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“That’s weird? I think you didn’t hear me, so I’ll say it again. Show me. Your plate. And the money you received. Huh? Can you hear me?”

Please don’t release an aura that makes everyone freeze while smiling so cutely! I know he was trying to scam us out of money, but now he’s literally fainted while standing up! Krieck! Look at the monster of a girl you hired!

“Huh? I think you feel asleep. Are you tired? Camille, this person is being a bit of a bother, so I’ll just carry him to the corner over there, okay?”
“Eh? Ah…sure.”

When I replied, the aura coming off from her vanished, the other adventurers and I breathed deep sighs in relief. Lapis then grabbed the fainted adventurer, carried him with one hand and headed to a corner of the room. On her way there, adventurers stepped away as if she was a monster that needed to be evaded, and when she arrived at the corner, she carelessly threw the body against the wall. Watching her I was certain that once that man woke up, his entire body would be in pain.

“I’m sorry for the disturbance everyone. The procedures are going to resume as regular now, so feel free to come closer.”

Even though she beamed a bright smile, there were no adventurers with enough courage to talk with her immediately, but that was to be expected. Any adventurer with at least a bit of knowledge should have been able to realize how strong she is from that encounter. If they said the wrong thing, they could easily be flung away just like that previous adventurer. But once again, my expectations were quickly thwarted. A single boy walked up to her, even though everyone else was afraid of approaching her now.

“Umm, here! I want to take this quest!”

That boy looked familiar. He was the new adventurer Krieck used as a dummy for Lapis to learn earlier in the morning. His face did reveal some amount of fear, but he did not look like he would bolt away. At least he was brave enough to face her and not look away.

“Oh, Abel… Sure, show me your plate and the quest then.”

The quest Abel wanted to take was a leftover from the beginner ones, involving gathering medicinal herbs. New adventurers would always have to start with those, and after taking many, they would start increasing their reputation until they would be able to take a few hunting quests. It was also that way for me when I was younger and barely starting.

It was Lapis’ first time dealing with a quest, so she looked a bit lost at first, but soon she took out the bundle of papers with the details of quests from the counter. She then cross-checked that with the quest she received from Abel. The quest details included the name and address of the person who posted the quest, the reward, and exactly what was looked for. If a receptionist found any mismatch between those details, or there was any sort of restriction on it, she would have to inform the adventurer.

Though the medical herbs quest was one the guild itself posted, so there were no restrictions or possibilities for mistakes on the details.

“…Everything looks fine. Now then, good luck with your first quest. There’s no deadline, so no need to worry too much if you take a long time. And if anything dangerous happens, feel free to just run away.”
“Thank you! I’ll do my best!”

After he received back the quest page, he folded it and stored it in his pocket while his face turned red. A boy his age would normally get whirled up like that after being complimented by a cute girl after all, not to mention it was Lapis. In either case, he looked way more motivated now. After that, some adventurers who watched that interaction from afar noticed that there was no danger when talking to Lapis, so they began lining up on her side as well. There might have been a small disturbance at first, but at this rate, everything looked like it would get back on track soon.

§　§　§

When the volume of people entering diminished somewhat, it was time for the receptionists to take a break as well. Even if the guild was supposed to be open at all times, we still needed some time to rest so we could work properly. So every day, we had a one hour break for lunch, the only time we could rest without worries.

I took Lapis with me and went to a conference room on the second floor. Its purpose was to hold meetings and such, but it very rarely got used, so normally it was used as a break room for staff. The office workers had started their break earlier so they were there already, eating the food that had been delivered to them. When they saw us enter the room, they each raised a hand to greet us.

“Hey! There you are Camille and Lapis, come here!”

The one who spoke as he kept waving was Kevin, the office’s most easy-going guy. He always had an eye out for cute girls, so there was a possibility he was thinking of making a move on her. But at the same time, interacting with someone like him might help Lapis as well, considering how easily she gets stressed sometimes. And even if he tried something sketchy, she would easily be able to defend herself.

“We’ll take you up on that then.”
“Sure sure! And oh, this food is provided by the guild, so take as much as you want. It’s all paid for by the guild after all.”
“Really? I hadn’t thought about lunch when coming, so this is really helpful.”

I do not know about other guilds, but as far as this one is concerned, our guild master Krieck offered lunch for the workers. Most of the people here had different situations in their lives, so there were many who would have a hard time preparing their own food beforehand, so Krieck wanted to diminish any sort of trouble they might have outside of work. I would have been okay preparing my food, but I always took up on Krieck’s kindness. After all, even if it was just one meal every day, it still helped with my house’s finances as well.

Lapis looked a bit hesitant at first when she sat down, but as she took the bread and grilled skewers from the table, she loosened up. The office workers were really curious about their new coworker, so they kept bombarding her with questions.

“Lapis, where did you come from?”
“From a corner of the continent. It’s probably so remote none of you knows of it.”
“I heard you can use both weapons and magic?”
“Somewhat yeah. Though I’ve distanced myself from actual fights for so long I’m probably really rusty now.”

That had to be a lie. She had made a seasoned adventurer faint with her aura alone, that was far from being rusty… though as much as I wanted to say that, I chose to remain silent. Things continued like that, even making me wonder if people had come to eat or to talk at one point. Then Kevin asked something that made Lapis freeze for a second.

“By the way, why do you always talk with such a manly tone? It almost makes you sound like a boy.”

Lapis acted somewhat unrestful, as if that was something she had not realized until it was pointed out. I had also found that weird before. Her hand had been trying to reach another piece of food, but it stopped midway to grab something to drink. Once she had gulped down the food remaining in her mouth, she replied:

“…It was the countryside, everyone, regardless of gender, spoke the same way there. Even my grandma spoke the same as me.”