It was several days after that day when Kaori, Lexia-san, and others met.
"Phew… I guess this is enough for today's study."
"Woof?"
When I say that while stretching, Night looked up at me and tilted his head. Come to think of it; I haven't been getting myself closer with Night and Akatsuki lately because I've been studying for the test all the time…
"…Yeah, it would be nice to go out with Night and Akatsuki today."
"Woof?"
"Fugo."
Are Night and Akatsuki okay? I look at their face, but they have sparkles in their eyes as if they are looking forward to going outside. It makes me want to go even more when they gave me a look like this, and I'm sorry for not so sensitive about it.
"It's okay. Wherever we go, we can come right away with teleport magic."
"Woof!"
Then Night took the Adventurer's Guild card that I had left in the room in his mouth and brought it to me.
"Woof"
"Oh, by the way, we also registered with the Adventurer's Guild… Could it be that you want to take the request…?"
"Woof."
Night nodded cheerfully at my question.
"I see… then, let's go take a request at the Adventurer's Guild today!"
"Woof!"
"Fugo!"
While smiling at their energetic appearance, I quickly made preparations and headed straight to the royal capital. However, it's not a good idea to move into the city suddenly, so we moved to an unpopular place a bit away from the capital.
We went straight to the royal capital from there. Once we could enter the city without any problems, we headed to the Adventurer's Guild. If I had more time, I would probably like to look around the royal capital streets, but this time, my primary purpose is to take a request from the Adventurer's Guild. I won't be able to look around until after the test is over.
As I headed to the Adventurer's Guild with that in mind, I saw a certain person walking towards the Adventurer's Guild from across the street.
"Hmm? Yuuya?"
"Oh, Luna!"
To my surprise, I met Luna near the Adventurer's Guild.
"What brings you here? As I recall, you said you were busy… Did you finished your business?"
"No, not yet. I just came here to take a request to take a break from it. You see, I can use teleport magic to get back and forth, after all."
"…Well, it's because you're the only one who can use that method, you know?"
"I was aware of that."
And Lexia-san had told me a lot about the dangers of teleport magic. More importantly, I was also curious about something.
"You too, Luna, why are you here? Is it okay with Lexia-san's guard?"
"Yeah, it looks like Owen alone can handle the guards today, so I got a break after a long time. However, not moving my body is also not good… That's why I was taking a walk around the royal capital."
"I see… would you like to join us and take a request from the Adventurer's Guild?"
"Eh?"
For some reason, Luna gives me a dumbfounded look at my suggestion.
"Oh, is that… okay?"
"I thought it would be nice if we could fight monsters together again like we used to train in the past. You know?"
"Woof!"
"Fugo~."
Night and Akatsuki are also very positive about Luna's participation, and they've slipped to Luna's feet. They are cute.
Looking at Night and Akatsuki, Luna smiled.
"I-I see… no, I didn't expect that Yuuya and I could really go on a request together… I-I guess you could call this a date, right…?!"
"Eh?"
"I-it's nothing! Anyway, let's find some reasonable requests in the meantime."
With Luna leading the way, we approach the bulletin board and check the requests, but the requests we get from our ranks are really simple things. That's precisely the image I received before… harvesting herbs, delivering packages, plucking weeds, and other chores.
When I was skimming through the bulletin board, Luna turned her attention to a specific request.
"Yuuya, how about this?"
"Eh?"
There was a request form with the words "Investigation of Monsters around the Royal Capital" written on it.
"Huh, that sounds good. But is there a place in the vicinity of the royal capital where such monsters can appear?"
"Yeah. Just in case, there's a forest nearby, so I guess it would be in the form of a survey there."
"I see…"
In the end, there were no other requests that looked good, so I decided to take the request that Luna had recommended in this way for now. Since Emilia-san was at the reception desk, I asked Emilia-san to go through the procedures and ask her for a few more details.
"Well, regarding the investigation around the royal capital, what is the main thing we should do?"
"Oh, you don't have to think too hard. If you can hunt down just one type of monster that appears in the vicinity of the royal capital, your request will be accomplished."
"It's easier than I thought."
"Yes, that's true. And since this is a request that is always posted, other adventurers often receive it as well. Are you okay with this request?"
"Yes, I'm fine with it."
"Okay, I'll just fill out the paperwork."
This is how Emilia-san took care of the paperwork, and we used teleport magic to head to the forest near the royal capital.
＊＊＊
"Mmm, Hhmm♪."
"You're in a good mood, aren't you?"
As soon as we left the royal capital after Emilia-san took care of the paperwork, Luna started humming. Then, Luna blushed in embarrassment at my remark.
"I-is that so? …Well, it's because I can go out alone with Yuuya… So, that's why…"
"Ah, um… yes."
I couldn't help but feel my face heat up at Luna's reaction too. But, indeed, Luna and I haven't acted together since our training in the [Great Devil's Nest]. No, there's Night and Akatsuki, of course, but in terms of people.
Well, even if my training with Luna is no longer there, I'm still training with Master Usagi.
