Chapter 109: Doggy breaker

Chapter 109: Doggy breaker

After catching up a little bit more, I told Tamar I had something to do and parted with him. Tamar looked like he’s going to browse for today’s request.

I show my face to Cindy-san and after getting her consent, I head to the guild master’s office. I’m already used to this haphazard routine.

I’ve been here many times now, so I just needed Cindy-san’s permission but other than that, it’s almost like I have a free pass. Since it’s easier for me, I’m fine with it but are they doing okay with the security?

I knock on the door to her office and when I walk inside after I got her permission, I can see Lydeal baa-san doing paperwork at her desk.

「You’ve come, youngster. I know I called you here but I’m just about to finish my current job. Have a seat at the sofa and wait.」

「……This is probably the first time I’ve seen baa-san working seriously.」

「A guild master aren’t always that free. If only I had a successor who could to take over my work, someone who can let me have a peace of mind, I would be able to retire comfortably. ーーOkay, and that’s the end of it.」

After writing the last few lines, baa-san stood up from her seat and sat down on the sofa on my opposite side while stretching her stiff muscles.

「Oh my, I’m getting old. Just doing a little bit of work made my whole body unbearably stiff. I want to retire soon.」

「How old is baa-san in the first place?」

「You don’t ask a lady how old she is.」

Redi? Well now, I wonder if there’s a kyonyuu beauty called Redi somewhere?

「You’re rude to the very end, aren’t you! Though I look like this, I used to be called 《bui bui》back in my early days!」

Well, even now she’s still lively enough to be called 《bui bui》 but if I said that, it’ll complicate matters more, so I keep my mouth shut.0

Rather, I wish you didn’t read what’s inside my mind.

After that silly exchange, I give her a status report of the situation at hand. That said, there’s not much to be reported specifically. We secured an intelligence operative on my first day of being an escort and gaudy was the perpetrator at the party a few days ago. Baa-san already knew all those.

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「ーーThe main reason why I called you today is about the scandal committed by the man named Madameo.」

Baa-san cuts in with a serious expression.

「As you may have guessed, this is an incident Draknil doesn’t want going public. If exposed, it will have a huge negative impact on future diplomatic relations.」

「How about the intelligence operative{spy}?」

The intelligence operative who broke into the ceiling of the guest room is still being held in a prison managed by the Genryuu Knights.

「It’s not good either but that matter won’t devolve into a fatal problem if the higher ups of Draknil’s management deny their involvement. Worst case scenario, the lizard will cut off its tail. Unless there’s a clear evidence, intelligence operations can’t be blamed heavily for diplomatic issues.」

Even if one country claims that…

「This is a spy of your country.」

…the other country could respond with…

「Since they have nothing to do with us, killing them would pose no problem to us, no?」 Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

The crime of trying to obtain information illegally is severe. Even more so if the target is a key figure in the country. He may not have the chance to be free under the sun ever again.

「But, denying awareness with regards to Madameo’s affair won’t work. Even if he’s rotten, he is still a member of Imperial nobility. At any rate, he’s exiled now.」

「Wait, if I think about it carefully, isn’t it strange for baa-san to know about madameoーer, gaudy’s misconduct? Real pretty much warned me to death about it.」

「Wouldn’t you youngster, know best about using the power of connections?」

I raise both hands as if to surrender at the sight of baa-san’s fearless smile.

When I was chucked into jail, I asked Real, a military personnel for a way to acquit me via baa-san.

Can’t she just say it instead of being indirect.

「ーーWell, Real didn’t tell me just for fun. Our side also have a complicated situation so spare me from your prying.」

「……Is that the dangerous type after knowing about its details?」

「Definitely a dangerous type ne~」

She’s going with the flow but the content is serious.

Baa-san hid her usual friendly attitude and makes a declaration as a head of an organization.

「I’m going to impose a gag order on you regarding this matter. Should you break it, I will have to punish you in my capacity as a guild master. I want you to keep it in mind.」

Particulars of the punishment is quite severe. More specifically, it would [permanently deprive me of my qualifications as an adventurer]. I don’t intend to reveal anything from the start but when baa-san mentioned [strictly prohibited] once more, I realized that the situation I encountered was more serious than I imagined.

