Chapter 4: Knocking on Trundle Guild’s Gate

Chapter 4: Knocking on Trundle Guild’s Gate

Good day, everyone. I, Serephione Granzeus, had now turned eleven years old.

I was shorter than average, as I always had been. I had barely gained any weight either, thanks to my grandmother having me run so much.

I’m a petite shut-in with black hair and black eyes—can’t I just live an uneventful life as a hermit in a corner of our mansion? Do I even have to go on an adventure?

On the other hand, I would have been around forty in my past life now. I would start to worry about aging and pensions soon. I really would have to get serious about saving cash.

It had been five years since my brother’s magic tournament. Our family situation was now as follows...

1) My father was in the process of transforming from a handsome young man into a dandy gentleman, with sexy crow’s feet beginning to form at the corners of his eyes.

He received attempts at flirtation from a wide age range of women telling him they were looking for a husband, but since he only had eyes for my mama in heaven, he paid them no consideration. The range of new magic he could use was steadily increasing. He isolated himself as a rule, as usual, but he unfortunately couldn’t give up his position as Minister of Finance. He was a family supremacist.

2) My grandmother, the beautiful witch, was somehow looking younger with every year.

She was causing a revolution in the fashion world in the capital, and she was designing more and more intricate hair accessories as well. Her stamina was increasing with her consistent training, and she was training up some apprentice spies apart from me and my brother. The Trundle army could have taken on the kingdom’s guard force with ease. She was a fluffball supremacist.

3) My brother had graduated from the magic academy at the top of his class.

He received job offers from the government, the military, the magic department, and all sorts of other places, but the place he chose to work was the Royal Library. Pretty much the only reason he went to the magic academy was to read the library books, anyway. He cast illusion magic and read as many top-secret books as he could get his hands on. He was difficult to deal with as an employee and worked strictly from only nine to five. He declared that he would quit after he’d read everything. All the rest of his time belonged to his family. He was a little sister supremacist.

4) Loudarylphena was a cake supremacist.

I discovered something about Lou that I should have known a long time ago. At the end of last year, an avalanche had occurred in our domain that couldn’t be prevented by magic in time. Just then, Lou instantly grew to full size, set me on his back, effortlessly kicked aside the fallen snow, and carried me to the top! I got to ride on the one who was always riding on me!

“Lou, don’t tell me you can actually change your body at will?”

“I can, actually! But I’m too bulky when I’m large, so it’s inefficient. And people give me more cake when I’m small.”

So, basically, he just thought walking was too much effort and liked that he got more treats at fluffball-size?! How sly can a holy beast be?! But from then on, as long as we were in a place nobody could see, he could carry me on his back and run. He was fast! Oh, but he always demanded cake when we got back, so it was a lot of work for Matsuki.

And then there was one more sly holy beast. It irritated Lou to no end that he’d shown up without making an appointment!

After my brother’s magic tournament, Gillain proposed to me through formal diplomatic channels. It set off a huge commotion. Why would the prince of a large nation want a Magicless girl ten years his junior, after all?

I thought he would reveal the truth about me and Lou, but apparently he told our kingdom’s foreign affairs officer, “I have no need for any more magic, and she’ll be all the easier for Judore to let go of if she’s Magicless. This union will establish a friendly relationship between our nations.”

I was shocked to hear him talk about “a friendly relationship.” He might have been trying to curry favor with me by not spilling my secret, but since he put unnecessary attention on me, I gave him my most childish temper tantrum! I rejected all his requests to visit me or take me on dates! As my grandmother would say, a little selfishness just adds spice to a girl, heh heh heh!

My father adamantly rejected the proposal as well. He said he had no intention of marrying his beloved daughter into another nation. It wouldn’t hurt or bother the Granzeuses even if either nation kicked us out; our family could get by living anywhere. With our power, we could even have taken our domain with us.

That meant the case was closed! Or so I’d thought, until Gillain sent the Vermilion Bird, whose nickname was Asu. He was a holy beast, so he easily broke through our estate’s numerous defenses and made himself at home. That brought us to the present.

“What you’re eating there looks tasty as usual, Lou.”

“Asu... Don’t come back. I’ll run out of treats! Go be a good little servant to His Majesty!”

Asu chuckled. “Gillain is happy to be without me temporarily if it means I’ll check in on you when he can’t come here himself.”

“Damn it...”

Asu preferred ice cream to cake. Was it because he was the heavenly beast of the south? Matsuki’s eyes grew red from the effort of increasing his ice cream repertoire. Sorry!

When Gillain graduated at seventeen with flying colors and concluded his time studying abroad in our kingdom, Asu came with a letter requesting a visit. I knew it was a bad idea to get involved with him, but I gave my consent since this would be the last time. I owed a lot to him in my past life, so I couldn’t help but cut him some slack.

We were to meet at midnight, on the roof of my house.

