Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Backup 

The three of us were walking back to the capital when I suddenly smelled blood. When I came to a stop, Lorraine and Augurey looked at me with confusion. 

“Is something wrong?” Augurey asked. 

“Yeah, I smell human blood from over there.” 

Augurey sniffed the air. “I don’t notice anything. You must have the nose of a dog,” he said with a shrug. 

My vampiric abilities actually made me frightfully sensitive to the scent of human blood. I knew the odor of other creatures as well, but human blood was especially fragrant. I knew from this smell that it had to have come from a human. 

“Why don’t we check, if you’re so curious,” Lorraine said. “This outing was quicker than expected, so we should have the time.” 

“Do you mind?” I asked Augurey. 

“Not at all,” he said. “In fact, if someone’s being attacked, I’d like to help. Let’s hurry.” 

We decided to do what any adventurer would do. We ran to the destination, with me leading the way because I could sniff out the exact location. 

When we arrived, we found a carriage toppled over. It was surrounded by about twenty forest wolves and ten rock wolves. Forest wolves were a size larger than the average wolf and commonly appeared on the third floor of the New Moon Dungeon. They weren’t that powerful individually, but in packs they were dangerous enough to compete with a Silver-class adventurer. Rock wolves were even more threatening, dwarfing the forest wolves in size. Their bodies were coated in a layer of stone that acted as armor. Despite that, they were as agile and coordinated as other wolves. You never wanted to run into these monsters on the road. 

The wolves were ganging up on this carriage. A few armored men were defending it, but they were greatly outnumbered. A few were lying on the ground and seemed to already be dead. If nobody interfered, they would probably be wiped out. 

“So what should we do? Leave, or help?” Augurey asked me. 

“Sorry, but mind if we help? You can go hide somewhere if you don’t want to.” 

“That’s quite all right. I can offer backup too. Honestly, I’ve been itching for a fight.” 

“Then shall we begin?” Lorraine said without needing to be asked. “I’ll scatter them with magic to create a path.” She cast a spell that launched blades of wind from her wand and attacked the wolves. 

Lorraine’s wind blades blew the forest wolves away. That attack alone killed five or six of them, so it must have packed a punch. Then we ran through the space she cleared and approached the carriage. 

“Who are you people?!” the oldest of the armored men asked when we suddenly appeared. He didn’t let his guard down, of course. He kept slashing at the monsters to keep them at bay. 

“We’re adventurers,” I answered. “We’re here to offer backup.” 

It was a brief explanation, but it seemed to be enough to convince the man. “You have my gratitude!” he said and then continued to fight. His skill was nothing to scoff at, but against this many monsters, it didn’t quite match up. 

The other men seemed to be having a rougher time, so we decided to split up and help them. We cleared out the monsters until I finally slayed the last one, ending the battle. 

“Phew, looks like that worked out somehow,” the older man said. He was clad in silver armor and wielded a sword. It was the same equipment as the other men, but his armor was different in that the shoulder of it displayed a crest that was presumably a mark of his status. He was clearly a knight, so I could guess what this carriage might have held. I sensed danger. 

“There don’t seem to be any more monsters, so I think we should be returning to town,” I said. “Bye.” 

“Wait a moment! I can’t let you go unrewarded after all your help,” the man replied, not unexpectedly. 

His generosity was only a hindrance in this case, but I couldn’t say so. Regardless, I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. “Well, we were in the middle of a job,” I said, trying to sound like I had no choice. 

“In that case, perhaps you could be rewarded another day,” he insisted. 

“Yes, please allow me to reward you!” a precious girl in a dress said from behind the man. She looked to be around fifteen or sixteen and a bit sickly, but she gave us a firm look. 

The knight looked at the girl and frantically ran toward her. “Princess! How many times do I have to tell you to hide in the carriage?” 

“The fight is over anyway. Besides, my saviors are about to leave. It would bring shame to the royal family if I didn’t thank them somehow,” she responded. 

“What should we do?” I asked Lorraine and Augurey as I watched them from afar. 

“I think we ought to find a way to leave as soon as possible,” Lorraine suggested. “It sounds like she’s someone of considerable status. But whether she’s of Yaaran royalty or some other nation, I don’t know.” 

“I agree,” Augurey said. “They may certainly offer plentiful rewards, but getting involved with royalty could be bothersome. Still, though...” 

They were both of the same mind, but judging by the princess and the knight’s exchange, it wouldn’t be easy for us to get away. We could have just turned and left immediately, but that would probably create problems for Augurey in the future. Lorraine and I were acting under false identities, but he was an adventurer who worked in the capital normally. If he ran off now and was contacted through the guild later, and they asked him who we were, it could be a serious issue. He could simply say he didn’t know, but then they might undertake a detailed investigation into us. Considering that possibility, peacefully turning down their offer would be the only safe way out of this. 

“Apologies for the wait,” the knight said. “The princess wishes to thank you. She would like to invite you to the palace.” 

The princess stared at us from behind him, her expression implying that she’d give us the greatest possible hospitality. I appreciated that and thought it was commendable coming from royalty. If I were acting under my true identity, I would have accepted the offer. But now wasn’t a good time. 

I didn’t know what to do, so I bought some time by asking a question. “Uh, to the palace, you say? Who are you two, exactly?” I knew the answer, more or less. They were a knight and a princess, and they were unfortunately attacked on the road. It felt like associating with them would go nowhere good, but maybe I was imagining things. 

“Oh, my apologies, I should have introduced myself sooner. I’m Nauss Ancro, captain of the Kingdom of Yaaran’s Royal Guard. And this is...” 

The Royal Guard was supposed to be among the most powerful groups in Yaaran. There may have been a lot of monsters, but they shouldn’t have done as much damage as they did. Some of the knights who did survive were heavily wounded, and those wounds didn’t look like they came from forest wolves or rock wolves. Maybe they were harmed by something else beforehand and then were attacked again. That would leave them with little remaining stamina, which would explain why they struggled against relatively weak monsters. Whatever the case, it seemed like a nasty situation. 

“I’m the second princess of Yaaran, Jia Regina Yaaran,” the princess said after the knight. 

We kneeled before her. I may have grown up in the middle of nowhere, but I knew that was the proper etiquette around royalty. In the off chance that a noble would come to the village, they wanted to avoid any potential disasters, so they beat these things into us. 

“You don’t have to do that,” Princess Jia said. “Maybe if we were in the palace, but this is a public road. Besides, you saved us. More monsters could attack at any moment, so I could never demand that you bow to me in this dangerous place.” 

But accepting her generosity at face value and raising my head could get it chopped off, as has happened in numerous instances before, so I kept my head down. Not that severing my head would necessarily kill me, but it wouldn’t be ideal. 

“You really can raise your heads,” Nauss said. “She’s not like the corrupt nobles you’re thinking of.” 

Yaaran did have corrupt nobles, but relatively few compared to other countries. There were many reasons for this, but one big reason was that the majority of the country belonged to the Church of the Eastern Sky. It was built around living a modest life and showing compassion to others, so if nobles belonged to that religion, they were more likely to care for their people. Nauss surely knew this of Yaaran as well, but it sounded like he felt strongly about the nobles he spoke of. 

I was only getting more suspicious and didn’t particularly want to go with them, but it was hard to directly reject a request from royalty. Maybe it would at least be possible to postpone this. Then there might be some ways to deal with this. If nothing else, it would be better than going there right away. I decided to try and carry the conversation in that direction. 

At any rate, I was told to raise my head, so I did. It didn’t matter if my head was lopped off, and I was the one closest to them, so I figured I would act as the representative. Nobody tried to remove my head, and Nauss and Jia just watched me, so I seemed to be okay. I was relieved about that, but I tried not to show it. 

“Princess, Sir Nauss, thank you for your generosity,” I said. 

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Jia replied. “So, will you accept my invitation?” 

This was the kind of question that was more like a demand. But it was framed as a question nonetheless, so I hoped that if I asked if the invitation could be pushed to a later date, it would be allowed. If not, then so be it. 

“We’re adventurers in the middle of a job, so we have to go report about that first. Also, as you may see from how we’re dressed, we’re not in the proper attire for entering a palace. If possible, we’d like some time to prepare first.” 

All three of us were in flashy outfits. Mine and Lorraine’s were certainly on the trendy side, and Augurey’s was hard to look at but still well-made. Regardless, I had been told that visiting a palace in outfits like this would be improper. When going before someone of high prestige, many preparations were required, even with regards to clothing. We didn’t meet those standards. As such, I thought this would be a good excuse to ask for more time. This wasn’t simply for our sake, as Jia most likely didn’t want to be embarrassed by us either. 

