BSLFS 51

Chapter 51

(Raiga’s POV)
Inserting a bookmark

When I came to the Adventurers’ Guild in the morning, I spotted Layla talking something over with Sam.
She was asking things like whether she would still grow taller, or whether she would become more mature-looking.

—She’s not a dwarf, though—

It’ll probably take time, but Layla will grow taller eventually, and she’ll look more adult-like too.
If she’s worried enough to consult someone about it, then it’s obviously better to tell her.

I tugged on Stefan’s arm as he was standing near the entrance, looking at the quest board, and spoke to him in a low voice.

“Hey, don’t you think we should tell Layla, ‘Your race seems kind of like a demon’?”

Stefan frowned.

“If we do that, she’ll probably start introducing herself as ‘I’m a demon.’ And then it’ll turn into a whole scene.”

“Well… yeah, I guess that’s true.”

“Besides, whether she’s a demon or not is just speculation. No one’s actually seen a real demon before anyway.”

“Then why not take her to that elf they say is at the headquarters of the Mage Guild? Elves live a long time, so they probably know a lot about demons. They’d be able to tell just by looking, right?”

“—They say elves have a particularly strong aversion to demons—and since they live so long, they probably still remember the time when they were fighting demons. If we took her there, and if Layla really were a demon, who knows what they’d do to her.”

Stefan looked at me with a serious expression.

“So far, even if Layla were a demon, no problems have come up—and didn’t we talk about this before, including with the director, and agree that it was fine to leave things vague for now? If we stir things up unnecessarily, Layla’s the only one who’ll feel bad.”

“That’s true, but—what Layla herself wants matters too, right? I mean, she was talking to Sam about her appearance, so I thought maybe we should tell her.”

“What was she consulting him about?”

“I don’t know, but…”

Stefan went “Hmm,” put a hand to his chin, then turned around and waved to the reception desk.

“Lil. Did anything happen this morning? Layla was talking to Sam about… well, this and that—it looked like she was consulting him.”

Lil tucked her hair behind her ear, came closer to Stefan, and spoke in a whisper. I pricked up my ears to listen.

“Sonia got a little… involved with Layla-chan. Looking at Layla-chan, she said, ‘When you look up close, you’re really not a child.’ I’m sorry—one of our new Mage Guild members caused trouble. I’ll talk to that girl properly later.”

Sonia. I flinched at the name of the red-haired female mage.

She’s a mage who’s here on training from the Mage Guild, and she has a troublesome personality that’s very mage-like—she loves solving everything with magic.

When Sonia first came to this town, we worked together for a while as beginners. That was when we went to exterminate a giant bat that had made its nest in a cave near a village. Sonia went and unleashed explosion magic inside the cave, and the ceiling nearly collapsed on us. On top of that, the noise startled the bats, and a huge number of them came pouring out from deeper inside—it turned into total chaos.

Well, a lot happened after that, but once we’d gotten used to the work, I told her we should disband the party and that she should look for other companions. For some reason, she suddenly got angry. After that, to avoid running into her for a while, I took on an escort request to Lucidod and left town for some time—that’s what happened before I met Layla.

“Sonia, huh…”

Stefan looked troubled and put his hands to his head.

—If Sonia got involved with Layla, that’s like half your fault, you know.

I swallowed the words “Stop clutching your head and do something about it” before they could come out.

Even from the outside, it was obvious Sonia had feelings for him.
But the moment she started showing that affection openly, he suddenly became cold and put distance between them—so of course she got angry. Probably. I don’t know.

In the first place, this guy treats everyone kindly and evenly, so he makes people misunderstand.

Even back in that cave, while I was yelling, “Are you trying to kill us?” he was smiling and saying things like, “Maybe we should be a bit quieter next time.” If you keep handing out only the “carrot” in carrot-and-stick, of course people are going to develop feelings.

He’s so considerate and says such gentle things that, when we were acting together, even I almost misunderstood and thought Stefan might actually be interested in Sonia. And yet, when the other person starts showing affection and things get troublesome, he has a bad habit of running away.

No, I told him to talk things through properly with Sonia instead of running away by taking a long-distance job. But he said things would calm down if they didn’t see each other for a while, and he went and accepted that Lucidod-bound request.

…Well, he seems aware of that side of his own personality, and aside from that indecisiveness, I really do think he’s a great guy.

Just then, someone tugged lightly on my clothes.

When I turned around, Layla was looking at me like she had something to say.

“…What is it?”

“I was thinking… maybe it’s about time I tried monster extermination, too…”

I choked on my words.

She calmed a fire dragon, after all… so it probably wouldn’t be a problem to take her along…
But honestly, I don’t really want her doing anything too dangerous.

“No, I don’t think monster extermination would be very fun for you. Trudging around muddy mountains isn’t fun, right? And can you even handle blood? You’re basically a shut-in who only knows Chiara’s temple and this town. If you actually went to the field, you’d definitely be like, ‘This is gross, what is this?’”

“…I can handle that much…”

Layla puffed out her cheeks, clearly annoyed.

“Well, uh… I guess… if you say you’re fine…”

“Then how about starting with this?”

I don’t know how much of the conversation he’d been listening to, but Stefan suddenly popped his head in and placed a single quest sheet between us.

“Client: Mage Guild
Quest Details: Collection of the magical herb Mandragora”

I nodded.

“Well… this might be… okay.”

Magical herbs are plant-like monsters that become the basis for all kinds of medicines. In the current season, when it’s starting to warm up, they’re just reaching maturity, and the grown herbs start wandering around the mountains—it’s harvest season. That’s why there are so many collection requests from the Mage Guild.

Their downside is that if you hear them scream when you try to pick them, you’ll faint—but earplugs solve that problem. Other than being fast runners, they’re not very dangerous monsters.

“Sonia’s group accepted that one too, and it’s not really a request meant for B-rank adventurers like you…but we’re short on hands…”

Lil tilted her head, thinking.

“Since Layla says she wants to go, I don’t want to take on anything too dangerous…”

When I whispered that to her, Lil looked at me with curious eyes.

…What.

“Well, the more magical herbs we have, the better. You two can take on another request afterward as well.”

Lil waved her hand and said, “Have a good trip.”