______________________________________________
Adventurer Town Delhurst, Calden Inn (Aria POV)
______________________________________________
The first thing I saw when I woke up was a familiar ceiling. I was lying in bed inside my room at Calden Inn which I had been renting out continuously for the past year that I've been active in Delhurst. I slowly pulled the blanket off me and rolled over to my side as I felt stinging pain from the numerous bandaged cuts and bruises all over me before looking around the old fashioned room.
Everything was the same as I had left it earlier this morning and my greatsword was leaning against the desk across from my bed, but the clock on the wall indicated that it was currently around 10 PM. I moved my legs over and sat at the side of my bed when a dull pain emerged from my head. I brought my hands up to hold my head as I tried to remember what happened.
The last thing my memory told me was that I was running from the dragon on the mountain. I remember was just past sunset when it suddenly woke up and began to chase me. All I could recall after that was running desperately for my life as the dragon chased me through the mountain woods and halfway through the chase my memory just cut off.
"... What happened?..." (Aria)
As I was pondering quietly to myself, I suddenly heard the door handle shake as someone on the other side was slowly opening the door. I immediately went alert as I spread out my mana to try and sense what was on the other side.
Could it be the owner of the inn? No, he always knocks first, and I can't sense any mana signature from behind the door, which means it's probably either a thief or an assassin!
As soon as I came to that conclusion, I instantly lunged forward from my bedside, grabbed my greatsword, and pivoted around before swinging it towards the door as it opened. My vision blurred from the intense movement and on the other side of the door, I vaguely saw the shape of a person, whose neck the edge of my sword was now almost touching. After a split second, I regained my visual clarity and shouted at the intruder with a grave tone in my voice.
"Don't move!" (Aria)
But instead of a suspicious individual dressed in black clothes and a mask like I expected, what stood in my field of vision was a man with white hair tied back into a short ponytail, holding a tray with two bowls of warm stew on it. He had an angry smile on his face and after a moment he spoke back to me with an irritated voice.
"Well, it's a good thing that you're finally awake now, but are you sure this is how you should be treating your savior?" (Kyle)
The moment I saw him, my head throbbed in pain again and a single vague memory of falling in the river with him came flooding back into my head. I instantly became enraged after remembering how much he made me suffer and angrily yelled at him while keeping my greatsword at the base of his neck.
"You're that idiot that was in my way at the river!" (Aria)
"Oi, it was this exact same idiot that had to drag you out of the river and back to town." (Kyle)
"You wouldn't have needed to if you just got out of my way before." (Aria)
"And how exactly was I supposed to do that? I was just minding my own damn business, when you ran over uninvited and immediately body slammed me into the river with a dragon on your tail! Even if I somehow did move out of the way, seeing how angry that dragon was, I'm positive that if he didn't eat you, he would definitely have eaten me! You need to learn to respect others more! I'm not your dragon bait! I even ending up losing all my stuff in the river because I had to save you!" (Kyle)
"Why!... You!" (Aria)
I took a deep breath. My blood was boiling from his victim-like attitude, but I managed to sooth my temper after rethinking the situation. With the unfortunate way things worked out, it's undeniable I now owe this idiot for saving me from the river. I definitely would have drowned if he hadn't gotten me out. I forcibly held in my anger and took my sword away from his neck as I replied in an annoyed tone.
"Alright. As much as I hate to admit it, I at least owe you for bringing me out of the river and back to town... So... Thank you." (Aria)
I brought my right hand to my chest and formed a fist while bowing, forming a traditional Empire Knight's salute.
"Now that's more like it. Looks like even you have some human decency left." (Kyle)
The man looked at me with an arrogant, smug smile on his face, and I had to reign in my desire again to strangle him. He walked past me to my desk, put the tray down, and pulled out the chair before turning to me and signaling me to sit opposite him on the bed. I sat down on the bed angrily, placed my sword against the bed frame beside me and faced him as I waited to see what he had to say.
"So, it's nice to finally meet you after you've made me suffer so much, Miss Crimson Rose." (Kyle)
A second passed by as I mentally reconfirmed that I had never seen him before in my life, and the glint in my eyes turned sharp as I grew suspicious of how he knew my adventurer moniker. I grabbed the handle of my sword again.