Nauss was the first to express that he understood what I was saying. Only a noble could become the captain of the Royal Guard, but because he had the duty of protecting the royal family, I heard there was more emphasis placed on his skill with a sword than his status. Maybe his standing as a noble wasn’t as high as some others, judging by his interactions with us. 

“Yes, you might be right,” he said. “Your clothes are somewhat painful to the eye, if you don’t mind me saying. And once you’ve taken a job, you must see it through to its end. Normally the royal family should be the top priority, however. Princess, what do you think?” 

“Father always said not to interfere with our citizens’ work. You can leave this for another day, of course.” 

This perspective probably came from the compassion that the Church of the Eastern Sky preached. The royalty of other countries would be happy to intrude on the lives of its citizens and wouldn’t even comprehend why they shouldn’t. They viewed the work of the masses as trifling compared to the demands of royalty. Thankfully, Yaaran was different. It was a small country either way, so the royalty was far closer to its citizens than other nations were. 

“Then let’s do that,” I said. “What should we do when we’re ready?” 

“I’d tell you to simply visit the palace, but ordinary adventurers aren’t allowed past the guards. Take this with you. Show this to the guards, and they should open the door for you,” Nauss said as he handed me a medal. It bore the same crest that was engraved on part of his armor. 

The crest depicted a rather violent image of a unicorn impaling a monster on its horn. Maybe knights looked at this and thought it looked gallant. I wouldn’t know how knights thought, but it was kind of cool, I guess. My family never had a family crest or anything. Actually, considering everything I now knew about my village, maybe they did have one somewhere. It could be worth asking about next time I returned home. 

“What’s this?” I asked. 

“It is what it looks like. A medal that features the crest of my family. I hand them out at times like these, when someone needs to present proof that they have business with me. I have a few, but they’re magic items made of fairly rare metal, so hopefully you don’t run off with it.” Nauss kind of sounded like he was joking, but his eyes looked serious. 

Lorraine was staring curiously at the medal and nodding, so it must have been a pretty decent magic item. Even I could tell that the metal was of high quality. It could sell for a high price, but then I might get my head lopped off, so I decided against it. 

“Understood. Then we’ll be sure to visit the palace at a later date,” I said. “Also, will that carriage be all right?” The carriage was completely turned over on its side, and while we weren’t far from the capital, it would still be at least an hour of walking. The knights might be able to handle it, but not so much the princess. 

“Fortunately, it simply toppled over. It should still be usable once we pull it upright. It was built for the royal family, so it’s quite durable. But it might take some time.” 

They were so exhausted that it might have been tough for them to lift the carriage. “Should we do something to help?” I whispered to Lorraine and Augurey. Nauss and the princess were ordering the other knights to pull the carriage upright. 

“Offering to help might bear the most fruit in the future,” Augurey said. “But you two don’t want to draw attention, do you? Then, if necessary, I could go to the palace by myself and ideally earn enough of their gratitude that they allow it.” 

In other words, Augurey would go tell them that we went off somewhere and couldn’t come to the palace. But I didn’t want to make him do that. It was me who said we should help them in the first place. Making Augurey deal with the aftermath of that didn’t sit well with me. Although, we were only here at all because of Augurey’s unreasonable request, but I was the one who’d accepted it. I couldn’t push the blame on him. 

“That might be convenient for us, but it’d hurt your standing in the capital,” I said. “And we only just met. I couldn’t ask so much of you.” 

Augurey looked a bit surprised. “I’m the one who dragged you into this. How nice of you. Well, I appreciate the thought, but what should we do, then?” 

“Whatever the case, earning their gratitude should be the right choice. Fortunately, getting that carriage upright again will be easy, if you don’t mind me taking care of it,” Lorraine suggested. 

She intended to use magic. Some of the knights could probably use magic too, but because of their jobs, they would have focused primarily on learning offensive magic. Lorraine knew those spells too, but she also knew some more convenient and highly specific spells. 

“That’s fine with me, but don’t make too big a show of it,” I said. The outfits she’d picked already stood out enough as it was. 

“Fine, it won’t be too showy. But it might be a bit wriggly,” she answered. 

I had no clue what that meant, but as long as it wasn’t showy, I didn’t care. Most magicians knew a couple of bizarre spells that matched their personal inclinations, so I assumed it would be something of the sort. 

“You do that, then,” I said. 

Lorraine walked up to Nauss. “Sir Nauss, may I offer to help lift the carriage?” 

“No, no, you’ve already saved our lives. I can’t ask for more than that. This will take a while, but we should make it back to the capital before sunset,” Nauss insisted. 

But then we couldn’t earn their gratitude, so Lorraine pushed further. “This may be no concern for such mighty and honorable knights as yourselves, but I don’t think you can expect the precious princess to wait in this bloody place for so long. I believe it would be in your best interest to lift the carriage as soon as possible. I happen to know some magic, including a spell that’s perfect for accidents like this. If you leave this to me, I can take care of it in a matter of minutes. You need only ask.” 

I thought her flattery was kind of excessive, but she always told me about her efforts to coordinate with other scholars in the Empire. Maybe this was a skill she picked up from back then. 

Nauss seemed like he was going to object at first, but when Lorraine mentioned the princess, he appeared to change his mind. And when she said it would only take a few minutes, he looked surprised and then a bit conflicted. 

“I hate to ask this after you saved our lives, but please do offer your aid. We actually had to fend off another attack before this one, so our stamina and mana have run dry. This would usually be easy for us, but not right now,” he admitted and bowed his head. 

“Based on your wounds and mana, I thought as much. I take it that asking for more details would be audacious of me, so I won’t. Anyway, I’ll pull the carriage upright for you. Can you have your knights stand back?” 

“Hey, she’s going to lift the carriage for us!” Nauss shouted to the knights. “Stand back!” 

Once the knights did as told, Lorraine cast the spell. She was talented enough to cast many spells without reciting the incantations, but she generally did so anyway when she was in public. That was partially to avoid showing the extent of her abilities, but it was also considered polite among magicians, apparently. Talented magicians were always swarmed by the rich and powerful, so it was probably intended to avoid that. 

When Lorraine finished casting the spell, thick, green vines slithered out of the ground and wrapped around each other to become even thicker and stronger. Then the vines coiled around the carriage, picked it up, and set it down in an upright position. I guess that was what she meant by a wriggly spell. It was fast, too. If she had made these strangle a person or monster, they could probably be knocked out immediately. 

Elves specialized in these plant-based spells, but I knew that Lorraine could use them too. She had demonstrated how she could use smaller plants like whips before. As an aside, my ability to accelerate plant growth with divinity differed from this in a few ways. When it came to magic, the plant would disappear the moment it no longer received mana. Also, it was possible to use spells to harvest fruit and such, but they tended to either have no flavor or a horrible one. They also provided no nutrients, supposedly. When using divinity, though, the plant grew and stayed grown permanently. That was why people tended to be thankful to be blessed with divinity. It was also why I had value as walking fertilizer, but I couldn’t say I ever wanted that. 

“Oh, magnificent!” Nauss exclaimed. “I hear that plant magic is difficult to cast.” 

“Well, it just happens to be something I like to study,” Lorraine said humbly. That was actually true, but being able to control so many plants was the mark of a great magician. Plant magic was difficult because it involved controlling living creatures. Elves were good at it because they spent their entire lives living closely with the forest, but for Lorraine to be capable of this magic, she needed incredible skill. 

“No need to be so humble. Well, now it seems we can make it back to the capital right away,” Nauss said. 

“I’ll call them, then,” Jia said and whistled. 

Just when I wondered what she was doing, I heard something running toward us from afar. I looked to see what it was and saw two pure white unicorns. These were probably the animals that drew this carriage. They were hard to train and highly temperamental, so they weren’t often used the way horses were. But their speed and stamina dwarfed that of the average horse, so trained unicorns were treasured. 

They came when Jia called, so these unicorns probably only listened to her. They were supposed to be intelligent animals, so maybe they’d obey other people if Jia told them to, but it would be best not to get too close to them. Around humans other than their master, they acted like any other wild animal. 

Jia tied the unicorns to the carriage. It looked like she was quite familiar with this task, so she seemed to be more than just a sheltered princess. Considering she also came out of hiding in the carriage despite Nauss’s instructions, Jia didn’t come across as the most docile sort. They were attacked twice, yet she was relatively nonchalant about it. 

