Our First Adventurer Job

After reaffirming our love from the morning at the luxury inn and enjoying a late, lavish breakfast, Liricia and I headed for the Adventurer Guild.

I had learned that Liricia was the angel meant to support me, but our meeting had come about twenty years too late.

Incidentally, the feathers scattered around the room vanished whenever Liricia put her wings away.

We walked down the main avenue.

Liricia clung to my arm like a lover.

“However, for the time being the two of us will have to adventure alone. We can’t let that get found out.”

Angels who appeared to proclaim divine oracles were revered, but a fallen angel would only be viewed with suspicion.

In fact, she would probably be treated like a monster.

Liricia’s white habit swayed as she nodded with a grave expression.

“Yes, you’re right… I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. But in that case, are you okay with just your current gear? Even a healer should have some way to protect herself.”

Then Liricia jumped in, speaking over me.

“In that case, Master! I have remembered how to fight, so I would like a weapon!”

“What kind?”

“A flail. It’s a weapon with a handle, a chain extending from it, and a weight at the end… A morning star would also be fine.”

“Then let’s stop by the weapon shop first to buy one, and head to the Adventurer Guild afterward.”

“Yes!”

Bathed in the morning sun, Liricia’s shining smile looked incredibly cute.

When we arrived at the weapon shop, we looked over the flails on display and bought the best one.

310,000 Gort.

It was made of steel with a silver plating.

“That looks like a tricky weapon to handle. Why don’t you try it out a bit?”

“Yes, Master!”

Liricia stepped into an open space in the corner of the shop and swung the flail lightly.

Even that was enough for it to sit in her hand like something she had used since long ago.

She swung it around and sent it snapping forward with precise control.

The fine chain and her long silver hair both flashed as they caught the slanting sunlight coming through the window.

However, her expression clouded over.

“I’m so sorry for making you spend this much money.”

“No, it’s fine. There’s only the two of us. Your equipment is important, Liricia.”

“Thank you very much, Master!”

With a smile that savored her happiness, she wrapped herself around my arm again.

For such an adorable Liricia, I felt like I would spend however much it took…

That said, our remaining funds had dropped quite a bit.

…We really needed to start earning properly.

Liricia and I left the shop and headed for the Adventurer Guild.

Money remaining on hand: 21 large gold coins, 0 gold coins, 5 large silver coins, and 1 silver coin.

2,105,100 Gort.

The Adventurer Guild was packed with people.

Apparently everyone was there to grab the lucrative requests.

We pushed our way through the crowd to stand before the notice board and looked over the posted jobs.

“Herb gathering, goblin extermination… pretty standard requests overall.”

“What shall we do? Shall we take a request, or should we try going into a dungeon?”

“Right… let’s build up all kinds of experience first. Today we’ll work on requests.”

“Understood, Master. The requests are divided into collection and subjugation.”

“Let’s take both a collection and a subjugation job in the same area. Liricia, you pick a collection one.”

“Yes, understood.”

“I’ll decide on the subjugation… let’s see.”

I carefully read through the requests.

Goblin extermination, Forest Wolf extermination, troll extermination, wyvern extermination…

Most of the targets seemed to live in the forest stretching southeast of the Royal Capital.

Goblin was out.

I had actually never fought one before. I hadn’t even seen what they looked like.

I wanted to take one of those quests eventually, but for now, I decided not to deal with monsters whose appearance and habits I didn’t know.

Wolves hunted in packs and were a nuisance to handle unless you had a large party.

Trolls blended into the forest and were a pain to find.

Wyverns were troublesome as well because they flew.

Thinking back over my past battles, I tried to pick something I could defeat alone if I had to…

“Ah, this one. This looks good.”

The request slip I picked up was for Hell Lich Subjugation.

A Hell Lich was a high-ranking undead that used magic.

It was the final form of a sorcerer who had tried to master magic and been swallowed by darkness.

Its movements and legs were slow, and it never left a fixed location—in other words, it didn’t run away.

If you simply endured one spell when closing in, you could easily beat it to death afterward.

And completing the job would earn us 7 large gold coins (700,000 Gort), which was a very good deal.

…If there was anything odd about it, it was that they normally appeared in places where people rarely went, like ruined castles deep in the mountains or dungeons in great deserts.

For one to show up near the bustling Royal Capital was unusual, wasn’t it?

Liricia looked at the slip I had chosen, her violet eyes widening.

“Master… that is a B-rank request. Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah, no problem. This thing is surprisingly weak.”

“A-As expected of Master.”

For some reason Liricia looked shocked, and there was even a hint of respect in her gaze.

I thought she was exaggerating.

Well, she had never gone adventuring, so it couldn’t be helped.