We arrive at our destination, a forest near the royal capital while being shy of each other. The forest doesn't feel as bad as the [Great Devil's Nest].
We brace ourselves.
"W-well then, let's see if we can find a suitable monster───."
That was the moment I was about to say that.
"Kyaaaaaah!"
"Huh!?"
We look at each other at the sound of a woman's shout from the forest.
"What was that just now…!"
"I don't know. But it's close…!"
"Kuh! Night! Do you know which way the voice is now?"
"…Woof!"
Night moved his nose and ears, barked once, and started to run.
"Alright, we'll go too!"
"Yeah!"
I followed Night, and hurriedly entered the forest. And after a little while, the identity of the voice came into view.
"T-this wolf…"
"Grrrrrr…"
To my surprise, Glenna-san, who had approached me in the Adventurer's Guild before, sat down with her back to the tree, and Night stood in front of her, wary of something.
"Are you alright!"
"Oh, you guys…!"
"I don't know what happened, but I'll just check here──."
"N-no! Stay out of it!"
"Woof!"
"Huh!"
The moment I was about to tell Glenna-san to run away, a sharp attack suddenly flew from an empty place. I quickly took out [Absolute Spear] to prevent it and threw it in the direction of the attacker.
Then…
"Keeeeeeeee?!"
"W-what is that thing?"
"Yuuya, that's an [Assassin Chameleon]!"
"Chameleon?"
I hurriedly check the surroundings, it's definitely an extremely thin presence, but I can see that something is encircling us. I look around like I'm protecting Glenna-san, and Luna informs me.
"The [Assassin Chameleon] is a B-class monster. They'll mimic their surroundings and attack you as they did just now."
"I see…"
This is the first monster I've encountered outside of the [Great Devil's Nest], but it has a higher rank than I expected. Is this normal? Still, this mimicry ability is pretty tricky. It's a level that even I can barely understand. But since I can understand it to a point, I have no choice but to fight while trying not to miss their presence.
I called out to Glenna-san, who was stunned behind me.
"…For now, we'll take down this monster. Luna!"
"I know…!"
Luna skillfully manipulated the thread in her hand and released it randomly into the surroundings. The thread chopped up the surrounding trees, and the Assassin Chameleons who couldn't avoid it were also damaged and showed up.
"Keaaaaah!"
"Kukeeeee!"
The strange screaming Assassin Chameleon was a large chameleon about two meters tall with a green body, big yellow eyes, and a magnificent horn on its forehead.
And if it shows itself, not only Luna can deal with it, but I can deal with it as well.
"Haaah!"
The Assassin Chameleon's neck, which was damaged by Luna's thread and rampaging around, and I switched from [Absolute Spear] to [Omni-Sword] and sliced through it accurately.
"Ku-kukukeee!"
"Keeeeeee!"
Then the surviving Assassin Chameleon turned his back on us and left in a flash. It seems to have escaped. As I was surprised at my first experience of a monster running, Luna came next to me.
"Assassin's Chameleon, as its name suggests, is a monster that is good at attacking by surprise. They have a habit of running away if that surprise attack is blocked or can't get through to their opponents."
"I-I see…"
When I was surprised at the still unknown ecology, Glenna-san, who had been watching the battle earlier, opened her eyes.
"A-amazing…"
With that kind of reaction at my back, I let Night and Akatsuki take care of Glenna-san and collect the dropped items. I want to check more slowly since I've never seen any of these items before, but… Glenna-san is here, and this isn't the situation for that.
"Excuse me. Let's get out of here for now."
"Y-you're right."
As we continued through the forest, we took a breath.
"Phew… that really helped me. Thanks."
"N-no, I'm glad I could help."
"I didn't expect to run into a bunch of Assassin Chameleons… Anyway, since you saved my life, I should thank you for that…"
"T-thanking me?"
For some reason, Glenna-san takes my arm and presses her chest against me. Ah, um!
"Maybe you could come over to Onee-san's house tonight if you want. I can do nice things for you♪."
"N-nice things?"
"Yes. As Onee-san said───."
"───Did you forget me here?"
When I was having trouble dealing with Glenna-san, Luna released me from Glenna-san's arms. And just like that, Luna glares at Glenna-san.
"If there's gratitude to Yuuya, then, of course, I have one too, right?"
"Um… Luna-san?"
When I called out fearfully to Luna's attitude, Glenna-san gave a wry smile.
"It's a shame. I don't have any interest in that area… so that's about it for today, and I'm going to go home. I'm indeed tired, after all."
"Oh, then, do you want me to walk you back?"
As soon as I suggest that, Glenna-san smiles.
"That's a nice suggestion, but that's okay. Besides… I'm afraid of that girl if I'm around any longer…"
"Huh?"
I followed Glenna-san's gaze to find a strangely unhappy Luna staring at me.
"W-what's wrong?"
"…Nothing."
"I don't think there's nothing wrong with your face like that…"
No matter how many times I asked, Luna would only answer that in the end. Then, Glenna-san thanked us once more and left by herself, while Luna and I resumed our search in the forest, as we had intended.