The knights began to inspect the carriage, but they didn’t seem to find any significant damage. It couldn’t have been completely unharmed after it fell over, but it was as durable as Nauss claimed. The carriage would be able to move perfectly fine. 

“Then I think it’s about time for us to depart,” Nauss said. 

“Right,” I answered. “Would you mind if we attend you to the capital?” 

I’d discussed this decision with Lorraine and Augurey beforehand. Essentially, it was another push to earn their gratitude. The knights had probably somewhat recovered, but not completely. We weren’t that far from the capital, but if the knights had to defend the carriage on the way there, it would likely take about an hour, as the knights now had to travel on foot. They were originally on horseback, but unlike the unicorns, most of the horses were injured or killed in the attacks. They only had a couple left, but at least that was more than nothing. 

“You’re willing to escort us?” Nauss asked. 

“Yes, if you’re not offended by the offer. I think it would be best for the princess, if it’s not too much trouble.” He placed the greatest emphasis on the princess’s safety, judging by his earlier conversation with Lorraine. 

“Yes, you’re right. If you can help us, please do. You’ll be rewarded, of course.” As expected, Nauss seemed easily swayed when it came to the princess. 

“Understood. We’re not knights, though, so I do worry that we’ll draw attention. We’ll follow from behind, if you don’t mind.” 

Thankfully the path to the capital was extremely safe. It was rare to encounter so many monsters on a public road in the first place. Whatever first attacked them probably left the scent of blood for the wolf monsters to sniff out. When you slay monsters in the forest, you have to quickly change locations if you want to avoid getting swarmed. There didn’t seem to be anything more that came to the road, but those monsters were plenty. I’d certainly seen more than enough wolves for the day. 

“They should be safe here,” I said. 

“Yes, this may be a good time to depart,” Lorraine agreed. 

I walked to the front of the carriage and told Nauss, “We’re almost to the city gate, so we’ll be parting ways now.” 

“Oh, are you?” Nauss said. “I suppose there’s nothing more for you to do now. If anything does happen, the gate guards can handle it. Thank you for everything. Please remember to come to the palace soon. I will tell His Majesty of your achievements.” 

I didn’t want that to happen, so I tried to indirectly reject the offer. “Oh, protecting the princess was simply the natural course of action. That won’t be necessary. Goodbye now,” I said and hurried away. Nauss seemed to want to say more, but I felt like listening more would bring needless trouble, so I acted like I didn’t notice. 

Lorraine, Augurey, and I rushed to go stand in the commoner line. The carriage, of course, went to the line for greater nobles. There were a few different lines at the city gate. Some were divided by class, such as the commoner, lesser noble, and greater noble lines; there were also lines for pedestrians or carriages. The gate itself was enormous enough to make this possible. 

Naturally, the line for commoners was pretty busy at this time of day. The line that the princess used, on the other hand, was mostly empty. There weren’t that many greater nobles in the first place. We could have entered with them to make matters easier, but then they would keep some records of our entry. When it came to nobles, they actually kept track of things. There was a good chance that they would remember the few people attending them too, so we decided it would be best to separate outside the gate. 

“We finally made it back,” I said with a sigh after we got inside the city. Even after getting in once before, I didn’t feel confident about using that ID again. I was actually pretty anxious about it. 

Unlike me, Lorraine was so used to visiting the capital that she wasn’t at all concerned. We had Augurey enter the city a bit before us, but he had proper identification, so there was no reason it’d be a problem for him. 

I was the last to enter, and as soon as I got through the gate, I met up with Lorraine. 

“There you are. You really don’t need to be so nervous,” she said when she saw my face, noticing how I felt. 

I was hopelessly timid and knew I was doing something wrong, so that was difficult advice to follow. But they didn’t find me out, so I must have dealt with the guard well enough anyway. If I’d acted more suspicious, they would’ve showered me with questions. At places like these, it was best to act confident no matter how guilty you were. 

“They didn’t suspect me of anything, so it’s fine. Anyway, where’s Augurey?” I asked. He was supposed to wait for us, but I didn’t see him anywhere. 

“Oh, he went to the guild to report that the job is complete. He wants to talk to us about the reward, so he told us to wait.” 

“He wants us to wait here?” I asked. Standing around in one place for a long time might make us stand out, so I wanted to avoid that. 

Lorraine shook her head. “No, he said to go wait at a particular store. He told me the name and location, so we should find it after wandering around a bit.” 

“All right, let’s go,” I said and walked off with Lorraine. 

“Well, this shop looks suspicious,” Lorraine noted. 

“Agreed,” I said, nodding. 

After walking for a while, Lorraine and I arrived at a store in a back alley far from the main street. The sign at the entrance bore the name that Augurey told to Lorraine, but it was covered in vines and extremely difficult to read. Had he not described the store’s location in detail, we would’ve undoubtedly passed by it. But now that we found it, leaving wasn’t an option. I timidly opened the door. It swayed with a loud creak. 

When I peeked inside, I was surprised to find a pleasant room full of elegant furniture. A variety of plants decorated the shop, but not so many that they became an eyesore. The tables and chairs were well-worn and amber in color, but they were polished and of decent quality. Standing at the counter was a skinny old man with tidy short gray hair. He was cleaning dishes like he had done so a thousand times. 

“This is a surprise,” Lorraine said. “If someone like Augurey came to this place, I’d think he would stand out.” I couldn’t help but nod, but you never knew what kind of tastes a person would have. 

In any case, I approached the man who seemed to be the owner. 

“What do you need?” he asked. 

“We were supposed to meet with an adventurer named Augurey here,” I said. I wanted to know if he was already here, and if he wasn’t, I wanted to know where to wait. 

The man seemed to recognize what I meant and nodded. “He isn’t here yet, but come this way, please,” he said and led us to some seats far in the back of the room. It was hard to see this location from the entrance, so it was a good spot for avoiding attention. “Would you like to order something?” he asked, so Lorraine and I ordered some random drinks which we received a while later. They tasted good enough that if I worked in the capital, I’d happily frequent this place. I was glad to be introduced to such a nice shop. 

After waiting so long that we finished our drinks, we heard the door creak open and the owner say something. Then we heard someone walking toward us. 

“Sorry I kept you,” Augurey said as he showed himself. “How do you like this place? I’m quite fond of it myself.” 

His appearance shocked both Lorraine and me. “What are you wearing?” I asked. 

“Something odd about my clothes?” Augurey said and cocked his head. 

To be honest, there was nothing odd about them. That was what was so odd. I thought that no matter what Augurey wore, he would always be blindingly flashy, but now he looked downright normal. He wore a brown overcoat, and his outfit overall consisted of dark colors. Even his shoes matched. Not a shadow of his bright, striking appearance from earlier was left. 

We looked at Augurey like something was wrong with him, which he must have noticed, because he laughed. “Look, even I know how to read the room. That outfit wouldn’t be appropriate here. Besides, I have to consider you two. You said you didn’t want to stand out, so I’m trying to help. Was that unnecessary?” 

I could say I was surprised to hear that from him, but I wasn’t. He was like this in Maalt as well. He didn’t seem that perceptive of his surroundings, but he always knew where to draw the line. He seemed like he couldn’t be considerate, but he was always reserved when it counted. That hadn’t changed since he came to the capital, evidently. 

“It’s fine. I’m sorry we concerned you, if anything. So did you report to the guild?” I asked. 

“I did, yes,” Augurey answered as he sat in a chair. “I collected two gold coins for it. Here you are.” Augurey had said beforehand he would give us the entire reward, so this wasn’t that unexpected, but I didn’t know how to feel about him actually doing it. 

“Hey, are you sure?” I asked. “I know this whole job was for you and all, but the reward is being paid by the tailor. I think you have a right to take some of it.” 

“Maybe so, but a promise is a promise. And I said I’d offer something extra, so here’s another.” Augurey added a third gold coin and pushed them over to us. 

I glanced at Lorraine to see what she thought and saw that she wanted to accept his generosity. Then I took a close look at Augurey’s face; he seemed more serious than usual. Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to refuse, so I decided to accept the three gold coins. 

As to whether this was an appropriate reward for collecting fire spirit madder, it was actually rather high. In Maalt, a silver coin would have been plenty for this job. It was the sort of job any Iron-class or Bronze-class adventurer could take, so that was only natural. Putting out jobs in Maalt to collect plenty of this plant and then selling it in the capital might have been a decent way to turn a profit, but there were similar enough products available to use as a replacement, so it wouldn’t go so well. Fire spirit madder wasn’t in particularly high demand unless someone like Augurey insisted on obtaining some for special reasons. So while it was worth a lot, there probably weren’t many people willing to buy it. With that in mind, maybe this was an appropriate price. It was hard to find anyone who wanted fire spirit madder, but it was also hard to find anyone who would collect it. 

