Chapter 103 - Things Yet To Be Found Out

"P-P-Please forgive me, Y-Your Highness!!! I-I-I-It was never my intention to hurt you!!!" Alisha frantically groveled before Lerish as she apologize for what happened earlier.

"Miss Alisha...—Eek?!"

Shocked, Lerish tried to calm her down but she almost yelped when Alisha started grabbing her foot and have her forehead touch Lerish's boots a few times.

"I'll accept whatever punishment you want to give to me, Your Highness! Imprison me, flog me, even behead me—all of it is fine! If by doing so will be enough of a payment for my insolence, I will take it wholeheartedly! That's why, Your Highness...please forgive me!!!"

"E-Eh?!"

Meanwhile, Aoi and I—

"...If she doesn't stop doing that embarrassing scene anytime soon, I might stop holding back and give her the beheading that she asks for," Aoi said as she watched from the side with an annoyed face.

"No, don't do that, Aoi," I said while slightly poking her cheek. "Something like this is expected to happen at this point. We should get ourselves used to it already."

-----

A few minutes ago...

After Lerish passed Alisha's initiation, we went inside a small office at the second floor of the Guild HQ to finalize her application as an adventurer. Normally, anyone who passed the test will fill up forms at the counter on the first floor, but since there's so many people staring intently at Lerish for some time now, Alisha decided to have the whole process done upstairs where only authorized people are allowed.

"Once you're done filling up this form, hand it to me. You might need to wait for about an hour here because I still have to give it to my superior for approval, and to have your name plate engraved afterwards. Is that alright?"

"Yes. I do not mind waiting for that long."

"And as for you two...just sit there, okay?" Alisha turned her head at us. "If you guys break a vase or two from that collection over there, the management will surely tear me a new one as soon as they find out. Worse, they'll also deduct it from my pay! I don't have that much money to begin with, you know?!"

"Yeah, yeah," I nodded obediently, fully aware of her struggles as an employee. "No need to remind us, though. I can handle this little one beside me just fine."

"...Big brother?!"

"Alright. Hearing that makes me feel relieved," she said with a sigh.

At first, everything went smoothly while Lerish was busy filling up forms. For something as easy as that, it didn't take her ten minutes to accomplish the entire task.

"Yosh. Before I give it to my boss, let's see first what you wrote in here..."

The moment Alisha laid her eyes on the doc.u.ment, she became silent for a few seconds as she double checked everything Lerish has wrote on the form.

"T-This. I can't believe it..."

"Hm? Was there any problem with my application, Miss Alisha...?"

While holding Lerish's application form with her trembling hands, Alisha alternatively moved her gaze between the paper and Lerish's face for a few moments, before asking:

"Y-Your last name...is it really N-Na...Narashel?"

Lerish, who seem to forget that things called pseudonyms exist, naively nodded and said: "Yes. My last name is indeed Narashel. Why do you ask...—"

Oh, has she finally realized her mistake? With her face flushed with shock, she quickly faced us and said:

"Ren, Miss Aoi! My apologies—I made a grave mistake!"

"Hey, kid! What's the meaning of this?!" Alisha also asked, confused with the sudden turn of events.

Now that things ended up like this, all of their attention has shifted back to me. Even though I wanted to keep her secret a little longer, Lerish urged me to tell the truth, since the mechanism behind the concealment magic placed on her was already compromised by her mistake and Alisha can now see that she's the real deal.

'Haah. How troublesome,' I muttered to myself.

Looks like I have no other choice but to explain the whole situation to this woman—this time for real.

Oh, the wonders of hiding secrets.

-----

And because of that, here we are—witnessing something that I, as well as the Rainens—have also done before. Though it's a shameful sight it's also quite interesting, since it perfectly demonstrates the gap there is in this society between a royal and a commoner.

"R-Raise your head, Miss Alisha. There is no need for you to go that far," Lerish spoke to her in a calm manner as she kneeled in front of her. Her face looked a bit tense, because she's worried that there might be other people that are hearing us right now.

"B-But Your Highness—"

"It's alright, it's alright," Lerish gently placed her hand on Alisha's head. "You were only doing your job, after all..."

'Truth be told, I am impressed that the initiation process was of that level, because I know that this industry is in good hands,' she told her. However, she also said that Alisha would surely be executed if she were to attack Lerish outside the scope of her job as an adventurer-employee of the Guild.

