Volume 10 : Chapter 4 – LIFE IMITATES LIFE (2)

“I am very sorry…. I am very sorry.” Ken repeatedly expressed his remorse in front of the adventurers he so valiantly fought against.

Though I am not sure of the reason why. Only a while ago he seemed too uninterested to do anything with me.

After inexplicably assaulting all the veteran adventurers who wanted to help me out to a punch without any reason. He had no choice but to beg for their forgiveness.

“Hmmm… Looks like this is your first time here as well. Seeing that you do not recognize the senior adventurers here when they were only trying to show me the way around.” I chided him with a smirk.

“It’s all your fault. You could have warned me.” Ken looked more angry than ever as he grinded his teeth at me.

“Don’t blame me. You acted all on your own. And you should be thanking me for healing them. Now bow before me.” It was now my turn to act stubbornly.

“As if I will ever…” Ken had no choice but to swallow his pride and accept his mistake of attacking someone unwarrantedly.

Though it was unlike him, to act so. At least he was sincere when asking for forgiveness.

“You don’t need to worry. I attacked first so we didn’t do a good job of explaining you either.” The veteran adventure who got knocked out in the first punch, was kind enough to let this go.

“No, it was my mistake that I acted on suspicion alone without enquiring. Please forgive me.” Seeing Ken repeatedly apologize now made me feel sorry as well.

“You are very polite and accepting of your mistake for someone who acted all rowdy a minute ago.” The veteran adventurer looked back at the scene where his comrades were still resting after receiving the beating.

“You should have just told us you wanted her so badly in your party… we just wanted to assist her around and cheer up the new joinee. …And besides you wouldn’t want to keep apologizing in front of your crush, now would ya.” The veteran adventurer remarked with a grin, giving Ken a hearty slap on the back.

“You have got the completely wrong idea….”

“Yeah, it’s not like that.”

Ken and I strongly opposed it at the same time.

“Ya. ya. They all say the same. I wish you the best of luck on your first adventure.”

“Yeah. We will be cheering for you.” The recuperating group at the back couldn’t help but butt in.

“It’s useless to get through these drunks right now. But I will clear up this misunderstanding someday. As if I will even consider teaming up with a cosplaying girl in a priestess outfit. You don’t even have a staff to back up your claim.” Ken ominously looked at me as if picking up a fight over my flawless priestess attire.

“Are you really trying to nitpick with my choice of costume props? I know a staff would be a good addition. But I don’t want to strain my hand holding it all day long. And besides my powers are strong enough that I don’t see the need of myself having one.”

“Well, I can’t argue on that.” Ken now too seemed to be accepting of my skills. “But still your adventurer card must be of the trainee level that you can’t even take up the quests.”

Ken now was aware of my weakness and how I desperately needed to form a party. But I had already opened my big mouth that I was going to form my own awesome adventurer party since everyone rejected me.

It's obvious neither Ken nor I have shown each other our full strength. We can’t even see each other’s status or measure our skills against each other.

I highly doubt he is in possession of a camouflage artifact that veils his status, otherwise I should have been able to detect the interference.

So, if we work together in a team, I am sure I will get a chance to uncover his secret.

Suddenly, someone pushed in between the crowd to step forward and came close to Ken.

“Pri… I mean Ken, what’s this commotion about? And who is this girl?” It was a girl in complete black knight-type armor with a sword dangling around her waist.

“Yes, Ken who is this girl?” I repeated since I assumed he was alone here like me.

But maybe not.

***

I had only gone for a moment to the Quest board to find a quest with the requirements the prince had mentioned to me before.

The prince had already prepared our fake identities with metal card ranks to take up quests. Just goes to show he is the highest royalty of the Empire.

I was the one who suggested Maybell City since it was closest to our domain and received a good amount of high-ranking quests.

But unfortunately, we came up too late and all the good-paying quests were taken. And because we were also short on time, we couldn’t take up any quests that would take too long to complete.

Surprisingly I found just the right quest pasted on the top corner of the quest board. It was not just an easy transportation material quest but also a very high-paying one. The only problem was that it required only silver-rank adventures and above.

Currently, we are metal card holders, which is further subdivided into various levels as well. And right now, we were at the lowest iron rank.

I was about to approach the Prince, with the following quest.

“If we could just find someone with a silver rank here, we can form a temporary party with them and take up this quest then. At least the terms of the quest allow us to do so.” I wanted to discuss this plan with the prince as soon as possible.

I just couldn’t call out the prince and attract attention, since we wanted to keep a low profile. I absolutely can’t call him prince here and get found out on the first day.

