Hugo

It was the morning of my departure, and I had this large map I just purchased yesterday from the local bookstore opened on my bed. To my surprise, it was actually more expensive than I had expected. And it’s much less detailed than the maps back in my old world too. I wonder if it’s just the natural limitation of the age or it’s intentionally made that way. I think I remember reading how back in the old days, they don’t have detailed maps of countries (or at least, the detailed ones wouldn’t be available to the public for purchase) for the sake of national defense, which makes sense really, seeing how knowing whether everything is in the enemy country is an invaluable information if you’re going to invade it.

I had purchased two maps; one was the map of the Holy Empire and one was the map of the Holy Continent as a whole.

“Now let’s see here…” My eyes and fingers began to traverse the drawings.

My first goal was to reach the Ronia Mountain Passage. According to the map of the Holy Empire I just bought, and the map of the Holy Continent in general, the fastest route to reach the Demon Continent was to head to the east from there and then north, all the way up to the one and only port town in the continent that could take me there.

It would be a long journey through multiple countries, but if Sherry could do it, then I should be able to as well.

With the route of my trip being decided, I wrapped the maps back up before putting them inside my bag. Another convenient thing about this Bag of Holding was that it had automatic compartmentalization, so you wouldn’t have to worry about your maps or books being dirtied if you also stored a monster part you just got for a quest inside.

Hmm, let's visit the Guild one last time. Just in case if there's a quest I can take on the way.

Sometimes there would be quests that you could complete by just reporting it to the Guild without needing for you to go to the one posting the job directly. They called it Guild Quests and the convenient part about them was that you could usually take the quest in one branch while reporting it in a different branch. If there was one that I could finish on my trip to Cecca, the next town where a Guild branch existed, why not take it? I could use the extra money.

“Charles-Senpai!”

As I walked from the front door to the quest board however, a familiar voice called out to me.

It was Lily, and she was waving her hand in the air with a big smile on her face.

And of course, beside her were her two friends, umm, what's their names again? Ah, that's right! Byron and Felt!

Sorry, if it's not a cute girl, I… tend to forget people's names, hehe.

With a smile, I walked over to them.

"Oh hey, it's you guys! Still on the hustle?"

"Of course, Senpai! In fact, we're now E-ranked adventurers now!" The violet-haired girl grinned, patting herself on her flat chest.

"How about you, Senpai?" Byron (the blonde knight boy) then asked. "Have you ranked up yet?"

"W-well, no, unfortunately…" I nervously scratched my chin.

"Eeh? Why not, Senpai?" Lily huffed. God, this girl is too cute.

"Oh, leave Senpai alone, Lily." The cool-looking black haired fighter named Felt interrupted. "You know that it's only harder and harder to rank up the higher you go, right? To go from C to B in just a month is wholly unrealistic."

"O-oh, really? I'm so sorry, Senpai! I didn't mean to offend you at all!" She bowed her head as deeply as she could.

"E-eh, it's fine. I'm not mad at all really. I'm not even bothered. It's true that I've been slacking off a little lately." I put my hand on her shoulder. Hngggghh, this girl is so adorable I almost want to take her with me! But I won't, because I have a hunch that her two friends might actually have some feelings for her themselves. They probably haven't actually realized it though, being kids and all.

It's not my style to NTR another guy. And besides, I already got a cute girl waiting for me. Right, Sherry? Please tell me you still like me after all these years…

“Senpai is being too nice!” Byron interrupted with own huff. “Lily here has been getting too uppity lately you know!”

“I’m not!” She quickly replied back.

“Yes, you are! You’re always saying Senpai this, Senpai that, and you keep bossing us around like you’re our older sister or something.”

“But I am older than you two! I’m twelve already this month! And you two are still eleven!”

“And next month, I’ll be twelve as well! And Felt the next month after that! So we’re practically the same age!”

I smiled looking at them bicker. They really are good friends, aren’t they?

“Oh, by the way, Senpai.” Felt suddenly spoke up. “We’ve decided on moving on to Cecca from today. We’re kinda bored already of this town, unfortunately, so we want to go there.”

“Yep!” Byron interrupted with a grin. “Our goal is to travel the world, you know, so we can’t just stay around in one town for long!”

