Chapter 24: Party Formation
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 24: Party Formation
“Welcome, Lady Rene!”
The receptionist greeted us with a bright smile as we stepped into the Adventurer Guild.
I glanced sideways at the Young Lady, noting the unfamiliar name the receptionist had used, and she gave me a quick wink.
An alias, then.
It wouldn’t be good if rumors spread that the successor of Hus was traveling alone. Since Branch Manager Karen was in a secret partnership with the Old Man, manipulating the records would have been child’s play.
That aside, the sight of her winking was so beautiful that I found myself momentarily dazed.
“Rene, Silver-rank adventurer. I’m here to go through the party registration process.”
“Oh my! A male party member?”
“I found someone whose goals align with mine.”
“I see! Please, both of you fill out these party registration forms!”
The paperwork wasn’t difficult.
The party leader was Lady Airune—using her alias, Rene—with her position listed as Tank. I registered as the Supporter.
So, the Young Lady’s position was a Tank. She took after Marquis Dakuren, who also wielded a shield.
For the record, Janks had learned spearmanship from Matugan of the Bierma tribe and used to practically fly around with it. He always said he preferred being on the offensive rather than the defensive.
As I neared the bottom of the form, I saw a section asking if I was a National Merit Recipient, just like on the withdrawal papers. I hesitated for a split second, but the receptionist snatched the papers away before I could stall.
“I’ve already heard from the Branch Manager. Mr. Alto, you’re transferring your affiliation from Lukart to Dakuren. If you both give me your adventurer tags, I’ll have the party name engraved on them.”
The people of Dakuren really were efficient.
For some reason, they seemed to be hiding the fact that I was Alto Bertrand from the Young Lady. I was also afraid of how her gaze might change if she found out, so I figured it was best to play along for now.
“Here you go.”
“Thank you! I’ll send these to the craftsman immediately to have the party name engraved. While you wait, would you like me to show you the list of available quests?”
As I handed over my iron adventurer tag, the receptionist bundled it with a note and dropped it into a pipe connected to the workshop.
Wow. That system was only recently introduced in Lukart, yet the Dakuren guild staff handled it with practiced ease. I couldn’t even guess how advanced their magitech was.
“Are there any dungeon quests available?”
The Young Lady asked with anticipation, but the receptionist shook her head.
“Dungeon quests require a party of at least three. That’s the minimum number required to ensure a high survival rate in case one person is injured. However! Since you’ve mostly been doing errand quests within Dakuren City until now, I can show you some simple subjugation quests.”
“Not even a quest for a dungeon entrance?”
When the Young Lady couldn’t let it go, I stepped in.
“No matter how small or easy a dungeon is, they’re unpredictable. Besides, we just formed this party. A subjugation quest wouldn’t be a bad way to get a feel for how we work together.”
“Subjugation is just wolves, bears, or tigers. I can handle those on my own.”
That wasn’t the kind of confidence you’d expect from a Silver-rank adventurer…
Given her bloodline, I didn’t think it was an impossible boast, but for ordinary people—especially women—taking down those kinds of wild beasts was naturally a struggle.
“Subjugation is one thing, but the main goal is to build teamwork.”
“Fine. It’s a shame, though. I wanted to go outside Dakuren City or try camping in a dungeon.”
If we did that, the Old Man and the Countess would likely be furious, claiming we’d caused trouble without a word. I understood her excitement about forming a party, but rushing things is a sure way to ruin them.
“I have just the thing! There’s been a tiger menace reported in the Lesonya Field. The victims are mostly carriage drivers and passengers on the path leading to Sornja Village, so travel between Dakuren and Sornja is being delayed. Four carriages have already been attacked. According to witnesses, there’s one large tiger and two small, fast ones—three in total. There have even been fatalities, so it’s an urgent matter.”
Tigers traveling together?
Based on the size, it sounded like a mother and her cubs, but for them to stay together even as adults?
The Young Lady’s expression hardened at the mention of fatalities, and she picked up the quest request form.
“We’ll go handle it right now.”
“Understood! The Adventurer Guild officially requests the Rene Party to handle this quest!”
The receptionist gallantly slammed a stamp onto the request form.
Clang!
Right on cue, the adventurer tags, now engraved with the party name, popped out of the pipe on the reception desk.
“Alright! Rene Party, let’s move!”
Taking the tags and the request form, the Young Lady gave a confident smile and stuffed the paper into her pocket.
“Let’s finish this in one go!”
* * *
And so, night fell.
“They have to actually show up for us to finish them in one go—!!!!”
The Young Lady flopped down by the campfire, stomping her feet on the ground in frustration.
Regardless of her tantrum, I was busy boiling soup and grilling sausages.
“Alto~. Does subjugation always take this long?”
“Usually, yes. Wild beasts are cautious, so they don’t show themselves easily. Besides, tigers are nocturnal.”
“What beast isn’t nocturnal?”
“Uh… bears?”
“…True.”
Convinced, the Young Lady lay down, using her shield as a pillow. Her back and neck were going to hurt like that.
“If you lie on your shield like that, your shoulders and lower back will ache.”
“My shoulders already ache because of my big chest anyway.”
“……”
Um, isn’t she getting a bit too comfortable with me?
I was used to hearing girls’ talk from being around Mirei’s party, but having it said directly to me was… a bit embarrassing.
“Sorry! I’m just so comfortable around you, Alto, that it just slipped out.”
