Angel among us, p.24
They Don’t Know I’m Too Young for the Adventurer’s Guild: Volume 3, page 24
Table of Contents
Cover
Illustrations
Prologue
Chapter 1: A Beautiful Eccentric
Chapter 2: New Request, New Sparring Partners
Chapter 3: A Ruin, a Map, and Cheap Pride
Chapter 4: A Noble Yet Hollow Image
Chapter 5: A Good Turning Point
Chapter 6: Battle Banquet
Epilogue: The Story of How One Child Became an Adventurer
Afterword
Bonus Textless Illustrations
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
Prologue
“Whew, we really did it this time!”
“Sure did, boss! That was a total blowup!”
“Bwa ha ha! Nothing like the glow of a burning ship on the midnight sea.”
“Hee hee hee hee. I’ll admit, there is something beautiful about a luxurious vessel. But seeing a corrupt gambling ship consumed by flames is exquisite. Yes, this sacred fire lighting up the dark night is surely the beacon of peace our goddess Amana desires. Let us offer up a toast to her blessings.”
As we rowed away in our small boat, we watched the burning ship sink in the distance. In the flickering firelight, we could see the passengers diving into the sea one after another.
We were near the port town of Hiriyenka. The shore wasn’t far off, and—aside from dwarves and the like—most of these people could swim. They’d be fine. With a blaze that big, the harbor guards were sure to notice soon anyway.
“All right! Mission complete. Finally free from that boring job!”
“But boss, didn’t we, like, totally fail to complete what the lord actually asked us to do?”
“Hmph. The ringleaders are toast, so it’s all good! Let the soldiers gather the evidence later at their leisure.”
“Good point!”
I turned my gaze away from the burning ship. Sure, the fire blazing across the sea was a beautiful sight. And yeah, watching scumbags flail and leap into the pitch-black water wasn’t something you got to see every day. But it wasn’t interesting enough to keep my attention. In other words, I was bored already.
There were four of us in the boat. A bunny beastfolk girl with shining eyes and twitching ears was leaning over one side, while a dwarven warrior and a human cleric were sharing a bottle of fine liquor we’d borrowed from the sinking ship.
Our party had pulled off something pretty reckless, and the three of them were grinning like it was the most fun they’d had in ages. Because of that, I couldn’t help but smile too. Having comrades was the best.
“All right! Let’s head home, back to our beloved Raging Kelpie’s Tail!”
I was so moved by the moment that I stood up at the bow of the boat, threw my arms wide, and let the sea breeze wash over me. The sticky salt wind whipped my hair—my pride and joy—into a wild mess, but even that felt good.
Chapter 1: A Beautiful Eccentric
The adventurer’s guild closed every day, but not for very long. Unlike ordinary townsfolk, adventurers didn’t operate on fixed schedules. Some left at dawn and returned at night, while others left at night and came back in the morning. The guild’s requests were all over the place, and the people who took them were like that too. It was my job to keep things organized and running smoothly, so I usually closed around midnight and opened before sunrise.
There were always a few who overstayed their welcome and kept drinking past closing time. I either kicked them out or locked them in. There was no point worrying about complaints from fools who didn’t know common courtesy. And if any of them tried to trash the place and get away with it, I had some very capable folks with nothing better to do who could go and beat the ever-loving snot out of them.
The short window of time between closing and dawn, and the midday shift change when the daytime clerk took over the front desk, were my only breaks as the head of the Raging Kelpie’s Tail. Not that either one was much of a break.
“I really need to do something about this staff shortage,” I grumbled.
It was still dark out. I unlocked the guild doors and dropped into the chair behind the reception desk with a heavy sigh. No one was around, of course, but it wouldn’t be long before people started showing up. Some folks always wanted to head out as soon as the city gates opened. They’d start trickling in before long.
Back when this place wasn’t so busy, we’d managed just fine with a proper staff rotation. Then things had started getting lively around here. Right when I’d been seriously considering adding another reception counter, two of my employees who’d been here for years up and quit at the same time.
We were still scrambling to fill the gaps they’d left, and I was starting to think we couldn’t keep this up much longer. Things had been changing ever since the current lord took over, what, ten years ago? This port town had slowly but surely been growing ever since. More people meant more adventurers, and more adventurers meant more requests coming in. All of that meant more work for me.
And with that sewer tunnel discovery, people were saying the town might expand even more. If that happened, the guild would be in real trouble. I needed to bring in more help, but working with adventurers here... To a normal person, that would be like having to deal with hoodlums and thugs every single day. If I put out a help wanted notice, the only ones who’d apply would be bigger headaches than the job was worth.
I sighed. “Maybe I should just go buy a slave.”
It’d be quick and efficient. I could swing by a slaver and have someone by the end of the day. But buying a slave was nothing like buying a dog or a cat. When you bought a person, you were stuck with everything that came with doing that. Just thinking about it made my shoulders tense.
I couldn’t keep manning the counter forever, though. The reception desk was only part of my job. I had guild responsibilities too—things only I could do.
