chapter 10

The day after the Fielin Forest incident…

Meryl and I went to the Adventurers’ Guild.

We’d forgotten because of the battle with Seira Grundt, but at that time, we had been undergoing a test to become adventurers.

After I lost consciousness, Meryl safely delivered the copper apples to Lulu-san, marking our quest as complete.

Upon hearing that we came, Lulu-san smiled brightly.

“Aruto-san! Meryl-san! Good morning!”

“Good morning, Lulu-san.”

I’d only noticed upon entering the guild, but the other adventurers looked at us differently from before.

Perhaps the news of Seira’s defeat spread.

“Lulu-san, how are the quest results?”

“Of course, you pass! Even if you didn’t bring back the copper apples, with what you’ve accomplished, you’d surely pass!”

We actually took down someone wanted without even being adventurers yet.

“I’m going to start the registration process now, so please hand over your condition bracelets, both of you.”

Just as Lulu-san said, we handed over our condition bracelets. Lulu-san did something to them and finished registering us.

“Registration complete!”

Having said that, she returned our condition bracelets to us. We immediately opened our adventurer plates.

On it were written our name and rank.

Rank D… the rank you got upon becoming an adventurer.

Adventurer ranks went from D to C to B to A to S.

These weren’t dependent on your level but rather depended on the quests you took.

“With that…”

Suddenly, as Lulu-san slightly exhaled and beckoned to us, I waited for her to say something.

“I’ve also included my contact information here, so please feel free to contact me.”

With a small smile, she muttered that.

Seriously… How shrewd.

Yes, the condition bracelet could also send messages, just like a phone would.

When Lulu-san saw that I was confused, she giggled. Meryl puffed out her cheeks.

She suddenly grabbed my hand and tried to drag me towards the exit.

“We’re done here. Let’s go, Aruto-san!”

“Wai-!? Don’t drag me!, O-okay, Lulu-san, see you next time!”

“Okay, I’ll be waiting.”

Lulu smiled calmly at us until we reached the door, and we left the Adventurers’ Guild.

Even after we left the guild, Meryl wouldn’t let go of my hand. From behind, she looked really angry.

“Oi… Oi, Meryl? Why’re you angry?”

“I’m not!”

No, she was mad no matter how you looked at it. Regardless, I wrenched my hand away.

“You’re as close as ever.”

Garuna came to talk to us.

“G-Garuna…”

I flinched, remembering Garuna’s kiss yesterday. Seeing me flinch, Meryl stared daggers at me. I turned away.

Seeing Meryl’s expression, Garuna let out a small chuckle.

“Congrats on becoming adventurers, both of you.”

“Thanks!”

“Right! We should exchange contact info.”

Without any reason to refuse, Meryl, Garuna, and I all exchanged our contact information.

“So, what are you two going to do now?”

“Today we’re going to level up. How about you?”

“I’ll be gathering information. If I chance upon some good info, I’ll give it to you! For a price, that is.”

“As expected for an informant. So you’re really sticking to that, huh…”

As she winked at me, I couldn’t help but admire Garuna’s drive as an informant.

“Well, best regards again, Garuna.”

“You too,” she said, as we shook hands. After shaking hands with Meryl too, we parted ways.

Outside Izuruli, we started setting out to level up. Unexpectedly, Meryl stopped me.

“What’s up, Meryl?”

“So we ended up becoming adventurers. What do we do now?”

For sure…

We became adventurers for want of something to do, but we didn’t receive any special instructions from Ines about what to do in Reinbark.

“…I don’t know what we should do. But one thing’s for sure—we live in this world now. So, live for the moment and be an adventurer!”

Hearing my answer, Meryl laughed and nodded brightly.

“I’m a novice goddess! In order to guide you, Aruto-san… I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth!”

In response to Meryl’s smile, I chuckled.

“Then, first, let’s level up! Let’s go, Meryl!”

“Yes!”

In front of us, monsters appeared.

In order to defeat those monsters, we set out…

In a dark dimension…

A man watched the surface of flowing water. In it, he could see that Meryl and I were fighting a monster.

“I see… so that boy is a transferee sent by Ines. That means that girl is…”

The surface of the water showed a large reflection of me, then of Meryl.

“An acquaintance of yours seems to be in this world too. It’d be good if you quickly went and found someone to transfer.”

A girl around Meryl’s age stood in front of the man.

“… we’re looking for a candidate.”

The girl projected a screen, showing a boy my age. Seeing the boy on the monitor, the man smiled boldly.

“Hm… not bad. Persuade him.”

“As you wish.”

The girl bowed her head and vanished into the darkness. The man looked back at us in the water.

“Ines… I won’t let you get in my way. No matter what it takes…”

The man’s bold laughter echoed throughout the dark dimension…