The tense mood softens as baa-san exhales lightly. She’s also back with a friendly smile on her face.

「We are acquainted only for a short while but youngster haven’t been living your years in vain. For some reason or other, I believe in youngster who possesses a strong sense of duty1.」

It came out.

[Something or other].

I’m not the homeroom teacher in charge of class Z though.

After getting words of gratitude at the end of our talk, I left baa-san’s office.

Right on time when the sun is high above the sky. Let’s eat lunch at the diner next to the guild.

Recently, I only eat food served at the Imperial Palace. It’s been a long time. I wanna eat delicious food made from magic beast ingredient.

Might as well order a bento for a dish that will still be delicious even if it’s cold and bring it back to the two knights. Skelia in particular, would be happy.

From a passage in the guild staff’s area, I head to the lobby where adventurers gather.

And then.

「Kanna-shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii !」

I can hear the sound of running heading to my direction alongside a familiar voice. I turn around to face her while being delighted to hear her voice for the first time in quite some time.

「Kanna-shi !!」

「Ou, it’s been a while, Chlobuhoua-!?」

As I turn around defenselessly, a high speed, low altitude tackle swoops down on me. The impact of being struck around my belly blew me away with a lot of momentum and knocks me to the ground. My head crashes to the ground, causing stars to appear.

Despite the dizziness and pain in my abdomen, I shift my focus on the person attached to my torso and I found the top of a head with a slightly quirky black hair and wolf’s ears attached to it.

Chloe had my belly in a tight embrace and she’s burying her face in my chest.

「sniff sniff sniff……wafuun. It’s Kanna-shi de gozaru. The smell of Kanna-shi in the flesh de gozaru yo. sniff sniff」

「coughcough…… Wai- Chloe, calm down. You’re breaking your characterーー」

ーーGuess not?

I feel like Chloe was like this from the beginning.

Launching a flying tackle out of the blue is a bit of a problem but I’m sure she’s also happy to see me again. As with Tamar, we haven’t seen each other for more than two weeks. When I reach out to pat her head with a wry smile on my face…

「ーーーhn? ……sniff sniff」

Chloe stops moving and once again, takes a deep sniff.

Am I sweaty by any chance?

All the sweat should’ve been washed away since I regularly borrow private bath exclusively for the use of servants of the Imperial Palaceーー

「sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniffsniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff 」2

「ーーYou’re overdoing it, lemme go already! Look, the surrounding people are totally looking at us!」

We’re being the center of public attention. We’re not a display, damnit!

I put my hand on Chloe’s shoulder and try to pull her off but for some reason, she doesn’t budge, as if she’s fixed with a vise.

……On the contrary, why does it feel like she’s strengthening her grip around my torso?

Chloe who was sniffing me single-mindedly abruptly muttered.

「ーーーーーーThe smell of a woman.」

「……………………hn?」

Goosebumps occur all over my body.

As Chloe raises her face, the lights were lost from her eyes and replaced by dull, sludge-like darkness.

……Strange, this is the second time I’ve seen such eyes today.

「ーーーーーーThe smell of a woman.」

「Why’d you repeat it !?」

Hearing my yell, Chloe smiles and tilts her head. Usually I’d go…

[ah she’s cute]

…but at this moment, I’m all…

[crap, this is bad]

…cause she’s scary enough for my instinct to issue a danger signal.

I mean, her smile doesn’t reach her eyes.

「Kanna-sama. Why do I smell another woman on Kanna-sama’s body? Even though I’ve been waiting eagerly for the day when I can meet Kanna-sama again. Whatever could it be that Kanna-sama was doing? No, I don’t have the right to say anything no matter where or with whom Kanna-sama was having a tryst. It’s just that, is this the thing called, as society would call it, being cuckolded? Is this NTR? From where did this thieving cat come from and did you do nyan nyan with her?」

Moreover, her tone changed!

