Three months in Darion were drawing to a close.
With the contract with Zelphy ending, we were at the Guild’s private room confirming completion.
Hawkins stood in attendance and handed me a form.
He was asking for an evaluation of Zelphy as instructor.
The highest evaluation was A, but filling in an A meant paying an additional reward.
Usually, even at very good, the evaluation topped out at B.
Across the desk, the three of us — me, Novem, Aria — looked at Hawkins and Zelphy.
Hawkins, serious, explained.
“Lyle-kun, please record the evaluation as you actually see it. If a grudge results in harm, the Guild will hand down a severe punishment, so please don’t worry about that.”
Zelphy didn’t say anything.
She was just sitting.
Aria, complicated, was almost glaring at Zelphy.
After taking the emergency request, we’d continued to gain the knowledge and experience an adventurer needed under Zelphy’s direction.
I’d never thought these three months a waste.
I filled in the highest evaluation, A.
”…Highest evaluation. You understand what it means, yes?”
When Hawkins said that, Novem set money on the table.
A small leather bag — three gold coins inside.
He took it and confirmed.
The larger the original commission, the larger the additional-reward also needed to be.
Of the three coins, one went to the Guild.
“Confirmed. Then, the additional reward of two gold coins will be passed to Zelphy-san.”
Receiving the two coins, Zelphy stood, headed for the door.
“What a pain of a job. I’m not doing this again, ever.”
After the emergency request, Zelphy had been short with us.
— Or, to be precise, with Aria.
Watching her leave, Hawkins said:
“Not honest, that one. Even though everyone has known for ages.”
Novem agreed.
“Without that, she’d never accept the wedding gift.”
Right.
Everyone knew why Zelphy had been short with us.
Aria knew too, which was why she was complicated about it.
Zelphy was retiring from adventuring and marrying a commoner.
Our additional reward doubled as a wedding gift to her.
Novem touched Aria’s shoulder.
“Aria-san, Zelphy-san is probably still nearby. Go talk with her — at the end.”
“B-but… she barely talks to me lately, and…”
Aria slumped. Novem shook her head and said it again, eyes serious.
“If you don’t go now, you’ll regret it. We’re leaving Darion. We may never see her again… go.”
Pushed by a sharper-than-usual Novem, Aria left the room.
To talk with Zelphy.
Hawkins set a different form on the table.
“This is the Guild’s home-transfer paperwork. And this is the Guild card we held for you. So — you really are leaving right away.”
Hawkins, looking lonely, made a joke — now the count of adventurers coming to my counter drops further.
I knew a Guild executive had stepped down and Hawkins’s name had been mentioned to fill the hole.
“We can’t stay long. We don’t want to cause trouble for Zelphy-san, or for you… or for Bentler-san either.”
The fact that House Walt — my family — was still showing no movement was unnerving.
Not knowing what they’d do was its own terror.
And Bentler — Darion’s lord — was someone who, if it came to it, could hand me over. I wouldn’t call that bad.
Defending the territory, it was the right move.
Darion was small compared to House Walt’s domain. The same applied to its influence at the capital, Central.
”…Lyle-kun, you have your circumstances, so I won’t pry. But — I hope we meet again.”
“Likewise. Hawkins-san, thank you for everything.”
I filled in the forms.
I submitted home-transfer forms for me, Novem, and Aria, and received paperwork from the Guild — to submit to whichever Guild we picked as our next home.
I stood. Novem stood too.
She thanked Hawkins.
“Thank you for everything. Please take care of yourself, Hawkins-san.”
He nodded.
He looked like he might be tearing up, so we left the room.
A surprising soft side — final discovery.
◇
Guild corridor.
“Zelphy!”
Aria found her and ran up.
Zelphy scratched her head awkwardly and looked away.
“What. I’m heading out for a drink.”
The cold tone — Aria couldn’t find words.
But Aria had decided to leave Darion with Lyle and the others.
The house had been turned over; the long-distance coach ticket to Central was bought.
”…Thank you, Zelphy. For everything. I was so sheltered. I caused you so much trouble… and I didn’t even know what you were feeling.”
The words wouldn’t come right.
Aria had been disappointed seeing Zelphy strip the body of the dead adventurer.
But she’d heard, later, that Zelphy had delivered the valuables to the dead man’s family.
Without thinking it through, she’d been disappointed — she’d blamed herself for that, too.
Aria wanted to tell her: don’t worry about me anymore.
“I’m all right. I’m going to find my own kind of happiness. So… Zelphy, you find yours too.”
She looked at Zelphy’s face.
Zelphy was crying.
”…I’m sorry, Lady. I… I couldn’t do anything… I could only watch…”
Aria threw her arms around her.
She used the name from the old manor days.
“Thank you, Nee-chan… I’m all right now. So — you find your own happiness too.”
