The moment Nina entered the adventurers’ guild, she saw trouble afoot. A man, taunting a girl in a mage’s outfit, saying there was not a single job she could take.
She wants to work, but she can’t, Nina thought. Just like me.
With that, she took action. She requested that the girl—Emily—serve as her bodyguard, and Emily accepted. Then, Nina led Emily, who still didn’t fully understand what had just happened, out of the guild.
“Sorry about that...” said Emily. “And thanks. I’ve cooled off now. So you came to my rescue, huh.”
“On the contrary, Miss Emily. I was hoping that you would rescue me.”
Nina and Emily had come to a park in town. It wasn’t the sort of park with a playground, just a patch of green with a few benches. They sat with enough space for a third person between them.
“You mean the bodyguard job...?” asked Emily. “Sorry, but I can’t do it. Were you listening? I might be a mage, but I can only use First Degree magic.”
“That’s fine! Or, erm, I think it is. I only want you to accompany me to the spring just outside the city.”
“Ohhh. Cray Spring, right? I guess it is the season for yellow peach blossoms...”
“The very same! Have you been there, Miss Emily?” Nina closed half the gap between them in her excitement. Emily drew back slightly.
“U-Um, yeah, I guess...”
“Wonderful! I was told the route is straightforward, but I’ve next to no experience walking outside the estate so I was worried I wouldn’t find it. That’s why I wanted protection.”
“Sounds more like you want a guide than protection. But if so, that’s fine with me,” Emily said, then added that more to the point, she’d already taken the job. She did as much when, amid the tension back at the adventurers’ guild, Nina had held out a lifeline to Emily in the form of this job offer. The guild did not look favorably on anyone who made trouble for clients, so the man had had no choice but to back down as Nina led her away.
“Then let’s be off!” Nina cried.
“Huh? Right now?”
“Why, yes. Is that a problem?”
“It’s already midday. If we leave now, we’ll have to rough it.”
“R-Rough it?!” Never in a million years would Nina have encountered those words when she worked at Count Mirkwood’s house. She grew even more excited. Emily stared back at her in disbelief that any woman would be happy at the idea of sleeping outside.
“You seriously want to go now?”
“Can’t we...?”
Seeing Nina deflate like a balloon, Emily felt strangely guilty.
“O-Okay, okay. If we camp around the forest near Cray Spring, it should be pretty safe.”
“Oh, Miss Emily! You are a true adventurer!”
A true adventurer. Emily didn’t mind the sound of that. In fact, she wanted Nina to keep on treating her as an adventurer.
“All right, we’ll gather supplies, then set off.”
“Very good, Miss Emily! I am at your disposal!”
“Uh...” Emily hesitated. “You know you hired me, right? And quit calling me ‘Miss Emily.’ When you do that, I feel like I have to call you ‘Miss Nina.’”
“O-Oh. Very good...Emily.”
“Hmmm. Well, I guess that’ll do. I’m not going to talk to you like a servant though, got it?”
“Whatever you like!”
Emily chuckled. “You are one weird client.”
“I am?”
“You betcha. Who ever heard of a maid hiring a bodyguard?”