“Senpai, do you still have business here? If not, then it would be great if you can join us!” Lily added with a smile, grabbing my hand.

...Dammit, I can’t resist that smile, can I?

“Well, what a coincidence! I was going there as well!” I replied with my own smile. And now, I have consigned myself to a babysitter role for these three kids. I just hope I won’t regret this later.

“Wow, really?” Lily grabbed my hands even tighter with her two hands, her bright eyes sparkling like the stars themselves. “Then, you have to come with us! W-we promise we wouldn’t be a bother!”

And with that, my future for the next 18 days was decided. Because that’s how long it would take for us to get there if we walked all the way.

------

In the end, I didn’t find any quests that fulfilled my criteria, so my trip to the Guild was, in retrospect, a complete waste of time. I didn’t even get to ogle Miss Receptionist one last time before I left, because Lily and co. were there. And I certainly didn’t want to get outed as a pervert to them! All I got were these three kids that I, want it or not, had to watch over.

Oh, by the way, I now knew why Miss Receptionist wasn’t as popular as I expected her to be. It’s simple, really. It turned out that she got this brute of an older sister that told all the other adventurers to stay away from her. She was this giant musclebound of a fighter, wielding a giant axe with her. She was an A-rank too, which made her pretty much the most powerful adventurer around.

How did I find that, you may ask? Why, I met her myself, of course! She loomed behind me as I was having a happy conversation with Miss Receptionist one fine morning. Thankfully, it seemed the fact that I was just a kid saved me from whatever she was going to do to those who got all too friendly with her little sister.

Well, at the very least, Lily here is cute. And you know what they say—cuteness heals the soul.

We departed after lunch, once we made our preparations, making sure that we had carried around all the equipment that we needed. Since they didn’t have a Bag of Holding like I did, they had to lug around these large backpacker-like bags with them. Man, I really am playing in Easy Mode, aren’t I, having this bag and being this strong so early on? All thanks to her, of course…

“Hmm? What’s the matter, Senpai? Why the long face?” Lily asked curiously.

“O-oh, nothing! J-just… thinking about stuff, really..” I forced a smile as I replied to her.

Once her attention switched to her friends, I let out a sigh. Dammit, every time. Every single time I think about her or anyone else back home, I get all depressed.

And there’s no escaping her. I owe her so much after all, from this bag to my magic training since I was little.

I want to forget, but I guess I can’t. It’s only been, what, a month?

But eventually, my self-centered self will forget. There’s no doubt about it. And I’ll stop feeling sad completely. I’ll move on to my own, new life.

Sorry Marina, but your little brother is not only a coward, but a selfish one as well.

-------------

We took our time getting to Cecca. Certainly, I could do the trip far faster if it was just me on my own using my Wind Step spell, but they certainly couldn’t. There was no point in rushing anyways. A journey is supposed to be enjoyed, no?

On the way, we passed by a couple of villages, and we tried to stay the night there if we could. When we couldn’t, we had to camp in the wilderness, in which I had to give them a few pointers on how to set up their tents or how to gather firewood. Once again, I immediately thanked Father for his teachings, only to be reminded of his death and feel all depressed for a good few hours after that.

As I feared, they ended up asking me to take them up as my “adventurer students”, whatever that meant. Especially Lily, who really wanted to be a better mage. It turned out that she only learned magic because of a magic book a trader had mistakenly left behind when he passed by her village. Byron and Felt however learned swordsmanship from their fathers, who were the village guards of the place.

I taught her as best as I could, remembering Marina’s lessons when she taught me back in those happier days (which, once again, sent me into momentary depression). It led to her being able to cast faster, which was certainly a really important thing for a mage to learn. I also taught her positioning in combat, remembering Marina’s golden words about how time is everything for a mage since you need time to cast your spells.

I also taught Byron and Felt, though I couldn’t really teach them much about swordsmanship. I just became their sparring partner, and honestly, compared to Sherry, who was much younger than them, they were nothing. I could read all their moves like a book and dodge them with ease. Our sparring always ended up with them chasing after me desperately while I moved around with my Wind Step spell. Really, I don’t think this is effective training at all. Maybe it’s good to raise their movement speed, but that’s that. No techniques or anything.

