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Alone in her office, the chairwoman sighed deeply.

“…I’m at a loss, she’s just too good a kid. …It’s no wonder Regina and the others support her.” Twirling the now lukewarm coffee cup in her hand, Mei expressed her conflicted feelings to no one in particular. “It’s unfair, really. …Jeez, why must such a good kid face such a fate.”

She let out another long sigh.

Even when people call her a demigod and a god amongst men and such, she was by no means omnipotent. In fact, she was well aware of how insignificant she was within the wheel of fate.

“All I can do is pray that the fate that awaits her won’t be too harsh…”

Muttering to herself, she sipped the now cold coffee.

♦♢♦

After my conversation with the chairwoman ended, Luke and I boarded the carriage to head home (Luke was currently staying in a room at Letindüte, undergoing training under Pryui to hatch the wyvern egg as a wind user), but I left him in the carriage as I made a stop in the middle of the city to join Bruno and Lynn.

Our destination was this city’s adventurer’s guild.

Personally, I only hold adventurer qualifications for nominal reasons. However, if you don’t complete a certain amount of work within a period, your adventurer qualifications will be revoked, and you have to return your adventurer card. So, this time, I decided to take on a request by tagging along with Bruno and Lynn.

That’s why I found myself wielding my wand again, dressed in a black dress with boots and a robe.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you, Jill?”
“I’ll be fine. I obtained a C-rank qualification after the orc subjugation, and the request this time only needs D and E ranks.”

I responded to Luke, who wanted to accompany us to the end, and then I got off the carriage.

“Don’t worry! She’s got me with her, so just leave it to me!”
“““Uhh…”””

As he dismounted from the emu he was on, Bruno confidently thumped his chest, eliciting ambiguous groans simultaneously from Luke, Captain Norman, and Lynn, who had accompanied us as escorts.

“…Ah, Miss Jill. Please also handle Bruno’s reins so he doesn’t overdo it.”
“Captain, that makes me sound like I’m a liability.”
“““…”””

Upon Bruno’s protest, everyone averted their eyes in unison.

After persuading the reluctant Luke and cramming him back into the carriage, we walked together towards the Adventurer’s Guild – Cilento South Second Branch.

The two-story building, despite being a branch, was large and sturdy, with spacious grounds and even a dedicated stable next to it.

“As expected, the branches here in the capital are different. It’s quite different from the guilds we stopped by during our journey.”
“Yeah, I heard nearly two thousand adventurers come and go here every day. More than half of them seem to be dungeon divers.”

“Oh, Senior, I’ll go put the emus in the stable.” Lynn, who was holding the reins for two emus, dashed off towards the stable.

“Yeah, thanks.”

With our eyes following her, we could peek inside the stable through the open windows and entrance due to ventilation, and there, tied up, was a familiar-looking salamander.

By the way, salamanders are similar to land drakes in that they are bred for riding, with strong hind legs and a thick tail that make them look more like bipedal lizards—or rather, dinosaurs—than traditional lizards. However, their faces resemble dragons more closely, and they are covered in red scales and flaming feathers¹ . Additionally, their front legs are in the shape of a wing, though they’re not skilled flyers² , only able to glide to some extent.

Nevertheless, they’re fast runners, and their ability to fly gives them the advantage of covering nearly twice the distance of land drakes in the same amount of time.

“…so he’s here already,” Bruno muttered with a displeased expression the moment he saw the salamander

“Could it be that the owner of that salamander is the adventurer we’re teaming up with for this request?” I asked, secretly speculating about the person.

“Yeah, he’s a real pain, but try not to let it bother you too much.”

“—I will be fine,” I replied. Then, with a mischievous smile, I added, “Come to think of it, there would be a fair trip to take to complete this request, wouldn’t it? …What a pickle, I have no ride for myself. I should’ve brought Vier, but I couldn’t possibly take her to the academy, so there’s nothing to be done. —But, what do I do? Riding together on an emu might be though, so maybe I’ll ask whether I could ride the salamander.”

Bruno visibly grimaced at my suggestion.

“Hell no! There’s no way I’m borrowing that guy any favors. Just rent a horse or a bird somewhere.”
“Well, I’ll still give it a try and ask. Besides, I’ve heard that salamanders are quite fast, so I’d like to ride one at least once.”

Bruno seemed like saying another piece, but he was interrupted by Lynn, who had returned after tying the bird to the stable.

“Sorry for the wait!”
“Well then, let’s not keep the other party waiting too long. Shall we go?”

As I urged the two, Bruno, seeming to have swallowed his words of protest, reluctantly took the lead towards the entrance of the guild. As I followed behind, I felt my heart racing with the unexpected anticipation of a reunion.

Author’s Note:

In Cardinal Rose Superempire, everyone does things with brute force instead of using convenient tools, so the technology is more advanced down here.