| Author: SS Samurai | Original Source: Syosetu |
| Translator: rm31439 | English Source: Re:Library |
Rir and I had arrived at the gild. She was wearing the red hood.
“It looks like it works without any issues.”
“I told you so, didn’t I?”
We opened the gate and entered the gild. As soon as we did that, the usual gambling addicts came to pester me.
Ever since that day, they keep doin’ that, y’know.
“Yo, Shuu! Good morning, dude!”
“Ah, you’re here… Who’s the cute girl next to you? She your girlfriend…?”
My girlfriend… does it look like that? Guess it might… I never took walks with any girls, so I dunno, but does Rir look like that to onlookers? Thanks to that hood, looks like they haven’t realized she’s a beastfolk.
For now, should I just go with what they said? Nah, I could never have such an adorable girlfriend. It’s not like I’m some handsome guy like Ayumu, who got more chocolate each Valentine’s Day than he could count on one hand… right?
On that note, the only one who gave me chocolate was Mika, who did it out of social obligation… Ah, wait, weren’t there two bars on my desk once? Not sure if that happened or not.
“Ah… no, I am Master’s slave.”
Before I knew it, Rir had decided to give them a reply.
“Oh-ho… I see. That’s good, right, Shuu? So, you had the money to buy a slave.”
“…Even so, ain’t she a pretty little thing, dude?”
“Ah, you’re right. Maybe you’re part of that slave protection group, Shuu, or she’s actually your friend who’d become a slave when you met again, so you somehow managed to buy her… something like this.”
The hell? Those’re enough wild ideas to fill a book.
Bah, whatever. Explainin’ is too much of a pain. I’ll just go along with his idea.
“You… you understand me well, that’s exactly what happened.”
“Oh!? Looks like I hit the mark!”
“Dude… You must’ve had it hard…”
We slipped away, while the gambling addicts cried manly tears over the tale, they’d spun themselves, and somehow made it to the reception desk. Afterwards, Rir went through all the same procedures I had to become an adventurer, and then immediately registered as a party together with me.
As for the name of our team; I was someone who used fire magic and had cauliflower ears, while Rir wore a red hood and had one of her ears missing. Furthermore, the first time we met was when I had faced off with goblins, who had red skin and longs ears, so… for all those reasons, we called our party “Red Ears1“.
I thought it sounded a bit lame, but I didn’t let that bother me.
We declined, when the receptionist offered to recommend a job to us, left the guild, and then went to look for a weapon and armor.
“Erm, by the way, Master,” Rir called out to me, while we were looking at weapons.
“Is somethin’ wrong?”
“Uhm, what those men said earlier…”
“It’s a pretty good backstory, ain’t it? I think we should use it from now on.”
“Huh? Is that so? Ah, that’s not what I meant, erm… They asked whether I’m your girlfriend, Master.”
“Ah, guess they did. You don’t need to worry about what those guys say, y’know.”
“That’s my line,” Rir fervently shook her head. “Shouldn’t I act more like a slave? I’ll end up causing you trouble, Master. After all, you have someone you love, don’t you?”
“Huh? There ain’t no one like that right now.”
Yep, I don’t have anyone like that, I’ve given up on my first love a long time ago, plus she followed her boyfriend into the afterlife… That’s right. Thinkin’ of Mika suddenly makes me wonder if I’ll be back in the middle of her funeral when I go back to Japan.
“Huh, there isn’t anyone?”
“Yep, that’s how it is. Sorry?”
“Woof!? That’s not it! I didn’t mean to make fun of you, it seems I misunderstood things somewhat.”
“What did you misunderstand2?”
“Uhm… I will tell you, if I have to, but I’d prefer not to say it. Eh-heh-heh.”
“That so? I won’t force you.”
After that, we bought Rir’s equipment for the time being, which consisted of an axe and elbow-, knee-, and chest-protectors and some other stuff, all made of iron. For the sake of caution, I also bought a knife.
Maybe because she was happy that I had bought her a weapon, her stride seemed somewhat lighter. Though that was probably just my imagination.
All in all, I paid 13’000 bells. It was cheaper than I had expected.
“You’re not buying any armor for yourself, Master?”
“I can shoot off magic from the distance, so…”
“Is that so? …Please make sure not to get injured, will you?”
“Ha-ha, well, I’ll be careful.”
Finally, we went back to the guild and decided on a job to take. It was the goblin subjugation one, which paid a higher reward the more goblins you defeated. We decided to let Rir try fighting several of them at the start, so I gave her some space.
Also, due to forming a party, all members apparently got the same amount of experience points, but… I was a bit concerned whether my cheat titles would apply to that…
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Before I knew it, we were in the forest. In front of me was the corpse of a goblin with its head smashed open. Rir had killed it.
She’s seriously swingin’ that axe around with ease, y’know. To be honest, it scared me a bit.
“Master, what do you think? I was able to do it, right?”
“Y-Yep, you sure did.”
“By the way, I can also use Dismantling. Let me show you how to do it on this goblin. Woof, I am glad that I can finally be of use to you, Master!” Rir exclaimed while looking at me with a happy smile.
This certainly would’ve left me with a feeling of her being cute again, if only she wasn’t carrying an axe on her back, with one hand covered in copious amounts of blood, and the other one holding a knife while chopping up a piece of the goblin’s flesh.
TL notes:
I like the reversal of the dynamic we’ve seen with Alim and Mika (and will likely with Kanata and Sakura) with Rir as the close-quarters fighter and Shuu as the long-range attacker/supporter.
Also, it’s nice that the potential thugs from chapter 237 got somewhat friendly (though also annoying) with Shuu. For all the bad stuff we heard about Yggdrasil, it seems pretty decent so far.