I slid open the desk drawer and pulled out a thin metal plate just big enough to fit in my palm. Engraved across its surface were the emblems of the adventurer’s guild and the Raging Kelpie’s Tail. Managing this was one of those responsibilities. It was my job and no one else’s.
“Heh! Slaves who can read and handle arithmetic don’t come cheap, Master Barque!”
Those words rang out sharp and clear in a man’s high-pitched voice. It sounded like an actor delivering a line in a play, which didn’t suit this dingy old place at all. And I’d heard that voice often enough to be well and truly sick of it.
“Of course, that alone wouldn’t be enough, would it?” he continued. “A front desk position also requires the elegance to deal with civilians and the guts to handle cutthroats. And a sharp mind to comprehend complicated requests, along with a sense of responsibility to uphold confidentiality! Ahhh, what an expensive purchase that would be!”
The smug, dramatic tone of his voice grated like a rasp across my already raw nerves, but everything he’d said was spot-on. That only made him more annoying, and I clicked my tongue in frustration.
Slaves almost always did grunt work, and people who were capable of managing the front desk of an adventurer’s guild generally didn’t end up as slaves. If a slave like that did exist, they’d cost a fortune.
“Master Barque, here’s a word of advice: Try not to tank your reputation by chasing a bargain. After all, this is the very establishment frequented by yours truly—Peridot, Bearer of the Radiant Sun!” With a dramatic huff through his nose, the young man swept his bright green hair back with one hand. His armor was so well buffed, I could use it as a mirror.
No one calls you that, Peridot. And cut that hair already. It’s a public menace.
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” I muttered. “Done with your mission?”
“But of course.” He smiled. “Quite the satisfying assignment, I must say, and flawlessly executed as always! Care to hear the tale of my latest glory? Of a forbidden love with a mermaid on a hidden island wreathed in coral? Of how I received a blessing of tears and plunged into the shadowy sea to infiltrate a floating gambling den? Of how I smote the wicked threat looming over our fair Hiriyenka from within the very depths of corruption?!”
“Don’t embellish your report. Old Badger told you how to sneak onto a boat, and you did.”
“The people long for stirring stories, Barque.” Peridot winked.
I sighed loudly, then pinched the bridge of my nose. Talking to this one gave me a headache, but I couldn’t just brush him off. He was no ordinary man, and that had nothing to do with him acting a fool.
“Come now, Master Barque. Aren’t tales of my heroic deeds free advertising for the guild? You don’t have to worry, for I am a generous man and a champion of the people! Ah, yes—I am the Sun of Hiriyenka, the unstoppable lancer astride a dazzling white steed! Before you stands Peridot, Bearer of the Radiant Sun and leader of the highest-ranked party in the guild, Seabird Tempest! Of course I don’t mind if you use my name to promote the Raging Kelpie’s Tail!” Peridot struck a ridiculous pose with his arms crossed in front of his face.
I shook my head. “I’m not enablin’ your desperate need for attention.”
Adventurers were an odd bunch, with each one more eccentric than the last. Now and then, one of the truly bizarre ones would manage to climb the ranks. I didn’t know if that was good or bad for the guild, but it definitely meant more head aches for me.
“What about the rest of your party?” I asked.
“Oh, we were together until partway through the return trip,” Peridot said with a wistful shrug. “Two of them ducked into a tavern along the way, and the other one vanished before I noticed. But does that matter? The report’s covered as long as the leader’s here, no?”
“Not if that leader’s you.” I sighed for what felt like the twentieth time this morning. So the Seabird Tempest crew hadn’t changed a bit. “Payment’s pendin’ confirmation from the lord. You’re free to go.”
“Such a cold reception. But very well.” Peridot flung his arms wide and gave an exaggerated shrug.
He was an eccentric weirdo, but he looked the part of a beautiful warrior, and those damn poses actually suited him a little. That alone made him more trouble than he was worth.
Maybe Peridot didn’t notice me silently willing him to get out of my sight, or maybe he just didn’t care. Either way, he stayed put despite finishing his business and let his gaze wander over the still-empty guild before he looked at me. For once, he wasn’t trying to show off. He seemed earnest—unpolished, even.
“By the way, will Old Badger be coming by soon?” he asked. “He’s always an early riser. I’d very much like to thank him in person for his guidance with the gambling ship operation.”
***
“As I was saying,” Liluetta said, holding her finger up in the air, “beneath the earth runs something called a spirit vein, a river of aberrantly concentrated mana. It’s a raging current of magical essence so devastating that a human falling into it would likely never make it out alive. Some even call this torrent of mana the lifeblood of the world itself.”
I listened to her explanation as we walked along the stone-paved street at dusk. She sounded dramatic and used complicated words I never expected to hear during a casual chat about gathering herbs.
“When magical energy overflows from a spirit vein and reaches the surface, it transforms the land. The mana becomes far more concentrated than usual, and the area turns into something extraordinary. Rare plants grow there. Strange creatures settle in. Sometimes the very terrain itself changes. These especially dense spots, where mana seeps out of the ground, are called spirit holes.”
I frowned a little as I walked beside her. Guess it’s like a sewer, I thought. I mean, both have something flowing underground. If it overflows, does it stink up the surface too?
