Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 456

456

“So you really aren’t a priest. A spiritist, huh…”

“Come to think of it, even when I had amnesia, I was sensitive to the word ‘spirit.’ I thought it was strange, but it was because you were a spiritist.”

“Ahem, El isn’t just any spiritist. He’s a high-level spiritist.”

Chris interjected, puffing out his chest. He looked as if he were a spiritist himself. Simon and his group looked at me with even more surprise. Then Della, who seemed lost in thought, opened her mouth with a stern expression.

“I have one question to ask.”

“Yes, ask away.”

“Langshi became a spiritist after you left. Is it related to you in any way?”

Ah, right, there was that issue. The girl I first met here came to mind. I was grateful for her help in many ways, so I helped her become a spiritist. I told her not to mention me in case it caused problems later, but it turns out I was the one who gave away the clue. Circumstantially and chronologically, they couldn’t help but suspect my involvement.

“Um, what did Langshi say?”

“She said a person she met by chance helped her make a contract with a spirit. She didn’t say what he looked like, only that he taught her the summoning incantation.”

I tried not to show it, but I sighed in relief. Fortunately, the details of the contract process weren’t revealed. The situation wasn’t too bad. The problem wasn’t so much that I helped with the contract itself, but that the method I used wasn’t orthodox. I did it without thinking—not using a medium, holding hands and chanting the summoning incantation, things like that.

Otherwise, it was common for spiritists to recognize and discover someone’s potential. In fact, most spiritists made contracts that way. I could probably make up an excuse.

“Langshi had a natural talent. I just recognized it and helped a little.”

“…I see.”

Della’s breathing trembled slightly. Simon and the others also looked flushed. As expected, they didn’t realize that I had turned an ordinary girl into a spiritist.

“Now I understand why Langshi didn’t say anything. First a priest, then a spiritist, you really surprise us in many ways.”

“Now that you know the truth, are you going to report me for impersonating a priest?”

It was a question I had to ask at this point. Chris’s expression stiffened as if he had just realized it. But Simon and Della chuckled as if they had heard a silly joke.

“Report you? That’s absurd. We know what gratitude is.”

“Gratitude?”

“We’ve already received your help several times. There was Erina’s case, and the monster attack recently.”

Ah, so that’s how it is. Both happened so suddenly that I hadn’t given it much thought. As I was feeling awkward, Simon smiled faintly. It was the softest expression I had seen on his face so far.

“We haven’t properly thanked you. I want to thank you now. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be alive. Thank you for saving us. And we won’t report our savior, so don’t worry about that.”

“I’m more grateful that you said that. So, are you still willing to join our guild? You’re not going to back out of the contract, are you?”

“I never considered it.”

The tension in my body slowly eased. When I reunited with the three, I felt hopeless, but fortunately, things seemed to be working out easily.

“Ah, but there’s one thing I need to confirm. You said it was a secret, but impersonating a priest is not a minor matter. Are you involved in anything dangerous? If so, I hope you can give us a hint so we can prepare.”

“No! Absolutely not. It won’t cause any trouble. I can assure you of that.”

“Okay. Then there’s no problem.”

With Della’s nod, the atmosphere became much more relaxed. We formally introduced ourselves, sharing our names, ages, and specialties. The three of them were all in their mid-twenties and all Calla-ranked hunters. Simon used a sword, Della used a bow, and they had been hunters for three years. I also learned that the other man, who had been sitting quietly, was named Nev, and his main weapon was also a bow.

“Nev and I learned archery from Erina. Erina was a kind person who helped us adapt to this path. We came to the capital because we wanted to join the Dawn’s Bow Guild, where Erina used to be. We know it’s a great guild and doesn’t accept just anyone, but we wanted to take the entrance exam. But when we got here, we found out the guild had disappeared.”

The news that had been buzzing in the capital hadn’t reached the remote countryside of the kingdom. Della shook her head, saying it was really absurd, and expressed her despair at the time.

“I wandered around for a while. I thought about giving up and going back to my hometown, but I didn’t want to. Then I heard that a guild with the same name was being formed. I looked into it and ran into Chris.”

“Um, have you heard about our situation? As you can see from the number of members, our guild isn’t in a great situation.”

“Of course, we heard. I think we made the right decision. The Dawn Guild is like a hometown to Erina. If we can rebuild that guild, we’ll do anything.”

Simon and Nev nodded with serious expressions at Della’s words. Seeing their enthusiastic eyes, I felt touched. I thought it would be enough to just fill the quota, but their attitude toward the guild was more serious than expected. It seemed like I had met good people.

“We look forward to working with you.”

“We look forward to it too.”

After greeting everyone, I met Chris’s eyes. Unlike his smiling face, his eyes were red. I could see a surge of emotions in his wavering eyes.

I was just as moved, if not more so. My heart had been beating too fast for a while. It was the moment the long-awaited wish was finally coming true.

It was the start of the new Dawn Guild.

* * *

The weather, which had entered the summer season in earnest, was very clear. The climate of the capital, similar to that of Central and Western Europe, did not have large seasonal changes, making it a good place to live in any season, but today was a particularly good day. The wind was pleasantly blowing, the sunlight was moderately bright, and the air was clear thanks to the light rain that had fallen in the morning. The sky was so blue it was almost painful. The pure white clouds filling it seemed close enough to touch.

—I found it.

—It’s not far away.