"How do you know that name? I've never seen you in this town before, and only the adventurers at the guild in this town call me that." (Aria)
"Well, I asked one of those adventurers at the guild of course! How do you think I found out what inn you were staying at? Do you know how much I've had to do just to get you back here safe and sound? I don't know what you did in this town to make everyone so scared of you, but when I carried you back, the guards let me through instantly saying that there was no way they would block you, while everyone I saw on the street while I carrying you avoided me like the plague while whispering suspiciously about me. And when I tried to approach some guys on the street to ask them some questions, they ran away the moment I made eye contact. The only way I even got someone to hold a conversation with me, if you could even call it that, was by sneaking up on him while he was loitering in an alleyway outside the adventurer's guild and cornering him. Even after I finally got him to stop running and face me, the first thing he did was take out his wallet and hand it over to me while crying about how he was sorry before pleading that I didn't hurt him. I had to perform some 'interrogation' before he told stutteringly me that you were the infamous pseudo-S-rank solo adventurer in this town, that everyone at the guild nicknamed the Crimson Rose. He also told me that you're probably one of the strongest, if not the strongest adventurer in this town despite actually only being B-rank. After that, I had to enter the adventurer's guild because he didn't know anything else about you, and it was only after 15 minutes of convincing the receptionist at the front desk not to call the guards on me and that I wasn't trying to kidnap you, that I got her to tell me what inn you were staying at. And that wasn't even the end of it! When I arrived at the front of the inn and knocked on the door, the owner actually did call the guards on me! He told them a suspicious person was loitering around the front of his inn and they seemed to be attempting to kidnap one of his guests. So only after another 15 minutes of sorting everything out with the guards did the owner finally let me in." (Kyle)
I sat there speechless for a moment before I loosened my grip on the handle of my greatsword and sighed. I didn't want to listen to this anymore so I cut him off before he could continue to complain.
"Look, Mister, uh..." (Aria)
"Kyle." (Kyle)
"Right, Kyle. I'm sincerely sorry for all the trouble I've caused you, and if there's any way I could pay you back for saving my life just let me know in the future, but I would like to rest for now after today's events, so if it's possible, please leave for today." (Aria)
"Oh? And exactly where would I leave to? Literally everything I owned, including all of my money, was in my backpack which was washed away by the river when I was saving you." (Kyle)
"Don't you live around here or something? I'm sure that I could at least pay for your stay in an inn nearby and some travel expenses for you to get home if it's only a few days." (Aria)
"Well, unfortunately, I don't live near here at all. In fact, this is my first time even seeing this area. I only knew this town even existed because I saw it on the map before you tackled me into the river, and luckily it happened to be the town you were staying in, otherwise, we would probably still be on the streets around now." (Kyle)
"Wait! Then what were you doing out in the mountains past the Empire's borders if you've never even seen this area before!?" (Aria)
It was Kyle's turn to be speechless for a moment before he slowly covered his mouth with his hand and broke eye contact with an embarrassing look on his face.
"I may or may not have been lost..." (Kyle)
I was dumbfounded.
"How can you possibly be that bad with directions!? If you came from the heart of the Empire, then that means you somehow avoided every single border town and went straight into the mountains unarmed!" (Aria)
Kyle eventually sighed and made eye contact with me again, but this time with a bitter smile on his face.
"Well… let's just say, things happened and I ended up lost in the mountains. Anyway, all you need to know is that due to a combination of your actions and my unfortunate circumstances, I currently don't have a home to return to, or any money on me." (Kyle)
His answer sounded really suspicious to me, and for a moment the fact that he might be a con artist flashed through my mind, but seeing the look of genuine concern written all over his face, he was either telling the truth... or he was an exceptional actor. After thinking it through a bit though, he was probably telling the truth, since if he really was a con artist, he would've just robbed me and left me for dead after getting out of the river, and in the first place, the fact that both of us were at the riverside at that time was just a freak coincidence, so there's no way he could've planned all this out.
I put a similar look of concern on my face before answering back.
"So what do expect me to do? Look, I'm grateful to you for saving me, but I'm not going to feed, clothe, and shelter you for free the rest of your life." (Aria)
After I finished my sentence, Kyle's face shifted to a wry smile.
"Well, you see, I already expected that you wouldn't be willing to just pay for all of my living expenses, but fear not, I am a generous man who wouldn't take advantage of you like that. So taking into account both our situations, I've spent some time to devise a plan that can benefit both of us. In fact, it's pretty simple, and you won't even have to do anything too out of the ordinary. My plan is that I can register as an adventurer and the two of us can form a team so that when we complete quests together, I'll get a cut of the reward, which would solve the problem of my living expenses. You're even the perfect candidate for this, since, as you've probably noticed by now, I'm a manaless, so even though I can kind of fight, it's better to have someone who can handle things by themselves, someone strong enough to basically kill all the monsters without me, like for example, you. It's genius!" (Kyle)
Kyle started laughing maniacally as I feel into deep thought.