Once she fought one, she would see that Hell Liches were nothing to worry about.

But then a mocking voice came from behind me.

“Gya-ha-ha! This newbie’s grabbed himself a B-rank request!”

When I turned, there was a huge man with an axe on his back. He was the guy who had picked a fight with me on the first day.

Annoying guy, despite looking weak.

Well, I could just ignore him.

There was no need to go out of my way to escalate things.

So I answered him calmly.

“It’s none of your business what requests I take.”

“And a Hell Lich, no less! There’s no way a runt like you could beat that! Gya-ha-ha!”

“A Hell Lich!?“

“You mean the one that’s been causing all the trouble lately?”

“That newbie doesn’t know a damn thing.”

“Undead are counted as one rank lower on paper.”

“Its real strength is effectively A-rank.”

“He’s basically going off to die.”

The adventurers around us started murmuring noisily.

I shot back bluntly.

“I don’t need your concern.”

“Of course I don’t give a damn about you! I’m just worried about the girl! Guheheh.”

“You don’t need to worry about her either. —Let’s go, Liricia.”

“Y-Yes.”

I took Liricia’s hand and tried to lead her out of the crowd.

It grated on me to be insulted like that, but enduring it in silence was the best option—

—However.

The big man grabbed Liricia by the shoulder and yanked her back.

“Leave the girl here and go by yourself!”

“Ow!”

Liricia cried out, wincing in pain, her beautiful silver hair flying loose and spreading out.

In that instant, I saw red and swung my arm.

My fist left an afterimage, driven by pure anger.

“Don’t you dare lay a hand on my Liricia!!”

Thud—!

I poured Serâge into my fist and smashed it as hard as I could into the gap in his armor around his side.

Serâge was a healing power; even if I hit him, it wouldn’t cause any serious injury.

But the pain it caused was considerable—enough to make even a big guy stagger back a step.

—Or so it should have been.

“Ggeh-ehhh!”

The big man drooled, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the floor.

“Huh… so weak!”

I stared in shock, eyes wide.

The surrounding adventurers did the same.

“No way!”

“One hit!?”

“What did he just do!?”

“Whoa… he dropped an A-rank in a single blow.”

“Who is that guy, he’s insane.”

“All he did was punch him, right!?”

“You’ve got to be kidding… he flattened Steel Barial with one hit…”

…Huh? You can become an A-rank adventurer even if you’re that weak!?

That was what shocked me the most.

Then a voice came from the counter—it was the receptionist.

“What’s going on? Fighting inside the guild is strictly forbidden, you know?”

…Crap.

A lot of people had seen what happened.

This could turn into a real problem.

Worried, I glanced at Liricia; she, too, was frowning in concern.

But for some reason, she was biting her lip, like she was struggling not to let a pleased expression slip out.

I frantically racked my brain.

There had to be something—some kind of good excuse.

I glared around at the others and spoke, blurting out whatever came to mind.

“Looks like he just slipped. Right, everyone?”

I doubted such a childish trick would actually work.

Unpleasant sweat trickled down my forehead.

—But then.

The adventurers spoke up in an easygoing chorus.

“Barial just toppled over, that’s all.”

“Yeah, looks like he tripped.”

“He did say he wasn’t feeling well today.”

“Somebody haul him to the infirmary.”

“Ugh, moving this big lug is a pain.”

The adventurers didn’t speak the truth.

They all covered for me.

The receptionist said,

“Sounds like that’s all it was, then. Nothing’s broken, and he’s not dead, so we can just leave him there.”

I murmured my thanks.

“Sorry about that. You really helped me out.”

“Heh, nobody wants to make an enemy of the guy who can floor Barial with a single hit.”

“That was satisfying to watch, honestly. You’re not what you look like, are you?”

“As expected from the man who broke the crystal ball.”

“You’re incredible. Teach me that move sometime.”

Apparently the big guy was universally disliked.

…I was relieved that we had managed to gloss things over.

Then Liricia and I went to file our requests.

The receptionist said,

“Are you sure you want your very first job to be B-rank?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Well, just finding out where it is and coming back to report would still count as a D-rank job, so don’t push yourselves too hard.”

“I see, that makes sense.”

“—All right, then. Two-person party, quests are herb gathering and Hell Lich investigation and subjugation.”

She stacked our two cards together and placed them into something like a press.

With a clank, our party registration was complete.

“So, southeast forest it is.”

“Yes, Master!”

Smiling, Liricia linked her arm with mine like a lover.

She pressed her enticing curves against me even more boldly than when we had come in.

For some reason, she looked positively overjoyed.

Feeling her soft body tremble with happiness, we left the guild behind.