Chapter 114: Proposal and Goodbye
Narrator POV
Upon seeing Alicia's meaningful gaze after stating what she knew about Kazue, Kazue could not help but have her eyes widen.
Not many people know that she is an otherworlder after all.
It seemed that Alicia hired capable information gatherers to be able to get this information.
Alicia smiled and continued to utter the information on the paper.
Alicia seemed amused by how Kazue reacted as she revealed this fact.
"As soon as you left the castle, you registered as an adventurer and managed to get to D-rank in a very short time. Impressive." <Alicia>
Alicia gave Kazue an honest compliment.
She was honestly impressed by Kazue's feats.
"You managed to get to D-rank in a very short time. This is all thanks to the fact that you often take up quests while traveling from Artesia to Riles. As a result, your progression as an adventurer was accelerated. You managed to rank up from F-rank to D-rank in just 6 months, this is a feat that only a few adventurers managed to do in their career. Normally, adventurers only rank from F to D in about a year or two. Ranking up from F-rank to D-rank in just 6 months is something even talented adventurers struggle to do. Truly amazing." <Alicia>
"T-thank you???..." <Kazue>
Kazue knew that Alicia did not put this up in the open just to compliment Kazue.
Kazue knew that there was something up, and there was a reason why Alicia brought up this topic.
Indeed Kazue was right.
"So, a question came to me. Why did Kazue-chan take up so many quests in the first place? Sure, Kazue is quite talented compared to most of her peers. Compared to most adventurers in your rank, you far outclass them. After seeing your abilities, I can say that Kazue-chan is about as strong as the strongest C-rank adventurer I know. Still, this does not explain why such a girl would push herself to do these amounts of quests. From what I saw after traveling with you the month before we arrived in Riles, I don't see Kazue as someone conscious about "adventurer ranks". And so I looked it up. Then I discovered something interesting about Kazue-chan." <Alicia>
-gulp-
Kazue gulps her saliva hearing the facts that Alicia stated.
She has a feeling that the next word will come out of Alicia's mouth.
[Don't tell me she even managed to dig "that" up?]
"It seemed that you owe the scale Atelier a huge amount of money." <Alicia>
"Guhk..." <Kazue>
[I knew it, of course, she will know about that...]
Alicia has looked through Kazue's background.
It seemed that because of that, Alicia discovered a lot about Kazue.
Kazue was not that surprised that Miss Alicia knew that she was not from this world.
After all, Alicia was traveling with the Otaku boys who were also other worlders like herself.
It was not a surprise if Alicia knew this from the start.
What surprised Kazue was the fact Alicia even managed to discover her large debt to the Scale Atelier, more specifically to Shaina, the genius blacksmith.
Kazue owed her a large sum of money in exchange for the set of battle equipment she was using for adventuring.
"81,993,000 DAL" <Alicia>
"..." <Kazue>
"That is the total amount of debt you owed from Shaina's Workshop." <Alicia>
Kazue could not say a word.
Indeed she owed that much money to Shaina.
In 7 months she only managed to lower it by about 10 million DAL off the original 90,000,000 DAL of debt.
At this rate, it will take years for her to fully pay her debts.
"Then going back to our main topic. Like the good person I am, I came up with an idea." <Alicia>
Alicia smiled at Kazue.
Her smile was not that of the "nice person" she claimed herself to be.
It was a mischievous smile that a sly fox would show.
"I asked myself, how can I help Kazue-chan to pay up that large amount of debt to Miss Shaina." <Alicia>
"And so... You mean the quest..." <Kazue>
"Fufu, As expected of Kazue-chan you pick up on things really fast. Indeed! I will offer you a high-paying job for you to work on. I want to hire you... To be more exact, I want you to work for someone." <Alicia>
"Work for someone?" <Kazue>
"Yes, you see I have this acquaintance who is looking for a female bodyguard for his daughter who will be attending the Magic Academy. Since the school is starting 2 weeks from now, he wanted someone to be his daughter's temporary bodyguard for at least 6 months, at least until he finds a proper bodyguard to protect his daughter." <Alicia>
"Bodyguard... 6 months..." <Kazue>
Kazue was reminded of her experience when she was protecting Calm Eastertale.
