"He's… a she?"
Sylphiala nodded, "I shouldn't have been so blunt when I began this discussion... Anyway, now you know."
"Is Lucri her real name…?"
"No. Her real name is Elora. The name Lucri is a name of a character from a book she loves."
"Haa…." Arnold sank into his seat, "Why hide the fact that she was a girl? Was there a special reason behind it?"
"Why should I tell you anything?" Sylphiala stood up, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."
Before she could leave, Arnold grabbed her arm with a firm grip.
"This is my companion we're talking about. This is something that I need to know."
"…." Sylphiala looked at him for a few seconds, "Let go of my arm. It hurts."
"A-Ah, right."
Sylphiala sat down again and faced Arnold.
"Before I tell you why she decided to hide the fact that she was a girl, let me tell you a bit about her past…"
Elora was born to a family that owned a large farm in a certain region to the west of the empire. The environment there was harsh and cold but her family could get by due to her father's competence in farming.
They were a big family. Elora had nine other siblings—all of them being girls. This naturally had an effect on her father since he couldn't get any boys to be born.
Perhaps it was bad luck or they simply didn't do it at the right moment which was why no male babies were born.
One day, Elora and two of her sisters were sent to the supermarket in a town near their village. Times were tough back then after the civil war. They had to physically go to the town to sell the crops.
Elora couldn't understand why her father gave her and her siblings so many vegetables and cattle to sell. It wasn't like they didn't go to the market to sell every week so there was no reason to sell so much in one go.
But Elora found out why later that day when they were finished with the sales.
"Her father left a note saying, 'I can't look after all of you. It's too much. Our farm was going to fall anyway so I sold most of our things and sent all of you out in groups to different locations. Look after each other…'."
"Couldn't the father just teach any one of them how to manage a farm? I mean, it's not like a woman and a man is that different that they won't be able to do anything."
"They're from a different era where that ideology is not accepted. The father was probably still hopeful that a boy would be born so he didn't teach his daughters; obviously because he thought that they would just make everything worse."
Elora was lucky enough to find good people next to the road where they were walking. A nice old couple took them in and they had grown up there for three years. But due to famine and disease, she lost them all—one by one.
Bethany was eaten alive by wolves. Her remains were left on the porch of the old couple's home. That meant that she was able to make it home in time but couldn't open the door because she was jumped by wolves.
Chloe was infected with a dangerous parasite which fed on her organs. They had to bury her alive to prevent the parasite from crawling out of her body to seek other victims.
After those people—who took them in—died from old age, she had been tossed around by multiple foster parents. She wasn't even sure who her real family was anymore.
Did she have a real family? Why did she survive alone? What about her biological mother and father?
A young child being abandoned so many times was bound to face some mental problems or have difficulties fitting in to society. No one wanted her and she had nowhere to go.
Was she even wanted by anyone in this world if she was tossed around so much?
"She didn't have an identity in this world so she chose to make one on her own. That was when she changed her name and appearance. And all this was influenced by her father who wanted a boy to be born in their family."
Arnold was silent.
"She came from a family with ten daughters. Ten. She was the last one to be born before her mother's menopause. Her father was angered because there was no boy to hand the farm over to. Elora wanted to answer his expectations but could never do it. I know it sounds strange. Even I thought so at first. But if this was her coping mechanism then I had no reason to stop her."
"…I heard her say something about people always leaving her… So this was what she meant."
Perhaps this Elora died earlier on in the game before she could make a name for herself. Her class alone could make her become one of the world's strongest NPCs. Even players wouldn't be able to hold a candle to her in magical combat.
"Do you hate her now?" Sylphiala asked carefully.
"Why would I?"
"I'm asking because many of the people she invited to her party in the past would leave without a second thought. Some would insult her and call her weak-willed while others would laugh. She saw her siblings die one by one after being sent on a phantom adventure which was intended to get her away from the farm. Convenient, isn't it? Her parents just up and left. I'm still confused why she can smile so brightly to this day after the things she's been through."
"It's certainly a strange story but everyone has different coping mechanisms, as you said."
"Right?" Sylphiala smiled, "I guess you aren't a bad guy as I thought you were."
"Does anyone else know?"
"Only Clint knows. I wasn't the one who actually told him. Elora was."
"Should I tell Lucri—no, Elora, that I know of her real identity?"
"Absolutely not!" Sylphiala hit the table which startled Arnold, "Wait until she's ready to tell you herself after she trusts you enough."
