At the Beach of the Port City
At the Beach of the Port City
The sudden offer to become a bodyguard caught me slightly off guard.
A bodyguard — she probably meant serving as Bella's personal escort.
I'd be glued to the future guild master of Gjallarhorn twenty-four hours a day, providing protection. Naturally, it wasn't the kind of proposal you made to just anyone.
"Um, Miss Bella? I'm an incubus."
I'm an incubus!
That one word carried a lot of weight, but Bella reacted as if to say, what of it?
"Well, yes, you are an incubus. You do have horns, after all. But surely you're not about to say you can't be a bodyguard because of that?"
"Wouldn't being a bodyguard obviously be difficult for me? There are plenty of other demihumans out there — why go out of your way to hire an incubus? There's no reason to keep a lowly incubus like me at your side. If you want a bodyguard, hire someone with a better background."
Keep a lowly incubus as a bodyguard and people would point fingers.
The reputation Bella had earned, respected by citizens throughout the community, could be tarnished.
I couldn't fathom why someone who surely knew all that would still make this offer.
But Bella's immediate reply carried her own convictions.
"Luke. Background and race don't matter to me. I believe adventurers should be evaluated purely on their own abilities. And you are someone capable enough that I want you at my side. I'm saying I want to hire you as a close aide based on ability alone."
"Based on ability alone? Regardless of background?"
Bella and I were climbing the hilly path that led toward the upper reaches of the river.
As we kept walking forward, Bella continued speaking to me.
"Ever since my first day at the office three years ago, I've always thought adventurer society was strange. Surely you know this as an adventurer yourself, Luke. When adventurers judge one another, they start with perception before anything else — before personal ability."
"That's right. Things like race are the prime example."
I understood exactly what Bella meant about adventurers judging by perception.
The adventurer industry was a mystifying society where everything hinged on perception, regardless of individual ability.
Race and occupation were the prime examples.
When adventurer parties held interviews, the very first filter they set up was race.
Demon-race demihumans like incubi and vampires got rejected without question, without a second glance.
The perception of them was so utterly fucked that nobody would take them in.
— Looking for a party accepting a Bronze incubus!!
— This is probably hopeless, but is anyone willing to take a Bronze incubus?! Been advertising for 10 hours now!!
I remembered how, back in my Bronze days, adventurers completely ignored me when I tried to find a party.
But the funny thing was, the ostracized demihumans almost never formed parties among themselves either.
Even among themselves, they ranked and sorted one another, refusing to associate with races treated like garbage.
It was practically a caste system, with rank determined by perception.
And at the very bottom of that caste system sat the incubi.
"Luke. I want to fix the adventurers' bad habits. I want to foster an environment where personal specs are weighed before racial perception. So hiring you as my bodyguard carries real significance."
It wasn't simply that she wanted to hire me because I was a mage.
She meant to set an example for adventurers by personally hiring me, an incubus. It was a decision made by someone with a leader's perspective on running an organization.
Even so, I couldn't easily accept Bella's offer.
"If I took the bodyguard job, I'd have to be constantly attached to your side, wouldn't I?"
"Yes."
"I'd really have to quit adventurer work, then. It'd be impossible to keep working alongside my lovers."
"Wouldn't the bodyguard work obviously be better than adventuring? If you'd like, I could hire your lovers as well."
Bella went so far as to offer to hire every last one of my lovers.
But honestly, bringing up my lovers had been an excuse.
I simply didn't want to be tied down as Bella's employee.
'I want to focus on training my magic. As for money, having just enough to live on is plenty.'
I felt a deep fascination with learning magic.
Mastering new magical theories brought me far greater fulfillment than coins filling my pocket. What's more, I had Rumi, who taught me magic without charging tuition fees. If I quit adventuring to work as a bodyguard, my free time would shrink.
"I'm sorry. I'd like to keep working as an adventurer."
I told Bella frankly.
Bella was flustered, perhaps because she hadn't expected to be turned down by a mere adventurer.
"W-why? No matter how I look at it, my bodyguard offer is the more stable job."
"I don't want to become a commute slave."
"A... commute slave?"
"It refers to people who clock in and clock out on a fixed schedule. I want to show up when I want to. Honestly, ever since I became a mage, I've thought adventurer work is hella sweet. A workplace that welcomes you back no matter when you take a break and return — that's paradise."
"Ah."
Bella couldn't deny my claim that adventurer work was hella sweet for a mage.
Watching her at a loss for words, I let out a small chuckle.
"Besides, there's no way a commute slave could have a proper love life, is there? It hasn't even been a year since I started seeing my lovers, and I don't want to live frantically busy. So if you're looking for a bodyguard, please find someone else."
"You're taking your lovers into consideration too?"
"Of course I should. If you're a man, you take responsibility for your women. If all you do is work and leave them neglected, what kind of lover is that? You're just a money-making tool."
A money-making tool!
Words laden with the sorrow of Korean men.
The misery of slaving away to earn money only to be treated like an ATM by your own family!
I never wanted my future children to treat me like a tool.
— Our dad is just a money-making tool!! I dominate Dad!!
If I got treated like a tool by children who looked like Rebecca and Kate, I'd crumble on the spot. And I absolutely refused to be treated like a tool by a daughter who was the spitting image of Kate.
"I'm a person, not a tool! No one gets to dominate me!"
"A-alright, I get it. You're a person, Luke, so please calm down."
