I saw adventurers back in my short hero days, but I never interacted with them. They looked like a scary bunch. So intimidating, looked rough, buffed up, and quite vulgar — at least that was what they seemed, so I kept my distance. Especially considering that they were basically killers. And you don’t mess around with killers. Well, that being said, I suppose they kill mostly monsters, but still… I was young… Well, technically, I was still the same as last time. I’m just saying I was different back then.
Now, they were just little people in my eyes that I could turn to dust with a wave of my hand. The adventurers’ group had a swordsman, a spearman, a man who wielded a shield and sword, a female mage, and a female healer.
“A tenacious big thing, wasn’t it?” said the large, muscular man with the shield. They laughed and then he turned towards us. He formed a friendly smile. “Hello there!”
From appearances, he seemed friendly. He slowly approached us with a casual wave.
Elyscia looked at me, and I nodded. Since she was already ahead, she was to talk to him. Elyscia took a step forward and held out her hand.
“Hold it right there.”
The man halted and slowly nodded. “Sure, sure.”
He was surprisingly very compliant with her. Perhaps because he realized she was a person with authority and had serious business.
“Identify yourself.”
The man glanced back at his allies, who were keeping a close look, before shrugging and facing back to Elyscia. “I’m Ishan, an adventurer from the city of Endguard. I’m the leader of the Sharp Future party.”
Endguard, it was the city we were heading for.
I observed the adventurer party closely, they didn’t seem to be bandits or anyone dangerous — bandits could possibly pretend as adventurers to lower our guard. They had even lowered their weapons, but kept a close watch on us. But they certainly have sensed we weren’t just some random passerby.
“What are you doing here?”
“Hm? We have a quest, of course.” He pointed at the monster they just killed with his thumb. “To kill that thing. It’s been annoying some folks on the road, even destroying carriages and leading to several casualties. So it had to go down.”
“I see.” Elyscia slightly shifted her head and scrutinized the other folks behind. “Well, as long as you’re not a threat, I suppose you’re fine.”
“What about you? Who are you? You guys look like knights.”
“We are knights of the Alaion Empire.”
“... Uh-huh.” He paused, as if waiting for her to continue. “That’s all you’re telling us…?”
“Do you need to know more?”
I audibly cleared my throat. “Elyscia, it’s fine now.”
“Mistress?”
I got off the horse and stepped forward, removing the cloak from my head. With a smile, I slightly bowed my head as a greeting. “Greetings. I’m sorry for the sudden questions. My knights can get quite protective. But we can’t be too careful.”
The man, Ishan, crossed his arms and shrugged in agreement. “Well, you’re kinda right. You seem to be an important-looking group, so can’t blame you for being extremely cautious.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
“So young miss, who are you supposed to be?”
“Oh, just someone who wants a casual visit to a curious city.” I casually stepped forward and placed my hand behind my back, staring at the dead monster. “It’s your city, in fact.”
He grinned. “Oh? You find our city curious?”
“I heard some fascinating stories. So I wanted to look at it for myself.”
“I’m not sure if you’ll find it interesting when you actually see it, but it has changed in the past few years. By a lot.”
“That’s good. Very good. Change is good, even more so if it’s for the better.”
“Oh, it’s for the better alright. By the way, are you sick or something?”
“Hm? What makes you say that?” I casually turned at him, keeping a friendly smile.
“Aren’t you a bit too pale?”
I pulled back my sleeves and turned my hand around. “Yes, I am.”
“Why is that? That doesn't look normal.”
“Well, that’s because I’m already dead.”
“Huh?” He blinked his eyes, processing what he had just heard. I could sense my knights tensing up from behind us. But then the man started laughing. “Hahaha! You have jokes, huh?”
I grinned and chuckled with him. “You like the joke?”
“A bit yeah. Undead jokes, heh, never expected that.”
“I’m pleased to hear that. But in all seriousness, I have a condition. The experts call it albinism. Have you heard of it?”
“... I think so…? I think I heard once that there are those born incredibly white.”
