10. Hermaphrodite and Onahole
10. Hermaphrodite and Onahole
It had been quite a long journey.
After hopping between several merchant caravans, she had finally arrived at a lively city. It was the front gate of Bellua.
Looking up at the high city walls...
Spotting a guard, Isabella instinctively pulled the hood she was wearing over her head further down.
"Hey there, buddy. Mind showing your face? It's a routine check."
"......."
A city where the guards could yawn with bored expressions. That likely meant this place was peaceful. Isabella silently pushed her hood back.
Swish.
As the hood came off, her short, shoulder-length hair fluttered lightly in the autumn breeze. An exclamation of surprise escaped the guard's lips before he even realized it.
"Oh...."
One of the guards was staring intently at Isabella. It seemed that even with her hair cut, she couldn't hide her delicate, pretty features.
She had heard it often on her travels so far.
... Buddy. You *are* a guy, right?
That's right. Isabella was currently disguised as a man. It was a necessary choice for a woman traveling alone. She hid the curves of her hips with baggy pants and bound her chest with bandages to conceal her figure.
The person here was the adventurer 'Ibel'.
"You look like one of those pretty-boy actors. Ah, that's a compliment. Guys like you are pretty popular these days, you know. It was so noisy when that hero came to town last time. Tsk. Are you an adventurer?"
"... I am."
Isabella deliberately lowered her voice and gave a short reply.
It was clearly a shoddy disguise. The only reason Isabella didn't arouse suspicion was likely because the guard in front of her was extremely lazy.
This guy was probably only thinking about finishing his shift as soon as possible, stopping by his regular tavern for a drink, and then visiting the brothel he went to yesterday again.
A pretty boy in front of him was of no consequence.
The guard glanced cursorily at the E-rank adventurer badge Isabella presented and clicked his tongue.
"Well, have a good rest while you're here. But Bellua's been so peaceful lately, you see. There aren't many requests worth taking. Not a great city for adventurers trying to make a living, I tell ya. Here's your pass."
"......."
Isabella silently accepted the pass. And finally, she passed through the city gate. The afternoon scenery of Bellua immediately filled her view.
Under colorful awnings, merchants grabbed the sleeves of passersby to talk to them, while children weaved in and out between them, playing pranks.
Occasionally, the sight of beastkin and other demi-human races, pulling carts, mingling naturally with humans as they worked was an added bonus.
"Hey, Bread! More ale over here!"
"Mary. I'm counting on you."
"Ugh. Those old men. How long are they gonna keep drinking? I'm going, going!"
It was a vastly different, and very peaceful, city scene compared to the border regions where monsters frequently appeared.
Isabella put her hood back on and wandered around the city, sightseeing as 'Ibel'.
"So this is Bellua."
The end of a long, aimless journey. There wasn't any grand reason for choosing this place.
In some city, on some night... It was because of the phrase written in the corner of the wrapping paper... of that wooden box she'd opened out of curiosity.
[ Bellua's famous attraction, the Hips Wall Brothel is now open to rave reviews! ]
— You can meet the model for this product!
'A brothel, of all things. As if I could go to such a place....'
Isabella repeated to herself. She had just ended up here, that's all. It simply came to mind, and she judged it a suitable place to stay as a southern trade city.
She had abandoned her noble name—
And out of curiosity, had experienced masturbation with a male toy—
But even so, a half-measure though it was, she still thought of herself as a woman, as a lady.
Shaking her head emphatically, Isabella left the lively main street and headed toward a building with a crest of crossed axes and a shield.
Creeeak...
The smell of sweat, the smell of ale, cheap tobacco smoke, the shouts of men, the clattering sounds of duels.
The typical scenery of an adventurer's guild.
"Alright, alright! Next request! Anyone for cleaning the sewers in the market alley!!"
"Hey, come on! Lin! I came here to swing a sword, not to shovel shit!"
"Then go hungry! Mister! There are no requests!"
"There should at least be construction requests! Finding cats, unclogging sewers, cleaning outhouses, feeding pigs... Argh! I can't do this!"
Leaving the noisy reception desk behind, Isabella approached the request board.
[ Request: Find the lost cat Nana ]
[ Request: Assist with chopping firewood at the blacksmith ]
[ Request: Help with farm work during harvest season ]
"This one... I might be able to do."
Isabella tore off the piece of paper that was posted first.
A request to find a cat...
She subtly slipped her hand into her sleeve and felt the pouch hanging at her waist. The gold coins still felt heavy.
