Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330657219422179/episodes/16817330657653138682
The next morning.
The chirping of birds from outside brings me to the surface of my consciousness. The clear morning air caresses my skin with a pleasant sensation.
And then I awoke.
My blurred head is illuminated by the morning sun coming in through the window, and I feel a warmth. But it is not only the sun that is warm.
“Anri ………… good morning.”
“Yeah, Good morning.”
I’m a little surprised to see Anri looking at me with a smile on her face next to me. I remember that yesterday I was on the same bed with Anri to calm her unsteady body.
Since we were in bed together, our bodies were naturally in contact with each other, and the soft, warm touch was bewildering.
I sit up and look at Anri, who seems to have calmed down. The distraught look from last night is completely lost on me. Anri is looking back at me with a smile of mysterious composure and amused amusement.
“What’s wrong? Tale. You’ve been staring at me a lot this morning.”
“….. No. Nothing, Anri. Did you sleep well last night?”
“Yeah, Tale’s arms were around me all night.”
“I didn’t really hold you to sleep,”
Anri narrows her eyes mischievously, and I avert my gaze to disguise.
Sleeping in the same bed was something we hadn’t done in a long time since we were little. I feel a bit awkward about my childhood friend who has grown up to be a woman.
–But, come to think of it. In Anri’s mind, I am her lover, right?
I don’t know how that happened, but it’s a headache.
I think about it as I cleanse my face with the water I created with magic.
Today’s plan is to first go to the guild and finish the remaining formalities. The guild needed to decide on the details of the purchase of materials and how to handle the results of defeating the dragon, but it seemed that they needed to discuss the matter internally.
The fact that it is I, the Iron Grade, who claims to have defeated the earth dragon seems to be complicating things. I hope it won’t be too much trouble, but for the time being, I hope to receive the purchase money for the materials today.
Since there is nothing else that I have to do, I will take the opportunity to talk with Ur and Rietta about the past three months. I need to discuss Anri’s condition, and I also need to apologize for my mistakes.
It’s a bit of a heavy schedule, but both are necessary.
After I’ve finished my day’s activities, I look at Anri, who is still in bed, and hand her a glass of water that I’ve magically filled with water.
“Anri. Here is some water. After drinking it, go back to your room. After you change your clothes, let’s go downstairs for breakfast.”
“Yes, roger.”
Anri nodded her head, drank the water in one gulp, fixed her slightly disheveled hair and clothes, waved at me, and left the room without hesitation.
And so, the moment after waking up from sleep passed uneventfully, leaving me feeling a little tired.
After that, I got ready and went downstairs to have breakfast in the inn’s cafeteria with everyone else who had also gathered there. It had been a while since I had had a proper breakfast, but it soothed my tired heart, and I was happy to be able to talk with everyone again.
Ur and Rietta seemed to want to say something to Anri, who had left the room in the middle of the night and returned in the morning, but in the end, we finished breakfast without any problems without making a single comment.
After filling our bellies, we left the inn as planned and headed for the guild.
Just as on the way to the inn yesterday, Rietta walked next to me, holding my hand. She glanced at me and compared my face with Anri’s behind me.
I guess she was still concerned about Anri from last night. However, I could not talk in front of Anri before I had a detailed understanding of the situation.
I brought my face close to Rietta’s ear, whose expression was clouded, and said briefly in a small voice
“Let me talk to you about the details. …… By the way, nothing happened between me and Anri yesterday.”
I added the last word so that there would be no misunderstanding.
When Rietta heard my words, especially the last sentence, she raised her eyebrows and nodded her head. She looked at Ur behind her and gave a thumbs-up. Her expression seemed brighter than before.
I guess she was concerned about Anri as a member of the same party. Anri is a friend who has been with us for a long time, so I can understand Rietta and the others’ concern.
Smiling at Rietta’s instant recovery, I continued our conversation as we walked toward the guild. We soon arrived at our destination.
Facing a magnificent building, the first one I had seen since yesterday, we stepped toward the entrance and opened the door.
As we entered the building and headed for the counter in the back, one of the employees we had talked to yesterday noticed us and rushed over to us.
“Good morning, Tale-san! Thank you for coming so early. Could you follow me to the back?”
I nodded and followed him. We walked down the hallway extending from the side of the counter to the back and were led to the reception room we had used yesterday for our conversation.
After being asked to sit down on the sofa, the staff member announced, “Please wait a moment,” and left the room.
“I wonder if he went to get money for the purchase of materials?”
“Well, I don’t know. Dragon materials are probably something like market value, and I don’t think they’ll decide on a cash value anytime soon. It might be auctioned off or something.”
