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Feeling a hand holding my shoulder like that began to annoy me. Though it was not so much because someone was touching me, but that their dirty hands were sullying the clothes Ciel and Karin had bought for me. For a second I had an impulse to hurt them, but I realized that if I were to attack them now, it could lead to me being fired on my first day at work, so I had to hold back. I decided I had to stop it in a more peaceful manner. Forcing myself to hold my feelings back, I decided to try scolding them so they might reconsider what they were doing.

“Err… Could you please let go of me? I really don’t want to hang out with you.”
“…Look. You better follow us while we’re still talking nicely to you.”
“Who are you taking us for? We’re iron rank y’know? A simple girl like you can’t do anything to us, do you want to get convinced by force or something?”

I desperately forced myself to swallow the words I was about to shout at them: ‘Are you stupid enough to assume I’d know who you are?’ By that point, one of them moved forward and it was apparent he wanted to strangle me. If things went that far, I would be unable to avoid taking actions against them, so I took hold of his hand and was about to twist it…when one adventurer leaped out of the line.

“S-stop it you two! Can’t you tell you’re bothering her?!”

His appearance suggested he was probably still in his teens. There were still childish features left on his face. He knitted his brows and pressed his lips into a flat line. His eyes showed a strong will as he glared at the two violent adventurers. His body was clad in a leather armor that looked brand new, the sword dangling awkwardly on his hip looked like it belonged to someone else.

His thin body was trembling as if it was still struggling to comprehend that its owner had made it leap out from the line. I could not blame him though, he did not seem to have much experience in fighting, or any at all compared to those two in front of me. He was probably still a beginner, or in the worst case, an apprentice who had not been registered as an adventurer yet. For a few seconds, the two looked taken aback by his entrance, but they soon started grinning broadly as they approached him with a long stride.

“What did you say? I think I didn’t hear you, can you repeat what you said?”
“…I told you to stop. She…doesn’t look comfortable.”
“Huhh?! Whattt?! I can’t hear youuuuu!”
“Ghahahahah!”

That uncomfortable laughter ground at my nerves. The pitiful youngster twitched back in fear, and noticing that, the two only taunted him even more. By then I could not hold back anymore, I had to screw their heads straight. If I let these two go, it could endanger the general mental health of others, and more importantly, ignoring degenerate adventurers could leave a blight on the guild’s reputation. I just had to properly apologize to the guild master afterwards. With fast and steady steps, I moved close to them and grabbed one of them.

“What is it, missy? Do you feel like coming with us n….ouch ouch ouchh?!”
“What the-?!”

After I took hold of one of their arms, I turned it against his back and pulled up, locking his elbow. Struck by immense pain, the man began shaking like a snake, but I did not care and pressed him against the ground.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

The other man had tried to take a hold of me, but instead I took the arm he had stretched towards me, twisting it at an angle an arm was not supposed to turn, and single-handedly threw him away. The man rolled in the air as he flew before colliding against the wall of the guild. He was knocked out cold and ceased moving. It all happened in an instant, but all the onlookers just stood dumbfounded trying to take it all in. The young man who tried to save me as well as the man I was pinning against the ground also stood motionless. Having heard the noise outside, Krieck then ran out from the guild leaving behind the things he was getting ready.

“What happened here?!”
“Umm…”

…How was I supposed to explain the situation? I was a new worker, on my first day, and there was a man lying against the guild wall on one side, and another restrained under me. There was also the young man who still remained motionless from where he stood. I had to make sure Krieck did not think I was just randomly hitting people, but I could just open and close my mouth without uttering a single word while I tried to come up with an explanation. Krieck looked like he understood something, so he picked up the man who fainted and turned towards me.

“I want to know what happened. Lapis, you and that boy come inside, and carry that man with you as well.”

I was glad. At least it looked like I had avoided being framed as the sole culprit of the scene. The man tried to resist me as I pulled him inside the guild, and once inside, I saw Krieck carelessly drop the other man on the ground. After that he glanced at me and nodded once, seeing that, I released the man I was holding. As soon as I freed him, he jumped a step back and began rubbing his arm.

“Tsk… You’re quite ridiculous for the cute face you have.”
“You can complain later. I want to know what happened first. Lapis, you can speak.”

Krieck’s gaze was sharp. It was obvious he would not let a single lie pass through. So I gave an account of what happened, trying my best to be unbiased and tell it as if I was a third party there. As I spoke, the man tried to speak over me and silence me many times, but Krieck always turned his eyes at him and he would shut up.

When I was done, Krieck asked the same questions to the young man and the adventurer. The young man’s account was almost identical to mine, but…the man’s story was almost the opposite. In short, he said he was a bit lost so he tried speaking to me, but I replied with violence out of the blue, and that the young man was probably my accomplice. Though there were a lot of holes in the story, like the fact that someone who I didn’t even know the name of was my accomplice, but his head probably was not good enough for that.

“…I see, I think I have a broad idea of the situation now.”
“Then punish them immediately! Why would a guild even consider hiring such a violent girl?!”

I just kept getting more annoyed at his selfish manners. He had not considered for a moment that he himself could get punished as well, but this was not my place to say something. I was already silent, but Krieck still lifted his hand ahead of my face, then looking at the man, he said with a silent yet intense voice:

“The ones getting punished are you and your companion. Normally something like this would involve the guards, but only for this time we’ll settle it with a warning. Give me your adventurer plates.”

“Wh-what did you say?! She’s the one who started attacking us!”

“No, you two started touching her first, that means her acts were on self-defense. We also have this youngling as a witness. It’s obvious who’s lying here. So shut up and give me your plates now.”

The man clenched his teeth in annoyance as he took out a plate from his pocket and handed it to Krieck. It was my first time seeing a plate like that, it had a dull glossy finish. I figured the ‘iron’ thing he mentioned before referred to that plate.

Still, he was running his mouth so much earlier, but now he was behaving more calmly. I wonder why?

Once he received the plate from the man, Krieck stuck his hand inside the pocket of the other man lying on the ground and took a similar plate out from there. Then he went behind the counter and wrote something on a piece of paper. When he was done, he returned the plates to the man.

“I wrote down your names. Be careful from now on, if something like this happens again, you will receive the full punishment. You can leave now.”
“Tsk!”

After clicking his tongue, the man picked up his companion and left the guild with unsteady steps. Finally, the matter was settled. I instinctively heaved a deep sigh and Krieck turned to look at me with a strained smile.