episode_0026

The voice that suddenly called out to me contained a variety of emotions.

Surprise, suspicion, a slight hint of hostility, and curiosity.

Fortunately, revulsion was not felt.

“…It’s just that I got into the habit of not making noise because I was always watching out for others from a young age.”

I glossed over it with the details written in my trait.

‘You are a dirty orphan from the slums, and no one welcomes you revealing your presence and walking proudly. Under the gaze of such people, you learned how to walk without a sound because you didn’t want to be hated and suffer.’

This is the story.

If this trait refers to past events, then this, too, would be hard to see as simply a lie.

“I’ve seen many children whose steps make no sound; even petty thieves and pickpockets know how to suppress the sound of their footsteps. But you are definitely strange.”

“…Which part, exactly?”

“Suppressing sounds from the body is common, but it’s rare to be able to control even the rustling of clothes or the sound of a sword scabbard moving with the body’s sway.”

I felt unpleasant being suddenly stopped and immediately suspected, but there was nothing to do but accept it.

Not that I could accept the current unreasonable situation, but because I could understand it.

There was a gloomy aura.

By now, I was used to naturally looking only at the ground, or only up to the lips if I raised my gaze, so the misfortune of making eye contact didn’t happen, and I felt it less.

Even without meeting eyes directly, it emitted quite an unpleasant aura.

If you saw an unpleasant little girl moving without a sound, you would develop vigilance you didn’t have before.

“I know well that I might seem strange, but aren’t you pushing too hard…?”

This was the best protest I could make in the current situation.

The Silver-rank adventurer, whom I expected to lightly ignore my paltry protest and continue his meaningless interrogation, let out a groan as if in thought, and then admitted his fault.

“…Indeed, I apologize for the intrusion.”

“Huh? Yes, yes?”

“It seems I pushed too hard. I’m sorry.”

“…It’s nothing.”

I hadn’t expected him to admit his fault so easily, so I accepted the apology dumbfoundedly.

This was the first time such a thing happened.

Usually, when talking with me, the conversation would always conclude with ‘anyway, it’s my fault,’ rather than admitting their own wrong.

Receiving such deferential treatment made it awkward and difficult to react.

“W-well then, I’ll be going.”

“…Alright.”

Even after leaving the guild, a creepy sensation was crawling up my spine.

“Seriously, why is my body reacting like this, as if I’ve broken out in hives, just because I received a deserved apology?”

Has receiving such scorn become so natural that this is the case?

Unable to understand the phenomenon even myself, I let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

Had I been standing still like that for about 5 minutes?

Thinking the situation was funny, I frowned deeply and started walking.

By the way, Silver-rank adventurers and above definitely seem to be aware of the existence of traits.

I hadn’t thought I was invincible, but it seemed I needed to be a little more careful.

To be honest, I had been harboring the complacent thought that, having played an active role in the bandit subjugation and even succeeded in assassinating the goblin leader, I was pretty decent.

Since I ended up abandoning such foolish thoughts because of this, perhaps it’s for the better, if anything.

I stretched, feeling tired, and lightly slapped my cheeks to snap out of it.

“Meeting the Saint will happen eventually if I wait…”

He said the Saint was walking a pilgrimage route.

If so, I could meet him by waiting in the capital.

Because the destination of the pilgrimage route is here, the capital of the Heron Kingdom.

However, it doesn’t make sense for me to just stand by until the Saint reaches here.

I need to think about what to do and how to do it from now on.

Now that I’ve achieved the short-term goal of ‘reaching the capital,’ I need to set a new short-term goal.

Without a goal, one is bound to become lax.

First, it would be good if I could face him on equal footing.

Shouldn’t our ranks at least be similar?

The Saint is currently a Silver-rank adventurer.

On the other hand, I was an Apprentice adventurer who hadn’t even reached Bronze rank.

“I have to resolve this first.”

At the very least, I must reach Bronze rank, and if possible, Silver rank, so that I can face him and converse at the same level.

I thought so.

Even now, I can assert that my actual achievements are Bronze rank or higher, but the Goblin Leader incident wasn’t a formal request, so it’s not counted as my achievement.

If there were at least many witnesses who all testified consistently, and supporting evidence, it might be different.

It didn’t seem likely that the villagers who tried to rip me off because they didn’t even want to pay the request fee would testify for something like this.

Although they say it takes a year to go from Apprentice to Bronze rank, if one has overwhelming achievements, that’s just a meaningless condition.

They said the Saint, who appeared only in the last few months, is Silver-rank.

I will become like that too.

Even if I’m a pathetic wretch who couldn’t save a young girl, shouldn’t I at least appear similar on the surface to even hope for a conversation?

Of course, just rushing ahead with intentions won’t work, so I need to make a good plan from now on.

The Adventurer’s Guild in the capital was very different in nature from the requests I had seen so far.

As it is the capital of the kingdom, public order is stable.

Thus, the only tasks within the capital are trivial errands and the like.

In fact, an Adventurer’s Guild was not necessary in the capital.

Nevertheless, the reason the Adventurer’s Guild exists in the capital is none other than that it receives requests in the form of dispatches.

The capital is stable.

But what about other places?

Not at all.

Therefore, the guild in the capital receives requests that local guilds cannot resolve on their own, at the request of those local guilds, and dispatches adventurers from the capital.

As these are tasks that cannot be resolved locally, the risk is high.

Therefore, the rewards are high, and the value as achievements is also high.

These are the types of requests I want.

“Good.”

Now that I’ve set a new goal, I just need to run towards that goal again.

