ALL NOVEL chapter 8
8 – Lucia
“Karl! It’s crazy? No, what if I bring a Elementalist!”
“Right! If we have two swordsmen and one healer in our party right now, we should bring at least a mage or at least an archer. How are you going to make up for the lack of firepower?”
Leaving the Kingdom of Argen amidst Edwin’s worries, I infiltrated the Kingdom of Horon as an adventurer to save party members.
Jack and Jenny are the first adventurers to join the party, and since they entered Horon Kingdom, they have become close friends after completing small requests together.
“Hey, what do you think? I don’t have to worry about firepower that much.”
“Karl, if you go to the fire, then who will defend? Anyway, I can’t go with spirit love. No. You don’t have to do anything, but you have to divide your income by 1/N again!”
Jenny, who was in charge of the therapist, was even talking about leaving the party, as if she didn’t like this situation where the spirit sage came in,
The same prosecutor, Jack, joined in and pressured me.
“It’s hard to find wizards right now. Everyone is taking a wizard with each other, and the elven archer is even rarer. But we can’t just wait here until we find a party.”
“That’s true, but…”
“I’ll take a little less than 1/N, so let’s take it.”
“…Well… If you say that…”
Is it because they are adventurers risking their lives for commission fees…
Jack and Jenny didn’t argue with me anymore when I told them that they would take less of the request fee while being the leaders of the party and doing the most work.
Finding an agreement, we entered the inn where Lucia was waiting.
Unlike when she went outside, she was smiling, but she sat nervously in her seat and was looking at us with teary eyes.
A face that looks like it’s about to cry if I say something wrong…
“Okay then, let’s all meet here at 6:00 tomorrow morning, and don’t drink too much.”
“Don’t worry. Knife. I’ll have a little drink.”
Jack and Jenny, who usually like alcohol, gave a strong answer, but I didn’t believe it at all.
“Lucia, don’t forget tomorrow morning at 6:00.”
“Yes!? So… Are you going to include me in the party too?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I will work really hard!”
Lucia was saying hello to Jack and Jenny, from me to Jack and Jenny, shedding tears of joy, where her face, which had been nervous just before, was gone.
“Get some rest, too, Lucia. It will be hard from tomorrow.”
“Yes!!”
Leaving behind such a bright and smiling Lucia, I headed to the second floor room, and Jack followed me to see if he had anything more to say, and after making sure no one was around, he started talking to me.
“Carl, be honest with me. Lucia, did you bring her because of her beauty?”
“What?”
“Ah~ Being right~ Pretending not~”
“Do you think I am you?”
“Otherwise, there’s no way you’re going to lose money and bring the Elementalist. Yes? Am I right?”
“Go down and have a drink while you’re talking nonsense.”
“Ha ha ha ha! It just caught on! Carl, you are a manly man too!”
Jack followed me up and laughed at me until the moment I went down again.
Lucia…
Although she was a half-elf, she was beautiful enough to fit in my fingers in my lifetime.
However, the reason I chose her to be in her party was not because of her beauty, but because of the many spirits gathered around her…
It was the first time in my life to see such a large group of spirits, no matter how much I was a spiritist and had a high affinity for spirits.
The next day,
When I went down to the first floor of the inn 10 minutes earlier than the promised time, only a blue-haired woman was sitting in an empty restaurant without an owner…
“Lucia?”
“Yes!”
“Since when have you been waiting?”
“About an hour…?”
“Why did you wait for me to come out so early? I should have waited another 30 minutes for the two of them to come out yet.”
Jack and Jenny like to drink like adventurers, but they have never been on time for an appointment.
It’s good if I don’t go up to my room and wake him up…
“That’s… just in case… it might be too late…”
“You should have slept well though. If you’re late, I’ll go wake you up.”
“Ah… No! How… I…”
Lucia was talking to her with her back erect and rigid, as if I was uncomfortable with this.
“Is this your first time having a party?”
“Yes…”
“Well… The spirits aren’t accepted well at adventure parties, right?”
“Yes…”
“Cheer up. If you go up in rank later, there will still be more parties you are looking for.”
“Yes.”
I have a lot to ask of you, but Lucia keeps giving short answers and she’s nervous, so she’s about to feel sorry for asking any more…
“Wow…”
Lucia’s mouth opened to see if she had something to say, and she began to speak her words with her fine timbre.
