong.
"Miss? Is something the matter?"
"...No, nothing. Nothing at all."
The clerk shrugged curiously and returned to his spot, while I hurriedly fled the store.
Gloomy Aura must apply to myself too, not just others.
Otherwise, how could just looking at my eyes disgust me this much?
"...No wonder I felt wronged when they attacked just for making eye contact."
With eyes like these, it was justified.
The shock reminded me of first seeing the goblin totem; I shook my head and vowed never to look in a mirror again.
Staggering back to the inn, I holed up in my room for the day.
Time was needed to recover from the shock.
A few days passed like that.
My sword repair finished, so I picked it up and headed back to the guild to check requests.
Being dispatch missions, few were soloable—most required teams—so I scratched my head.
"This is tricky."
A few suited me.
But no one to team up with.
Lingering near the request board out of regret, a familiar voice called out.
"Are you thinking of taking this request?"
"Pardon?"
Turning around, it was that Silver Adventurer from a few days ago who'd suddenly suspected and wary of me.
I had no idea what he was on about, but since I did want to do the request, I nodded—and he abruptly reached out his hand.
Probably for a handshake.
"Let's team up."
"...Why?"
"I apologized, but you're still suspicious, so I want to keep an eye on you myself."
"...Y-You're free to do that?"
Silver Adventurers rarely teamed with Apprentices, so it was hard to understand him volunteering. When I asked again, he calmly replied.
"I am."
There seemed no reason, excuse, or way to refuse.
"...W-Well then, please take care of me."
I reached out and clasped his hand.