“I understand that you’re strong, but I have no intention of making a lady walk outdoors at night. And if I came into your room, we would lose time listening to the earl complain about it. This is the best of both options.”

The roof is? But the stars were beautiful. Gillain, Asu, the fluffball, and I sat next to each other, draped in all black to blend in with the night. Asu matched Lou’s size while he was here. You sly little things, scheming to win my heart...! Fine, I admit defeat.

Contracted people could pick up on holy beasts’ voices, and the same seemed to go for people who had one as a servant. As soon as he arrived, Gillain had been making moves at Lou and whispering about something or other. Is this solicitation? Darn it, he’s serious!

“Have you come around to being my bride?”

“How can you even ask that? I’m just a child.”

“I don’t think of you as one. You’re a fellow human being and my equal. I want you, Serephione.”

“Don’t you already have enough power?”

“I’m not after Lou, although it would be endlessly entertaining to watch Lou and Asu together. It’s you that I want. At only six years old, you told me without a doubt that I would become emperor. You believed in my future when not even I could.”

I didn’t believe, though. I just knew.

“It’s not like you to be vulnerable...”

“I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t want to lie just to hear what you have to say in response to a lie. It would mean nothing. It’s important to me to know what you really feel.”

It’s lonely being a politician. My voice may not be very useful to you, but I swear to be honest, so you can trust me. Emperor Gillain would walk down a much lonelier path in the future—a path where he couldn’t trust what anyone said.

“Ah...”

It was a shooting star.

“Do you know how to wish on a shooting star, Your Majesty?”

“I don’t.”

“If you say your wish three times while it’s in the sky, it will come true. What do you wish for?”

“For you to be my empress.”

“Nuh-uh! I’d have assassins after me as an empress, right? Too much stress.”

Gillain burst into laughter. “Ha ha, I’ll have to give you some special privileges to make it worth your while.”

“Can’t you think of anything else? Oh, there’s another one! Make a wish!”

A star streaked through the sky from the heavens.

In that instant, I clutched his hand and whispered—I wish for your wish to come true. I wish for your wish to come true. I wish for your wish to come true. I knew it would; I was overpowered, after all. What could he have wished for? I could only pray it wasn’t a path of violence. I hoped that would be enough to repay him for what he did in my past life, although it was really nothing more than self-indulgence on my part.

I looked back from the sky to his face. I couldn’t make out his expression in the darkness with the moon behind him, but his demeanor was more serene than ever before. Apart from the crappy personality, he’s pretty handsome, I thought to myself—and just then, he pulled me close to his large body, took down the hood covering my head, and kissed my cheek.

“Ah...”

His magic flowed into me. The emperor’s magic had a melancholy bitterness to it—it resembled coffee from my past life.

I...loved coffee. I accepted the emperor’s magic. It spread through every inch of my small body.

“Good night, Serephione.”

With that, Emperor Gillain disappeared, accompanied by Asu and the wind.

It had now been several years since then, and he was facing the final battle for the imperial throne of Galé, a battle against the first prince.

I hadn’t come across Prince Schneider since back then either, but the premise that he was sickly was a thing of the past. He was now well-known as the first prince and an excellent magic user. He was good-looking and well-liked by the people.

It seemed he had stopped living in the shadows. Did that mean he had gained the confidence to take on the queen and the reformists?

And it was almost time for my knight school entrance exam! Ahh, I was so nervous. Help me, gods!

◇ ◇ ◇

The knight school, which was located on the coast south of the capital, trained top-class young leaders to carry the military of Judore. Students took the entrance exam at eleven years old and started school at thirteen if they passed. They then studied for four years and graduated at seventeen. After graduation, a student might become a guard, a police officer, or even suddenly be made the commander of a public order squad, depending on their goals and their particular level of skill.

Almost a hundred percent of people who got Normal or Advanced on their magic exam at six years old went to the magic academy, so almost a hundred percent of students at knight school were Magicless. Why “almost?” For one thing, there was my irregular presence, but there were also occasionally people whose magic awakened after their magic exam. The heroine was one of those people.

I figured I’d go with that as a cover story if it came out that I had magic. I was an actress!

Knight school offered a chance to make something of your life even if you were Magicless, so commoners flocked to it. The exam was free, and your living expenses would be paid for if you were accepted, so it drew kids from all around the kingdom who took pride in their strength.

“Don’t be so stiff, Serephi. You can act normally.”

My grandmother, an alumna, accompanied me.

“But grandmother, you didn’t prepare me for the written test at all! Look at how many people are taking it. There must be fifty people here who are smarter than me.”

Fifty people were being accepted this year, incidentally.

“Don’t worry, Serephi. You have the skills down. Trust me as your grandmother.”

“But... I feel everyone looking at me is like, ‘What are you doing here, you idiot?! You have the wrong place!’”

Everyone’s been pointing at me and whispering rumors about me. Sniff... We’re all Magicless here, so they wouldn’t be making fun of me for that.