“We’ll happily take it, then,” I said. “I do think this is too much of a reward, though, so at least let me pay for the food here.” I planned to pay with some of the reward money I just got, of course. 

Augurey didn’t seem to mind. “Oh, thanks. You don’t mind if I order something? The food here is actually great.” 

As an aside, the drinks we’d ordered were a luxury item called arouzal. It was made from the crushed roots of a plant called kazuki grass mixed with fluid extracted from dried and roasted beans called loa. The extraction device looked very peculiar and was hard to use, so this drink could taste wildly different at any given shop, but this one was a success. If you weren’t that particular about the flavor, though, this beverage was available just about everywhere. But because it was relatively popular in Yaaran, the local population was often picky about the taste. 

According to people from other countries, it was apparently too bitter and sour to be drinkable no matter what, but Lorraine seemed fine with it. In fact, she drank it so often she almost seemed addicted. She even had an extraction machine at home. It cost a lot to get one for personal use, but that was just how much she liked this drink. People who didn’t care so much for the flavor tended to add milk or honey, including me, because it was just too bitter. Augurey seemed to drink it straight, though. 

“Order whatever you want,” I said. “But in that case, maybe we should get something too.” 

“Right,” Lorraine agreed. “I was feeling a bit hungry.” 

We called the owner over and asked him to cook something up. 

“Oh, would you look at the time? I have to get going,” Augurey said. I looked outside and noticed that the sun was approaching the horizon. We had mostly finished the food and had moved on to just chatting. 

It turned out that I had a lot in common with Augurey. We never ran out of topics to discuss. We were both solo adventurers and had drank together plenty of times before, so I felt comfortable around him. But this was our first meeting from his perspective, so maybe he was just quick to make friends. 

“Yeah? Should we leave, then?” I asked. 

“Sounds good, Rentt. Remember, you’re paying for everything.” 

“Right, I got it. Hm?” I answered, belatedly noticing something was strange. I looked up from my wallet and saw Augurey smiling and Lorraine looking at me like I was an idiot. 

“I knew it. So you’re Lorraine, I take it?” Augurey asked her. 

She thought to herself for a moment but seemed to see no sense in hiding it. “I am, yes. Goodness, when did you figure it out?” 

“Just now, if I had to say. I wasn’t entirely certain, but the way ‘Purple’ here fought was just like Rentt. If I hadn’t seen him fight, I doubt I would’ve noticed anything.” 

“Is his swordsmanship actually that unique?” 

“No, I’d actually say there’s little unique about it. I suppose you could say it looks very clean. Like he does everything by the books. It all seems very practiced, so maybe you could consider that unique. Anyway, why are you visiting the capital in disguise?” 

I didn’t know how to respond, but I had to say something. I couldn’t mention the teleportation circle, so there was no way to be fully honest, but I decided to say what I could. 

“There are reasons we can’t leave any records that we were here. As far as why we came to the capital, I guess you could say we’re sightseeing,” I said. It was the same claim I made to the guard at the gate, but it wasn’t untrue. Gharb and Capitan just brought us here out of nowhere, and if there was anything we were doing, it was sightseeing. That and checking out the guild headquarters. 

“I’d love to hear what those reasons are. But, well, asking another adventurer for too much information is against the rules, I suppose. So you want me to keep quiet about this, I assume?” Augurey asked, getting the idea without us having to explain. He was similarly considerate when we encountered the knight and the princess, so it stood to reason. 

“We’d appreciate it if you did.” 

“Got it. If you’re still uneasy, we could use a magic contract,” he offered, but it was my fault he found out. 

“No, I trust you,” I said, thinking about how I’d have to be more careful about the way I fought in the future. “But now that you know, you might end up in danger, so I really recommend you don’t say anything.” 

The simple fact that we were here wouldn’t prove we used a teleportation circle, but if someone found out about that, there was a fair chance they’d try to obtain it for themselves by whatever means possible. If that happened, we wouldn’t be the only ones in trouble. Augurey only had some minute amount of information, but that was enough for him to be threatened too. 

“I think we should use a magic contract then,” Augurey suggested, a bit frightened by what I said. “If we use a good one, it should prevent any little mistakes.” 

With that, we walked off to obtain a magic contract. 

Magic contracts varied greatly in quality and had all sorts of uses and effects. The most basic and common use for them was to penalize whoever broke the contract. Even the standard variety could vary in quality, though. They were generally available for purchase at adventurer’s guilds or commerce guilds, but what Augurey meant by a ‘good one’ was a little different. Those kinds didn’t simply impose a penalty; they had the power to force all who signed it to obey the terms of the contract for as long as it existed. These types were a bit special even among magic contracts as a whole, and for pieces of paper, they were pretty expensive. They were extremely dangerous if used with ill intent, so they weren’t available at guilds and could only be used in certain places. 

“Here we are,” Augurey said as we arrived at a grand building. “This is our local temple dedicated to Hozei, the God of Contracts.” 

White pillars held up the heavy ceiling of the massive building. It was so large that it had to be constructed far from the center of the city, closer to what might be considered the outskirts. When the king had business with the head of the temple, he went to an office for priests that was located in the center of the capital, apparently. Then they sent a message to this temple, and the head of the temple traveled from here to the castle. It all sounded like a hassle. I started to feel bad for priests. 

But anyway, despite the enormous size of this building, it wasn’t even this god’s main temple. The main temples of the gods were located all over the place, whereas this temple’s location was determined by the city. I’d heard that the main temples were sometimes smaller too, so it made sense after thinking about it. However, the God of Contracts had a close relationship with humans, so maybe that was the reason for such a huge temple in a city like this. I had no idea where the main temple was, though. 

“Considering you moved here from Maalt, you’ve got the layout of this city down pretty well,” I said to Augurey as we entered the temple. 

“I’ve been here for quite a while,” he replied. “I’ve done plenty of walking around town for jobs and such, so by this point I have the map memorized. When it comes to back alleys, though, I’m not so confident.” 

Adventurers sometimes had to meet with their clients directly for some jobs, like I did for Laura. In those situations, it was common knowledge among adventurers that you should know the layout of your city. But it was questionable as to how many adventurers actually did. The young ones in Maalt did, at least, thanks to the lectures we held for new adventurers. Augurey may have been an adventurer in the capital now, but he had his roots in Maalt. 

The temple was filled with tranquil air. Not only did it feel that way, but all temples of this scale housed a fair number of divinity users who purified the air daily, so the place was actually full of clean air. A vampire enjoying that air was kind of strange, but so was a vampire who could use divinity at all. Maybe that was why it didn’t affect me. I also liked gloomy places, though. 

“Welcome to Hozei’s temple. What brings you here today?” a priest asked after we progressed a fair ways inside. 

At the back of the spacious room, there was a giant statue of Hozei, and I could see people praying to it. Hozei held a staff that delivered justice in one hand and a scale for guaranteeing impartiality in the other. She wore her hair long and her clothes loose. Her eyes stared straight ahead, showing the strength of her convictions, like she would never forgive any injustices. She asked those who stood before her if they were prepared to carry the weight of their contracts or accept the consequences of breaking them. Gods had all sorts of personalities, but Hozei was known for being one of the harshest. I preferred the more laid-back gods, but this was no place to mention that. 

“We’re here for a magic contract with Hozei’s blessing,” I said to the priest. I didn’t need to specify the quality, because ordinary magic contracts didn’t have Hozei’s blessing. Hozei’s temples knew how to make those standard contracts as well, but it was common knowledge that those were produced through an extension of regular magic. What we wanted, however, was a magic contract that placed a limit on the contractee’s actions, and creating those required divinity. That meant they were made by saints and thus received Hozei’s blessing. 

“Then you will have to use it inside the temple, if that’s acceptable,” the priest said. 

“That’s fine. May we have a room to ourselves?” 

“Yes, I’ll take you to a room enchanted with soundproofing magic. This way, please.” 

The priest led us past the giant statue of Hozei and into a hallway full of doors. Each door we passed had a sign that read “In Use” in red letters, so there were presumably people inside. Eventually, we reached a door with no sign. 

“Here we are,” the priest said, opening the door and prompting us to go inside. 

The three of us entered the room, as did the priest, who then went quiet. I wondered what he was doing until Lorraine jabbed me in the side and whispered that he wanted a donation. I completely forgot about that, but we had prepared a leather bag to offer in advance. 

