WITH their report to the guildmaster over, the girls walked through the shopping district on their way back to the inn.
Sensing the reason for Aki’s silence ever since they left the guild, Mina forced a sad smile. “…I’m sorry, Aki. I wheedled my way into your party without really talking about myself…”
“D-Don’t be sorry! Your past doesn’t bother me. I was just stupidly getting worried about how much suffering you might have gone through until now…” Aki faltered, not sure exactly what kind of hardship someone who grew up in the slums and then became an Adventurer might experience.
But Aki hoped that whatever Mina’s past may have entailed, she was able to find happiness in being a part of the Hero Party. After all, Aki enjoyed every moment she spent with her dear friend.
“…What I am trying to say is that if you ever need someone to talk to about anything at all, I’m here for you. I might not be able to do anything for you, but I care about you a lot. Haha, kind of embarrassing to say that out loud!” Aki giggled to hide her embarrassment. Mina suddenly stopped. “What’s wrong?”
Aki turned around a few steps in front of Mina. She was looking down at her hands with her lips pressed in a flat line as if enduring some pain. Before long, a single tear rolled down her cheek. Mina quickly batted it away with the back of her hand.
“S-Sorry! I just got so emotional! You heard Guildmaster back there. I’m an orphan who doesn’t even know her parents’ faces. I’d been living in this city’s slums for as long as I can remember. It was a struggle just to find food every day… My sole enjoyment in life was reading The Hero’s Tale picture book that I found in a pile of rubbish.”
Mina explained how The Hero’s Tale was a collection of epics about the generations of Heroes written by Minstrels in simple terms for everyone to understand. Reading that picture book was the one sliver of hope and entertainment Mina had living in the streets.
Latching on to those tales, Mina came to idealize the Hero and strove to become an Adventurer so she could join the current generation’s on his journey. She really just wanted to be needed and loved as a member of the Hero Party as those were two things lacking from her parentless life.
“…Money is needed to become an Adventurer, so I took on any manual labor job that came my way to save up, but then…a friend from the slums stole it all. I stopped trusting people after that and became desperate enough to steal… I even took on jobs involving threatening people… I was on a one-track road to becoming a full-time criminal, and things just kept getting worse from there,” Mina slowly retold her life story as if the words were being ripped from her.
“Going through life like that, I started thinking I wouldn’t mind dying…and that’s when Port City’s Adventurers’ Guild decided to purge the slums. Seems like they got an official request from the capital. When the current Guildmaster and his army of Adventurers swept through the slums, I didn’t resist because I honestly didn’t care what happened to me anymore. I think I just crouched in some back alley and watched with deadened eyes…”
Lost in the past she spoke of, Mina’s normally lively, bright eyes were shadowed and brimmed with loneliness. It was almost as if the orphan girl persona she had shut away decided to be present during this conversation.
“It was the guildmaster who found me there. He actually tried to talk to me and asked, ‘Why the long face? Not gonna run for it?’ When I told him I have nowhere to run, he noticed The Hero’s Tale sticking out of my pochette and asked if I liked the story. That question reminded me of all the hard work I had put in before taking the wrong path, and I just broke down crying with it clasped to my chest,” she said with a small laugh at the little girl she had been.
“He ended up sitting down and hearing me out. He listened to how I wanted to be an Adventurer, got betrayed by a friend, and ended up becoming a stereotypical slum waif. Thinking back on it now, I never told anyone else my story before him, but there was something about Guildmaster that led me to believe he would understand me. I think I just wanted an adult somewhere to speak to me as a human being and not just some street rat…” Mina gave a sheepish laugh.
“After hearing me out, he told me to come with him if I have nowhere better to go and promised to help me become an Adventurer capable of achieving my dream of joining the Hero Party.” She smiled at the memory of it. That seemed to be her one good memory amid the heartache.
