“Kewlny, we have business to attend to. Return to your duties.”
Oh, Allusia had switched back to her formal voice. She did have a point, but...our business was to go look around for souvenirs. This old man wanted to get all the scheduling nonsense out of the way so that he could treat himself to some sightseeing.
“Ah, sorry... Master! Do you have any time later today?” Kewlny asked.
“Hm? Let’s see... If there’s time, I’d like to take a look around town,” I answered.
“Th-Then! I can go—”
“I’ll be guiding him,” Allusia said, sharply cutting her off. “Kewlny, hurry up and return to your duties.”
Why are you always jumping to your reply before people finish talking?! Kewlny is so scared! She’s like a wet puppy in the rain!
I decided to keep those thoughts to myself and instead offered some placating words. “Aah... Kewlny, that’s how it goes, so...”
I don’t really know how it goes...but I guess that’s just how it goes. Allusia’s pressure was just a little too strong. It looked like there wasn’t going to be an opportunity for the three of us to enjoy a shopping trip together.
“Erk, okay...” Kewlny’s head hung in a crestfallen manner for a moment, but then her cheerfulness took over once again. “Master! Baltrain is a great place, so enjoy yourself!”
“Yeah, thanks.” The speed at which she’d changed gears was the same as when she’d attended our dojo.
“Then Master, let’s go,” Allusia said.
“S-Sure. See you later, Kewlny.”
After parting ways with my petite former pupil, Allusia led me out of the order’s office. Baltrain’s central district, where the office was located, was home to many government facilities. We didn’t really have the time to go around at a leisurely pace today, but I did want to take a slow stroll around the capital one day.
A short while after leaving the office with Allusia, the two of us walked over to the line of souvenir shops near the carriage stop.
“This shop handles confections and the like,” she said. “It’s fairly popular among the order too.”
“Hmm, confections? Not bad.”
Anyway, I still felt bad for Kewlny. If I had time later, maybe it’d be nice to accompany her on a tour around town. Though, the thought kinda conjured the image of taking a dog for a walk...
“That’s Allusia for you... We’re attracting a ton of attention,” I remarked.
“The Liberion Order is very well recognized among the populace,” Allusia replied, not appearing the least bit nervous.
I could tell she was acting just like she always did—in a good way. It hadn’t been all that long a walk from the order’s office to the souvenir shops, but her beautiful looks and popularity stood out tremendously in Baltrain. A good number of the people we passed on the streets turned to look. Naturally, the majority of those gazes were filled with respect or admiration, but some were also filled with curiosity.
“Anyway, isn’t it rough walking around with someone like me?” I asked.
“Not at all. You’re overthinking things, Master.”
Most of the curious attention was directed at me. I understood why—the well-known knight commander of the Liberion Order was walking around with a boring old man. It was bound to attract attention. No one tried to strike up a conversation, but I felt a good number of curious eyes on us, even as we perused the souvenir shops.
“This is pretty much a da—”
“Hm? You say something?” I asked.
“No. Nothing. Ah, what about this?” Allusia pointed at some baked goods. I’d apparently imagined her mumbling next to me.
“Let’s see... Hm, looks tasty enough, and it should keep for a while.”
They were nice little desserts and seemed like the kind of stuff both my mom and dad would enjoy. They also scored highly for being relatively cheap. I couldn’t possibly go wrong with Allusia’s recommendation either. Not that I cared much.
With that quickly settled, I called out to the shopkeeper, “Excuse me! I’ll have two of these.”
“Right away! Thanks for the business!” he replied energetically, quickly putting the goods in a bag while stealing glances at me and Allusia.
As I thought, a beauty of her caliber was really mismatched with such an old man.
After paying up and wondering what to do next, I figured I’d go and look for a sword or something. After all, we had the time. Suddenly, from behind us...
“To think, the nation’s great knight commander is out shopping with a man. My, how you’ve fallen.”
The voice was awfully hostile. Allusia also seemed to hear it, and the two of us turned around pretty much simultaneously.
“Lysandra...” Allusia murmured. “What do you want?”
“Oh, nothing really. I was just thinking about how much spare time you must have.” The woman named Lysandra maintained her haughty attitude. As she continued to glare at Allusia, both her tone and expression remained overbearing and hostile.
I looked her over. She was taller than Allusia—her height was actually comparable to mine. That made her pretty tall for a woman. Her scarlet hair was like a blaze, and it was cut at shoulder length. Matching that, her red eyes flared with light, much like a roaring fire. Her beauty was that of someone with an unyielding spirit. To put it bluntly, she was like a handsome man with breasts.
She had two wide scabbards hanging from her waist, likely housing broadswords. Did this mean she was a practitioner of a dual-sword style? That was pretty rare. Her breastplate seemed to heavily favor practicality, and while it didn’t have the splendor of a Liberion Knight’s armor, it gave her the bearing of a warrior. Also adorning her chest was a black plate that signified her status.
On the Galean continent, there was an occupation known as adventuring. People who did this for a living fell under the jurisdiction of an organization called the adventurer’s guild, which spanned borders and covered an even wider breadth of activities than knightly orders. From errands for the common populace, to escorting merchants, to exterminating monsters, to investigating ruins and dungeons, to even going on quests in unknown lands, adventurers traveled all over the world without being confined to the concept of national identity. Being an adventurer could be numbered among the most sought-after dream jobs in the world.
Not everyone was capable of chasing that dream, however. The guild assigned ranks based on an adventurer’s abilities. Fundamentally, it was impossible to take on a quest higher than your rank. This was to prevent people from getting heavily wounded or dying from attempting something beyond their capabilities. The only way to raise your rank was the slow and steady way: by finishing jobs and passing a promotion exam set by the guild.
From lowest to highest, those ranks were white, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, ocean, and black. I glanced at the woman’s plate once more, and my eyes widened. Black! Seriously?! Black plate! This was my first time seeing someone of this rank in person. Lysandra was super strong.
Adventurers had dropped by Beaden before, but the highest rank we’d ever seen in the sticks was gold. There were very few adventurers at ocean ranks or above to begin with, and they tended to travel all over the world handling the toughest jobs. It was pretty much impossible to spot one randomly.