“Well...you are in the wrong place in a way. They’re all thinking, ‘What’s this tiny, adorable girl doing here?’ The tables will turn when the test results come back.”

“Erza.”

Lou called out to my grandmother and jumped onto her shoulder. He wasn’t going to accompany me into the exam venue. Although my grandmother couldn’t hear him, thanks to her sharp intuition, she perceived that he had addressed her. She began to tear up, moved that he had chosen her shoulder.

“Your Holiness! I’m honored...!”

Huh? Does having Lou on your shoulder warrant tears of joy? He’ll get crumbs all over your dress while you’re waiting, you know?

I found that my nerves had disappeared.

“Okay, see you two later!”

“I’ll be praying for your victory, Serephione.”

“Sere, this is the next step toward our adventure! Go for it!”

Yeah, it’s time to take hold of my dream!

I nodded and entered the venue.

The written test went exactly how my grandmother said it would. I used math and physics simulations to calculate the projectile range of a cannon and set its angle. Many of the problems asked for the amount of supplies necessary to execute a given battle plan, and I was able to solve them using middle-school-level formulas from my past life.

I’d unconsciously picked up an understanding of biology and geography through real-world experiences with my family. Be it the vital points of humans and how to do first aid, the topography of the kingdom, the climate and soil quality of each region, or where and why to set up camp in the mountains, I’d studied it all multiple times while practicing with my family. It was all knowledge I was already putting to use.

Thank you, everyone! And thank you Tenjin, god of learning! I’ll plant your favorite plum tree in my yard in your honor!

I neatly bowed twice, clapped twice, and gave one last deep bow at the end, as was customary when visiting a Shinto shrine in my past life. Then I ate the boxed lunch Matsuki made me; it had plentiful breaded pork cutlets, upon which he had written “You can do it!” in ketchup.

Next up was the skills test! I changed my outfit and made my way to the circular arena.

The test-takers were split into multiple groups and lined up. We were surrounded by spectator seating, and the guardians who came along were finding places to sit down where they could see their family.

I looked for a familiar sign of Lou—and there he was, at the very top! He was eating something in the shadows behind my grandmother and Enrique. My grandmother was casting cleansing magic on herself about once every three minutes; no matter how much she respected Lou, she couldn’t handle the crumbs and drool.

Hey, wait, I thought you were here to cheer me on! That just looks like a picnic! I shot the two a murderous glare, and they hastily waved to signal to me. They both had cream on their mouths!

I was wearing a white shirt, pants in Lou’s sky-blue, and tall black boots. My hair was tied back tightly so it wouldn’t catch on anything.

I wasn’t in my ninja outfit, of course; that was for when I got really serious. I’d added improvements upon improvements to it, so it wasn’t something I could show off in a place like this anymore. Even the shoes were top-secret.

My weapons were a one-handed sword and a knife in a holder attached to my left thigh. It wasn’t like short lances were prohibited; using a one-handed sword was simply worth more points. I planned to use the knife and sword at the same time if I couldn’t finish things with just the one-handed sword.

The rules were simple. Two entrants fought, and the match ended when either someone gave up or the referee stopped the fight. The time limit was five minutes. We would stop just before, of course.

“Numbers 125 and 376, come forward!”

Finally... I was about to fall asleep. I was so tired of waiting, I didn’t even feel nervous anymore.

I bowed politely and entered the arena. My opponent was an orange-haired boy who appeared to be a commoner. The blade of his sword was chipped, but there was a fierce glint in his eyes. That’s right; his future rests on this. But so does mine, so I can’t lose.

“Begin!”

He closed the distance between us at once and swung his sword down toward my face. He was holding nothing back, all the more so because his opponent was a girl.

Clang! Swoosh!

I deflected his sword and landed a kick on his solar plexus. Oh, he didn’t collapse! He bent over at the torso, but he still put some distance between us and coolly considered his next move. He warily circled to the right to close the gap.

When the arena wall was next to him, he broke into a run right up the wall and jumped off right above my head! With the sun now behind him, he swung his sword at me from above. He was using the sunlight against me! So, we’re fighting with street rules... Interesting. I drew my knife in my right hand and pointed the naked blade at him.

“Ahh!”

The sunlight reflecting off the knife hit his eyes directly. I took advantage of his moment of hesitation and hopped a step back, jumped behind him, and tapped the base of his neck with the back of my sword. If that had been the sharp side of the blade...his head would have come right off. The boy speechlessly sank to his knees.

“Your match is over. Stand by for your results.”

It would have been embarrassing if I’d failed, so I went to the results board by myself. About two hours had passed since the skills test, and the results were posted at the front entrance.

125, 125, 125... There it is!

“Lou! Grandmother! Enrique! I did it! I passed!” Crying tears of joy, I dashed to Lou and my grandmother, who were waiting at the gate.

“Congratulations, Serephione! Your hard work paid off!” My grandmother had tears in her eyes.

“Sere, congratulations! Congratulations!” Lou came back onto my shoulder and licked my cheek.

