The Price of Admission
As the sun dipped below the horizon, the two of them stepped into the cave. Do I really look that much like a pushover? Ryude wondered before asking, "By the way..."
"What?"
"Isn't it more normal to stay at an inn than to sleep in the same place as someone you just met?"
"Why are you bringing this up now?"
"No, think about it. I'm a guy, and you're a girl..."
Ryude's gaze drifted to Alicia's chest again. Flat as a board. "Hmm, never mind."
"You wanna die for real?"
"Hey now. A girl shouldn't talk like that."
"You're the one who keeps pissing me off!"
Alicia flared up and smacked his shoulder. Her hands were small and dainty, but the sting was surprisingly sharp.
"More importantly, that's the shoe rack, so take your shoes off before coming in."
"There you go, changing the subject again."
She grumbled but still obediently slipped off her shoes. The interior was much more spacious than the entrance suggested. Past the shoe rack, areas that had been hidden from view opened up on both sides.
"And do you think I do this with just anyone? I have good judgment when it comes to people, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Since we can't do anything about the clothes, at least take off that hood. I don't want my place getting dirty."
"Ugh!"
Alicia pulled back her hood and shivered. Then she asked carefully, "By the way... you really don't know who I am?"
"I do."
"What!?"
"Why are you so shocked? You told me yourself that your name is Alicia. If you're getting dementia already, that's pretty serious."
"Argh! That's not what I meant!"
Ryude ignored her and started tidying up the cave. Alicia let out a sigh and fully removed her hood.
She must be from a noble family.
He stole a glance at her, taking in her features. It would've been stranger if he hadn't noticed. The staff she carried was embedded with expensive jewels, and blue hair was extremely rare among commoners. No matter how well someone maintained themselves, the skin and hands of commoners who did hard labor were completely different from those of nobles who ate well and slept well.
Just look at that fair skin and those dainty hands without a single callus. It was hard to believe she'd been hunting magic beasts. Everyone has their circumstances, I suppose. The fact that she didn't want to talk about it suggested complicated reasons. Besides, it wasn't like he had the luxury to worry about someone else's problems.
"Wh-what are you staring at?"
Without the hood, her girlish charm was on full display. A faint floral scent tickled his nose.
"Hey, this won't do."
Ryude walked straight toward her. Alicia flinched, eyes widening. "P-pervert! What do you think you're— I knew you'd try something like—"
He walked right past the babbling girl, grabbed the wood and torch piled near the entrance, and headed back outside.
"Huh? Wh-where are you going?"
"You've been out all day. Don't you need to wash up? You weren't seriously planning to sleep like that, all grimy, were you?"
"What? Grimy?"
Incensed at being called dirty, Alicia followed after him to protest. "Hey, I'm not dirty!"
"Sure you aren't. Everyone gets dirty. Here, hold this torch for a second."
"Torch?"
Ryude handed it to her and returned from the cave carrying a large bucket and stand.
"Oh, you're doing a good job."
Alicia was carefully lighting the piled wood with the torch.
"What are you going to use this for?"
"Boil some water. We can't wash with cold water."
It was the middle of winter. While cold baths had their benefits, washing with freezing water in this weather was out of the question.
"You're saying... we're going to bathe with this...?"
Her expression was one of pure horror. She looked back and forth between the bucket and Ryude before saying cautiously, "I-I'm fine skipping it. I can go a day without washing. I'll just head inside first—"
"Hold on."
Alicia's sneaking footsteps halted.
"You're not seriously planning to climb into someone else's bed covered in dust, are you?"
"··················"
"Ughhh... Is this really necessary...?"
"Yep."
In the end, she gave in. Forget everything else—as a girl, the option of lying on someone else's bed without washing simply didn't exist.
"...Can't I at least wash inside?"
"That's ridiculous. Does that cave have waterproofing or drainage? Stop complaining and wash here."
"You're really too much."
Even though they were in the forest, this was the middle of a stream. The area was completely open, and he expected her to get naked? Alicia experienced a level of humiliation she'd never felt in her entire life.
She peeled off her clothes layer by layer. The only light came from the flickering bonfire.
"Ryude, you're still there, right?"
"Yeah."
"You're keeping watch, right?"
"Yeah."
"You're facing the other way, right?"
"Yeah."
Why am I even doing this?
Feeling a sudden wave of embarrassment, Alicia neatly folded her clothes near the bonfire. She scooped water from the bucket with a ladle and poured it over herself. The temperature was perfect. Warmth spread through her body. Since she was washing anyway, she decided to do it properly—shampooing her hair and scrubbing every inch of her skin.
Then—
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
Something slapped wetly onto her shoulder. Alicia's face went deathly pale as she screamed.
"What happened!?"
Ryude came running. Alicia was crouched down, huddled into a ball.
"My sh-shoulder! On my shoulder!"
"Your shoulder? It's just a leaf."
"A... leaf?"
Relieved, Alicia looked up. Their eyes met. One second passed. Two seconds.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!!! You crazy bastard! You pervert!!!"
Thud!
With terrifying speed, she kicked him square in the groin. Ryude, equally flustered, couldn't dodge.
"Urk...!"
"Huuuueeeeng...! My marriage prospects are ruined... huuuueeeeng!!!"
Complete chaos erupted. Ryude knelt, clutching his groin and groaning. Alicia wept bitterly.
