A Cheap Mission
After formally accepting the request, Rebecca led me and the woman into a consultation room.
The blind woman stepped inside and spoke at once.
"My name is Seolhyang."
"I'm Evan."
The woman who had introduced herself as Seolhyang placed a hand over her chest and began explaining the details of her request.
"I wish to go to a city in the north called Abirins."
"Abirins…?"
"Have you never heard of it? It's just a quiet little city up north."
At the unfamiliar place name, I glanced sideways at Rebecca. She immediately fetched a map and showed me where Abirins was.
A city stuck in a remote northern corner, about a week's carriage ride from here. It was the sort of place that made you wonder what business anyone could possibly have going there — but as a rule, an adventurer never pried into a client's personal circumstances.
"What takes you all the way to Abirins?"
Of course, Rebecca wasn't an adventurer, and she asked Seolhyang about her purpose without the slightest regard for that unwritten rule. Seolhyang answered as if it were nothing at all.
"There's someone I'm looking for."
"I see. The roads to Abirins are well maintained, and as escort work goes, it's not a bad request… but Evan, are you really going to take this?"
"Of course I am. I already said I would."
"I can't exactly stop you if you're set on it… All right. Seolhyang, thank you for the named request. As for the fee for Evan, a Lower Class adventurer, calculated at the industry average…"
"That's cheaper than I expected."
"…Well, he is Lower Class. Oh, right — have you already arranged a carriage to Abirins? If not, the guild can get you one at a discount—"
Rebecca knew full well that taking a job like this was a massive loss for someone who would soon become a Highest Class adventurer, and she clearly hated the idea of me accepting a named request. But I wasn't about to fuss over a few coins.
What had I become an adventurer for in the first place? To find a girlfriend. For the beautiful woman sitting right in front of me, a handful of coins meant nothing.
And yet.
…The person she's looking for — it's not a man, is it?
Remembering what Seolhyang had said earlier, a wave of worry washed over me.
What if I was just delivering a woman to some other guy?
Even after I took on a cheap request, the guild didn't slight me in the slightest. If anything, they went out of their way to arrange a carriage and prepare every travel supply I might need, offering me every convenience imaginable.
Whatever commission I was supposed to earn from the named request had long since been wiped out by the costs — but Rebecca didn't seem to mind at all.
"Don't you worry! Doing anything and everything for our adventurers is the guild's motto!"
For the record, I had never once seen an adventurer other than myself so much as get a free glass of water from a guild employee. So of course I knew Rebecca was lying.
Anyone could see the guild was just trying to curry favor with me. Still, I saw no reason to poke at a sore spot. I simply nodded and climbed into the carriage.
"The Adventurer Guild… they take better care of people than I expected."
Seolhyang climbed in after me, marveling at the guild's efficiency in securing a carriage overnight. Her expression suggested she was wondering how they turned any profit if they treated every adventurer this well.
I could tell she was under some kind of misunderstanding, but there was no need to air the guild's internal affairs to an outsider.
More importantly—
"I have one question. …The person you're looking for — is it a man, by any chance?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Just… curious."
"Yes, it's a man."
I let out a sigh. A man. So my first love (not really) was ending this easily…
"But it's not the kind of relationship you're thinking of, Evan."
Her follow-up landed right over my defeated head. I snapped my chin up and recovered on the spot.
Right — you always have to hear a person out to the end. If it wasn't that kind of relationship, I still had a chance.
Thinking as much, I turned and studied Seolhyang's face as she looked out the window.
…She's beautiful.
Snow-white skin set against jet-black hair. I couldn't see the color of her eyes with them closed, but the closed lids themselves only added to her mysterious allure. And her hair, half-tied back as though someone had braided it for her, lent her the air of a young lady raised in a fine household.
I swallowed hard — then, not even knowing why I'd done it, hurriedly clamped my mouth shut. But I was a beat too late.
"Heh. You'll make me blush, staring like that."
"Y-You can see me?"
"I wish I could… but unfortunately, I can only hear you."