Setting a goal is difficult, but striving towards that goal is an easier task.

Oh, I’m not saying I’m going to take on a request and go on a dispatch right now.

I need to buy clothes, rest from the fatigue of the long journey, and wait until my sword is repaired.

So, let’s go shopping for clothes now.

Even when I’m just standing still, I give off an unpleasant feeling, so if my clothes are shabby too, I’ll be looked down upon.

I stopped by a clothing store and looked at the clothes.

The clerk scanned me and seemed to judge that I had no money, trying to kick me out of the store, but when I opened my pouch full of silver coins and showed it, she suddenly became polite.

It seems being unpleasant and having money are separate matters.

With a smiling face, she offered me some cute clothes.

“…Don’t you have clothes that are easy to move in, rather than these?”

“Hmm, active wear?”

The clerk thought for a moment, then showed me a few outfits.

A short shirt that exposed the belly button and short shorts that revealed more than half of the thighs.

“…This is active wear?”

Isn’t it a bit much to call this active wear?

It’s not that I particularly feel repulsed by it.

I even tried seducing a goblin while naked, so what’s the big deal about short clothes?

The pandemonium I had fought through was exceptional enough to make me feel no repulsion towards things like this.

However, this was a matter of common sense before repulsion.

“……Hmm.”

I recall an adventurer named Cheshire, who was close to Van, wearing clothes like these.

However, as far as I knew, the adventurer named Cheshire was an adventurer slash prostitute.

When asked which role had a greater proportion, adventurer or prostitute, the prostitute side was more significant.

Clothes similar to what such a person wore.

It felt awkward in many ways.

It’s like, I could wear them if told to, but do I *have* to?

“Actually, these are items that don’t sell well… If you buy them now, I’ll give them to you at a specially low price.”

“…Cheap?”

“Yes!”

Seeing the regret on her face, as if she really intended to sell them cheaply, it was tempting.

It seems like a scheme to cheaply dispose of unsold clothes, but isn’t it okay?

The cost of living in the capital is already insane, so even though I have some money right now, I have to be frugal and couldn’t spend a lot on clothes.

Although they are a bit short, she said she would sell decent clothes cheaply, so it seemed quite good.

“Although these are short, your body is very small, so it won’t be excessively revealing!”

Right.

That’s true.

Even though those clothes are short, if I wear them, my physique is so small that it won’t be excessively revealing.

“Then give me those, and just a moment, please.”

Separate from the clothes, there were a few more things I absolutely had to buy.

Like gloves, for example.

Whenever I got nervous, sweat would flow from my hands, making the sword hilt slippery.

I found some decent-looking leather gloves and bought them along with the clothes.

The leather gloves were 1 silver coin and 30 copper coins, and the clothes (shirt and pants combined) were 2 silver coins.

I changed clothes immediately in the store.

Then I looked at myself through the mirror placed in the store.

While feeling a subtle sensation as the wind brushed my belly button, it definitely felt better than the old clothes that were more than shabby, they were torn to pieces.

With my hair covering my face in a bushy, unkempt mess like dog fur, and the scars on my small, frail body.

No matter how I looked, it was an ugly appearance, but perhaps Rie truly put effort into character customization?

Rather than being hideous or ugly, I looked cute and pathetic.

I hadn’t had occasion to look in a mirror, so I couldn’t get used to seeing my reflection, which was almost the first time.

When I pushed back my bangs, the revealed purple eyes did not emit light.

They were empty, dead eyes that couldn’t reflect light.

For a moment, I felt that my appearance was repulsive.

I felt an unpleasant sensation, as if looking at a heavily decomposed corpse.

Startled, I stepped back a little from the mirror, and the clerk approached me as if something had happened.

“Customer? Is something wrong?”

“…Nothing, nothing is wrong.”

The clerk shrugged her shoulders as if puzzled but returned to her place, and I hastily exited the store.

Gloomy aura, it seems this trait applies not only to others but also to myself.

Otherwise, there’s no way it could be so repulsive just because I saw my eyes.

“…I felt wronged being suddenly attacked just for making eye contact.”

With eyes like these, I felt I deserved to be attacked.

Shaking my head at a shock similar to when I first saw the Goblin Totem, I vowed never to look in a mirror again.

I stumbled back to the inn and shut myself in my room for a day.

I needed time to recover from the shock.

And so, a few days passed.

Upon hearing that my sword was repaired, I received it back and headed to the guild once again to look at the requests.

Due to the nature of dispatch missions, tasks that can be done alone are rare, and there are many tasks that require forming a team, so I scratched my head.

“This is difficult.”

I can see a few tasks I could do.

There was no one who seemed suitable to work with me.

As I was lingering near the request board feeling disappointed, a familiar voice was heard.

“Perhaps, are you interested in this request?”

“Yes?”

Turning my body to check, it was that Silver-rank adventurer who had suddenly suspected and been wary of me a few days ago.

I didn’t know what he was suddenly saying, but since I did want to undertake a request, I nodded, and he abruptly extended his hand towards me.

Probably, he wanted to shake hands.

“Let’s work together.”

“…Why?”

“I apologized, but no matter how I think about it, you’re strange, so I intend to observe you directly.”

“…Uh, are you free?”

It’s very rare for a Silver-rank adventurer to undertake a request with an Apprentice adventurer, so I didn’t quite understand why he would volunteer to take on a request with me and asked again. The Silver-rank adventurer merely replied calmly.

“I am free.”

There seemed to be no pretext, reason, or way to refuse.

“……Well then, please take care of me.”

I extended my hand and clasped his hand.