-Erna’s POV-
Early in the morning, just after the sun came out.
Wearing a white cardigan over an orange robe, I am now heading to the guild. The time is still five o’clock in the morning. Still, there are people walking here and there in Mana City, and I can see shops that are already open in the market.
“Fuhahaha. Hey, that elf-girl over there. Today, we have a ripe Apu! If you want it for breakfast, you can let buy it from me!”
“……Then just one piece.”
“Thanks for your continued patronage. You can enjoy this sweet fruit to the fullest!”
At a fruit and vegetable store run by a shirtless man, I bought a red fruit. To be honest, I don’t want to go near this Arnold store, but I can’t help but buy it here because it the shop that opens first in the market and it has the best selection and freshest products. However, surprisingly, the owner, Arnold, is very popular with the aunts in the neighborhood. It’s really incomprehensible for me.
When I arrived at the guild through the market, I sat down on the stairs in front of the entrance. There are already a few adventurers sitting on the stairs like me, but they are all swordsmen or martial artists. I’m the only mage here.
“This product indeed taste good.”
I blurted out after taking a bite on the Apu fruit. As the owner said, it is ripe and sweet. The pleasantly crunchy texture makes me regret not buying another one. That said, considering the cost of living, I can’t afford to spend that much on food. I need to be frugal.
As the sun begins to rise and the area begins to warm up, people begin to gather in droves. Adventurers, of course. Tough men and women are talking and waiting for the guild to open. Their goal is to receive new requests to be posted in the guild.
Requests are basically updated three times a day, and among them, morning requests are fiercely contested. The reason is simple. Since it is easy to overhang low-difficulty items, adventurers with low ability naturally come to look for work in the morning.
But I’m not. My purpose of being here is not to ask for a request.
“I think it’s about time.”
I took a sip of water from my water bottle and looked at the clock tower in the city. The time now is 5:30 a.m. It’s time for the guild to open.
Just as I thought so, the door opened and about fifty adventurers rushed inside the building. When I followed them inside the guild, the adventurers had already started fighting each other in front of the bulletin board.
“That is the request I accepted! Don’t steal it!”
“What the hell is this bastard, I took it first! You’re the one who stole it!”
“Ah!? Hey you! I touched it before you did! Stop making excuses!”
“Wait! I’m the one who’ll take that slime subjugation request!”
“Stop it! Let go of me! My armor will break!”
“You can’t act like that just because you got a big chest that looks like a silly slime! Hmph! I’ll tear it off!”
It’s an ugly conflict that I can’t even look at. But this is the daily life of an adventurer. It’s the usual thing, so there’s no one to stop it. Even guild officials maintain a stance that fights are their own responsibility. I think they will stop it if they end up killing each other, but the adventurers don’t often reach that level because they know what not to do.
I sat down on the bench and decided to observe the situation in front of the bulletin board for a while.
“Yosh! I got it! Let’s register the request right away!”
A group of four seems to have gotten a commission. Judging from their face and behavior, they are about the same age as me. Their party composition lacks a mage. The group have a swordsman, a martial artist, a large shield user, and a spear user. When they formally accepted the request, I ran over.
“If you don’t mind, could I join you guys?”
“Ah?, That look…… an intermediate mage!? Moreover, you’re an elf! Alright, alright. Come join us! I was just looking for a mage!”
The young man who was the leader welcomed me with a smile. But that’s the problem. Most people will readily agree to accept me because they all know that elves are usually a powerful mage.
“Uhm that-…… Actually, I can only use elementary magic……”
“Huh? Then, just treat that our conversation never happened.”
The young man flatly refused me with a straight face. As they walked out of the guild, I fall to my knees.
Again. I was once again refused!
I’ve been in Mana for a month now, but no one is willing to party with me. As soon as they find out about my magic level, they immediately fire me. Luckily, I was allowed to accompany a few parties, but only as a baggage porter, not as a mage as I wanted to be. Thanks to this, my life is a car on fire every day, and I am able to survive by doing small internal jobs.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this though. I thought that a new life in a new place would start with a bang, and that my ability that was sleeping would soon wake up. The reality is too harsh.