As I was sitting on the wall, enjoying the scenery, the Naiads [water nymphs], who had circled around me, came close and whispered in my ear. Even though I was the only one who could hear them, they seemed to find it fun.

I guess it’s amazing to tell the summoner the situation in words. At first, it required a lot of concentration, but now I’m skilled enough to hear their voices whenever I want. Naias especially enjoyed that I understood their words. This time, when I nodded to show that I understood, they spun around and giggled. They were cute little things.

“Slowly drive it this way.”

—Okay! I understand!

The Naiads, who had answered energetically, jumped up with bright faces. This time, the ones who had scattered in all directions were all heading in one direction. That way, huh? When I looked up, one of the remaining Naiads nodded. I nodded too.

“Everyone, get ready.”

Tension filled the faces of the group waiting nearby. I raised one hand and focused on the Naiads’ movements. The distance that had opened up was quickly closing again. I could see a shadow running like lightning below.

“Right now!”

“Hiyah!”

Almost simultaneously with the signal, Chris moved his arms greatly. The net he threw spread wide and covered the small body that was running. The startled shadow tried to quickly change direction, but it was already blocked on all sides.

“I got it!”

“We succeeded!”

Everyone who had been waiting in case of emergency stood up and cheered.

“Meow.”

The cat, struggling in the net, meowed unhappily.

* * *

“Yellow stripes and white socks. The scar on the left ear. Everything matches. It seems to be the cat we were commissioned to find.”

The Hunter Association employee, who had been carefully examining the cat, gave his final confirmation. As the seal certifying the completion of the mission was stamped on the documents that had been compared, the expressions of everyone who had been watching nervously relaxed.

“Here is your reward. We’ve added a little more at the association’s discretion because you finished it faster than the promised period.”

The employee handed over a bag of money. It was a pleasant moment with an unexpected bonus, but Chris’s expression, who was receiving it, wasn’t entirely bright. But his eyes lit up again at the employee’s next words.

“The Dawn Guild has been getting very good reviews lately. No guild has ever completed a request this quickly.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Just this one, no one has been able to catch it for over two months. But you solved it in three hours. Honestly, I couldn’t help but admire you. You finished the previous request at a similar speed, right? Thanks to you, we’re getting a flood of designated requests. It’s proof that you’re doing very well. It’s really rare for a small guild to receive designated requests.”

“Then can we take on more difficult requests now?”

“Of course. I was going to recommend a bigger reward soon anyway.”

Contrary to expectations that he would be stern, the employee answered readily. Chris, surprised by the unexpected development, turned to us with a bright face. The other members were all flushed as well. The association employee, seeing our excitement, also had a pleased expression.

“Then I’ll show you the next request. As I said, it’s a request with a bigger reward. Of course, it’s more difficult.”

“Oh, we’ve been waiting for this!”

“Yes, this is the request.”

Chris received the request form with an expectant face. But that expression didn’t last long.

“Let’s see. This is also a search request. A mole escaped from its cage two days ago and disappeared. Please find the mole…?”

After reading the letters for a while, he raised his head with an awkwardly frozen face. The association employee was smiling with a what’s-the-problem face.

“Um, is the mole you’re talking about a monster mole?”

“No, no. If you look at the details, you’ll see that it’s a pet mole. It’s a precious child that the third young master of the Luzon Count family cherished, and he’s very upset that he lost it.”

“…It’s not about 10 Lao [a unit of measurement] in size, is it?”

“Haha, of course not. It’s a small and cute mole that’s less than 1 Lao.”

“Then what’s the grade?”

“Of course, it’s Arma. But this time, there’s a difficulty, so it’s an intermediate Arma. After all, moles live underground, so they’re harder to find. But you can’t just catch any mole. It has to be a mole with the Luzon Count family’s mark on its back.”

“Ah, I see. It’s definitely difficult.”

“Right, isn’t it?”

Chris and the association employee looked at each other and smiled brightly.

“Are you kidding me!”

The deafening shout that pierced the roof came a little later.

“Are you a little calmer now?”

Even after being forcibly stopped from overturning the desk and being taken out, Chris couldn’t stop panting for a while. He sat in the corner of the lobby and sighed lowly after repeatedly washing his face with his dry hands.

“I’m sorry. I was too excited.”

“It’s okay.”

“Damn it, it’s always like this. Is it even possible to keep giving only Arma-level requests?”

Chris’s breathing became rough again as if he was getting angry again. The sound of grinding teeth echoed between his clenched lips. The members who were comforting him also didn’t have good expressions.

It was an inevitable situation. It had already been a month since the guild was registered. In the meantime, the requests that had come to us were all low-grade, such as finding lost pets or transporting luggage. It’s true that it’s difficult for a small guild to take on high-level requests from the beginning, but it was clearly a problem to only give the lowest-grade requests for more than a month.

Moreover, we were a guild with two Axis-level hunters. An Axis-level hunter is considered a considerable force on their own. The association’s current actions were like cutting radishes with a tiger-catching knife [using excessive force for a simple task]. The reason for this was so obvious that there was no need to mention it.

“We expected to be interfered with, didn’t we?”

“But this is too much!”

“Still, what’s the point of blaming the employee? That person is just doing what they’re told. The real problem is the higher-ups.”

“Damn it, those Soul Soothers!”

Chris, who was grinding his teeth again, rubbed his head roughly. Because the sound was quite loud, the hunters nearby glanced at us. Their gazes were full of curiosity and mixed with murmurs.