Kays Translations

Chapter 12

Rather than the crowded general reception area, we were taken to… a meeting room exclusively for the Adventurer’s Guild? No, that’s not quite right.

Melt and I were guided to what looked like a simple interview room. Instead of the receptionist lady, we were now facing a man who likely handled more practical tasks—recruitment or examinations, perhaps.

“So, you’re a new adventurer hopeful, huh? Which one of you is it?”

“Ah, I’m just here to accompany this girl. She’s from a remote area with no guilds or such systems at all.”

“Really now? That’s rare. So the girl’s name is… Melt, huh. Alright, Melt, I’m going to ask you a few questions. Be honest. If something sounds fishy, I’ll dig deeper.”

“Okay, I understand.”

The man, a middle-aged fellow with a slightly tired face, still gave off a kind and approachable vibe through his manner of speaking—like someone who was good at taking care of others.

Well, that makes sense, since he’s the one in charge of interviews.

“Melt, can you fight?”

“Yup, I can fight.”

“Ah, just so you know, she’s actually been inside a natural dungeon. You know the one at the border? She reached the deepest part of that one.”

“Huh? That’s impossible. That dungeon still has large unexplored areas.”

“But it’s true! Of course, I wasn’t alone—there were lots of others too.”

“Hmm? Maybe you were doing grunt work for a large exploration party or something?”

“Ah, something like that. It was kind of a special group sponsored by the Golda Kingdom. I tagged along. So did I, actually.”

“What’s your name?”

“Same. I’m a Ruby Rank adventurer, apparently.”

Just learned about that ranking system earlier, by the way!

“I see. That makes the story a bit more believable. So, what happened at the deepest level?”

Well, we obviously can’t tell the truth…

“We judged that we couldn’t defeat the Dungeon Master, so we all withdrew. I stayed at the rear during the retreat, and Melt—because of her excellent sense of direction and agility—took the lead. Based on that, I’d say her combat ability is quite high.”

“Well, we can test her later to see if that’s true. For now, let’s acknowledge that she has combat experience. Next up—do you know anything about herbs, ores, or materials for spiritual medicine? Can you name a few herbs and their natural habitats? If you can name more than ten, you’ll start at Crystal Rank at the very least.”

“Sure, I can!”

…And then, it went on for quite a while.

Melt was seriously knowledgeable—honestly, you could call her a walking encyclopedia. Over twenty minutes had passed before the man finally had to stop her.

“Alright, that’s enough… Wow, that was impressive… You easily named more than thirty herbs alone. Can you also list materials used in spiritual medicine?”

“Yup! If it’s something simple, I can even make it myself.”

“Seriously!? Then you’d be better off joining the Alchemist Guild or the Apothecary Guild rather than the Adventurer’s Guild, young lady!”

Oh, right.

I had considered that if there was another guild more suitable for her, we could look into that instead.

“Wait… does that mean I can’t be an adventurer?”

“Huh? No, that’s not what I meant…”

Her voice sounded terribly sad, and the interviewer was clearly flustered.

I get it, old man… I totally get it. You don’t want to make a pure-hearted girl sad, do you?

There’s just something about Melt that tugs at your protective instincts! Even though she’s not that young, for some reason it just hits you!

“Melt, your knowledge is amazing. You can definitely become an adventurer, but in another guild, your talents might be even more appreciated. Do you understand?”

“But… I want to be an adventurer.”

Probably because the word just sounds cool to her.

“I want to be an adventurer like Same.”

“Sir, please. Let this girl be an adventurer.”

Yup—there it is! My heart just fell for her again!

Please, make her an adventurer like me!

“If you’re going to go that far, of course I won’t refuse. Alright then, next is the combat test. Melt—and Same, was it? Follow me.”

I hadn’t seen Melt fight that many times, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

We followed the man outside, to what seemed to be a courtyard.

It appeared to be a training area for the test. All around, young hopefuls—probably other adventurer candidates—were sparring with uniformed instructors using wooden swords.

“This spot should be good. Melt, can you use a sword?”

“I’ve used knives before. I can dual-wield!”

“Then I’ll lend you two wooden daggers. I’ll attack you now—try to block or dodge my strikes.”

…This is nothing like my test! Mine was just a straight-up fight from the start!

I even felt a twinge of jealousy at how methodically they were gauging her skills.

“Alright, take your stance.”

“I just have to block or dodge, right?”

“Yep, that’s right.”

“Can I counterattack?”

“Hahaha, go right ahead.”

“Got it!”

The man stepped in with a textbook form, swinging his blade in a clean arc.

He was probably following a set routine for the test.

It wasn’t slow—if it hit, it would hurt. The clean sweeping strike came toward Melt.

Without flinching, Melt smoothly deflected the blade with her dagger.

That was… wait, a parry?! That’s so cool, Melt!

“Whoa—!”

“Take this!”

“Ow!”

Then, as the uncle staggered from the parry, Melt mercilessly gave his side a light slash with her other wooden sword.

Yep, anyone watching would agree—that’s a clear win. Even if both were just following the motions of a test.

“Wow, that was surprising. That wasn’t just a fluke, was it? You knew you could deflect that blow, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I knew. That’s the kind of move you were making, Uncle.”

“Hmm… well, that’s true. I used a basic attack. The point is to see how the opponent reacts to determine their level of experience. Those with real sword training will cleanly block and counterattack, those with good reflexes will dodge, and the truly skilled will deflect like you just did. Melt, you’re definitely not some amateur.”

