The next morning.
After putting on my armor, which I had thoroughly cleaned and prepared the night before, I headed to the request office with Friede.
“I-I’m looking forward to it…”
Unlike usual, Friede was in full combat gear.
A snow-white fur cloak with a hood, metal pauldrons decorated with black feathers.
Her top was also different from usual, wearing something like leather armor with scales, and on her arms were gauntlets reaching up to her elbows.
Gauntlets.
Yes, gauntlets!
Those very gauntlets that the bald unarmed combat warrior didn’t even think of wearing…!
I felt elated.
Yes, this is what makes a proper adventurer. It was an armament incomparable to iron token or below.
Most of those wear just casual clothes with crude leather patched on for appearance, or walk around with just a single quilted armor.
They’d obviously die if they got hit wrong by a sword or claw even once.
I don’t know if they think they’re Prometheus or what, but they’re mentally ill people living with their livers out of their bodies.
They were the real culprits who greatly lowered the average life expectancy of adventurers.
If steel armor is too expensive and heavy to move in, they should at least properly get and wear good quality leather armor.
Why do you think copper token adventurers all carefully wear metal armor or leather armor? That’s all wisdom from experience.
Having seen their peers who neglected armor die before reaching copper token once or twice, they have no choice but to get armor fitted as soon as they have money.
Remember. Steel is always right.
Met someone you just can’t communicate with?
If you bring steel, the conversation will flow smoothly.
Got scammed by an unscrupulous merchant?
The steel at your waist will teach you how to get your money back.
A thief threatens you inhumanely to give up everything you have and are wearing?
If you use steel well, the relationship of power will be reversed. I made some money with that.
Likewise, if you’re living off sword food, you naturally need to wrap your whole body in steel to secure a spare life. Like me.
* * *
“Ah, Hilde! Over here.”
As we opened the door to the request office and entered, Gerda, sitting at a corner table, slightly waved her right hand to welcome me.
It seems she had come earlier and was waiting.
Even though we had come quite early… As expected of a ranger, I suppose. She seemed to have a more diligent personality than others.
“Good morning, Gerda. You came early?”
“A hunter should have little morning sleep. The same goes for rangers.”
I waved back in greeting, then pulled out the chair across from her and sat down.
Screech.
Friede, who had followed silently, also sat down in the chair next to me.
“Hilde, this person is…?”
Gerda tilted her head slightly and carefully asked upon seeing Friede. With a face that seemed to ask if this little one was the copper token greatsword warrior I had mentioned.
“Ah, introduce yourself. This is a copper token warrior who came here from Levant, Frie-“
Considering Friede’s lack of social skills, I tried to step in and introduce Friede to Gerda myself.
“I’m Siegfriede. Twenty years old.”
But Friede herself introduced herself, shaking her head slightly as if to say there was no need for that.
“Siegfriede, is it. That’s an old-fashioned name. Pleased to meet you. I’m Gerda, a ranger.”
“…Yes.”
Friede nodded, slightly raising her golden eyes. It was a look like a nearsighted patient who had lost their glasses.
She’s really showing her lack of social skills. It’s not like she’s a shy cat. Her feelings of extreme awkwardness in this situation were clearly apparent.
“Hmm.”
Gerda just shrugged and smirked without saying much. With an expression that suggested she had experienced such reactions more than once or twice.
Well, Gerda was a bit taller than me and had a somewhat imposing build, so it seemed she had often seen others become nervous and awkward when facing her.
Like a skinny, turtle-necked, glasses-wearing nerd unable to breathe or speak properly in front of a muscular pig covered in tattoos.
“Hilde, you said the other person was a magician, right? It seems she hasn’t come.”
“That’s right. Looking around, it seems she hasn’t arrived yet…”
Amy hadn’t yet arrived at the request office. Like last time.
“Well, if we wait a bit, she’ll probably come soon.”
Of course, she won’t be as late as last time.
Last time, she was in the position of a client, so it was her freedom whether to be late or not, but now she’s an equal party member.
If she doesn’t want to be cursed at, she’ll come on time on her own.
Therefore, I waited for Amy to appear while chatting leisurely without much worry.
“Hilde, did you just get promoted this time? I heard you haven’t even been registered as an adventurer for a hundred days yet… You seem to be very skilled. It’s reassuring as a party member.”
