Fairy Tale Chronicles

Chapter 2.4

After discerning their character further, she moved to the field test. While she was astonished by their surprisingly adept combat prowess, they returned an exclamation of surprise:

「Anne-san, you’re strong.」

「You could probably go down to dungeons yourself.」

「All guild members receive basic combat training. Hold on. Don’t you have an address?」

「Well, we just came here today.」

「I see. If you’re going to remain in Wulls for over a month, please register an address at City Hall. If you show them your Adventurer card, they won’t ask for any previous addresses or the like.」

「That’s all we gotta do?」

「That’s what the Adventurers’ Association provides.」

They couldn’t help but nod to the weirdly persuasive answer as they received their card with “class 10” inscribed on them, as proof of their registration. Then, they received some basic orientation on how to use the Association’s facilities, how to take requests, and how to move on to the next class.

After that, they sold the materials taken from the Berserker Bear, concluding their tasks for the day. Randy and Kurt had left for the castle to request emergency back-up right when Hiroshi and Haruna began their registration process.

「15000 for everythin’ including the potions…」

Hiroshi wasn’t sure what to make to make of the money Haruna had handed him. While it seemed like they had made too much money right off the bat, it was a little bit short of what they would need in order to buy everything they need. For the time being, they simply split it between them.

「They were all very neatly processed, so we put a little extra in there.」

「It’s a heck ton of money at first glance, but I ain’t sure what to make of it…」

「Me neither…」

They whispered back and forth, as they scrutinized the equipment sold at the Adventurers’ Associatoin. On the cheap end was 50 Tirols, but the other end of the spectrum exceeded 10,000 Chrones. Of course, the expensive price tag did reflect its quality.

「Why don’t we go back to the inn and rest for the night?」

「Can’t agree more. I’m mighty tired from all this…」

「Thank you for your business. And, if it’s all right, could we ask you to start making Antidotes, perhaps tomorrow, to help exterminate the Venomous Wolves?」

「…Yeah. It’s too late to pretend I didn’t hear nothin’. ‘Cept, I ain’t got no strength left to collect any more ingredients. Can you folks do that for me?」

Keeping an awkward distance from Anne, Hiroshi suggested.

「Absolutely. All of us will gather as much as we can.」

「Well for Venomous Wolf poison you won’t need no special ingredients, so you should gather a few batches’ worth.」

Hiroshi said, as he scribbled down the recipe, which Anne took and began talking to the workers in the back and in other parts of the facility. After watching her and letting out a sigh, Hiroshi and Haruna began browsing the items they had for sale, once more.

Apparently there were more than a few adventurers with some knowledge of basic Compounding and Metalworking, which resulted in some equipment for potion making being sold here.

「I guess we outta grab a mortar and a pan, at least…」

「I’ll leave that up to you.」

After a moment, Hiroshi and Haruna decided that they were not going to use either piece of equipment that night, and to just head back to the inn.

===

「…What a day…」

Haruna is in her room at the inn. Throwing the carrying bag, which had been nearly emptied save for the few pairs of underwear she had bought on their way back to the inn (separately) under the table, Haruna plopped down on her bed.

Hiroshi had told her that she he had bought some fabric, string, and sewing utensils, and intended to sew his own clothes. It was all too late for her to regret not mastering at least Novice Sewing. She had just resigned herself to have at least Hiroshi craft her some everyday wear in the future.

「It’s all… So weird…」

On the third day since they had been transported here, it was the first time Haruna had found herself with some safe, alone time. During the two days in the woods, she could barely sleep. And yet her physical vitality had been healing more than expected. Her body was pretty unreal that way.

What was really weird, however, was what she saw as she casually pretended to be asleep (in her insomnia) and observed Hiroshi. Not to borrow his words, but he was someone that Haruna didn’t expect to have any conversation outside of school matters. Although she knew his general character, she couldn’t trust him enough to be confident that he wouldn’t do anything crazy. In fact, that concern kept her up more than her fear of being attacked by monsters.