Hmm, so he was a manaless… It was a possibility that came into my head after I didn't sense a mana signature on him, but since most people who have no mana signature were assassins or thieves who trained to conceal theirs, I kind of assumed that it was just that, an assassin or a thief... but to think he was actually just a manaless. Well, it's rare, but not unheard of for someone to be born without mana. Guess he was just unlucky… Actually, wait a second! What was his plan again!?
"Wait! If you're getting a cut of my pay for doing nothing except being on my team in name, then there's no difference between that and me actually feeding, clothing, and sheltering you for free!" (Aria)
I yelled at him after realizing how ridiculous his plan was. I'd rather have no one on my team than a useless slacker like him.
"Don't worry. I won't be doing absolutely nothing. Like I said before, I'm a generous man, and as a member of your party, I'll properly follow you out on missions. It's just that instead of fighting, I'll be in charge of cooking and setting up camp for us when we're out of town. I can even carry all our supplies by myself. After all, the only thing I've got left is my physical body, and it's definitely not weak. And if you ever need help in a fight… well, I'll try my best to bring you back in one piece." (Kyle)
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and calmed my temper down again to rethink things objectively. Looking at his slightly slender physique, pretty boy face, and smooth skin that looks like he's barely even worked before, he'll probably fall behind if I'm going at full power... but I guess it might be okay to let him try it out for now. I'll just take on some slower, easier quests while I recover from my injuries, and it'll be nice to have a pack mule to carry everything even though I probably won't bring much like usual. Even if he's a terrible cook too, as long as he can cook some simple stew, it'll probably still be better than just eating dried jerky all the time. Plus, at the very least, I can get him off my back for now and if he's not useful, I'll just kick him out of the party later.
After thinking to myself for a while I opened my eyes to give my answer to him.
"Well, I can just barely accept it if you're going to be doing something. It would besmirch my noble family name of Irisveil to just kick you out with nothing after you've saved me, so, at the very least, we could try it out for now." (Aria)
I sighed and reached out with my right hand for a handshake while plastering a defeated look on my face.
"My name is Aria Irisveil, and I look forward to working with you... I guess." (Aria)
"Same here. Once again, I'm Kyle and… well, there are some issues with my last name, so you can just ignore it for now, but since we're gonna be partners, just call me Ky." (Kyle)
Issues with his last name? Is he a fallen noble too? Or did he get exiled from his house? Well, it would explain how he looks and why he's out here on the edge of the Empire with nothing on him. And if that's really the case, at least we have something in common...
Ky reached out and shook my hand, but the moment our handshake finished, he immediately lost all his gusto and deflated onto the chair limply with a relieved smile.
"Whew, that was a close one. I can't believe you actually agreed to such a poorly thought out plan. It's a miracle! I was really getting scared there for a second that you were going to just ungratefully throw me out onto the streets with nothing. Well, looks like, despite the rumors around the guild that you're a violent, incorrigible woman who snaps coldly at anyone in her way, you're actually a pretty nice person." (Kyle)
Oi, that violent, incorrigible woman you're talking about is sitting right here, you know.
"But it's a good thing that this town is full of kind souls. I don't know what I would've done if the inn owner hadn't let us in after hearing my story. He even lent me some old clothes and a first aid kit. Oh, by the way, if we're going to be a team from now on, one word of advice from me is that you should definitely look into getting some simpler armor. I know that the whole diagonal leather straps aesthetic looks cool and edgy, but do you know how hard it was to strip that needlessly complicated hunk of drenched leather and metal off of you? I even had to bandage all your open wounds and change you into clean, dry clothes afterward." (Kyle)
… Wait! What did you do!?
My blood boiled over again as a bright red blush from the embarrassment of realizing what happened while I was unconscious reached even the tips of my ears. It looks like In my scramble to remember exactly what had happened at the river, everything else slipped my mind. Important things like, for example, exactly who had changed me out of my armor into my pajamas and treated my wounds, didn't even occur to me.
I instantly stood up from the bed, lunged forward, and yanked Ky's limp body off the chair by the collar while I used my other hand to bring the edge of my greatsword up to his neck again. A violent glint in my eyes shined while my entire face was still flushed red as I ground my next words through my enraged smile with a furious tone.
"Never mind, I take back what I said. I'm definitely going to kill you right now!" (Aria)
Ky had a defeated look on his face and traces of tears in his eyes as he mumbled to himself while in my grasp.
