The words “save the world.”
They were strange words.
The elves had said that the Eye of Death would lead the world to ruin.
But he laughed.
He said they should take revenge on them by having the very agent of destruction save the world instead.
It was strange. It made no sense.
Fate and providence do not allow things to work that way.
Even so, he laughed.
He said he would see me again tomorrow and disappeared.
He came to see me every day.
He seemed truly busy, as though he was preparing something.
He would often tell me stories of the outside world.
Of all the things he told me, what moved me most was the sky beyond.
He said it was different from the dreadful trees and the forest where no light seeped in.
He said the sky outside was high and blue. He said that even when darkness came, it was a sky filled with tiny lights called starlight.
I wanted to see the sky he spoke of.
After he began coming to me, I no longer had suffocating nightmares.
Instead of nightmares about dying in the forest, I dreamed of a sky full of starlight.
“Kehuk—! Kehuk...!!”
My breathing grew ragged. I could not loosen the strength in the hands strangling my neck.
Just a little longer, and I would be able to sleep.
Tears flowed down.
Whenever I recalled those happy memories with him, sadness came instead.
He truly showed me a sky full of starlight.
The sky I experienced after leaving the forest for the first time was blue, just as he had said.
That sky filled with light was truly an unforgettable, happy memory.
But better than anything else was—
The sky I saw together with him.
“....!!”
My field of vision narrowed. At last, my consciousness was dragged beneath the surface of sleep.
Within my fading awareness, I wished desperately.
Today without you is so very hard.
So please, may you be there tomorrow.
***
“Lady Lafi. As promised, we’ve brought the blue medals.”
The riffraff trying to scout Lafi looked utterly ordinary.
The adventurer party’s voices were bright, as if they were certain Lafi would naturally join their party.
They approached with faces full of anticipation.
As promised, huh... It seemed Lafi had made some kind of promise with this adventurer party.
“Sir Evan...”
Lafi hid behind me.
I didn’t know the details of the conversation Lafi had previously had with the adventurer party in front of us.
After all, it had only been two days since I returned to Adeina, and I had only met Lafi today.
Still, I could roughly see what was going on.
Despite being the disciple of a great mage, Lafi had been crying because she couldn’t even catch one scrawny orc.
Even so, Lafi was still the disciple of a great mage.
On top of that, she was on good terms with the branch manager of the Adventurers’ Guild. It had been a short conversation, but Spilbena had been subtly—no, openly—favoring Lafi.
Considering Lafi’s treatment, she must have been a dangerous bomb that couldn’t be touched lightly.
If you handled her wrong, you’d be “educated” by the bear-oaf’s fists.
Spilbena had said that anyone with a brain had no reason to mess with Lafi.
And yet, if there were still people who did mess with her—
Just as the bear-oaf had said, they were probably riffraff with no skill, no sense of their place, and plenty of greed.
“Oh dear, it seems you still don’t believe us. True, I was the only one who took out my medal. Everyone, show Lady Lafi your medals.”
At the man’s words, the riffraff behind him smiled and took out their blue medals.
“Hahaha. Are you surprised, Lady Lafi? That we reached blue in only a week, I mean.”
“It’s only natural you’d think that. We also...”
“Shh! Let’s not say that yet. Once Lady Lafi officially becomes a member of our party, then...”
The riffraff were putting on a farce.
Blue rank was the same rank as Lafi, so why were they acting so confident?
Was blue rank really that impressive? I didn’t know Adenia’s level of strength after fifty years had passed, so I couldn’t jump to conclusions, but that didn’t seem right.
According to Lafi’s explanation, blue rank was supposed to include those with the greatest potential.
No matter how I looked at them, the riffraff in front of me showed no sign of anything like potential.
They really did seem to intend to take Lafi as their party’s mage.
“Uuuh, Sir Evan... Please help me...”
“I need to know what’s going on before I can help. What did you do with them?”
Lafi tugged at the hem of my clothes.
“More importantly, wait a minute. Who are you, and why are you standing beside our party’s mage?”
Just a moment ago, they had been asking Lafi to join them, and now they were calling her their party’s mage.
“Lafi, you had a party?”
If she had party members, she wouldn’t have been wandering around the forest alone.
