“…Nice to meet you, I’m Siegfriede.”
The girl who claimed to be twenty but looked no older than seventeen at most bowed her head in greeting.
“I’m Hilde, a copper token swordswoman. Pleased to meet you. Um… Ms. Siegfriede.”
Siegfriede.
Now that I called it out, how should I put it, it was a strangely old-fashioned name.
To the point where I wondered if she might be from fallen nobility, like Brunhilde.
“Ah, um, is my name too long? I guess it is… Um, then, would you like to call me Friede…?”
Siegfriede stammered, her shoulders twitching.
“It’s, um, my nickname…”
Despite her somewhat sharp appearance, her attitude and way of speaking were strangely hesitant.
The way she slightly lowered her head and fidgeted with her fingers was cute yet oddly gloomy.
Like a real baby raven, you could say.
No, rather than that, it’s more like… Ah, yes.
She had the look of someone you’d hand a thousand-won bill to and instruct to buy three pieces of bread and two drinks.
“Alright, shall I call you Ms. Friede then?”
“Um, just call me Friede… You know, we’re… the same age, right?”
That’s true. On paper, we are the same age… but did I tell her my age?
“Hmm…”
Well, she might have heard it from the receptionist. It’s not exactly confidential, and they would have told her if she asked.
“Alright then. Friede.”
“Hehe…”
When I readily nodded and called her name without honorifics, Friede slightly raised the corners of her mouth and let out a strange laugh.
…It seemed that this party member was also a bit of an unusual person.
* * *
After finishing our greetings like that, I sat down at a table inside the request office with Friede and went through the procedure of formally introducing ourselves to each other.
“H-Hilde, you’re a swordswoman too, right…? Just like me…! Ah, of course, you use a longsword unlike me.”
“I’m not used to greatswords. They’re a bit heavy too. Is Friede okay with them?”
“Ah, I’ve gotten used to it. From using it a lot…”
Friede fiddled with the hilt of the greatsword roughly slung on her back while grinning.
A small build with thin arms. In the original world, with such a physique, she should be swung around by the greatsword rather than swinging it, but…
“I see.”
Well, this is the fantasy world inside a novel after all.
Even I have physical abilities that would sweep Olympic gold medals in the original world, so why would Friede be any different?
A woman recognized as a copper token swordswoman wouldn’t be carrying a weapon she couldn’t handle.
Anyway, we chatted like that for about ten minutes. About each other’s battle tactics, specialties, and this upcoming request.
“Un-underground cemetery with undead, Abyss Priest… Then, should we prepare holy water? To deal with the Abyss Priest…”
“No. The paladins will take care of the Abyss Priest. Our job is just to reduce the number of undead. Probably mostly things like wights.”
“Ah, r-right… Ahaha…”
Friede laughed awkwardly, her cheeks slightly flushed. It seems she had thought we would have to directly subjugate the Abyss Priest.
I couldn’t understand at all how she had come to such a conclusion.
Wouldn’t they never give such a request to copper token adventurers? It would be no different from telling us to commit suicide.
Was Levant a city that treated adventurers so harshly?
“I misunderstood… Hehe.”
…Maybe she’s just a bit stupid. To the point where she couldn’t even think of such an obvious fact.
* * *
After various conversations, I decided to accept Friede as a party member for this request.
Although her appearance and intelligence were a bit concerning, as a swordswoman recognized as a copper token adventurer, there weren’t any particular disqualifications for her as a vanguard.
From our conversation, her personality didn’t seem too bad either.
She seemed a bit gloomy and timid like a basement-dwelling game addict, but that wasn’t a serious enough problem to worry about.
As long as she could kill monsters well, that’s all that mattered.
Thus, I asked the receptionist girl to remove one spot from the party recruitment notice, then left the request office with Friede.
When she asked where we were going, I answered that I was planning to buy consumables needed for this request, and she asked if it would be okay for her to come along.
“Um, supplies. The supplies might overlap, you know? If we buy separately. So…”
“Sure, why not.”
There was no particular reason to refuse. It wasn’t wrong either.
For that reason, I went around the shopping district with Friede, buying various supplies.
Dried preserved food, a fur cloak as a substitute for a sleeping bag, a lantern to replace the one broken in the previous battle, a generously sized canteen, and a leather backpack.
“Ah, um, I’ll buy the lantern oil. Be-because we’re in the same party.”
“That would be fine.”
Friede stuck close to my side, taking small steps as she walked around, buying things like preserved food and oil-soaked cloth and neatly putting them into her backpack.
We walked around like that for about an hour, I think.
While walking around the streets and chatting about various things with Friede, I decided to speak to her informally.
I’m the type of person who thinks it’s right to be polite in relationships formed through work, even if we’re the same age, but Friede seemed to think differently.
