Volume 3 Chapter 27 Night Crier And The Vanished Wraiths
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”No, it’s not decided that Lady Sarah is the ‘Night Crier’ yet. There were other female warriors among the warrior monks who launched the surprise attack. ──But, reading the request letter, did they really brush off the other party’s advanced-rank adventurer party so easily? And the reward is a sword, too. It’s hard to believe that the formidable lady would make such a mistake, but if the ‘Night Crier’ is indeed Lady Sarah, then a lot of things would make sense.”
”────”
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”So it’s good that we’re going on the quest with the full team. They’re lending us a witch, right? Well, we’ll manage somehow.”
Rufna concluded with a shrug of her shoulders.
The voice of ‘glasses’ echoed hollowly in Kian’s mind.
’Are you disturbed?’
(I don’t know. But I’m not refusing to fight. If ‘Night Crier’ is Sarah, even if she’s turned into a mere skeleton, I believe I can chop off her head without emotion.)
Sarah was the woman who had discarded Kian.
The woman he had believed in had dealt him a massive betrayal in the end.
(But according to Natra and Rufna, Sarah wasn’t married to Jibril.)
Could it be that she was exiled for trying to cozy up to Jibril, only to be told ‘I don’t want second-hand goods’?
Natra and Rufna wouldn’t have known such personal details.
Only the fact that Sarah had remained single, piercing through her solitude, after Kian left remained.
”If ‘Night Crier’ is a monster, we’ll just hunt it down. If it doesn’t retain the rationality it had when it was human, it should be weakened even with its ghostly traits included. I believe that as long as we stay vigilant and remain true to our role as hunters, it’s an opponent we can take down without issue.”
”Surely it’s not stronger than Oswald, right?”
”If there’s a problem, it’s the schedule.”
”You were saying?”
”Hm…, ah! Right, it’s my and Milady Natra’s promotion exam!”
Natra nodded in agreement with Rufna’s words, muttering “Ahh.”
”Sir Kian has been juggling quite a few tough personal requests lately. By the way, I noticed there are some points accumulated.”
”Well, the lower-rank Adventure promotion exam is at the end of every month. If possible, I want you all to take it and rank up. Once you advance as adventurers, it’ll make everything so much easier.’
”Speaking of which, Master, how are your points looking? Any idea when you might reach intermediate rank?”
Rufna inquired, leaning forward in curiosity. Kian pulled out his Adventurer Guild badge from his pocket and squinted thoughtfully.
”Intermediate rank is still quite a ways off. However, with Guy’s personal quest scores, I could potentially rank up by Rank 7. If we form a party of 4 and get the party bonus, we might just scrape by if we ace those gladiator matches.”
”This month’s qualifying exam is on the 25th, my lord. Since the gladiator matches are in 5 days… it seems likely they’ll overlap with the ‘Night Crier’ quest. I think if we rush, we might make it in time.”
”Well, there’s no harm in skipping this month and aiming for next month instead, right? Either way, our quests are all in Master’s hands, so the points we earn won’t really change.”
”That’s true for now. But once this surge of personal requests dies down and we find ourselves lined up with all the other adventurers at the quest board, we might hit some quests we can’t take due to our party’s rank composition.”
”No need to rush, though. If we take it easy, in 6 months we’ll all be advanced rank easily.”
”Six months is too long. Ideally, I want to accumulate enough points to comfortably hit intermediate rank next month and then be ready to take the advanced rank exam the following month.”
”Why the hurry?”
”Rufna, Sir Kian might be granted Dacia by Princess Maribel.”
”Huh…?”
Rufna’s face twisted in confusion. With an amused smile, Natra quickly summarized the situation about Dacia for Rufna, eager to clear up her bewilderment.
At first, Rufna listened with wide eyes and an open mouth, but as Natra’s story unfolded, a beaming smile spread across her face.
”Wait, seriously!? Are we finally about to get our Master a noble title? Well, I mean, it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long since we’ve started, though.”
”If Her Excellency is giving me Dacia, it would be an unprecedented ‘promotion.’ Given the land involved, I don’t think any of the nearby nobles would dare complain.”
”They’ll probably hold their complaints until Dacia becomes moderately prosperous.”
”No, no, no! Sure, it does seem ridiculous to take a place that’s mostly fields and mountains, but the winds of fate are favoring us. If those northern tribes flood in, people might actually start moving there.”
”As it stands now, everything we’re talking about is just wishful thinking.”
”If the beastmen invade, we’ll need to efficiently eliminate any shamans that open gates and send troops to maintain Ramsey’s defensive lines. I heard that vampire──Lord Owl──has been dispatched to Ramsey, but just one of him won’t be enough to hold the defense. Apparently, he can’t use his usual undead army during the day.”
Natra explained this to Rufna.