“You flatter me. I was lucky. But Gerda, you seem to have quite extensive experience. As a newcomer, I think I’ll have a lot to ask advice about.”
We were putting some gilt on each other’s faces to narrow the distance between temporary party members.
“…I haven’t been for a hundred days either.”
“Pardon? What did you say?”
“Ah, it’s nothing…”
Of course, only Gerda and I could narrow the distance.
Friede tried to join the conversation in a shrinking voice, but as soon as Gerda turned to her, she lowered her head slightly and quietly crumpled.
Really, it was such a pitiful loner reaction that it was almost cute.
Anyway, as we were chatting like that, before long, a familiar red head burst through the request office door and came in.
“Hm, you were already here. I’m not late, am I?”
Amy, having spotted us, walked over with an awkward smile.
“Not yet.”
Although she arrived last, it wasn’t late enough to be called tardy. The rest of us three had just come a bit early.
“That’s good. So, this woman and this… kid? What? Is this kid the new party member?”
Amy, who had nodded satisfactorily when looking at Gerda, raised her eyebrows and let out a disbelieving laugh as soon as she saw Friede.
Yeah, Friede did look a bit untrustworthy. Considering Amy’s personality, it was a reaction that could be expected.
Although it was a bit rude.
“I’m not a kid…”
As Friede frowned and protested, Amy snickered as if it were absurd.
“What do you mean you’re not? You look at most thirteen or four-“
“…I said I’m not.”
Friede’s voice lowered even further. It was now a voice that even felt hostile.
“She’s twenty years old. Same age as me.”
I hurriedly revealed Friede’s age, trying to stop the emotional battle between the two from escalating further.
It was hard for me to believe too, but she was claiming to be twenty after all.
“…Twenty?”
Amy’s expression twisted as if she had encountered something bizarre.
“Twenty years old? With this face? This height?”
“That’s what she said.”
“…So, you’re saying she’s two years older than me…?”
An expression that said she absolutely couldn’t believe it. Since it was an understandable reaction, I just shrugged my shoulders. With an attitude that said if you can’t believe it, then don’t.
“No, that… Ha, really? Twenty?”
“…Yes, I am twenty.”
Friede nodded and answered in a firm tone.
“So, don’t speak informally to me.”
Putting emphasis on each syllable very distinctly.
“…please.”
It seems being treated like a kid by someone younger had irritated her quite a bit.
“Ha… This is ridiculous. If you’re uncomfortable, you can speak informally too. I don’t know anything about polite speech? I never learned it.”
Amy shook her head and answered, then plopped down in the chair to my left. As if she had nothing more to say.
…The atmosphere is completely ruined.
I let out a deep sigh and lightly patted Friede’s shoulder to comfort her.
It seemed that she and Amy had the worst compatibility in terms of personality.
Amy, who wasn’t bad by nature but had a somewhat arrogant side befitting a magician, and Friede, who stammered and was shy but not entirely weak.
Come to think of it, there’s no way their personalities would match. It’s like the relationship between a kind delinquent and a temperamental loner.
It was natural for them to get along as badly as a cat and a raven.
* * *
“Then let’s depart right away.”
Although the ending was a bit awkward, since all party members had gathered, there was no reason to delay any further.
“I’ve reserved a carriage, so follow me. Friede, Amy, you too.”
I headed towards the city gate with them, greeted the coachman I had kept waiting there, and climbed onto the carriage.
As we all sat down, placing our baggage in the middle of the carriage, the surroundings slowly began to move away with a rattling sound.
And so we left the city and headed towards Crude Catacomb.
On the way, there were carriages rented by other adventurers as well as our own.
There were also adventurers just walking, perhaps unable to afford carriage fare, and some riding horses.
As it was a large-scale request from the church, it seemed there were quite a few participants besides our party.
“Ah.”
As we went along, some quite familiar faces came into view. The adventurers who had applied to my party but were rejected.
‘They’ve even gathered together…’
A trio consisting of a swordsman, an archer, and a pseudo-priest. Their names were Leo, Rick, and Bobby, wasn’t it?
They too were moving on a baggage carriage. They had become a group of as many as seven, perhaps having recruited new party members in the meantime.
One swordsman who had just shed his boyish looks and three women.
Seeing them chatting rather cheerfully as a group of seven, I wondered if I had misjudged those three men.
Well, it didn’t matter either way since I probably wouldn’t see them again.