{Chapter 49} Boom!
"Welcome! Are you here for a drink or to register as an adventurer?"
In the morning, Anna seemed to have heard the same voice, with the same tone and the exact same greeting.
Although it was her idea to come to the Adventurers' Guild, it was Louise who actually dragged her here.
Anna, looking at the receptionist who was identical to the one from the morning, didn't respond to her greeting.
"Drinks, please. Two glasses of water wine," Louise directly ordered two drinks and then pulled Anna to sit at the very same bar counter where Anna had sat this morning... even the seats were exactly the same!?
Feeling a strong sense of déjà vu, Anna sat in this familiar spot, watching the receptionist go to pour the water wine, when she heard Louise's voice beside her:
"Is that receptionist pretty?"
"No, not at all..." Anna quickly reacted, waving her hands dismissively.
"If she's not pretty, why are you staring at her so much?"
Louise really seemed like a jealous partner at this moment... although Louise was no stranger to jealousy.
"It's just... I feel like I've seen that receptionist somewhere before. Maybe she's an acquaintance or something..."
"I'm sorry, Miss Knight, but we don't know each other."
The receptionist, who had overheard everything, returned with two glasses of water wine.
After placing them in front of Anna and Louise, she smiled and explained, then even winked at Anna...
Louise, calm down, there's no need to crush the glass in your hand!
After barely calming Louise down, Louise took a sip of the water wine that almost ended up all over her hand along with the shattered glass:
"Senpai, it seems like no matter where you go, someone recognizes you."
"Huh?"
"People greet you when we're out shopping, someone recognizes you when we're eating, and even the receptionist at the Adventurers' Guild knows you, Anna Senpai," Louise said, taking another sip of her drink.
"Maybe you're quite popular in this town, Anna Senpai?"
"Is that so? I don't really feel that way..." Anna also took a sip.
"I think it's just because I patrol the town so often that everyone has gotten used to seeing me around..."
"No, no, ordinary people don't usually pay attention to the faces of patrolling knights," Louise shook her head.
"Common folk don't usually notice the knights patrolling because, whether it's due to class or status, knights aren't people that commoners can easily interact with... Although I don't like to admit it, in our current kingdom... knights have long lost the chivalric spirit of the past."
"They don't help the common folk; instead, they take advantage of their knightly status to bully others. Nowadays, even if a commoner is in mortal danger and a knight passes by, they wouldn't dare to ask the knight for help..."
Hearing this, Anna fell silent.
Louise was right. In the eyes of the common folk, knights were no longer the protectors of the people.
"So, the fact that so many people in town remember you, Anna Senpai, and are willing to interact with you... it's really remarkable."
"I just did what I was supposed to do. I don't think I'm a particularly responsible knight..." Anna felt a bit embarrassed by Louise's praise.
"And I think people remember me because I'm quite pretty."
"Hmph, Senpai, you're quite vain, aren't you?"
"Then tell me, am I pretty or not!?" Anna, labeled as vain by Louise, glared at her indignantly.
"...Pretty... of course, you're pretty."
"That's more like it." Anna smugly downed her drink in one go, then fell silent for a moment.
"However, I've made up my mind." Although she had already prepared herself mentally, Anna still found it hard to look at Louise's face.
"After I catch the person who's trying to kill me, I plan to resign and become a free knight."
"That's not a bad idea, is it?" Louise's reaction wasn't anything like Anna had imagined.
"After all, you don't earn much in the Border Knights, do you? It might as well be better to resign. Do you want me to recommend you to the County? With my connections in Latimir, I can directly recommend you to the Iris Knights..."
"No, no, that's not necessary," Anna shook her head.
"After becoming a free knight, I only plan to be an adventurer."
"Being an adventurer... that works too! So that's why you wanted to come to the Adventurers' Guild to check it out?"
"...You could say that."
Bringing up Atala and Helga at this point would be terrible timing for Anna.
"Being an adventurer..." Louise spaced out for a moment, then suddenly showed a strange smile.
"Then why don't I resign too and become an adventurer with you, Senpai!"
"Huh?" Anna was stunned for a moment.
Although she had previously sensed that Louise might follow her to become an adventurer if she knew about her plans, she was still taken aback by how casually Louise said it.
"Um... wouldn't your family object or something?"
"It's just being an adventurer, no big deal," Louise said nonchalantly.
"If my family were going to object, they would have done so when I came here to be a border knight."
"That's true..." After all, being a border knight is indeed a high-risk profession... not much different from being an adventurer.
Thinking about it, border knights only earn one gold coin a month... That damn pig must have been skimming everyone's wages!
"Ah! Anna? What are you doing here?"
Just as Anna was about to grab her sword and rush to the knights' headquarters to cut down Philsey, a voice from behind interrupted her thoughts.
Turning around, she saw Atala, dressed in a very standard adventurer outfit, greeting her.
"Atala! Come over here."
"I don't drink..." Atala thought Anna was calling her over for a drink and shook her head repeatedly.
"No, no, I'm not asking you to drink. Just come over to chat."
As Atala sat down in the seat next to her, Anna instinctively glanced at Louise, only to see Louise carefully examining Atala's face.
"...And this is?"
"Louise Latimir," Louise introduced herself before Anna could.
"Ah... I'm Atala, um... nice to meet you!"
Watching the two meet for the first time in real life, Anna downed her drink in one go.
"Atala, since you're here at the Adventurers' Guild to register as an adventurer... Did you come alone?"
In the simulations, Atala always came with Helga, didn't she?
"No, no... Helga is... at the training ground right now. She said she wanted to test something..."
"Boom!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, a loud explosion came from behind the Adventurers' Guild, startling everyone inside.