Rubel’s True Feelings And The Children’s Hopes

Morning in the Royal Capital.

We walked for about five minutes through the refreshing city streets after leaving the shop.

Carriages and people were busily coming and going.

Then we went into the large, two-story Adventurer Guild.

For some reason, there were hardly any people inside.

Tilting my head in puzzlement, I headed for the request board.

“There aren’t any adventurers around.”

“I wonder what happened?”

Liricia, whose hand I was holding, tilted her head as well.

When we reached the request board, I involuntarily drew in a breath.

“There aren’t many requests…”

“And a lot of them are low paying…”

“Don’t tell me all the weak monsters around the capital died because I walked around so much.”

“It seems that way… You also defeated the dungeon, so perhaps they migrated to another town.”

Liricia squeezed my hand tightly.

Maybe she was trying to comfort me.

That thoughtfulness made me happy, so I squeezed her slender hand back.

—Sure, having fewer adventurer jobs was a blow, but there should still be demand for Mini-Elixir.

“Don’t worry about it either, Liricia. When there aren’t any good mission requests, you can just work the counter at the shop.”

“Yes, that’s true! The way you don’t get discouraged really is just like you, Master!”

Still holding my hand, Liricia smiled and snuggled closer.

I could tell she placed her full trust in me, and it was incredibly adorable.

—Then.

I heard a clinking sound approaching from behind.

When I turned, it was Rubel, the Guildmaster.

Her red twin-tails whipped and swayed as if swirling.

“Alec. You’ve been working hard every day.”

“I want to make money… but there aren’t many requests. Especially not subjugation ones.”

“It’s probably going to stay like this for a while.”

“I see. Well, we can still take gathering-type requests, so this is fine for now.”

“Hm? You’re not going to other towns? Most people are heading either to Westaria in the west, where the dungeon is, or downriver to the port town of Northpton.”

“I’m running a shop. …Oh, here. Try this.”

I handed a small bottle to Rubel.

She pinched it between her fingers and held it in front of her face, giving it a suspicious look.

“What is this?”

“A Mini-Elixir. We’re going to sell it at the shop, so if it works well, spread the word.”

“Hmph. Very well.”

Rubel slipped it into a pouch hanging from her belt, then put her hands on her hips.

The long, slender lines of her body, hardly covered by fabric, were accentuated.

I remembered I had forgotten to thank her.

“And also… thanks for sticking up for me yesterday—or rather, for saving me.”

“Heh. I am the Guildmaster. Looking after the adventurers I’ve taken under my wing is my duty, whether I like it or not.”

“Whether you like it or not… Did I do something?”

“I can’t stand you.”

She smiled with her well-formed features, but her red eyes glared at me.

I was confused, not understanding what she meant.

“Eh?”

“—Or so I thought up until the other day. To be precise, I envied you, Alec.”

“…Ah, is it because you went through hell just because your power was fire instead of holy?”

Apparently, like me, she had enormous mana, but she had been born with fire-attribute mana.

Because of that, she had suffered.

Rubel nodded, her red hair swaying.

“That’s right. You were pampered as a hero ever since childhood. I was treated like a monster and saw hell. So I couldn’t help but be jealous of you… But once I realized being a hero wasn’t all that enviable, that jealousy disappeared.”

“I see… It was that rough for you, huh.”

“It wasn’t so bad when I was a baby or small child. But when I awakened at nine, I burned down an entire village. After that, I hated my own power and ran toward where there were no people, no trees, no grass.”

“I’m amazed you survived.”

“There was a desert dungeon where I fled, and it turned out to be a flame dungeon. No one else was there, so I lived there.”

Rubel shrugged, making the cloak she wore sway.

Liricia tilted her head curiously.

“What did you do about food?”

“Have you ever eaten fire spirits like Salamanders or hellhounds like Flame Dogs? They’re quite a delicacy. The embodiment of flame, the Flame Dragon, was the tastiest of all, though.”

“You ate dragons too…? Th-that’s amazing…”

“…You really went through a hell I can’t even imagine… Compared to that, I had it pretty easy.”

“But it is strange… Can you even defeat fire monsters with fire attacks?”

“Don’t you know? If the temperature gets high enough to vaporize all metals, lightning starts to form.”

“How would I know that?! …Still, I’m impressed you managed to become Guildmaster after all that. Or rather, that you even decided to become one.”

Half taken aback by her story, I still couldn’t help but be impressed.

Next to me, Liricia was equally taken aback, nodding along.

With a tone that made it sound like nothing special, Rubel answered lightly.