"Hear me…"
"Yes. Since I can't see, my hearing and sense of touch and the rest have sharpened to compensate. Ah — I can even do this."
Saying so, Seolhyang set her cane aside and reached both hands toward my face. I watched, wondering what she was doing, then went rigid as her fingers closed around my cheeks.
She didn't stop there. Her hands began to roam carefully across my face — tracing the shape of my forehead, my nose, the lids of my eyes. After scanning me with her fingertips, she spoke.
"So this is what you look like, Evan."
"Y-Yes… um, what do I look like…?"
"A little young, and handsome. The kind of face girls would like."
"Ah, th-then… do you like my face too, Seolhyang?"
"If you're only asking whether I like it or not, of course I do."
She tilted her head as if to say, Why ask something so obvious? Watching her, I felt my heart start to pound. It pounded so hard it hurt.
She likes it… she likes it…!
But the pain didn't matter in the least. I had essentially just received a confession. I had no mental energy left for something so trivial.
Enduring the crushing ache in my chest, I talked with Seolhyang.
She must have taken a liking to me as well, because she started making small talk of her own. I managed to learn quite a lot — that she was a young lady from a rather high-ranking family, and even what foods she liked.
"Ehehe…"
Only one thing she refused to open up about: the identity of the man she was going to Abirins to meet.
A week passed. Outside the window, the world had become something I no longer recognized. The most striking sight of all was the snow-capped mountain — snow only on the very peak.
So mountains like that exist too.
It looked exactly like a piece of bread dunked upside-down into a glass of milk. The top was blanketed pure white with snow, while everything below the neck gleamed a brilliant blue. Same idea.
I was gaping at my first real snow mountain when Seolhyang, seated across from me, carefully spoke up.
"Are we almost there?"
"Yes. We're nearly there now."
"What kind of city is this?"
"The snow mountain is pretty… other than that, it's an ordinary city."
I was still describing the place to her when I felt the carriage begin to slow, and I quickly looked outside.
We had reached the gates of Abirins, and the carriage was easing off for inspection.
—You may enter.
After a brief check, the carriage rolled into the city of Abirins. I found myself hoping the man she was looking for wouldn't turn up too easily.
I haven't even asked her out yet…
Whether the coachman knew my feelings or not, he picked up speed.
He's here.
Feeling heat bloom behind her eyes, Seolhyang was certain the man she sought was in this city. The wound he had left her with was reacting — that was proof enough.
The carriage creaked to a stop. Seolhyang took Evan's hand as he escorted her down. The city was far too lively for a place that supposedly harbored that man.
"I'll find us an inn first."
"Yes, please do."
Evan guided her toward a lodging house as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She could feel his hand trembling as it held hers. That awkward, timid manner made her slightly regret hiring him.
If he showed this little confidence, would he be any help at all when they finally faced that man?
Then again, against that man, no one would be of much help…
A short while later, Seolhyang arrived at the inn's first-floor lobby and sat at a table, waiting for Evan to finish negotiating with the proprietor.
But even that brief wait must have felt long to the idle men loitering about the inn at that hour. Footsteps approached her — several of them — and Seolhyang's ears caught every one.
"Hey there, miss. Face I don't recognize. You from out of town?"
"What's a girl like you doing in a dump like this?"
"…Are you two residents here?"
"Sure are. Lived here our whole lives."
"Why? Looking for something?"
"Yes. I'm looking for someone. —Do you know a man named Cyrus?"
The moment Seolhyang spoke that name, sweat began to bead on both men's bodies. Their heartbeats surged. Their pupils dilated, then shrank. A clear stress response. She knew at once that they recognized the name.
"Y-You— no. Who are you, to speak that name…"
"W-We're sorry! P-Please, just spare our lives…"
"Where is he righ—"
"—What the hell do you think you're doing, you lunatics!"
And then, from across the lobby, Evan came running — having just finished his negotiations with the innkeeper. In an instant, he knocked both thugs surrounding Seolhyang unconscious.
Then he turned to her with a bright smile, looking for all the world like a puppy waiting to be praised.
Faced with that, Seolhyang's expression went cold.