That raised the question—where had she learned to fight? But for now, the practical test was over, and it was time to decide her starting rank.

Back in the interview room where the two of us waited, I couldn’t help but ask Melt:

“Melt, did someone teach you how to fight?”

“Nope, self-taught. There were tons of books, so I watched, mimicked, and kept using the moves while hunting. I’ve been fighting mountain monsters alone for years to get meat.”

“Wow, you’re really tough, Melt.”

“Right? Even with that wooden knife earlier, I can beat most monsters!”

“Seriously?”

Isn’t that a bit too impressive? Could she secretly be some kind of master?

“I’ve memorized a lot of knowledge about fighting too. And… I also know a bunch about healing herbs, magic, and old history.”

“That’s amazing… I think I’ll ask you soon to teach me how to read and write. If you could teach me, that’d help a lot.”

“Okay, I’ll teach you.”

While we chatted for a bit, the uncle from earlier returned.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. So, you came here with this Same guy as part of an escort mission for the Pigeon Trading Company, right?”

“Pigeon Trading… oh, the merchants? Yeah, I joined them partway, but we traveled together.”

“I see, so you’ve got some experience with escort missions. Hm… Well, we couldn’t just bump you up to Ruby Rank right away, but I talked it over with the others in the back, and we’ve decided there’s no problem starting you at Emerald Rank.”

“Whoa, isn’t that pretty high?”

“Yeah, it’s impressive. But I confirmed earlier that the girl’s knowledge is absolutely real. Her herbal knowledge alone is on par with a specialist, and her combat ability is clearly enough to win in duels. If Same’s story is true, she’s also got experience in a natural dungeon. Emerald Rank is more than fitting.”

“You did it, Melt! That’s the fourth rank from the top—basically fully qualified!”

That’s a clear judgment that she’s far beyond a newbie. Honestly, it’s an incredible achievement.

However—

“I lost to Same… I didn’t get Ruby…”

“Well, mine’s kind of a special case…”

She seemed disappointed.

“You’re one spoiled girl! Alright then… if you complete a few subjugation quests and take on another escort mission, I’ll personally recommend you for Ruby Rank. You’re the kind of person who can move up quickly.”

“Really? Then I’ll do my best!”

With Melt’s adventurer registration complete, our next task was to find a place to stay.

When I asked the guild staff about inns, they told me there’s a street packed with inns and eateries.

It’s commonly called the Adventurer’s Den—literally a hotspot for adventurers.

There’s an inn there called Hamusutei that’s cheap and great for newcomers.

…Hamusutei? Hamster Inn?

“So, inns are places where you pay to sleep, right? There were some abandoned buildings that used to be inns back in the village too. This is my first time staying at a real one, so I’m excited.”

“I see… Did everyone in the village move away?”

“Everyone except Grandma and me… was sacrificed.”

“What…?”

I immediately regretted asking such a casual question.

“Behind the country of Golda, there’s a huge forest that faces the sea. It’s considered a dungeon now, but originally, it was the land of our people. But they say everyone there was sacrificed in a ritual to summon a demon who governs dungeons—a Dungeon Master—and turn the whole area into a dungeon. Grandma and I lived far from the village, so we were safe, but everyone else just vanished. Only the buildings were left—just the people disappeared.”

“…I’m sorry. I asked that without thinking.”

“It’s okay. It happened more than ten years ago. I think Golda didn’t think well of us. That’s probably why we were sacrificed.”

“…Even so, you were planning to ask that country for protection?”

“Yeah, to survive. Things like grudges or revenge are privileges for people who can afford to keep living. I left the village to build a foundation for a better life. It was… a chance.”

“A chance?”

“Yep. The Dungeon Master, the powerful being living in that massive forest dungeon, vanished. So I figured it would be safe to cross through the forest and left the village.”

Huh? Could it be… the one I killed? The master of that Western-style mansion?

“You couldn’t leave the village before?”

“I could. But only if I planned to come back. You can’t defy the Dungeon Master. Grandma and I had become part of the dungeon, you see. We were under a strong compulsion—like a homing instinct? But one day, it just disappeared. So I took a chance, crossed the forest, and headed for the castle town. But they wouldn’t let me in, so I kept circling around the area until…”

Ah, that’s when she must have met me.

“I heard a beautiful sound from the sky, and when I followed it, I found a little bell ornament hanging from a tree branch. I picked it up and carried it with me, but one day it suddenly started glowing, and I panicked and threw it away. Then, when the light faded, there was a big man standing there. I got scared and ran, but…”

“And when you watched from afar, he changed form, and that shocked you even more.”

“Yes! That’s what I wanted to ask you about! He wasn’t one of my kind, right? So why did he change like that? I’ve been wondering about it this whole time.”

Now what should I do? Should I tell her everything honestly?

…At the very least, I should be honest about the transformation.

“Alright, I promise I’ll explain once we get to the inn. Look, we’ve already arrived at the street we were heading for while we were talking.”

“Oh, you’re right. It really is the ‘Adventurer’s Den,’ huh? Everyone’s carrying weapons and looks super strong.”

Just as Melt said, people with classic adventurer looks were walking all around.

It gave off a slightly rough vibe, but that was probably just because everyone looked like fighters—it couldn’t be helped.

In truth, there didn’t seem to be any trouble happening, and the only sounds were cheerful voices of people enjoying meals on terrace seating.

Rather than “dangerous,” it felt more like “lively” would be the better word.

“Alright, let’s look for the Hamusutei inn.”

“What a weird name.”

I think so too.

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