“First, try to follow my movements with your eyes.”
“N-no way! No can do! That’s impossible! Your movements? With my eyes? And at night?!”
“‘Impossible’ no longer exists in your vocabulary. You need to get used to being in the dark.”
“But…,” Almelia mumbled as she hung her head. “I-in that case, I want a reward!”
“…Fine. I suppose some motivation is important.”
“If I lay a hand on you…th—then…I want a date. A-a date, but, like, between a normal man and a normal girl. That’s what I want…”
The moonlight made it more obvious Almelia’s face had grown red.
“A normal man… Hmm. All right.”
That didn’t sound too difficult. I was a normal man.
“Wait, what’s with that expression on your face? Wh-whatever. I’m going to work really hard. I can do this. I can. This is it!” Almelia opened and closed her hands, clenching her fists several times to work herself up.
“But only if you lay a hand on me,” I reminded her.
“I—I know.”
The training went all night, continuing until I had to leave for work in the morning. It had been a while since I’d trained like this.
“I can’t…touch you… Should have…chosen something easier… You’re still on a whole different level…”
By dawn, Almelia, who was out of shape like I’d suspected, could no longer stand. I was right to have taken her under my care.
“According to your own standards, your opponent is more than you can currently handle. The training is only going to get more intensive.”
“No… No more…”
I lent Almelia a shoulder as she threatened to break into tears. For now, I decided to take her to the guild.
“Mr. Roland, you didn’t return to the castle. And now you’ve brought the princess with you?” Milia said, her tone wavering.
It would take a long time to explain why Almelia was here, which wasn’t exactly a heartwarming story, so I told everyone that Almelia was observing the branch.
“Yes, since we can easily go to and from here with the Gate.”
It was simple enough to make Almelia into an adventurer since the entire world knew how powerful she was. However, she wouldn’t take any quests until Frank arrived. Until then, I would be getting her ready.
People had begun to loiter in the reception hall to gawk at Almelia. When the staffers passed by her, they would freeze from nervousness. I felt bad for them and for causing extra hassle for Iris. There was nowhere else I could’ve taken the princess, but this would certainly interfere with work.
While considering what to do, I heard someone call out brightly, “There you are, Roland!”
Maylee, Roje, Rila in her cat form, and the pretty girl squad had arrived. Maylee dashed up to the counter and hopped up and down.
“Where were you? You didn’t come home all night.”
Roje sighed, seemingly wishing to say something to the effect of, “You could have told someone that you weren’t coming home. Honestly…”
“I left to pick up Felind’s princess. She’s going to stay here for a while.” I pointed behind me.
Maylee’s eyes glittered. “I-it’s the heroooo!”
Kids looked up to Almelia. Roje was less than impressed, however.
“Roje, do not allow your temper to show,” Rila warned, her voice at a whisper.
“I—I know, Lord Rileyla,” the elf replied softly.
Eelu and Su appeared awestruck, while Lyan and Sanz had a reaction similar to Maylee’s.
“Master Roland… You went all the way to the Felind Kingdom to bring the great hero here?”
I nodded. “Yes, she’ll be with us for a while to observe how the new guild operates.”
“I knew you were amazing, Master Roland, but I had no idea you had ties to Felind’s hero-princess,” Su remarked, which gave me an idea.
“Hey, Alme—I mean…Princess,” I called.
“What is it?”
“This is Lady Alias, the princess of Bardenhawk,” I said. “We call her Maylee.”
Almelia bent over a bit to meet Maylee’s eyes. “Hello, Lady Alias.”
“H-h-hello, great hero!” Maylee was bursting with excitement. Apparently, I didn’t need to introduce Almelia.
Despite hailing from different nations, both were princesses. The pair would surely form a bond over that.
“While I’m working, could you go with Maylee and the others…Princess?”
“Why not? I’d just impede your work here.”
Roje seemed doubly mortified by that proposal. “Lord Rileyla, are you fine with this?”
“I will allow it,” Rila replied. “She is a friend.”
“A friend?!” Roje eyed Almelia dubiously. The hero tilted her head to one side, confused.
“Hm? A cat that talks…and that voice. Wait, it’s my teacher, the black cat!”
“Mm-hmm. It is I, waif.”
“Why, you little—! You dare address Lord Rileyla by such a lowly title?!” Roje was quick to start a fight whenever it came to Rila.
