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The next day, we asked to meet Temuru to report that we accepted his request.

Since he was a peddler, he didn’t have a shop that would serve as his base. Instead, he apparently used a room at his inn for a similar purpose. We were guided to the room of a luxurious inn that was distinguished in Stollar.

“It has been some time, Sir Temuru.”

The inn staff guided us to his room, and I gave a fixed greeting to him right as we entered. Temuru, however, didn’t respond and merely stared petrified with his mouth open.

“Um… Sir Temuru?”
“Ah, yes, right… Could you be Nicole?”
“Yes. It’s been three years.”
“That took me by surprise. I barely recognized you!”

I have met Temuru several times in Raum, but this was our first time meeting since I came to Stollar. Three years was enough time to greatly change my appearance. It wasn’t strange for him to act like this.

Rebooting himself, he expressed his impressions with a clap of his hands.

“You were a beauty three years ago, but now you are the very picture of femme fatale.”
“…I get told that quite often, but it’s not like I intended to be like that.”
“Hahaha, oh dear. There would be no questions if you became King Elliot’s queen now.”
“We have already called that thing off!”

Right now, I was very similar to my Haumea disguise from before. Now that I had taken the form that made Elliot fall with one shot, I was extremely troubled from incessant marriage proposals and requests of association. Finia still looked every bit as dainty as before. Michelle’s waist was no longer child-like and had developed a nice figure.

We have become famous Adventurers in this city, but I couldn’t deny that our appearances played a part in our fame. Even Cloud had grown into a tall handsome man, so our party was composed of nothing but beauties.

“We have heard from Gadius that you were searching for guards for Forneus. We’d like to accept that commission.”
“Ohh, you wish to take over?”
“Yes. As for the reward…”

I tried to charge him a bit higher. I wasn’t doing it out of spite or anything, I just expected him to start haggling the price so I started it myself. However, he didn’t do anything of the sort in the end and practically agreed to give our asking price.

“Huh, are you sure?”
“Of course. It is certainly a little higher than the market price, but traveling while surrounded by so many beauties is not something so common. Considering that, it’s rather on the cheaper end.”
“Really? I’m starting to feel bad here.”
“Hahaha, you are soft-hearted in the strangest ways as always.”
“Mghh…”

I had never really displayed it in my previous life, but my sense of justice was quite strong from the start. I was somehow set on fighting and ended up following the assassin’s life, so I felt really weird to be told in the face that I was soft-hearted.

It felt like bugs were crawling up my spine. While I squirmed and straightened myself, Temuru switched to a different topic, “Also, since there are two carriages this time, so just your group might be inefficient. I’m thinking of hiring an additional party of Adventurers…”

He used the opportunity where I was quiet and spoke. We’ve only heard about guarding him, so this was news to us.

“Do you know what kind of people they are? I hope they aren’t the troublesome bunch, given our appearances and all.”
“No, it hasn’t been decided yet.”

Certainly, protecting two carriages with just us might be too much as he said. I could understand his idea of putting one group per carriage. That said, we had quite outstanding appearances.

If the other group started calling out to us for the entire duration of this month-long trip, it would be far too depressing. There might even be people who’d try to do something lawless.

I voiced my concerns to Temuru.

“I certainly understand your worries. I too would rather not have guards who get infatuated with you. Let’s see… Then maybe you know Adventurers who you would not mind coming along?”
“Are you giving us the right to choose?”
“You are the ones who have problems with it, after all. And I am sure you would choose trustworthy people compared to choosing them randomly.”
“I’m glad that you think so.”

As he said, Temuru would not really care about the details if he could just hire the Adventurers referred through the Guild or the inns connected to it. The problem was that we were too conspicuous. In that case, the best method would be for us to choose a bunch that’d cause the least problems.

That said, Temuru who offered such a suggestion so readily was quite a broad-minded man. He was entrusting the safety of himself and his luggage to the decision of someone else.

“Well… The most trustworthy person in this city would be Gadius…”
“If I could hire Lord Gadius, I would readily do so even if I had to pay twice what you suggested!”
“No, that’d be impossible, after all. He has his inn work.”
“That’s unfortunate.”

Temuru looked actually dejected, despite the fact that he should’ve known it was impossible from the start. Or perhaps he just got ahead of himself here, since I held special connections to Gadius.

“Let’s see, Gadius will naturally be impossible, but I know this Adventurer called Mark. If it’s him and his party, I don’t think they would try anything with us.”

Mark’s group had been working hard just like us and had risen to the third-rank which was the level of normal adventurers. Since they were close to Cloud in age, we’ve partied several times together.

Perhaps due to that, they had gained some tolerance against our beauty and stopped trying to hit on us. It felt nostalgic how they used to be all over Finia back then.

“Oh? They must be worthy of attention if you’re recommending them, Nicole. Alright then, I will nominate them.”
“Are you really sure you’re fine with me deciding it?”
“I am. Seeing that little lady from before growing into a proper lady, or should I say, independent Adventurer, has moved me quite a bit. Of course, I would trust your suggestion.”
“…Is that so, thank you very much for trusting me.”
“Not at all. Please say that once this trip is over. With that done, do you have anything else to discuss?”

Temuru gave me a friendly smile. It was like the face of a grandfather directed at his grandchild. If that’s what he felt, I suppose I could make use of his good will.

“Well. We have decided that we need one already, so would you be able to secure us a two-horse carriage? I would also like a horse for Cloud.”
“Three horses and one carriage, yes? I’m sure you are aware, but that would be quite expensive.”
“We have enough savings. But if it’s impossible…”
“No, I will ask my rancher acquaintance. I can do something about the carriage itself.”
“Thank you very much. Our budget would be around…”

We managed to settle on a moderate… or rather, pretty cheap price for the carriage.

Like this, we accepted Temuru’s commission.