Mewi and I generally didn’t have an interest in anything beyond daily necessities. There was practically nothing artistic in this house, and neither of us felt that living like this was an inconvenience. However, I couldn’t possibly treat Shueste’s handcrafted gift with apathy. This wasn’t a matter of monetary value or anything—not displaying the flowers would simply deviate from proper manners.
“I got it from the young lady of House Flumvelk,” I explained. “It’s one of the few things that brings color to this house.”
“I see... It’s very nice. Everything from the selection of flowers to the colors to their arrangement shows how meticulous its creator was.”
“Ha ha. I guess you really do like flowers, huh?”
“Y-Yes. As embarrassing as it is...”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Flowers suit you, both now and before.”
“Th-Thank you...”
It was very much like Surena to have such detailed impressions of the pressed bouquet. Due to her self-assured attitude and status as a high-ranking adventurer, those around her could easily get the wrong impression. Surena was quite the delicate type by nature, though—she hadn’t lost that part of her as she’d grown older, and this attribute could even overpower her rough exterior.
It was easy to imagine how she wasn’t allowed to let this part of her show sometimes. Maybe you could call it one of the secrets to her success in life. That could make her seem like a stranger to others, though.
At least when we were alone like this, I figured it was fine for her to break out of that shell. Her expression and tone are very gentle right now. It was better to have at least one person she could be like this with, and if I was that one person, then, well, it was simply a benefit of being a teacher. Can I really call her my pupil in swordsmanship, though?
“W-Well then, about why I’m visiting today...” Surena said, changing the topic somewhat shyly.
“Oops, that’s right.”
This was why she’d come here to begin with. Time to get to it.
“I’ll be heading out on a rather long commission,” she said, straightening her posture and speaking more firmly. “It is...a high-risk commission, so I wanted to let you know, just in case.”
“Hmm...”
I was a little too concerned to give her an “Oh, okay” and see her off on the spot.
“The fact that you went out of your way to let me know means...it’s really dangerous, right?” I asked.
“Yes. In all likelihood.”
If I had to guess, the highest-ranking members of the adventurer’s guild could be unexpectedly pulled into requests that no ordinary members could accomplish. They were black rank precisely because they could handle it.
However, they weren’t invincible. No matter the circumstances, we were all still humans, not monsters. It was so easy to die in an unexpected accident. Even if things didn’t go that far, it was possible to suffer a serious injury that could put us out of commission for a while—or even permanently.
I couldn’t optimistically claim that Surena would be just fine. That said, I couldn’t tell her that I would just come along with her. That would have all kinds of harmful effects. It would be absurd to barge into one of the adventurer’s guild’s commissions, and that didn’t even take into account the fact that I was the Liberion Order’s special instructor.
Surena wasn’t here to ask for my assistance. Therefore, I figured there was another way to approach this conversation. I can spend time thinking about it after I talk to her a little more.
I started by confirming what had been bothering me about her phrasing. “What do you mean by ‘in all likelihood’?” I asked.
“The primary goal is an investigation,” she explained. “So, all the details are up in the air, and I’m uncertain about what I’m going to find. They’ve classified this job as extremely dangerous based on the worst-case scenario.”
It turned out that, while the job was assumed to be dangerous from the get-go, that wasn’t a certainty. This was a little hard to process. An investigation was quite different from when we’d guided Porta’s party of new adventurers.
I’m not an adventurer, so I don’t know how much I can ask about this. Still, if I prod too far, Surena can just dodge the question.
“From what I’m hearing,” I said, “it sounds questionable that a black rank suddenly needs to get involved.”
“Well, after taking everything into consideration, the guild has decided that it would ultimately be better for me to go. I agree with their assessment.”
“If you say so...”
I understood that it was dangerous. It made sense that they couldn’t throw their newcomers and youngsters into such a situation. However, it seemed strange to send Surena out there, given the lack of accurate information.
Black ranks were the greatest force available to the adventurer’s guild. Sending one out based on unreliable intel didn’t really add up. If they told me that the danger, combined with the lack of information, was why they were sending a high-ranking adventurer, then I could only nod along. This would just mean a difference in personal mindset, the adventurer guild’s policies, and the sense of the adventurers taking on the commission. I didn’t want to interfere with what the guild was doing or anything.
“I don’t mind if you only share what you can,” I said. “Do you know where you’re going and for how long?”
“It’ll be west of here, over a relatively wide area. You can say that’s exactly why it’s estimated to take a long time.”
“I see...”
If she was headed west of Baltrain, that meant it had nothing to do with the south where Sphenedyardvania was. I could come up with two possibilities: Either she would be traveling to our neighbor to the west—the Salura Zaruk Empire—or she would be challenging the Aflatta Mountain Range that towered over the border.
If this had been the order’s mission, I could’ve guaranteed that it was the latter. There would be all sorts of problems if a military force crossed the border. However, the adventurer’s guild wasn’t bound to any one country, so it was technically possible for them to accept commissions that straddled national borders.
For example, if there was a serious problem within the Salura Zaruk Empire, adventurers stationed in Liberis could go to assist. I didn’t know much about this stuff, so it was all hearsay to me. But I did know that if they were going to another country, they had to be able to get support from the locals.
If I have to make a hopeful guess, then...it would be better for Surena’s job to have something to do with the Aflatta Mountain Range. I doubt they would send her on such a dangerous investigation on her own, though.
“Just to ask, this isn’t a call for help, right?” I asked.
“It isn’t. This job’ll take too long, so I could never ask you for such a thing. This is something I must do on my own anyway.”