But for the spot where the Prince left it was suddenly crowded and I could hear people fighting. So, I quickly rushed to see, only to find the prince bickering with a wannabe healing priestess.

She doesn’t even have a priestess staff or any holy accessory, meaning she is either too weak or unskilled to wield one.

I know the kind; they are not only weak. But also make the party vulnerable when they get hurt or run out of magic power. Especially they are scared of fighting monsters and run away when things get dangerous.

I am sure she is trying to force our kind prince into doing something unsavory. I can’t let the prince be duped into buying any fake holy item she might try to sell him.

After all, it’s my job to protect him.

***

“Ken, who is this wannabe priestess?”

“Ken who is this walking tin can.”

“I am a knight. And Ken how does she know your name…?” Elsie quickly retorted.

I knew this was going to be a lot of trouble to explain.

But I think I have no choice but to explain to Elsie that we are previous acquaintances, and coincidentally met here.

“But first…. Why are you hiding behind me? When you were being so brave until now. Shouldn’t you be helping me here?” I cried at Alicia who suddenly changed her formidable stance to becoming close to timid in front of Elsie.

I was quite taken aback by Alicia’s sudden childish behavior as she stuck behind me, trying to get away from Elsie.

“You said you will protect me. ⸺So just do that.” Alicia said.

“When did I ever say that? It was only to protect you from harm, then. Since you are so good at getting into trouble.” I swiftly refused.

It was evident from Elsie’s twisted face that the misunderstanding was growing.

But from what I remember Alicia wasn’t that scared or on guard against me when we first met. Was it because I took that attack for her?

I looked at my hand, feeling the imaginary pain from the blunt knife. I wonder why I would even sacrifice myself for a nobody stranger.

I am sure I am never doing that again. Absolutely not.

It took some time to clear the misunderstanding between the two girls. But at least they could now look at each other. Even though their expression were far from being friendly.

At last, Elsie clapped her hands together after listening to my short explanation as if she quickly caught on.

“So, she is just a fangirl. Now that you have exchanged greetings and since I am here. We have some important quest business to discuss. So, move along.” Elsie said with a straight face without holding back.

“It’s not like that. I was the one who was helping the kids at that time. It was all part of the plan.”

Alicia’s outburst clearly showed that Elsie’s words got to her. Even if she was a bit harsh in the end.

“Elsie, did you find a good quest?” I returned to the subject.

“Yes, I did. It’s a good paying, and easy quest of delivering an item The only problem is we are of much lower rank than the quest demands. But I am sure we are more than skilled to complete it without failure.”

After getting all the details. I too felt this was the best quest we could have found today.

“The only problem is that we don’t meet the criteria with our party alone.” Elsie raised her concern.

“Already in trouble without me.” Alicia said with a scoff. This time showing off her black card as if hinting at something.

“You are still here?” Elsie for some reason was quite adamant in getting Alicia out of her sight.

“Do you have something to say here?” I asked.

“You dismissed this as a mere card, but this can solve all your problems. If you don’t believe me, just ask the guild receptionist.”

“So, you are telling me, if we form a party with that girl, we can use the privilege of her black card, to take up any level of quest. Doesn’t that sound too absurd and suspicious to you? I have never heard of a card like that before.” Elsie couldn’t believe her ears after listening to the guild receptionists’ explanation.

“Yes, that’s what it is. I was surprised as well. But the card is registered in our guild system. So, it’s completely genuine.”

It looked like these guild officers, were only interested in relaying the information and never doubted any orders from the guild.

“You see that.” Alicia was back to her usual confident self.

“I am sure we will still be able to find a silver-rank adventurer. There’s no need to rely on her.” Elsie was adamant.

“I am sorry, to inform but all the silver-rank adventurers of this city are currently out on other quests. This job post was only added at the last minute, so you got lucky.”

I see. So, there’s also a chance that other silver-rank adventures might come back and take this quest. And there still won’t be any guarantee that they would like to team up with us or share the earnings equally.

The simplest course of action was to act fast. And the solution was standing right in front of my eyes.

Even if it’s not the optimal and with how much I would like to say no.

“Alright, you can join our party.” I finally had to give her my answer.

“That won’t work anymore.” Alicia said with crossed arms.

“What do you mean? From what I understand didn’t you want to join our party until now?” Elsie was at her wit’s end.

Even I was unsure now what this girl really wanted.

“I already told you. You will be joining my party. And I will be the one to lead.” Alicia put forward her proposition.

“It doesn’t make a difference. As long as you accept our conditions.” It didn’t matter much to me who ends up representing this temporary team-up.

Alicia agreed to listen to all of our conditions.