In Chloe’s mind, she’d already come to a conclusion that me and [someone] had a nyannyan. Only one person came to mind.

『Oioioi! Faima and I got together a whole week ago! I don’t even know many times I went into the bath during that time! How did she found out!』

Is she a dog or something!?

……………………She’s a bloody wolf damnit!

Now isn’t the time to act out a manzai in my mind.

The force from her arms around my torso will soon reach the point where my ribs would creak. I’m also beginning to feel difficulty in breathing.

Chloe’s firm twin hills are being pressed against my lower body but I couldn’t afford to enjoy it right now. If I make a bad move here, things that shouldn’t exit my mouth might be squeezed out.

While putting up with the suffocation as much as I could, I strive to speak gently.

「By smell of a woman, do you mean Faima?」

「Come to think of it, this odor is certainly Faima-dono’s………could it be!」

My ribs are dying!

「Guh…… Listen, until yesterday I was escorting Faima on a job. In other words, I had a lot opportunities to come into contact with her on a daily basis for the past few days. Therefore, it wouldn’t be strange if her scent got attached to me, isn’t it?」

I’m not lying. But it’s not the whole truth either.

「……Certainly, I received word from Cindy-dono saying that Kanna-sama is on a mission to escort an important person. I see, that important person was Faima-dono.」

……………………………………

…………………

………

Chloe shows a pondering look, sending my heart racing.3

……Naturally, it’s the anxious type.

I’m begging you, please be convinced.

「…………Apparently, this one jumped to the wrong conclusion de gozaru na.」

Chloe’s eyes which indicates the girl rapidly regaining her reason{light} and her tone returning to normal gave my heart a great relief.

At the same time, her arms that were wrapping around my abdomen loses their force and fresh air enters my lungs.

ーーShe didn’t jumped into the wrong conclusion but I’m not a suicide applicant to put in a retort there.

Now that the black doggy{Chloe} has regained her sanity, I have to peel her off.

The surrounding eyes and atmosphere around us have already become lukewarm but it can’t be helped. After all, to those who didn’t know the circumstances, it was nothing more than a scene of entanglement over jealousy. I’m very reluctant to admit that they’re correct, to an extent.

A touching reunionー

ーwould be a misleading way to put it but I’m genuinely happy to be reunited with Chloe for the first time in a while. She seems to feel the same. After sharing our joy, we went to the diner beside the guild like we always did.

「Kanna-shi! This one has finally fulfilled one’s dearest wish of being promoted to B-rank de gozaru yo!」

Chloe who started first, takes out her guild card while being full of excitement. The card bearing Chloe’s name is red, which is proof that she’s a B-rank adventurer.

「More than anything, you ranked up safely. Congratulations.」

「This too, is possible with the assistance of Kanna-shi de gozaru yo.」

So she says with a truly delightful look.

「I’m curious, what was the request you received to get promoted to B-rank? I heard it was about collecting valuable materials.」

「We were ordered to collect a medicinal herb called Espir grass de gozaru yo.」

Espir grass doesn’t have a use on its own but when it’s compounded with other medicine as a catalyst, it seems to have the property of dramatically increasing effects of those medicine and apparently, it’s a famous medicinal plant among doctors and alchemists.

「However, Espir grass only grows on a special soil and it appears that artificial cultivation has not been successful de gozaru. At present, there is no choice except for adventurers to go and collect them in their natural environment de gozaru.」

It’s important to note that this request was chosen for the B-rank promotion. That alone suggests that it’s not just a simple harvesting request.

「Preliminary survey of the mountain range where the collection area is located and characteristics of magic beasts inhabiting the area. Furthermore, collecting the Espir grass requires a special procedure. For the first two, those are the basic of the basics for adventurers de gozaru but for the last, collection procedure tends to be neglected de gozaru kara na.」

Among the harvesting requests that can be accepted starting from B-rank, the harvesting method itself is often special and if the correct procedure aren’t followed, the material’s efficacy will deteriorate or in the worst case scenario, there’s even the risk of adventurers losing their life.

