“Won’t your stories from participating in the festival be the best gift you can bring back?”
Parents usually liked to hear about their kids’ exploits. To them, those were always the best kinds of stories.
“Of course. When I get home to Crimonia, I’ll tell Father all about everything Shia did.”
“Please don’t put that kind of pressure on me.”
We all laughed. I really hoped that Shia did well during the competition.
We went around to all kinds of shops looking for gifts for their parents, and we also picked up some snacks.
“That was so yummy.”
“The food I had with all the other students was so good, I wish you could have had some too, Noa.”
After we’d finished eating, we found ourselves walking down one of the main eight streets. The streets looked similar, so it was pretty easy to get lost.
I saw a huge building with a guild sign on it.
“Is that the Adventurers’ Guild?”
“Do you still visit the guild, Shia?”
“Sometimes, with Maricks. But recently he’s been going with the other kids who want to become knights instead of with me.”
Oh, I hadn’t known. I wondered if the monsters in the area were similar to Crimonia’s. Maybe I’d see some new ones here? The Land of Wa had different monsters, after all. As an ex-gamer, I was kind of interested in filling out my codex.
“Shall we go in, Yuna?” Noa asked, seeing me staring at the guild.
“It’s all right. After all, I’m here as your guard and to cheer on Shia.”
“You’re an adventurer too, so it’s okay if you want to go in. You look like you really want to.”
Was it really that obvious? I touched my face with my bear puppet.
“We wouldn’t normally go to the Adventurers’ Guild here, so I’d like to pop in too.”
“What if an adventurer picks a fight with us?”
“Does that kind of thing really happen?”
“It did when I went to the guilds in Crimonia and the capital for the first time.”
I hadn’t even done anything to cause it.
“Isn’t that because...”
“Well...”
The two of them looked at me.
“What is it?”
“Are you sure it’s not because you were dressed as a bear?”
“Yeah, that was probably it,” Noa said.
Okay, they had a point that it might have been my bear outfit. In fact, there was no way it could be anything else. But I also got the sense the fact that I’m a young girl had something to do with it too.
“Well, you’re wearing a uniform today, so you should be all right.”
Really?
Shia tugged me along into the guild.
“I don’t see many people here,” Noa said.
She was right. It wasn’t like it was empty, but there were only a few people sitting in chairs in the corner.
“Do you think they’re at work?”
Based on the time, that’d make sense. But normally in Crimonia or the capital, there would be adventurers at the guild resting, looking for information, or trying to get their work for the next day settled. I didn’t see anyone around here who looked like they were doing any of that. The receptionist looked bored too.
“Do you have something you need from the guild?”
She greeted us as we made eye contact.
“Based on those uniforms, are you students from the capital?”
“Yes, we are. We’re here to participate in the magic gathering.”
“I see. So what brings students like yourselves to the guild?”
“Um, we came to take a look around.”
“Oh? Are you considering becoming adventurers in the future? I’m so happy such young people are considering adventuring as their potential career path.”
“Well, I’m registered with the guild already. We came here to see how your guild differs from the capital’s guild.”
“Oh, I see. Take a look around if you’d like. Please take your time.”
She was really upbeat. Maybe my bear outfit really had been the cause behind my many fights.
“Excuse me, but why aren’t there any adventurers around today?”
“I think there aren’t enough people around for them all to be working...”
Like I’d observed earlier, it was weird for there to be so few adventurers in a town as big as this.
“Oh, do you not know because you came from the capital? Around this time of year, there are fewer monsters in the vicinity. This means that the more skilled adventurers go to other towns. That’s why the guild isn’t that busy this season.”
In other words, the adventurers weren’t here because they were migrating seasonally for their work.
“Is that normal?” I asked Shia.
“Sometimes the types of monsters that tend to appear vary by season. Usually, they don’t vary in the warm season, though.”
“Yes, that was originally true. But the last few years or so, I think, have been different. During this season, we’ve been receiving fewer and fewer sightings. Sometimes monsters run away or disappear when stronger monsters appear, but as far as the adventurers can tell from looking into it, things simply seem to be uneventful. The monsters should return soon enough, but it’s still very odd.”
When strong monsters show up, sometimes the other monsters run away or migrate. That’s what happened with the black tiger. Maybe there was some sort of small but strong monster around?
“Ah, that explains why the adventurers are gone.”
“Yes. And because we have no adventurers, I’m just here twiddling my thumbs.”
That explained why she was so eager to make conversation.
We ended up keeping the receptionist company so she had something to do. I wanted to ask her more about this guild, but it seemed like she was really interested in knowing about the capital since she kept asking us questions. At this rate, we’d end up behind on our schedule, so I looked out for a good opportunity to wrap up the conversation.
“Welp, we should get ready to head out now.”
“Already? I wanted to hear more about the capital.”
“There’s someone who looks kind of angry behind you…”
She turned around and saw the man with a scary look on his face behind her.
“Guild master...”
“Stop slacking off and get to work!”
“I will! I was just getting information about the capital.”
As the receptionist made her excuses to the guild master, we left.