ALL NOVEL Chapter 33
Time passes quickly.
It’s already been a week since I arrived in Normans.
“Rosmas, I’ll be going to the forest for a bit.”
“Send my regards. What about Fergus?”
“I’m just going to keep working here at the forge. If you need a sword or weapon, feel free to stop by. I’ll give you a 5.8% discount.”
Marzojis, who had held a somewhat unfavorable view of Lucius, left for somewhere, and Fergus unexpectedly focused on his blacksmith duties, hardly paying any attention to Rosmas.
“Take care, Rosmas. I’ll mostly be supporting from the back, so effectively, it’s like we’re a team. Got it?”
“Yes!!”
“….”
We ended up forming a team of three.
“Rosmas, what’s your adventurer rank?”
“Currently, I’m C-rank.”
“Your skills are B-rank, though?”
“…Well, that’s about right.”
I had vaguely heard about her experiences with the orcs.
A girl lacking experience compared to her skills.
That was where Rosmas stood now.
“Then, Master, does that mean Rosmas takes on the quest and we just have to solve it?”
“They said it’s not allowed since you’re getting carried. You need some accomplishments to challenge higher ranks together.”
“Again with the accomplishments….”
“How important are accomplishments? In this society, low achievements will get you cut without hesitation.”
Rosmas, registered as a C-rank adventurer two levels higher than us, was perceived as a senior leading our team, yet the Adventurer Guild still labeled us as E-rank.
“I’m sorry. Given the current circumstances…”
“Current circumstances?”
“Yes. Supposedly, a holy sword that had been sleeping for 500 years in the Village of the Holy Sword has emerged, and goblin villages nearby have all been wiped out by an unidentified entity or all the orcs near the northern lake have been killed, and they’re supposed to be quite powerful. It’s a bit unsettling.”
“I understand.”
I had no particular complaints.
The abrupt B-rank level difficulty of the goblin village being wiped out led the Adventurer Guild to act hastily, causing the guild staff to react quite sensitively.
“First, can you start with E-rank tasks slowly?”
“Of course.”
It was better to proceed carefully, building accomplishments while diligently training rather than recklessly trying higher-level missions.
Morning, simple exercises.
Breakfast, visiting the Adventurer Guild after eating.
Late morning, solving quests.
Afternoon, completing the quests or practicing combat.
Evening, physical training.
Though a simple but varied daily routine repeated for the past few days, we diligently built our record.
However.
“Ah, Arthur! Do you want to have dinner together tonight…?”
“What about the Master?”
“I don’t have any plans, so you two can go.”
“Still, let’s go together. How can we leave the Master alone while we go? Hurry up.”
“…….”
Or.
“It’s become a bit inconvenient sharing a room, huh? Hey, Arthur, I need to sleep alone, so you can share a room with Rosmas.”
“What? How can a man and a woman sleep in the same room?”
“…What did you say?”
“…Arthur?”
“Is Rosmas bothering you?”
“It’s not that Rosmas is a problem, it’s just that I can’t sleep with a girl next to me.”
“…What about me as a guy?”
“Guys are discomforting too… but it doesn’t really matter with you. I just want to sleep alone, okay? Save the money and share a room with Rosmas. Is that okay, Rosmas?”
“……Okay, I will…. crunch.”
Or.
“Master, please assist with physical training.”
“Go to your room and figure it out.”
“It’s more effective if you help me, Master.”
“Can’t you see I’m reading a book?”
“I’ll do push-ups, so please read on top of me.”
“Can’t you just have Rosmas lift you?”
“I-I’ll climb up! Ugh, ugh… aaah?!”
“……If you can’t balance without falling, it doesn’t mean anything. Master.”
“…Sigh. Just for one hour.”
Or.
“Sigh. Lucius, train by yourself for a bit. Rosmas and I need to talk.”
Creek, thud.
“Rosmas, try to work a bit harder.”
“…I’m trying, you know.”
“Effort alone won’t do it. Keep approaching. Got it?”
“…Who’s preventing me from doing that?”
“Hey. Are you blaming me right now? That’s hilarious.”
“……Sigh.”
Though our accomplishments as adventurers were high, our romantic scores were zero.
“Keep trying. You never know; there might come a day when Lucius kisses you.”
“…….”
“Just the thought of it makes you feel like you’re shooting a lifespan drama between humans and elves.”
“Uh, how did you know…?”
“Come on, it’s obvious. An old man Arthur sitting next to a young elf, waiting to hear something like, ‘Even though I’ve aged, you are still beautiful.'”
“……Hmph.”
“Just thinking about it makes you want to die of happiness. But hey, you’ve got to get married first!!”
“Marriage with Lucius…!”
The combination of Rosmas, who can’t even catch a break, and Lucius, who puts up a wall, was quite irritating to me, but their relationship had certainly progressed significantly since we first met.
“Arthur. Why can’t I call him Lucius?”
“…Lucius sounds like a surname. Should I call Rosmas Terbation instead?”
“Not that, but didn’t you say both Arthur and Lucius are names?”
“Because they both sound like names doesn’t really affect anything.”
“Hmm….”
“Sigh.”
That progress was comparable to the leap from the dawn of civilization to modern humanity, with advanced magic and the goddess’s command to wear revealing clothing, but there was a definite development.
It would surely resolve over time.
I made an effort to create as much time for the two as possible while gathering information in Normans.
Data about the Demon King.
Information about Zephar’s organization.
And information about this world.
Thanks to reading the books from the Adventurer Guild, I studied history and trends so as not to fall behind the times.
I learned various things, but the biggest discovery was the name of Zephar’s organization.
“Asydia.”
– Remnants of the Demon King’s Army that followed the fallen Demon King Bel Pegor 500 years ago.
According to the book, although the leader was unknown to be Zephar, the organization named Asydia was said to be active throughout the continent, continuing its legacy.
They were quite arrogant and notorious as the continent’s worst organization, lurking in various places such as the fall of the Empire and witch hunts.
Missions related to Asydia are at least B-rank.
To access information about Asydia at the Adventurer Guild, you must be a B-rank adventurer.
In other words, accomplishments are necessary.
You can’t just browse, and it isn’t available for research even in Normans.
Then there is only one path.
“Stacking achievements.”
Raise the rank as an adventurer, build up accomplishments, and climb up to higher ranks.
If it were possible to have someone check the information, I would have hired a B-rank, but unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.
So we build achievements.
Though these E-rank missions might seem trivial for us, each one lays the foundation for becoming higher-ranked adventurers.
So.
“Hey! Why is it taking so long to catch the Skeletons?!”
“Ugh, I’m holding up my end!”
“Ah! Lucius! What are you doing, Witch?! How can Lucius deal with that alone?!”
“He can handle it alone! If you can’t even take care of that, how are you ever going to get stronger?! Huh? Don’t deflect the enemy’s attacks, just let them pass!”
“That’s easier said than done, aah!!”
Once again.
Our party is doing its best to build our accomplishments.