Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Five: Small Formation
“Heyyy! Long time no see, Harald!”
“…Haa.”
Seeing Tim being entertained in Karen’s alchemy workshop manor, Harald let out a long sigh—though it was almost certainly just a cover for embarrassment. And even hit point-blank with that thoroughly fed-up sigh, Tim didn’t budge an inch from his smile.
“You’re looking well!”
“…Thanks to Lady Karen. You haven’t changed.”
“You bet! I’m doing great! Though being inside a noble’s estate makes me kind of restless. Karen’s new alchemy workshop is way too big, isn’t it? Cleaning this place must be a nightmare!”
“…There’s also a lot more to learn than before.”
“Yikes.”
Tim looked around the alchemy workshop manor with the perspective of someone who had once worked at Karen’s alchemy workshop, and Harald, who had worked there as well, visibly softened around the eyes.
“Quitting the alchemy workshop odd jobs was the right call. I wasn’t cut out for it.”
“So you quit?”
“I became an adventurer! You became an alchemist, so I couldn’t just sit on my hands either!”
“…I see.”
Tim was being openly competitive in front of Harald, and however much Harald tried to conceal it, he couldn’t quite hide that it pleased him. Karen was glad she’d arranged the meeting—and at the same time reached back and pulled Teresa forward; Teresa had been trying to retreat to the back of the room.
Dragged out, Teresa had “not pleased” written all over her face and every muscle coiled with suspicion. Karen had called her over without explaining anything, but Teresa did not seem wary simply because she had no idea what was going on. Rather, she appeared to have guessed what was coming and was already on guard, glaring at Tim.
Tim stiffened slightly when he spotted Teresa. But after staring at her for a moment, he relaxed his shoulders for some reason.
“Is that girl an adventurer?”
“Yep. Her name’s Teresa.”
Being guessed correctly, Teresa blinked, then finally looked at Tim properly.
“How did you know I was an adventurer?”
“At first I thought you might be a noble because of your face, but the way you move, you know? It’s different.”
Being complimented on her face made Teresa wrinkle her nose, but she was clearly more interested in the other thing and pressed on.
“Why did you think I was an adventurer and not a trainee?”
“Hmm, once you’ve been doing it a while, you can kind of just tell? That sort of thing.”
Her guard dropping a notch, Teresa looked Tim up and down in turn.
“You’re an adventurer too?”
“Yeah! E-rank!”
“…Huh. Not F. You look about the same age as me.”
“I’ve been tagging along with veteran adventurers since forever, so they put in a good word, and I got to skip F-rank. They said I could handle E-rank monsters no problem! Some people the same age are still doing trainee work, but with my magical power, I don’t need that anymore.”
“Hmmmmm.”
A sharp hostility radiated from Teresa, one-sided and unmistakable. As far as Karen could tell, Tim hadn’t meant to brag at all. But the sight of a fortunate Tim innocently sharing his recent good news seemed to get under the skin of someone who hadn’t been so lucky. Harald had once been the same way, too. As Karen reminisced about those days, Teresa looked up at her and gave her a sly grin.
“I’m an F-rank adventurer… I can’t defeat monsters because I have no magical power, so I can’t move up the ranks!”
Whether it was merely taking out her frustration on Karen, or a justified retaliation against the person responsible for making her listen to a boast she never wanted to hear, it was hard to say. Perhaps she was taking advantage of the fact that Thor was away in the royal capital. In any case, it was a truly wicked expression—one Karen had not seen from her in quite some time.
“And since I have no magical power, nobody will form a party with me!”
“Is that so?”
Tim nodded along, blinking at the sudden confession. If Karen had been scheming something, Teresa seemed intent on blowing it up—she said with a grin:
“I bet Karen introduced me to you because you’re about my age and already an E-rank adventurer, hoping I’d give up on being an adventurer… but I’m not going to get a chance like this often. So please. I know I’d only be dead weight for you, but—let me into your party.”
Teresa had deliberately chosen this approach.
“That way I can keep being an adventurer!”
The kind of invitation that any normal person would absolutely refuse—and Tim, who had just been invited that way, answered without a second’s hesitation:
“Sure, sounds good!”
“—Huh? Wait. I’m an F-rank adventurer. No magical power either. And that’s—fine?”
“E and F aren’t that different, and most people have less magical power than me.”
“…Did Karen tell you something? Like, be nice and team up with poor little me?”
“Karen?”
Tim glanced at Karen with a puzzled look. Karen just smiled and said nothing, and Tim turned back to Teresa.
“I came to the Ehlertt territory because Thor told me to get some experience in the Ehlertt capital dungeon.”
“What?”
“Thor didn’t say anything about you, either.”
Tim tilted his head at Teresa, who had gone rigid, and offered a suggestion:
“Why don’t we just try going in together first? Can’t tell if we’re a good fit without trying.”
Karen grinned at the bewildered Teresa and said:
“I did call you here hoping you two might end up in a party together—but if you didn’t seem compatible, I wasn’t going to force anything. But Teresa asked, and Tim said yes, so there’s no problem, is there?”
Teresa made an exasperated face at Karen’s smile, then turned back to Tim with the same expression.
“Forget what I said just now.”
“Eeeh!?”
Karen let out the loudest yelp of anyone, while Tim—the one who had been invited and then uninvited—also blinked in surprise. But Teresa immediately revealed what she actually meant.
“Instead of me joining your party—you join mine.”
“Does that make any difference? You don’t have any other members, right?”
“It makes a difference!”
“If we go in and we don’t click, I’m leaving, just so you know.”
“If that happens, I’ll kick you out myself.”
Tim tilted his head, apparently not particularly concerned about the distinction, and agreed, “Does it really matter either way?"—and just like that, a small new party was formed.
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