Thundering Fame

「Pendulummm?」

「This.」

Galbas tilted his head. I took out the hidden weapon with string attached from my Storage and showed it to him by lightly swinging it. Then Galbas’s eyes lit up like a kid who saw a toy.

「Hoo……is this a stabbing weapon? Or a weapon tied to string?」

「I use it for both. Originally I used blunt weight for it. At times I swung it around to cut, but its power dropped with that way, so I want to do something about it.」

「The drop in power is due to the problem with the center of gravity. It’s important to make it balanced so that it’s not too heavy and not too light. What’re you thinking for its material?」

「I don’t have any preference but, something that blood won’t easily stick on will be good.」

「In that case it’ll be better to use magic iron as expected. Using mythril will be too expensive in case you lose it. Magic iron also isn’t cheap but……oi, Victor! Do you have some magic iron ore at hand?」

Victor……? When Galbas shouted that name, the general store’s old man grinned while watching the hidden weapon in amusement.

「There isn’t anything in this city that I can’t get-! Ash covered, this isn’t a weapon from this country huh. A weapon from the west is it……unusual.」

「This thing, it’s a weapon from Justa Empire huh……oi, ash covered-, looks like that brat Viro isn’t with you anymore but, do you still have my knife?」

「Of course.」

I handed the black knife that was attached on my back waist to Galbas together with the sheath. He pulled out the knife from the sheath and frowned slightly.

「It looks like you’ve been taking care of it but, you must have gone through some flashy battles……. Magic steel weapon ain’t as good as mythril but, it can regenerate bit by bit using the owner’s magic power just like monster material. Yet this thing, it got some deep scratches and even nicks on it.」

「Sorry……」

「Stupid idiot-, it’s a weapon so it’ll obviously get scratched-! This thing only has sharpness going for it and not enough “power”, a half-baked weapon. From what I see, you’ve gotten really strong ain’t you? It should be a good time for you to get an exclusive weapon of your own.」

「Exclusive weapon?」

This black knife was a half-baked product that Galbas created when he was young. He gave it to me because it was “just right” for me. That was why it seemed he thought that this knife didn’t suit me anymore.

But, that wasn’t it.

「No. This thing suit my fighting style. Even if nobody else can use it properly, this knife exist to be used by me, and I too have gotten stronger to be able to use this knife.」

Even so the knife got nicked because my technique was immature. After I said that, Galbas placed the knife in front of him and quietly crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

It wasn’t in my personality to be fixated with weapon but, this knife had continued to remain in my hand even though it had been almost lost several times. It made me thought that it suited me really well.

Galbas pinched two large golden coins from among the coins that were scattered on the table and tossed them. Victor caught those coins that were flying at him.

「Victor-!! Get me materials using those-. I’m going to draw the weapon design.」

「Ou, leave it to me.」

「……You’ll make me weapon?」

I asked the two who suddenly started getting heated up. Then Galbas only took one more large gold coin for himself and pushed back the rest to me.

「Leave it to me you stupid idiot-, ain’t no way I can do other things when a job this interesting came my way-!」

「But, just that much won’t be enough for weapon made of magic iron……」

Viro told me before. A knife made from magic steel cost five golden coins at the market. He also mentioned that even Galbas’s amateur work cost more than twenty gold coins.

「Kid shouldn’t concern herself with that kinda thing-! Ain’t that right, Victor-」

「That’s how it is. Something like this is like hobby for old me like us. Hahaha-」

「……Thank you.」

I bowed to the two. The two laughed in amusement and Victor patted my head as though I was his grandchild.

「Ash covered, come here again after one month. Also leave behind that knife. I’ll fix it together with the new weapon.」

「Yes, got it.」

One month huh. It seemed fast for making a new weapon and also fixing a weapon. And so I left behind the black knife with Galbas.

「Then, I’ll take a sip of this alcohol for energy……」

「Youu, you’re going to buy magic iron while drun? I’ll sock your teeth in if you buy me iron scraps.」

「What, it’s just a glass. You also want to drink right?」

「Well yeah……」

「Keep it in moderation.」

I smiled slightly at the exchange between two old men who were like grandfathers. Then I thanked the two once more before moving to leave the smithy, but Galbas stopped me in a hurry.

「Oi, ash covered-! Are you planning to leave without even bringing any substitute weapon-? What’re you gonna do for this one month-」

「It’s not like I have anything in particular that I want to use other than that knife. Besides if it’s weapon that I still have some more with me.」

I lifted the slit of my skirt and showed the knife holster attached on my thigh. When I did that, Galbas and Viktor spewed the alcohol they drank and they held their heads as though they got a headache.

