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“Whoa! It’s healed, Master!”
“Yes, yes, that’s great. But don’t go punching walls.”

A few days had passed since the incident, and back at the guild, Momo was swinging her arms around energetically.

Yes, both arms. The arm that had been on the verge of rotting was now fully healed, thanks to the Saint’s magic.

“Still, it’s impressive that her arm went from decaying to fully healed in just a few days. The Saint really is something.”
“Mm, I don’t really get it, but it’s amazing, right?”
“Of course it is. Magic and magecraft can’t just do anything. It’s thanks to the skill of the sorcerer that you’re healed, so make sure to show your gratitude.”
“Of course! I need to find a gift to thank her… b-but the money…”
“There’s plenty of money. The reward from the quest came with a hefty bonus.”
“That’s your share, Master. I didn’t really do anything, so I can’t accept it.”
“You’re oddly strict about this kind of thing.”

She kept insisting she didn’t deserve it, even though she was the one who rescued Stell when she was almost abducted. I’d told her more than once that she was entitled to the reward, but she continued to refuse.

In the end, she only took a small portion, and the majority of the reward ended up in my pocket.

“Well, after deducting food expenses, it might be a fair amount. Your appetite is a bit too demanding.”
“Ahaha, sorry about that…”
“But at this rate, you won’t have any money of your own. You’ll be in trouble when you need it.”
“Yeah, you’re right… Okay, I’ll find a job! Something I can do!”

“Physical labor jobs are popular, so if you’re going for one, better find it quickly.”
“What about something more… intellectual that I can handle?”
“No such thing.”
“Okay… I’ll go do some manual labor…”

With a dejected shuffle, Momo headed off toward the crowd in front of the guild’s quest board. Thankfully, there were more quests posted than usual, likely due to the recent ghost ship incident. As long as she didn’t hesitate too much, she wouldn’t miss out on a decent job.

“Now, the creep hiding under the table, come out.”
“Yipe… I—I thought I had hidden my presence…”
“Your malicious aura is leaking all over the place. But what’s with the outfit? Off duty?”
“Oh, you noticed? Hehe, it’s my first day off in a week!”

The guild staff who crawled out from under the neighboring table was not wearing the usual guild uniform but a loose, comfortable-looking outfit. Likely a reward for the all-nighters she pulled during the ghost ship incident. While it was nice to see the guild had a reasonable work environment, I couldn’t help but wonder if letting this creep roam free on her day off was a good idea.

“Fine, if you’ve got time to stalk people, come with me for a bit.”
“Yesss, if it’s your request, I’ll do anything… Wait, huh?”
“What, if you have other plans, it’s fine.”
“No, no, all my plans just became trivial. If you need me, I’ll follow you to the ends of three thousand-worlds¹.”

“Outlanders’ expressions are hard to understand sometimes… I’ll take that as a yes. I’m not familiar with the area yet, so I could use your help.”
“Master! I got it! I found a perfect quest—oh, Ms. Hoshikawa, hello! Wow, your casual clothes are so cute!”
“You’re too loud… Anyway, since you did, I’m heading out for a bit.”
“Hehehe… Sorry, Momo, but I’m borrowing your master for a little while!”
“It’s fine, but this is a pretty unusual pair, isn’t it? Have a good trip!”

With Momo waving us off, I left the guild in the company of the eccentric guild staff. The quest she found didn’t seem like it would take too much time, so if I returned by noon, I could catch up with her later.

…Still, from an outsider’s perspective, this must look a lot like I’m being kidnapped.

✦✧✦✧✦

“We… we’ve arrived!”
“Three times. That’s how many times we were stopped by the guards on the way here.”
“That’s strange… I could’ve sworn this would only be my first offense if anything…”

I wasn’t sure whether to take this as a joke or report her to the guards before someone really got hurt.

“N-Now now, don’t look so scary! I haven’t done anything… yet!”
“Yet.”
“S-So, are you sure this is really the place you wanted? I could recommend some trendy clothing stores and such, you know.”
“No, this is fine. You’ve been a big help. The city’s layout is confusing, and flying around would just draw attention.”

Thanks to the guild staff’s guidance, we arrived at the city’s largest and only library with an extensive collection of books. It was a treasure trove of paper-bound knowledge, and surprisingly, anyone could browse the materials with the proper procedures. Unthinkable a thousand years ago.

“Back in the day, getting your hands on a single magecraft textbook required so many connections and funds…”
“It’s amazing, isn’t it? Apparently, we owe this to Babel.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Literacy rates must be way different now.”

The concept of collecting and preserving written knowledge had existed for ages, but the ability to share it freely like this? That was probably due to Babel’s forced translation effect. The impact that tower had on the world was immense—so much so that I was driven to understand its origins.

“Thanks. I’ll treat you to lunch after this. Sorry for taking up your day off.”
“No, no, it was more of a reward for me! …So, little Laika, are you looking for any book in particular?”
“Oh, nothing too important, just some research….”

1. TL Note: She used a buddhism term for the universe 三千世界 (three (types/layers of) thousand-worlds (so 1000^3=1000000000)) which is nowadays sometimes used figuratively and translated simply as “the whole world/universe” but decided to go with the literal meaning here since it sounds weird from Laika’s perspective.

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