The guild master Eze said his guard wanted to spar with me.
I never saw the guild master Eze's guard even once. When did he supposedly make that request?
The secretary hadn't whispered anything to him either. Don't tell me the guild master and his guard could communicate telepathically?!
If that were true, could he teach me? Then I could contact Lina anytime I wanted! …Ahem. Back to the point. Jacob looked at me, and I nodded.
If I refused, it would embarrass Jacob. Besides, it was just a spar. I was going to win anyway.
"Of course."
After Jacob answered, the guild master Eze pointed behind him.
"There's a training yard in the back. I'll take you there."
A merchant guild with its own training yard—was security really that bad here? Then another thought hit me. If I won, would it cause trouble for Jacob?
We were supposed to respect the elders. What if the guild master got sarcastic afterward and lectured me about not honoring seniority?
On the way there, the guild master led in front while we followed behind. I leaned close to Jacob and whispered,
"Jacob, should I win or lose?"
"Win. This is one of those "senior educating the junior" things. He just wants to flex his age and experience."
"That's so boring."
Thinking about it, was the guild master offended because Jacob had said I was the strongest guard he'd ever seen? Did he think Jacob was looking down on him?
But he couldn't say that outright without seeming childish, so he used the guards as an excuse. I hated this kind of roundabout nonsense, but there wasn't much I could say about it.
When we reached the yard, several guards were already sparring. The guild master called over a tall, heavily built man.
"Gait, you said you wanted to spar with Mr. Zereil's guard, right? He's agreed."
"...Ah, yes."
So it really was an excuse. The guard clearly had no idea what he was talking about. The guildmaster gave a tiny nod—probably a signal—and the guard caught on.
If he hadn't been quick on the uptake, he'd probably lose his salary. Working under that guild master had to be exhausting.
The guard introduced himself to Jacob and even bowed.
"Hello, Mr. Zereil. I'm Gait. Thank you for agreeing to my unreasonable request."
"No problem."
Then he turned to me.
"Sir, please spar with me."
My first question was simple.
"Any restrictions?"
A match had to be fair. Only under the same conditions could you see who was stronger. His gaze dropped to the sword at my side.
"Swords only. Hec, bring a blade."
Once the rules were set, I removed my gear and accepted a practice sword. Then the guard gave me the sword and acted the referee.
"Begin!"
The moment the referee shouted, I slammed my opponent's sword out of his hand and pressed my blade to his throat.
"I—I surrender…"
He conceded, his voice full of confusion and frustration. I pulled my sword back, and the guild master Eze suddenly started clapping.
"Hahaha, splendid! But that was a bit short. Let's go another round."
He probably thought I'd just gotten lucky. What a pain. The guard had no choice but to obey.
"What's your name?" he asked me.
"Karen."
"I'll remember that. I'm Gait. Please spar with me again."
"Sure."
This time I deliberately traded a few blows. If it ended too quickly again, the guild master Eze would get cranky. Eventually I tapped my blade against his wrist and ended it.
Before the guild master could speak, Jacob cut in.
"Guild master Eze, we were hoping to look around the market, but we're short on time and still have other places to go. Please excuse us."
"No problem. Come again when you have the chance."
With Jacob putting it that way, the guild master couldn't insist we stay without looking petty.
I returned the practice sword and joined Jacob. He shook hands with the guild master again.
"Goodbye. Looking forward to our cooperation."
"Likewise."
We left the Eze Merchant Guild and went to look for Grace and the others. Since we hadn't set a meeting time or place, we just wandered. We eventually found them at a food stall.
We walked together after that. Grace bought food for us and returned the money pouch to me.
It felt noticeably lighter. Ethefelis had both hands full of snacks. If we didn't hit a dungeon soon to restock, I was going to get eaten into poverty.
Alice looked at me curiously and spoke up.
"Mr. Karen, are you done with your business?"
"Yeah."
"Then why did you take off your armor?"
So that's what she cared about? I hadn't wear it back on because I was shopping.
Jacob and I explained what had happened at the guild.
"That's awful! Lord Karen, are you hurt?!"
Alice rushed to worry about me. Completely unnecessary. I didn't like concern from anyone who wasn't family. It just annoyed me.
I wasn't an honest person, and I wasn't good at accepting kindness. It made me feel like I'd failed somehow. Like humiliation.
"There's no way I'd get hurt. Even if I did, I could heal it."
"I was just worried about you."
"You don't need to be."
"…Oh."
Alice looked crushed. Good. This was a chance. I wanted her to give up on me and realize I wasn't someone she should like.
Jacob suddenly turned to Grace.
"Grace, you look exhausted. What happened?"
"It's Alice! If I look away for a second, she disappears. I found her, and a moment later she's gone again."
Grace complained bitterly. Was Alice really like that? We'd been traveling for over ten days through countless towns, and this was the first I'd heard of her being this wild.
"What happened?" I asked, irritation creeping into my voice. I hated people who caused trouble and didn't think of others.
Alice panicked and explained,
"The food over there looked really good, so I just… got pulled in."
"And she almost got scammed and dragged off," Grace added.
I pressed a hand to my forehead. Just hearing it was exhausting. Almost kidnapped? How defenseless was she? Did I really have to teach her not to follow strangers?
I ended up saying what mothers always told kids who wandered off.
"Alice, at this rate I'm going to have to keep you on a rope."
The reaction from Alice and Grace was explosive.
"W-what?! Mr. Karen, are you going to treat me like a slave?!"
"Exactly! Mr. Karen, what are you saying?! Why would you treat Miss Alice like a slave?!"
Slave? What were they talking about? Since when did a rope equal slavery?
"What are you two saying? Jacob, do you understand them?"
He leaned in and whispered, "This country has slavery. They've probably seen people leading slaves around."
I nodded silently.
"I see. So you two are idiots. When did I ever give you that impression?"
"But you said you'd leash me!"
"To stop you from getting lost."
"Oh… I see. That's a relief."
Alice relaxed, but Grace got mad instead.
"It's not a relief! You just called us idiots! Mr. Karen, I demand a proper explanation!"
"Yeah, yeah!" Alice echoed.
I snapped back, annoyed.
"Stop yelling. If you want to argue, finish the tasks I gave you first."
"Ugh…!"
Grace made a strangled noise. Her task was to kill fish without hesitation. She still hadn't improved and was racing against the clock.
"What's my task?" Alice asked innocently.
I couldn't answer that. The task I'd assigned her in my head was to break away from the temple. If I said it out loud, she'd just build thicker defenses and it'd take even longer.
So I ignored her and started walking toward Kenli.
"Let's go."
"Lord Karen, what's my task?"
She asked again, and I brushed her off with a vague answer.