Bonus Short Stories

The Phrase Girls and the Adventurer’s Guild

“I hear this is the adventurer’s guild, Endymion?”

“That’s right, Melle.”

Melle, Ney, and Lycee had been given the ability to mask their appearances and hide their Phrase resonance sounds, which meant they were free to roam around Brunhild. Today, they had decided to visit the guild. They were visiting because Melle wished to see Ende’s workplace... He wasn’t exactly a guild employee, but this was the place where he earned most of his money. In a sense, you could consider him a patron.

“We should go in, Lady Melle.”

“Huh?! You wanna go in?!”

Ende seemed befuddled at Ney’s sudden insistence. He assumed they’d just be visiting to look at the place, and that would be that.

“Hm? Something in there you don’t want us to see, Endymion?! Are you perhaps hiding a consort in there? A harlot that you wouldn’t wish Lady Melle to discover?”

“Aren’t you jumping to conclusions a bit there?!”

Ende grumbled at Ney. She had a habit of jumping to conclusions, which Ende often had to quell before they became a true problem.

“There are a lot of rough and rowdy adventurers, that’s all. It was more for Melle’s sake than anything else.”

“Idiot. They won’t lay a finger on her. If they do, I’ll crush their bones.”

Ney spoke without a care in the world, causing Ende’s shoulders to sag as he sighed. The three girls took the opportunity to trot into the guild with Ende hurriedly scuttling after them. The guild was busy as ever, with a large crowd of people in front of the quest board.

“Hey there, welcome to the guild! Oh, Ende? Here for some quests?”

“No, I just stopped by for a bit. I’m taking it easy today.”

The receptionist called out to the group from behind the counter. Ende was a silver-ranked adventurer, a rank considered the highest that most people ever make it to. This slight celebrity status meant they were eligible for the more difficult quests the guild had.

“Quite friendly with her, aren’t you, Endymion? Who is she?”

“Is that the one you’re cheating on Lady Melle with, hm?”

“I told you that isn’t the case!”

Ney and Lycee started grilling Ende a little bit. Melle turned toward him with a smile, but the smile wasn’t without a threatening edge, which made a chill run up his spine. Right as Ende tried to get them to drop the subject, they suddenly heard footsteps from the front of the guild. It came from three large men who were headed right toward the reception counter.

“Outta the way!”

The largest of the three men attempted to shove Melle out of the way, but suddenly found himself flying backward through the air. He stumbled back, destroying a wooden table and chair that were placed nearby.

“Gaugah!”

“You wretch! Don’t you dare touch Lady Melle.”

Ney stood scowling over at the man. Ney stepped in to toss him away right before his hand made contact with Melle’s shoulder.

“Are you okay, Lady Melle?”

“Quite fine, thanks to you, Ney...”

Ende looked at the two and pinched the bridge of his nose. Then, he heaved a long sigh before looking back at the other men. They were already storming toward them.

“Bastard! How dare you hurt my bro!”

“Where do you get off roughing us up, huh?!”

The fallen man had gotten back up and walked directly toward Ende. He didn’t seem like a rookie, but he was clearly from another town or something. If he was from Brunhild, then there’s no way he wouldn’t know he was dealing with a silver-rank.

“H-Hey, easy guys... I know that she overreacted a bit, but she was just worried about her friend. Let’s calm down, yeah?”

“Shut it!”

“I ain’t hearing it!”

“Wait, c’mon guys!”

One of the men threw a punch at Ende and ended up getting blasted back.

“Gaugh!”

“Grugh!”

A clatter and crash rang out as the two other men were knocked back as well. Ende stared in frustration at Lycee and Ney, who seemed to have taken great pleasure in bowling the duo into even more furniture.

“You don’t get to have all the fun, Endymion!”

“Hmph. Those guys got what they deserved.”

Ende cringed as he turned, feeling sorry for the receptionist. She handed him a few small papers, which turned out to be the bill for the damage done to the furniture. He looked at the paper stack and opened up his wallet with a sigh.

Step By Step

“Come now, let me congratulate you two!”

“Yes! We’re all family now, after all.”

“Father, please...”

“M-Mother, geez!”

The emperor of Triharan and the queen of Strain both fawned over their children, much to the chagrin of Prince Lupheus and Princess Berlietta. The young couple had red faces and clearly wanted to be as far away from the situation as possible. They were in the Kingdom of Strain’s royal castle, at a celebratory dinner to commemorate the engagement between the two. The events of the race were being projected from one of the Brunhild smartphones, allowing all the guests to see what had transpired that day. Everyone really loved seeing the vehicles, since it was something completely new to them.

“The race really seemed to be a hit. I wonder if we can host one in my own country.”

“Hm... Perhaps we can try jointly producing an Ether Vehicle for the next one, then...”

The emperor and queen both smiled at one another, which made their two children sigh a bit.

“I’m sorry about my father, Berlietta... He tends to have a one-track mind.”

“No, that’s alright. My mother gets excited about new ideas fairly easily, too...”

“I see, ahaha. That must be where you get it from.”

“...Oh, is that so?”

Berlietta seemed a little befuddled, but Lupheus found her expression positively adorable.

“Well, I don’t think it’s all that bad to enjoy new things. I suppose it’s just a step-by-step process.”

“‘Step-by-step’?”

“Yes, it’s an expression the grand duke of Brunhild used during his last visit. He says that Ether Vehicle technology should continue advancing at a steady rate from here on.”

Lupheus heard Berlietta speak and quietly nodded. Bit by bit... Much like his own feelings for her, a gradual forward build. The mere thought of that made the young prince want to stand by her side forever.

“We...”

The prince tried to continue speaking, but a flush of red overtook him. He glanced at his fiancee. Her gaze was focused entirely on the projected video. The prince looked over and froze up in shock.

“Princess Berlietta.”

“Yes?”

“You are a beautiful and ingenious woman. This experience with you has given me confidence that we can stand by each other with pride. If it’s okay with you, I would ask that you join me in Triharan, for I wish for you to be with me.”

“Y-Yes, of course...”

The two of them screamed internally as they watched the video playback of the time Prince Lupheus had proposed. It was truly an embarrassing experience.

“Wh... Wh... Wh... Why this scene of all scenes?!”

Berlietta turned beet red as she cringed, prompting the prince by her side to turn an equally reddish shade.

“I thought it’d be good if we reviewed it! Don’t you think it was good, Brother?”

Lupheus’ younger sister, Listis, smiled broadly as she rewound the scene to watch it again. This prompted everyone in attendance to raise their glasses to the happy couple.

“A truly wonderful proposal, Prince Lupheus!”

“Indeed! How did you feel when he said that, Princess?”

“The two of you looked so charming!”

All the guests commented on the flustered duo, making merry as they spoke and drank, embarrassing them both long into the night. But, at the very least... they were embarrassed together!

Incidentally, the video of the proposal was recorded by a certain elder sister of a certain grand duke of a certain nation. But there was no reason Lupheus or Berlietta ever needed to find that out!