I was so happy! I’d taken another step away from the book and toward my dream! I couldn’t stop crying.

Enrique, his eyes red, handed me a handkerchief.

“Lou, grandmother, Enrique, thank you! This is—”

“Colonel!”

There was suddenly a hoarse yell that drowned out my voice. I turned toward the sound to see an old man in a military uniform covered in medals dashing toward us, kicking up dust. As soon as he reached us, he assumed a soldier’s stance with his heels together and saluted.

“Colonel, I’m glad to see you after all this time!”

Oh, he’s talking to grandmother. Wait, grandmother?! Your eyes! They’re upside-down triangles!

“You’re interrupting an emotional moment with Serephione, you dumb bastard! How many times do I have to tell you to take a goddamn hint?!”

Her iron-ribbed fan made a clean arc through the air. Clang!

The old man went flying about twenty meters, hit the entrance...and started to swoon?

N-Nice swing!

“I’m terribly sorry!”

The old man—aka General Avenger—apologized profusely to my grandmother. He’s the one who got hit, so why is he apologizing?

After the results were posted, I went back to the school building and sat with my grandmother on a three-person sofa in the reception room. The general sat on the sofa across from us, his right cheek gradually turning blue. Shouldn’t we put ice on that?

“If you have something to say, Lieutenant, spit it out. You know whose daughter she is, don’t you? What do you think will happen if it gets out that a military officer held her up?”

The fluffball on top of my head was impatient to go home. Hey, quit poking me!

The general gasped. “Minister Granzeus...?! C-Couldn’t you mediate between us, Colonel...?”

“No can do. Just get to the point!”

This man dripping with cold sweat was actually the head of the kingdom’s military. The Kingdom of Judore only had one general. The head of the national magicians was a different person.

The general who came before General Avenger’s predecessor was my late grandfather Trundle. When my grandmother was in her prime, General Avenger had been a young novice officer. Judging by how terrified he seemed of her, I wondered just what kind of orders she’d given him...

“I’m here today as a consultant to watch the knight school entrance tests. I heard that there was quite an unusual test-taker, so I came to see—”

“Unusual?!”

“I-I mean, quite a wonderful test-taker! I came to see her, and you happened to be here, Colonel Erza, so I knew then...”

“Yes, Serephione is my granddaughter, a direct descendant of the Trundle family. That will be all.”

“W-Wait! I’ll just ask directly. Your granddaughter is a magic user, isn’t she?”

“She wouldn’t be here if she weren’t Magicless.”

“I remember your magic, Colonel. And I sense another very strong magical presence coming from your granddaughter.”

Wow, the general notices Lou! If not for the illusion magic, he definitely would have seen him. I smiled in satisfaction, even as I started thinking of ways to get out of this situation. It was a relief to know the head of our military was a capable person. If he hadn’t noticed anything, I would have been seriously concerned for the state of our kingdom.

“You’re imagining it, Lieutenant. I put her through hellish training to bring her here precisely because she’s Magicless.”

So she knew it was hellish...

The general looked at me and gave me a woeful smile. I nodded silently. We...are comrades!

“I believe your granddaughter and I have a lot in common. That aside, I can tell she has magic. I reached my rank by virtue of being able to sense enemy magic precisely. Why are you doing this?”

“You said you’re a consultant here, right? That makes you an educator. When an educator has a successful applicant who sincerely wishes to study at their institution, is it proper for that educator to pry into the student’s individual situation and nip their potential in the bud?”

She changed the subject from whether I have magic or not to his ability as an educator!

“Certainly not!”

“Then be silent.”

The general turned to me. “Serephione, is this talent of yours from practice?”

“I... I’ve always wanted to become a knight, so I started training with my father and brother from a young age, and then my grandmother became my teacher when I had the basics mastered. My feelings about this are sincere.”

I could avoid stating it outright, but I wouldn’t deny it either. I couldn’t know what cracks would show up in my story during my time at the school.

“I see. I’d love to have a student as skilled as you. If you develop magic in the future, I’ll support you, so please let me know. I want to believe that someday...magic and the sword can come together as one to protect our kingdom.”

“Magic and the sword, combined?”

“Yes. This kingdom’s magicians fence in all the children who have magic. It’s impossible to raise a child who can study magic and martial arts at once and combine them. You see, I developed magic while I was a student in knight school. My power was rather weak, so they didn’t send me to the magic academy, but I’ve been researching in the time I have outside my military duties what would happen if a child with similar circumstances to mine happened to come along. If we could raise children who understand both, we could fight with fewer troops, meaning fewer sacrifices for both the army and the people. If I just had one apprentice who could put my research into practice, I could die with no regrets.”

“I’m down!”

“Huh?” The general was shocked.

“Serephi?”

“I’ll make your dream come true, General.”

I snapped my fingers, instantly cooling the bruise on the general’s cheek.

