“There aren’t usually any stationed here in town,” I answered, taking a nearby seat now that it seemed the trouble had passed. “Though a few might stop by.”
“Why not?”
“Various reasons.”
“Like what?”
“Er...” I didn’t want to say “don’t ask,” but I also had doubts he’d really understand even if I spelled it all out for him. “As you saw when we arrived here in Atessa, the city’s smack dab in the middle of a buncha woods. It’s known as the Celcelas Forest, and it stretches from the Kingdom of Zephilia to the Holy Kingdom of Saillune, with breaks here and there where you can mine high-quality gold. So with both lumber and mineral resources aplenty, Atessa developed as a hot spot for smithing, but... Hey! Don’t fall asleep in the middle of my explanation!”
Bang! I gave Gourry a swift chop to the head.
“Mmah?” He looked up suddenly and craned his neck around.
“How are you not listening? You’re the one who asked!”
“Oh, no, I was listening. I heard the whole thing. There’s stuff going on in town, right?”
“Liar! I wasn’t even finished! And if ‘stuff going on’ is enough of an explanation for you, don’t bother asking for the details!”
Ah, I knew that’d be a waste of time! After screaming my heart out, I slumped over on the table, and...
“We produce a lot of weapons and armor in this city, you see,” MacLyle continued. “If either kingdom set up a garrison here, the other might see it as a prelude to war. So to prevent that, neither has soldiers officially stationed in Atessa. We run our own security locally.”
“Ah, I see.” Gourry nodded in understanding, then looked over at me. “That would’ve been a much simpler explanation.”
“You spaced out before I got to that part!”
“Well, if I may...” MacLyle reinserted himself into the conversation. “I said they were bandits, but they don’t seem to be any ordinary brigands. Our local task force can’t track down their hideout, and the offenders seem more interested in petty spite than money. In that sense, perhaps I should call them raiders instead. I was hoping you could offer some new insight into the situation.”
“I see...” I nodded vaguely in response.
To be honest, Gourry and I weren’t strapped for coin, and this job sounded like it was shaping up to be a real pain. It would’ve been one thing if it was just a couple days’ bodyguard work, or just going to the baddies’ hideout to give it the ol’ kaboom. But a vague objective like “do something about a band of thugs we haven’t even tracked down” was the kind of work that could become a huge time sink.
Assuming I did take the job... If the bandits made a straight charge at the village and I wiped ’em out with a flashy spell, that’d put a pretty quick end to things. But on the other hand, if the raiders had already abandoned Atessa and gone elsewhere, I could end up waiting around forever for nothing.
Not that I had anywhere special to be, mind you. I was simply out on a rambling journey after my big sis back home told me to go out and see the world. I’d seen more than my share at this point, however, so I’d decided it might be time to pack it up. Thus, me and Gourry—who I’d picked up along the way—were currently headed for my hometown, Zephyr City, capital of the Kingdom of Zephilia. So it wasn’t like it’d kill me to get held up here for a few days, but... I didn’t really want to get stuck waiting indefinitely for a raid that might never come.
Atessa was also part of Zephilia, though, and I did feel a little obliged to my countrymen, so I was hesitant to just turn them down. That said, I had a feeling the locals could probably handle this well enough even without me and Gourry getting involved...
“Are you suggesting that I’m incompetent?” came a new voice steeped in naked anger.
The woman who rose slowly to her feet was a random customer sitting some seats away—or so she’d appeared to be until now. She was dressed in a brown outfit with pants that looked easy to move in, and she wore a gray pageboy cap low on her head. The ensemble was rather mundane at a glance, but she had hair like spun gold and a face so lovely that it would make any man do a double take. She looked about twenty or so—or, she would have if she were human. Her true identity was betrayed by the large pointed ears poking out from underneath her hat.
Elves were beings who lived in harmony with nature, with longer lifespans and greater magical power than humans. I’d had a few dealings with them in the past. I’d even fought alongside one against a mutual enemy. They generally didn’t get involved in human affairs, but this woman’s words indicated she was in the city’s employ.
“Oh, no, of course not. We’re happy to leave the forest to you, Mistress Alaina,” MacLyle assured her.
His words caused the elf girl, Alaina, to purple with anger. “Then why are you trying to hire these people?!”
“Isn’t it obvious? Having an outside perspective will give us more options. You know the forests, and these two seem to have experience with such affairs.”
“Experience? These two?” Alaina narrowed her eyes at us as she spat out the words. “They look more like children playing sword-and-sorcery dress-up to me!”
Children...?
“Hey!” I shouted. Obviously, I couldn’t let that one slide. “Children? Dress-up? You can whine to the old man or bad-mouth Gourry all you like, but you’d better not drag me into it!”
“What a terrible thing to declare... and so proudly,” Gourry whispered in disbelief. I ignored him.
Alaina didn’t even look at me as I addressed her. She simply paled and strode forward swiftly. I rose from my chair, expecting trouble, but she wasn’t heading toward us; she was heading for the man behind the counter, to whom she immediately began whispering.
He listened for a while, then turned to us. “She says, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.’”
“...Huh?” I scowled in noncomprehension.
MacLyle smiled with a wince. “Well, Mistress Alaina has a great deal of pride, but it’s tempered by extreme social anxiety.”
“Sounds annoying!” At least I knew the type! “Is this one of those things where she’s nervous about working with us because her social anxiety means she won’t be able to talk stuff through with us?”
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