Today (2/14), the first volume of the manga "Otherworld Transmigrator Adventurer" goes on sale.
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"Grandpa. Shall we call it a day soon?"
"Indeed. At my age, keeping up with Tenma is exhausting. I miss when you were little."
The day after the big gambling tournament, I woke up early in the morning and was practicing hand-to-hand sparring with Grandpa, who had also woken up early. Recently, Grandpa often complains about his age and being tired, but according to the King and Din, "his technique is sharper than when he used to beat you in the past," and Ernest even declared flatly, "He's definitely gotten stronger than when he was young."
"Good morning... Could it be you're already done?"
While Grandpa and I were doing cool-down stretches after training, Chris showed up looking listless.
"What's wrong, Chris? Just because you've left the Royal Guard, don't tell me you've let your guard down."
"That's not it. It's because Amour kept waking me up in the middle of the night."
I hadn't sensed Amour coming at night, so I figured she wouldn't dare cause a scene at someone else's house—but it turned out Chris had been stopping her at the door. By the way, at Grandpa's estate, Amour had tried to pick my room's lock from the outside multiple times, so in addition to the regular lock, my door is secured with a metal bar like a
latch.
The material, by the way, is Mithril.
"Good work, Chris. And thank you so much. I'll get your favorite black tea ready, so please wait a moment."
"Please do~"
I brought a table and chairs over to Chris and hurried back to my room to prepare the tea. Inside my Magic Bag, I keep food and drinks stored in a ready-to-eat state, so I can have a meal even in dungeons or forests.
"I've brought the black tea!"
"Thanks for your trouble."
When I hurried back, Chris was greeting me with the mannerisms of a noble lady, but it didn't suit her at all—her inexperience was plain as day. Well, unlike Lion, I didn't make any slip-ups... But at the time, I had completely forgotten something. Even though Chris had cut ties with her family, she was still "a young lady from a baronet family," and as a member of the Royal Guard, she held the rank of "Baron (equivalent)." Combined with her victory in the fighting tournament and her accomplishments to date, she would receive the title of "Junior Viscount" or "Viscount" in the future was
practically.
That it was confirmed. In other words, rather than being
like a noble's
daughter, she was actually a noble.
I didn't get caught at the time, but later I accidentally let it slip in front of Lion and the others, and from there Chris found out through Lion.
"That Amour—just because he fell asleep sitting in the hallway yesterday, he kept trying to sneak out of the room in the middle of the night. At first he said he was going to the bathroom or something, but when I secretly followed him, he was trying to go to Tenma's room… Toward the end, I had Shiromaru sleep in front of the door. He made such a comfortable body pillow, too."
"You really went to a lot of trouble… So, what are the plans for today?"
"Let me see… I'd like to go shopping, but I'm sleepy, so maybe I'll sleep through the morning and head out into town in the afternoon? What about you, Tenma?"
"I'm thinking of just wandering around town. First I'll go to the Adventurers' Guild to check what quests are available, and if possible, I'd like to pick up a quest that only requires submitting materials. After that, I plan to stroll around the city."
"Then take Lion along with you. If you want to show friendliness to the Border Count's family, that's the most efficient way, right? You should bring Jeanne and Aura too, while you're at it. If it's just Lion, she might drag you into some strange shops."
Chris planned to use Jeanne and Aura as a check on Lion during her absence. If Lion was invited along, the other two would probably come too, and if Jeanne and Aura were there, Amour would naturally tag along as well.
"I'll go with you as far as the Guild, and then we'll split up. I need to pick up a souvenir or two for Mark, Martha, and the others."
Grandpa said he'd also come to the Guild to show friendliness toward the Border Count's family, but after that he intended to act completely on his own. Well, he figured Lion and the others would get tense around him, so that was probably why.
"Hey, Tenma! It's almost time for food! Good morning, Merlin, Chris."
