Reunion With Nick (1)

With our weapons and armor taken care of, we next headed to the Guild Hall to buy medicine and food.

The reason we were going to the Guild Hall was that its grounds had both an apothecary and a grocery section, with plenty of products specifically intended for adventurers.

Before shopping, though, we first had to stop by reception. Only Guild members and their families were allowed to shop there.

When Yuri and I reached the reception desk, a fully equipped adventuring party was standing in front of Erin-chan.

“Please, there has to be some way you can tell us…”

“I can’t! I’m bound by confidentiality!”

A young man clasped his hands together and bowed his head pleadingly, while Erin-chan turned away with a huff.

Looks like we’d arrived at a troublesome moment… Just as I thought it might be better to shop somewhere else, one member of the adventuring party pointed at us.

“Ah! It’s Roylotte Blake, the eternally B-rank adventurer!”

The one who called out so innocently was an elf girl with reddish-brown hair and distinctive freckles… Well, she looked like a girl, but she was probably quite a bit older than she appeared.

“Leave out the ‘eternally B-rank’ part. Who the hell are you?”

“Me? I’m Conche, one of the Twilight Ravens’ old-timers. I’m a mage.”

If she was an old-timer, then she really was probably older than me.

Elves were naturally gifted with magic.

And since she belonged to the Twilight Ravens, she had to be highly skilled.

Come to think of it, there had been a mage in Belgion who kept her hood pulled low over her face. So that had been her.

The Twilight Ravens gathered only the cream of the crop among adventurers, ranging from S-rank to SS-rank, so it wasn’t a party you could join simply because you wanted to.

“How do you know me?”

“I was at that tavern. I saw the Hero kick his companion out, and I saw you take that companion under your protection.”

“Ah, I see.”

Well, there were plenty of customers there… Still, she was surprisingly inconspicuous, just like me. Most elves were beautiful, but while she was cute enough, her face was astonishingly ordinary.

“Ahh, Roy-san… Of all times, you had to show up now.”

Erin-chan pressed a hand to her forehead as though she had a headache.

Looks like I’d really come at a bad time.

The young man who had been pleading with Erin-chan earlier walked over to us.

Oh, this guy was the one from back then—

“I’m Nick Bluestar, leader of the Twilight Ravens.”

He was as handsome as ever.

The female Guild employees and women adventurers around us all had their eyes fixed on him.

Guys with that kind of presence really stood out wherever they went.

Erin-chan looked anxiously back and forth between us and Nick, but another customer arrived, so she turned to deal with them.

Most SS-rank adventurers wouldn’t even bother with a B-ranker like me, and plenty of them would openly look down on me.

But Nick gave me a very friendly smile.

If someone treated me with respect, I wanted to return that respect.

“I’m Roylotte Blake, an independent adventurer.”

When I introduced myself, Nick’s eyes widened slightly.

But he quickly smiled and asked me a question.

“Conche already mentioned it, but you’re the one who took Yuri Claudevel out of that tavern, right? We have business with Yuri-kun.”

Yuri-kun, huh… Right, Yuri had been living as a boy.

Nick and the others probably still thought of her as a young man.

At the mention of her name, Yuri’s shoulders twitched.

She timidly looked up at Nick Bluestar.

When Nick recognized her, his eyes widened in surprise.

“Huh…? You’re Yuri-kun, right? When we met before, I could’ve sworn you were a boy.”

“You’re not mistaken. I was working as a man.”

Yuri answered quietly while averting her eyes from Nick, and the other Twilight Ravens besides Nick immediately began murmuring among themselves.

A young beastman stared openly at Yuri with a dazed expression and muttered,

“S-She’s incredibly cute…”

A dwarf girl also had stars in her eyes as she exclaimed excitedly,

“If you’re a girl, I want to be friends with you!”

Conche didn’t seem particularly surprised and scratched her cheek with one finger as she spoke with a wry smile.

“I’d already noticed, though. And you’ve got elf blood in you, don’t you? That eye color is an elven trait.”

Now that she mentioned it, Yuri’s blue-purple eyes were unusual.

But Yuri’s ears weren’t pointed like an elf’s. If Conche was right, then Yuri might be of mixed human and elven ancestry.

“…I don’t know anything about my parents.”

“Hmm, I see. But don’t people usually think you’re younger than you really are?”

“They do sometimes, but I have a youthful face, and I developed rather slowly.”

Yuri made a complicated expression.

Nick continued staring at her, as though he still couldn’t quite believe it.

—Hey, quit staring so much. Yuri doesn’t know where to look.

“…I’m amazed. I had no idea you were such a beautiful girl!”

“I-I’m not beautiful at all!”

“What are you talking about? You’re incredibly beautiful. I doubt even a princess of the nobility could compare to you.”

“…………”

After being praised so openly by Nick, Yuri lowered her head in embarrassment.

Guys who were popular with women really were different. He could naturally throw around words like ‘princess’ without batting an eye.

Nick looked toward me and continued.

“We’re aiming to become the strongest party.”

“Why?”

“To defeat the Demon King. Everyone here has either had family killed or abducted by demons. We all have a grudge against them. And instead of leaving it to that unreliable Hero and his companions, we intend to defeat the Demon King with our own hands.”

People said the Twilight Ravens were currently accomplishing more than the Hero’s party, after all.

I couldn’t really blame them for thinking the Hero was unreliable.

“So you want Yuri to join your party?”

“That’s right. I know Yuri Claudevel was the cornerstone of that Hero’s party. That group only functioned because of all the support she tirelessly provided.”

Nick thought very highly of Yuri. I liked that about him.

At a glance, the party also seemed very close, and there was a cheerful atmosphere around them.

There was an elf, a beastman warrior, and even a female dwarf.

Every one of them wore an expression filled with anticipation at the possibility of gaining a new companion.

Yuri might actually have fun traveling with this group.

When I imagined Yuri happily chatting with the members of the Twilight Ravens, a sharp pain stabbed through my chest.

Nick held out his hand to Yuri and spoke.

“Yuri-kun, won’t you join us? We’ll give you a stage worthy of your talents, and I promise you’ll receive an appropriate annual salary. Depending on your achievements, you may even gain royal or noble patrons of your own.”