“I may be a True Blood, but I am basically just a regular girl, so I’ll be fine if you just keep quiet about that fact, Nanami.”
“I think you should come to realize a bit just how powerful you are, Lady Ristia,” Nanami said with a disappointed face, causing Ristia to sink her shoulders.
“You think it... won’t work?” she dejectedly asked, the resulting cuteness being enough to utterly captivate Nanami, despite being of the same sex.
“No, it will work! I will keep your secret with every fiber of my being!”
“...Really?”
“Please, just leave it to me!”
“Oh, yay! Thank you!” Ristia innocently smiled with an eagle grip on Nanami’s heart. Unfortunately, there was no one around to interject and tell her that she wasn’t going to make for much of a big sister with the kind of attitude she had on display. The older man who had just run off not that long ago came back to Ristia, who was now in a chipper mood.
“Sorry for the wait. The guild sent out an envoy, so he should be here to escort you soon,” the soldier informed Nanami before turning his attention back to Ristia. “So, you’re the one who saved Nanami’s life, Little Lady?”
“Um, well...”
“This is my savior, Lady Ristia!” Nanami emphatically affirmed.
“...Well, you heard her,” Ristia confirmed with a wry smile.
“I see. Then, you have my thanks, as well. I appreciate you saving Nanami’s life.”
“Mm-mm, think nothing of it. I wanted to help save her, so I did; that’s all,” Ristia said, this time with a more untainted and pure smile. The man looked at that innocent smile and exclaimed in adoration.
“...Seems that you being here for saving children isn’t a lie. Are you some kind of holy woman on a pilgrimage, or something, by chance?”
“Not at all. I’m just a normal girl. But I’m telling the truth when I say I want to help the kids!”
“Hmm... I don’t quite get what’s going on, but you don’t seem to be ill-willed. In that case, I’ll issue your identification papers.”
“’Identification papers’?”
“Yeah, we check for any suspicious people here every day. Identification papers serve as proof that you’ve taken your check here.”
“Oh? Is that a fact?” The True Blood family was so few in numbers that it was no exaggeration to say she was familiar with every last member. That was why, since it was natural that they did not have such a system put in place, Ristia found the concept novel in a sense.
“I’ll print your name and occupation on the tags, so would you mind telling me what those are?”
“My name is Ristia Granshes. My occupation is... Normal Girl?”
“...Hmm. Well, I guess that’ll work.” The soldier embossed her name and occupation onto the tag using a magic tool. “And that should... do it. Registration fee is one silver piece.”
“By ‘silver piece’... you mean money, correct?”
“That’s right, but... I’m assuming you don’t have any?”
“Um, well... Yeah.”
The soldier man looked surprised. A silver piece was by no means a high price. It would have been a different story if it were a random child, but it was hard to even imagine that a traveler, much less a well-kempt young girl like this, would be penniless.
“Lady Ristia, I will pay for you!” Nanami said, offering to bail Ristia out. However, Ristia herself seemed troubled. It was because, as someone trying to be a respectable big sister, she couldn’t allow herself to get spoiled by one of her little sister candidates.
“Say, Mister? In place of money, can I... give you something else?”
“Something else? Well, you did apparently save Nanami’s life. If you have something equivalent to a single silver piece, then I’d be willing to take it. But... what are you offering?”
“Um, well... How about this?” Ristia pulled out a leather satchel from her Item Box.
“Hm? Where did you just pull that... Wait, forget that, you did have a purse this whole time.”
“Mm-mm, this isn’t a purse; this has a catalyst used for magic items in it~” From inside, she pulled out a small, jet-black stone. It was cut into seventeen sides, known as a “simple cut.“ It was, as the name implied, simple—yet very delicate by the standards of this world at the same time.
“W-Wait a second, Lady Ristia?” Nanami sheepishly asked, tugging on the hem of Ristia’s dress. However, not wishing to be spoiled by her would-be little sister, Ristia cut Nanami off before she could say anything. “Sorry, it’ll have to wait.” She then handed the soldier man the black stone.
“What the? It’s mighty pretty, but is it some kind of gemstone?”
“It’s an artificial one that I made.”
“Oh-ho... So you did, Little Miss?”
If there were any aristocrats there, they would have been captivated by the stone’s beauty. And if there were any sorcerers there, they would be dumbstruck by the mana levels the stone contained. In fact... Nanami, a budding sorcerer herself, already found herself dumbstruck. For better or worse, the soldier man only recognized it as a pretty stone.
“So you’re going to pay the toll with this stone, then?”
“Yup. Oh, is that... okay?”
“Hmm... I don’t see the harm. I don’t really know how valuable it is, but I’m pretty darn sure it can’t be less than a silver bit. I’ll make it into a pendant and gift it to my wife,” the soldier whispered with a kind look in his eyes.
“...Mister, you have a wife?”
“Sure do. A wife and a daughter.”
“A... daughter? Just one? You’re not going to make a second?”
“...Well, it would be nice if we could. My wife isn’t in the best condition, y’see.”
”Is she sick or something?”
“Something like that, yeah...“
“Oh, I see. Okay, then. Wait just a second.”
She pulled out some material from her Item Box and cast a spell of Sixth-Level magic—the highest level of magic one could use without a magic circle or incantation. Nanami and the soldier’s eyes drew toward Ristia’s hand, where the materials changed shape before their eyes and turned into a pendant with a piece of black magic stone.
“Eheh, all right. Your pendant is all done~”
“Wait just a second. Just now, what in the world did you...”
“Oh, it’s just my treat~ This is enchanted to improve your wife’s condition, so once she gets better, make sure to get to work on that second child, okay~?”
“Young Miss, I... Thank you! Here, take these as tokens of my gratitude.” The soldier held her wrist, making her open her palm. Inside of it, he deposited two silver pieces.
“But...”
“My treat to you, Miss. That will at least get you through a night’s stay.”
“Thank you, Mister~!” Ristia him thanked with an unadulterated smile.
“Hahah, boy, it seems that Nanami wasn’t fibbing when she said you were an angel.”
“I’m just a normal girl, though~!”
“Okay, okay. I get it. So then, Little Miss ’Normal Girl’, I have a favor to ask.”
“Hm? Yes~?”
“While you’re taking stay in this city, I’d appreciate it if you’d make friends with my daughter if you ever get a chance to meet her. She’s been wanting a sister for a while now.”
“...!! Oh, yes, yes! The feeling’s mutual!” Yippie! A candidate for my cute little sister~ thought Ristia with a smile from ear to ear.
“Alright, you two better get along. You’ll be up the creek if you don’t snag a place to stay before it gets dark.”
“Okay, thank you, Mister~” The soldier man saw the pair off as the two walked through the city’s front gate.