Sorry for the snap decision, grandmother! The general’s feelings touched me, and it also just seemed like it would be interesting. If I’m going to involve someone, it’s best to make it someone of high status, and if I have an ally on the school’s side, he could support me if trouble comes up.

He hasn’t noticed Lou; it should be okay because he thinks Lou’s magic is mine.

“Ahh, Serephi, you’re too easily convinced!” my grandmother scolded me.

“How...wonderful...”

“Tch. Listen here, Lieutenant Avenger. Do not speak a word about Serephione’s abilities to anyone else, don’t pry into them, and don’t make her join the military when she graduates. If you can’t keep those promises...I’ll seal off your memory where we stand. You don’t think I can? Trust me, the Granzeuses can. Your response?”

“Understood!”

“If you betray us or stand in Serephione’s way...I will waste no effort in crushing you!”

“Understood!”

“Okay, Lieutenant... Let’s rekindle our old friendship. Agreed?”

That meant she was going to keep a close eye on him. Huh? General Avenger is dripping with sweat again. Should I install a wind-magic-powered air conditioner?

Anyway, for the time being, I could rest satisfied that I’d gotten the head of the military—and my grandmother’s manservant—on my side!

◇ ◇ ◇

My family had a big celebration for my passing the knight school exam.

I had to practice some predetermined subjects on my own in preparation to enter school at thirteen, but after having withstood the hell that was being trained by my brother and grandmother, I could have done that with my eyes closed.

Basically, I was spending my days exactly as I had before, training and creating new magic. During that time period, I had a wish granted, one that my father and grandmother had promised to fulfill if I got into knight school.

On this day, I was to take my first step as an adventurer. I, Serephione Granzeus, was going to knock on the gate to an adventurer’s guild!

The role of adventurer’s guilds in this world was to support adventurers, certify their ranks, serve as an intermediary for commissions, trade goods, and provide a mutual aid system if someone got hurt and was unable to continue their activities.

There were adventurer’s guilds everywhere in the world. The Kingdom of Judore, for example, had guilds set up in every domain and area under control of the state, and in more heavily populated places, there were as many as three. To become an adventurer, you would have to undergo a test to prove your skills and be issued a plate at some point, or you couldn’t proceed with your activities.

But where would you get this plate? The choice of which guild to make your home base was crucial. It was always best to enter a guild in your area, of course. Most guilds were simple yet good quality.

However, there were as many guilds as there were stars in the sky, and just as many different individual management styles, objectives, and levels. There were some guilds that would exchange plates or levels for money if a noble family wanted to add to their prestige, and this was tacitly understood. The guilds in the capital were a good example of this; the shiny plates that nobles were often seen hanging ostentatiously around their necks were mostly from guilds in the capital, and people who knew the situation snickered at them.

It would be so embarrassing if people laughed at me behind my back for a plate I tried my absolute best to obtain! Even though people who buy plates with money are just a small subset... I’m glad I found out this insider information.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there was a place that issued plates that could make anyone tremble in their shoes—where I was now, Trundle Guild! The front entrance was decorated with boards written by many generations past of Trundles, stating things like “Sincerity and Fortitude” and “Strength Comes First.” Keep out, meatheads!

“Salutations!”

“Salutations! Wait, what does that mean?” Lou chimed in.

I swung open the heavy wooden double door with both my hands and greeted everyone loudly. The tall middle-aged men who had been drinking in the lively bar space until just then were now staring at us—although they couldn’t see Lou—with their mouths hanging open.

They looked like bad guys you would see in a drawing! Awesome! One was a bald guy with no eyebrows, one had an eyepatch and wild long black hair, and one had a jagged scar across his cheek and intimidating sanpaku eyes—I was obsessed! It was so endearing! I could just eat them up!

“Hello! Nice to meet you!” I said with a smile.

A good greeting is essential! ...Wait, why is everyone looking down and red in the face? Did they drink too much? Not a good way to start off.

A flustered woman came running out from behind the counter. “What are you doing in this lowly place, little lady?! Are you lost? Where are your mother and father?”

I was embarrassed to be called a little lady. If anyone were a little lady it’d have been her, given that I was forty-ish years old. The lady, who I assumed was the receptionist, looked to be in her late twenties. Her blonde hair was clipped in a barrette, and her brown eyes were round and cute.

“Are you the receptionist? I came to ask for an adventurer’s plate. I don’t have my parents with me.”

When I turned ten, I got permission to go out on my own, so long as I stayed in either Granzeus or Trundle territory. They could rest easy knowing that Lou was always with me.

“You...want to be an adventurer? Well, um, it’s great that you have ambition! Yeah. But would you mind coming back when you’re a bit more grown up?”

She implied that I was little again! Grrr!

“Um, I’m already eleven years old. I’m over the minimum age of ten to join the guild.”

“No, that’s not... You see, you have to fight really big, strong people to get a plate for this guild. So I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to try, little lady.”

I gave her a bright smile.

“May I see the guildmaster?”