“Around me?”
“There’s something mature about you that reminds me of my older brother.”
I felt a pang in my chest. I hadn’t expected her to bring up Janks, who was already gone.
“Was he a good person?”
“No? He’d come to me every day and interfere with my shield training, telling me to learn the spear instead. He even slept with the dolls Father bought for me. He was the worst. Toward the end, we barely even spoke.”
So they were close.
By the way, Janks, why the hell were you sleeping with your sister’s dolls?
“Have you been learning shield arts since you were young?”
“Yeah! Father said I needed to know how to defend myself, so he taught me how to find my center of gravity and use a shield whenever he had time.”
I ladled a bit of soup to taste it. It was a little bland.
Since I’d bought the supplies in a hurry at the market, anticipating we might have to camp, I was short on salt. After a moment of thought, I finely chopped one of the sizzling sausages and dropped it into the soup.
“Wasn’t it difficult?”
“It was tiring, but it was fun. Well~ maybe ‘fun’ isn’t the right word. I think it’s more accurate to say I just liked it.”
“You just liked it?”
“Yeah.”
Unlike me, who was focused on the soup, the Young Lady was staring up at the night sky.
“Father and Brother were always so busy. So those moments when he taught me shield arts, or when my brother pestered me to learn the spear… those were the few times they actually spent with me.”
The atmosphere grew heavy.
But… it wasn’t my place to say, but was the Young Lady always this unguarded? I was worried that she shared her inner thoughts so easily.
“Just so you know, I’m not the type to just say whatever’s on my mind to anyone.”
Was she reading my thoughts? My heart skipped a beat.
“Alto, I think you’re a good person.”
I’ve heard that a lot, sure.
“You’re different from other men. Most of them just abruptly tell me to become their woman, saying they’ll make me their concubine. Part of it is because they don’t know my status, but even noblemen who do know—even when there’s a huge gap in our ranks—they still do it. They don’t know anything about me, and I don’t know anything about them, yet they act so entitled. It makes me sick.”
Adjusting her posture to sit more comfortably, the Young Lady gazed at me with clear, innocent eyes.
“Remember yesterday morning? You said people should only get married after confirming their feelings for each other. When I heard that, I thought we’d get along well.”
I had no idea how to respond.
Get along well… in what sense?
“There are so many stars tonight.”
I followed her gaze and looked up at the sky for a moment. I could see the Milky Way. It was beautiful. The night sky, seen with her, was truly beautiful.
“When I become the Lord, there will be as many people in Hus as there are stars, right?”
“I suppose so.”
“Every single one of those people is a star to me.”
The Old Man had said the Young Lady was delaying her succession because of the pressure. But contrary to his worries, she was steadily preparing herself to accept it. It must be a heavy burden for one woman to shoulder.
“You’re my star too, Alto.”
“Pardon?”
When I asked in surprise, she giggled.
“You came to Hus, so you’re my star.”
The only sound was the crackling of the campfire.
Pop! A sausage cooked until its skin burst.
“I’m the Great Lord of Hus, so I’ll protect you, Alto. But it’s too hard and lonely to do it alone. I get lonely easily.”
That’s strange, I don’t usually talk like this.
You’re the first.
It felt as if I could hear her confession from afar.
“So, Alto… won’t you become my closest star, like Count Dakuus or my mother, and help me?”
It was the second invitation.
She was the second person to bare her heart and ask me to be with her. The first, unfortunately, had been Mirei.
‘The age of heroes is over; now is the age of adventurers! I’m going to reach the pinnacle of adventurers and leave my name in history! Alto, won’t you join me?’
The invitation was for the same thing, but the feeling was worlds apart. Mirei’s declaration had been full of ambition, while the Young Lady was carefully revealing her fragile side and asking for help.
If I accepted this invitation and stayed by her side, what would be at the end of it?
I had to admit it. I liked this Young Lady, even though I’d only known her for a short time. I felt for this girl who showed me a smile she didn’t show others and shared her true feelings.
But I was a man who had lived through war and seen how it changed people. As she engaged in politics and governance, those qualities would gradually be worn away.
Fine. Nothing lasts forever, so I’ll support the girl in front of me until that time comes. A noble’s life changes a person in the blink of an eye, so it might take less time than I think.
Having reached a conclusion, I went to hand the burst sausage to the Young Lady, but I stopped.
“……”
“……”
The Young Lady was staring sharply in this direction. I, too, narrowed my eyes and stared back.
“Alto, I see stars behind you.”
“How many? I see four.”
“I see two. They’re a bit bigger than the stars in the sky, aren’t they?”
I quietly pointed to the pot where the soup was boiling, then jerked my thumb over my shoulder. The Young Lady nodded and gestured with her chin behind her.
I raised my fingers.
One.
Two.
Three.
At that exact moment—
“Alto, get down!”
The Young Lady kicked the pot toward me and grabbed her shield.
“Block the front with your shield!”
I dodged the pot and circled behind her.
Then—
[ROOOOOAAAARRRR—!!!!]
A tiger, larger than most horses, lunged at the Young Lady, slamming into her shield. In front of me, two slightly smaller tigers pounced.
“Are you ready, Alto?”
The Young Lady asked, her voice trembling with excitement.
“Let’s finish this in one go.”
I answered lightly on purpose to reassure her.
Tigers, huh? This Hunting Dog will tear your throats out.
You can go to the afterlife and feel the shame of being killed by a dog.