「Fortunately, even if there was a mistake, Espir grass only lost its catalytic effect de gozatta but there were still those who failed to collect it de gozaru.」

C-rank adventurers who took part in the promotion exam request were Chloe and someone commonly acquainted to both of us, the spear-user Barlhardt. Adding four more to their numbers totals six person. Among them, Chloe, Barlhardt and one other were able to safely harvest the prescribed amount of Espir grass. The remaining three failed.

「The three of them had a lot of questionable conduct along the way de gozaru kara na. Naturally, they were disqualified de gozatta yo.」

Chloe ends her story at that point.

Although there were some difficulties befitting a test, seems like it didn’t become a crisis. Chloe being here in front of me definitely meant that she’s safe, but even so, I feel relieved.

「This one also wishes to know Kanna-shi’s recent circumstances de gozaru yo. To begin with, for what reason did you decide to escort Faima-dono once more de gozaru ka?」

「Well, a lotta things happened.」

I briefly explain to her the sequence of events from when I reunited with Faima until I began escorting her. Of course, things forbidden by baa-san and Real are omitted.

「I see, Faima-dono is more of an esteemed person than we thought of her de gozatta ka. By not knowing that, this one might have been inadvertently impolite de gozaru.」

「Faima isn’t so petty to be upset by something you did when you didn’t know.」

「Nevertheless, the real name of Faima-dono is Falmarias-dono, is it………」

Yup.

And Chloe folds her arms to ponder. I wonder if there’s something on her mind.

「This one would like to confirm one thing de gozaru ga, is there no doubt that Faima-dono is blood related to Yulfilia’s nobility de gozaru na?」

「I told you during the explanation, right. The person herself said that she is the daughter of the Arnabeth family.」

「Is that so de gozaru ka. The name Falmarias from Yulfilia. Let’s see, this one do recall hearing the words somewhere de gozaru ga……」

「I hear that the territory of Arnabeth family is famous for their academy. It’s said that there are quite a few from other countries studying there. Maybe you heard Faima’s name in some part of those rumors?」

「Is that so de gozarou ka? ………Well, if this one can’t remember, it might not be that important de gozarou ne. In the first place, this one’s head is not particularly praiseworthy de gozaru shi, so it may have slipped one’s memory de gozarou.」

Chloe gave up remembering without being particularly disappointed.

「By the way, I’m still going to be escorting Faima for some time. What are you planning to do?」

「This one is considering to refrain from accepting requests for a while de gozaru yo.」

That was unexpected but I immediately amend my thoughts. She had been doing (C-rank) requests up till now not for the sake of gaining track record for promotion but to pay off her debt to me. It’s already settled in its entirety by using her remuneration from the mine incident.

「Difficulty level of requests will jump up at B-rank, so this one is thinking about procuring better equipment de gozaru yo. After all, the sword this one is currently using is a makeshift item de gozaru kara na.」

While saying that, she lightly taps the sword’s handle on her waist.

「The usual weapon this one is specialized in is a unique article outside of one’s homecountry, hence there are a scant few circulating in the market de gozaru. ーーBut, this place is the imperial capital de gozaru. There may be foreign items stocked somewhere de gozaru yo. First of all, this one shall search for it de gozaru.」

「If that’s the case, why don’t you go to the arms store Answerer recommended to me? It’s the purveyor for an esteemed A-rank y’know.」

「After having a closer look, Kanna-shi’s equipment has changed de gozaru na. It looks like your breastplate is made of mithril alloy de gozaru but what is your tekkou made out of de gozaru ka? From its hue, this one does not think it is mithril de gozaru ga.」

「It’s made from a strange material called heavy magic ore. Anyway, the shopkeeper ossan is a kind person and his selection are quite good. There might be a lot of good bargains you can find there.」

「I see……understood de gozaru! This one shall have a look there de gozaru yo! Besides, this one’s pocket is a little fat from the reward of the promotion exam de gozaru kara na!」

We had lunch while engaging in a lively conversation non-stop and after that, Chloe and I went our separate ways.