“Yes.” Although mine was far from albinism, I didn’t have any blood flow. I would be a bit red if I were alive. But the condition was so rare itself that the common folk in this medieval world wouldn’t be too familiar with it. “But that means I’m quite sensitive to the sun.”
“Is that so? So, shouldn’t you cover yourself?”
“Well, it is only polite to meet new people this way, right?”
“I guess. But if it’s bad for you, then you don’t have to do that anymore.”
I nodded. “Very well.” I covered my head before looking at the beast with a wide, intrigued smile. “What a magnificent beast you killed. I killed the same monster once.”
“Oh?”
I walked closer to the monster’s corpse. “Fearsome creatures. It didn’t go very well, though.”
He walked up beside me. “You had some help?”
“Of course. You can’t pretty well defeat something like this alone, right?”
“Heh, you got that right.”
I casually nodded. “But I almost died that time. Good thing I didn’t, though.”
“That so? Huh. How incredibly lucky then.”
“Perhaps. Anyway, is your quest done? Because if it is, what about we go to the city together? Perhaps we can talk as we go?”
“Yeah, sure, why not? But we have to collect proof first.”
I formed a curious expression. “From the monster? What proof would you need?”
“The fangs, and a piece of its hide.” He turned to his friends. “Start cutting guys.”
I stepped back and watched them work. Things were less bloody than I expected, they were proficient at this. They cut a couple of its fangs and another sliced a small patch of its hide. As they did, I returned to my knights.
“Mistress? How should we go about this?” Elyscia whispered.
I smiled. “All is good. We’ll go with them to the city.”
“Really?”
“Why not? It might be fun.”
“... I understand.” She glanced at the adventurers.
I jumped back up to my horse. At least the adventurers didn’t notice the illusions cast on my knights. That was great. The rings were working perfectly. And I was extremely pleased with that. If things went wrong, well, we know how that would end up for the witnesses.
A short time later, they were done. Ishan approached me.
“Ah, we actually don’t have a horse. Would it be alright with us walking?”
“Sure. We’re not far from the city, right?”
“Yeah. We should be there for around an hour of walking.”
I smiled. “Well, that’s fine with me. I’m not the one walking.”
He briefly laughed. “Oh yes. But you don’t have to worry about us.”
That was for sure. You couldn’t be an adventurer if you were not physically fit. If you couldn’t even do some long distance walking, then you shouldn’t be an adventurer.
“Very well. Let’s go?”
“Yeah.”
And thus, we continued on our way to the city.
“So, anything specific in mind that you want to see in the city?” Ishan asked.
“Hmmm.” I placed a hand under my chin. “One of them is the history.”
“History?”
“I heard that Endguard took a heavy toll during the war with the demons.”
“Oh yes. It was terrible. I was there. But things had changed greatly since the end of the war, for the better.”
“That is good. I also heard a hero is ruling the city.”
“Oh yes. Mister Cyrus.” He smiled, he seemed pleased that he was mentioned. “He’s the best that could have happened to the city.”
The rest of his party enthusiastically nodded in agreement. It was pretty clear that they favored him greatly. I didn’t think they would act this way, especially knowing that somewhat cocky man.
“He is that great?”
“Of course. He is the main reason Endguard got restored, and the one who leads it to prosperity. He’s a very kind man, always seeking to help those suffering.”
My eye twitched upon hearing that.
“There was almost nothing left to Endguard when the war ended. Most people had left, abandoned it. However, he returned to mend everything. He helped everyone.”
“... I see. That is interesting to hear. A hero being a hero.”
“Indeed. For the people of Endguard, he is the most heroic of all.”
I resisted the urge to frown.
“I’m looking forward to you seeing our prosperous city,” he added.
I smiled. “I am too. And most of all, I hope to meet this great hero of yours.”
“Well, if you’re important enough, I’m sure it will be easy for you.”
I chuckled. “It’s up to him to decide how important I am to him.” I tightly gripped the reins of my steed in anger.
“He occasionally goes out on the street. It could be a chance for you to see him.”
“He is quite dashing!” their female mage said with a wide grin.
I nodded with a wry smile. “Then I’ll be sure to take a look.”
Some time later, the city was now in view.
Huh. It did change a lot…