The first one was that the reward money would be equally divided between us.

The second condition was that if there was ever a conflict in our party, the decision would be made by taking votes only among the party members.

“⸺Alright I accept.”

Even though she knew she would be at a disadvantage, Alicia readily agreed. I am sure she would have easily guessed that Elsie was only following my orders.

“But I have one condition of my own.” Alicia added.

Elsie and I attentively listened, worrying she might end up asking us something difficult.

Alicia gestured to silence with a raised finger as she declared, “We won’t be inquiring into each other’s personal lives or identities.”

Does she know I had been using an alias? I have always been extra careful so there’s no way anyone would recognize me as a prince.

And I am sure there haven’t been any slip-ups. Since my identity has always been kept a secret and only the people from the empire’s palace can recognize me.

“Wait so you won’t reveal what you actually look like behind that mask. Is that it?” Elsie raised her concern.

“Yes, that is a part of it.” Alicia smiled as she revolved around herself, frolicking her dress. “All you need to know is that I am the best healer you will ever find.”

Does she like showing off her new costume? She is completely acting like a kid enamored by their new school uniform on their first day.

Is that why she is doing this repeatedly?

“Alright, we accept you as the leader and agree to all your demands. We can continue by registering ourselves as a temporary party and can get more details about the quest.”

All of us finally agreed to each other’s condition, so there was no longer any need to stall our adventure. For some reason, I felt excited to start my first adventure as well.

Elsie did not make any further protests and accepted my decision without further objection.

Maybe she too understood that not revealing our identities or answering about our personal lives worked in our favor as well.

Also, by this, I could finally see her in action and get a grasp of her magical powers and levels.

And decide whether she is a threat I need to later deal with or not.

***

“Yipeeeee…” I finally did it. I finally get to be the leader of an adventurer’s party and work in a team.

Even though I only wanted to partner with someone who knows little about me and is reliable. An acquaintance like Ken, worked perfectly in this case.

But then this other girl Elsie had to tag along. At least I could tell that she was someone experienced in fighting with well-developed muscles under that body armor of hers. Also, she must be someone near to Ken.

But their relationship did not seem to be of an equal level, since she accepted any decision made by Ken on the spot.

I know I shouldn’t be avoiding her since she is a future party member of mine. And I really wanted to be friends with her if we were going to work in a team.

But the way she had been glaring at me all the time, I had no excuse but to hide behind Ken.

I am just here trying to make the best out of a bad day. I am sure I can put my previous twenty-nine failures of finding a common herb behind me if I complete this quest.

After all an earnest hardworking girl like me is sure to find success.

It was such a great coincidence that they went for a high-ranking quest, I was able to use the privileges of the black card. Maybe the Guild Master did not dupe me after all.

I was really concerned when no one wanted to take me into their party nor anyone wanted to join mine.

So, I can now put that idea off the table now. Where mom had suggested me to swing a giant flail around in the adventure guild, to demonstrate my power if no one listens to me.

“So, I am going to process your temporary party to complete this quest. Here are the details. All you need to do is deliver a package from the Alchemist Association to the village chief of the Kasse Village. You are strictly not to open the package or try to learn what’s inside it. You will receive your completion reward once you report back to us with proof from the client. The conditions are to get the item to the client within three days of the job posting. The reward money is sixty gold coins.” The guild receptionist explained to us the further details regarding the quest.

Since we were a new party and a temporary one at that we decided not to give it a name. But I will surely think of a good one and I already have got a few ideas.

“Can you also tell us how we can get to the village?” Ken asked.

“Sure.” The guild receptionist then quickly looked through her display artifact regarding every detail about our destination.

“You can get to the forest that surrounds the village until evening if you are able to secure any means of transport now. But since the village is surrounded by a poisonous forest and  the monsters’ population is high in this region you will have to pass through the forest on your own.”

I see maybe because they are pretty isolated that the rewards are so high.

“Best of luck on your adventure.” The guild receptionist waved us goodbye as we left the guild building with all the information we needed.

Once we were out of the guild, Ken turned to us.

“I am going to get us a cart that will take us to the forest as early as possible.” Ken said.

“Ok. I will quickly get us all the supplies we will need on our way.” Elsie offered.

Wait… wait. Why are they proceeding so fast? And if they take all the work what good am I for as the leader of the party?

I need to do something as well.

“Alright. Then I will collect the package from the alchemist association.”

“Will you really be able to do it?” Elsie showed concern, but not exactly when I needed it.

“Of course, what could go wrong this time? There’s no way I will get lost on my way this time. Because the Alchemy Association building is right here.” I quickly pointed with both my hands to another tall building in front of us.

