82. Daily Life (1)
82. Daily Life (1)
"W-wow... A-Amber-nim!?"
The C-rank adventurer was startled by Amber joining their party.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Amber, and I'll be joining the party for a short while."
"A-ah, hello!"
"Why would an S-rank adventurer be in our C-rank party..."
"Ah, I'm in a position where I have to protect the orphanage, so I'm not in a position to take on S-rank requests."
""Ah!""
Amber, who rose from a B-rank adventurer to an S-rank adventurer in an instant, is a very famous adventurer in Medherun City.
She didn't just rise through the ranks with a party; Amber rose to S-rank on her own, becoming an idol to adventurers.
When such an Amber joined a C-rank party, the C-rank adventurers couldn't help but be surprised.
"Is this request to subjugate the orc pack in the west? Is that correct?"
"Ah, y-yes!"
The male adventurer, who was the warrior and leader of the C-rank party, nodded.
"I was a bit worried, but I'm so glad Amber-nim came!"
The female adventurer, who was a healer, smiled brightly at Amber.
"I-it's truly an honor."
The male adventurer, who was a mage, kept bowing toward Amber.
Amber just smiled as she watched them.
"You're so beautiful. How do you take care of your skin?"
To the female healer's question, Amber replied that it was because of her regular lifestyle, but in reality, it was only possible because she was not human.
Even before, her skin had been clean and clear, but Amber, whose brain and body had already been completely eroded, had become a body that could no longer be called human.
"But is that outfit okay?"
The healer adventurer asked, looking at Amber's outfit with concern.
This was because the outfit Amber was currently wearing was, to anyone's eyes, a maid outfit that was not suitable for hunting orcs.
"It's fine. I'm so used to these clothes now that it's more comfortable to wear them."
Amber's maid outfit is quite famous.
There are many people who walk around Medherun City wearing maid outfits.
Since those people are actual maids, no one pays much attention to them. However, Amber is an S-rank adventurer.
There are fewer than 10 S-rank adventurers in the entire Padix Kingdom, and it is said that an S-rank adventurer has power equal to that of a city.
Since such a person is wearing a maid outfit, it's impossible for people not to look.
Usually, S-rank adventurers wear top-tier equipment. Because of that, from the people's perspective, Amber's outfit looked far too defenseless.
However, Amber's maid outfit has higher performance than most equipment.
This is because the maid outfit is not just clothes, but a creature using Mimicry to take the form of clothing.
One might ask, "Then wouldn't it be fine to just change into adventurer gear?"
Because Amber had become so used to the maid outfit, and because of the Hive Mind, Lea could be watching at any time, so Amber was wearing the maid outfit that Lea liked.
==
"This is an S-rank adventurer..."
The adventurer party was in awe of Amber's overwhelming power.
With strength that didn't seem human, she popped the orcs' heads one after another every time she fired an arrow.
It wasn't that the arrows pierced them and they died. The force was so strong that when the arrows met the orcs' heads, they exploded, blowing the orcs' heads off as well.
Amber took care of the dangerous-looking orcs in an instant and left the remaining orcs to the C-rank adventurers.
The adventurers didn't ask why she didn't kill them all the way to the end.
That was because they knew Amber's actions were for their own growth.
The adventurers fought the orcs harder than ever before, with the determination to show their strength to Amber.
Amber slung her bow back onto her back and gazed at the adventurer parties.
'Are there any humans with useful Unique Abilities?'
Amber had been visiting the Adventurer Guild frequently lately and started taking on requests that could be finished quickly.
The reason was simple.
It was to collect Unique Abilities.
Thinking that if a high-ranking adventurer went missing, it would cause quite a lot of troublesome issues, Amber was searching for C-rank adventurers, who were at a somewhat ambiguous rank.
C-rankers are basically adventurers with a certain level of skill, and the fact that they had reached C-rank meant they possessed quite useful Unique Abilities.
She didn't know what kind of Unique Abilities they had, but special Unique Abilities reveal a unique presence in fights like this.
"Hiya-!"
