A bell rang out as the doors opened. Light flowed into the room, along with a girl and a guy. The men around the bar sized them up. This was the remote town of Regin, in the Holy Land of Ryne. The majority of the adventurers here were skilled veterans. The adventurers who showed up here were usually the same few faces, but nobody knew the two who’d just walked in.
They didn’t look like they wanted to hire adventurers. Their attire made it clear that they weren’t normal individuals. They were equipped with some kind of magic tools, or at least that’s what the adventurers guessed.
If they were carrying that kind of equipment, then they were either transfers from another town’s guild, or they were here to register as new adventurers. The guy was a little taller than average, but not very muscular. The girl did not look suited to be an adventurer whatsoever—she was so dainty-looking. Then again, in this world, it was best not to judge a book by its cover. In the end, the most important thing was the strength of their magic tools and their skill in wielding them.
With the right equipment and skills, even this frail little girl could easily take out three adult men. There were more men than women in the guild, but there was still a decent amount of the latter. The number of female adventurers who were truly notable, though, could be counted on one hand.
There was a story passed down about the time when the previous generation of heroes had come to register at the guild, gotten harassed by thugs, and then completely taken out said thugs. And looking at the way these two were walking, it was clear they had battle experience under their belt. Because of that, there shouldn’t have been anybody here who was foolish enough to go out of their way to repeat history...but the world is filled with idiots.
“Whoa there, girlie—do you know where you are? This ain’t a market. Go do your shopping somewhere else.”
The rest of those present were united in thinking that this person was an idiot. It was obvious that the pair were here to register at the guild.
“I’m not here to shop. I am an adventurer,” the girl replied curtly.
“Adventurer? You? Listen, girlie, hiding behind someone while they take out monsters and then claiming credit for yourself doesn’t make you an adventurer. You dumb?”
Like you’re one to talk, thought every other adventurer there.
The young man harassing them was a teammate of the skilled adventurer, Black Rose. Though they’d registered as adventurers at the same time, none of them had ever seen him defeat a monster by himself. He was just riding on Black Rose’s coattails, and hardly anyone considered him an adventurer.
Since he was with Black Rose, though, he’d gotten a big head, acting arrogantly and out of line. He was one of the things that the Regin Adventurers’ Guild was not very happy about.
The girl exhaled sharply and ignored his words. She’d apparently decided that it was better not to engage. However, that only served to further anger the young man.
“Hey, hold up! How dare you ignore me?! I’m with Black Rose, and you’re just a nobody!”
It was a pathetic taunt. Both the girl and guy ignored it, continuing on to the reception desk.
The young man clicked his tongue in annoyance. “You little shit! I’m gonna have to cut you down a peg for disrespecting me!” He put his hand on the girl’s shoulder, but that wasn’t enough to get her to turn around, so he tried to grab her white hair instead. But before he could, she moved forward, so his hand closed around air instead. “You think you can disrespect me like this...? I’m gonna show you a world of hurt!”
He balled his hand up into a fist and threw it at her. As soon as she saw this, though, she dodged it with superhuman speed. The spectating adventurers let out a sound, impressed. It seemed that she was very experienced with her magic tools.
“Wha— God dammit!” He tried to hit her again, but none of his blows came in contact with her.
She caught his fist in her hand effortlessly as he tried to throw another punch, then called out to the girl at the reception desk without taking her eyes off of him. “Are there rules against retaliation in this guild?” she asked.
“None at all,” said the girl at the desk. “Please be our guest. As long as your actions do not kill or cause severe harm, fights between guild members are permitted.”
Though it may have seemed barbaric, this was normal for a guild in a town far removed from civilization. A few scuffles here and there were par for the course in a place filled with bloodthirsty warriors.
“You heard her. Be sure to clench your teeth,” said the first girl cutely, before her fist landed in his stomach faster than the eye could see.
The young man was sent flying across the room and landed on the floor with a thud. He was coughing up a storm, but it didn’t seem as if he’d been injured too badly.
“For the record, I held back. Hmph. Be grateful.”
The adventurers began to clap. It was a petty situation, but the girl’s power was the real deal. The guild members were having a great time as they filled their bellies with drink. The only one who wasn’t enjoying himself was the young man, who was clutching his stomach, completely red in the face and trembling with rage. He was the laughingstock of the guild—he’d been humiliated.
“That was a fluke! Let’s take this outside, bitch!”
The young man didn’t know when to quit. As he said this, though, the doors to the guild were flung open, and apart from the bell over the door, the guild fell silent. The one who’d entered was a woman wearing a black dress. She was the one that people knew as Black Rose.
She surveyed the room, looking at the young man on the ground and then at the white-haired girl. “I’m not sure what happened here, but I can guess,” she said coldly, before bowing her head to the girl. “I sincerely apologize for my friend here.”
The rest of the guild began buzzing from the scene of the Black Rose bowing her head to someone else. It’d been a week since she’d registered with the guild. Despite that, she’d shot up the rankings and earned herself a sort of fan club. The members of that fan club were now shooting hateful gazes at the young man for making their idol bow her head.
The girl stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, before her brain finally caught up to what was happening.
“O-Oh—you don’t have to apologize! I don’t mind at all. This was a good experience!”
“Is that so? I’m glad to hear that.” Black Rose raised her head, and then bowed it again. “I apologize for the ruckus,” she said, addressing everyone present.
“No, don’t apologize!”
“It’s not your fault, Black Rose!”
“That idiot should be apologizing!”
“I truly am sorry. I will need to reeducate him on his manners,” said Black Rose, before easily lifting up the groaning young man.
She was about a hundred sixty centimeters tall versus his hundred and seventy, but she carried him with ease. It was a surreal image.
“Why is someone as great as you even with someone like that?!”
“You should ditch him already!”
The voices of the adventurers rang out around them.
Black Rose smiled wryly. “I would if I could, but...I guess you could say that we have a history.” With those words, she carried the young man out of the guild house, leaving the white-haired girl stunned in her wake.
Black Rose walked to a deserted alleyway, whereupon she threw the young man to the ground.
“Wake up already. I know you’re just pretending!”
“No, that actually kinda hurt... Oh, wait, are you mad?” asked the young man, jumping to his feet.
Black Rose let out an annoyed sigh. “Regardless of whether I’m angry or not, I’d like to ask what, exactly, you were thinking, Inori.”
Inori smiled a little at Black Rose’s—Ariya’s—question. “Nobody did it when we registered, so I thought it’d be fun if we did it instead.”
“That’s all?”
“Yep.” Inori was wearing a very satisfied smile.
“I’m sorry, but I think you need to be hit again,” Ariya growled.
“Wait—calm down. If you hit me with my stats the way they are now, I’m gonna die!”
“All right—I’ll settle for a kick then.”
“That’s worse! I know you’re gonna aim for my balls! You want to practice what you saw a week ago!” Inori nervously watched Ariya as she began to swing her leg back and forth.
As if giving up, Ariya let out another sigh. “Please keep your fooling around to a minimum.”
“What do you mean? I’m just getting started.”
Ariya seriously considered hitting him.