Zelphy held Aria back.
Aria felt the many scars on Zelphy’s body.
Scars that proved the Rockward family — driven from the manor — had lived hard in Darion.
And even so, Zelphy had moved on Aria’s behalf.
In exchange for cooperating with the lord, she’d had House Rockward — driven from Central — accepted into Darion.
Behind the scenes, she’d shouldered a great deal—.
“Zelphy. Thank you for everything. I’m all right now.”
Aria held her once-beloved older-sister figure tightly.
— She’d been able to tell the sister who’d protected her: I’m all right now.
◇
Waiting for Aria inside the Guild, Novem and I noticed three familiar adventurers approaching.
“Rondo-san!”
“Lyle-kun!”
Among the adventurers we’d grown into talking-terms with, these three were the closest.
Rondo had had a short sword forged from the dungeon’s rare metal.
Larf had used it for a new spear.
Rachel had set a piece into part of her staff.
Fresh, brand-new gear, all three of them.
Rondo’s short sword in particular matched his pride-sword in hilt and guard and scabbard. The first time he showed it off, he’d been so pleased. I remembered.
“You all finished your paperwork too?”
Larf gave a wry smile.
“We came in before you — got held up trying to keep us. Darion bleeds its capable-tier adventurers, after all.”
A characteristic of Darion.
Kind to beginners, plenty of manual-labor money — that was Darion.
The flip side: hard ground for non-beginners to earn on.
For the Darion Guild trying to keep skilled adventurers, a real headache.
“You leaving too? Where’s Aria-chan? …Ah, she gave you the slip.”
Rachel, as always, said the first thing in her head.
I shook my head.
“Unfortunately, no. We’ve got something else to handle, so we’re waiting. — More importantly, your coach time?”
Rondo, like he’d just remembered, raised his voice.
“You two — we don’t have time to keep talking.”
Larf scrambled.
“Right! Let’s go. Tell Aria-chan we said goodbye.”
Rachel spoke to Novem.
“Novem — take care of Lyle. He’s not the reliable type.”
Novem giggled and nodded.
“Thank you. Be well, Rachel-san.”
Rondo waved.
“If we ever meet again, let’s have another rowdy time. Lyle-kun… see you!”
Off cleanly. I waved.
“Right. Until then!”
The three left the Guild.
Novem murmured.
“Lovely people, weren’t they, Lord Lyle.”
“Yeah. Want to see them again. Got to grow into someone they’d be proud to run into.”
Looking forward to the next meeting, we waited for Aria.
◇
Somewhere on a highway.
Rondo, Larf, Rachel — bloodied, sprawled in the road.
Rondo’s pride-sword had been torn to shreds, the short sword stolen.
Both arms gone, breath barely there on the ground.
Larf and Rachel weren’t breathing anymore.
“Wh-what… was that monster…”
The monster, recalling it terrified him — and it hadn’t been a vicious creature.
— A person.
A young girl.
Crawling, Rondo looked at Rachel.
A large scorched hole in her chest, her eyes hollow, tear-tracks down her face.
Larf was the worst of the three — he’d stepped forward to the end, trying to let the other two escape.
He crawled to Larf, took a strand of his lightened body — his hair — between his teeth, dragged him to where Rachel had fallen.
Rondo’s blood soaked into the ground along the path.
His sword skill hadn’t even touched her.
Three of them, Magic Implements in hand, hadn’t been able to lay a finger on a little girl.
The encounter — they’d ridden the long-distance coach to a stop short of the destination and had been walking the rest, headed to the town they’d chosen as their next home.
A lavish carriage had pulled up next to them.
A noble’s carriage, and by the look, no ordinary noble.
“Rachel… Larf… we’re together, forever.”
Beside Rachel, Rondo released Larf’s hair and laid his forehead against Rachel’s.
They’d all started out as adventurers at the same time, hit it off, the three of them had grown together over several years. Skill coming on, the long-wished-for Magic Implements finally in hand.
Now everything starts — that was where they’d been when that monster had noticed them.
The girl had said something unbelievable.
“I’ll make you mine. The one with the spear, and that woman — I don’t need them. Go somewhere else.”
The whim of a noble girl who’d taken a fancy to Rondo.
That was what he’d thought — but the reactions around her had been different.
The parents in the carriage had been furious that Rondo had wasted the girl’s affection.
Rondo had refused, saying he already had a girlfriend in Rachel.
And the escort soldiers had drawn their weapons.
He’d thought up to there, they could get clear.
He was confident in his arm. He had a Magic Implement.
“That… monster…”
The girl had circled behind Rachel in a heartbeat and fired magic.
What Rachel had whispered as she cried was Rondo’s name.
Enraged, Rondo and Larf — noble girl or not — had drawn their weapons.