Get me your manager!

“I think I can handle a child just fine on my own. I’ll treat you to some juice over there, so come back when you’re a grown-up!”

This wasn’t going anywhere. I jumped up and grabbed a long sword that was on the wall close to the ceiling. Then I spun it around with my wrist, pointed it at the wooden mug in her hand, and threw it with a light snap.

Swoosh! Crack!

The mug broke cleanly in two. Half of it clattered to the floor, and the other half remained in the receptionist’s hand as she helplessly ducked down. The sword stuck straight into the wall across from me.

“Z-Ziek!!!” the baldie shouted. A small, kind-looking old man with white hair came out from the back.

“What’s going on? You could cut the tension in here with a knife.”

“That young lady just threw the Sword of Zagarte!”

The Sword of Zagarte?

“It’s kinda like a cursed sword?” offered Lou.

Oh no! What does that even mean?!

The old man looked over at me.

“The black-eyed fairy...! The time has come already...”

The old man slowly looked up to the ceiling and blinked his eyes. I heard somebody gasp.

He turned his gaze back to me and smiled. “Welcome to Trundle Guild. If you wish to become an adventurer, prove your strength to us.”

The old man, who I now knew to be Guildmaster Ziek, raised his pointer finger to his lips to shush me. “In this guild, you will prove your strength by fighting a specified guild member without giving your name first. Understood?” It seemed he had realized who I really was.

His conditions made sense. Knowing someone’s name gave you preconceived notions about them, and people might assume I was treated differently if my opponent knew mine; after all, I was the granddaughter of a lord. My pride wouldn’t allow me to let anyone think I got this plate through nepotism.

I silently nodded and followed the guildmaster through the door in the back of the building. Inside was a large wooden-floored room that reminded me of an elementary school gymnasium. This was where my strength would be tested.

The red-haired man from the bar who had a scar on his cheek came out. I carefully looked him up and down, evaluating him.

“Your opponent will be Kodak, a B-rank plate-holding member of our guild. Fight to your utmost capacity. Your witnesses will be me, the guildmaster; Matt, a C-ranker; and Gilbert, an A-ranker.”

Adventurer ranks went from E at the lowest followed by D, C, B, A, and then S. Trundle Guild’s ranking system was stricter compared to other guilds, however; Kodak would most likely have been an A-ranker at any other guild. I couldn’t take him lightly.

So, the baldie is Matt, and the man with the eyepatch is Gilbert. If he’s A-ranked, that means he’s at S-rank level... Amazing! Wait, he’s looking at me with pained eyes. Is he pitying me because he thinks I’m weak?

“There’s no time limit. Are you ready?”

Kodak readied his two-handed sword. It looked heavy.

I took off my mantle, set it next to me, and gripped my knife in my right hand. “Let’s go, Lou!”

“This is your first step, Sere. Go for it!”

“Begin!”

Kodak suddenly jumped and swung his sword down. I blocked it with my knife and absorbed the shock into my side. It was heavy, as I expected. I turned my left leg and tried to kick the open spot on his left side with my heel, but he stepped back out of the way. I didn’t like dealing with our height difference...but could I take advantage of it? I returned my knife to its sheath quickly.

I jumped high over his head, took five of the shurikens I was hiding at my wrists into each of my hands, and threw all ten shurikens at Kodak’s head. While he was busy deflecting them with his knife, I got behind him. When he finished blocking the shurikens and turned back to swing his sword diagonally from his shoulder, I slipped between his legs and thrust one of my blades at his throat, the other at his heart.

“Stop!” the guildmaster’s voice rang out.

“You’re a shuriken user too...”

Kodak sat down on his behind with a thump and gazed in my direction, looking fed up. The fact that he reacted to shurikens meant he must have encountered either my grandmother or older brother before.

“Do you agree we can consider this match a win for the challenger?” the guildmaster asked Matt and Gilbert.

“No objections!”

“No objections!”

“Did either of you notice any cheating?”

“No cheating!”

“No cheating!”

“Very well. I deem the challenger befitting of a conditional C-rank.”

“I won against Kodak, a B-ranker, so would B-rank not be an appropriate rank?” I asked.

“I agree on a conditional C-rank.”

“I hereby certify this challenger as a conditional C-ranker. Congratulations, milady.”

“Yay! I got C-rank!”

“Congratulations, Sere!” cheered Lou.

As I bounced in delight, the scary men tossed me up into the air in celebration! Woo!

We relocated to the guildmaster’s room behind the reception area. I sat across from the guildmaster, and the others either stood against the wall or brought chairs in from the bar area. Lara, the receptionist, brought us tea, but her hands were trembling severely, spilling the tea everywhere.

“I apologize for acting violently before, Ms. Lara,” I said before the applications on the table could get any more wet.

“N-No, it was my mistake. The receptionist who came before me passed down this information...that when the black-eyed fairy appears, I should give her the exam, no matter how cute her appearance is. I’m a failure as a receptionist for not realizing...” she said with a sniffle.