“No. I’m alone. Those people... kept clinging to me, so I did refuse them...”
From behind me, only Lafi’s face popped out. She shook her head so hard her blue hair swayed.
“She says otherwise?”
The adventurers’ faces turned red at Lafi’s words.
“That’s not true!! Lady Lafi! You clearly promised you would join our party if we were promoted to blue!”
The riffraff’s voice rang throughout the first floor.
“That’s right! We even emptied our party funds and bought equipment for Lady Lafi because you said you would come.”
Now they were even blaming Lafi.
“I said... I would only think about it. I never said I would join.”
Lafi’s words were firm.
It seemed our dear riffraff adventurers didn’t understand a roundabout rejection.
“...! No... That’s it! You! You there! It was you!!”
“Pardon? Me?”
They suddenly turned their arrows toward me. What now?
“You!! While we were carrying out a request, you cut in first!! How dare you seduce the innocent Lady Lafi!!”
“Uh... I think it’s the opposite?”
Spilbena had asked me to look after Lafi. I hadn’t seduced her.
When the party’s leader grew angry, the party members behind him supported him.
“Hurk—! To do something so vile...! You wicked, ruthless bastard!! Even an upper clan wouldn’t do something like that...!!”
“That’s right... Now that I look at your face, I’ve never seen you in Rimhold before. You must have come from somewhere else.”
“But here in Rimhold, we don’t tolerate scumbags who steal party members! Get out of this city right now!”
Wow. Now they were even discriminating by region.
In that regard, even after fifty years, this place was still very much Adenia. Savages were all the same.
“That’s what they say. Lafi, may I go?”
“Whaaaat!!? No! You said you’d help me!”
Lafi grabbed the hem of my clothes from behind and shook it.
“I’m joking.”
“...!!!”
Lafi’s eyes widened. Perhaps feeling wronged, she tapped my thigh with her fist.
Her reactions were so good that teasing her was actually fun.
“What are you doing in front of us!! Do our words sound like a joke to you!?”
“Give our mage back right now! And get out of the city!!”
Even though the first floor was this noisy, Spilbena did not come down from above.
It seemed she really did intend to make me act as Lafi’s babysitter too. Was she telling me to handle it myself?
Looking at their eyes, I understood.
Even if I sent them flying through “education,” like the bear-oaf had done, they would probably cling on stubbornly.
“Lady Lafi... If only we have Lady Lafi, we too can leap forward into an upper clan.”
“That annoying guild is underestimating our skills. If Lady Lafi just joins us, our party can rise all the way to an upper clan!”
The riffraff were full of the desire to succeed by using the great mage’s disciple as a connection.
“Sir Evan. What should I do...”
Lafi whispered quietly.
I had gotten caught up in an annoying incident.
They already had it in their heads that I was deceiving Lafi.
“Hmm...”
I touched the handle of my axe.
If I spilled blood, I could solve this right away, but what came after was the problem.
I had made a deal with Spilbena using information about Heize.
Considering the bear-oaf’s position as guild branch manager, if I caused a big commotion here, the deal might go awry.
If shedding blood was the worst option... Was there another way?
Leaving behind the fools still putting on their farce, I looked around.
The other adventurers were watching this side with interest.
Behind them, a bulletin board attached to the wall caught my eye.
The bulletin board was packed with request forms.
“Good. You blue adventurers with such high potential? I’ll make you one proposal.”
With this, even these guys shouldn’t have any complaints.
“Ha! Get lost. As if I’d accept a proposal from a shameless bastard like you.”
Should I just beat them up and be done with it?
“Wait. Leader, let’s hear him out. That guy seems like a con man, but still, he came down from the second floor with Lady Lafi. He looks like he has some skill.”
“The second floor means... he met that atrocious Mad Bear...?”
Mad Bear? Spilbena seemed to have quite a poor reputation.
The female adventurer holding a bow in the back wrapped her arms around herself.
“No... I don’t want to receive ‘education’ anymore...”
“It’s okay. We’re here. Calm down.”
The man called leader soothed his comrade.
“You cruel bastard... To stimulate our party member’s trauma. As expected, you’re trash.”
I was getting tired of wondering how long I had to watch this farce.
“Ah, what a pain. Just wait a moment.”