“Hmmm, I see.”
While listening to the conversation between Rietta and Anri, we waited for a while for the staff to leave. The door to the room opened and a staff member returned with a cloth bag and some documents. He is accompanied by another person behind him.
The staff member and the other person – an elderly man with short-cropped gray hair and a beard – sit down on the sofa across the table from us. The older man sniffs and opens his mouth to meet our questioning gaze.
“What, they’re cheeky, bratty brats. You shot me a gun for being rude.”
“…… Excuse me. I’m sorry, I’m not used to seeing you”
“Hmm. Well, that’s all right. Well then, let’s waste no time and get right to it.”
The man said with a stern face and a foul language.
“I’m Gillian, the head of the Bren branch here. I wasn’t there last night, but I got a call saying that earth dragon materials had been brought in, so I came to talk. …Well, I didn’t expect such a poor kid to be the one to defeat a high-ranking dragon.”
Gillian-san frowned eccentrically as he said this, giving me a huffy look.
And when we heard his name, a name known to all adventurers, we all, without exception, looked surprised.
–Gillian, who is the branch manager of the Bren Branch, is a person who was a member of a party of heroes several decades ago. He was a heroic adventurer who, following the orders of the goddess Arianrod, solved the demon god disaster that was a threat at the time. We also heard that he was a tremendous wielder of the mighty sword.
We were surprised to see such a big name in front of us, but on the other hand, we were in cold sweat because we were not getting a good impression of him from the very beginning. We waited for the next words with a feeling that the conversation was going to be somewhat troublesome.
Then, Gillian-san opened his mouth in a troublesome manner.
“-So? I’m going to ask you in passing how you guys defeated the earth dragon. I’m busy, so speak shortly.”
“………… branch manager, a few more words. ……”
“Huh? Why should I care about you? I’m sure it’s something like they miraculously found a carcass and stripped it down to the bare essentials. I don’t think it’s worth my time.”
“S-So even if you think something like that, don’t say it out loud. ……”
I was taken aback by the openness of the conversation that took place in front of me.
To him, who is like a living legend, we may just look like weak young adventurers.
I smiled bitterly and was about to start telling Anri as much as I could about how we defeated the earth dragon, when suddenly I was interrupted by someone from the side.
“Um..! We ……, or rather, I don’t want you to make fun of Tale-kun, ……!”
Rietta leaned forward on the table and took a swipe at Gillian san. She knows of Gillian san’s fame, but she is not concerned about that, and she is angry with him.
“Hey, Rietta”
“Don’t stop me, Ur-chan! he said terrible things to Tale kun, who has been working hard all this time! Tale said yesterday! –He said yesterday that he wanted to see us again, that he had been fighting all by himself for a long time and finally defeated the earth dragon. ……”
I feel my heart warm in my chest as Rietta threatens like a cat with its fur bristling up.
I was not really paying attention to Gillian san’s words. The guild may think it’s funny that an up-and-coming newcomer like me is a “dragon slayer,”.
However, I was very happy that Rietta understood and respected the hard work I had put in over the past three months. She is a good, straightforward and considerate girl, even though she is spoiled and acts like a child.
I couldn’t help but put my hand on Rietta’s head.
“Rietta, that’s enough. We are dealing with the leaders of the guild we are working for, so we should be more polite.”
“But, but ……!”
“I’ll be fine. But thank you for being angry on my behalf. –That’s what I like about Rietta.”
“……!”
Rietta looks down and falls silent.
It was a generous gesture, and I personally was happy with Rietta’s actions, but considering the person she was meeting with, this was an official place. For now, it would be best to just talk without pushing back.
“…. Tale, you say things like that again.”
“I won’t tolerate cheating.”
For some reason, Ur and Anri look at me, but it’s not that. There are times when these girls know exactly what I mean when I say something.
I ignored them and turned to Gillian san and the others, bowing lightly to them.
“I’m sorry, it’s my members. I don’t mean any harm, but I really care about my friends…”
“Well, that’s okay. Young people can be rude and fearless.”
Gillian san, surprisingly, does not condemn the rudeness, but simply lets it slide as if it’s no big deal.
I was about to think that he was a good person in spite of his bad mouth.
-I was just about to say that he was a good guy, but then he turned his gaze to me and said
“As far as I can tell from what the little girl just said, you–“
And that was the moment when his knife-like gaze pierced me.
“Are you telling me that —- you defeated the earth dragon all by yourself?”
“……!”
–Suddenly, a sense of intimidation blew through the room.
Almost everyone in this place stiffened from the torrent of magical power that contained Gillian san’s strong will, so much so that it was almost as if it was accompanied by physical pressure.
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