Chapter 349: A-Ranked Adventurer Claire

A/N: The male adventurers weren’t the only ones affected when the brainwashing spell was broken.

This was the story at that time.

-----

I’m Claire, an A-ranked adventurer. I’m based in a kingdom called Glendale, and that’s also where I’m working.

Actually, I’m a Half, the result of the union of a wolf beastkin and a human, but even my comrades in our party weren’t aware of this fact. That’s why my physical strength was better than most people, and I also managed to climb to A-rank exceptionally fast for a female adventurer.

By the way, my outward appearance was almost the same as a typical human's. I’m forced to take on my beastkin form during nights of the full moon, but if I’m careful enough, even those around me wouldn’t realize that I have beast blood in me.

I reached this level with my own power, of course. There were also hussies who sold their bodies to the examiners to raise their ranks among the female adventurers but… I would absolutely never do that.

I wonder if it’s because of my beastkin blood? I only ever wanted to be intimate with the man that I acknowledged.

Anyway, I’m like this, but… I’m already at the right age to find my mate.

I want a human who’s stronger than me. That’s the very least I require.

I might be half beastkin, but I have a hard time accepting a beastkin guy as my partner, maybe because I spent most of my time in my human form. But then, my choices were instantly narrowed down because of that.

Beastkin usually rely on their overpowered status, and they love combats that favor pure brute strength, so they didn’t usually use magic. Apparently, the beastkin kingdom forbids the use of magic.

However, it didn’t matter to me, a halfbreed beastkin. I have the status of a beastkin and also possess the ability to use attack magic. Of course, I’m strong, right?

The other A-ranks in my party team were a lot weaker than me. But, they were already considered transcendentally strong among humans...

And so, I’m currently looking for an outstanding male who could become my mate.

It’s a tough search. There were far too few humans who were stronger than beastkin.

Fortunately, there were a lot of human males that were far more powerful than me here in Glendale. I also have a wish. Not sure if it’s because I’ve been evaluating different men, but I finally got the ability to discern whether a male was more powerful than me or not.

This kingdom’s monarch — Gil Glendale.

Cain, the guy who escorts Gil.

Leon, the captain of the 13th Squad of the kingdom’s Royal Knights.

These three were stronger than me. They were the undisputedly perfect candidates to be my mate.

The Chief Commander of the Royal Knights and Gad, the 12th Squad were also quite strong. However, the chief commander was a middle-aged guy, while Gad was a scum who told me to sell myself to him. They’re crossed out from my list, leaving only those three.

— That’s what I thought.

I was wrong.

A candidate who overwhelmingly outshone Gil and Cain was here in the Adventurers’ Guild all along.

That guy’s name was Halt Ernol.

He’s a noob who just registered recently, and yet his rank climbed up at an alarming speed.

We met a few times in the guild; we even talked to each other. And yet, for some reason, I didn’t feel anything towards him. I wonder why?

I’m not sure why, but today was different. He… How to say this… He really looked attractive.

Why did I just notice that such a powerful-looking guy was right beside me all along? I regret not approaching him until now.

And so, I tried calling out to him.

　──＊＊＊──

“Hey, Halt. Long time no see.”

Claire called out to Halt in the Adventurer’s Guild.

“Hi, Claire-san, it’s been a while.”

“You’re taking your C-rank exam today, right? Good luck.”

“Yes! Thank you very much.”

After exchanging those words, Halt left with brisk steps to the inner part of the guild.

Claire was watching him, but she didn’t have any sort of reaction. It was an unbelievably bland reaction for someone who assertively approached her target mate.

However, this was normal for her.

At the same time, in the Ernol mansion—a certain mother and daughter pair had the following conversation.

“Mother. I sensed that wolf girl contacting the Master just now at the Adventurers' Guild in the Royal Capital.”

“No need to fret, Youko. This concubine also noticed that. The spell casted on her is quite powerful, after all. She probably exchanged a word or two of simple pleasantries with Halt-sama.”

“It’ll be good if that’s the case, but… my brainwashing spell doesn’t work on her, and she resisted quite strongly against Mother at first, so I’m a bit worried.”

“Well, you have a point. Hmm, maybe I should recast the spell again the next time I visit the guild just in case.”

“Master will scold us if we go overboard.”

“We should avoid that at all costs. However, Halt-sama also recognized and acknowledged the significance of why we casted mind control magic because of that incident the other day, so I think it’ll be fine…”

“At any rate, I’ll go check that woman’s movements for a bit!”

“Alright, I leave that to you, Youko. I’ll be preparing lunch.”

By the way, Claire wasn’t the only female adventurer who tried to talk to Halt when the brainwashing spell Kikyo had cast on the Adventurers' Guild was temporarily lifted.

Unknown to Halt, he was being protected (?) from the women who were trying to attack him.