She protected Calm in a span of just 15 days and it was very stressful.
Protecting someone is a hellhole of a job.
Due to that experience, Kazue wanted to avoid any kind of "Protection" quest.
Kazue wanted to avoid such kinds of jobs as much as possible.
But, now Alicia was offering her a job to protect someone.
As expected, Kazue was ready to refuse the job offer.
"I see... I am sorry but---" <Kazue>
When it was clear that Kazue was about to say No, Alicia interrupted Kazue mid-sentence.
"Aa~ I'm so tired, if only I did not help people with their problems I would not have been this tired." <Alicia>
"Uhg..." <Kazue>
It was obvious that the someone Alicia was talking about was "Kazue".
"I even offer them my mansion without asking much, I just hope they would listen to my request once or twice..." <Alicia>
"Guh..." <Kazue>
"If only one of those people was GRATEFUL enough to help this tired me with my problems too." <Alicia>
Alicia emphasized the word, "Grateful" while looking directly at Kazue while shedding her fake tears.
"My, I wonder how much will I spend to repair all of the damage that the mansion---" <Alicia>
This time, it was Kazue who interjected Alicia's words while scratching her head vigorously.
"ARGG!!... I get it, I get it. I will do it!!!" <Kazue>
"Fufu, as expected, I knew that Kazue-chan is a GRATEFUL person." <Alicia>
"I get it, I get it." <Kazue>
Kazue knew that she had no right to refuse.
"I don't have a choice do I?" <Kazue>
"Fufu, now you get it... as expected of Kazue-chan." <Alicia>
"Guh..." <Kazue>
"Fufu, don't look at me like that. This job is not all that bad. Like I've told you before, this job is an opportunity for you to earn a lot of money. Hmnn... how does 10,000,000 DAL sounds like?" <Alicia>
"10,000,000 DAL!" <Kazue>
10,000,000 DAL was a large amount of money.
If Kazue had to calculate all of her earnings from all the quests she has done for the past 6 months it would be around that much.
10,000,000 DAL was also the same amount of money that Kazue had to start her adventure life.
It was the same amount of money that the Artesia Empire gave her when she left the castle.
Kazue perfectly knew how much 10,000,000 DAL was worth.
This amount of money is said to be enough to buy a small house.
It is the total amount of money a common person would earn a year of working simple jobs.
An amount of money that is enough for someone to keep living well without a problem for a few years without working.
"Fufu, yes. You heard me right. It's 10,000,000 DAL a month." <Alicia>
"!!! A month?!" did you say a month? Not for the entire quest, but for a month?!" <Kazue>
"Yep, since you will be working for 6 months then..." <Alicia>
"60,000,000 DAL?!" <Kazue>
"Exactly." <Alicia>
"Uwah..." <Kazue>
"I would even give you a bonus of 15,000,000 DAL once you complete the mission well." <Alicia>
"?!"<Kazue>
Kazue was speechless after hearing this good offer.
"You can even do your usual adventurer's job if you're free. No problem." <Alicia>
[I can do sidelines...]
"You will be attending the academy, I am sure that you will learn a lot there too." <Alicia>
[I can learn a lot!]
"Your living expenses are all provided by me and will not be deducted from your actual pay." <Alicia>
[Free?!]
"So? What do you think Kazue-chan, will you accept or not?" <Alicia>
"..." <Kazue>
"So what is your answer? Or do you need time to think?" <Alicia>
Alicia said this but she already knew how Kazue would answer.
"Okay! I accept." <Kazue>
Hearing that it was as she was expecting, she smiled and clasped her hands together.
"Good~ See, it's not all that bad right?" <Alicia>
It was true, Alicia's offer was not bad at all.
No, In fact, it was too good to be true, and Kazue thought that it would be stupid of her to refuse such an offer.
Indeed this was an opportunity for Kazue to earn a lot of money to pay off her debts.
"I'll do it!" <Kazue>
"Good to hear that Kazue-chan." <Alicia>
"Thank you, Miss Alicia." <Kazue>
"Ohohohoh~ that's right it's all thanks to me." <Alicia>
Alicia's annoying high-pitched laughter echoes through the room once again.
