Interludes
1. A Difficult Town to Live In
In a certain town, a man who had been swindled out of his money was being comforted by his friends.
“Do you plan on just lying here and crying yourself to sleep?” his friend asked.
“Of course not!” the man answered. “I’m still in pauling right now, but even I have crimsonian friends at my side. Soon enough, I’ll make a pauline-about happen!”
In this town, thanks to one particular incident, a number of special idiomatic phrases had come into use.
“Pauling”: n., adj. lying in wait, devising; or, plotting a counterattack.
“Crimsonian”: adj. merciless, and with an inhuman level of supporting strength.
“Pauline-about”: n. a disproportionate retribution.
This town was an incredibly difficult place for anyone named Pauline to live…
2. Ambition
“N ow then, please carry the water from this well to both the bathtubs and the water supply up top that I showed you before.”
At little Lenny’s directions, the six orphans before her nodded dutifully.
After much trouble, Lenny had finally convinced her parents, who were beginning to grow concerned about how long the counter had gone unattended, to let her bring on some orphans for when the Crimson Vow was out of town.
The pay was low, but for children who were guild hopefuls—particularly those who lacked the funds for regular meals—the job was a godsend. The job was not dangerous, it would strengthen their bodies, it went on for several days, and they would earn enough money to eat for a few days after it was over. Plus, even once their tasks were done, they could return at the next opportunity, and there was the possibility that more clients would start hiring orphans for similar tasks in the future.
And so, the orphans paid even Lenny, who was barely older than they were, the full respect due a client.
Their pay was calculated not by the hour, but by the task. In other words, they were paid once all the work was done. It didn’t
matter if it took them one hour or ten—the pay was all the same. Thus, several of the orphans had gathered, in order to finish the task as quickly as possible. They figured this would make their client the happiest, and anyway, the leader of their group had decided it would be too difficult for a single child to try and do the entire job alone.
Besides, completing the job was not their only aim.
“All right, everybody got that?”
After Lenny completed her explanation and left, one of the orphans, a boy of around eight or nine, who appeared to be the oldest among them, issued a reminder to the group.
“Big brother Veil’s—and subsequently, our—benefactor is staying at this inn. It pretty much goes without saying that he’s still head over heels for her, right?”
The other five nodded.
Somehow or the other, it would appear that these orphans were the children looked after by Veil, the boy who Mile used as her “sacrificial lamb” at the graduation exam.
Again and again, Veil had impressed upon the orphans that all their good fortune was thanks to a girl named Mile, and that, should anything ever happen to him, they ought to pay the favor back to her in his stead. Though he never explicitly shared his true feelings for her, they were obvious enough that even the youngest of the orphans, who were no more than four or five years old, could easily figure out how he felt.
“If we run into our benefactor, let’s take a break and talk to her. We need to try and find out her interests, hobbies, and things like that. And then, we need to tell her how great our manager is—and then mention Veil’s name. And then we say something like, ‘What?! You know big brother Veil?!’ so we can arrange a reunion. We can’t mess this up. Got it?!”
“Yeah!!!!!”
Three days later…
“This is weird… We’ve tried working at all different times, but we’ve never run into her…”
On a break, the boy who served as their leader pondered this conundrum, just as Lenny came around.
“Hm? What’s the matter?” she asked.
The boy hesitated for a bit, then ventured, “Um, I’d heard that there was an all-girl hunting party that was lodging here long-term, but we haven’t run into them at all…”
“Oh, you must be talking about Miss Mile’s group!” Lenny answered, offering the boys a smile and an explanation. “When those ladies are here, they fill the baths for us using magic. So the only time that we hire you all is when the ladies are away from the capital on business. In other words, you’ll never encounter that party while doing this job.”
Lenny had relatively few chances to speak with children her age or younger, so rather than using the formal patterns she usually employed while speaking to adults, she took a more relaxed, childlike tone. In fact, it seemed that she had purposely come by when the orphans were taking a break, just so that she could talk with them. However…
“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!”
The orphan boys fell to their knees in the dirt, despair upon their faces. They did not seem to be enjoying this conversation at all.
“N-no way… All of our hopes… All of our big plans…”
“Our dreams of establishing the party Griffon’s End, and training everyone into first-class hunters, under the guidance of Veil and our benefactor…”
Apparently, these orphans had all heard Veil’s tales of Mile from their days at the prep school.
“Hm? Huh?”
Lenny only gaped at them, not understanding what was going on in the least…
3. All-Purpose Mage
“O h, it’s Reina!”
As the members of the Crimson Vow were looking over the job request board one day, a voice called to them from behind. When they turned to look, they saw Fran, one of their classmates from the prep school, along with the three members of the Flaming Wolves, who had been their allies in that fateful escort mission.
Reina greeted them mildly. “Well, if it isn’t Fran and the Flaming Wolves. It’s been a while.”
“Oh, Fran, have you joined up with the Flaming Wolves?” Mile asked with interest.
“Eheheh, that’s correct. As you know, initially, I was in a party of our classmates, but they all turned out to be somewhat unreliable. For someone starting out, it’s a lot safer to have the guidance of people with more experience. I’ll be able to advance much quicker this way!”
Fran’s chestnut hair was cut in a short bob, from under which shone big, round brown eyes. Fran was incredibly cute—small in stature, but bright and full of energy—and had been very popular at the prep school. Additionally, Fran was a mage by profession, something that the Flaming Wolves were sorely lacking. Fran’s magical skills covered a relatively wide and useful range, from combat to healing magic.
“I’m only a newbie, but they’re taking really good care of me. I’m so happy right now!”
“Really? That’s wonderful!”
It was probably a bother for the party that Fran had left, but that couldn’t be helped. All of this was voluntary, so everyone had to pick the path that was best for them.
After they stood and talked for a while, the Flaming Wolves’ job acceptance paperwork was completed, and the groups parted. Just before they left, their leader, Brett, hung back, leaning in toward the Crimson Vow.
“Honestly, I’ve really got to thank you all. Thanks to that incident, our names got around, and we gained a lot more credibility. Now, with little Fran with us, our party has more balance… If we could get just one more mage to join, our group would be complete, but at this rate, I’m confident that it’ll happen soon. The only problem we have now is figuring out which one of us three is going to get to date Fran first and smother all these sparks that are flying, you know? Ha ha ha!”
“…………”
With that, Brett departed, leaving the four to watch him go, their expressions inscrutable.
“Ah… I wonder if those boys know…”
“From the way he was talking, I’m guessing that’s a ‘no.’”
“I’m thinking they don’t. I’d bet a gold piece on it.”
“Oh, me too! I’ll wager ten gold on that.”
“In that case, it isn’t even a wager!”
The all-purpose mage, Fran. A graduate of the Hunters’ Prep School’s twelfth class.
With soft chestnut hair and big, round eyes.
A short and slender, but bright and energetic, adorable youth.
The third son of a poor farming family, or so they had heard.
Indeed, the third son .
The four girls of the Crimson Vow prayed for happiness for Brett, Chuck, and Daryl in their next lives.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login