“Thank you!”
“Huh? What?”
“Yesterday… I heard everything…”
“What?”
“In exchange for accepting me as a party, he said he would take less of the request fee… I’ll make sure to return it later when I settle the bill! And… I will fight really hard not to become anyone!”
“Ha ha ha. But don’t push yourself too hard. First and second are safe.”
“Yes!”
Lucia wondered if she was naturally shy. Every time I talked to her, her face blushed,
I also found it cute that she turned her head away to avoid being noticed,
Above all, it was morning, so I just stared at her eyes, which became brighter than yesterday, in a state of fascination for a while.
“What kind of attribute is Lucia?”
“I am originally of the water attribute, but I can use wind a little.”
“Huh? It’s a water attribute… But it can also use wind…? So you mean using two properties?”
“Yes…”
Somehow… That’s why…
There were many spirits gathered near her…
No Elf I’ve ever met had more than two attributes…
There’s no way Lucia would be found out anyway during the battle, so there’s no way she would lie.
“No matter how good your affinity with spirits is, can you have two attributes?”
“That’s… that’s…”
“Huh?”
“There are circumstances…”
“What…”
I wanted to ask Lucia a little more, but in the meantime Jack and Jenny were coming downstairs yawning.
“Haaa~ Were the two of you here first?”
Two people who would normally be late for more than 30 minutes came down on time for some reason,
Thanks to that, I can no longer ask Lucia.
“What? Why are you two so friendly? Ohhhhh, Carl, have you been working on it since morning?”
“Stop talking nonsense and get ready for departure. The other parties started early in the morning.”
“Yes.”
I had no choice but to postpone my conversation with Lucia until later and left the inn with Jack flirting beside me.
The village, which had been so quiet that not a single person walked around at dawn, was getting busy in the morning and preparing for a battle with the demon king’s army.
The knights and soldiers sent from the Kingdom of Horon and its neighboring countries will deal with the main army of the demon king, and the monsters under them are supposed to be dealt with by adventurers…
I was always alert to information from that side to go to support when Horon Kingdom was in danger while dealing with monsters along with the adventurers.
Even though Edwin told me not to worry, my body didn’t seem to be able to bear it…
“Wow… that’s the best ever?”
Jack looked surprised when he saw knights from different countries passing through town.
I turned my head away and avoided my gaze, just in case there was an article in the middle that recognized me.
“Karl! Look over there! I saw that the former warrior party also participated?”
“What?”
I turned my head at Jack’s words and saw a small group of elven knights and a familiar face at the end of the marching knights…
Iluen…
She wanted to continue to apply for a warrior party to the Kingdom of Argen…
Currently, being in the middle of a procession of knights, looking around and checking the faces of each passing knight,
It looked as if it was looking for me.
“Carl, look over there. Hey.. I look strong because it’s a warrior party, right? Knife? Knife?”
When I saw Iluen’s face for the first time in several years, memories of the past that had been quiet for a while came to mind, and symptoms of anxiety were slowly starting.
“Hey Carl. Where are you not good What’s wrong with your face?”
“It’s okay… It’s okay… Joe… Just rest… It’ll be okay… Let’s leave in 30 minutes.”
While I was suffering from anxiety symptoms, I wondered if Illuen would approach, so I went back to the inn.
While Jack and Jenny were looking at me with puzzled faces, Lucia entered after me.
“Are you okay? Knife? Cold sweat…”
Lucia saw that I was breaking out in a cold sweat, and she wiped all the sweat from her forehead with her collar.
She was caressing my forehead with her hand to see if I had a fever.
“It’s okay… It’s okay… Lucia… It’s just… Sometimes…”
“Wait a minute.”
Lucia stopped listening to what I had to say, then asked the innkeeper for permission and went into the kitchen.
And after a while…
Lucia approached with a teacup and set it down on the table where I was sitting…
“Try some of this.”
“What is this..?”
“Lavender tea. It has a calming effect, so if you drink it slowly while savoring the smell, you will feel much better.”
The way she speaks and acts as if she knows about my symptoms…
I slowly sipped the lavender tea she brewed for me as she ordered.
My heart, which had been beating wildly, became calm like a lie, and my body gradually calmed down, and the symptoms of anxiety disappeared.