Silk Blond (2)
That time, I should have just told everyone to fuck off and vanished without a trace.
"······Haa."
"······Guild Master, are you okay?"
"Do I look okay to you right now?"
"No. You look like you've shouldered every worry in the world."
"Then why the hell are you asking if I'm okay?"
"You called me here and just keep sighing without saying a word. It's awkward as fuck."
"Heh heh······ Even though I'm an S-rank awakener, it's been a while since I've seen someone talk to me like that right to my face."
"Whatever happens next doesn't matter to me. I've already been kicked out of the guild anyway."
"Ah, right, fuck, kicked out. Ughaaaaah! Why the hell did that bastard do something I didn't even tell him to?!"
"Guild Master, why are you yelling like you're completely blameless and it was all your subordinate's fault? Be honest—you didn't give a shit about me until that mess blew up yesterday."
"Ah······ D-did I get caught? You're a sharp kid for someone so young. Anyway, you saw what happened yesterday when you disappeared—the guild building turned into a pile of ash. The Rate family says they'll cover all the repair costs, but when it comes to the guild's safety, you seem to be the most important factor. So come back to Liar's Trap. Got it?"
"Why are you talking like you're doing me some grand favor? In this situation, don't I hold the knife here? Guild Master, you seem to think I'm just some easy 23-year-old punk. But I've been through a shitload of storms in life. Don't underestimate me—try asking again."
"Ha, haha! Yeah, you need that kind of guts for someone like Ska Rate to fall for you. I was curious what kind of guy made her lose it. Now I get the idea."
"Fall for me? Ska's just a crazy bitch. She burned down the guild building yesterday because she was pissed her favorite errand boy vanished. Anyway, what do I get if I come back to the guild?"
"I'll pay you big. A-rank combat awakener level. But keep it secret from everyone else."
"How much we talking?"
"Come here. Look, this is roughly our guild's pay scale by rank, plus incentives. Since you'll be dealing with a monster like Ska Rate every day, let's say you raid a B-rank dungeon daily······ about this much?"
"You know how to handle people, Guild Master. I'm in."
"Good, thanks. But there's one problem. Even with the Rate family backing us, what Ska did was too flashy to cover up completely. So the guild has to hand down some punishment, right? It'll probably just be a one-month suspension."
"Whoa, that's sweet! If I don't have to see Ska for a whole month, it's like a dream come true."
"But····· Ska was yelling your name the whole time she was torching the guild yesterday. So everyone in the guild thinks your resignation caused the whole incident. They can't get mad at Ska for setting the fire, so all that anger's gonna come your way."
"What? Why would it turn out like that?"
"That's just how people work. Anyway, while Ska's on suspension, there's no one in the guild to protect you."
"Can't you cover for me, Guild Master?"
"I'm gonna be swamped handling this mess, so······ sorry."
"No worries. It's Ska's fault, not yours. So what, do I just hole up at home on suspension too? Paid vacation?"
"I'd love to, but giving a no-talent F-rank a full month's paid leave would look bad. Favoritism is the most dangerous thing in a group. People are already bitching about firing Ska or whatever, and if I give you special treatment on top of that, the whole place will blow up."
"······Then what? You want me to survive on my own in Liar's Trap? The guild members' glares when I ran into Ska yesterday weren't normal. I could actually die."
"No, no. I know exactly what would happen if you vanished—do you think I'd let you die? I've got it all figured out, so just trust me, Paster."
"Sigh······ So what do I do?"
"Spend the month with 3rd Team. Just show your face to the team leader, do nothing, and hole up there. The 3rd Team leader doesn't give a shit about people anyway, so she won't do anything to you. ······Probably."
"That's unsettling, but okay. Everyone knows the 3rd Team leader doesn't care about people. What could go wrong, right?"
"Y-yeah, kid! Just think of yourself as air~ Hide somewhere, play on your phone till quitting time. And collect A-rank combat pay for it—what could be better? Haha. Hahaha! I'll call the 3rd Team leader now. You can head over right away."
"Rip the bandage off quick, huh? Got it. I'll head out first."
"Yeah. Uh······ Be careful. Oh! And never go down to the lower floor of the 3rd Team annex! It's full of high-rank beasts the 3rd Team leader's tamed! You won't even find your body! Well, she won't let you in anyway!"
"Yessir~ Got it."
"Phew····· I'm nervous."
I'd acted all chill in front of the guild master—getting underestimated wouldn't help. But thinking about the door in front of me leading to Liar's Trap's 3rd Team leader, the taming master Silk Blond, made my heart pound no matter what.
"Who would've thought I'd meet Silk Blond like this. Maybe my luck's finally turning?"
I'd been dragged to Liar's Trap by force thanks to Ska, but as an awakener, the guild members were idols to me. Especially Silk Blond, who kept a mysterious aura, wielded the rare taming ability, and never appeared on TV outside of dungeon raids—she was someone I'd always wanted to see in person.