「That equipment……Gelf huh. That guy created damn strange thing……」

「……Oi, listen well ash covered. It doesn’t matter for old men like us but, you’re a young woman, so don’t show your leg so easily in front of me like that-!」

「Nn? Got it.」

Young women liked to show their legs in the city based on that woman’s “knowledge” though. I don’t really get it but, certainly a hidden weapon wasn’t something to be showed off.

「……Wait for a bit.」

Galbas held his head again for some reason seeing me nodding with a quiet expression. He stood up and went to the back, then he handed me an item that was wrapped in leather.

「Take this with you for now. This weapon is just right for the current you.」

When I opened the leather wrapping, I found a magic steel dagger with strange shape inside.

The blade’s length was about the same with the black knife. It was a weapon with only sharp tip for thrusting and no blade at its sides, but it looked really robust with how it was a thick square at the bottom which got pointier the further above it went.

*Byun-!*

「……Amazing.」

I tried swinging it a little and then thrusting it with a step forward. It was slightly heavier than the black knife but, it felt like this weapon could pierce even the thick skull of monster or the joint part of armor without turning crooked.

Galbas looked in satisfaction at me swinging the weapon. Then Victor who had just finished wiping the alcohol he spewed muttered with an exasperated face.

「What are you saying, you eccentric old man. Isn’t that the thing that you laboriously created right after you handed that knife to the ash covered?」

「Shut your trap, you drunkard eccentric old man-!!」

The two started fighting again for some reason. I didn’t say anything and just bow once more to them.

.

I equipped the black dagger in exchange of the black knife and then headed to the adventurer guild right away.

Although this place was a remote region that was near the border, it was close to monster habitat and also dungeon. The adventurer guild of this town boasted the biggest scale in this area. It was a guild with a lot of skilled adventurers.

The number of adventurers that constantly came in and out was more than a hundred. Usually an adventurer guild would only have twenty percent of its members rank 3 or above, but in this town it was said that thirty until forty percent of its members were rank 3 or above, so even the baron who governed this territory couldn’t really be forceful with the guild.

*Giiii…….*

『…………』

The door opened with creaking sound as I entered inside the guild while still wearing my hood. There were around twenty adventurers inside with several men sending dangerous gazes toward me.

It wasn’t like this was the first time I experienced this. Before nothing happened because Viro was with me but, if a kid who wasn’t of age yet was entering here with equipments of considerable quality, there would be those who weren’t amused by it. Such tendency would be especially striking the more half-baked of an adventurer they were.

Based on experience, if I took off my mantel and showed that I was a “woman”, the place’s atmosphere would change somewhat but, either way some people would still try something with me, it was only their reason that would be different, so I continued walking until the counter like that. The receptionist lady’s eyes slightly widened when she saw me.

「Oh, you are……」

「Long time no see. I want to update my registered rank. Change it to close range adventurer “Rank 3”.」

The familiar receptionist seemed to be the woman who processed my registration as adventurer if I remembered right. It looked like she also remembered me from seeing my face that was visible from the hood.

The reason I came to adventurer guild was to increase my 『adventurer rank』.

Until now I kept my rank at rank 1 because other people would pointlessly pick a fight with me if my rank was mismatched with my age, and also because it was useful to make my opponent let their guard down. But with my current appearance that had growth to look like a thirteen or fourteen years old, I judged that the demerit of that outweighed the merit.

Rank 1 could come in and out for free only at the city where they registered. But rank 2 would have the toll fee waived off at any city in that territory, and for those who reached rank 3, the toll would only have to be paid when crossing to another territory, but the toll fee for entering a city would be waived off for any city everywhere.

But as expected, there was someone here who got offended by that.

「A brat claiming to be rank 3!? Keep it low key when you try bullshitting!」

One of the adventurers who seemed to be in the middle of discussion with another receptionist nearby suddenly yelled.

.

▼Male Adventurer Race：Human♂

【Magic Power：75／75】【Stamina：２１８／２６５】

【Overall Combat Strength：１６５（With Body Strengthening：１８５）】

.

「…………」

Overall combat strength less than 200. Male human at the middle of his twenty. Judging from his stamina and magic power parameters, he seemed to be a typical rank 2 vanguard who trained his body strengthening.

If his base combat strength was more than 200 it was possible he could be barely counted as rank 3, but with this number, he must have worked hard to train up several skills and increased his combat strength, but he was unable to reach rank 3.

If this experienced man faced a rank 3 who had only leveled up one or two skills, then he should be able to fight in advantage. That must be exactly why this man felt that a child like me reaching rank 3 was 『cheating』 and couldn’t tolerate it.

But……what does it matter for me?