I also taught them the general formation of combat, on how they should protect Lily who was their backline. How to fight when attacked from the front, side, and back, and how to retreat from an unwinnable fight, which was the most important thing. I wouldn’t say that I was a master at any of this stuff, seeing how I had been going solo all this time, but Father had taught me how to fight in a party before we fought against Vera. Sure, they didn’t have a cleric, which I really suggested for them to have, but the basics remained the same.

As a result of all that, the monsters that we met on the road—ones that originally caused them trouble, they could take care of them handily on their own without me helping when we were nearing our destination.

Well, those were just D-rank monsters. They would still have major trouble fighting the boar from before, I believe.

---------

Cecca was another town located near the coastline, but it was nowhere near as busy as Frastelleren. It was mostly a fishing town, with only a small ship taking goods back and forth from Frastelleren. No passenger ship, since the two towns were so close to each other, at least according to this world’s travel standards.

I went to the Guild there and saw that there really weren't any worthwhile quests around. My guess was right. The quests were better back at the larger port town after all.

The trio however decided to take a D-rank quest of being a fisherman’s escort.

D-rank, huh? They should be alright. I already saw them fighting D-ranked monsters just to be fine.

Unless…

I remembered what that fisherman did—the one that took me to fight against a C-rank monster, lying in his quest posting.

...Yep. I should give this fisherman a good talking beforehand. See if he’s a lying bastard like that guy or not.

I can’t help it. Even though they were complete strangers, and they were older than me, I had grown fond of them from traveling all these days with them. And I certainly won’t want them to fall to danger, especially when I can do something about it.

And so I followed them when they went to meet the fisherman. After asking permission from them of course. Don’t want to be a stalker after all.

--------

The ship they were going to board on was a small one, as expected. Rich people probably would hire higher ranked adventurers guarding their ships, meaning rich fishermen could go into deeper waters to catch more expensive fishes.

I allowed them to take the lead. It was their quest after all. After speaking with several of the crewmen working around the small port, they were led to the boat they were supposed to guard. Thankfully, the captain was there, directing his crew to prepare for their upcoming trip.

My first expression of the man was that he was old, but not so old to be feeble. If I had to guess, he was around fifty years of age or so. He was a portly man, with a visible beer belly but also with well-toned muscles on his upper body—certainly an interesting contradiction. He had a brown mustache and beard, and judging by the way he interacted with his subordinates, he was a stern yet well-beloved captain, as he happily joked with them, while at the same time remaining in charge of the whole thing.

On the deck however was another man that stood out over the others, as he wasn’t garbed in the same sailor-esque outfit as the others. It was clear as day that he was an adventurer, as he was a tall and imposing figure, wearing leather armor and trousers with a large sword on his back. He had short, spiky black hair and he towered over the other men present. He was casually looking at the sea with his hands folded, turning his back at our direction.

What’s he doing here? I asked myself. Don’t tell me the old man already got another adventurer before them!

“Oh? What’s this? Three kids embarking on my ship?” The captain said when the trio approached him.

“You’re Mr. Melron, right?” Lily took the lead with a smile. “Good afternoon! I’m Lily and these two are Byron and Felt! And we’re here to take your escort quest!”

“Oh dear…” The Captain replied with a sigh, before he stroked his beard. “I’ve posted that quest, haven’t I? Oh, I’ve totally forgotten…”

“W-wait, what d'ya mean, old man?” Byron interrupted.

“I mean, I should have taken down that quest today, since Volk here has decided to be my escort instead. Hey, Volk! Come over here!” He shouted towards the intimidating-looking man.

He gave a glance towards the captain, before walking towards the trio. I could tell just by how they took a few steps backwards that they must be scared of him.

Me? Ha. It takes more than just a scary face and figure to intimidate me! Sherry’s expression when she goes all out is scarier than this!

“Volt here is my son, you see. And he’s an adventurer. A C-rank one in fact. He just came back this morning and he offered to help guard the ship from monsters. So truth be told, I don’t really need you three anymore…” He sheepishly admitted, scratching the side of his stache.

“Whaat? But we’ve accepted your quest!” Lily replied. “What are we supposed to do now?”

“W-well, I suppose I can ask for a cancellation at the guild. I’m truly sorry for wasting your time.” He bowed at them.