"Suuup, whoo. Suuup. Whoo. Alright. Let's go in. Nail the greeting, make a good first impression. Play it right, and I might even get an autograph."
I took deep breaths to calm my chest and opened the team leader's office door.
A woman with golden bob-cut hair was gazing at fish swimming in an aquarium behind her desk. It was Silk Blond, the S-rank awakener I'd only seen on TV, someone everyone dreams of meeting once they join Liar's Trap.
"Hm hm hum~ Hm hum~ Pretty. I'll give you a special treat today—meat cubes made from North Elk leg. Grow big and strong."
She dropped chunks of what looked like expensive, pure white meat into the tank for the iridescent rainbow fish. Bathed in its glow, Silk Blond looked like a saint descended from heaven.
Damn, she's gorgeous. Who knew someone as pretty as Ska even existed? She looks ten times hotter than on TV.
Stunned by Silk Blond's otherworldly beauty, I forgot what I was supposed to say. But standing there silently would just make me look suspicious, so I quickly racked my brain and launched my prepared greeting.
"Hello! I'm Paster, starting today with Liar's Trap 3rd Team! Please take care of me, Team Leader!"
I bowed 90 degrees with a confident voice, finishing my intro.
Silk Blond dropped all the meat into the tank, then turned her gaze to me.
"Hm?"
Her lazy pumpkin-orange eyes captured me. She tilted her head, then her mouth parted slightly as if remembering something, nodding.
"Ahh····· Right, the guild master asked me to take in some troublesome kid."
Troublesome kid? From the guild master's view, maybe, but it felt unfair to me. The 1st Team leader kicked me out, Ska burned the place down. I was just wrongly fired.
"You're the troublesome one who burned down the guild building? You look too weak for that······."
"Ska Rate burned the building, not me. I'm just the victim."
"Really? Then why'd the guild master call you troublesome?"
Silk Blond poked her cheek with a finger, staring curiously. Meeting those orange eyes made silence impossible somehow. The space itself demanded an answer.
"Uh······ Good question?"
"That's not an answer."
"Ah. Uh······."
S-ranks were beings above even other awakeners—I remembered that as her pressure crushed me, forcing my mouth open.
"W-well······ I didn't start the fire, but my getting kicked out did cause it. Ska—no, Ska Rate, the one behind it all, is obsessed with me. She flipped when I vanished. From the guild master's perspective, I'm bound to be the troublemaker. Yeah."
"That famous Ska Rate······ is obsessed with you?"
Facing an S-rank made me feel smaller by the second. I'd held the edge over the guild master, but with Silk Blond, I had nothing—just shrinking. I became a Paster wiki, spilling whatever she wanted.
"Ah, yeah······ Hard to believe, but yes. It's not like she likes me or anything. She's treated me like her pet dog? Livestock? Since I was a kid. Her possessiveness is insane—she explodes if her stuff goes missing. That's what happened yesterday. Haha······."
"Hm······ I see?"
Her eyes lit up as she listened, shifting from bored to cat-spotting-a-toy curiosity.
What the hell? The guild master said she doesn't care about people. Did I talk too much? But how do you hold back from an S-rank? This is bullshit.
As she rose and approached, my unease turned to certainty. Her gaze locked on me; I froze like a mouse before a cat.
She said no interest in people! She's all over this!
Tap. Tap. Tap. Lick.
She walked toward me, tongue flicking to wet her lips. My academy-honed survival alarm blared in my head.
Bolt? No way I could outrun an S-rank······.
"Looked decent from afar, but up close? Even better. No real power······ so you won't stab me in the back at least."
Her mutter snapped my thoughts as she closed in. She scanned me like picking a pet at the shop; her serpentine gaze froze my mind solid.
"Build's okay······ looks trained at least?"
"Y-yes? Uh, yeah."
"Good. You pass. Welcome to my 3rd Team."
She finished inspecting, smiled, and offered a handshake. It screamed shady danger, but refusing wasn't an option.
······What's the worst a handshake can do?
Rationalizing like that, I grasped her pale white hand. Soft and warm. How nice would it feel stroked by these?
Come to think of it, first time holding a woman's hand besides Ska in forever. Since leaving the orphanage?
Gripping that soft, beautiful hand relaxed me. My worries were overblown. Ska's unpredictability had me paranoid around other pretty girls.
Feel bad for suspecting the team leader.
No incident from the shake turned my wariness to guilt. Should I apologize for the misunderstanding?
As I pondered, Silk Blond suddenly wrapped both her hands around our joined ones.
"You know, our 3rd Team? Only family I choose gets in."
"Huh? What do you······."
"You're family starting today. Don't tense up. You'll feel great soon······."
With those words, brilliant golden light erupted from her hand, filling my vision. Identical to the taming light I'd seen on TV once.