While the three of us were discussing today's plans, Albert came to call us alone. When I asked where the others were, Lion and Cain were running late and still getting ready, and Jeanne and Aura had headed to the kitchen to help with breakfast. As for Amour, no one had seen him, so he probably wasn't awake yet.
"That man kept disturbing my sleep night after night, yet here he is sound asleep… He's got some nerve."
Chris headed off toward the room where Amour was sleeping, determined to settle the score from the night.
"Well then, Grandpa—shall we go?"
"Indeed we shall."
"Ah, same as always…"
We saw Chris off and headed to the dining hall, where Jeanne and Aura were sitting with uncomfortable expressions on their faces.
"Huh? Aren't the two of you supposed to be helping Edilia…?"
When I said that offhand, both of them flinched violently.
"Well, that is… um…"
"It's not what you think! We definitely weren't slacking off! Please don't tell my big sister!"
Jeanne aside, Aura looked thoroughly terrified and was clearly acting suspicious, so I was wondering what to do—
"Let me guess, Mom wouldn't let you help her?"
Lion said as she entered the dining hall alongside Cain, wearing an apologetic expression.
"Mom has always loved looking after people. But because she holds the title of Countess, Dad and Grandma put a stop to it… After some back and forth, they eventually settled on the rule that she could only help guests who came to visit her personally, or guests she was close to and could vouch for. In this case, they probably interpreted the situation as guests of the Count household who happened to be brought along by their son. So the rejection wasn't because she didn't want outsiders around or didn't trust you two. Whatever you do, don't think this happened because of anything you did wrong."
After hearing Lion's explanation, the two of them looked visibly relieved compared to moments ago.
"That's a weight off… I was imagining she was angry about something we did without realizing it… If big sister found out about that, I'd…"
Relief washed over Aura's face, but only for a fleeting moment. She had apparently imagined what Aina's anger would look like, because her face drained of all color.
"I see…"
That was all I could manage in response to the terrified Aura. Jeanne, too, was paler than usual, though not to the same extent as Aura, and the dining hall was wrapped in a heavy atmosphere.
"What's with this mood…"
It was Chris who appeared in the middle of all this, and her arrival seemed to lighten the atmosphere ever so slightly. Well, that wasn't really Chris's doing—it was thanks to Amour, whom Chris was carrying.
"Chris, what's going on with Amour?"
Amour was dressed in her usual clothes, but she was fast asleep clutching a pillow, and Chris was dragging her along by gripping the back of her collar with both hands.
"I went to her room and she was still sleeping, so I woke her up and got her changed, which was fine… but the moment I looked away, she grabbed her pillow and fell right back asleep. So I ended up dragging her here."
I thought to myself that there was no need to go that far—just let her sleep as much as she wanted. But then Chris added that "It's infuriating to see Amour sleeping peacefully when I'm the one running on no sleep," followed by "Besides, it's better for her to eat breakfast first before sleeping…" which was clearly an after-the-fact excuse.
"Well, we should probably wake Amour up first. Hey, A…"
"Actually, what if Amour was just pretending to sleep, and her strategy was to pounce on Tenma the moment he got close!"
"Tenma, step back — it's dangerous."
The moment I was about to call out to Amour, Lion's words made Chris ban me from getting any closer. Then,
"Amour, if you're awake, stand up on your own feet within a count of three. Otherwise, I'll exaggerate everything that's happened and tell Hana. Three, two, one..."
"Tch."
Before Chris could finish counting, Amour clicked her tongue and stood up.
"There's no letting my guard down with you around... Maybe I really should go consult Hana about this."
"Please forgive me!"
The instant she heard Chris's words, Amour dropped into a full prostration with lightning speed. That dazzlingly fast maneuver caught us off guard, but Chris just said something like "Same old pattern." In other words, we just didn't know about it, but Amour was apparently used to prostrating herself in front of Chris all the time.
"There, Amour. Your hands are dirty, so go wash them quickly. Your face too, while you're at it."