And so it was concluded that Kazue will start working with Alicia.
.
.
.
"I heard that you will be working for the lady?"
"Unfortunately, I am."
At the moment, Kazue was talking to a man wearing a silver mask, Argent.
Kazue was also saying goodbye to him as he have helped her a lot in her time in Vestir.
-sigh-
"That woman is really good at using people isn't she."
"ahaha..."
Kazue could not agree more.
Kazue could only let out a dry laugh as she also thought of the same thing about Lady Alicia.
Kazue shifted her feelings and looked at the bright side of her working with the lady.
"Well. It is okay, I can earn a lot of money and I can also learn a lot as I will be attending the academy as the person I will be guarding." <Kazue>
"Oh... Academy..." <Argent>
"I wanted to get stronger so I could beat Rio later!" <Kazue>
"Hmnn... I see... That's some motivation to have, I am happy for you."
"How about you Argent-sempai? What will you do later?" <Kazue>
"Me? I... I promised the lady that I would accompany her to work on an important quest." <Argent>
"Oh... important quest." <Kazue>
Kazue can only imagine what kind of mission would require Alicia for Argent's help.
Alicia is an A-rank adventurer, and so is Argent.
Having 2 A-rank level adventurers work together to do a quest, means that this mission will be something very challenging.
Kazue knew how strong Alicia was, and she also had an idea of how strong Argent was.
She can deduce that the two were about as strong as each other.
Kazue could only imagine how scary this combination would be working together.
A quest that needed both Alicia and Argent to work together must be something that the current Kazue could not even dream of participating in.
"To be honest, I was thinking of asking Argent-sempai to teach me new Skills! After all, you were the one who taught me the skill, (Aura Blade) and (Mana Shroud)." <Kazue>
"Hahaha, I see, how about this, once you finish your bodyguard quest in 6 months, I will visit you and teach you some skills." <Argent>
"Are you serious?" <Kazue>
"Sure, why not?" <Argent>
"Really, then I will be looking forward to that." <Kazue>
[Yes! That's nice! I was worried that I might have no time to train when I was on a bodyguard quest. I was worried that if that was the case then Rio might leave me in the dust. If Argent-sempai will be teaching me later then I am sure that I will learn a lot of things! Then I can beat Rio!]
Kazue was pumped up hearing about this.
"Sure, sure." <Argent>
"I assume that you'll be leaving soon?"
"Yeah, Lady Alicia is arranging things for me. She plans to introduce me to the father of the person I have to guard tomorrow." <Kazue>
"Really? Well, I wish you good luck with your quest." <Argent>
"You too, I wish you good luck as well, after all, you will be directly working with "that" Miss Alicia... I think you will need as much luck as you need!." <Kazue>
"Hahaha! Indeed I will need good luck if I am to work with Lady Alicia." <Argent>
"That makes sense. Anyway, that is all I want to say Argent-sempai." <Kazue>
"Okay, good luck on your quest, see you later." <Argent>
"un" <Kazue>
Kazue nods and turns around to say goodbye to the others.
.
.
.
After talking with Argent, Kazue went to say goodbye to her other friends who were staying in the Mansion.
Instead, this became a final gathering for the group as everyone was saying goodbyes to each other.
After Kazue departs, they too will be going in separate ways.
Kazue, Rio, Yuma, Coco, Yoshiaga, Daisetsu, Naonobu, and Nikko were all gathered in the lounge of the mansion to say goodbyes.
Yoshiaga's loud voice echoes in the room.
"We wanted to stay with Miss Alicia but it seemed that she will be working on a very hard mission with Argent-san as soon as things settle down completely here in Vestir." <Yoshiaga>
"Oh..." <Nikko>
"Miss Alicia, I hope we were stronger that we could actually come with her. Unfortunately, we will only be dragging her and Argent-san if we go." <Yoshiaga>
"I see." <Yuma>
"Instead, we plan to travel north, We plan on visiting Triana and see all kinds of beastmen tribe." <Yoshiaga>
"Maybe we can also find our soulmate from the beastmen tribe, just like Yuma." <Daisetsu>
"Haha..." <Yuma>
Yuma who was listening to their conversation not far away could only let out a dry laugh.
