Chapter One Hundred and Fourty-Four: Adventurers’ Problems 2
“It would be a bother if you came here so frequently.”
When Karen arrived at the adventurers’ camp, Gunther appeared. Karen responded with a smile to Gunther, whose expression was exactly as unwelcoming as his words suggested.
“I didn’t come here on Lady Waltride’s business.”
“Then why did you come?”
“First, please let me introduce myself. I’m Karen from the fifth floor of the second apartment building in District Five of the Adventurers’ Quarter in Earthfill’s Royal Capital.”
“The Adventurer Quarter? So you’re an adventurer too?”
Seeing Gunther’s attitude clearly soften due to Karen’s way of introducing herself, Karen deepened her smile cheerfully. Given her background, Karen could easily blend in and gain adventurers’ trust.
Waltride should know this too, but judging by her attitude, she seemed unlikely to order Karen to spy, so Karen had come to gather information of her own free will. Incidentally, she had explained her plan to Julius and brought him along as a bodyguard, but the journey had been awkward with almost no conversation.
“My father and younger brother are adventurers. I’m just employed by Lady Waltride as an alchemist, and I’m still a commoner, so I thought it would be reassuring if my family had joined up here.”
“Being employed by a princess means you’re quite skilled.”
Gunther’s wariness returned again. For adventurers, alchemists who ventured into dungeons were an entirely different breed from those who did not. While the latter might consider themselves equals, adventurers—including those who are alchemists themselves—do not see it that way. The adventurer mindset was that dungeon conquerors were the most important.
“So your old man or brother is among this group? If they’re here, I’ll call them for you.”
“My father went into a dungeon years ago and never came back, so he’s not here.”
Among adventurers, missing people whose bodies weren’t found weren’t called dead. Even if they had held a funeral.
“But my brother might be here, so I came looking for him. I’ll search myself, so please don’t worry about it.”
“No, no, don’t hold back. Tell me your brother’s name. If he really exists, that is?”
Karen looked puzzled.
Although it had been a pretext since she didn’t think her brother had actually joined the dungeon investigation team, she hadn’t expected Gunther to doubt her brother’s very existence.
“My brother’s name is—”
“Oh! Could that be little Karen over there?!”
Just as Karen was about to say the name, someone called out to her, and she turned around.
“Ah! Uncle! Uncle Sepl!”
“Oh! I heard your house burned down! Were you okay?”
“I’m fine!”
Sepl, a D-rank adventurer. He was Karen’s father’s friend.
He had his hair slicked back and tied up. He should be in his late thirties, but he looked youthful, appearing to be in his late twenties, probably because he had climbed the rank several times.
Even so, he still wasn’t C-rank. To become a C-rank adventurer, one had to conquer the tenth floor. Every ten floors in the dungeon, there were powerful monsters, and defeating these monsters meant risking one’s life. So perhaps he had chosen not to advance. There were quite a few D-rank adventurers who chose not to advance even though they had sufficient strength to climb ranks.
“Uncle Sepl, you came with the investigation team too!”
When Karen tried to jump on him out of childhood habit, her collar was firmly pulled back. Even when she tried to move forward, she couldn’t.
Seeing Karen in this state, Sepl frowned.
“—Karen, who’s that pretty boy behind you?”
“Ah, um, that’s Mr. Julius. He came along as my bodyguard.”
“That guy’s a noble.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Karen nodded while still being pulled back. It was Julius doing the pulling. Wondering what he was doing, Karen looked up at Julius with suspicion, only to find him gazing down at her. Though Julius had accompanied her as her bodyguard when she came to the adventurers’ camp, the matter of that woman remained unresolved.
When their eyes met, Karen glared at him reflexively, and Julius hurriedly let go of her hand, saying "sorry" with a flustered look. He probably thought Karen was glaring because her collar had been pulled, but that wasn’t it. However, pursuing that now would be completely wrong.
Sepl and Gunther looked at each other.
“Is she someone you know?”
“Yeah, she’s the daughter of one of my old drinking buddies.”
“She says she has an adventurer brother. Is that true?”
“It’s true.”
“Then she can stay, but—Master Julius of House Ehlertt, would you not consider returning to the princess? Just having you here somehow tires us adventurers out.”
“I am Karen’s bodyguard.”
“I’ll take over as her bodyguard. She’s a friend’s daughter, after all.”
“Mr. Julius, since Uncle says he’ll take over guarding me, please go back ahead.”
This was perfectly timed, given how awkward things were with Julius. When Karen gratefully moved toward Sepl, Julius’s expression clouded.
“…If that’s what you say, I’ll return first. He’s your father’s friend and like a father to you, is that correct?”
“Exactly right!”
“Then… I suppose this isn’t a situation where I should interfere.”
Julius spoke with strange hesitation, then turned on his heel and left.
“Hmph, get lost.”
“Uncle Sepl?”
As Karen was surprised by Sepl cursing at Julius’s retreating back, Sepl said:
“That nobleman probably thinks commoners like me are too dirty to touch.”
“Huh? Mr. Julius never said anything like that!”
“He stopped you when you tried to tackle me, didn’t he? What an unpleasant guy. Well, Karen, you’re big now too, so I’d prefer you stop with the tackling.”
“It wasn’t tackling, it was an affectionate embrace! And, um, I don’t think Mr. Julius stopped me with that intention?”
“Then what was with that hostile look in his eyes?”
Apparently, Julius had been looking at Sepl with hostile eyes when Karen tried to hug him. At Sepl’s words describing a scene Karen couldn’t see, Karen blushed and said:
“Maybe it was… jealousy? I’m dating him.”
“Karen, you’re being deceived.”
Sepl placed his hand on Karen’s shoulder with a serious expression.
“That’s not true!”
“It is true!”
“Uncle Sepl, you’re an idiot!”
“The one calling someone an idiot is the real idiot, stupid, stupid!”
While Karen and Sepl engaged in this futile argument, Gunther and the other adventurers looked exasperated, let their guard down regarding Karen, and dispersed.
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