”So what you’re saying is we should quickly rise to a decent rank as Adventurers before that happens, Milady? There’s definitely a world of difference between intermediate and advanced ranks… If we don’t move fast, we might end up heading to Dacia at a half-baked stage.”
”Just to be clear, I’m not saying I will take Dacia yet. We need to be flexible about this. But I definitely don’t want to miss any opportunities. To seize those opportunities, we should push our plans forward and keep our options open.”
Kian turned his gaze to Rufna.
”Rufna, let me ask you──do you think we should take Dacia? We could also consider asking for Her Excellency’s vineyard instead, or the mansion known as the ‘Labyrinth of Roses’ that’s being auctioned.”
”Nah, it’s way too much of a downgrade. A vast land like Dacia with its tiny little vineyards? That eerie, blood-smelling mansion can’t even compare. I’d say Dacia is the only choice.”
”It’ll take a whole crew of ace magicians to get the streets in order.”
”But we’ve got me, milady, and that black-haired big sis. What was her name? The one who’s always putting herself down, a bit of a klutz?”
”Christy?”
”That’s the one! And if we drag the ‘Thorn Magician’ out of retirement from the monastery, that makes 4 of us!”
”But 4 is still too few. We’ll be spread thin. The ‘Thorn Magician’ who dried up Châtillon’s harbor seems lively enough, but…”
”So. we’d need at least ten. Ten, assuming they all have your level of magical power.”
And whatever he does, he won’t go bringing someone like Franciska from the ‘Falcon Brigade’.
Still, when he considers the size and danger of Dacia, even ten magicians might not be enough.
They’ll need people to hunt down pesky monsters too.
Rufna let out a strange, “Hehehe,” laugh.
”I like this! I’m really getting into the spirit! Hey, Master, I wanna raise a flock of Wing Cains and build the ultimate air force!”
”Dreaming is fine, but you can’t ignore reality. First, we’ve got Guy’s personal request right in front of us. Natra needs to…”
”It’s Milk and Walnut.”
”Right, those 2. We need to return them to nature. While you’re doing that, Rufna and I will gather the necessary supplies. The enemy is a species of wraiths. We’ll need something effective against them. And if you come across any bear pelts, make sure to process them. We’re going to sell them in Châtillon. Prices seem high there.”
”Okay!” “Got it!”
”I’m going to deliver some souvenirs to Ms. Aliona’s place. After that, it’s ‘The Boar’s Trot Inn’ for me. ──Oops.”
”What is it? What’s wrong?”
”It’s nothing.”
Kian pushed up the bridge of his glasses and gave a casual shake of his head.
”I can’t believe it… I forgot to get a souvenir for Serena.”
”Her? Well, it’s not like things are exactly warm between Lady Serena and my lord. You remember how Sir Kian used her as a release for his desires, right?”
”Natra, could you please stop with the misleading comments? I only had a little taste, that’s all.”
”That’s basically the same.”
”Do you think Serena is still angry?”
”I can’t say for sure. But at least she’s not as carefree as Sir Kian. After all, you kind of shattered her heart into a million pieces last time.”
”Rufna.”
Kian looked up.
”What is it?”
”During the day, if you want, teach Serena some lessons. I actually wanted to do it myself, but it seems I’m tragically devoid of talent when it comes to teaching others.”
”Hmm…? What’s in it for us if we do that?”
”That’s right. Isn’t she likely to leave our party soon?”
Kian shook his head in response to their words.
”If Serena says she wants to leave the party or that she doesn’t need training, I’ll buy her a drink and say goodbye. But if that’s not the case, I plan to support her. Technically, you guys will be supporting her.”
”Free of charge? Well, 2 months ago, Master helped us out, so I don’t mind. But what exactly are we going to train her in? If it’s basic endurance, she’s already got that covered as a Wolfwoman. I mean, with her lineage, I’d bet she could just train on her own for 5 or 6 years and come out strong without any help.”
”The goal is for her to learn how to deal with magician-type enemies in a short time. To put it bluntly──I’d like you to drill her until she can hold her own against an Owl in battle. Think you can do that?”
”Huh… I’m an apostle of Azrael who went through special training, so I know how to educate soldiers. I don’t think there will be any issues there.”
”Are you planning to send her against that vampire? You mean to weaken the Owl by having them fight?”
”I won’t treat her like a disposable pawn. She’s my comrade now, and in many ways, I owe her a debt. I have to repay that. My goal is to give her a choice in battle. She wouldn’t be satisfied being left out if things got tough.”
”I don’t really get it, but, okay.”
”Go easy on her, Rufna.”
”Roger that! You got it!”
Rufna replied with a dramatic flourish.
Kian tugged on his horse’s reins and finally said to the two of them,
”Well then, I’m heading to the monastery now. Natra will be going to Dacia Plain, and Rufna, if Serena is still awake, please go give her a message. But don’t mention my name. Maintain the stance that you personally like her and are teaching her combat techniques. That way, Serena will be more receptive.”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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