“Well, after that, I picked up items with fire resistance and fire-sealing effects in dungeons and eventually managed to live like a normal person… But to clear the stigma of being ‘the monster who burned down a village,’ I needed overwhelming fame, or no one would treat me like a human being.”

“So that’s why you became the only human SS-rank. …I didn’t know all that about you, Rubel, but from now on, you have my respect.”

“Thank you. Still, it’s a problem that I realized what I told you yesterday long ago and never helped you in your role as a hero. So, let me teach you something good as an apology.”

“Something good?”

“Right now your range is five hundred meters like mine, yes? If that’s enough to kill C-rank and below, then if you compress your mana to a radius of two hundred fifty meters, it will kill B and below; at one hundred twenty-five meters, A and below; and at sixty-two meters, S and below. Controlling it is difficult, though.”

“Compression, huh. I never thought of that. I’ll start practicing it.”

“For reference, to defeat the Ancient Gear Golem, I compressed it to a radius of thirty-one meters. …Well then, keep up the good work, Alec.”

Letting her accessories clink, Rubel lifted a hand in an easy farewell.

Then, with her red twin-tails swaying, she walked off toward the back.

Once the guild fell quiet, Liricia and I stood there in a daze for a while.

She was a fierce woman, like a raging Firestorm.

Beside me, Liricia let out a soft breath.

“She really is an incredible person…”

“Everyone feared her, but they loved her too, I guess… All right, Liricia. Have you picked our requests?”

“Ah, yes! I chose gathering-type ones I think we can manage!”

She held the mission request papers in her small hands up in front of her chest.

“Good. Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

We went to the reception and accepted some simple mission requests—herb gathering and the like.

After that, when we were about to leave the guild, we ran into a bespectacled boy with a bow on his back at the entrance.

He was one of Edgar’s party.

With a calm demeanor, he bowed his head to us.

“Good morning, Alec-san, Liricia-san.”

“Morning.”

“Good morning, Mok-chan. …How is Edgar-san?”

The boy, Mok, lowered his gaze a little. A shadow of gloom fell across his still-childish face.

“His injuries are healed. He’s conscious again. But he’s suffering some serious aftereffects from the beating he took, so it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to move for a while… Today we’re here to look for requests we can handle on our own.”

“Oh my… Since we healed several organs, maybe his body still hasn’t fully readjusted internally. If his condition gets worse again, please let us know. I’ll heal him.”

“Thank you. Should I contact you through the Adventurer Guild?”

“The shop at the end of the back alley—the one that used to be a bento place—that’s my Master’s shop.”

Liricia lifted her slender arm and pointed in the direction of the shop.

With a driven look on his face, the black-haired boy nodded.

“I know that place. …All right, if you’re not there, I’ll leave a note.”

Listening beside them, I thought he seemed awfully serious.

Well, right now the kids probably couldn’t bear the thought of losing Edgar, who was like their foster father.

So I rummaged through my bag and took out a small bottle of Mini-Elixir.

“Let’s see… Mok, right? I’d like you to give this to Edgar.”

“What is it?”

“It’s the featured product we’re about to start selling at our shop. It’s called Mini-Elixir. It should restore his mana and stamina and cure status ailments and the like.”

“Eh?! Is it really okay to give us something that valuable?”

“We’ve got mountains of it. In return, if it works well, help advertise it for us.”

Next to me, Liricia smiled and gently coaxed him.

“It’s a medicine specially made by my Master, so the effect is sure to be wonderful. We don’t need any money, but please do tell us how it worked.”

“Y-yes! Thank you so much! I’ll go give it to Captain right away!”

Barely taking the time to thank us, Mok grabbed the small bottle and suddenly dashed off.

Wait, he was supposed to be here to take requests.

I guess he was so worried about Edgar that he forgot his original purpose.

The stern, gallant face that had looked so tense before was now biting back a smile. His glasses flashed in the morning sun.

—Yeah. Helping people really did feel good.

And seeing a child smile made me even happier.

All that was left was to pray it worked.

Then Liricia gently wrapped her arms around my arm, pressing me between her large breasts.

With a soft smile, she whispered.

“Thank you, Master. When you show your kindness, it makes me happy too.”

“I see. That’s what I’d expect from my support partner. In that case, I’ll just have to keep making you happy, Liricia.”

“Y-yes… I’m so happy.”

Still clinging to my arm, Liricia rubbed her face against my shoulder.

It was like the way a puppy showed its joy.

Every little gesture she made was too cute.

“All right, next is the slave trader. Let’s go.”

“Yes, Master!”

Taking Liricia with me, I strolled off at an easy pace.