Let’s Go Too

The next day.

When Kikori woke up, some of the adventurers were already up and eating breakfast.

Kikori lightly poked Orphe, who was still sleeping while floating in midair, to wake her, but with a sleepy “mnyaa,” Orphe grabbed hold of Kikori’s finger instead.

“Hey, Orphe.”

“Uuugh…”

As he slowly waved around the hand whose finger she had grabbed, Orphe finally opened her eyes.

“…What is this?”

“My finger. Or rather, the gauntlet.”

“That’s filthy.”

“Isn’t that harsh?”

Kikori protested as Orphe smacked his finger away with a slap, but Orphe did not seem to care at all.

“Morning, Kikori.”

“Yeah, morning, Orphe.”

“For breakfast, I want that. The nuts. You bought some, right?”

“You mean the nuts?”

“That. Hand them over.”

Snatching the bag of nuts from Kikori’s outstretched hand, Orphe started crunching into them.

Kikori also took out a piece of dried sweet potato and began eating, but some of the adventurers, as if unwilling to spare even breakfast time, were already heading inside.

That was probably just the difference in exploration styles.

From Kikori’s personal impression, the better equipped the adventurer, the more relaxed they seemed.

And then… one of them stood up and stopped in front of the semicircular light surrounding Kikori and the others.

After watching it briefly and sticking a hand into it, apparently deciding there was no problem, he walked over.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning. Um… and you are?”

“Alan. I’m a silver-rank adventurer, for what it’s worth.”

“Kikori. Red Iron rank.”

“Ah, I know. You’re a little famous.”

Famous. It might have been because of the Goblin General incident, or it might have been because of Orphe.

Either way, the fact that he could enter Orphe’s barrier probably meant he had no hostility.

Though Orphe herself was completely ignoring him and eating her nuts….

“And what’s the name of your fairy girlfriend there?”

“Don’t you dare tell him.”

“…So she says.”

“I see.”

Alan gave a wry smile, then sat down where he was.

“Kikori. Since you’re here, I assume you’ve steeled yourself to some extent, but I came to give you a warning anyway.”

“A warning…?”

“Yeah.”

Alan nodded, then spoke in a quiet… but very clear voice.

“From now on, always stay alert. And when you rest, keep this barrier up at all times.”

“Don’t tell me I’m being targeted?”

“You’re aware of it, aren’t you? For a newcomer, you stand out.”

…Did he, though? Kikori felt like all he had done was scrape through one desperate battle after another.

The Goblin General and Orphe matters may have stood out, certainly, but….

“If you’re not aware of it, then I’ll say it plainly… that armor. It’s not equipment someone who hasn’t even spent a year in the Fortress City should be wearing.”

“This just happened to be…”

“How you got it isn’t the issue. The point is that people think you’re someone who ‘has’ something. And people like that often get preyed on by nasty veterans.”

For example, maybe the sort he had met yesterday.

If it was only that level, it felt like it would be easy enough to understand… but….

“Personally, Kikori, I’d like to see how far you can go.”

“Uh, thank you… I think?”

When Kikori answered like that, Alan chuckled.

“Well then, do your best, Kikori.”

With that, Alan passed through the Transfer Gate.

He was hard to figure out… but should Kikori classify him as a kind person?

Though maybe this was one of those cases where someone made you believe that….

“Since he gave me advice, is it okay to say he’s a good person?”

“I’d say he seemed like a very human sort of human.”

“…Meaning?”

“Shady.”

Well, there was no clear reason for him to suddenly be kind to Kikori.

Thinking Orphe’s assessment might be right, Kikori put the bag of nuts into his luggage sack and stood up.

“All right, then let’s go too.”

“Yeah. This place is unbelievably annoying.”

With a wry smile at Orphe’s words, Kikori and the others passed through the Transfer Gate.