“It seems like she really wants to work at least a little bit. Oh yeah, I saw Rod! When did he get his license, anyway?”
Kuntz seemed to have remembered his brother.
“A few months ago. He’s taking his time on the higher floors, hunting slimes and great rats.” It was nice that Konrad gave such a detailed answer. Sara was impressed that he knew so much about even rookie Hunters.
“I could have helped him out if he wanted to be a Hunter...” Kuntz seemed a little down. He must not have known that his brother had an interest in that.
“Same as the little Invited, he saved up his money little by little, got his license, and now he’s steadily earning his keep.”
“Of course. He’s my brother, after all. I’m sending money home, though, so he could have used that. Oh...” Kuntz looked like he’d realized something. “It is the same as Ann, huh?”
Hearing about Kuntz’s brother, it finally clicked for Sara. “I was thinking there was no reason for her to go to all that trouble, but it’s proof that she’s grown into a responsible, independent girl. I might have only been holding her back, huh?”
Sara had worked so hard to become independent herself, so why was she treating Ann like such a kid, just because she herself was an adult now?
“Rod’s got a lot of connections. I’m guessing you left that girl with him in the spur of the moment just to avoid trouble, but it might have been a good decision after all.”
“There was only trouble in the first place ’cause you were being so loud, Konrad.”
Haruto was right, of course, but regardless, it was impressive that a rookie Hunter would be acknowledged as well-connected by the guildmaster himself.
“S-Sorry about that. But there were three Hunters here who I don’t see all that often. Made sense to try and grab ’em, right?”
Maybe, but it was a pain either way, Sara thought.
“Anyway, I’m glad we’ve got such young, promising Hunters here. I’ll be counting on you all.” The guildmaster was smiling all the way to the door as he escorted them out.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to figure out what Ann’s up to if we go to my house.”
They headed deeper into the town from the main street.
“I’ve never been down the smaller streets like this, so this feels new to me. There’s a real history here. It’s a nice atmosphere.”
There were little alleyways here and there, with lots of normal people who weren’t Hunters walking around.
“There’s a lot of old people and children too.”
There were potted plants on the windowsills and hanging laundry swaying in the wind.
“Hey, Haruto,” Kuntz said quietly as he headed for his house. “‘Haruto the Gale’ is a pretty cool title, huh?”
“Why’d you lower your voice to ask that?! No, it’s not cool. The only good thing about it is that it wasn’t me who started it.”
Sara actually thought it was pretty cool too, but she decided not to tell him that.
“They call me the shield user. What’s that about? Just ’cause I use shield magic? Not the most creative, is it?”
“Well... I guess so. What about Allen, though? They just call him the hero. That’s even less creative than yours, Kuntz.”
Allen looked a little glum at this.
“And all I did was stick a sword into the continental tortoise. I can’t be proud of that at all.”
It seemed having a nickname wasn’t always a good thing.
“Sara’s is just her job title.”
A stray arrow was flying Sara’s way now, but they were right.
“It’s not that different from calling me Sara the Apothecary, so I’m okay with it, I guess.”
After that riveting conversation, they came to the end of an alleyway, where Kuntz’s house was. Rod was leaning against the wall, waiting for them.
“Took a while to get through everything the guildmaster wanted to say, didn’t it?”
“Yeah. Where’s Ann?”
As siblings, they didn’t need to waste time with small talk.
“Left her at the Marta Company.”
Sara didn’t know what the Marta Company was, but it sounded like somewhere that would have work to do. She sighed in relief.
“She’ll be able to get a job like she wanted, then. That’s good.”
“You guys are overprotective.”
“Yeah, we know.”
Sara could only grin wryly at Rod’s straightforward comment.
“Well, it’s a bit cramped, but come in.”
The house was cramped, with a lot of stuff filling the space, but Sara found it to be a warm and comfortable place.
“Even though I’ve sent them enough money to buy a bigger house and move.”
“We don’t need to. It’s just the three of us after everyone else moved out, and once I’m independent, it’ll just be mom and dad here. Why would they need to move?”
“I mean, I guess so.”
“Actually, now that I think about it, dad’s in Rosa right now, so it’s only the two of us.”
Kuntz had stayed in the townhouse the night before, so this was his first time back home. He was shocked to hear about this change in family circumstances.
“He’s over there fixing up the roads, remember? He’ll be back sooner or later.”
Sara hadn’t expected Rosa’s roads to extend all the way to here. All of a sudden, the road repair situation seemed all the more real to her.
For the time being, they sat down and took a breather. The chairs must have all been purchased from different places; they were all different sizes and styles, which Sara found fun.
“I heard what was going on from Ann. Basically, she’s a rich girl who wants to work to learn how the world works, right?”
He must have been smart to have figured all that out in such a short amount of time.
“Umm, you didn’t think it was stupid that she wanted to work even though she already has money?” Sara figured she’d ask.
“Nah. Everyone’s got different reasons to work. Helps out the store no matter why people are working there, so I think it’s fine.”
Sara had thought Allen acted like an adult at twelve, but Rod was even more mature.
“She told me what she wanted and asked for a job that would let her see different parts of the city, so I think she’ll be good there.”
She could have done something like peeling potatoes in a kitchen, like Sara had done, but that wasn’t what she wanted.
“I told Ann I wouldn’t be making the introductions for free, though.”
So what was he doing helping her out this much already?
“What are your conditions?” Allen quietly asked. He’d been silent all this time.
“I want you to teach me—to teach us—how to hunt.”
Rod’s request was unexpected. According to Konrad, Rod was already steadily earning money on a floor of the dungeon suited to his abilities.
“I think you’ll understand where I’m coming from, Kuntz. It’s great that I was able to become a Hunter, but I’m not getting stronger all that quickly. I’ve been visiting the Hunter’s Guild since I was younger and everybody knows I’m your brother, so I’ve been able to ask some casters for tips, but Hunters would rather hunt than teach rookies, right? Even working with what I’ve learned, it’s hard to beat horned rabbits with earth and wind magic.”
“You specialize in magic, Rod?”
Kuntz was surprised, but he’d been away from the capital in Hydrangea for so long that it was only natural he wouldn’t know.
“I can use physical strengthening well enough, but it’s easier for me to use magic. Dad says I have around the same magic capacity you did when you were just starting out as a Hunter, so I thought I’d try to make it as a caster.”
Apparently artisans like Kuntz’s father measured magic capacity by how many bricks you could make at once.