And so the bucket shower came to a... successful? conclusion.
"...Pervert bastard."
After rigging up a partition at the cave entrance and lighting the heater, the space became surprisingly cozy. Inside that warmth, however, a cold war was in full effect.
"Your vocabulary's getting harsher by the minute. You know that?"
"Hmph. Shut up, pervert."
Despite her words, she was right beside him. There was only one bed, after all.
"Hey, I nearly died too, you know? If I end up with dysfunction, are you taking responsibility?"
"Why don't we just cut it off while we're at it?"
"What the hell?"
Was seeing someone naked once really worth all this? She was just a girl. Sure, her face was quite—actually, very—pretty, but it hadn't stirred anything in Ryude.
"Besides, there wasn't much to see anyway."
"What? I'm definitely killing you today!!"
Alicia charged at him, huffing with rage. As a mage, her physical strength was no different from any other girl her age. Her hits had some bite, but grabbing her arm was enough to stop her. Still, he let her land one on his head.
"Aaaaaack!"
"Uh... did that actually hurt...?"
Alicia looked bewildered by his over-the-top Hollywood reaction. Ryude clutched his head and muttered, "Huh? That's weird. I can't remember anything I've done for the past hour."
"What?"
The bucket shower had started an hour ago. Alicia looked dumbfounded for a moment before catching on to his act. "Pfft. What is that, really?"
"Hey, aren't you the one who climbed into bed without washing?"
"Whatever. Stop talking nonsense and go to sleep already."
The night grew deep. The two lay side by side on the bed sheet.
Of all the necessities in life, nothing was more important than a good night's sleep. That was why he'd spent good money on this bed sheet. It was large enough for both of them.
Crackle. Crackle. The sound of oil burning in the heater filled the air. The red glow created a cozy atmosphere.
Alicia turned her head to look at Ryude. He'd given her the pillow and was using his rolled-up clothes as a makeshift one.
"Ryude."
"What?"
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
His personality and way of speaking were a bit... much, but he'd offered her a place to sleep, clothes to wear to bed, and even his pillow. Doing all that for someone you'd just met couldn't be easy.
Alicia waited with bated breath for his answer.
But a full minute passed with no reply. Instead—
Zzz...
Only the sound of snoring reached her ears.
"...Just die already."
She whipped her head away and yanked the blanket over to her side. And so the night deepened.
"Ugh, it's cold. Why is it so cold? I definitely covered myself properly..."
Ryude shivered. Alicia pretended not to notice. The two went down to the stream to brush their teeth. Both still looked half-asleep, eyes bleary.
"Alicia."
"What?"
"How long are you planning to stay here?"
"Me? About two or three months? Why? You're not thinking of kicking me out now, are you?"
"You caught me."
"What!?"
"Just kidding~"
"Ugh!!"
Having one extra person around wouldn't change much. It might be a little annoying, but he was out most of the time anyway. And for Ryude, there was a huge upside: he could learn magic. That alone made any risk worth it.
But first things first.
"You'll have to buy your own daily necessities. Got it?"
The toothbrush he'd given her was just a temporary loan. A brand-new one, of course.
"Of course. I'm not that shameless."
"Hmm~"
"What's with that look? You wanna die?"
Alicia narrowed her eyes at him. Oh ho. In the bright daylight, her beauty stood out even more. She was destined to grow into a stunning young woman.
...Even if her chest was flat.
"More importantly, where are you headed in two or three months?"
"Hmm? Oh, I never told you. You'll know it too. The academy."
"The academy? I'm planning to go there too."
"You're going there as well?"
Alicia looked slightly surprised, then nodded. "Well, at your level, you should be fine. Anyway, the reason I came here was to save up the academy entrance fee."
"Entrance fee? There's something like that?"
"What? You said you're entering the academy but you didn't even know that?"
"Well, I mean..."
He'd had no information. The lady at the guild had simply told him to go there without any details.
"How much is it?"
It wasn't university tuition—just an entrance fee. Even if it was expensive, it couldn't be more than one or two gold coins, right? He already had that much, so it wasn't an issue.
"One platinum coin."
"...What?"
An amount he hadn't expected at all came flying out. For a second, he thought he'd heard wrong.
"Wait, what did you say?"
"One platinum coin. That's a hundred gold coins. You didn't know?"
"No way... just for admission, it's a billion won!?"
"A billion? What are you talking about?"
Leaving Alicia tilting her head in confusion, Ryude fell into deep thought.
If he'd still been living in modern society, the numbers might have sounded strange. But this was a fantasy world. Nobles existed here, and the higher their status, the more warped their sense of money became. Three roasted potatoes might cost a thousand won, and a whole chicken ten thousand, so one might assume the values roughly matched. But nobles operated on a completely different scale. Some magic tools made from mana stones were worth dozens of platinum coins. A single house could cost a hundred billion or even a thousand billion.
"No, fuck this."
Ryude bolted out of the cave.
"Where are you going!?"
"To hunt magic beasts."
"Weren't we supposed to start magic training today?"
Magic was important. Extremely important. But if he couldn't even get into the academy, none of it would matter.
Catching ten orcs a day would net him one gold coin. Thirty coins a month. Ninety in three months. If he went all out starting now, he might just make it.
"Exactly."
It was time for a massacre.