She had sent the head of a super-valuable pure relic figure flying… That part was obviously a problem, but she could imagine a future that was far more frightening.
If people found out that Alina had destroyed it, they would arrive at a fatal question: How could a mere receptionist break a pure relic in the first place, with how incredibly strong and hard it is? Of course, no ordinary human could break a relic with their bare hands. Then they would reach the conclusion that Alina was not just a receptionist.
If…word gets around…it’s over… My peaceful receptionist life is over…!!!!
Shivers racing up her spine, Alina crumpled on the spot. She put her hands on the floor and hung her head as her vision went dark.
As despair washed over her, a vision of the worst possible future played out in her brain. The winning adventurer would proudly accept this figure on the day of the fighting tournament. Surely, they wouldn’t sell it right away, and they would bring it home for a while and use it to decorate their room or brag about it to other people. And then they would happen to notice, Huh, wait, is there something off about the head…?
“……………………………!!!!”
Once they realized the head was broken, they would instantly search for the culprit, and suspicion would fall on Alina from Iffole Counter, where the figure had been left. No, people would just assume she was the culprit. And then word would get out that Alina had done it, and that she was strong enough to destroy a pure relic with a single flick.
What do I do, what do I do…?!
The one silver lining was that nobody had seen her actually commit the crime. If she had been seen, then she’d be out in one shot. While Alina was worried, she was just a little relieved that she had scraped through by the skin of her teeth—but then—
“Hey, what are you doing out here, Alina?” a voice suddenly asked from behind.
“Byaaaaaagh!” Alina’s shoulders leaped up.
When she turned around, there was Jade, blinking in surprise at Alina’s shriek. “I came to help you with overtime again… Did something happen? You’re kneeling on the floor.”
“O-oh, it’s you, Jade… Don’t surprise me!”
Picking up the forms she’d dropped, Alina feigned composure as she got up. While making the excuse that she had just stumbled a bit, she realized something with a gasp before she took another step.
That’s it! I remember Jade said that Silver Sword would be in the fighting tournament, too…
She felt like a faint ray of hope had shone into the darkness of her despair.
Jade’s party ought to just win and get this prize for her. They wouldn’t get at her for breaking its head off. And if she wanted to make their victory even more assured, then she might as well—
“…Hey, hey, Jade.”
“What is it?”
“Silver Sword is participating in the upcoming tournament, right? What are you going to do with the prize if you win…?”
“The prize? Yeah, huh… I guess one of us would just use it as a decoration? It’s not useful in battle, and there’s not much use in selling a pure relic to split the profits for us, at this point.”
For the rich guild elites who had large sums of contract money and quest rewards, even a pure relic that regular adventurers would be drooling over was nothing more than pocket change. Hearing that, Alina made up her mind.
“What, are you going to join us in the tournament after all? Ah-ha-ha.”
“I will.” Alina said just those two words.
“Huh?”
As Jade’s eyes went round in shock, Alina declared firmly, “I’m going to be in the tournament, too!”
No sooner had she said this than she was heading over to Jade with a ghastly look on her face, grabbing his lapels, and flaring her eyes wide. “In exchange…! Please give that pure relic to me if we win!!”
This was no big deal. She just had to win the broken statue for herself.
Then the world will never find out about my misdeeds or crazy strength. It’s perfect…! It’s a perfect plan…!
The corners of Alina’s lips curved up sneakily, like a villain’s grin.
“I—I don’t mind at all… But wait?! You’re actually joining in?!”
“What, something wrong with that?!”
“No, but you seemed like you had no interest at all in joining before, so why the sudden change of heart…?”
Alina averted her eyes from Jade, who was still in disbelief, as she answered falteringly, “…I just want the prize.”
“You want the prize?!”
Instantly, Jade’s face stiffened, as if he had been hit by lightning. “You actually want that thing? You, the girl who told me the only thing she wants is to go home on time?!” Jade was dubious as he closely observed the statuette on the counter. “Huh…? What’s so great about this weird figure…?! Is it how much it’s worth? Its shape? The color…?!”
“Nwaaaaaaaagh!! Don’t look too closely at iiiiiiiit!!!” As Jade stared awkwardly at the prize that she had just glued back together, Alina reflexively punched him in the cheek.
“Gerf!”
“What’s the problem?! I like stuff like that!” she said thoughtlessly, snapping at him.
Jade looked as though he’d received a shocking revelation. As in, So she likes weird things like that, huh… He balled his fists, his face twisting in frustration. “Ngh…! How could I have not realized that when I’ve been watching you all this time?! But I guess people aren’t selling mystifyingly shaped statuettes every day, so it makes sense I wouldn’t notice…”
Alina seemed to have created some of the misunderstanding about her tastes and preferences, but regardless, her secret was safe for the time being.
Privately relieved that Jade was such an idiot, Alina let out a forced sigh. “If you haven’t gotten a frontline attacker, then it’s perfect for you guys if I join you, right?”
“Well, we really are grateful for that. But if you wanted the prize, then you should have told me earlier. I thought for sure that you had broken the prize on accident and were trying to win it in order to destroy the evidence or something.”
TWITCH.
Jade’s all too accurate hypothesis made Alina’s whole body jerk upward.
“Wh-whaaaat are you talking about? There’s no way it’d be something like that!” Her voice squeaking, and dripping cold sweat, Alina forced up the corners of her lips in a smile.
“…Hmm? And oh yeah, there’s something with the neck of this prize, too…”
“Jade.”
As Jade was about to arrive at the truth that he must not know, Alina gently took his hand.