Uh...it should be around here, I think...
Allen tilted his head as he looked around. It was that strange time of day, too late to call early morning, yet too early to call midday. He walked through the lively streets with a note in hand. On it was a set of directions to a certain place. At least, that was supposed to be the case.
Hmm... Don’t tell me this is part of the test too...
The note had been given to him when he’d accepted a request at the Adventurer’s Guild. It was meant to show the way to the client’s location.
The guild had handed him the note, but apparently, it hadn’t been written by the guild itself. It had been prepared by the client. All it contained was one large circle, one small circle, and a few lines connecting the two.
Still, that alone wouldn’t have been much of a problem. It was easy enough to assume that the large circle represented the guild, the small one the destination, and the lines indicated the path between them.
The trouble was that in a remote Frontier town like this, while the main roads were simple enough, the side streets were a tangled mess of narrow alleys and confusing turns. And the path drawn on the note seemed completely oblivious to that complexity, depicted in the simplest, most abstract way possible.
I’d heard that she was a tricky sort, but...is this intentional?
The request had been posted at the guild that very morning. Allen had asked for the one with the highest reward and ended up choosing this one. He figured he’d need some startup capital no matter what he planned to do, so he might as well go big. But he’d been warned about a few things when he took the job. First, the request had been shelved for quite some time. Second, the reason for that was the client, who was said to be particularly difficult to deal with. Third, because of how difficult she was, there was no guarantee she’d actually let someone take the job until they met in person.
Allen had found that hard to believe at first, but since the guild only served as a mediator for requests, it was certainly possible. That said, such requests were rare enough that most people didn’t bother taking them. Which meant only one thing: This request was unusual enough to be an exception.
Of course, the exact nature of the job was still a mystery until he actually met the client. Normally, something so vague would set off all kinds of red flags, but the reward was so exorbitantly high that it practically erased them. Compared to the other jobs being offered, the reward was in an entirely different bracket. Plenty of others had tried for it because of that, but according to the guild, every last one of them had been turned down after being tested in various ways. Some hadn’t even made it to the client and had been rejected on the spot.
Just hearing about it made it clear how difficult the client was, and that was why the request had sat untouched for so long. Allen knew there was a good chance he’d be rejected too, but he wouldn’t know unless he went. And that was how he’d ended up with this strange note, trying to find his way to the client.
Apparently when other people came here, they didn’t even need the note, since she’s so well-known... Maybe I should just ask someone around here.
No one had told him it was against the rules, and if the client really was that famous, then someone nearby was bound to know the name. Unfortunately for Allen, it wasn’t one he recognized.
Well, to be fair, my social circle’s not exactly wide. If she’s only well-known among adventurers, people on the street might not be much help anyway...
Still, he figured it couldn’t hurt to ask around, and he began glancing at his surroundings. Then, he suddenly tilted his head again. There was something familiar about the place. It shouldn’t have been recognizable, and yet it was.
Wait. Now that I think about it, I haven’t been here in a while, and the area’s changed a bit since I last saw it... That’s why I didn’t notice sooner, but this place is...
Once he realized it, all the confusion vanished. He turned and walked straight. To him, this place may have held even more meaning than the Adventurer’s Guild itself, second only to the estate he’d lived in.
“Vanessa, huh?” he muttered and stood there for a moment, staring at the house. But standing there forever wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Resolving himself, he stepped forward and knocked.
No response... I think they said not to expect one and that it was fine to let myself in.
There was noise coming from inside the house, so she clearly wasn’t out. Some kind of hammering rang out at regular intervals. He knocked several more times but still got no response.
Well, if the client gave permission, I guess it’s fine to go on in.
Giving up, he opened the door and stepped inside. The sound grew louder—rhythmic strikes, metal on metal—but there was still no sign that anyone had noticed him. He walked farther in, then stopped in his tracks at the sight of someone’s back.
“Noel?”
“Huh?”