Fortunately, in Maybell City, the Alchemist Association was right on the opposite side of the road to the Adventurer’s Guild here.

“That would be the safest option.” Ken took a sigh of relief.

“Right. Nothing can go wrong this time.” I said.

He is not making fun of me, is he!?

“Okay. Let’s get to work.” Ken left as quickly as possible as he proceeded towards the city gates where he could find us a wagon at least.

Elsie too left and dissolved into the crowd of the city to get us supplies we might need on the way.

I will just have to do a flawless work for the two to acknowledge me.

I had already got the receipt I needed to get the package. All I need to do is present this in the Alchemist Association and they will hand me out the required package.

This is easy mode for me.

After carefully crossing the road, without letting a clumsy thing like letting a slip fall from my hand and losing it on the way, happen to me. That kind of silliness can happen only in novels and stuff.

I entered into the alchemist association.

I expected it would be filled with weird objects, chemicals, and magical artifacts. But rather it had a plain-looking front desk and several shelves starting from one end of the room and extending as far as my eyes could see.

All of these shelves were filled with large plain brown boxes.

I quietly walked towards the desk until an old woman came into the picture as she was quietly reading through some papers on the desk.

“Excuse me, mam.” I said keeping my voice low. I did not want to trouble the old lady when it was so silent in here.

I waited for a few seconds but the old lady’s attention was only limited to the papers in her hands.

Did she not hear me? Let’s try again.

“Hello, mam. I am here to collect an item for delivery.” This time I said a bit louder.

But there was yet again no response.

Before I could decide what to do next.

BOOOMMM…

Suddenly the ground shook and a loud explosion almost set the building shaking for a second.

Surprisingly, there was no visible damage to the building. So, we were not under some kind of attack, at least.

“Those damn alchemists are at it again. Can’t they keep their experiments a bit quiet?” The old lady suddenly stood up and looking at the ceiling kept cursing.

Maybe the alchemist practiced their experiments on the floor above this.

“Excuse me mam.” I said again.

The old lady looked at me as she rubbed her eyes taking off her specs and wore them again.

BOOOMMMM…

Once again there was another loud explosion and this made the old lady look completely pissed off as she again hauled curses at them.

“Actually I needed the delivery of an item for this receipt.”

The old lady looked at me with a still confused look.

“Why are you just moving your lips and not speaking anything.”

BOOOOMMMM….

Another loud explosion this time almost made me tip-toe as I held on to the desk.

“Mam, I need to get the delivery for this.” I shouted loudly this time to not miss her attention. My voice for a second almost echoed in the empty hall.

“Why are you shouting too? I can hear you even if you speak slowly. Give it to me.”

“I am sorry. I am sorry.” I quickly handed the receipt to her not wanting to further make her mad.

She glanced at it for a second and then beckoned at me.

“Follow me.”

Ah! Now I can finally get the package and get out of this place.

As soon as I started walking with the old lady the place started to seem more like a maze. There were identical-looking shelves everywhere, so I had no choice but to stick close to the lady and follow her.

Everything was going fine, even if the lady was taking too long to find the package.

⸺But I think I had hoped for the good to happen too soon.

BOOOMMMM…

An explosion set off again, but because we were this time in the items area.

If not for my spidey senses, I would have missed the big box that was about to fall on the old lady.

But I quickly dashed through and held the big box.

“Phewww…” I saved the day yet again.

But then my spidey senses were set ringing like an overworked drum, I couldn't shake the ominous certainty that the worst was yet to come.

BOOOMMM… BOOOMMMM.. BOOOMMMM…

Three repeated explosions and the shelves almost seemed like they jumped and fell at the same time. And all the items kept inside them started to keep falling from their places.

Of course, my small hands were not enough to catch each of them from falling. But I quickly launched my magical webs to keep them stuck at one place.

If something happens right now to the old lady or to this place, I might not be able to collect the parcel on time.

BOOOMMMM… BOOOOMMMM… BOOOMMM…

“Are they trying to kill her?” I shrieked.

To every place the old lady went, it would set off explosions from the experimentation area of the building. Objects would either plummet from shelves or ignite a chain reaction for the large wooden shelves to fall like a domino cascading one after another.

I had no choice but to run around and prevent the things from falling with my webs. How did this place even survive till now with these crazy explosions?

“How far are we from getting to the package?” I asked loudly but the old lady walked like she didn’t hear a thing.

Well, even I would go deaf with these explosions. I had my hands full from stopping anything coming crashing down to the floor or knocking out the old lady.

How did the item collection part turn from easy to hard mode?

Finally, the old lady stopped walking. Did we finally make it?