Sylphiala looked towards the stairs for a brief moment, "We should get going. Elora and Clint might assume things if we take too long. I'll go back first."
"Right… Goodnight."
"Mm."
Sylphiala left the booth and headed up the stairs. Her footsteps disappeared a while later.
"Wait… Doesn't the fact that Lucri was actually a girl mean that I touched her underwear the other day?" Arnold's eyes widened, "Shit…"
◇◇◇
Morning came and the town was lively with people going to work and adventurers taking up quests. Though he had travelled the empire a lot, Liam found a lot of things which interested him.
There was the culture of this world and the variety of traditions. It was a society with a lot variety like foods, music and entertainment that was unlike the earth he grew up on.
Unlike musicians sitting on the street playing their piano and whatnot, there were bards who told stories using traditionally one reciting epics associated with a particular oral tradition or tale that they experienced themselves or heard from others.
Entertainment in this world wasn't as widespread or numerous as those on earth. There were things like playing games, dancing or watching gladiators fight each other to the death.
Lastly, the food… Arnold, no, Liam in particular wasn't really a picky eater. Since he grew up poor there weren't a lot of varieties. But he swore to himself that he would definitely go on an eating spree around the continent once he became rich.
The variety of different foods was too much to even count. He settled with a simple snack since he didn't know what else to get.
Arnold opened up his mouth and took a bite of the steaming meat sandwich that he bought earlier. He was waiting for Elora, Clint and Sylphiala who entered the guild branch.
Elora was reporting on the findings of the incident from the other day.
She was actually the one that insisted since she never got to do anything. No, it was more like there was no need for her to do anything else.
I know that everything will be alright as long as I listen to Sir Nova but please let me do something on my own too!
She had said that to Arnold this morning with a determined look on her face.
'Well, what can I do if she's that passionate about it…'
"Whoa, this is good. Why does it taste like chicken? I'm sure that the stall guy said that this was a cockatrice monster's meat. I guess they are sort of like mutated chickens."
Arnold looked around the street he was standing on.
There were people with rabbit ears, humans with faces of animals and even demihuman monsters with human qualities.
'It's weird how I'm not startled by how different this world is compared to earth. Am I finally adjusting to my reality?'
He wouldn't forget his primary goal though.
Finding other players.
But before he even thought of seeking other players, he had to become stronger first. It was actually quite easy for him to go to a relic tomb and obtain a powerful weapon but then what would happen next if he did?
Many would become greedy and want to take whatever he finds now and in the future. He also couldn't rely on his father for protection because he was now an independent city lord.
Once he got those crystals on the market then his normal life would be no more. Many people would try and kill him out of greed for money. Burying the crystals somewhere was an easy thing to do but the difficult part was trying to resist the enemies that would try and steal from him.
'I have three choices at the moment: Get stronger even with the risks, seek protection from someone with a lot of influence or none of the above.'
Or he could simply continue with his normal life and not make his name public once he markets the crystals.
But Arnold was hoping to make the second choice happen. There were a lot of people he could seek that protection from. The problem was what they would need in return for his request.
'This is stressing me out. There's another worry clouding my mind.'
That was how to protect himself against divinity. As proven from his battle against Lancelot, he learned that divinity could harm him even if he was just scratched slightly by it.
'I didn't really care about Luke beating me but I have some answers as to why he was able to defeat me so easily.'
Original Arnold wanted to understand that power that could defeat him so easily by just being swallowed by it. He would always stick close to Luke and demand him to release that power.
'It's amusing how our vassals are insulting me behind my back for being defeated by a little kid.'
Victoria would always update him on the state of their city's status and also mention what rumors are spreading around. Naturally, there were a lot of them who insulted Arnold.
But Arnold didn't really care about what they thought about him or his fight with the Hero. He was bound to lose even if he tried fighting at full power. Arnold thought it was idiotic of people to keep questioning why he didn't do anything about Luke who stole his position.
The short answer was that he didn't care about the position of heir. Why would he? He wasn't the original Arnold so what was once important to that Arnold wasn't important to the current Arnold. Yes, he lost a lot of power and prestige but that was fine as long as he had Victoria by his side.
She was literally a powerhouse so why would he need other guards? Perhaps his father knew about Victoria from the very beginning and didn't bother assigning Arnold guards.
Then there was the problem with money. Arnold could always ask his father but he wanted to be an independent person who makes his own money. He wanted money that belonged solely to himself.
'I'm also looking for an item.'
It was known as a Cherubim, the Angelic Eye.
Although the amount would only be about 60%, it was enough for him to not pass out if Luke decided to fight him with divinity again.