The instant the swords were drawn, Rondo’s arms had been blown off, and the pride-sword torn to fragments.
His partner-of-a-sword, like a sheet of paper, ripped to ribbons.
The short sword was in her hand. Snatched mid-air; she’d taken the scabbard from his belt too.
He hadn’t understood what was happening.
Then Larf stepped in front of Rondo and shouted at Rachel to run.
Larf had been turned bloody just as fast.
Losing interest, the girl had left.
Rondo, even now, remembered the conversation.
“Honestly. Wasting Ceres’s affection.”
“Ceres, blood is on the clothes I bought you! Honestly… we have a party after this. We can change there, but appearance matters. Dear, get Ceres new clothes.”
The man and woman — looking like the parents — hadn’t looked at them at all.
Just at the small stains on Ceres’s dress.
“New clothes for Ceres? She isn’t wearing any old thing — Ceres is the treasure of House Walt!”
The girl Ceres, who’d just sliced people apart with sword and magic, was smiling.
“Father, sometimes I want to choose different clothes. I want to shop. You’ll let me, won’t you?”
Listening to her honey-voiced wheedling, the parents had agreed.
A pair of parents giving in to their cute daughter’s request — but with deeply off-key dissonance.
Rondo had realized: the family wasn’t seeing around them at all.
They saw only their adorable daughter.
The whim-noble who’d taken his comrades’ lives moved on.
Rondo gathered the broken-apart bodies of his friends in one place, and — satisfied — felt the last of his strength go.
He whispered at the end.
”…Promise. Couldn’t keep it.”
Quietly, he closed his eyes—.
◇
Off the long-distance coach, we arrived in Central.
My second visit, but this time the purpose was shopping.
Sabres weren’t well-stocked in Darion, and we also needed to decide our next home base.
From Central, moving around was easy — that was the reason for stopping here.
“All right. We’ve arrived. Inn for a while, I guess.”
Novem.
“Spending some time in Central wouldn’t be bad. Though we can’t stay long enough to make it our home.”
Central was cold to adventurers.
Or — it didn’t particularly need adventurers.
Even when monsters appeared nearby, the knight order or the soldiers handled it.
Manual labor — there were people everywhere fighting for it. Unlike Darion, not a place to home-base.
But, as the kingdom’s center, a metropolis where goods and information collected.
Aria had a complicated face.
“I was expelled, so I can’t even adventure here. I can stay, but living here isn’t allowed.”
For Aria, daughter of the expelled House Rockward, living in Central wasn’t permitted.
“Shopping and intel, then. Pick up what we need.”
We had most of what we needed.
Weapons existed, but I wanted a mana-free backup.
The Jewel could become the greatsword in a pinch, but there’d be situations where that alone wouldn’t cover it.
“Lord Lyle, will you go around the weapon shops?”
Novem.
“I’ll look at armor too. And want to drop by the bookshops.”
The bookshops were the ancestors’ request.
I touched the Jewel.
Quieter than before — the First was gone.
He’d always been so loud.
“Then let’s look around Central’s shops. Aria-san, any famous places? Weapons, armor, books — somewhere worth visiting?”
Novem asked Aria.
Aria listed a few she’d heard of.
“Central has excellent craftsmen for weapons and armor. But the prices… bookshops, there’s one with great stock. The library too, but timing-wise…”
When I heard library, I thought.
(If we had time I’d want to stay longer — but staying too long isn’t smart.)
Central just bled money.
Anything you wanted, but more outflow than other places. Cost of living high.
I was hesitating; Novem offered guidance.
“For libraries, Aramsus is said to be the world’s best. It’s famous as a scholarly city.”
Aria nodded.
“I know it. A city that gathers talented young people from far and wide. — But that place doesn’t have a lord either, right? I heard the scholars choose representatives and decide things. Like Beim?”
Beim was a free city run by merchants.
No lord, so it was livable for adventurers.
“Aramsus or Beim… either way, let’s gather information before deciding.”
I picked up my bags and started walking, looking for an inn.
“Hey — I’ll carry my own bag, you know.”
Aria scrambled to take her bag back; I refused and walked.
“Just come on. Novem, stop laughing and hurry.”
“Yes — sorry, Lord Lyle.”
I hurried along Novem, who was laughing at Aria-and-me, and walked through the capital.
Remembering walking the past capital with the First, there were traces.
But unlike then, it was cleaner.
“This place changed, too.”
Aria tilted her head.
“Huh? You’ve been here? — Around here didn’t change much, though. Lyle, are you okay?”
She gave me a suspicious look. I gave a wry smile.
“Yeah — 200 years, maybe.”
Flat stare.
“Joking. Second time, actually. I stopped here on the way to Darion — that’s it.”
The capital’s sky, just as when I’d walked it with the First, was clear and blue.