"Yeah, that's why you should get up already. If someone sees you groveling like that, your reputation as an elite adventurer will be ruined," I reminded Alisha.

"Do you need help, Miss Alisha?" Lerish asked.

Alisha politely shook her head. "N-No, I'm fine. I can do it on my own."

She immediately returned to her normal self after she calmed down. Picking up Lerish's application form from the table, she tried to excuse herself as she still has to perform her duties as a clerk, but Lerish stopped her for a moment.

"A-About my identity..."

"Don't worry, Your Highness. Your secret identity is safe with me," Alisha answered with a grin. "Besides, I will become your senior; I have to set a good example for my juniors, you know?"

-----

With Lerish finally getting her name plate, the next step she has to take to become a full-pledged adventurer is for her to get a weapon of her choice. We decided to go afterwards to the shop owned by Alisha's father, because it's not that far from the HQ, and also because Alisha promised us great discounts if we decide to buy items there.

Ever since we left the HQ, Aoi's mood has been constantly falling down. What is it again?

"...Muuuu...I can't believe that woman..."

"You've been showing that sour expression of yours to the world for a while now," I said to Aoi. "Are you really that upset because Lerish is now an adventurer?"

"...No. It's not because of that, big brother," Aoi replied. "Rather, I'm upset because that woman was unfair in giving Lerish an E rank from the get-go."

Yep, that's right. Unlike me who was placed in F3 rank when I first applied in the Guild, Lerish will start as an E3 ranked adventurer—the same rank as I have right now. Although I myself feels very happy that Lerish won't have to do menial chores in order to rise in rank, I would be lying to myself and to everyone around me if I said that I don't have the same sentiment as Aoi even in the slightest.

"Oh, come on, Aoi. It's not that she doesn't deserve that rank or something. Not everyone can defeat Alisha with just a coin, you know?"

"...I know that, big brother. But still—"

"Instead of puffing your cheeks in dismay, you should be happy for her. It means that you made a right choice when you decided to take her with us," I said while gently stroking her head.

When I said that, Aoi's furious expression slowly mellowed. Perhaps she realized that grumbling about it further is already inane at this point.

Meanwhile Lerish, who's walking right ahead of us and holding a map of the entire Plate Town, couldn't stop herself from getting hyped up as she looked upon rows of shops dedicated for adventurers.

"This town really is a haven for adventurers. No wonder why there are so many people visiting this place especially during this season..."

"Nn. If not for adventurers, Plate Town would be a bland and very depressing place to live."

We arrived at the the weapons shop not long thereafter. Unlike the last time I came here however, Alisha's father isn't around, and instead a 30-ish something years old man who appears to be Alisha's older brother is the one who's in charge of the store for today.

"Yo, welcome to our shop. How can I help you?"

"Good day, mister. I'm looking for a weapon that would suit my friend over there. Do you sell any good ranged weapons here?"

Letting out a short, hearty laugh, he replied: "Of course, what kind of a stupid question was that? We have the best weapons in Plate Town, and everything you need as well."

He then guided us to where the ranged weapons are located. As soon she saw the various display of bows and arrows hanging on the wall, Lerish go on her way and started to examine them one by one—meticulously and perhaps, even intimately.

"Well, it looks like it'll take a long time for her just to pick her ideal bow..."

"...Meh. So boring."

"What do you think, Aoi? Shall we look around and look if there's something interesting here?"

"...Nn, let's go!" Aoi nodded.

The two of us then wandered around the shop, looking for anything that we find strange or funny. We went to magic section first, as both of us are especially curious in what magic items they have in store.

"...Hhrraaaawwrrr!!! Look, big brother! Is this scary enough for you?" Aoi asked while putting on a black mask with the face of a three-eyed, the horned demon. She also tried to mimic its movements in order to scare me, but she only ended up becoming a cute monster as a result.

"Wait, did you really put on that mask without reading the tag? It says that it's cursed," I said, while also trying to scare her.

"...C-Cursed?!" she became fl.u.s.tered for a moment when she heard that, but quickly regained her composure as she said: "w-who cares about that?! I'm the Death Goddess, remember? I'm confident that weak curses won't work on me..."

'Eh? What's this—why I can't take it off?' Aoi muttered in shock when for some reason, she can't remove the mask from her face. She even used all of her strength just to pry it off her face, but to no avail.