“What’s wrong with you, elf? This doesn’t concern you… Are you trying to start something?” Almelia said.
“N-no!”
Evidently, the two women understood who was stronger than the other.
“Rila, are you friends with the great hero?”
“Mm-hmm. She’s even visited my home,” Rila replied.
“Wowwwwww!”
“Huh?” Now Almelia looked puzzled.
I’d never explained to her that the black cat she’d met on the Somaleel coast and Rila, who she’d met when the demon lord’s purse was snatched, were the same person. I did so now.
“My teacher and Rila are the same person… Th-that sounds complicated… So all that risqué stuff she told me about was from…?” Almelia’s eyes darted between Rila and me.
“Certain circumstances make it more likely for us to meet while I am in this form. I’m glad of our reunion, Almelia.”
“Yes. It’s nice seeing you again, too.”
Almelia took Rila’s front paw and gave it a sort of handshake.
I winked at Rila, and she nodded to show she understood. As long as Almelia was with Roje, Rila, and the pretty girl squad, I wouldn’t need to keep an eye on her. Then again, Almelia was much stronger than any of them, so I almost wondered who was protecting whom.
“I only know a little bit about adventurers, Lady Alias, so I don’t know what you actually do. You’ll need to teach me.”
“I-I-I’ll show you! Mmf!” Maylee made an excited sound.
“I believe you reached E rank today, Maylee,” I commented.
“That’s right! I want a quest where I can fight lotsa monsters!” Perhaps she was trying to show off in front of the hero.
“I’ll give you a moderately difficult one, then.”
With many others around to help, I didn’t think Maylee would have any trouble even if she encountered monsters, but I still set her up with a comparatively safe herb-gathering quest.
“See you later!” Maylee waved her arms wildly as she left.
Once Almelia’s group departed, the entire guild relaxed. Her hero title wasn’t just for show. When people saw her, they stiffened up and worked hard to keep from making mistakes in front of her. With Almelia gone, I would get a lot more done, though.
Iris came by and handed me a familiar envelope. “For you, Roland.”
I thanked her, and opened the missive. It was from Ben Amster, the former guild master of the Welger Company.
He’d written regarding our plan to deal with the current head of the company. We’d turned the investigation into a quest I had Dey and Ravi take. They were going to find out what kind of organization the Welger Company truly was, inside and out. If Ben thought his old enterprise was headed down the wrong bath, even without Barbatos involved anymore, he was prepared to reclaim leadership.
According to him, he couldn’t stand something he’d built from the ground up being used for nefarious ends.
“Master Roland, I’m baaack.”
“I’m back, Roland!”
Dey and Ravi had come to check in.
“How did tailing go? Same as before?” I motioned for the two to sit across from me.
“I don’t think there’s much of a difference. They lost Barbatos, but they’ve been fundraising a lot and seem to be panicking.”
Had Barbatos and the Welger Company gotten their way, both would have ended up controlling a country. And if one side triumphed, it would surely render great support for the other. Without its ally, the Welger Company was clearly starting to worry.
“Their work is a looot less fancy than before. And they’ve hired way more tough guys who looove blabbing. With all the information I got from Bale, buttering up these new sources has been pretty easy.”
Clearly, the Welger Company still had no idea how to operate other than by poaching and smuggling, and it had recently abandoned all real commerce to focus on underground enterprise. Ben would definitely be ashamed.
“Good job,” I told Dey and Ravi. “You can take a break today.”
I handed over the reward I’d prepped for them.
“W-w-we’ve really earned all of this?!” Ravi exclaimed, incredulous.
They each got one million, a show of how serious the client was about this mission.
“Master Roland asks me to do difficult, specialized quests,” Dey explained. “So the rewards are higher, too.”
Ravi hugged Dey. “I’m going to partner with you forever!”
“Oh my, oh my.” Dey laughed.
Having Ravi’s defensive skill probably helped Dey feel safer during the daytime. One was the arms, and the other the shield. They made a good team.
I wrote a reply to Ben’s letter, explaining everything Dey and Ravi had told me.
In the former count’s missive, he’d also written:
If the guild is unsalvageable, then I would like to submit an assassination quest to the underground guild.
It seemed it would soon be time for me to visit that seedy place again.
I needed to nip the issue plaguing Bardenhawk in the bud before it could spread like a cancer.