"Very well."
As if the prostration from moments ago had never happened, Amour casually stood up and headed out of the dining hall to wash her hands.
"Amour, you were pretty high and mighty just now... There's no way she actually reflected on her behavior."
"And Chris-senpai, letting her off the hook like that — she looked way too used to it."
"That whole exchange is probably just everyday life for those two."
Our guess was most likely spot on. The whole thing had flowed so naturally. Chris, for all her harsh words toward Amour, seemed to spoil her quite a bit.
"They're like sisters, aren't they?"
"Yeah, I can see that."
Everyone seemed to agree with Grandpa's observation, and laughter naturally spread through the group.
"Hm? What's going on?"
"I got ostracized because of Chris!"
Normally, you'd think the one to blame was Amour, but the person in question didn't seem to see it that way. And as usual, she was taking the brunt of Chris's
retort—
to the face. When she told them why she'd been laughing, both Chris and Amour made disgusted faces at the same time. They really were like sisters.
"We've eaten, so let's get going!"
With Lion in the lead, we headed into town. As originally planned, Chris would be sleeping, though she might rejoin us from midday onward. I suggested leaving Shiromaru behind, but Shiromaru chose to come with us, and apparently there'd be no issue just asking the townspeople where Lion had been.
"Alright, the guild first. Since we've already dealt with the wyverns and the goblin packs, there probably aren't any major requests left."
"No, Lion. We don't have time for big requests. If you want one, go by yourself. In the meantime, we'll be sightseeing around town."
"That's right. We've been here a few times already, and the guards know we're in this town. If anything happens, we just rely on them."
Maybe Lion had forgotten that the whole point of visiting the guild this time was to build credentials for the Border Count's household. Called out on it immediately by Cain and Albert, she quieted down.
"I'm pretty sure the guild is this way. Shall we go?"
As if leaving the now-quiet Lion behind, Cain took the lead and started walking. Being that their parents were close friends, he apparently had a rough grasp of Shellheid's geography.
"This is the Adventurers' Guild for this town. I sent out the notice this morning, so there shouldn't be any commotion."
"You say that like it's your own accomplishment, but Edilia was the one who handled it this morning. I only know because she asked me to pass along the word—you were taking forever to get out of bed."
I'd been thinking Lion was surprisingly well-prepared, but apparently Edilia had made the arrangements, and Albert casually let that slip.
"Well then, shall we head in while giving Edilia our thanks?"
At my words, everyone except Lion passed through the door with laughter. The guild had apparently already been informed we were coming—there were quite a few adventurers there, but nobody approached us. Even the one middle-aged man who started to come over obediently sat back down in his chair when Lion raised her hand to stop him.
"That's the guildmaster. Just make a mental note."
Lion told me that, so I checked the man's face, but honestly, I was confident I'd forget him the moment we left this town. He was that unremarkable of a person.
Putting aside the surroundings, I headed for the request board to quickly take care of business. The adventurers who had been clustered in front of the board all moved aside at once. The guildmaster may have said something to them, but since the opportunity was there, I decided to peruse the requests without hesitation.
"All the requests are similar to what we saw in the Royal Capital... Which one should I go with?"
"There's only one request here that's a bit different from the rest..."
Just like in the Royal Capital, there were several requests for delivering medicinal herbs and monster materials, and while I was deliberating over which one to take, Jeanne—who had been looking at other notices—pointed at a particular request with an exasperated voice.
"Let's see... Delivery of wyvern materials. Any body part is acceptable. If delivered whole, additional compensation will be provided..."
The requester wasn't the border lord himself, but it was almost certainly someone connected to the border lord. The posting date was today, which meant this request had clearly been arranged specifically for me.
"Lion. Does this name ring a bell?"
"Hm? Let me see... This is my mother's neighbor back at her parents' place. That family ran a trading business—they dealt in all sorts of goods, as I recall."