“Why, you have a bad face.”
Someone suddenly sat down next to me. When I look to the side, I see a petite middle-aged man looking at me with a smirk on his bearded face.
“Gee, dwarf!”
“That’s my line. What a lowly elf calling a dwarf without any courtesy!”
“You’ve got good courage! You short-legged old man! If you want a fight, I’m going to take it!”
I rolled up my sleeves and tried to punch the dwarf in front of me but someone pinned me down. I frantically flail my arms, but I can’t get free because the strength of the person behind me is too great. Seeing this, the bearded old man laughed so hard while touching his stomach.
“This darn old man! I’ll definitely punch you!”
“Calm down, don’t let Dhal’s provocation get on you.”
“Huh? A woman?”
When I turned my head, I saw that it was woman with a beautiful face who was holding me in a full nelson. Her hair is bright green and it is tied with a ribbon at the back, and her drooping bangs gave her an intelligent and mature look.
“I’ve heard that dwarves and elves don’t get along, but I didn’t expect you guys to fight each other so much.”
That’s what the man right next to the woman said. He had bright green hair like the woman, and he wore an orange robe and hat like a mage. Judging from the color, he seems to be an intermediate mage. By the way, since I am a beginner mage, I should have worn a yellow robe, but I wore an orange robe because I really wanted to look good. He’s the real deal, different from the fake me.
When I calmed down, the woman let me go. I want to punch the annoying dwarf right away, but I decide to give up because she’ll stop me again. More than that, I was concerned that these three people seemed to have an errand for me.
“What do you want? If you’re trying to make fun of me, I’ll shoot a fireball on you. Even a beginner mage can inflict at least some burns on you.”
“You’re mistaken. I just wanted to invite you to a party.”
Eh!? P-party!? Why!?
I am confused by the words of the dwarf old man. After all, if these three people are a party, they already have a mid-level mage. Well, I don’t have a problem with a party having multiple mages, but I don’t see the point of incorporating intermediate and beginner level mage into one party.
“Ah—, I guess you misunderstood. It was Dhal-san who proposed it, so let him explain it properly.”
“Sigh, I got it. Tsk, we got into trouble because of this elf who is not so smart.”
This damn dwarf really want a fight! I was interrupted earlier, but I’ll beat him up this time. Just as I was about to roll up my sleeves again, the dwarf in front of me slammed the luggage he was carrying on the floor.
“You’ll officially form a party with us, as a luggage porter of course.”
“Ah? Carrying luggages? Don’t be silly! As a mage—”
“It’s good to talk about ideals, but how about looking at reality, little girl.”
I was pressured by the serious expression of the dwarf and fell silent.
“Actually, I’ve been watching you for the past few days, and I hate to say that you’re not prepared to be an adventurer before your ability. Think about it, adventurers are making money by risking their lives. Naturally, it is the people who can be entrusted with their lives that they opted to form a party with. Are you worth it? Are you knowledgeable? What skills do you have? Can you survive? They can’t see that in you. That’s why no one will scout you if you can’t even use magic.”
I couldn’t find the words to refute back. He is right. I had no self-awareness or determination as an adventurer. I came here only with a thinking to grow as a mage. But that’s it.
The dwarf grinned.
“I’m late in introducing myself, but my name is Dhal La Quebra, the leader of Earth Fang. You can call me Dhal. The mage over there is Roy. The spear user is Mina.”
“Earth Fang…… Come to think of it, I heard that party name… it was said to be recently promoted to intermediate level.”
“Oh, that’s correct. It’s us. Anyways, I’ll hire you as a luggage porter, so make sure you learn the basics of an adventurer, fallen elf.”
“Dam……uh-, thank you very much……”
They just want to bully me, an elf. It must be so.
Still, I’m grateful for this. I will study so that I can live as an adventurer as much as possible. Also, strangely enough, I didn’t feel bad about going on adventure with Dhal. He had a bad mouth and a big attitude, but I felt a little bit of kindness from him.
Uhm, yeah. I think it’s about a millimeter. Well, maybe he’s a good guy for a dwarf.
Thus, my adventurer life finally began to move.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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