“Offer this to Hozei. We pray that we be granted her blessing,” I said and held out the bag. The priest lowered his head and took it. 

“Here you are, then,” he said and handed us a piece of parchment that clearly contained divinity. This was the magic contract we sought. “It’s used the same way as any magic contract. It differs in that it has some control over your actions, however, so keep that in mind. I must be going now. If there’s something you don’t understand, please ring this bell. I’ll come right away.” As soon as he finished his explanation, he left the room. 

“How does he hear the bell if the room’s soundproof?” I asked as I looked at the bell sitting in the middle of the table. It was decorated with religious iconography. 

“It’s hard to sense it, but it’s actually a magic item with a faint amount of mana,” Lorraine explained. “I would guess this bell has a counterpart that rings at the same time this one does. Soundproofing magic blocks a fair bit of mana as well, but I assume this was specially made with that in mind.” 

Her explanation seemed to make sense, but for a first-year magic student like myself, it would’ve been hard for me to come to the same conclusion. I could barely detect any mana at all; it just seemed like an ordinary object to me. It was beautifully crafted and made of valuable materials, so I was more wondering if they had problems with people stealing them, if anything. But if it was a magic item, it was probably hard to steal. Most places like these prevented theft with a spell that set off an alarm as you left the premises anyway. There were groups of magicians that specialized in that. The most common crime in the world was theft, so they were in extremely high demand and apparently making a killing. 

“All right, then we don’t have to worry about the priest not hearing it. Should we discuss the contract now?” 

“Let’s. Augurey, are you prepared for this?” Lorraine asked threateningly. 

“For what? I don’t think this is anything much.” 

“You’re about to learn a lot. If you had just agreed to stay quiet then you wouldn’t need to know, but this contract changes things. If we’re going to write detailed conditions, we’ll have to tell you everything.” 

“Yes, I suppose you have a point. If the contract simply forced me to stay quiet about how you came to the capital, and I’d have to continue to stay quiet in the event that you openly came to the capital on other occasions, I wouldn’t be able to say anything. But if you were to apply certain limitations, it’s possible to be more specific about what I can’t say. Wouldn’t that be more convenient for you two?” 

“That would place a great burden on you, wouldn’t it? We could make a contract like that, but that would be really restrictive. It could have unforeseen consequences.” 

“That may be true, but if I were in your shoes, I’d make the contract without worrying about those consequences. You’ve always been pretty nice for adventurers. Too nice, you could say. Especially you, Rentt.” 

That hit me where it hurt. 

“That may be true of Rentt, but not me, Augurey.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I intend to tell you a number of things, but if you try to run away without making the contract, I’ll chase you to the depths of Hell and make sure you can never defy me again. Now that you’ve entered this room, you’re going to sign this contract.” 

Augurey looked a bit intimidated but quickly got over it. “Either way, I’m going to keep it a secret. But I think you’re nice for telling me your intentions. Anyway, I get it, I’m ready; let’s talk. After all that fanfare, this has to be a pretty big secret. I’m almost excited.” 

What we were going to tell Augurey was, for the most part, about my identity. We needed to consult with Gharb and Capitan before mentioning the teleportation circles, so that was one secret we were going to omit. Depending on how much we told him, maybe he could guess that part, but Lorraine was thinking up a clever condition for the contract that would force him to keep that a secret too. I was leaving pretty much the entire contract to her. I knew how to write simple contract conditions, but I was useless when it came to anything detailed. I guess Lorraine was good at it because of her work, though. It would probably be fine. And if it wasn’t, well, we could cross that bridge when we came to it. 

“All right, I guess I’ll start,” I said. “Augurey, did you know that I went missing for a while?” 

“Yes. I believe that was a bit before I left Maalt. I thought you were dead. I missed you, actually. I was planning to invite you to come to the capital with me.” 

This was the first I was hearing of that. “Why would you do that?” 

“We were both solo Bronze-class adventurers, right? But we were both trying to make it to the capital. I happened to find a caravan on its way to Vistelya that didn’t mind hiring a solo Bronze-class adventurer. When I asked if they minded if another came along, they said it was fine. But in the end, you weren’t there, so I had no choice but to leave without you.” 

I missed a surprising opportunity from a surprising source. Getting eaten by that dragon and becoming what I did was also a good opportunity, in a way, but if I had gone to the capital with Augurey instead, maybe that would’ve been nice. It could have been risky, but maybe fighting the stronger monsters in the dungeons around Vistelya would have improved my abilities a bit. Or maybe not. Maybe that was never happening. 

“Really?” I said. “It’s kind of unfortunate that things turned out this way, then. But you came here on your own and reached Silver-class anyway. That’s very impressive.” 

“That’s nice of you to say, but it seems you’ve improved a lot yourself. I saw how you fought back there, and it was incredible. Your footwork and swordsmanship itself was always near perfect, so that hasn’t changed, but it’s like you’ve gotten so much more powerful. I think you could easily pass the Silver-class exam now,” Augurey said sincerely. We both lived lonely lives as solo adventurers, so it looked like he was glad to see how things finally paid off for me. Sometimes we had confided in each other and wondered together if we’d be Bronze-class adventurers forever. We knew how one another felt. 

“Yes, I feel the same way. I won’t know if I can pass the Silver-class test until I take it, but my skills have improved. There’s a reason for that, though,” I said, seeing this as a good time to bring up that topic. 

“A reason?” Augurey repeated. “Sounds like you didn’t just train until you got better, then. You’re always training anyway, so if that was going to make you stronger, you should’ve already been Silver-class. What else could there be, though?” 

It didn’t seem like he could come up with anything. I guess that was to be expected. No ordinary logic would bring him to the conclusion that I suddenly turned into a monster one day and got stronger. But I had to tell him about this. It could be risky depending on how he responded, but I knew Augurey well from our time together in Maalt. I didn’t trust him quite as much as Lorraine, but he was trustworthy enough. 

“I don’t want to make too big a deal out of this, so I’ll make it short. Try not to be too surprised,” I said, figuring I should warn him in advance. 

“You’ve made a pretty big deal out of this already.” 

“Look, I wanted to give you time to prepare mentally.” 

“Fine, just get on with it.” Augurey shrugged like he took my warning as a joke meant to lighten the mood. If he was going to be that way, then I decided to put it plain and simple. 

“I turned into a monster.” 

“Excuse me?” Augurey exclaimed, his neck cracking as he cocked his head. After a moment of silence, my words seemed to sink in. “Wait, what? A monster? Who?” he asked, so I pointed to myself. Lorraine pointed to me as well. The whole scene probably looked kind of goofy. I didn’t want to act too serious anyway. This sort of mood made it easier to say what I wanted. “When did that happen?” 

“Back when they decided I’d gone missing. I had the misfortune of encountering a dragon in a dungeon. Next thing I knew, I’d become a skeleton.” 

Augurey calmed down and laughed. “Oh, so this is a joke. I’m looking at you right now, and you’re clearly human. I can only see the top half of your face due to that mask, but you’ve got eyeballs, a forehead, and eyebrows, don’t you? What kind of skeleton has those?” 

“I’m not a skeleton anymore; I’m a vampire. I’m indistinguishable from a human. You’re right that now I look more or less like I did before I transformed, but I’m not human. Look,” I said and scratched my arm until it bled. The wound immediately sealed. This would be impossible for any human. Healing magic or divinity could produce mostly the same result, but it was obvious that I’d used neither. That meant this had to be thanks to natural regeneration, and only so many beings could heal this fast. 

“Well then, I was wondering what I was about to hear, but I sure wasn’t expecting this,” Augurey said, holding his head like he finally had to face the fact that I became a monster. 

“Are you afraid? Or disgusted?” I asked. 

“Neither, really. Maybe it would be different if I had some particular disdain for monsters, but I don’t. Monsters are generally the enemy, but that’s because I’m an adventurer and slaying them is my job. My friend may be a monster now, but as for whether I look upon that friend with hatred, my answer is no.” 

I feared otherwise, but it wasn’t like I could have ever asked about his past. He wouldn’t have answered if I did either. Even if he had, he could have been lying. You had to be very close with an adventurer to receive that kind of information, and even then it was a maybe. I knew Augurey for a long time, so we could have had a relationship like that, but the truth is we never discussed our pasts. That was out of respect for each other. 

He didn’t seem to have any rough memories related to monsters, thankfully. I actually did, but I wouldn’t say that I hated all monsters either. I just hated that silver wolf, but I found others fascinating in some ways. Many had interesting customs and lifestyles, including goblins. Much like with humans, there were good ones and bad ones. Most of them did attack humans on sight, but intelligent monsters were an exception. 