“Sir... Evan, where are you going...!?”
Leaving behind the party members acting all solemn, I walked over to the bulletin board.
Up close, the request forms pinned to the board all looked different.
Some were old and crumpled from having been posted for a long time, while others were torn, as if someone had hurriedly taken them.
Stars were drawn on all the request forms. Like adventurer ranks, they were white, blue, and red stars.
I tore down every request form with white and blue stars that I could see.
Then I showed the request forms to the party glaring at me.
“You know adventurers speak through requests.”
“Of course. Is there an adventurer who doesn’t know that?”
I’d said it roughly, but it was actually true?
“So this is my proposal. Let’s make a bet on who completes the requests here the fastest, and how many they complete.”
“If we win, you’ll give Lady Lafi back?”
“Give her back? You should phrase that properly.”
Lafi quickly ran behind me.
“Anyway, if you win, I’ll part ways with Lafi. If I win, what should I make you do... Right. You’ll receive a thorough ‘education’ from Spilbena.”
“... Wait. I’ll discuss it with my party members.”
From his eyes, he had already accepted. Still, maybe because they were at least formally a party, he intended to hold a meeting.
The party members turned their backs and began discussing.
They were whispering, but should I listen? I had another useful little trick for times like this.
I infused mana into my body and strengthened its natural functions.
... What does everyone think? I think we can do it.
Certainly, it might have been impossible for us before, but... we have “that” now.
Still, leader, we’ll leave the decision to you.
Their whispered voices came through clearly.
Even though they were all birds of a feather, the adventurer called leader seemed to have quite a lot of trust from them.
After ending the discussion, the leader approached with a resolute expression.
“... You seem like a con man. But we have decided to accept the bet.”
“Then take these.”
Faat—!
The leader adventurer roughly snatched the request forms from my hand.
Why was this guy angry again? He made me want to hit him.
“What’s the deadline?”
“Let’s see. For now, shall we set it at one month?”
“That’s plenty. Lady Lafi, please wait just a little. We’ll come to get you soon.”
“No... I’m telling you, I’m not in your party?”
Even when Lafi said that, the leader held up his palm as if to say it was fine.
The riffraff looked at one another with solemn faces, then nodded.
“Let’s leave right away. We don’t have time to waste.”
“Yeah. Let’s finish them quickly.”
The riffraff party members, who matched each other perfectly as they tossed words back and forth, stepped out of the building.
“Wow... They look like they’re off to save the world or something.”
It had been a rather amusing commotion.
“Sir Evan!!! How could you make a bet like that!!”
Once they disappeared, Lafi, who had been behind me, shouted.
“You’ve got a good set of lungs. If you can shout like this, why didn’t you shout at them?”
“Sir Evan!!!!”
This time, Lafi clung to me in a different pattern.
When I blocked her fists from above with an expression of contempt, she started poking my thigh with her staff instead.
“What are you going to do if those people really finish the requests first!!”
“Then that’s a good thing.”
“Whaaaaat!!?”
It didn’t matter even if they finished the requests first.
“It doesn’t matter if they do them first, Lafi.”
“... Ah... That’s... true... I suppose...”
Suddenly becoming dejected, Lafi lowered her head. What was with her now?
“I’m... only a failing student, after all... I suppose I shouldn’t be with someone as strong as you, Sir Evan.”
Every time I looked at Lafi, I felt an odd sense of déjà vu, and now I finally knew why.
That slight lack of affection and low self-esteem were exactly like Heize.
At times like this, there was one special remedy.
Thwack—!
“Ugek—! That hurts—!”
“I hit you so it would hurt.”
No, more importantly, why was this girl’s crown so hard? My fist hurt more.
Even though I had hit her fairly hard, no bump rose on Lafi’s head.
The head of Lafi, who claimed she would become a great mage in the future, was practically a weapon.
“What’s there to worry about? Lafi, you’re returning to the academy once you complete a few requests anyway.”
“... Huh? That’s right! Wow!! Sir Evan, you’re smart! Sir Evan, you’re amazing!”
Overjoyed, Lafi grabbed me with her whole body and shook me.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, so could you stop shaking me? Let’s go register our requests too.”
“Yes, sir—!!”