After all, the method he was able to impress his current mate was quite unusual.
Yuma managed to appeal to his mate, Coco by defeating her in a battle tournament held in the Kingdom of Triana.
The otaku boys must have thought that they too could find a female beastmen in Triana, just like Yuma was able to find his mate, Coco.
"How about you Yuma? What are your plans?" <Yoshiaga>
Yoshiaga asked Yuma.
"Ah... haha..." <Yuma>
Yuma looked frightened.
It seemed that this question reminded Yuma of something frightening.
He could not answer straight away as cold sweats covered his body remembering this.
Instead, Coco answered for Yuma.
"Yuma-kun will be coming to our hometown." <Coco>
"Heh~ that's sweet." <Naonobu>
"Sweet? ah... I guess that's how people normally see it huh... haha, ha..." <Yuma>
Yuma said in a sarcastic tone.
The more frightened his face transformed.
"Hmnn?" <Daisetsu>
"Why do you look so weird Yuma?" <Naonobu>
"What's the problem Yuma?" <Yoshiaga>
The otaku boys noticed Yuma's weird reaction to this topic and asked him again.
"You don't understand! If only the reason for me going there is that simple. You see... General Kokkur..." <Yuma>
"You should call him father..." <Coco>
"Please, That person will kill me if I call him that..." <Yuma>
"Fufu, Yuma-kun is really good at joking." <Coco>
"Joking? haha..." <Yuma>
It seems that Yuma is very terrified of Coco's father.
This must be the reason why Yuma had been acting very odd after the two met Coco's father.
It seemed the top General of the Great Nation Alliance terrified Yuma to his bones.
When looking at Yuma's reaction to the mention of Coco's father, he suddenly became pale.
Thanks to this, the otaku boys finally understood why Yuma was acting like this.
"Ah... so that's how it is..." <Daisetsu>
"Ahaha... I see... good luck..." <Naonobu>
"ahaha..." <Yoshiaga>
"Well how about you Nikko, Masahi?" <Yoshiaga>
Nikko and his intelligent sword were asked by Yoshiaga as to what their plan was.
"Hmnn... We asked Calm-sama again what we could do with Masahi's situation. In the end, we have to find clues about the goddess who reincarnated him into a sword. Calm-sama said that we might be able to find answers if we visit Giah." <Nikko>
"Oh... so you guys will be going to Giah." <Yoshiaga>
"It seems so, well we have no idea where to go anyway. We might as well go, right?" <Nikko>
Rio remained silent after hearing their plans.
Rio was planning to travel back to Artesia and do her Adventurer job there.
She also wanted to improve herself as she knew that Kazue would be training hard for their promised duel.
Rio cannot be at ease, she will use this opportunity to get stronger.
Strong enough to defeat Kazue without using her mind-reading skills and defeat Kazue fair and square.
Rio also knew that Kazue would be training to defeat her in their next duel.
Both of them took this as a challenge.
Kazue and Rio no longer treat each other as just friends, they also
treat each other as rivals now.
Being rivals is not bad, rather it was a healthy friendly rivalry between the two.
This rivalry will only spark a deeper bond between Kazue and Rio.
With this, the two will be motivated to get stronger.
Inside the Church of Life's main building.
Later that day, Kazue visited Calm for the one last time.
"This is?" <Calm>
"It's a gift..." <Kazue>
Kazue pretends to scratch the side of her head with her index finger.
She just gave Calm a gift to commemorate their time together.
Despite being together for about 3 weeks, Kazue already considered Calm as a close friend.
Maybe it was because of Calm charisma that she managed to tame Kazue this well in just 3 weeks.
At the same time, why would Kazue not think of her as a friend?
Such a sweet person like Calm is a great friend to have.
Plus she's the saint.
She can become some kind of a backer for Kazue someday.
Kazue thinks that she can just say, "I'm a friend of the saint" and people might take a step back before messing with her.
After all, leaving aside all the things Kazue thinks of Calm, Calm is still the one and only "Saint of Riles".
Calm is revered as the "Oracle" of the goddess Gaiah.
She is the symbol of the Church of Life, the largest and the officially recognized religion of most countries in this world.
Thus there was no reason why she would refuse to become Calm's friend.