“I thought a mana pool was just another name for one of those places. But now I’m not so sure.” Liluetta bit her lip, clearly annoyed with herself. She seemed a little deflated compared to how she’d been this morning, and her steps were slower too.
I couldn’t blame her. It was safe to say that today’s outing had ended in failure.
“Wellll, I also thought it might be a spirit vein,” Yune added.
Yune had her arms crossed as she walked beside us. She was wearing her usual loose-fitting outfit, and her soft brown hair bounced gently with every step. Even though she had a slight furrow between her brows, her gentle air made it hard to take her seriousness too seriously. It made me wonder if she really understood what we were talking about.
Then again, out of the three of us, I was definitely the one who understood the least.
“So you’re saying a mana pool isn’t the same as a spirit vein?” I asked.
“Probably not,” Liluetta replied. “Spirit veins don’t suddenly move or disappear.”
I still didn’t really get the difference between a spirit vein and a spirit hole, but Liluetta seemed to be back to her usual self with the way she answered my question with confidence.
That’s the best thing that’s happened today, I thought with a wry smile.
Today’s adventure had been...well, kind of a bust. No one got hurt, nothing horrible happened, and we didn’t lose anything important. But we also didn’t find much of anything.
I thought back to how we had started the day. Our plan was simple: Go gather herbs. After what had happened last time with the goblins on Sherzon Mountain, though, we all agreed not to go back there just yet. So we figured, why not use the opportunity to explore somewhere new?
Our destination was one of the mana pools Old Badger had told me about on that rainy day, when he’d shown me that old map. It was still a bit early in the season to expect much, but we wanted to scout ahead and check out the site before it was time to harvest. So we left through the northern gate, followed the town wall for a bit, then veered into the forest along a narrow animal trail none of us had used before.
“I should be able to detect mana with a spell, as long as it’s dense enough.” Liluetta’s words brought me back to our conversation. “That’s how we found the Sherzon pool. The same method should’ve worked this time, but my detection spell didn’t react at all.”
She placed her hand on her cheek and continued mumbling to herself in a stream of hushed words. I hadn’t started reading the magic textbook Sheya had given me yet, so most of what she was saying was beyond me. But I could sort of follow the gist, and it basically came down to this: The area we scouted today just didn’t have any mana-rich spots nearby.
“Maybe it’s a place where the mana only gets dense during certain periods. Like, the land sort of stores it up? Could it be seasonal? We had thought the special herbs grow because there’s lots of mana, but what if that’s wrong? Maybe mana only builds up when those special herbs are ready to bloom. If that’s true, it might even be possible to artificially create mana-rich zones, at least for short periods, but then we’d need a way to grow those herbs ourselves...and I don’t know how.”
She kept muttering as we walked, her questions and ideas straying far from herb gathering into the realm of full-blown magical theory. The intensity on her face was kind of scary. Yune looked a little freaked out too.
Eventually, Liluetta seemed to reach some kind of conclusion. She nodded to herself and declared, “There’s still a lot to consider, but I’ve at least learned one thing today. Mana pools might not show up on detection spells unless it’s the right season to harvest the herbs that grow there.”
In other words, we couldn’t track them down in advance. There really is no such thing as an easy win for adventurers, I thought. If we go scouting again, we would probably end up just wandering around and hoping we find some clues. In that case, isn’t it better to wait and use detection spells when the season rolls around?
“So today was basically a waste of time, huh,” I said. “Sorry. It was my idea.”
“Nooo, don’t be sorry.” Yune smiled softly. “We made it back safe and sound, so I’d call that a win!”
“That’s true.” Liluetta backed her up without hesitation. “Even just confirming that detection spells won’t work outside the harvest season is something.”
She was right, and we had made it back to town without any trouble. After our goblin encounter, being able to say that felt like a blessing.
“Still...” Liluetta glanced at her basket and let out a tiny sigh. It wasn’t even halfway full. “Our haul was pretty disappointing.”
“It was a brand-new area,” I pointed out, trying to stay optimistic. “And we spent half the day scouting for mana pools. If we focus just on gathering herbs next time and stick to safe paths, we should be able to get a lot more.”
At the same time, I looked at my own basket and winced. It was only about a quarter full of mostly cheap herbs—definitely not enough to cover today’s meals. Yune’s basket was in the same sorry state.
Gathering herbs was supposed to be an easy job for beginners. Finding valuable herbs in a mana pool could get you some decent coin, but normal gathering was not a good source of income. Well, Old Badger probably could’ve filled a basket if he’d been there with us today. But for us, filling three baskets was impossible.
I rubbed my chin and frowned. Maybe it really was best to hold off on mana pools until harvest season. Tomorrow, we could try sticking to the outskirts of the forest. Maybe we’d find a spot where herbs grew wild, like the riverbank I’d stumbled upon before. A place like that was no mana pool, but it would still be a huge help.
“But the herbs listed on the request don’t grow all that easily,” Liluetta said. “Even if we focus on gathering, I doubt we’ll be able to fill our baskets.”