But, Hiroshi acted much differently than she had expected. He kept a considerable distance between them, and continued to do something non-stop until it was her turn to keep watch. He never even tried to look at her face while she slept, except when he came to wake her for watch duty, and he just kept sewing the carrying bag, carved out the mortar, and polished the bear ribs in a sort of zen.

Never once did he even seem interested in Haruna. While she admired his persistence for trekking on with the tedious work, albeit with a little bit of complaining, but his complete and utter lack of any inkling of interest in her? Despite the fact that she didn’t have the slight inkling of interest in him, her pride was somewhat hurt.

To boot, this man was would not budge. Even when she exclaimed that she would go bathe and do laundry in the river, she only returned to find him in the exact same spot continuing the same work he had been doing. The little pride she held in her womanhood had been obliterated in a matter of two days. He had only ever turned his gaze to her body when the discussion of clothes came up. Until Randy and Kurt ogled at her rather obviously, she had completely lost her self-esteem.

「Of course it’s better than jumping me without a second thought…」

All she wanted was a hint of acknowledgement. She didn’t want to be assaulted nor get into any romantic situation with him, but it was a little too much to not only have him show no interest in that way, but have him act like he aggressively wanted to distance himself.

It doesn’t look like I’m the only one he’s like that with, though…

That was her conclusion as she recalled the scene at the Adventurers’ Association. It seemed like he didn’t want to interact with any female whatsoever. The exception was when he was holding normal conversation with the owner of the inn. It seemed that he was okay with a woman above a certain age, with whom he only had business-like conversations.

Considering his age and the severity of his aversion for women, perhaps he had been traumatized rather seriously in some way. Haruna knew that, at the very least, he wasn’t into men, judging from the conversation he was having about dating simulator game or the other (which she had overheard as she passed by him in the classroom) and from his line of sight while they were talking about clothes.

Still, his insistence on keeping his distance from women, physically and emotionally, was so obvious to the point where, when he was speaking to the ladies at the Adventurers’ Association, all color had drained from his face. While the ladies across the counter hadn’t noticed, given the gravity of the situation they were in, his knees were clearly buckling.

With that severe of a female-phobia, Haruna had to be careful how to interact with him moving forward. Initially, in her frustration from his horribly disinterested attitude, she nearly executed the “oops I didn’t realize I was thrusting my breasts against you…” but something inside of her told her that if she did, it would really spell the end for the both of them. Thinking back on it, Haruna thought she deserved a pat on the back for holding back.

「I want to ask him some detailed stuff tomorrow… I wonder what he would think…」

She wanted to tell him a few things she had held back from mentioning for her uncertainty of them, and ask his opinion on the matter, but she wasn’t sure that he would be in a mental state to handle such a conversation. Moreover, they would have to have this conversation where it was less public. Somewhere where it was least likely for anyone to eavesdrop.

For Hiroshi’s sake, Haruna wanted to find somewhere where they could keep their distance, where he could still work on something. Whether or not she could find such a place, she was determined to for them to share each other’s information and opinions sooner rather than later.

Because, well, so far they were only on the same page about not receiving any handouts from the court for “visitors from the unknown continent,” and that they should keep a low profile moving forward, while they may not have had a choice today.

「In any case, it’ll be after making those Antidotes…」

According to Randy, whom she had ran into on the way back, a deal had already been struck with the court, through the court magician’s familiar. He had joked that, if the familiar wasn’t a flying creature, he would have had to make a hard trek to deliver the message.

Leaving time to prepare various aspects, they would initiate the mission to exterminate the Wolves at noon, tomorrow. The village of Leit was relatively close, so they would be able to execute the mission while the sun was high even if they left at noon, as long as they were on horseback. Still, the most critical aspect was the Antidotes. They had set things in order as to have everything ready as soon as Hiroshi’s work was done.

「Big day tomorrow. We better get dinner over with.」

Haruna knew she couldn’t help much, but there had to be something she could do. To maximize their rest, she decided to eat dinner right away, so she went to call Hiroshi.

Their work the very next day would, in utter betrayal of Hiroshi’s hopes, end up as one of the causes for getting them wrapped up with the court in the most troublesome and irreversible manner. At this point, they didn’t have a clue how they were about to get involved with all of it.