There was a quiet knock at the door in the morning. When I opened it, a young girl clad entirely in red clothes was standing there.
“Oh, hey, Ashley. You’re awfully early.”
“I-I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep. I suppose it’s better than being late, right?” Ashley said bashfully.
Oh, we’d totally forgotten to specify the time, hadn’t we? Anyway, seeing Ashley, who was normally so fiercely determined, bashfully squirming around like that, it was so…so…!
“Adorable!”
“Knock it off!”
“All right, let’s go wake up Filia.” I welcomed Ashley inside, pointed her in the direction of Filia’s bed, and Ashley’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Huh? Big Sis is still sleeping?”
“Yeah. She’s not really a morning person.” It was happening less and less now, but for a time, she’d slept in almost every day. I wondered how Ashley, who idolized Filia so much, would take it. But just as I thought that, I realized Ashley was…gone?
As soon as she’d heard me, Ashly darted over to the bed at high speed like some kind of lightning-fast beast of the plains.
“Eh he he! Aww, the face of Big Sis when she’s sleeping!”
If she were anywhere near normal, Ashley would have been quite a cute kid. What a pity. “Don’t do anything weird, okay?”
“I won’t! It just makes me happy to look at her, is all. Besides, it’s not weird feelings or anything. It’s just that when I look at Big Sis, I…get this feeling? Like, wow! You know what I mean, right?”
“Not even a little bit.”
Our voices must’ve been like a wake-up call, because Filia started to squirm around. As usual, Filia was in a daze in the mornings. It was a little funny to see her like that, because she was normally so precise.
“Good morning…huh? Ashley, you’re here?”
“Oooooh! Sis, you’re just way too cute!” Ashley exclaimed, hugging Filia. Dazed, Filia accepted the hug.
“We’ll go when you’re ready,” I told her.
“Ah, okay,” replied Filia sleepily.
We headed over to the guild and checked the bulletin board. At the sight of us, people in the guild started talking.
“Whoa, check it out! Did that guy seriously tame Ashley the Flame Princess?!”
“Come on… What’s the difference between me and him, anyway?!”
“What’s so great about that musclebound jerk, huh?!”
The commentary brigade was as annoying as ever. If they had the time to spout stupid nonsense, it’d be better spent training their muscles. I was standing on my tiptoes at that very moment, developing my sense of balance while simultaneously strengthening my calves. Really, didn’t they know the old proverb, Every little bit of muscle means more muscle?
“Um, it’s not like they don’t know it,” said Filia, clearly peeking into my mind. “It’s more like there is no such proverb.”
I pretended that I didn’t hear her and studied the bulletin board. Requests of varying scope and danger were posted to the board, and adventurers could choose to accept any that they liked.
“Hey, how ’bout this one? ‘Defeat the Water Dragon,’” said Ashley, standing up tall and pointing to a request posted at the edge of the bulletin board.
I quickly rejected it. “No good.”
“Why? Big Sis would want to do this one too, wouldn’t she?”
“Filia and I are A-Rank. We can’t take on that request in the first place. The location is rank-restricted.”
The ‘Defeat the Water Dragon’ request itself was A-Rank, but the location was only accessible to S-Rank adventurers. The guild rules stated that adventurers couldn’t take on requests if they didn’t meet rank requirements. It helped the guild prevent any unnecessary deaths.
Still… I desperately tried to bury my true feelings. The Water Dragon… I wanna fight it…
Things like dragons were probably strong, right? Yeah, of course they were! Ugh, why was I still A-Rank?!
“Oh, that’s right,” said Ashley. “You two are so strong that I forgot you weren’t S-Rank. I guess the guild just doesn’t have a discerning eye for talent.”
“Exactly!” I nodded.
We were getting along unusually well, huh?
“Hey, you two…” muttered Filia, exasperated as she put a hand to her head. “You do know we’re inside the guild, right?”
Course we knew. It didn’t matter where we were, I was going to say what I wanted to say.
“Oh, how about this one?” Filia tore a piece of paper off the bulletin board to show us.
“Vermin Extermination: Gorillalas,” I read.
“That one should be okay, right?” asked Filia. “I’m pretty sure gorillalas are higher B-Rank monsters.”
Yeah, it could be a great way for me to break in my new technique…
“Ha! With me there, we’ll handle them easy. It’ll be no contest,” said Ashley, flashing a perfect white-toothed grin.
“Shall we get on with it, then?” said Filia.
We went over to submit the request to the receptionist, then headed over to the request location.
“Huh? You’re going to run there?” asked Ashley. “You’re joking, right?”
“Uh, what? Of course I’m gonna run!”
What was she even talking about? I had no idea what Ashley was trying to say. Frankly, she was getting a little hysterical. I looked over toward Filia.
“For a second, Yuri’s words sounded perfectly natural to my ears,” said Filia with a shudder. She hugged herself. “Ugh, I’m slowly turning into you!”
“Don’t talk like that!” C’mon, she was gonna give people the wrong idea!