“Or, you can just bring us along anyway,” Felt smartly suggested with a smile. “We’ve gone all the way here, you know. And we certainly need the money.”

“Hmm, I reckon’ I could… oh, whatever. I can spare a few silvers. Especially to kids like you three.” He suddenly burst out to a laugh.

“Yay!” Lily raised her hands on the air in celebration. “Thank you soo much, Mr. Melron!”

“You three. How old are you?”

Their celebration was cut short when the man named Volk suddenly decided to speak out.

“Umm, I’m twelve and these two are eleven. Why do you ask?” Lily replied.

“Go home to whatever village you three come from and stop playing adventurers.”

This declaration, naturally, immediately took the trio by surprise.

“What?! Hey, Mister! Just so you know, we’re not some newbie adventurers! We’re already E-rank, you know!” Byron was the first one to speak.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Lily followed with a spirited reply. “You can’t just think of us as just some kids!”

“Go home,” he said it again, this time with a glare. “The Guild might accept kids as their adventurers but I won’t.” He folded his arms again.

“Just because you’re a C-rank doesn’t mean you can get all uppity over us!” Byron pointed his finger. “We have our own C-rank mentor, you know! Right, Senpai?”

And with that, I was inadvertently dragged into a conversation.

I walked forward, staring back at the tall man without flinching. He’s just a mere C-rank. I am way above his level.

“Another kid. And what age are you? Ten?”

“None of your business,” I replied coldly, folding my arms as well. His guess was right though. “Look. These three—I can vouch for their strength. Hey, old man, you’re not going too far out, are you? You’re just taking the boat into the nearby sea where there are only D-rank monsters around, right?”

“Y-yes, o-of course!” The captain flustered for a little bit. “I don’t dare going out that far! I’ll need a bigger boat than this to be safe! And I would certainly categorize my quest as a C-rank or even a B, not a D like I did.”

“You’re not lying, right?”

“Of course not! Who do you think I am? Why, I’m the most honest sailor in all of Cecca!” he replied in anger. I must have insulted his personal honor or something.

I gave a good look at him. Hmm, I don’t think he’s the type to lie. The guy that deceived me before was shady from the get go. And he didn’t get along with his crew as well, ordering them around like a slave driver, not being a father figure like this old man did.

“Then, there should be no problem,” I replied with a triumphant smile, looking back at the tall man. “I can vouch for their ability to fight against D-rank monsters. I trained them myself even.”

“Oh? And what rank are you?”

“I’m C-rank. Just like you.”

“Interesting. A kid like you, already a C-rank. I find it hard to believe.”

And then something unexpected happened. In a flash, he reached to his back, drew his greatsword, and brought the tip right in front of my face.

Or, that was what he would do if I hadn’t jumped out of the way.

“Well done.” Suddenly, a small smile blossomed on his face. “You really aren’t lying after all. That speed. You’re no amateur to be sure.”

“Hmph, you’re quite the brave one, to be doing that to another adventurer,” I replied with a smug smile of my own. “That sword swing was slow by the way. I’ve fought a swordsman stronger than you.”

And by that, I meant Sherry. I’m pretty sure she’s faster than this guy.

He sheathed his greatsword back. “Fine. I’ll take your word on them. They can go with us.”

“R-really? Yay! Oh, thank you so much, Senpai!” Before I knew it, Lily already gave me a hug from behind. Uurgh, she’s so soft! And she smells so good too! Too bad on the chest part though…

She didn’t linger long though as she immediately released me afterwards. “You’re really cool there, Senpai! You moved so fast my eyes can’t keep up!” She clasped her hands together.

Wow, really? Did I really move that fast? I never knew. Sherry certainly can keep up with my movements just fine.

“O-of course I did! That’s the power of a C-rank after all!” I pat my chest with a grin.

---------

Afterwards, I returned to the inn with the three. They would depart on the night and return before dusk the next day. It would just be a simple one day job. And with that guy around, there really was nothing to fear. I’m not really sure why, but after our little meeting, I just feel he’s someone to be trusted.

We had our late lunch together there, but we retired to our own chambers. I felt sleepy so I decided to just take a nap until it was time for them to depart.

Eh, they can do it on their own. Why should I be seeing them off like I’m their dad or something?