The name slipped from his lips before he’d even realized it. As though responding to the sound, the hammering stopped, and the figure turned to face him. But the person who appeared before him looked nothing like Noel. Not the shape of her face, not even the color of her hair—they weren’t just unrelated, they weren’t even the same race. They were so completely different that it would’ve been more difficult to find similarities.
And yet, the impression Allen got at first glance didn’t waver. She resembled Noel. Or...was it Noel who resembled her? She was Noel’s master. He didn’t even need to ask. He could feel it.
“Who are you? As you can see, I’m busy. If you’re here to sell something, I’m not interested—”
“Ah, no... Um, I accepted the request you posted at the guild...” Allen quickly explained, startled by the sharp glare aimed his way.
If this woman really was Noel’s master, there were certainly a lot of things he was curious about. But those were matters between them. Allen had no right to interfere. What mattered now was the request. That had to come first. Besides, according to what he’d heard at the guild, this was where the real challenge began. There was no room for carelessness.
Just as he was steeling himself, the woman narrowed her already sharp eyes even further. “Hmph? No one’s come by lately. I figured the request had been pulled, but I guess there’s still the odd fool curious enough to show up.”
“Fool, huh? But you’re the one who posted the request, aren’t you?”
“Hmph. I knew the ones who showed up would be worthless anyway. Just hoping you’re not another waste of time...”
She gave Allen a long, appraising stare from head to toe, as though weighing his worth. At the very least, she didn’t immediately throw him out. He let out a quiet sigh of relief...only for her to mutter, “Hm?” under her breath, eyes narrowing again as they fixed on something.
“That sword...”
“Huh? Oh, you mean this?”
It seemed his sword had caught her attention. She stared at it, as if trying to confirm something, and Allen felt an odd flicker of nervousness, probably because he knew who had forged the blade and who was standing before him now. That was what made his heart race, more than being evaluated himself.
“No, never mind. It’s a fine sword,” she murmured.
Those words made him unexpectedly happy. She hadn’t offered any clear praise, and yet somehow, it felt like a compliment. The sword Noel had forged had just been acknowledged by the woman she looked up to as her master, which meant Noel’s skill had been recognized. For some reason, that made Allen strangely proud.
“Well then, let’s move on. You heard that I’ll be testing whether or not you’re fit to take this request, right?”
“Ah, yes. That’s what I was told.”
“Good. In that case, do you know what a mandragora is?”
“Of course I do.”
It was a well-known plant, after all. But as far as he knew, it was typically used in alchemy. He’d never heard of a blacksmith needing one.
“I get what you’re thinking. But no, I’m not just throwing out random challenges. Mandragora can be used in blacksmithing too, though not many people know that.”
“Is that so?”
She didn’t seem like she was lying, so he assumed it was true. It was surprising, realizing the plant had uses even he hadn’t known about. Still, something else bothered him.
“What is it? Got a question?” Vanessa asked, her eyes narrowing.
“Well, yeah, sort of. Mandragoras are the ones, right? The ones that scream when you pull them out of the ground, and that scream can kill you?”
“Yeah, that’s right. There should be some growing in the forest not too far from here. All I’m asking is that you go and pick one. Oh, and don’t worry, it’s included in the job payment. Given the market rate, I’d say it’s more than fair.”
That part, at least, was true. Mandragoras were dangerous to harvest, so they fetched a high price, but given how large the reward for this job was, even the inclusion of a mandragora didn’t make it unreasonable.
What concerned Allen was whether that really was all there was to it. Sure, harvesting mandragoras could be fatal if you weren’t careful, but there were ways to avoid the scream, and the process wasn’t all that difficult. Not everyone could do it, of course, but it wasn’t impossible either. For a request that had supposedly turned away every single applicant—some without even meeting the client—this seemed almost too easy. Was this just the beginning? A warm-up for something more difficult to come?
Well, guess I won’t know until I try.
He’d known this job would come with complications, and he’d accepted that in exchange for the massive payout. This was still within his expectations. And more than that...if she was Noel’s master, then getting involved here might just be worth it, in more ways than one.
With that thought in mind, Allen leaned in, ready to listen carefully to what came next.