BOOOMMM…

Another explosion and the box right behind the old lady was about to fall on her. I quickly ran past her and launched my webs upward to stop the free fall of the wares.

“Safe.”

“What are you doing here girl?” The old lady looked at me with a strict expression.

“You only walked for a few steps, and are already tired. Young kids these days have no energy.” The old lady nagged me as I took the support of a shelf to sit halfway and breathe properly.

“I am only here to get the item I asked for. Please give it to me. I can’t wait any more.”

“Alright. Alright. Don’t cry. It’s not something important anyway that I would make a child cry over it.”

The old lady began rummaging through one of the boxes, retrieving a pouch and handed it to me.

“Here.”

I looked around and the explosion had stopped for now and I got the parcel as well.

So, I finally did it.

I took the bag from the old lady and thanked her. Since the contents of the bag were a secret I did not bother to look inside.

Thanking the old lady, I happily and quickly left the place for good.

…

I quietly, sat on the large stairs of the Alchemy Association waiting for my two party members to show up. After a few minutes, I could see Ken and Elsie come back.

“So, did you get the parcel?” Ken asked.

“Yes.” I sighed as I handed over the bag to Ken.

“I got the supplies too.” Elsie reported.

“I found a merchant’s cart heading to a nearby village so they agreed to drop us near the Kasse forest.”

“You look tired, even before we have begun our quest.” Elsie asked.

“No comments on that.” I didn’t want to recall what happened and let it become a nightmare for me.

They just don’t know how much hard work I had put into safely securing this pouch!

***

Once we reached the city gates, the cart was waiting, ready for us. There were also other passengers alongside us.

But once they heard we were going to the Kasse Village they had a perplexed look on their faces.

According to them, the village stopped dealing with any merchants two months back. And they forbid any outsiders from staying.

This was odd to hear since an isolated town would at least need to trade to get supplies.

But since all we needed to do was deliver the bag we didn’t have to worry more about it.

Of course, as the leader of the party, I still needed to prove myself useful as a healer.

So, once the merchant had dropped us near the forest.

It could be possible we could have come in contact with monsters or get hurt by a poisonous plant.

Since, Elsie and Ken were the attacking team members, they would fend the monsters off and keep us safe.

And, they could always count on me to heal them if they ever got hurt or poisoned in the process.

But Elsie was too strong, and all the monsters would perish against her quick blows.

She was also acquainted with the flora of the forest and could tell the difference between normal and poisonous bushes

It was one blow after another as I fell short of doing anything in this situation.

And once again, Elsie proved her usefulness by discerning the direction to the village simply by reading the forest.

It took us no time to navigate to the place and my plan to gain their trust utterly failed,

Once we reached the Kasse village gates, we hoped to encounter a guard, but there was no one—a surprise, considering they might always be under the threat of monster attacks.

We still decided to head in ourselves.

But then something stopped me from wanting to go in. My eyes felt like burning.

A familiar urge that felt unreal was taking over me as if commanding me to take action.

I took another look at the village, and my instincts said to burn it all down right now. I closed my eyes.

“I don’t like it here…” I whispered to myself.

“… I too can smell death here.” Elsie added.

Listening to Elsie’s words everything seemed to calm down for me.

“I see. I am not too pleased with the ghastliness of this place myself. Let’s get the job done and leave.” Ken suggested without admonishing our words as mere delusions.

***

Meanwhile, back at the Alchemist Association building, a man in a cream-colored uniform, came running into the place and hurried to the table.

“Grandma, how many times did I tell you? You are no longer the receptionist here.”

“When did that happen? I was always the receptionist here.” The old lady protested.

“Grandma those explosions have turned you half deaf. And now you can’t even see properly. Also, these are my specs.” The man said.

He pulled out the glasses from her grandmother’s head.

“⸺And here are yours.”

“Yes you are right I can see properly now.” The old lady looked around with ease now.

“It has been ten years since you retired but you still keep coming back here. Let me take you back to home.” Suddenly, the man’s eyes fell on a receipt kept on the table.

“What’s this receipt? Don’t tell me someone came here to pick up an item.” The man’s eyebrows furrowed with worry.

“It was that cheapskate neighbor of ours again. Sending her daughter to ask for salt. It was only because I took pity on the little girl that I gave her the salt.” The old lady couldn't help but complain about her neighbor's persistent request for daily items rather than buying for herself.

“That little girl has grown up and is now your granddaughter-in-law so you shouldn’t speak like that about her. I will apologize to the customer once they come back with the wrong delivery. Come on I will take you home.”

I just hope a bit of salt shouldn’t cause any problems.

***

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