“She called you a black-eyed fairy, Sere!”

Just because you’re a holy beast doesn’t mean you can give me that devious look and snicker! And that nickname sounds too much like foreshadowing to mean anything good...

“Now, new adventurer, may I ask you to introduce yourself?” Ziek requested.

“I’m Serephione Granzeus. I’m glad to make your acquaintance.”

“Ahh, I knew it! You are a Granzeus! What’s your relationship to Larouza?”

“Larouza is my older brother.”

“I had a feeling... Shurikens and I really don’t get along. You have similar facial features too. How did I not figure it out earlier?” grumbled Kodak.

“So, Serephione... Are you Liruphione’s daughter?”

“Yes, Mr. Gilbert. She was my mother. I don’t have any memory of her, though.”

“You’re so much alike... Your face and the way you use your sword...”

I see... Gilbert is seeing my mother through me. Grandmother sometimes looks at me with the same sad eyes too. Stop, I’m not my mother! Look at me!

I didn’t really think like that, though. Now that my mental age was about forty, I had developed the capacity to sympathize with other people’s life experiences.

Go ahead and look at me like that all you want, I don’t care! ...And if possible, I’d like you to change your perspective on it like my father. My mother’s life may have been short...but it was happy.

Anyway...

“Um, what does ‘black-eyed fairy’ mean?” I asked Ziek, who seemed the most upfront.

“You see, milady, once about every twenty years, a lovely fairy-like girl with black eyes appears at Trundle Guild. The story that’s been passed down claims that these girls are exceptionally strong despite their appearance, and that the pattern will continue in the future, so it’s best to give them the examination without question.”

One thing stuck out a bit to me and stayed in the back of my mind. Hey, Ziek, why do you keep calling me “milady?”

“So that means...the last black-eyed fairy was my mother?” I asked Ziek. He nodded quietly.

“Black-eyed people who come to this guild are of the Trundle bloodline. When a young lady is born of the Trundle family, she comes to test her strength within several years. That’s all it means.”

“Th-That means this young lady is...” Matt pointed a quivering finger at me.

Ziek gave a sunny smile. “A grandchild of Lady Erza Trundle, who has inherited her jet-black eyes—the lone legitimate successor of the Trundle line. Lady Serephione, our next master, trained by Erza herself. It’s been ten years since Lord Geintz and Lady Liruphione passed away... We have been waiting for you, our honored lady.” Still smiling, Ziek shed a tear.

Succession? Trundle? Lords and ladies? Nobody told me about this!

In shock, I lowered my forehead down onto the table with a thump and sat motionless for a moment.

“Wait, Sere, you didn’t know? It’s no big deal!”

How can you take this so lightly, Lou?!

“Hey, our next master is bowing to us!”

“So, this is how she greets us... How refined...”

“I see. Liruphione, your daughter was raised well...”

You have it all wrong!

“U-Um, why don’t we set all that aside for the time being...? She came to become an adventurer today, after all,” suggested Lara.

“Ahh, you’re right! We shouldn’t be blathering about succession issues like this.”

“Yes, I imagine Lady Erza is keeping her mouth shut.”

“You mean because if the nobles who are after this domain find out Lady Serephione is the successor, they’d go after her? They’d have to have some guts to pick a fight with the Trundles.”

“They’d dare try to eliminate Liruphi’s daughter?!”

Yay, I get to see an S-ranker’s bloodlust!

“Um, for now, I’d like you to teach me the ropes as a new adventurer.”

“Guildmaster, she wants us to treat her as any other adventurer! How modest of her!”

“And she wants us to teach her as her seniors! Truly great people are so humble.”

Matt, when did I ever call you my seniors? Ahh, whatever, I just have to change the way this conversation is going!

“I have a question! What does ‘conditional C-rank’ mean?”

“It means you have B-rank level skill, but you haven’t completed the requirements to rank up. You’ll start at C-rank for now, but once you complete the required commissions, you can become a B-ranker without another examination.”

Thanks for the explanation, Gilbert. I suppose they want to make sure I’ll be useful in real combat.

“What commissions are those, specifically?”

“Let’s see... Here. You’ll advance one rank once you complete five out of these ten tasks.” Kodak the shuriken hater took a piece of paper out of a file and gave it to me.

Let’s see... Oh? Hm?

“Um, can I submit items I already have for these collection tasks? Or should I go out and find new ones?”

“What do you have? Show us.”

I reached into my mantle, acting as if I was reaching for my bag, took out a few items from my “Magic Room (Perishables),” which used quality-preservation magic to keep things I put inside fresh, and lined them up on the desk. All together, I had twenty bundles of nener grass, ten bundles of blackvigor weed, two orlox horns, one shell from a broadshell turtle, and one nest of live Marre bees.

Everybody fell silent in shock.

“Lara...could you check the conditions again? Milady, did you collect all of this by yourself?”