“That’s good to hear,” I said. “I’ve become a monster in body, but I haven’t given up my human spirit, and it’d hurt for an old friend to view me that way.” 

“Well, I’m sure it would. A vampire, though? So do you suck blood?” Augurey asked out of personal interest. 

“Sometimes. Not that I can’t eat regular food, but blood tastes better.” 

“Don’t tell me you’ve been attacking young maidens. If I go to Maalt and find that there aren’t as many beautiful ladies as there used to be, I’m going to be mad.” 

“I’d never do such a thing. Lorraine just offers me a bit of her blood. Consensually.” 

“I suppose that would be the only way to legally obtain human blood. Is that enough? If not, I can share some of mine. As long as you don’t drink so much that I pass out.” 

Augurey really didn’t seem to be put off by this revelation at all. Maybe it hadn’t fully hit him yet. I looked pretty much like I always did, so from a visual perspective I was just wearing a slightly more suspicious outfit. As long as I didn’t do anything monstrous, I guess that treating me the same as ever was the normal thing to do. 

Augurey went as far as offering his blood, but I had no intention of taking it. Lorraine’s was enough for the time being, and Sheila was giving me some of hers too. I had no need for more. Besides, the more blood I drank, the less human I felt. Preferably, I wanted to stay mostly human. And if I started to drink more, I might get picky about it. I didn’t want to turn into a blood sommelier, complaining about the subtleties of flavor. Well, that could be interesting, I guess. But Lorraine might use me to research the taste of blood in detail if I did that. I absolutely would rather not be involved in any such experiments. 

“No, you don’t need to do that,” I said, pushing those thoughts aside to respond to Augurey. “Lorraine’s blood is enough for now. That could change in the future, though.” 

While I was a lesser vampire, I didn’t need that much blood for some reason. There was no guarantee it would always be this way, however. Much like when I thirsted for flesh and attacked Lorraine in the past, there was no telling when my monster instincts might take over and force me to assault someone. Lorraine would probably stop me like she did before, so maybe it wasn’t worth worrying about, but ideally I’d be able to prevent such an incident from happening at all. 

“Are you sure? If you say so. By the way, how did you turn from a skeleton into a vampire?” Augurey asked. 

I had neglected to mention that part. “Oh, right. Have you ever heard of the Existential Evolution that monsters go through? That’s how,” I explained. 

“Existential Evolution? Like how normal slimes can become poisonous ra’al slimes?” 

“That’s an awfully specific example, but yeah, I think so?” I said without much confidence. I turned to Lorraine for confirmation. 

“Yes, that’s mostly correct,” Lorraine said. “But when slimes undergo an elemental change, it doesn’t necessarily improve their physical abilities. It’s arguable as to whether that should be called evolution, so that’s something of a shaky example. Think of it more like how a skeleton becomes a skeleton soldier.” 

That did sound like an easier example to understand, and with less room for argument. Everyone knew about those two monsters. 

“Yes, well, I like slimes. Those amorphous creatures are so cute. I used to want one as a pet, but I couldn’t find an appropriate container to keep it in,” Augurey confessed. 

It sounded ridiculous, but he wasn’t the only person who felt that way. A surprising number of women and children liked slimes. They often appeared in legends and picture books, and those slimes looked soft and adorable. For most adventurers, though, slimes were despised. The slimes you’d find in dungeons and forests tended to be in the middle of digesting a carcass, and you could see it floating inside the transparent fluid. When there were only bones left, that wasn’t so bad, but a half-digested corpse was just horrifying. It was hard not to hate slimes after you saw that. In that sense, Augurey was a rare exception to the rule. Lorraine was too, though. She also liked slimes quite a bit. 

“A container?” Lorraine asked. “I suppose slimes do consume most things. An ordinary bottle wouldn’t work.” 

“Exactly!” Augurey replied, happy that she understood. “I tried all kinds of containers, but they never lasted more than two weeks. Everything I didn’t try was too expensive for a poor Bronze-class adventurer. Perhaps it might be worth attempting it again, though.” 

That meant Augurey had been engaging in these dangerous experiments in Maalt. Thank goodness he gave up eventually. But anyway, we were getting off topic. 

“Enough about slimes,” I said. “At any rate, that’s how I became a vampire. My goal right now is to become human again.” 

“Is that why you came to the capital?” 

“Well, no, but maybe that’s somewhat related.” 

In reality, the connection was somewhat tenuous. I did want to become human again. That was why I returned to my home village, to learn about my roots. But then I discovered an incredible secret and ended up in this city thanks to the teleportation circles that lay within that secret. But it was only by putting aside my life of slaying monsters, of moving up the adventuring ranks, and focusing instead on investigating everything I could that I ended up here. It wasn’t impossible to tie my efforts to become human again to my coming to Vistelya. 

“Ah, I can see why you can’t tell anyone you’re here then. If they found out a monster entered the city and started searching for you, it would mean trouble if you’d told anyone your name.” 

“Right.” 

The fact that I was also supposed to be far away from here right now was also an issue, but I couldn’t talk about that yet. I couldn’t decide whether to reveal the secret of the teleportation circles until I spoke to Gharb and Capitan. Besides, the limited information we’d shared already was probably enough to avoid misunderstandings when it came to the magic contract. 

That was the problem with magic contracts compared to normal ones that didn’t enforce magical penalties. It was said that the interpretation of a magic contract was determined by the subconsciousness of those who signed it. Non-magic ones could be interpreted by the head of the local government or their appointed judges. But for magic ones, interpretation had to happen the instant that part of the contract was breached, so there was no time for any legal officials to pass judgment. 

Let’s say, for example, that Augurey and I had a contract that said I wouldn’t eat any of Augurey’s snacks, and if I did, I would have to dance naked in front of him. If I then ate one of his snacks, the contract would take effect immediately. The next time I was around Augurey, I would be forced to dance naked against my will. 

The question of who interprets the contract and when was debatable. There were a number of theories about this, but the most common one was that the contract was subconsciously interpreted by those involved the moment it was broken. In other words, because I knew I shouldn’t eat Augurey’s snacks and did so anyway, I would be penalized. Lying wouldn’t be an option. It was said that the truth would be determined by a god, and they would see through any dishonesty. For these reasons, in the event that one tried to use a magic contract while avoiding misunderstandings, some degree of shared information between both parties was required. They were difficult to use. Legal scholars, magic scholars, and divine scholars were researching how they worked, but for the rest of us, this was how we understood it. That was why they were seldom used, and if they were, some determination was necessary. 

“So, we’ve told you most of the story,” I said. “I’d like to make the contract now, if you don’t mind.” 

“I guess that’s fine,” Augurey said. “Who will write the exact conditions?” 

“I’ll do it,” Lorraine offered. She started writing down ideas on the scratch paper provided in the room. After Augurey approved them, we moved on to the actual contract. 

This was a special magic contract, but it was used the same as any other. Once the conditions were written down and the contract was signed by all parties, it would activate. The question of who should sign first could sometimes be an issue, but only if one of the parties was untrustworthy. You wouldn’t want them walking off with a contract that they could choose to activate at any time. That wasn’t much of a problem right now, though. I had known Augurey for a long time, and I knew his personality. Besides, even if he wanted to run off, Lorraine was closer to the entrance. If she cast a spell to keep him away from the door, even a Silver-class adventurer wouldn’t be able to leave. If Augurey had some secret weapon we weren’t aware of, that might be different, but there was no use worrying about that possibility. 

“I’ll sign first, then,” I said and wrote my name down. Strangely, my name seemed to be glowing on the paper. 

“Rentt, is something wrong?” Lorraine asked. 

“No, it’s nothing. Go on, Augurey,” I said and handed him the contract and pen. Even the paper seemed to be special, and it felt oddly good in my hands. It felt like paper but also like metal somehow. It must have been produced through some highly unique method. I thought I might be able to figure it out by looking at it, but I still had no idea. If I’d been able to see how these were made, surely someone else would have too by this point. 

“Right, got it.” Augurey took the contract from me and wrote his name. 

“That’s one long name,” I said. I thought it was just Augurey Ars, but it went on a good while past that. 

“Don’t look, it’s embarrassing,” Augurey complained. 

I felt like I was breaking the unspoken adventurer rule of not probing into one another’s histories, so I quickly pulled away. “Sorry. I don’t see a lot of names that long, is all,” I said, though I had seen some. Some countries apparently made it easy to change your name, and some people decided to make theirs horrifically long. Maybe one in a hundred adventurers had an abnormally long name. They thought it made them seem more dignified or something silly like that. For a moment, I thought Augurey might fall into that camp, but he didn’t seem like the type. 