Since we’re the same age anyway, and I’m acting as the party leader for this party, she persistently suggested that it would be more comfortable for me to speak to her informally.
“Ah, is that not okay…?”
Looking up at me with bright eyes and suggesting it to this extent, there didn’t seem to be any reason to refuse.
Judging by her appearance, she seemed to have a rather timid personality, and it was clear that she was actually more burdened by me speaking politely.
“Alright, if that’s what you want.”
After all, I’m already on informal terms with Amy, who will be in the same party, so it would be a bit strange to speak formally only to Friede.
“Ehehe…”
Friede grinned like a raven, seemingly overjoyed that I had started speaking to her informally.
* * *
After going around the shopping district and buying all the necessary items, and picking up the new longsword and repaired quilted armor, it was already nearing dinner time.
“I think we’ve got pretty much everything we need now.”
I lightly lifted my heavier bag and told Friede we should disband for now.
“It’s getting quite late, so let’s part ways for today and meet again the morning after tomorrow. I’ll find one more party member by then.”
I was planning to part ways for now, return to my lodgings, have dinner, and then rest.
And also practice the <Iron Arm> trait I had awakened in the previous battle.
“Okay, see you then!”
Friede said that with a smile, and then continued to follow me.
“…”
Continuously.
Until we left the shopping district and entered the inn street.
…What’s going on?
“Um… Is your lodging in this direction too, Friede?”
“Ah, yes? Oh, that’s right! Um… I just found a new place here!”
Ah. So that’s what it was.
Well, there aren’t that many inns in this area suitable for female adventurers to rest comfortably.
It seemed she was also staying somewhere near the inn where I was staying.
“Um, where are you staying, Hilde…?”
“Me? It’s called ‘Snow Bear’s Shelter’, a three-story inn on 5th Avenue.”
“Ah, really?!”
Friede opened her eyes wide in surprise, almost jumping up and down with exaggeration.
“Wow. Th-that’s amazing. I’m staying there too…!”
“Really?”
Indeed, it was an interesting coincidence.
There are quite a few inns in this city, but to think that a party member I just met today had chosen to stay at the same inn as me. Isn’t that quite a rare occurrence?
About ten minutes later, we arrived at the ‘Snow Bear’s Shelter’.
“Um, what are you going to do now, Hilde…?”
As we opened the inn door and stepped inside, Friede glanced at me and asked.
“Hmm… Well. I guess I’ll unpack my things in my room first, then maybe have dinner… You haven’t had dinner either, right? Want to eat together?”
Come to think of it, Friede probably hadn’t eaten dinner either.
Since we’re staying at the same inn and are temporary party members, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to have a meal together while we’re at it.
“Oh, yes. That sounds good. Let’s eat together!”
Friede nodded as if she was happy just hearing the suggestion.
Maybe she didn’t have any acquaintances to eat with since she hadn’t been in this city for long? Somehow, it was a statement that made me feel a sense of kinship.
After all, I too was a person without any connections when I first set foot in this city.
“Then let’s unpack our things first. I’m in the third room on the left on the third floor, where are you staying?”
“…Ah.”
As I asked while taking off the backpack I had been carrying and hanging it on my forearm, Friede let out a single syllable groan with her mouth slightly open.
“Ah, that, just a moment. Um, where was it again? Uh, so…?”
Friede muttered to herself with her head slightly lowered, fidgeting restlessly. She clearly looked flustered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ugh… I forgot… It’s an inn I just moved into yesterday… I’ll have to ask the innkeeper…”
Friede answered in a shrinking voice as if embarrassed. She said she had forgotten where her room was.
It was an absurd statement.
No, how could you forget that when there aren’t even that many rooms?
“Uh… Okay. Go ask then. I’ll go up first.”
She must be quite stupid. To forget her own room to that extent.
Was the reason for her nickname ‘Raven’ not because of her hair color but because of her memory?
“Ugh… Okay, please wait just a moment…”
Friede answered with her head bowed low, dragging out her words, and then walked towards the innkeeper standing at the counter.
I watched her retreating figure for a moment, then shook my head and went up to my room.
* * *
I found out a little while later that Friede’s room was, surprisingly, the fourth room on the left on the third floor.
In other words, it was the room right next to mine. It was a very interesting coincidence.
“H-Hilde. Let’s go eat…!”
…Well, isn’t this a good thing?
If she’s staying in the room right next door, we’ll probably run into each other often and become closer in the future.
Whether she’ll be useful as a party member or how well we’ll work together, that’s something we won’t know until we actually perform a request together, but…
“Okay, just a moment. Let me change clothes.”
“Ah, um, okay. I’ll wait…!”
I thought that if things go well, I might be able to get a copper token adventurer as a permanent party member.