Adventurer Guild

About ten minutes after heading toward the place the gatekeeper told us about, we found ourselves standing in front of a building that looked like the Adventurer Guild.

“This is it, right?”

“I think so, but…”

We both looked up at the building and hesitated because of its appearance. The structure was certainly similar to the Adventurer Guild in the Albanell Kingdom, but judging from how rundown it was, it looked more like a ruin.

Several windows were broken, and the walls were grimy. Trash was scattered around the building, and the handle of the entrance door appeared to be broken off.

“We can hear voices from inside.”

“Yeah… maybe people from the Empire are still running it.”

Rebecca and I looked at each other and nodded. Then I slipped my hand into the gap of the slightly open door and slowly pushed it open.

Inside were about ten men. They sat on tables and chairs placed without order, and every one of them gave off an irritated atmosphere.

“Who are you?”

The men turned sharp gazes toward us, the sudden intruders. It seemed unlikely we would get any information here. Rather than running the guild, these men were probably just using an abandoned building as they pleased.

“Never seen your faces before.”

“Hey, hey, there’s a cute girl here! Haven’t seen a woman in a while! Lately women just hide indoors and don’t come out.”

As soon as one of the men noticed Rebecca standing behind me, he shouted with a nasty grin.

That triggered the others to notice her too. They stared at Rebecca as if licking their lips, then shifted their gaze to me and smiled wider, apparently judging me as someone they could beat.

“Isn’t this the Adventurer Guild?”

As I asked that while subtly shielding Rebecca behind me, the men merely shook their heads casually, as if my question held no interest.

“The Adventurer Guild doesn’t exist anymore.”

“More importantly, is that woman your girlfriend? If so, you should hide her carefully.”

It seemed their attention was completely focused on Rebecca. There was no way we would get any information like this, and staying here was pointless.

At least we learned that the Empire did not have an Adventurer Guild anymore. We should withdraw quickly.

“If there’s no guild, then we’re done here. Sorry for the intrusion.”

I tried to remain calm and said that briefly before taking Rebecca’s hand. We walked briskly away from the building that had once been the Adventurer Guild… but the men surrounded us with lewd grins.

“Hey now, you can’t just ask what you want and leave.”

“Yeah. You need to give us something in return.”

“Just lend us that woman for a bit.”

At those words, I felt Rebecca’s hand grip mine tightly.

“You really are the worst kind of men. No wonder none of you are popular.”

Rebecca sounded furious as she spoke in a deliberately provocative tone. I gave a wry smile at her words and drew the sword at my waist.

I had wanted to settle this peacefully if possible, but that was no longer an option.

“If you’d just obeyed quietly, we would’ve treated you nicely. Idiots!”

The men’s faces flushed red at Rebecca’s words, and they drew their weapons, switching to force. In this country, taking things by strength must be completely normal… it really drove home again how dangerous this place was.

“Can I shoot them with arrows?”

At the ominous words from beside me, I nodded without taking my eyes off the men.

“Avoid their vital points.”

“Okay.”

The moment Rebecca replied somewhat reluctantly, one of the men kicked off the ground and swung his sword down at me.

I easily deflected the attack and struck his stomach with the flat side of my blade.

“Gah…!”

The moment the man collapsed to the ground, I heard the sharp sound of arrows slicing through the air several times, and several men groaned and fell.

Rebecca must have aimed for their legs. Since arrows could become fatal if they pierced deeply, she had fired them to graze their thighs, leaving identical wounds on several of them.

Rebecca’s accuracy with a bow really was incredible. Honestly, it was a little scary.

“H-Hey, these guys are strong!”

Some of the men seemed to realize the difference in strength after our first exchange and lost their will to fight. However, a few still had the will to battle, and three men charged at us simultaneously.

“Luca, let me take one.”

Rebecca drew a knife as she said that. Understanding her intention, I swung my sword to draw the attention of the other two men.

I knocked one man’s sword aside and kicked him away, while the other blocked my blade and was struck with an Ice Ball.

While I incapacitated those two, Rebecca skillfully dodged the third man’s sword, slipped into his guard, and cut the arm holding his weapon with her knife.

I had always thought she was good with a knife, but since she had been focusing on training recently, she had become even better.

“What will you do?”

“W-We won’t fight! Please spare us!”

“Please… at least let us live!”

The remaining men all dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, so I judged that they had no will to fight and sheathed my sword.

“Th-Thank you… very much.”

Judging from how terrified these men were, losing a fight in this city probably meant losing your life as well. This situation had to be dealt with quickly.

Seeing the Empire’s condition, which was even worse than I had imagined, I barely managed to swallow the sigh that almost escaped my lips.