As the female healer extended her staff, the orc's body was bound by a glowing rope and neutralized.
Not missing that opening, the warrior adventurer stabbed his sword straight into the orc's heart.
"Hmm~ That looks like an interesting ability."
Amber felt intrigued by the power the healer used.
The power the healer used just now was neither magic nor holy magic. An ordinary human wouldn't be able to tell the difference, but it was clearly visible to Amber, who had become a being that transcended humanity.
Amber began to focus on the female healer.
==
Gwen walked slowly through Medherun City at dawn, as she always did.
She still keeps the routine she had when she was a knight.
It was possible because Lea had given Gwen freedom.
It would have been impossible if it were just Gwen, but now Gwen has Stacey, whom she must protect.
Stacey is usually attached to Gwen's body. To be precise, she is using Mimicry to become Gwen's clothes.
That was Gwen's prison and surveillance.
Gwen's face is completely different from her usual face.
Because Gwen's existence itself is too famous, she is in a state where her face is disguised with magic.
The disguise magic was cast by Yui herself, and there is almost no one who could notice Yui's disguise magic, as she has already reached the rank of Archmage by human standards.
'In such a peaceful city...'
Gwen looked down as she walked down the street.
A colony of creatures had been created in the underground of Medherun City.
There are creatures there that could destroy the city without the city being able to do anything if they were to just come up from the underground right now.
Yet, the city was more peaceful than ever.
It was peaceful enough that there seemed to be no problems at all, even though creatures had attacked the eastern district of the city a few months ago.
There are many reasons for this, but the most important one is the existence of Albert.
Both Albert and Lea want this city to develop.
The problem is that Albert wants to make the city strong by any means necessary, while Lea wants to increase the number of high-quality humans growing up in this city.
If it were the old Gwen, she would have poured everything she had into stopping this, but...
Swish. Swish.
Gwen stroked her clothes gently.
[ Mom? Why? ]
"It's nothing. Just because I like you, Stacey."
[ Hehe. I love you too, Mom! ]
Now she has a daughter she must protect.
When she was first born, she didn't even feel like a human, but after spending time with the children at the orphanage and learning all their behaviors, Stacey had truly changed like a child.
Gwen, whose maternal instincts had grown stronger at the sight of Stacey, no longer had eyes for the city.
She only had the desire to make Stacey, whom she had given birth to while enduring all the pain herself, happy.
Even if Stacey is happy eating humans.
Gwen walked through the dawn streets and entered a place that anyone could tell you shouldn't enter.
Even though it was dawn, Gwen entered a path without light, went down the stairs leading to the underground, and opened the door she saw.
"Welcome."
A man greeted Gwen politely.
He is Albert's subordinate and the person who manages this place.
The place Gwen entered was none other than a place run by Albert.
"Hello."
"We prepared something extra delicious today."
"Is that so? Thank you."
"Right this way."
The man guided Gwen, and Gwen followed him inside.
The very natural appearance showed how often Gwen visited this place.
"Here it is. If you need anything else, you can press the button inside as always."
"Yes."
As the man closed the door and the room turned into a sealed chamber, the clothes Gwen was wearing wriggled.
Stacey changed her body from Gwen's clothes and returned to her original form. And she walked slowly to the center of the room.
"Ugh! Ugh-!"
There was a human in the center of the room. Not just any human, but a human of a similar age to Stacey.
Stacey started to eat the bound human. To be precise, she started to play with and eat them.
Gwen did not feel disgusted seeing Stacey like that.
Rather, she just smiled at Stacey's happy appearance.
Why did she come here instead of the colony to eat humans?
It's simple.
Because the colony never handles children. However, Stacey developed a strange taste while spending time with the kids at the orphanage.
It is to eat humans of a similar age to herself.
As a result, she had no choice but to go to a place run by Albert, not the colony, to be supplied with humans.
"Mom! I finished eating!"
"Really? Was it tasty?"
"Yes!"
Gwen hugged Stacey, who was covered in blood after eating the human.
Like a gentle and affectionate mother.