“JESSICA, you’ve been really cranky lately. Is it because you haven’t seen Arius in a while?” wondered Marcia, who was sitting next to me with a grin.
“M-Marcia! I am not— No! Just no.”
I was eating dinner with my S-rank adventuring party, the Silver Wing, in the Adventurers Guild of Carnell.
Not too long ago, we had been having dinner with Arius every evening in the Guild, but he suddenly stopped coming to Carnell without even saying anything. I’d Messaged him, and he replied that he was busy right now. I already knew he was a busy person, but now he wasn’t coming here at all. What was that about?
“He’s got a lot going on, doesn’t he? He’d been coming to Carnell for, what, a month or two? I’m sad we haven’t seen him because it means he’s not paying for my food. But, if he’s busy, guess there’s nothing I can do about it,” Marcia sighed with a teasing grin. She’d picked up on my feelings for Arius and still gave me looks like that. It was really annoying.
And it’s not like I didn’t get it. Arius was an SSS-rank adventurer. He didn’t really have any reason to come to Carnell. It was only near a hard-difficulty dungeon: Guney’s Great Labyrinth. It made sense then that he’d stop coming if something else came up.
“Marcia, stop teasing Jessica. Besides, Arius isn’t that cruel. He’ll show up eventually,” chided Gale, coming to my rescue. He and Arius were good friends. Arius would probably come back to Carnell at some point to have drinks with him.
“Gale’s right. Once Arius is done with whatever’s making him busy, he’ll be back. He cares about people,” chipped in Allen. Allen had become a total Arius fanboy ever since he realized just how much stronger Arius was when he went with us into Guney’s Great Labyrinth.
Even though Allen used to talk badly about Arius all the time, Arius had reached out a helping hand to him when he was at rock bottom. It was thanks to Arius that Allen was able to become a serious adventurer again, like he used to be a long time ago.
So, yeah. Arius wasn’t going to just up and disappear without saying anything. I didn’t like that I didn’t get to see him, but I just had to get through this.
“Looks like Jessica’s feeling a bit better,” noted Mike, our offensive magic user.
“Yeah. That smile suits her better, too,” chuckled Sarah, the healer.
They were both important members of the Silver Wing and had been in the party since I first met Arius, though they must still feel he was a bit out of reach because they always sounded formal when talking to him.
“Thanks, you two,” I said. “I need to work harder so I can become strong like Arius.”
’Cause Arius was still working hard. I knew I could never catch up to him, but I would get stronger and get just a little closer to him.
“Jessica, I am glad to see you in a better mood, but could you keep it under control?” growled Jake, our tank, with a scowl before downing the rest of the ale in his tankard.
Jake and Allen had both talked badly about Arius a while ago. While Arius managed to turn Allen into a serious adventurer, Jake was the same as always. Not only did he have a bad attitude, but he was full of himself. He thought he was strong and was satisfied with where he was at. Not only that, but he was my biggest headache when it came to the Silver Wing.
“Jake, I’m not going to force you to do anything, but have you thought about working hard to get stronger?” I retorted.
“Really, Jessica? The second you’re in a better mood, you decide to start lecturing me? You’re welcome to keep aiming for higher, but I’m already an S-rank adventurer. I’m pretty sure I’ve already put in plenty of effort.”
“Lay off it, Jake. Jessica’s just concerned for you,” said Allen.
“Yeah, and you— You know what, never mind. My ale’s not tasting too good anymore. I think I’ll head back to the inn,” grumbled Jake in annoyance before leaving the Guild.
“That guy’s worthless,” Allen muttered. “Next time, I’ll beat that stubbornness out of him.”
“Go easy on him, please. He’s not a bad guy at heart,” I said.
If he were, I wouldn’t have invited him to join the party in the first place. Jake didn’t have his sights set as high as we did at the moment, but there was nothing we could do about it if he didn’t want to aim higher.
“I know. It’s not like I dislike the guy anyway.”
“But it is a pretty big problem that we have different goals,” Marcia said with a grin. She might look like she was joking around, but she was always thinking things through logically, and she didn’t bother beating around the bush.
“I know what you’re trying to say, Marcia, but I’m going to get him to try a bit harder. If it’s still a problem, then we’ll all have to sit down for a chat.”
Adventuring wasn’t some game. You couldn’t keep someone in your party forever just because you were friends. In the past, I’d tossed out party members who didn’t see things the same way as me, so the Silver Wing had had some lineup changes before getting to this point. If I needed to make a decision now, I wouldn’t hesitate—I was aiming higher as an adventurer.
“Well, regardless of what happens, I’m on your side, Jessica,” Marcia grinned, her eyes kind.
“I know. Thanks, Marcia.”
She might tease me and say things she shouldn’t when it came to Arius, but she considered me a valuable companion and friend.
Just then, I heard a loud commotion outside.
The Adventurers Guild of Carnell was in the middle of the city and faced a plaza. When I looked out the windows, I saw the plaza crowded with people despite it being ten o’clock at night. They were looking up into the sky at a big metal ship lit with magic lights. It was clearly coming down to land in the plaza.
That thing’s an airship.
“Someone’s flying in here on an airship at this time of night? I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Marcia muttered as she picked up her equipment.
Airships weren’t all that uncommon a sight, but there were no regularly scheduled flights to Carnell. It was definitely weird to see one suddenly flying in.
“Allen, Mike, Sarah…” I cautioned.
“We know, Jessica. Everybody, be on your guard!” barked Allen.
We quickly geared up so we could handle whatever was coming. We didn’t have our tank, Jake, but we couldn’t do anything about that now.
Gale and his party also started equipping with practiced ease. The rest of the adventurers were drunk, considering what time it was. There were probably only about ten people we could expect to fight.
The airship touched down, and out came about twenty armored soldiers. A man in gaudy, gold full plate armor with vivid blue hair and eyes the color of blood strolled out last, a huge sword slung over his back. The group of soldiers made their way toward the Guild.
“We’d better be careful of that flashy gold plate guy,” cautioned Marcia as she watched the man approach through the window. “My Evaluate isn’t even good enough to read his level, and the mana I’m feeling with Scan is insane.”
Marcia was our scout, and her Evaluate and Scan were better than anyone else’s in the party. She couldn’t tell his level, and he had so much mana it felt unusual to her… Who the heck was this guy?
“We’d better cast support spells in advance, just in case,” warned Mike, our offensive magic user. He and Sarah, our healer, cast spells like Strengthen, Haste, Magic Guard, and Barrier on each member of the party.
“If you’re not interested in fighting, go hide downstairs in the training room. It’s probably too late to escape out the back,” Gale told the adventurers who didn’t look like they’d be useful in a fight.
The incoming men surrounded the Guild. Just as Mike and Sarah were finishing casting, the gold-plated man kicked down the door and came in, grinning like a feral beast.