"Thank you Kazue..." <Calm>
Calm held the gift in his palm and carefully inspected the gift.
It was a white ribbon embroidered with a golden thread, it was a hair tie.
A type of hair ribbon that Calm can use to tie her hair while wearing her usual saint attire.
Kazue found this ribbon while walking around the plaza.
Kazue picked this as a gift as she thought that this ribbon was a perfect gift for Calm.
At the same time, it resembles the new ribbon tying Kazue's hair into a ponytail.
Kazue intended to buy these pair of ribbons as a sign of bond and sincerity to Calm.
Calm held the gift on her chest, it was the first gift she received from a female friend.
"I will treasure this gift all my life." <Calm>
Kazue felt relieved after seeing that Calm seemed to like her gift.
Kazue is not confident in her fashion sense but still, she tries her best to pick these gifts.
After seeing that Calm liked her gift, she felt a bit happy.
Seeing Calm show her delight made Kazue feel good about her gift.
After that, Kazue told Calm about the change in her plan.
She originally planned to go back to Artesia but it seemed that she would instead be heading to the country of Marizen, one of the 5 countries of Demi-humans, the country of the dragonutes.
Kazue told Calm her plan to accept a guarding quest from Miss Alicia.
This time, she is going to tell her goodbye to her.
"Okay, then I'll be going." <Kazue>
After today, Kazue will not have time to talk to Calm anymore.
After this meeting, she will be accompanying Alicia to go and talk with her eventual employer.
As such, Kazue said this as her final goodbye to Calm.
"Kazue promise me that you will come and visit me again in the future." <Calm>
"Kay, I promise." <Kazue>
"Good, then here... take this." <Calm>
Calm took a beautiful necklace hanging on her neck and handed it to Kazue.
It was a beautiful necklace made out of mysterious metal.
The metal when angled correctly with a light source would give off a rainbow-colored shine.
"This is..." <Kazue>
"It's my gift to Kazue-chan. I know that this would be a help to you later..." <Calm>
"Could it be that this thing is made out of mithril?" <Kazue>
"???, yeah it is... why did you ask?" <Calm>
"Hmnn... I guess I can sell this for a high price." <Kazue>
"NO!!! You can't" <Calm>
Calm quickly took the necklace out of Kazue's hands.
"It's a gift, you should not even think of selling it! That's common sense!"
"haha ~ I was just joking."
"Mou~ Kazue is really naughty... gosh..." <Calm>
Kazue then looked at the necklace again.
Aside from its beautiful glow, it was a nice-looking necklace that was crafted carefully so that it looked very special with just one look.
"So? What is this thing anyway?" <Kazue>
Kazue asked what this unique-looking necklace was.
"It's a token that is made by the Church of Life. Show this to a high-ranking member of the Church if you need anything for help. That necklace signifies that "you" have been recognized by the Church of Life. By showing this necklace to anyone related to the church will recognize this token and they will probably help you to the best of their ability." <Calm>
"Hmnn~ I see..." <Kazue>
Kazue looked dissatisfied after knowing the significance of the token.
[Rather than a token, I would love to receive money instead...]
"Kazue-chan... did you just think of something rude?" <Calm>
It seemed that Kazue might have let out how she felt with her face.
"Hmnn? No, not at all." <Kazue>
Calm showed Kazue a doubtful glare.
-sigh-
Calm ignored this and moved on.
"Anyway..." <Calm>
"Be sure to be careful all the time okay? I know that you can be crazy at times especially when you are fighting." <Calm>
"Ahaha... I will try." <Kazue>
"Take care of Kurow, okay?" <Calm>
Calm reminded of Kazue of a mother worried about her child leaving for a trip.
Calm pets all of Kazue's familiars one by one as they say goodbye to Calm.
Isamu, Kaori, Hayate, and the new member of my family, Kurow.
Each of them accepted Calm's loving pets.
"I will miss you guys..." <Calm>
Calm hugs all of Kazue's familiars all in one big hug.
Kazue's familiars all snuggled at Calm knowing that they would not be able to see each other in a long time after this farewell.
After all... aside from Kazue, it was the first time that her familiars became very attached to another person.
