Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Five: Adventurers’ Problems 6
“Sir Julius, Little Karen says she’s going to go peek at the female adventurers’ bathing area, so I’m going along as her guard—want to come too, Sir?”
While understanding that this was an improvised lie Sepl had made up to get Julius away from them, Karen reflexively turned a cold gaze toward Julius. Her wish that he absolutely not say he’d come along was conveyed to Julius as if she’d poured it over him. This was a feat accomplished by the outstanding acting ability that had instantaneously sprouted within Karen.
“I’ll pass. Sepl, you should pass too, don’t you think?”
“But I’m her bodyguard, you see.”
As Sepl said this with a grinning laugh, he guided Karen deeper into the forest. Gunther was accompanying them as well, but Julius didn’t seem to find this questionable. Belatedly feeling a pang of guilt, Karen followed Gunther.
The only reason she needed to keep this secret from Julius was in case their attempt to persuade the Almost-Theres would fail.
In other words, she simply needed to make it succeed.
“Mr. Gunther! Um, could you tell me about that crimson adventurer? Their name, age, and what kind of person they are! I think we need information to persuade them!”
“You mean Crimson Thunder? Well, there is no information.”
“There has to be something, right?”
“There isn’t any. The guild thoroughly conceals information about high-ranking adventurers, and both the person themselves and those around them keep their mouths shut. Since they make many enemies, if it became known they had family back home, those family members would be targeted, and the people around them value their lives too much to ever say anything… but Sepl, you’ve got information on Crimson Thunder, don’t you?”
“Uncle Sepl? If you know something, tell me!”
“After hearing all that buildup, you still ask that? Karen, I value my life too, you know.”
“I see…”
Karen immediately backed down, thinking that she couldn’t very well make Sepl risk his life and make an enemy of an “Almost-There” adventurer.
“Honestly, I kind of feel like it’d be okay to tell you, but quite a bit of time has passed, and I can’t make the judgment call.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure either. How that guy has changed, what he thinks now—that’s why I have no choice but to have you meet him directly, Little Karen.”
Karen’s eyes widened at Sepl’s words as she quickened her pace just slightly. But the moment they emerged from the forest, pressure assaulted her, and Karen came to an abrupt halt. That pressure resembled what she felt in this world when she’d used up all her magical power. The pressure was so intense that she found it painful even to raise her face and hung her head.
“Don’t push yourself. For someone with D-rank magical power, this magical pressure must be tough.”
“My magical power is C-rank now, so I’m fine.”
It was bravado. Even though Karen’s body was currently filled with magical power, she felt so heavy she could barely breathe. It was unbelievable that this was being emitted by the dozen or so people present here. Saying this, Karen somehow managed to raise her face, and Sepl, ahead of her, was also dripping with cold sweat.
“Back again to beg for noble lives again, Gunther?”
“Don’t make it sound so bad. I’m just here to pay back the Adventurers’ Guild that once looked after me.”
As befitting a C-rank adventurer, Gunther maintained a calm exterior. The alluring woman who had spoken to him turned to Karen with a beaming smile as well.
“Sorry, but our leader’s really pissed off, you see. I’m doing everything I can just to convince him to hold off on killing them right away—so they’ll suffer more first. Getting him to give up on finishing them off? No way, no how.”
“Even that much helps.”
What was hanging from the large tree deep in the forest looked from a distance like nothing but bagworms, but they were apparently still-living Royal Guards.
Beside them sat a man on a tree stump, staring up intently at the bagworms.
“Right now, he’s just agonizing over how to kill them to make them suffer the most, but once our leader makes up his mind, there’ll be no stopping him. Can that child you brought do something about it?”
“She’s an alchemist who can make panaceas. I thought we might be able to negotiate if he had some trouble that required a panacea, so I brought her.”
“Oh my, she must be quite skilled! But I don’t think it’ll work… Miss, are you listening?”
Karen walked past Gunther, weaving between the adventurers. At the very center of those radiating that uncanny pressure stood a young man with orange hair, brandishing a blade at the men hanging from the tree.
Karen’s steps gradually quickened, and eventually she broke into a run.
“Thor!”
“Huh, Sis!?”
“Hup!”
Fully believing her strong little brother would easily catch her, Karen leaped at him, and Thor threw aside his blade and caught her without difficulty.
“Sis! Why are you here!?”
“You’re one to talk, Thor! If you were here, you should have told me! I wanted to see you so much!”
“Sorry, sorry. I wanted to show you how big I’d gotten. I was thinking I’d go home in a little while, really! I mean it!”
“You certainly did get so big while I wasn’t seeing you!”
“Well, I did get taller, but that’s not all that’s changed, Sis.”
Still clinging to him, Karen ruffled his orange hair with tears of joy welling up.
Thor laughed bashfully.
The person there was Karen’s younger brother, Thor.
Three years ago, when he was fourteen, he had become an adventurer, and his returns home had become increasingly infrequent, until about a year and a half ago, he stopped returning altogether—nor did he send any word. Though Karen was certain he was doing well. He was Karen’s one and only family.
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