“Well, I suppose you can look if you want. I was young and foolish when I came up with it,” Augurey replied, seeming to confirm my initial suspicions. I had met him about three years prior, and it seemed like he had already grown into a sensible person by that time, aside from his fashion sense being a little odd. But if he had introduced himself by this insanely long name and expected me to memorize it, I might have gotten fed up with him. Thankfully he had become more reasonable by the time I met him. 

“All right, that should do it. Rentt, Lorraine, now the contract will activate and—” Augurey started to say, but then the magic contract began to shine unusually bright. I watched as the light gradually condensed and an image formed above the contract. It took a familiar shape. 

“Is this Hozei?” Augurey asked. 

It was a faint, transparent image of a long-haired woman holding scales and a staff. When she closed her eyes as if in prayer, light rained from her staff and soaked into the words on the contract. After the light settled down, the image dissolved into the air like it was gradually losing focus and then disappeared entirely. What remained was the contract we wrote. It was kind of terrifying and I was hesitant to touch it now, but somebody had to, so I poked it with my finger. 

“Doesn’t seem like anything’s happening,” I said. Augurey and Lorraine touched it too. 

“What the heck was that?” Augurey asked. “Is that supposed to happen when you sign a contract blessed by Hozei?” I could understand Augurey’s confusion. Regular magic contracts also glowed after they took effect, so if one assumed that this was an extension of that phenomenon, then there was nothing to fear. 

But Lorraine shook her head. “I’ve witnessed one of these being used, and that one just shined the way any ordinary magic contract does. The light did seem somewhat brighter, but that was it. There were no images of anyone.” 

“So what does it mean?” I asked. 

“This could be an extremely unique phenomenon. I think now would be a good time to use this bell,” Lorraine said and pointed to the bell the priest gave us. 

“But what if he sees what we wrote in the contract?” Augurey asked, but then all the writing disappeared. Nothing remained on the parchment aside from our signatures, but even those had become too blurry to see that well. I could make it out because I knew what was written, but otherwise I wouldn’t have even noticed any words. 

“Neither of you seem to have much to say about this godly phenomenon we just witnessed,” I stated. 

“I’m too stunned to say much of anything, I suppose,” said Augurey. 

Lorraine added, “I’ve just decided to accept that anything can happen when you’re around.” 

I wanted to point out that I didn’t cause this, but considering my luck as of late, I couldn’t be so sure. I shrugged and said, “Well, I guess we should call the priest.” 

“It’s full of holy energy?!” the priest exclaimed as he entered the room. He arrived so soon after we rang the bell that I wanted to ask if he had been waiting outside. I looked at his dumbfounded face, and it told me that, whether the image was actually Hozei or not, it was at least something that unleashed holy energy. 

Detecting holy energy apparently required some training that we lacked, but I did notice how the air in the room had become exceedingly pure. If I were to compare air cleaned by divinity to the air of rural mountains, this would be more comparable to air in a completely enclosed and sterilized space. I felt the presence of a strong, fierce will that had no tolerance for the wicked. But I was a vampire, a pretty wicked creature, so it wasn’t very convincing. 

“So there is something strange about this?” I asked the priest as he repeatedly took deep breaths. He gave me a sharp look and grabbed me by the collar. 

“What is this?! What in the world happened here?! Tell me!” he shouted and shook me. He was completely losing it. 

“Would you mind letting go?” I asked. 

The priest finally came to his senses. “Oh, my apologies. I got a bit too excited,” he said and let go. I felt like my life was spared. Not that I could have been killed by being grabbed by the collar, but I felt like I was going to die spiritually, I guess. 

Now that I took a closer look at the priest, he was actually a priestess. Her robes fell loosely, her hood obscured her face, and her voice sounded androgynous, so I was unable to determine her gender and just assumed she was a man. But as she shook me, her hood fell off, revealing her face. Because the purpose of Hozei’s temples was centered around contracts, the clergy refrained from showing their faces, so she probably didn’t intend for that to happen. 

“Hey, your hood came off,” I pointed out. The priestess gasped, pulled it back over her head, and calmed down. I thought it was too late for that, but I didn’t want to bring that up. 

“Isn’t it too late for that?” Lorraine asked instead without thinking much of it. 

The priestess slumped and took the hood back off. “I suppose you’re right,” she said. She seemed strangely scatterbrained. Back when she was guiding us around, she acted smoothly and explained everything effectively, though. Maybe the air in this room was revealing her true nature. Even clergy were only human, after all. But enough describing this priestess. 

“You were saying something about holy energy?” I asked her. 

“Oh, yes. I don’t know if any of you can sense it, but this room is full of holy energy. It’s as if the gods have been here. I would almost want to declare this room holy ground.” 

Her response made the rest of us look at each other. We probably could slightly sense the holy energy. I knew that something felt different, but that feeling wasn’t as clear as when magical energy or divinity were present. I didn’t understand why she would declare it holy ground, though. It was a room in a temple, so they could do that if they wanted to, but I didn’t see the point. 

“Putting holy ground and all that aside,” I said, “let me explain what happened. We used the magic contract, and then an image of what looked like Hozei appeared and probably blessed the contract or something. Here it is.” 

She graciously bowed as she accepted the contract from me and then held it in the air to give it a look. “This was definitely blessed by Hozei,” she said. 

“Aren’t they supposed to be blessed by Hozei anyway?” I asked. 

“They are, but in certain more specific terms, they aren’t. These contracts are created by saints who were blessed by Hozei, so they indirectly have Hozei’s blessing. But if you simply say they were blessed by Hozei, they seem more important,” she explained. 

That really wasn’t something I needed to know. But the priests at Hozei’s temples came across more like merchants than regular clergy, so I wasn’t surprised. And it wasn’t like they were lying to people. It was publicly known that these contracts were made by saints. What was actually important was whether they worked or not, and they did, so there was no need to criticize the temples. 

“But this contract you used actually has her blessing. That may mean this contract was important to the gods.” 

“Does Hozei personally bless important contracts?” Lorraine asked. 

“Yes, but this is the first time I’ve seen it myself. One example I’ve heard is that Hozei personally came and blessed a contract regarding the lending of a divine sword. There are many other examples, and they’re all passed down as legends. May I ask what your contract was about? I won’t force you to tell me, of course. But as a servant of Hozei, I would love to know if possible.” 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you,” I answered, left with no other options. “But compared to the example you gave us, our contract isn’t anything that important.” 

“I see,” the priestess said with a sigh. “Then at least tell me your names.” 

“Sorry, I can’t tell you that either.” Now the priestess looked to be in utter despair, but I had no choice. Lorraine and I aside, though, maybe Augurey could share his name. 

This was a temple dedicated to the goddess of contracts and justice, so the clergy were said to take confidentiality seriously. Even when asked by governments or other powerful entities, they never revealed secrets. There were a number of such examples throughout history. In the case of the divine sword the priestess mentioned, the identity of the person who received it was a secret at the time. A powerful noble under the control of one of the dark lords used the influence of his nation to demand that the temple reveal the identity of the wielder, but they refused. But even if that was true, it was best to not say our names. 

The priestess seemed sad, but she must have felt that asking further questions would be the wrong thing to do as a servant of Hozei. 

“No, you have nothing to apologize about. In fact, I’m sorry for asking. But if anything happens with your contract, please contact one of our temples. Whether it’s the main one or a branch, we’ll be sure to assist you. Here, show this card at any of our temples, and you’ll be allowed to speak to the head of the temple personally. Please make use of it,” she said and handed me a card. 

It was incredibly hospitable, but I wondered why she would go this far. I also wondered why just some random priest would have this. 

“Oh, I should have introduced myself sooner,” she said as if she knew the question on my mind. “I’m Josee Meyer, the head of this temple. I’m pleased to meet you.” 

We greeted her back and shook hands, remembering not to give our names in return. 

For being in charge of a temple, she was awfully young. Josee looked to be in her mid-twenties, around the same age as Lorraine and me. The Kingdom of Yaaran might not have been that significant of a country, but being the head of a temple in the capital still made her pretty accomplished. It was supposedly easy to move up the ranks as a priest if you had divinity, and she seemed sensitive to holy energy too, so she probably had divinity. In other words, she was a saint. If so, her position wasn’t much of a surprise, but it didn’t make much of a difference to us regardless. Augurey was the only one who would have to worry about running into her again because he worked in the capital, but Josee would probably be the one to avoid him if that happened. 

