“Mmm...! As I thought, nothing clears the head like moving your body.”
A bear was speaking. It rolled its shoulders like a human. I stared blankly at the bizarre sight.
No matter how different this other world was from Earth, a bear that spoke human language felt like crossing a line. Even fifty years ago, when the forces of the Abyss were running rampant, I’d never seen a talking bear.
“Hey. What’ve you been staring at since earlier? First time seeing a talking bear?”
The bear said it as if a bear speaking human language were common sense. What? Was I the strange one here?
“Ah..! Branch Chief!”
Rapi, who had followed me in, cried out when she saw the bear.
Branch chief? That thing? A bear..?
“Oh! Isn’t that Rapi. Back already? Looks like you finished your request quickly.”
The big bear welcomed Rapi like she was his grandchild.
“Yes! Hehe... Sir Evan helped me catch the orc!”
“Hmm? This man?”
Squish—!
“What the!? How!?”
“You don’t seem like an illusion mage, but you really are a bear.”
I took the chance while he was talking to Rapi to touch the big bear’s fur. I felt fluffy fur and hide.
Since my stats and traits were restricted, I wondered if I’d been caught in illusion magic, so I touched him directly—but the sensation of the bear was real.
“Grrroooar—!”
The bear roared, apparently enraged. The claws on his bear paws gleamed sharply.
He uses mana too... No, I suppose that’s only natural if he’s the branch chief of the Adventurers’ Guild.
The bear’s fur bristled. It was clearly a sign he was about to attack.
“Calm down, Bear Branch Chief. I apologize for touching you without permission.”
I took a step back for now. Fighting a bear that spoke human language sounded interesting, but the problem was that he was the branch chief.
I’d come to the Adventurers’ Guild to get information. There was no need to make an enemy of him.
“Branch Chief..! You can’t fight!”
Rapi flailed her hands and blocked the big bear’s path.
“Tch..! Insolent brat. I’ll let it slide since Rapi is here.”
The growling bear eased his pressure. He patted Rapi’s head with his bear paw. Rapi hugged the bear like a stuffed animal.
“Hehe, so fluffy...”
A bear twice as big as Rapi. It looked like the bear was hugging a human doll.
“What kind of bastard are you, approaching without getting caught by my senses? Are you an assassin, or a former Imperial ranger?”
The bear sounded dumbfounded.
“A former hero who saved the world.”
“Are you insane?”
The bear shook his head.
“Hmph—! Fine. Rapi, it’s too chaotic here, so let’s talk upstairs. You there! You come along too.”
Just as the Bear Branch Chief said, the first floor was a mess. Broken tables and chairs were strewn about in disorder.
After lightly snorting, the bear turned around. For someone with such rough words and manners, his butt swayed with every step as he climbed the stairs.
“Yes! Sir Evan, this way!”
“...”
Rapi followed naturally, as if meeting the branch chief was something she was quite used to.
It was rather strange to be getting a private audience with the branch chief as soon as I arrived at the Adventurers’ Guild.
The guard earlier had treated Rapi like this too. Just what was Rapi’s identity that she was getting such special treatment?
I’d have to raise my evaluation of Rapi, who’d been crying and making a fuss.
“Sit.”
Once we arrived at the branch chief’s office, the bear sat naturally and offered us seats.
“Seupilbena Emwil. I’m the branch chief of the Adventurers’ Guild in Rimhold.”
The bear introduced himself. His tone carried pride in his position as branch chief.
“What an unusual name... Were you a druid? I remember the minority tribes being beyond the Great Forest.”
I thought he was a talking bear, but he was actually a druid pretending to be a bear. The disappointment was immense.
After fifty years had passed, I thought a real bear had awakened and learned to speak human language. Give me back my romance.
“Hah—! It’s been over forty years since the tribes came outside. Well, that doesn’t matter. Hey, what about you?”
The bear jerked his chin at me.
“Evan.”
“So you won’t tell me anything but your name. You’re practically announcing that you’re suspicious. Rapi, is this bastard really trustworthy?”
Seupilbena snorted. His bright yellow eyes were filled with suspicion toward me.
“Huh? But Sir Evan saved me from the orc... and he gave me bread too.”
Rapi tilted her head in confusion. Unlike the suspicious big bear, Rapi was far too innocent.
“You heard her? I’m a kind person.”
Seupilbena growled and glared at me.
“You resisting the power of nature is one thing, and from what I saw on the first floor, you seem skilled... but why would a suspicious bastard like you help Rapi?”
Suspicious, huh... The druid’s suspicions were certainly reasonable.
The people of Adenia did not easily extend a helping hand. The world had been heading toward destruction because of the forces of the Abyss, so goodwill had been a luxury.
Aside from kind people like me, goodwill was something only exceptional individuals possessed.
But that was fifty years ago.
The Abyss had already been trampled underfoot. The threat gnawing away at the world was gone.
Seeing a child like Rapi walking around alone, Adenia was surely peaceful now.
Even in Seupilbena’s tone, there wasn’t much hostility toward me. If anything, it was filled with concern for Rapi.
“Don’t worry, druid. Does helping Rapi require a reason?”
“...”
“To begin with, I’m more curious whether there’s anyone who wouldn’t help after seeing a little mage suffering from mana exhaustion bawling in front of an orc.”
If this had ended as a dark fantasy ending, the place would’ve been full of bastards harvesting Rapi’s head instead. But in peaceful times like now, most people would’ve saved Rapi.
Right... probably? I wanted to believe so.
“Sir Evan!!! I wasn’t crying and making that much of a fu— fuss!!!”
“My goodness...! That wasn’t making a fuss? If you cried any harder, the sky would’ve collapsed.”
