Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Nine: Adventurers’ Perspective
“So, Sis, what rank alchemist are you now?”
At Thor’s question, the atmosphere froze for a moment for some reason. Karen found the shift in the air strange, but answered frankly.
“I’m C-rank. You beat me to B-rank, didn’t you, Thor?”
“C-rank?! That’s still amazing, Sis! Adventurers just have to defeat monsters, so it’s way easier than being an alchemist!”
The adventurers, out of Thor’s sight, silently shook their heads. They clearly wanted to insist that adventuring wasn’t easier than alchemy, but said nothing, likely out of consideration for Thor.
To Karen, he was still her adorable little brother, yet she could feel the power hierarchy pressing down heavily. And still—why had the atmosphere grown so tense in the first place? Only Sepl, perhaps out of the familiarity of an old friend, taught the bewildered Karen without reservation:
“Haah… Well, I’m just glad you and Thor didn’t cut ties, Little Karen. That’s a load off my mind.”
“Cut ties? Why would we do that?”
“There are tons of adventurers who drift apart from their families once their rank gets too high. Especially high-ranking ones—there are cases where F-ranks don’t even look like the same species to them. I’m glad your rank went up somewhat, Little Karen.”
If her alchemist rank hadn’t risen, Thor might have severed ties with Karen. That seemed to be the source of the tension. As Karen stared in disbelief at such a notion, Thor snapped at Sepl beside her.
“I would never cut ties with Sis even if she were F-rank! Don’t say weird things, Sepl! Look, you’re making her worry!”
“Oh, is that so? That’s good then. I just didn’t want to see her cry, that’s all.”
“…Well, there are plenty of people like that, so such concern isn’t unfounded. Sepl was just worried about you, Sis…”
Thor glared sharply at Sepl, but soon let it go.
Sepl secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Rank doesn’t matter—family is family, I can’t believe there are people who’d think otherwise.”
“Karen, among high-ranking adventurers, that mindset’s actually pretty common. Don’t talk about it too openly.”
When Karen sighed, Gunther cleared his throat and warned her.
Unsure what to say, Karen looked around—Wanda and the rest wore awkward expressions.
“Um, it’s not like we have ill intentions, okay? We don’t even realize we’ve become arrogant after our rise in status. It’s just that… people who haven’t climbed any ranks kind of look like insects to us…”
“Ehh…?”
“Pretty awful, right, Sis?”
Karen was appalled by Wanda’s words, and Thor quickly chimed in.
“And who was it that always says things like ‘Who cares about a bug’s life,’ hmm? Leader?”
“Please distinguish between what you can and can’t say in front of Sis, Wanda, okay? Ouch!”
“Don’t intimidate your comrades.”
“Yes, Sis.”
Seeing Thor respond with a puppy-dog face, Wanda and Thor’s party members made gagging sounds outside Thor’s field of vision.
Although Wanda called Karen “big sis,” there didn’t seem to be anything romantic between her and Thor, which made Karen a little disappointed. It looks like she wasn’t her brother’s first girlfriend.
Julius returned later that afternoon.
Karen had made a home-cooked meal for the first time in ages with whatever was on hand, and Thor had cried tears of joy, so she was glowing with pride and happiness.
Julius approached with his usual unchanged smile, but stopped at a distance where he couldn’t reach Karen even if he extended his hand, and said:
“Karen, shall I send someone else to pick you up later?”
“I’d like to talk with you, Mr. Julius, so I’ll return with you. See you later, Thor.”
“See you, Sis. Thanks for the meal!”
Seen off by the smiling Thor and his party, Karen set out on the return journey with Julius.
After seeing Karen and Julius off, Sepl said with satisfaction:
“Even Julius, who’s called the Hero of Ehlertt, still can’t match a real B-rank adventurer, huh?”
“No… it was actually pretty dangerous, you know? If he’d come at me with intent to kill, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”
Thor had held back too. That’s why he’d focused on defense, and half the reason he’d let go of his war hammer was to surprise Julius on purpose.
Yet Julius, even with eyes like a mindless beast, had still been holding back. His fearfulness lay in his tenacious persistence. If he still had enough reason left to halt his sword at the last instant, then he wasn’t showing his full power.
His weapon hadn’t been anything special either—probably just a common self-defense sword like those noble knights carry. He must have changed his gear before coming to the adventurers’ camp so as not to alarm the adventurers.
The fact that that sword could clash against Thor’s custom-made war hammer without breaking was impressive. Normally, it would’ve shattered—but Julius’s precise magical power control made the difference.
Even that technique of imbuing the sword with barely magical power was limited by the blade’s tolerance. If he had a sword made of enchanted metal, he’d likely fight in an entirely different way.
“Seriously, Thor? But he’s a sheltered noble, right?”
“I don’t think that guy was raised in a sheltered environment. He’s just making it look like he was. It doesn’t seem like an act to lower people’s guard either, but I wonder what it is. That guy’s a noble’s son, right?”
“If you’re talking about Julius of Ehlertt, he’s definitely the son of an earl’s family.”
“And yet, how do I put it—he held his sword like… like an orphan kid who’s been holed up in dungeons since childhood.”
At first, he held the sword properly, but once he realized Thor’s strength matched his own, he switched to the grip he was more accustomed to—one better suited to real fighting.
When one ascends the steps, they become stronger. They can even wield a sword pinched between their fingertips.
Julius gave off a sense of incongruity, as if he had learned how to wield a sword efficiently to kill monsters long before anyone had taught him the proper way to hold it.
“…Is he really the kind of man we should let be Karen’s boyfriend?”
“Well, that’s what Sis wants, so we have to accept it. I didn’t like Lyos either, but I overlooked it because Sis said she was gonna get engaged to him. Well, I did think I’d kill him someday for treating her badly, though. But wait, if Julius is her boyfriend, what happened to Lyos?”
“Karen apparently dumped Lyos. I’d assumed she’d been easily fooled by Julius’s charms, but surprisingly, it doesn’t really feel like he’s deceiving her.”
“Hmm. If Sis dumped him, that’s fine then.”
After Sepl’s misunderstanding spread to Thor, Sepl also conveyed the truth:
“Also, I should tell you first—your house caught fire and burned down.”
“Huh? What’s that about?”
“The one who set the fire was Isaac from the Gubert Trading Company, the sutler for this dungeon expedition, who’s hostile to Karen. And this guy’s also spreading false rumors that the fire was caused by Karen’s carelessness with fire.”
As Thor started to move menacingly, Sepl grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
“Why are you stopping me, Sepl? You do realize you’re trying to hold back a B-rank, and you’re just a D-rank…”
“ Damn, that’s harsh! That’s the number one thing I don’t want to hear from a brat I took care of when he was little!”
Sepul yelled, then spoke again:
“According to Karen: don’t steal her prey.”
“Ah, I see.”
Thor’s fierce expression instantly returned to its usual one as he lowered the corners of his eyebrows.
“But will Sis really properly get revenge?”
“I’m concerned about that too. But she said not to butt in. Looks like she got her own plans in place—wouldn’t be right to ruin them.”
“Fair point. Thanks for telling me, Sepl.”
“Never talk to me in a way that makes my balls shrivel up like that again!”
“…Yeah, yeah. Geez.”
Thor nodded while being thrown off his rhythm by Sepl, who treated him as an equal.
Sighing at his party members who weren’t even hiding their anxiety, Thor took a deep breath of the familiar air of his hometown dungeon.
It's exciting to see how Karen interacts with her brother and how the dynamics change now that he's been introduced. Thanks for all your hard work as always, Kiri!
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