"...Hrghh...this mask, what's with this thing all of a sudden?!"

"Well, what did I told you, Aoi? That mask is indeed cursed."

"...D-Does that mean, I'll wear this ugly mask forever?!"

"Pretty much," I nodded in resignation.

Seeing me acting so serious, Aoi's body trembled with panic as she screamed—

"...Big brother, help meeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I don't want to become an ugly monster!!!"

The moment she desperately asked for my help, I came to her side and tapped the seal on the mask's forehead part. The mask then detached itself from her face with a 'plop', and catched it with my hands.

"This mask is a novelty item. When you touch this seal, the inside of this mask will generate a magic pulling force strong enough to keep it from falling off from one's face. It's not that 'cursed', as what you may think," I explained to her how the mask works.

"...Muuu, why did you not tell that to me sooner?!" Aoi grumbled as she puffed her cheeks at me.

I only laughed at her response. Sometimes, I just want to make fun of this little girl...

"...I hate you, big brother."

"Yeah, my bad."

"...Let's look around some more, big brother. Is that okay?"

"Nn. Let's go."

It's been a while since we played around like this. After Lerish arrived here in Plate Town, everyone's attention were focused towards her. Aoi must've felt like she's being neglected by the people around her, especially by me, that's why she's acting as if she's in a bad mood all the time. I want to show her that she's beloved nonetheless, that's why I'm doing what I can to make her day brighter.

"...Big brother, come take a look at this! Eh...?"

While watching her as she try to show a wooden voodoo doll to me, I began to feel a strange feeling in my left hand. It started off as an itchy and tingly feeling on the back of my hand, then with each second the itch gradually became a burning sensation so painful I had to kneel and clutch it with my other hand.

"K-Khhhh—"

"...Big brother? What's wrong, are you in pain?!"

"Ghhkk—GHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

"...Big brother?!!"

"Ren?! W-What's going on?!"

Lerish, who heard my scream, rushed towards my side as she grabbed my left hand. The mark on my hand is glowing intermittently with a bluish-white light, and the pain grows more excruciating with each pulse.

"Miss Aoi, what's going on with Ren?"

"...I-I'm not sure. His Arcana started to go wild all of a sudden..."

"Uhh, dear customers...do you need help? Should I call a doctor?"

"...It's alright, we can handle this," Aoi replied to the store manager, who also came to see what happened.

"But, that man—"

"...I said, we can handle this!!!"

The store manager, taken aback by Aoi's furious uproar, decided that it's wise not to involve himself in our problem and went back to his post.

"...Hrgh," Aoi bit her lip in frustration as she looked at the glowing mark on my hand that is the cause of my pain. "Looks like I have no choice, but to cut his hand off..."

But before she could do that, my hand—started to move on its own. It 'scanned' its surroundings for a moment, before tugging me and my entire body heading towards somewhere.

"W-What's happening...—WOOOOAAAAAHHHHHH?!"

"Ren?! Where are you going?!"

"...Follow him!" Aoi yelled.

Then, as if being pulled by a very powerful force, my whole body flew off towards a room at the back of the shop, where old and damaged items are stored. But because everything happened so quickly, it felt like I was fired from a cannon instead.

What in the world...IS GOING OOOOOOONNNNNNNNN?!!!!

"WOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

I thought that I was going to die at that moment. I have never experienced crashing headlong against a very hard surface before, so I don't have any idea how painful it will be. Anyway, I closed my eyes regardless as I prepared myself for the pain I'm about to receive.

"H...H-Huh...?"

For some reason, I didn't feel any pain like my bones being shattered by the impact or something. Instead, it seems like my body stopped just in time, and I'm holding onto something that is shaped like a long rod.

"Ren?! Are you alri..."

"...B-Big bro...—"

When the girls entered the stockroom, both of them has stopped speaking at almost the same time. Confused, I slowly opened my eyes, and...

"T-Too bright..."

The first thing that entered my eyes, was flames of shining gold covering my left hand. The mark in my hand is sucking the flames from the staff on the wall that I'm holding on right now, turning its metallic gold l.u.s.ter into a dull black.

"Aoi, these flames..."

"...Heh, how despicable," Aoi looked at the golden flames with a sharp, deathly gaze. "Of all places, I never expected to see [The Magician] here."