"Ah, looks like no matter how much you do for some people, there truly are genuinely awful people in this world. All the initial kindness is just a facade to hide their undesirable inner natures... And to think I lost my trusty Excalibur for this. Well, at least now I know that the rumors at the guild weren't completely baseless." (Kyle)
After shaking Ky's body around vigorously while yelling at him for a while, I finally calmed down again, whimpered a bit, and put my greatsword down as I threw him onto the ground before holding my head in my hands as I whispered to myself with tears in my eyes.
"Am I even pure anymore?" (Aria)
Ky got up, patted the dust off himself, and cleared his throat to get my attention.
"Ahem. Now, I understand why you're angry, but it was either I changed you into clean clothes and bandaged up all your small injuries or I left you there in your cold, wet armor with open cuts and scrapes everywhere to possibly get hypothermia or an infection. Anyway, I can't look you in the eyes and lie to you about having absolutely not seen anything, but I swear on my life that I didn't do anything shady or take advantage of you like that. What's done is done, and you should move on. Just be happy that you're still alive and well." (Kyle)
I sighed again. Unfortunately, he was right, what's done is done. And while I was still just starting to simmer down internally, at the very least, I can take solace in the fact that I'm still alive without any serious, life-threatening, or mortal wounds. I brought my head up to look at Ky as he sat down on the chair again and put the tray he had brought with him before on his lap. He scratched his head with his free hand and looked away from my eyes with a slight tinge of a blush on his face as he gave me one of the two bowls of stew.
"Look, I'm sorry... and I'll try to make it up to you later, but for now, let's just eat dinner. The stew that the owner gave us is about to go cold." (Kyle)
It was at this moment that my hunger finally caught up to me and my stomach growled loudly. My face went red again and I hesitatingly took the bowl of the now lukewarm stew from Ky and ate a spoonful.
It was the beef stew that the owner cooked for his tavern customers all the time. I've had it on multiple occasions, and while the beef was always a little tough to chew, it was still pretty good. I heard it was because the owner used to be a chef in a big merchant city before he moved here to retire that he was a good cook.
The stew was lukewarm, but it was still tasty, and I ate it all almost immediately, but after I finished the last spoonful, I was still hungry and contemplated whether or not to go down to ask for another bowl when I looked up and noticed that Ky wasn't eating his food.
"What's wrong?" (Aria)
He was staring intently at the spoonful of stew he had in his hand.
"Hmm, I was wondering how the inn owner could even run that tavern downstairs if all he could give us to eat was this. Someone else has to be cooking instead of the owner for the tavern customers. I didn't notice it when the owner was giving it to me, but now that I've looked at it, this 'stew' really is just tasteless gruel isn't it? I'm hungry too, but I'm surprised you could even stomach this, much less wolf this down so fast." (Kyle)
I looked at Ky with a sense of confusion as he was mixing the stew around in his bowl with the spoon.
"What are you talking about, the beef stew might not look like the prettiest dish out there, but it still tastes pretty good. You should stop being so picky, the owner gave it to you for free anyway, right? The least you could do is eat it with a sense of gratitude." (Aria)
"... You're right. Looks like, despite my arrogance before, I still have a lot to learn in terms of heart, huh? Thanks for the lesson, Aria. I'll trust you this time and give it a try." (Kyle)
Ky scooped a spoonful of the stew with a smile and put it in his mouth, but after actually tasting it, he immediately spit it back out.
"Blegh! I knew something had to be up... How can you call this pretty good!? This is barely even edible! Are you sure you actually have a sense of taste!? Haven't you had any actual food before!?" (Kyle)
I crossed my arms in disdain. The owner of this inn was definitely one of the better cooks I've seen and over my year-long stay at Calden Inn, I've tasted most of his repertoire, so I know for a fact that he's a good chef.
"What do you mean? The owner of this inn might not be an ace chef from the Empire's capital, but his cooking is still some of the best I've had before. It's definitely better than yours at least! I'd like to see you try and make something this good!" (Aria)
"Make something this good? It would hurt my pride as a chef to even attempt to make something remotely as bad as this. It seems that you really have never had any actual food if you can even eat this slop. Anyway, I need some actual food, and I can tell that you're still hungry too, so just wait a bit. I'll be back in a couple minutes with dinner. Let me educate you on what real food tastes like!" (Kyle)
"Fine, I'll be waiting then!" (Aria)
Ky stormed out of the room towards the kitchen on the first floor of the inn as I sat on the bed waiting for him to crash and burn once he realized the owner's cooking was better.