Maybe her status as the Oracle of the goddess of Life and Death helped the familiars to feel at ease in her presence.
It was not a surprise since Calm does have a mysterious "soothing" atmosphere around her.
Calm stood in front of Kazue next.
She took a long time looking at Kazue without saying a word.
She simply looked at Kazue with a complex expression on her face.
It was as if she was about to cry at some point.
Then, without a word, Calm jumped on Kazue and hugged her tight.
"Kazue I will miss you..." <Calm>
It seemed that she lost control of herself and hugged Kazue to say goodbye.
Her voice was muffled but Kazue could tell that she had a teary voice.
Kazue can only pat Calm on the back to ease her feelings.
"By the time we meet again, I expect that you and Aaron would-be lovers by then." <Kazue>
Kazue whispers in Calm's ears.
"Uwawawa!" <Calm>
Calm started flailing randomly with a red face hearing this.
Aaron was also standing behind Calm a few steps back.
She looked back and checked if Aaron was able to hear what Kazue just said.
She was nervous that Aaron might have heard Kazue.
Aaron looked at Kazue and Calm with an oblivious look wondering why Calm would react in such a way.
"???" <Aaron>
Calm has already confessed to Kazue about her feelings for Aaron.
As the only person to whom Calm told her real feelings, she honestly gave her answer despite being shy.
"I... I- I will do my best." <Calm>
"That's the spirit." <Kazue>
Kazue pats, Calm's shoulder to encourage her to do her best.
"I can see... I wish you good luck." <Kazue>
"hehe~" <Calm>
[If only Chiho could be this honest toward that dense hero... I guess I've seen another charming point that Calm has over Chiho.]
"Kazue-san, please allow me to thank you once again. I am thankful for your help in keeping Calm safe that time." <Aaron>
"That's nothing, sir Aaron, It's not as if I hated protecting Calm anyway." <Kazue>
"Still, I hope I can pay you back for saving Calm-sama." <Aaron>
Aaron's voice was genuinely full of concern for Calm's safety.
Anyone can tell that this man is madly in love with the saint.
He can try to refuse this all he wants but it was obvious that he liked Calm with all his heart.
[At this rate, these two will definitely be together sooner or later. Just hook up already, geez.]
"Okay, then just promise me that you will keep Calm happy. Can you do that?" <Kazue>
"Calm-sama? Happy?" <Aaron>
"Don't ever make her cry." <Kazue>
"I will never do that!" <Aaron>
"Don't ever make her feel alone." <Kazue>
"Be at ease, I vow with all my honor, that I will never leave her alone. I will never leave her side." <Aaron>
"Be loyal to her at all times." <Kazue>
"Don't worry, my life and my soul all belong to Calm-sama." <Aaron>
"..." <Kazue>
Kazue nodded satisfyingly and took in a breath of air before screaming.
"DID YOU HEAR THAT CALM, HE SAID THAT HE BELONGS TO YOU!" <Kazue>
"T-t-that not what I mean! I mean... I do mean it that way but! What I mean is..." <Aaron>
Aaron became frantic as Kazue screamed these words.
Kazue yelled at Calm who was standing not so far from the two.
The two were acting awkwardly as they both had a hard time looking at each other's faces with their red faces.
With that, Kazue turned around and started to walk away.
She waived her hands goodbye.
"KAZUE!" <Calm>
Seeing this, Calm called for Kazue for the last time.
Finally, Calm showed Kazue the most beautiful smile she had ever seen while waving goodbye.
"Bye." <Calm>
Calm seemed to be glowing with that smile.
Her already ethereal beauty was even more magnified by that one smile.
A smile while waiving goodbye, a bitter-sweet smile with a promise that the two will meet again in the future.
"Yeah... bye." <Kazue>
This is how Kazue told her goodbye to one of the most wonderful people she ever met.
A girl with a cute personality.
She is honest.
She is kind.
She is lovely.
At the same time, she is strong and reliable.
She is one of the few people whom Kazue did not find to be hard to be with.
At first, Kazue never saw how people call her a saint.
After knowing and being with her, she later realized why people call her a saint.
Indeed, she is a saint...
The girl is known as the saint of Riles...
Calm Eastertale.