“Eeeeeeeek!!!!”
Rapi stomped her feet and punched my arm. Maybe because she was a mage, it didn’t hurt at all.
“Hahahahaha!! Fine. It seems I was worrying for nothing. You said your name was Evan. What’s your adventurer rank?”
Seupilbena rummaged through his fur and took out a medal.
What is that? Where did he pull it from? Is there some hidden space inside his fur?
The color of Seupilbena’s medal was silver.
Among the adventurer ranks Rapi had told me about—white, blue, red, silver, gold—it was the second from the top.
“If red is knight-class, then would silver be around knight commander?”
“You can’t measure the strength of ranks that precisely, but that is how people generally perceive it.”
Seupilbena shrugged. Was he proud?
“The Branch Chief is amazing, right!? If you rank strength in Rimhold, he’s among the top five!!”
At Rapi’s fussing, the corners of Seupilbena’s mouth twitched. Praise made even a bear happy.
“You said you were Evan? What about you? What are you?”
“Ah, I have one too. Hold on.”
The black medal I’d received from the Adventurers’ Guild long ago was in my inventory.
“Huh!? You have one...!? Sir Evan, didn’t you say you didn’t?”
“To be precise, I said I wasn’t interested in the Adventurers’ Guild, not that I didn’t have a medal.”
“... Huhh..?”
...The black medal wouldn’t come out of my inventory.
“Unfortunately, I can’t show it right now.”
“... Rapi, are you sure this guy is really all right?”
For a useless medal, it seemed to have a grade of Unique or higher. The Adventurers’ Guild bastards were never any help.
“But Sir Evan has red-level strength!!”
Rapi helped lighten the atmosphere.
“Hooh... Red, is it. Well, if you can deceive my senses, that might actually be natural.”
Seupilbena looked me up and down.
Since he was looking with a beast’s eyes, it felt like he was searching for prey.
“If you have red-level strength but no adventurer medal, I suppose you’re not from the Empire.”
Strictly speaking, I was an Earthling, so I wasn’t from the Empire.
“Does being from the Empire matter in Rimhold?”
“No, I just found it interesting. Adventurer medals are a standard universally recognized within the Empire.”
Those Imperial bastards always thought they were the standard in Adenia. That was why half their capital had gotten blown away.
“Anyway, enough with the trivial stuff. Is that all you called me for? To ask why I saved Rapi?”
“That was part of it. If you were a bastard trying to use innocent Rapi, I intended to kindly ‘educate’ you.”
The guard at the checkpoint, and now the branch chief bear in front of me—just what was Rapi’s identity that they were making such a fuss?
“Rapi, are you from some great noble family?”
“Huhhh..!? No? I’m from a frontier family.”
Rapi’s voice was filled with bewilderment.
“Hahahahaha!! That reaction. You really don’t know who Rapi is, do you?”
“Then tell me. Is an Academy student someone who gets a private audience with the branch chief?”
Seupilbena crossed his arms.
“It’s because Rapi is the disciple of my dear friend, Ariel Calliope.”
Who the hell is that?
There was a note of pride in Seupilbena’s words. He looked like he was putting on airs.
But I had to know who it was before I could react.
“Who? Ariel...? What does that person do?”
“...!? You don’t know who the Archmage Ariel is!? Even if you’re not from the Empire, does it make sense not to know a young, highly respected archmage!?”
When I said I had absolutely no idea, Seupilbena was dumbfounded.
An archmage, huh. If it was someone of that caliber, the fuss over Rapi made sense.
It seemed this archmage called Ariel had quite a high reputation.
The only archmage I’d met was the idiot tower master of the Floating Island Archipelago.
That tower master, whose head had been blown off like an idiot, had at least possessed skill worthy of an archmage. If he’d had his mind in order, he would have been a valuable talent to stand with us against the Abyss.
Now, this was a world where there was no threat from the Abyss.
If someone reached the level of archmage under those circumstances, they might be even more impressive than that tower master.
And Rapi was the disciple of someone like that.
A crybaby on the verge of failing a year was an archmage’s disciple...?
“Do you perhaps have a rare bloodline? Or are you the archmage’s blood relative?”
“No? I’m a pure human... I first met Professor Ariel at the Academy.”
If she’d become an archmage’s disciple at the Academy, she must have some kind of ability.
“... An archmage’s disciple couldn’t even catch a single orc. You’re lying, right?”
“Sir Evan!! That’s not trueee!!! I really am Professor Ariel’s disciple!!”
“Ah, sorry. What I was thinking slipped out.”
“!!!!”
Rapi’s mouth fell open in shock.
“Hahahahaha—!”
The big bear’s laughter. Once the atmosphere had settled, I stated my purpose for coming to the Adventurers’ Guild.
“Seupilbena, there’s something I’m curious about. Can you tell me about the Nether King?”
“The Nether King...”
Seupilbena propped his chin on his paw and closed his eyes.
“Rapi said there was a rumor that the Nether King had settled near Rimhold. I want to know if it’s true.”
“Yes. It’s true.”
A confirmation from the Adventurers’ Guild branch chief. Heize was near Rimhold.
“Where is the Nether King now?”
Seupilbena opened his eyes. His bright yellow gaze deepened. Instead of savagery, there was wisdom in it.
“Do you wish to know?”
Unlike before, Seupilbena showed the solemn bearing of a druid.
Naturally, I nodded.
At last, I would be able to learn news of Heize.
I could meet him soon.
When I met Heize, what should I say first? I should probably start by apologizing for being late.
“Before that, do you know about the incident in which the Great Forest burned down?”
No, has this guy lost his mind?