“So that’s how I ended up training under him and picking the Thief class since it just meshed well with my past. I was super motivated and leveled up with every quest I could get my hands on… But I was never able to forget the betrayal I experienced in the slums, so I party hopped and soloed. I was scared of trusting and being betrayed again.”
Sympathizing with her, Aki hung her head. Mina strode right past her and turned around to face her with an optimistic smile.
“But my opinion changed when I met you. When I first brought up that Quest put out by Sutcliff with you, you didn’t doubt me for a second and even invited me to join you. You made me so happy, trusting me without question. I feel like that helped remind me how important it is to trust people.” Mina folded her hands behind her back and leaned forward with a grin.
“How do I put it? Even if you weren’t a part of Hero Elias’s Party, I’d still want to be in the same party as you. Adventuring together seems like so much fun. You made me think if I’m gonna try trusting someone, I’d want that someone to be you, Aki. Simply put, you have become a huge piece of my life! Oh gosh, it’s embarrassing saying it like this!” she laughed merrily, covering her mouth with one hand as her cheeks flushed.
…I didn’t know Mina trusted and cared about me that much. Or that I had changed her life.
“And just as I was on cloud nine about teaming up with you, I found out that Elias was the current Hero!” Mina said in an exaggerated tone, holding both hands up and shrugging. “At that point, I was positive our meeting was fate! I mean, how many people obtain their dreams and a best friend at the same time? That’s why I…” She ran toward Aki with open arms and jump-hugged her.
“Whoa!” Aki cried, barely catching her balance. Mina’s blissful smile was inches from her face.
“Love you so much! My love is just as great as Elias and Leo’s! So please let me continue to support and protect you. There’s so much you have to carry along with Elias—I want to lessen that load even just a little for you.”
Aki was starting to get teary-eyed and wrapped her arms around Mina’s neck. “Thank you, Mina! With you by my side, I can get over any hurdle with a smile. So, um, if you don’t mind, let’s stay friends forever!”
Since coming to this world, Aki had Elias, Leo, and Johann to keep her company, but it was nice to have a girlfriend she could talk to about everything, especially the things she didn’t want to tell the boys.
I’m also really glad to have met Mina. The Hero’s journey is filled with peril, so I need to get strong enough to protect her as well. I want to be the type of friends who protect and support each other. Having friends in two different worlds is pretty neat!
“…So, now that we’re friends, I have something to confide in you…” Mina mumbled, letting go of Aki and looking away from her face.
“What is it?” Aki asked, excited for some girl talk.
Turning pink up to her ears, Mina pressed her fingers together. “Y-You see, during the Quest…um…a bunch of stuff happened…and I sorta realized I have feelings for someone…”
“Whaaaaaaaaat?!” Aki squealed. She already guessed Mina had a crush on someone and who that person might be, but hearing it from her added another level of excitement. Or more like there was only one person who could have caught her fancy during the Quest.
But as they say, speak of the devil and he will come—before Mina got a chance to get out what she wanted to say, a certain man greeted them behind her.
“Aki, Mina! What are you ladies doing over here?” he asked in the sonorous voice of a Minstrel.
Mina’s shoulders jumped and she turned scarlet, giving away what she hadn’t yet confided.
Yep, my hunch was right on the mark, Aki thought.
“Hi, Louis! Finished inspecting the barrier?” Aki asked the man she believed to be Mina’s object of affection.
Louis brushed his platinum bangs off his face and flashed a confident smile. “Yes. Though it’s out of the question for a barrier created by Johann, Sutcliff, and myself to have any flaws, it never hurts to check.”
His narcissism never failed to be on at all times, but he had the skills to back up his claims, so it was harder to find fault in his bragging.
As he casually closed the distance between them, Mina remained frozen solid with her back to him.
Yep, she couldn’t be any more obvious.
“By the way, I have a special favor to ask of you ladies.”
“Eeek! Wh-Whatever might that beeeeee?!” Mina leaped into the air when he stood beside her and rested his hand on her shoulder. She ran and hid behind Aki faster than a lizard losing its tail to escape a predator.