Horn (1)
Today I decided to wander around Sepia with Hugo and Hwia. They said they'd go wherever I wanted.
This time I wanted to look around places other than the market.
I'd been a little worried because it had been raining a lot lately, but luckily the weather today was clear. Not too hot for walking around—perfect weather.
I could read well enough now, and I was pretty confident in my speaking too.
"What's that?"
I spotted a building people kept going in and out of.
People with swords at their hips, people in robes big enough to cover their whole bodies—all sorts of people constantly entering and leaving.
"That? Hmm… it's called a guild. The country runs it… like a request office…?"
Hugo struggled to find the right words, as if even he was having trouble. I could understand most of his vocabulary, though.
"The guild is where people called adventurers come to find work they want to do."
Hwia jumped in smoothly, since it seemed Hugo was getting frustrated.
If it was the guild I knew, it probably wasn't much different from my previous world.
"Can we go check it out?"
"Umm… Tiable, do you really have to go?"
Hugo was hesitating quite a bit. Was there something he was reluctant about?
"Let's go!"
He made it pretty clear he didn't want to, but my curiosity was more important.
I pulled him along by our joined hands.
"Uuuugh… Fine, let's go."
As we walked up to the guild door, everyone's eyes focused on us.
The inside was wider than it looked from outside. A whole crowd of people was staring at one wall. The wall they were looking at was packed tight with papers, not a single empty spot.
Those papers probably listed the "jobs."
The country could put up this many requests? Where did they get the money…
I squeezed in among the people and craned my neck to read the papers.
— Nara Grass Collection — Location: Sepia Forest — Deadline: 9/17
— Giant Frog Meat Collection — Location: Gorgo Swamp — Deadline: None
— Paramando Bandit Subjugation — Location: Sepia — Deadline: None
There really were all kinds of requests…
I'd only ever seen this country looking bright and peaceful, so the part about bandits was a little surprising.
Giant frogs… the ingredients for the skewers I ate. Since it was food I liked, I wanted to see one alive at least once.
Still, it would probably be hard. Hugo had already made it clear he didn't want to be in the guild, so asking for anything more felt a little unfair.
Disappointing, but I should just head back. Ah—where were Hugo and Hwia?
While I'd been staring at the wall in a daze, I'd lost them.
"Hugo? Hwia?"
Even when I spoke, my voice just got buried under the surrounding noise.
"Looking for someone?"
Someone tapped my shoulder as they spoke.
I turned around and found a woman standing there.
She was dressed so typically that anyone could tell at a glance she was a mage. A purple cloak that reached her knees. A slightly oversized hat that covered her head.
The woman with long bright yellow hair down to her waist looked at me with a beautiful smile.
"Want big sis to help you find them~?"
And then she patted my head. Why did everyone pat my head the moment they saw me?
This person was treating me like a complete child.
Only Hugo, Hwia, and Redrago were allowed to pat my head.
I couldn't accept a stranger doing it.
I stepped back to avoid the hand and bumped into someone.
"Ah, I'm sorr…y…"
When I turned around, there stood an adventurer with a fairly large build—smaller than Redrago, but still big. When I looked around and couldn't spot the person I'd hit, I lowered my gaze.
"Ah, I'm sorry. I brought her with me and lost hold of her hand."
The woman took my hand and showed the adventurer a kind smile. The adventurer glanced at her face for a moment before speaking.
"Watch where you're going, will ya."
"Yes~"
Why was this person helping me? No—she was the one who'd created the collision in the first place.
She led me somewhere with fewer people, then bent down a little to my eye level and said,
"Big sis will find them for you~"
This was bad. I'd lost Tiable.
The moment we walked in she'd let go of my hand and run off, then vanished in an instant.
Why were there so many white-haired people in the guild? You barely ever saw white hair out on the streets.
On top of that, Tiable was small, so she was hard to spot.
Where in the world had she gone?!
We'd come out in a good mood to let Tiable go wherever she wanted, and of all places I'd lost her in the guild.
If I didn't find her quickly…
Ugh, I was a little wary of adventurers…
Adventurers and the guard corps didn't get along well, so I hadn't wanted to come to the guild in the first place.
They were always yelling at us, and there was always friction whenever we moved through the city gates.
"Hwi—Hwia, you have to stick right by me."
"Huh? Yeah, okay."
Seeing Hwia look completely unbothered, unlike me, calmed me down a little.
Haa… Right. Not everyone was bad.
Thump.