Cherubim was a living artifact with a soul and intelligence. It didn't discriminate against race so even a demon could use it if it allowed them to. The simple way to control a Cherubim was to lay your desire bare to it. No lies or trying to get around the truth. Otherwise she will curse you with hundreds of debuffs that will be troublesome to remove.
Just the simple truth of your desire. Arnold already knew what his desire was so he wasn't worried about Cherubim's requirement.
'I can look for ways to get stronger after getting my hands on Cherubim.' He thought so because what was important at the moment wasn't getting stronger but finding ways to protect himself against people able to use divinity that could kill him.
'Finding Cherubim will be difficult but I can worry about that later.'
Arnold heard someone's footsteps approaching him.
"Sir Nova!" A yell called out to him.
He could see Elora run towards him with lots of papers in her hands. Clint and Sylphiala followed from behind.
"What are those?" Arnold pointed at the documents.
"Ah, these are the documents we have to submit to the headquarters. The branch receptionist told me that we can get our reward there. These documents are only clarification that we carried out the subjugation."
"I see." Elora gave the documents to Arnold. He rolled them up and put it in his bag.
"…?" He noticed that Elora was looking up at him with a quiet gaze, "I-Is something wrong?"
"…."
'Oh!' He realized what she wanted. He put his hand on her shoulder.
"Good work."
She grinned happily.
Sylphiala and Clint arrived where Arnold had been standing all this time.
"The two of you just keep surprising me every time," Clint sighed, "First it was that insane amount of power you had that made you able to fight a dragon now you were able to save a village from demons. How far are you going to outshine the veterans? Do you know how long it took for me to become an A-rank?"
"I guess I'm lucky? Hahaha." Arnold tried to smooth it over with a laugh. No, he had quite literally wanted to get involved with both those situations.
"As expected of a Transcendent." Clint smiled wryly.
"The question is how you killed those demons, though." Sylphiala muttered from the side, "Well, whatever. Anyway, the two of us should get going."
"Yeah. I can't waste another second in this town."
"…When are you guys coming back?" Elora asked worriedly.
Arnold could tell that she was scared of being left alone again. He disappeared without a trace, after all so it was a reasonable fear.
Sylphiala patted her head, "Don't worry. I'll come back as soon as I can. Even if Clint and the others are still gone."
"….Yes…"
Arnold felt Clint nudge his elbow, "So, err, about yesterday's incident… Can you keep it a secret from Crull that I had my ass handed to me by a kid far younger than me?"
"You're really hopeless, mister Clint. What started the fight in the first place?"
"Well…" Clint's gaze wandered, "H-He called me weak and he said that Sylphy deserves a real man."
'That's the reason?'
Arnold looked at him as if he were an idiot.
"An adult shouldn't get mad over just a few words. It's frankly pathetic that you're my senior."
"S-Sorry…"
"That guy was out of your league anyway…" Arnold could still remember the expression on Leonhard's face when he was faced with certain death.
He was deadpan.
"He was stronger than me as well."
"Huh!? Even stronger than sir Nova!?" Elora seemed to have heard their conversation since she squeezed in-between the two to ask.
"The only reason I won was because I have experience in combat and took advantage of my opponent. I'm still confident in beating him again. But that's if he doesn't learn martial arts which gave me the upper-hand."
"…I see… So that kid was even stronger than you…" Clint sighed, "I was a fool to challenge someone like that."
"Enough with this depressing tale of yours," Sylphiala said in annoyance and pulled Clint's arm, "Let's go. I've already said my goodbyes to Lucri."
"R-Right." Clint looked at Arnold, "This may seem weird of me to ask but…"
"Hm?"
"Would you like to spar with me sometime?"
'Oho? He wants to grow stronger after recognizing his weaknesses?'
Such a person was worthy of being a comrade of his. The most important thing for someone wanting to be his comrade was to have the urge to grow and not remain the people they once were.
If they fulfil this requirement then he would do his utmost to aid such people so that his future self has many people to rely on.
He learned this from Alecs and demonstrated this lesson with the girl he mentored for a short period of time.
Arnold looked at Clint's hand which was stretched out towards him.
"You got it, mister Clint." Then he shook it.
"Just Clint is fine. I'll be seeing you around... Nova…" Clint smiled before the two of them boarded the carriage that was stationed outside the guild branch.
Arnold and Elora watched their carriage drive away.
"Let's get going as well. The sooner we finish these quests, the sooner we get to go to the capital."
"Okay~!"