"It's amazing how much I care, despite saying I don't."
"What?" Alustur said, peering back. "Said something?"
"Nope," I said, following him through the crowd.
He led me to an inn. One room with two beds; one for me, and one for Alustur.
The Drowsly siblings got a similar room. "Were you hoping for a room with a single bed?" I smugly whispered to Arnet.
He gave me a solemn glance. "No, this works better. I can protect her without interrupting her sleep."
Hmm… "I see. Good for you, man."
Maybe I was misjudging the dude?
Maybe.
Afterwards, Alustur took me to the guild, and we recounted most of the stuff. Alustur did the talking and he patronized me to the point where even I was confused what was going on.
Not only was I the Mermaid hero who took down a great sea beast, I was also the one who came out of alive from the trenches of the siren filled ocean patch, and prevented a war between the Harmons and Mermaids, and solved problems in the demon continent where I hadn't even set foot. Apparently, Mom and Den had a little adventure of their own there and Alustur was giving me all that credit.
I felt a spark of melancholy as I thought back but…
But a lot of the things I did, were actually pseudo tasks set by the guild, in case anyone was stupid- I mean, brave enough to do them. Particularly the Lobster thing. It was terrorizing the ocean for centuries and was supposedly an S rank quest.
"We will review all this information and verify their credibility," the receptionist said.
"This should help you verify. It's a piece of the manastone," Alustur said, producing a very, very tiny red gem fragment.
Is that a fragment of the fragment I gave to Shia?
"Why go through all the trouble when it's coming from one of your A ranks?" I said.
"Especially because it's coming from him, that we have to take this seriously. A mere Westerner child doing all that-" She shut up as I unhooked the bracelet and showed off my insignia.
A secret in the past. But right now, it wasn't. Rexy also jumped out of my hair, onto my shoulder and proudly let out a puff of white smoke. Since when could you do that? Smugly no less.
The receptionist gulped and ran straight to the back.
Meanwhile, Alustur sighed. "Hopefully you have a plan."
"I do," I confessed. "I figured I was going to be out of the limelight and let someone else like Nisa take charge. I've changed my mind."
"Has power gotten to your head?"
"Quite the opposite. It has taught me that I'm not good enough. But no one else needs to know that," I winked. He let out another sigh, picked me up and we headed out of the guild.
It was evening when we entered.
But we were probably in there for at least a couple of hours because it sure was dark. Or maybe it went dark fast around these parts.
Pyres here, lamps there, a bit festive. Reminded me of that weird festival thing back at the academy and-
"Why say all that though?"
"You need to rank up a fair bit; you need to at least be A rank," he said.
"Why?"
"So, you can use the guild's protection when things go really wrong."
"Ah, that makes sense. And I can also leave the country easily if I just take on A rank quests and-"
"No, don't do that. Those quests come with hefty penalties, and they're not something you can do on your own yet."
"Don't worry, I'll take you with me."
"What are you lot even dillydallying for?" Kayla had come to check up on us and as expected her brother was here too.
"Just talking."
"You two should register as well," Alustur said. "Together you three would form a party, and do quests. It's a long form-"
"Not interested," Kayla said.
"I'm not either," Arnet said.
Oh well.
"Now honeycrisps?" I said.
Alustur sighed for the third time in the day. "Okay."
Yay!
***
He bought me a whole crate full of ripe and crisp honeycrisps. Big pinkish red, somewhat orangish as well!
Nice!
Very fragrant.
Very juicy.
Very nice!
"This is great!"
"Isn't moonfruit better?" Kayla said, taking a bite.
"What's a moon fruit?" I said.
Ah, sweet elegance!
"You've been to the mermaid kingdom, right? You should have seen some glowing fruits there-"
"I only saw glowing coral."
"Yes, and some of those corals had individual fruits. They are clustered like grapes and smaller but they usually taste quite good; each punch you with flavors. And they glow too!"
I shrugged. "You can't win me over with a glowing fruit. My loyalty remains with the Honeycrisps!"
"What is wrong with this child," She murmured.
Hmph!
"Tomorrow we'll go back to the guild and check on their progress. If it should take long, we'll just ask them to keep verifying and let us know when we're back to Schalion," Alustur said.
"Oh yeah, I'll have to go back."
"On the way, we can stop to meet your friends," he said.
"Mom's friends."
He said nothing.
I too said nothing.
The sweet juice was getting stuck in my throat again.
"Remember," Alustur said. "These fruits are also effective as laxatives. So, unless you want to be in the toilet all night, only eat in moderation." Five down already.
So sayeth the guy who bought me a whole fucking crate!
***
"We have approved your request to rank-up. You will now be B-rank. And upon completing 1 successful B rank job, be it in a party or solo, you we will allow you to rank up once more. In other words, if you should complete one job, you will be Rank A."
"They really are being lenient about this," I said.
"No, ordinarily she should declare you Rank A as it is," Alustur said.
"Come on now, the world isn't that easy." I shrugged. "You're the real rank A anyway; I'm nothing compared to you."
"You do realize, you beat both me and headmaster Rombrandt who was regarded as strong as S ranks in his youth."
"But that was Rexy's dad," I said, petting my cute little lizard.
Meanwhile, the audience sure was looking bewildered.
The branch master himself had come down to the reception. Apparently, he and Alustur knew each other.
"Who is contracted to you," Alustur said. "Now, since we're done here," he eyed our audience. "Let's go."
"Okay."
We were putting on a show perse. This was a port city, so word would eventually start traveling.
I was going to make a name for myself. I'd already decided to be on the center stage now. For the next part of my plan to work, I really needed to be. This meant I'd have to deal with a lot of assassins and all sorts of trouble but-
I was willing to do it all.
After all, I had a new goal in my life.
"How're we going to cross the whole of the Southern continent anyway?"
"Carriages," he said. "Mostly."
"How long will it take?"
"About two weeks."
"Wait, really? But the Southern-"
"Till we reach the next city."
Sigh.
"And?"
"The whole journey will take about two months."
I felt like punching the dude, and he probably knew it.
"But luckily, we'll use fast rides. So, we should be able to reach a week earlier."
Argh.
Frankly, I wanted this whole damn thing to be over with. Yet, my 'adventure' just kept getting longer and longer and more annoying.