「An adventurer’s rank is decided by the guild! Please don’t say whatever you like-」

The receptionist lady who was dealing with me stood up from her chair and argued like that.

But that only brought the opposite effect in this situation.

「Even I should be a rank 3 if a brat like this is rank 3! The adventurer guild’s Appraisal is mistaken-, I’ll decide whether this brat is really rank 3!」

I myself hadn’t said anything to provoke the man, but when the enraged man’s hand reached for the sword on his waist, the adventurers remaining inside the guild cheered and jeered as though a festival was going to begin.

These are rowdy adventurers. Something like this happening inside the guild must not be unusual at all.

As expected it would become a problem if he really pulled out his sword, even so the other adventurers didn’t do anything to stop him, and the other staffs except the receptionist lady were backing away with faces of resignation, so perhaps they were resigned thinking that some bloodshed couldn’t be helped…….

The man’s teammates also didn’t try to stop him and looked like they would let him do as he pleased with exasperation. They even surrounded me so that I couldn’t run away.

The number of opponents including the man was five people. Based from their expressions, they might be planning to stop the fight from devolving into murder as long as the man had vented out, but…….

If the blade was unsheathed and pointed to someone else, then simply the death of five people should be within acceptable degree wasn’t it?

*Clink* The metal fitting of my mantel snapped and fell on the ground. The “ash” illusion that was lightly sprinkled over my hair that was hidden by the mantel’s hood slightly glittered.

The presences of several people wavered when they noticed that I was female and furthermore a child. Among them a smirking man who seemed to be scout instantly turned pale when he saw my face and hair. He started sweating in abnormal amount from his face.

「……I, I ain’t involved-!! This guy’s picking a fight on his own! I ain’t related at all with this guy anymoree-!!」

The scout screamed with a heartbreaking tone before backing away while tossing down his weapon.

「O-oi?」

「What’s wrong with you?」

The ghastly pale scout’s teammates called out to him with bewilderment, but he slapped away the hands that were reaching out to him and screamed.

「Stop-! I ain’t getting involveddd-! I got no animosity with you! That’s why please, leave me alone-! “Our guild” isn’t gonna……pick a fight with the 『Ash Crowned Princess』–!!」

「…………」

The scout screamed and ran out of the adventurer guild while almost tripping on his feet several times. Several jeering adventurers inside also turned pale and ran out of the guild. An awkward atmosphere drifted in the air.

……Aa, I see. That scout wasn’t an adventurer of adventurer guild, but a “thief” of the thief guild in this baron territory.

The Ash Crowned Princess thing that scout spouted off was a “nickname” that thief guilds started calling me with since my body grew to be like the present.

Normally something like nickname would become inconsequential when leaving to another area, but I didn’t know what kind of contact network they had, but the members of the thief guild anywhere would call me with that nickname. Because of that the adventurer guilds and assassin guilds were also starting to call me like that recently.

That scout was acting like that most likely was also influenced by the destruction of the “militant thief guild” of Kendras territory that was as feared as the thief guild of Dandall even in this northern frontier.

Just what kind of wicked rumor was spreading about me……. Most likely that scout didn’t fear just me, but he also feared the purging of the thief guild in this area that had decided to not 『oppose』 me. Anyway, it looked like the thief guild of this area wouldn’t pointlessly pick a fight with me.

「……tsk」

Even though it was puzzling, the male adventurer who picked a fight with me seemed to be affected by the awkward atmosphere and clicked his tongue before walking away from me. His teammates also looked at me with conflicted expressions before hesitantly lowering their heads in apology and followed behind the man.

After they were gone from the guild, I heard an apologetic voice talking to me.

「My apologies. Can you please forgive him if possible? Actually something a bit troublesome has happened to his hometown, so he is on edge like that. ……Even so」

The receptionist lady said that while staring fixedly at me. Then her shoulders dropped.

「So you’re……a “girl”.」

「……Yes.」

I was dressed like a boy that time, so it couldn’t be helped for her to think that.

Even so, just what was going on in this baron territory? There was the warning the soldier at the gate said, and then there was what happened with the man just now.

「I heard a dangerous monster appeared, can you tell me what’s actually going on?」

「That’s……」

「──You, are you Aria?」

A voice that seemed to come from a boy interrupted our talk. I turned around and saw a boy who seemed familiar staring at me with a dumbfounded face.

Behind him, on all fours on the ground with a face that looked even more shocked than the receptionist lady just now──

「Aria……is a girl」

……was a depressed girl who seemed to be ten years old. Her words finally made me remembered. They were the orphan siblings who I first met at the slum when coming to this town.

「Long time no see……Gil, Shuri.」