“Well, occasionally my brother comes with me, but he’s been busy lately, so I’m mostly on my own.”

“Where did you find the nener grass, milady?!”

“Stop calling me ‘milady’! And why would I tell you where I got it?”

No old woman worth her salt would tell you where she forages for mushrooms, would she?

“What about the orlox? Aren’t they ten times your size?”

If I remembered correctly, Lou had come across an orlox and asked to have its horns next time they fell out and regrew. Their horns were hard and easy to imbue with magic, so they made the perfect material for throwing tools. When I fed the orlox the sponge cake I had on me, it even gave me its friends’ horns when their horn regrowth season came around. I ended up having to pay with a hundred sponge cakes; I think it took two all-nighters with Matsuki and Martha...

“It was an epic struggle to the death...” I responded with a thousand-yard stare.

Matt took my hands, his eyes glittering in excitement. “And the Marre bees?”

“My grandmother wants them, so I always make sure to get them when I see them.”

“I knew it! Erza is the one who asked for this item as well. They do say the honey of the Marre bee is a good beauty product.”

Wrong! Grandmother, how much poison do you plan to put in your hair ornaments...?

“Guildmaster, these are all top-quality, perfectly fresh items. The total value comes to 1,548,277 gold. Amazing job, milady! You have great skill! The men here never undertake this kind of delicate collection task. This is a big help! Ahh, our new master is the best... A fairy, a savior, and strong as well!”

Ms. Lara... Did your personality change? And don’t call me your new master! Also...

“Um... Isn’t that too high of a price estimate? That’s over a million...”

“Most of it is from the turtle shell. Using them as a decoration in the entryway is a status symbol among nobles right now. All the nobles who don’t have one want one. Why don’t you hang it in your own entryway? And how did you carry one that big with you?”

I ignored the last question. The turtle shell actually belonged to Lou before he met me; he would flip it over and use it as a bathtub. He was able to use the bathtub at my house now, so we’d just put it in my Magic Room for safekeeping...

I checked with Lou.

“Whoa! But broadshell turtles give off a smell that reptiles like... If you hang it up, you’ll get snakes and lizards,” Lou informed me.

“I’d like to sell it! Please, take it off my hands! Overcharge the nobility for it!”

“Ahh, my lady, you’re so generous! Thank you very much! Being able to distribute S1 materials will raise our guild’s prestige once again!”

“What a quick decision for such a valuable item...”

“For the guild, and for the domain... She’s already taken her position as master to heart... Liruphi...”

“...Are we all in agreement?” Ziek checked with the others.

“No objections!” they responded at once.

“You have fulfilled the conditions, milady. From now on, you are a B-rank adventurer. Let us engrave your plate at once.”

I’d suddenly gotten a B-rank plate. So why couldn’t I feel genuinely happy about it?

◇ ◇ ◇

The B-rank plate that I’d gotten through that strange series of events was very cool-looking. S-rank plates were made of platinum, A-rank out of gold, and B-rank out of silver, with the adventurer’s name engraved into them in Ziek’s own cool-looking handwriting. I took his advice and kept my last name to just the initial G of Granzeus—the fact that I came from nobility could be seen as a bad thing for an adventurer, and adventurers usually lived by only one name, anyway.

Both the front and back were carved with the TG logo for Trundle Guild, and my father gave me a platinum chain to hang it from. Why platinum? I wondered, until he said, “It’s a shame that only the chain is platinum, isn’t it, Serephione?” Basically, it was his way of spurring me on to become S-rank as soon as I could.

The plates also functioned as “dog tags,” as one would call them in the military in my past life. They came in sets of two. If a companion died and you weren’t able to take them back with you, you would put one of the plates securely in their mouth and take the other to their family. Then, when their corpse was eventually discovered, they could be identified by the plate in their skull.

I instinctively straightened my posture when I hung it from my neck.

Speaking of plates, my papa had an S-rank plate from Granzeus Guild in our domain, and my grandmother and brother both had S-rank plates from Trundle Guild. Brother, when did you get that? Kodak must have been easy prey for your challenge...

With that, I was set to take as many commissions as I could as an adventurer before I entered knight school!

“Ms. Lara! Any good task requests?” I called out.

“Hmm, to tell you the truth, requests at your own rank are the most efficient choices...but the only B-rank requests we have at the moment are to escort merchants. You can’t exactly take commissions that require you to go away overnight... Would you have any objections to doing work from the rank below yours?”

“Huh? No, I wouldn’t.”

I need the money... Frankly, I’d do anything if you paid me for it!

“Her stance toward work is not picky... Another item to discuss... I’ll make a note of that.”

“Ms. Lara, could you speak up? I can’t hear you.”

Bring it on, whether it’s babysitting or hunting devil boars! I’ll take over for my busy papa and ride on Lou to defend our domain in the north too! Just leave it to me!

I was on my way to getting a platinum plate! Oh, and the “next master” thing? That’s on hold for now!