The moment I imagined my own daughter cussing me out, goosebumps erupted all over my body.
Bella, faced with the horrific hallucination I was beholding, refrained from bringing up the bodyguard offer again.
Though after a brief hesitation, she did say something a bit unexpected.
"......You must love your partners very deeply. I didn't expect you'd give up a stable job for the people you're seeing."
"Pardon?"
"Y-you just said it. If you're a man, you take responsibility for your woman. You showed that with your actions."
For some reason, Bella's voice quivered slightly.
Walking alongside me, Bella's reaction was one of unmistakable envy.
"The people dating you must be happy, Luke. I'm a little jealous."
"Jealous...?"
What was there to be jealous of?
Why would Bella be jealous of the women dating me?
She surely could have her pick of far better men than me.
"What do you mean by that?"
When I asked with a puzzled expression, Bella opened her mouth in an oddly flustered manner.
She backed away from me slightly, her face flushed, waving her hands in denial.
"I-it didn't mean anything at all! I just misspoke. Please forget I said that."
"Is that an order, as my employer?"
"It's not an order, it's a request!"
I decided not to dwell on it and forget what she'd just said.
My employer was making a request, so I'd do as I was told.
"Okay."
Some time passed after that.
Just before we rejoined my lovers and Hannah near the upper reaches of the river.
Bella made a personal request of me.
"Luke. Can you grant me one more favor?"
"What now?"
"What you said earlier, when you were protecting me at the valley — say it again for me."
What had I said?
As I stood there racking my brain, Bella told me exactly what she wanted to hear.
"That... that protecting me was your job, Luke."
I realized what Bella was asking to hear, and cold sweat trickled down my back.
Those embarrassing words I'd blurted out unconsciously while talking with the fishman Banner.
She wanted to hear them again — was she trying to humiliate me to death?
Was this payback for turning down her bodyguard offer?
"Hurry up. Go on, do it. That thing."
"Hah. Fine."
Bella pressed me, and I had no choice but to open my mouth.
Recalling the moment Banner had taunted me, asking if I had leisure to spare, I recited the exact same words.
"......I-I'm not taking it easy. Protecting you, Bella, is my job right now!"
The instant the words left my mouth, my face blazed hot.
I felt like crawling into a mouse hole and hiding.
"Hee hee!"
Bella looked at me and let out a laugh.
She wasn't mocking me, but seeing Bella laugh still made me feel inexplicably awkward.
Because it was the first time I'd ever seen that woman smile so brightly.
*
After reuniting with the party at the upper river, we immediately boarded the carriage and set off for the port city.
We'd finally met back up, but there was no time to rest.
We had to get away from the riverside quickly, before Banner's tribesmen came pursuing from the fishmen's colony.
Once I was in the carriage and received healing spells from Kate, my minor wounds recovered in no time.
Hannah thanked me over and over for bringing Bella back safely.
"Thank you. If not for you, adventurer, the young lady might have been in grave danger. I will most certainly repay this debt someday."
"Repaying the debt is up to you. But what happened with the fishmen who attacked us? There must have been quite a number of them."
"We dealt with all of them. The fishmen kept surging in, but thanks to Miss Rebecca, we were never in serious danger. She guarded the nun and me quite stoutly."
The party members who'd stayed at the upper river had safely finished their battle with the fishmen.
Honestly, I'd been a bit worried since the fishmen had swarmed in like a pack of dogs.
As Kate tended to my wounds, she recalled the fight and spoke to Rebecca.
"It's been a while since we fought tooth and nail instead of going for a stroll. I think my mace still reeks of fishmen."
"Hey, Kate. Why do you only ever land the finishing blows? I'd kill them all and then you'd come dashing over to finish them off."
"I was finishing them off on your behalf! Thanks to me, you were spared the fatigue of delivering the final blow."
"Ah, right...."
Perhaps because they'd been through a major battle together, my lovers seemed to have grown closer.
Watching them bicker back and forth, I felt like launching into some 'body talk' with them right then and there.
But even if I wanted to have a conversation with both of them, I'd have to hold back.
We couldn't exactly do anything embarrassing right in front of Bella and Hannah.
Then again, once we reached the port city, an opportunity to make love with my lovers would probably present itself.
'It's an escort quest, but there's no rule saying I have to be at their side every second. Once we're in the city, we'll have a little breathing room.'
In truth, I wasn't the only one feeling frustrated.
Rebecca and Kate both occasionally sent me subtle signals when we talked.
Whispering about finding time alone together in the port city, that sort of thing.
I wasn't sure if it was a sex signal or a date signal, but I wanted to believe it was a sex signal.
How much time passed?
Bella, who'd been peering out the window, spoke to me.
"We're nearly there now. As you all know, our destination is the port city of Lotus. It's home to the traditional magic order Nain Gard. The day I'm scheduled to visit Nain Gard is this Wednesday."
Today was Monday, so roughly two days remained.
I'd figured we'd just be on standby for those two days, but that wasn't the case.
Bella swept back her neatly tied jet-black hair, then flashed a grin and whispered into my ear.
"......Tomorrow afternoon, let's go sightseeing at the beach together. There's a beach with lovely scenery near the villa where we'll be staying."
Why did she have to whisper so ticklishly close to my ear?
Was she implying she wanted to walk the beach alone with me?
I was flustered for a moment, but it was, of course, a misunderstanding on my part.
"Y-you don't mean just the two of us?"
"We'll all go together."
"...Ah, right."