My shoulder bumped into someone.
"Hey, you not watching where you're going?"
"What, you look pretty young. Why'd you even come to the guild?"
"I'm Lena. What's your name?"
"Ti… Tiable."
"Tiable? Who did Tiable come here with?"
"Hugo and Hwia…"
While I was talking with Lena, a commotion broke out somewhere.
"Hey, you not watching where you're going?"
From the sound of the conversation, someone was picking a fight. It didn't take long to realize the person being harassed was Hugo. That sky-blue hair was visible even from a distance.
"It's Hugo and Hwia!"
"Hm?"
When I pointed with my finger and called out loudly, Lena's gaze shifted.
"That one looks pretty young too…"
Then Lena strode over with big steps.
"People can bump into each other while walking. Look how crowded it is in here."
"Stay out of it, lady. I'm talking to this kid right now."
"Haa… Just leave while I'm still being nice."
Lena pulled something out from her chest and showed it.
"Gold… Gold rank?"
I didn't know what she'd taken out, but the man who'd been picking the fight suddenly shrank, his voice growing smaller and smaller.
"Please leave~"
Lena showed a beautiful smile and waved him off.
"Tch."
The man who'd started the trouble tucked his tail and headed over toward the wall covered in papers.
"We've got a lot of kids I don't usually see coming in today, huh?"
"W-We'll just leave now…"
Hugo hung his head as if completely deflated.
"Hm? You don't have to leave if you don't want to. There's no age limit or anything at the guild."
"I just thought it was neat seeing new faces. Did you come to register?"
"S-Still, we'll leave."
"Oppa, why are you in such a rush to leave?"
Hugo grabbed my hand and hurried us out of the guild.
Urgent news arrived.
Word that Horn was marching on Sepia.
It hadn't been long since we'd returned from Orun—if we'd been even a little later, it would have been a disaster.
So this moment had finally come.
"Summon every soldier."
"Prepare for war."
The soldier who heard those words went visibly tense.
"Yes, sir! I'll prepare at once!"
It would be ideal if we could deal with Horn's forces completely outside Sepia.
"Can you cast detection magic? Use it toward the north."
"Yes, sir!"
We still hadn't grasped their numbers, so we couldn't make rash judgments.
"I also want a recruitment notice posted at the guild."
"The guild… sir? With the guild, it's a bit…"
"We're trying to protect Sepia. That doesn't matter right now."
"Protecting Sepia is what matters."
"Detection magic cast, sir."
"Report the results as soon as they come in."
"Recruitment notice posted at the guild, sir."
"Detection magic complete. Enemy forces confirmed. Approximately thirty thousand."
"No mages among them."
"A vanguard unit, then? If they have no mages, we can stop them before they reach Sepia."
"How long do you estimate until they reach Sepia?"
"As early as tonight. Most likely tomorrow morning."
"We'll need to prepare quickly."
The enemy force had no mages. With Tiable's attack magic, we could stop them easily…
Was dragging Tiable into a war the right choice?
Even Redrago, who valued Sepia so highly, was hesitating over whether to pull Tiable into the fighting.
When we came out of the guild, the streets were noisier than usual.
Why?
There were more soldiers than usual standing in front of the city gate.
"There are a lot of people at the gate."
"What's going on? There wasn't any training scheduled today…"
Hugo muttered, sounding puzzled.
"Is something happening?"
"Oh—Hugo! Get ready and get over here!"
One of the soldiers spotted Hugo and called out.
"Huh? I'm on leave today…"
The soldier came over and whispered something into Hugo's ear.
Hugo's eyes wavered for a moment in shock, then steadied again just as quickly.
"I'll get ready and come at once."
"Hugo?" "Oppa?"
Hugo ran into the guard station.
Something felt ominous. The air itself felt like a major incident was about to break.
Hugo came back out in an instant, dressed as a soldier.
"Hwia. I think we're in real trouble."
Hugo whispered to Hwia, but I heard every word clearly.
"Haa… Horn's invading."
"Looks like they've decided to go out of Sepia and stop them."
"I… I think I have to go too."
War. Redrago—where was Redrago?
"Hugo, where's Redrago?"
When I cut in, he looked quite flustered.
"Huh? Umm, Lord Redrago? I don't know."
"Ugh… I'll go for now."
"Take good care of Tiable, Hwia!"
With that, Hugo ran off to join the ranks of soldiers.
Redrago would definitely be going to fight too.
I wanted to help.
How… was there any way I could help?