GIRDING my proverbial loins, I set sail through the sea of chattering adventurers packing the space between me and the job board. I threaded my way through them, apologizing profusely whenever I crashed into someone or stepped on someone’s foot. So many of them were tall and rugged, it was almost impossible to avoid bumping into people, especially when they strode through the crowd completely unconcerned about their surroundings.
For the first time, I could understand why I hardly ever ran into other people in my old world, even during rush hour at the train station—because we were all considerate of each other’s personal space. The adventurers here walked around blithely without a care in the world, and I struggled with that. Did it really not bother them at all to keep bumping into people? If some hooligans showed up in this world, they’d have the time of their lives starting fights whenever someone jostled them. Though they would certainly also be risking their lives, challenging adventurers.
I finally made it to the job board while my thoughts rambled off in odd directions. A split second later, something bumped into me from the front. When I looked down, I saw a feminine head covered in golden locks buried in my chest. I thought she’d move out of the way immediately, but her head and its pigtails stayed right where they were. Should I be the one moving instead?
“Um, are you all right?”
To my confusion, she took a deep inhale, her face still buried in my chest, then finally she pressed both hands against me to push her head away, even though there was absolutely no need to use her hands. For a moment, when I first saw her face, she seemed delighted, the look in her eyes reminding me of nothing so much as a dirty old man. But the next instant, she schooled her features into a neutral expression. I must have imagined it.
“Oh, I beg your pardon!”
That was all she said before striding off briskly, threading her way through the crowd of adventurers without colliding into anyone, somehow. What in the world just happened? Afraid I’d been pickpocketed again, I checked to make sure my money was still in my pocket. It didn’t feel like anything had been taken. I couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard I thought about it.
I took a few steps forward and finally looked up at the job board. The jobs were divided by rank. What sort of work should we accept? I was staring blankly at the listings for a few moments before I noticed what I’d just thought, without meaning to.
We.
The word had popped into my head because I had been imagining being on a team with the kids from class earlier. Apparently, my brain was already going full speed ahead even though I had yet to give them my answer. They could very easily change their minds before tomorrow and rescind their invitation—and then I’d end up a middle-aged man with egg on his face.
I needed to stop getting my hopes up, or else when things inevitably didn’t go well, I’d be the one hurt.
While I was admonishing myself, I started browsing the job postings, starting with the ones all the way on the left. In almost no time at all, a group of brawny men approached me.
“Oy, you Ralf’s woman?” one called out. “Gotta say, I was pretty curious when I heard about you. He’s got good taste, huh?”
For a second, I didn’t know what he meant, but then I saw that he was leering at me, his eyes roaming up and down my body. Someone Ralf had offended must have been suspicious about my relationship with him and started a rumor.
“You’re mistaken,” I explained calmly. “Ralf and I don’t have that sort of relationship.”
Not to mention, I’m actually a middle-aged man. Respectfully, give me a break.
Despite my unambiguous response, the man and his cronies guffawed, clearly not listening to anything I said. I had no idea how to handle someone like this.
“The hell’re you doing looking at job postings anyway?” he taunted. “Think you’re an adventurer, do you?”
I knew nothing good could come from interacting with people like this, even if they were listening. The best course of action would have been to simply ignore them, but it was too late to just say, “Goodbye, take care,” and walk away.
I did my best to let his words go in one ear and out the other. I didn’t want his nasty comments lingering in my mind, thanks. Showing I was offended and picking up the proverbial gauntlet he’d thrown would have meant playing right into his hands.
In any case, I might not have known how conversations worked in this world, but I definitely knew this guy was mocking me. I decided he would go away if I made myself as boring as possible, so I responded politely enough that he couldn’t misconstrue my words or tone as provocation. I made extra sure not to look terrified either.
“Yes,” I said carefully. “In fact, I recently completed my adventurer registration.”
“Bwahahaha! Lady, it’ll be helluva lot easier for you to earn money with your looks than as an adventurer!”
It was obvious now that regardless of what I said, he was intent on hassling me. However, his anger seemed to be directed at Ralf, not at me. I’d only met good people so far, so I supposed it was about time for me to encounter the not-so-good.
The man was armed and dressed for combat, so I didn’t stand a chance against him in that department, though I was sure someone would intervene if he tried to start a fight in the Guild. After all, this place was designed to manage adventurers, right? I wanted to believe the staff wasn’t heartless enough to ignore the plight of a newcomer being harassed.
“I’ll be working as an adventurer just like everyone else here starting tomorrow,” I said, “so please don’t make fun of me. And I’ll certainly do my best not to get in anyone’s way.”
I chose the path of humility and waited for his reaction, trying my best to silently convey that I didn’t want to fight, and that I was a boring person. Meanwhile, the fact that I found myself embroiled in a situation like this the moment I was left alone for more than a few seconds made me wonder if Ralf and Ellie had been protecting me all this time. But just as I felt myself about to start gazing off into the distance with gratitude once more, the man, now irritated, roughly grabbed my shoulder. It didn’t hurt, but now I was annoyed.
“You don’t even look scared,” the guy said. “You better not think you can take me on.”
“Of course not,” I replied calmly. “I’m no good at all with confrontation.”
He’d been holding on to my shoulder for a while now and nobody had stepped in yet. I looked around. A few scared-looking people were pretending not to see us, while others were keeping their distance, clearly not wanting to get involved. At some point in the past few minutes, everyone immediately around us had disappeared, leaving us in a small empty bubble.
I wasn’t sure to what extent this man’s actions constituted a punishable offense in this world. I’d been assuming that violence was a crime, like under Japanese law, but the definition of conflict here could have been very different from what I was used to. It could present a problem for me if a little assault resulting in injury was fine, as long as it didn’t cause permanent damage.