Now that we’d asked what we wanted to ask and done what we needed to do, it was time to go. We were running out of time, and Augurey had also said he had his own things to do. 

“We need to get going right about now,” I said. 

“Oh, is that so?” Josee replied sadly. She looked like she wanted to know more, but it was too late to ask questions. We left the room and headed to the exit of the temple. 

“Well, a lot happened, but now there shouldn’t be anything to worry about,” I said as we left the temple. 

“Right. Now even if someone comes to me with questions, I can use the contract as an excuse not to say anything,” Augurey said. “That’s a relief. I feel better knowing I can’t spill the beans whether I want to or not.” The contract still left Augurey some room to talk if I or Lorraine gave him permission, but providing a way to prevent mistakes that could silence him forever was better than making him worry about that for the rest of his life. 

“Well, we could be worrying too much,” Lorraine said. “I doubt anyone is going to try and seek out the information this contract covers up anyway, but after what happened with Nive, I don’t want to take any chances.” 

Now that I looked identical to a human, not many people would be able to tell that I wasn’t one. Even if we weren’t this cautious, it was highly unlikely I’d be exposed. But we always had to consider that possibility. That was why I only told my secret to either people I already fully trusted or people who used magic contracts to earn that trust. Maybe one day, as I found out more about my body, I would have to explain everything to someone I had little connection to, but I would have to think long and hard about it first. 

“Nive? As in Nive Maris?” Augurey asked. 

“Yeah, she came to Maalt chasing after a vampire. She was pretty suspicious of me.” 

“I’m sorry to hear that. But from the sound of it, she didn’t give you too much trouble in the end, surprisingly.” 

I was more surprised about that than anyone, of course. It turned out that she was searching for a different vampire. I had to wonder if she found it yet. When she arrived from the west, she was full of passion for the hunt. Maalt was fairly large for a city in Yaaran, but if she was indiscriminately using that Holy Fire every day, no vampire could hide. 

“Well, I was safe in the end, and that’s what matters,” I said. “By the way, Augurey, you said there was something you needed to do. How much time do you have?” 

Augurey checked the position of the sun. “Uh-oh, not very much. I’ll have to go for the day. Will I get to see you again? I’ve also been through a lot since I left Maalt. There’s a lot to talk about, and if you two are ever in the capital again, I’d love to go on a quest with you.” 

I generally stuck to solo adventures, but that was because I thought fighting on my own would be the most efficient way to get stronger. Now my ideas had changed a bit. Besides, back when we were both poor solo adventurers in Maalt, we sometimes took jobs together. I had no reason to say no, and it looked like neither did Lorraine. 

“Sure, I’ll get in touch with you next time I’m here,” I said. “I’d contact you through the guild, but I don’t think I’ll be able to.” 

“Then contact this inn,” Augurey quickly replied, understanding my hesitation. “It’s where I always stay. See you later.” He handed me a piece of paper that listed the name of the inn and its general location, then he waved goodbye and left. 

“Should we head to the meeting place now?” I asked Lorraine. 

“I think so. It’s not quite time yet, but we’re cutting it close. I’d rather not make Gharb and Capitan angry.” 

“Good point, let’s hurry,” I replied. 

We rushed to the meeting place. Of course, we didn’t forget to change our outfits back to normal beforehand. I didn’t have the guts to let Gharb and Capitan see me in that flashy getup. They would make fun of me for sure. 

“Oh, right on time. Wait, actually, a little past time. Were you just enjoying sightseeing that much?” Gharb asked as we arrived. It seemed to be a sincere question. 

“Sorry. It wasn’t Lorraine’s first time in the capital, but it was mine, so it was fun to see. But that’s not why we’re late,” I said. 

I told them about our encounter with Augurey and everything that had transpired after that. But I left out anything regarding me being a vampire, of course. To explain why we went to Hozei’s temple, I just said that I didn’t want Augurey telling anyone that we came to the capital. It wasn’t the full truth, but it wasn’t false either. Gharb and Capitan started to narrow their eyes at me at some point in the story, so maybe they knew I was lying, but they didn’t say so. 

When I finished talking, Gharb sighed. “All you were doing was taking a walk. How did you get yourself in so much trouble? Lorraine, you must be exhausted.” 

“No, I enjoyed myself the entire time,” Lorraine answered positively. 

“Is that right? I see, I see. You didn’t tell him about the teleportation circles, did you?” 

“No, we didn’t,” I said. “I figured we shouldn’t mention it without your permission. Maybe we could have told him after we made the contract, but I decided against it.” 

When it came to my own secrets, the choice of who to tell what was entirely up to me. As a result, even if I was killed by someone like Nive, I would only have myself to blame. But the teleportation circles were ultimately Hathara’s problem. Revealing that secret wasn’t my decision to make. 

“I said we’re leaving you in charge of the place, didn’t I? That includes those teleportation circles, whatever you want to do with them,” Gharb said, to my surprise. 

“That means we can choose who to tell about them?” Lorraine asked. 

Capitan nodded. “Yeah, that was the idea. I guess we didn’t convey that very well...” 

“But if that leads to the teleportation circles being discovered, what will happen to Hathara?” Lorraine said with concern. 

“You don’t need to think about that too much,” I said. “In the event that anything happens, the teleportation circles on Hathara’s side can be erased. Can’t they?” I asked and turned to Gharb. 

“Yes, I’ve been told the method. If I wanted to do it, I could. After that, Hathara would only have to feign ignorance. There would be no teleportation circles to find anymore, so no problems should arise.” 

“Teleportation circles can be destroyed by human hands?” Lorraine asked. She sounded shocked, but there was a reason for that. The standard teleportation circles found in dungeons had never been destroyed by humans before. They would vanish when the dungeon’s structure changed, but while human weapons or magic could temporarily scrape away parts of the circle, it would instantly regenerate. These magic circles were extremely persistent. 

“Yes. It’s easy as long as you know how. I’ll tell you two about it later. There’s quite a bit I have to tell you about, including the exits to the teleportation circles in that ruined city. You had better commit it to memory,” Gharb said. 

Her tone reminded me of when I trained under her. It still intimidated me a bit even now. Gharb could be a pretty ruthless old lady. I had to work like hell to memorize everything at the time, so I never had a moment to think about how brutal it was. I’d definitely find it tiresome now. But even though she pushed my mind to the limit back then, if I had to do it all again, I would. 

Lorraine, on the other hand, seemed to think this was a good chance to learn something new and interesting. “I can’t wait!” she said, her eyes shining. If she could find a way to enjoy this, then she could enjoy anything. 

If the teleportation circles could actually be destroyed, though, that meant that even if someone heard about them, Hathara could pretend they had nothing to do with it. Maybe it would still be bad if someone found out they were in Hathara before they were destroyed, but then we would just have to make sure that whoever found out could never tell anyone. If possible, I wanted to be able to destroy the teleportation circles before that. Maybe it would be a good idea to think up some way to make that possible. Or maybe there already was a way. I didn’t know, but I felt a little less worried now. 

“Hm?” Lorraine said on the way to the city gate. 

“Is something wrong?” I asked. 

“Isn’t that Augurey?” she replied. I looked where she was looking, and Augurey was indeed there. He was talking to a small girl and trying to give her something. 

Now, I knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but this was the middle of Vistelya’s main street. Assuming it wouldn’t be too big a deal if I listened in, my curiosity drove me to activate my Vampire Ear. That wasn’t the name of any actual ability, though; it was just what I called my improved hearing. 

“Here’s the fire spirit madder. Take it,” Augurey told the girl. 

“But I don’t have the money,” she said. 

“Don’t worry about that. This is just what’s left from the madder I picked for the clothes I’m having made for myself. I honestly had so much left over that I didn’t know what to do with it. Feel free to use this. Your mom needs it, doesn’t she?” 

“Yeah, thank you. Oh, Uncle Augurey! Um...” 

“You don’t need to pay me back. Hurry and bring that to her. Next time I see you, I’ll unveil my greatest fashion of all time. If any of you are sick, it won’t be much fun. Go on now,” Augurey said and pushed the girl from behind. She was reluctant to leave, but she ran off somewhere in the end. Augurey smiled as he watched her go and then turned around and disappeared into the crowd. 

“How kind of him. You’d never expect this from how he dresses in the slightest,” Lorraine said. 

“Well, that’s how he is. It’s why I spent so much time with him,” I replied, but it sounded like Augurey was making them watch his fashion show as payment. That sounded typical of him.