But she couldn't just live off them forever.
Isabella now had to earn her own living. She had never received anything from her parents, but she had also never starved.
Whether she should be grateful for that...
But if there was one thing she could be grateful to them, her parents, for, it was that they had thoroughly isolated her from childhood, enabling her to be independent, so that even now, alone, she could move about without trembling, calmly.
Isabella headed toward the noisy reception desk, holding the request she had torn off.
"Excuse me, I'd like to take this request...."
"... Oh my. I haven't seen your face in Bellua before?"
The brown-haired girl, Lin, who manned the reception desk at the adventurer's guild, saw Isabella's delicate features under the hood and let out an "Oh..." of admiration.
"Hey, Lin! Listen to me first! If you want me to clean the sewers, you gotta raise the base pay! You can't lower the rates! Do you know how hard sewer cleaning is—!"
"Mister. Shoo, shoo. Can't you see we have a new person here? And if you don't want to take it, that's fine, plenty of others will, you know?"
"......."
Isabella listened silently to their conversation.
"How many times do I have to tell you the rates are important...!"
"If you keep causing trouble at the guild... should I tell Noah-nim? I'll put in a request. To have people who cause trouble at the guild removed."
"... She hasn't even been showing her face at the guild lately. Tch. Fine! I'm going, going!"
"Hoho! But I'll ask the Guild Master about the request fees~!"
The adventurer grumbled and stormed out of the guild door, and the onlookers gradually returned to their places. Of course, people's gazes were still directed toward the reception desk.
A young man visiting the adventurer's guild for the first time was always an object of interest.
Isabella cleared her throat and spoke.
"Ahem... I'd like to take this request."
"Find the cat Nana... is it? The client is the bakery lady in the alley behind this building. Her daughter was crying so much you could hear it all the way here."
"It happened recently...?"
"Um... the request came in yesterday. The reward is 5 silver coins. That's quite a lot for a cat-finding request, you know? It's just that finding it is a bit... difficult."
Handing over the adventurer badge she had made in the last city...
While filling out the paperwork, Isabella listened to the stories about the city that Lin told her.
"... One tip I can give you is to check around the fish market or near walls. Nana's left ear is slightly folded, so remember that too."
"Thank you. Are there any other precautions?"
"Hmm... Bellua is a darker city at night than it looks. If you're wandering around and get into trouble with some shady guys, try dropping Noah-nim's name. It's very effective for scaring off thugs."
Haha...
She laughed quietly and let it pass.
She couldn't just use a stranger's name.
But at the same time, she suddenly became curious about that person 'Noah'. Just who were they, to make rough adventurers all tuck their tails and run?
They certainly couldn't be an ordinary person.
"By the way, who is this Noah person you've been mentioning?"
At that question, Lin's eyes instantly lit up. As if she had been waiting for this topic to come up all along.
"Noah-nim, you mean? You can't come here and not know about them! Noah-nim is... well, a truly amazing mage. The strongest mage in our city! That kind of feeling? They're currently B-rank, but if they put their mind to it, they could become A-rank anytime."
"... Huh."
If they haven't risen to A-rank, then they're ultimately just B-rank, right...
The thought crossed her mind, but she didn't voice it aloud. She had a feeling she probably shouldn't.
"They could take on requests with high contribution points... but there aren't many of those in Bellua either. Well, because of that, there are many people in our city who have received Noah-nim's help? They're kind of like a local attraction of Bellua. And above all... they're an incredibly beautiful elf!"
"An elf...?"
"Hehe. Got interested, didn't you? If you're curious, you should go to the church. They've been teaching children there lately. There you go! Here's your request form!"
"Y-yes. Thank you. Well then, excuse me."
Isabella pulled her hood down deep and left the guild again.
An elf...
An elf.
An elf mage.
In this city she had stumbled upon, she had found someone she wanted to meet.
It would require some courage, but Isabella told herself it was something she had to do.
She had never had a teacher before.
She had only stolen mage and swordsmanship manuals from the family library and awakened to her own way through self-study. It meant she had talent.
Thanks to that,
Although she hadn't solved any major requests, she had passed the test immediately and received a D-Class adventurer badge.
Though it was the lowest rank of intermediate adventurer, it was a great feat in itself for a former noble young lady to be a capable adventurer on her own.
But Isabella wondered,
'... Could I really ask them to teach me?'
She wanted to become stronger. And she knew well that to do so, she needed a teacher.
===
For reference, on this day,
It was the day Noah had welcomed 10 orcs as guests.