It was hard to say for certain whether this counted as a border lord affiliate, but the reward for a whole wyvern was twenty million gold, making it an extremely worthwhile job.
"I suppose I'll take this one then... Actually, if I don't pick this up, who else is going to? Is there even anyone else who could take it?"
"The border lord's household is almost certainly behind this. Part of the reward would be covered by the border lord's family, all to make sure Tenma's name is on record... something like that."
Perhaps they judged that bringing in a third party was better than trying to handle it themselves. Since there didn't seem to be any issues, I decided to accept the request.
"Say, Tenma, next time you come to visit the duchy, could you throw some business our way at the guilds we run too?"
"Ooh! Me too, please!"
Having guessed the border lord family's intentions, Albert made that proposal after a moment's thought. And Cain, ever opportunistic, was trying to ride on those coattails.
"If the chance comes up."
If I ended up visiting those two, I'd probably check out the guilds in their towns anyway, so taking on delivery requests while I was there wouldn't be a problem.
"A wyvern request?! Please wait just a moment!"
The instant I walked up to the reception counter with the request ticket in hand, the receptionist caught sight of my face and immediately shrank back.
"I haven't even said anything yet..."
"They probably got word ahead of time that Tenma might take the wyvern job... Maybe we can use this opening to swap it out for a different request?"
"No, that's just too tasteless... Well, if Lion's the one working the reception desk, I suppose that could work, but it's cruel to do that to an ordinary person."
Upon hearing what Cain and Albert said, Lion protested with something like "You'd do it if it were me!", but the two of them simply shot back with "Obviously!"
Many of the adventurers watching this exchange were stifling their laughter, though a few were glaring resentfully at the three of them—and at me.
"Tenma, don't make eye contact. Everyone else, same goes for you. I'll explain why later."
Lion warned them in a hushed voice while turning toward the two of them. Jeanne and Aura had been just about to glance over, but Amur quickly poked them in the ribs to redirect their attention. Well, he'd miscalculated the force a bit and both of them were clearly hurting, but when the old man sharply snapped, "Don't fool around here!", from the outside it probably just looked like they were goofing off.
"Thank you for waiting. If you have any wyvern materials on hand, could you please present them here now?"
The one who came to handle things in place of the receptionist was the man Lion had earlier identified as the Guild Master.
"So you're the Guild Master. Does this guild not have any confidentiality obligations?"
"I sincerely apologize! We were told this request was urgent from one of our valued clients, but we had no adventurers capable of hunting wyverns and were at our wits' end. And—forgive me for asking—could you show us even just a portion of the proof that it was a wyvern?"
"Hey! Guild Master!"
"Well, I suppose that's fine, but..."
Just
a part of it is enough, right?"
"Yes."
Lion had been reaching out to stop the Guild Master, but something intrigued him, so he simply went ahead and pulled out a portion of the wyvern—
a piece—
as he'd been asked.
"Hang on a moment... this should do."
After briefly considering which part to present, he figured that if he was going for impact, he might as well go all out—and what he pulled out was—
"Eeek!"
"Aaaah!"
It was the head of the largest wyvern among all those he had hunted. The screams that rang out the instant he produced it came from Jeanne and Aura. The two of them had happened to be standing right where they would come face-to-face with the wyvern, and they had been startled by its sudden appearance.
"Besides this head, I have the rest of it in this Magic Bag as well—would you like me to take it out here?"
"No, this alone is more than sufficient. Please forgive our earlier insolence."
The guild master's demeanor underwent a complete transformation from his earlier provocative attitude, and he bowed his head deeply. Lion, who had been on the verge of lunging at the guild master, stood there dumbfounded.
"It seems there's quite the story behind this. Is there somewhere we won't be disturbed?"
"I have the VIP room in the back prepared for you."
With that, the guild master handed off instructions to one of the receptionists, then led us toward the back of the guild.
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