Volume 4 Chapter 18: A Symbol of Fear

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Author: 夜州 (Yashu)

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After parting with Leline in front of the inn, Cain and the others headed to a different inn.

Their destination was the ‘Cat’s Harmony Pavilion’. Due to that one time with the incident, the cafeteria had undergone a large-scale refurbishment, and it now looked quite beautiful.

They could provide meals, and there were no problems.

Cain opened the inn’s door, having brought Lagett and co. along with him.

“Hellooo!”

Turning around at Cain’s words, Enaku broke out in a huge smile when she recognized him.

“Cain-oniichan! You’re here!? Are you eating here today? Or staying here!?”

Cain patted Enaku’s head while her tail swung back and forth.

“I won’t be staying here for the night, but I brought you some customers. Two rooms for four people should be fine, right?”

“Yeah, it’s fine!!”

“Alright, good. If they’re fine with it too, that is.”

The other four looked around at the hall with satisfied faces.

“This inn’s beautiful! And, who’s this child!? She’s really cuteeee!!”

Ninalee shoved Cain aside and hugged Enaku.

“Hey, Miss!?”

Enaku was surprised by how she was being treated all of a sudden, but as she was being hugged by Ninalee, she couldn’t move.

Himika came out into the hall from the kitchen, curious about what was going on.

“Oh, Cain-sama. Welcome. Is everyone staying here?”

“I won’t be, but these four will.”

Himika nodded in response to Cain and went to get them checked in. She then handed the four the keys to the two rooms and explained some precautions to them.

“It’d be nice if Cain-kun could stay with us though… wait, do you have a house here…?”

“Yeah, I do. We’ve still got some business to do, so drop your luggage off and then let’s go to the adventurers’ guild.”

Cain still had to submit his request as completed, while |Lagett and his party also had to report that their one-way trip had been completed.

The four of them went upstairs to check out their rooms.

“Enaku, please take care of those four then. Also –– me being the lord is a secret okay.”

“Yeah! Got it! It’s a secret from everyone. But come eat here again… okay?”

Seeing Enaku tilt her head, Cain absent-mindedly started patting her head again, making her smile happily.

The four then came back downstairs from their rooms, and, after saying goodbye for a bit, they headed to the guild.

“Anyway, what a nice inn! As expected of a local! The rooms are clean too, I’m really happy with the place!”

Said Ninalee smiling, to which the other three nodded. As they walked through the town, all the stores seemed busy, with everywhere being lively. The four of them came to a stop behind Cain while gazing about with eyes full of interest.

“This is the guild.”

““““Wow…””””

The guild hall in Drintor was comparable in size to that of the royal capital. The four of them gazed up at the building.

Cain didn’t seem to care though. But when he opened the door and went inside, everyone there glanced at him.

–––– And then almost everyone present looked away.

Some of them were even trembling.

There were also some who didn’t know him, but after asking their neighbouring comrades, they also paled.

Oblivious to all that, the other four just tilted their heads in confusion at the suddenly silent hall.

“Cain-kun, is the guild here always this quiet…? Everyone’s looking away too…”

“…no…it isn’t usually like…this…”

All Cain could do in the situation was smile bitterly. He had done this to the place himself, after all.

They went over to a currently free receptionist.

Looking up, the receptionist lady, Tsubaki, had a surprised look on her face.

“Excuse me, I’ve finished a request.”

Cain took out the signed-as-completed request paper, but the words he got in return were completely unexpected.

“?! Cain-sama!? Shall I go call the guild master!? Or Letia-san!? Or do you want –– my body!?”

Cain chopped her on the head.

“Ow!?”

He held out the request document to the receptionist lady who was holding her head in pain.

“…The request is complete…”

“––But we haven’t requested you to beat a Dragon…?”

Cain silently chopped her on the head again.

At that, a voice called out to him from behind.

“Cain-kun! Stop hitting the receptionist lady! It’s not nice!”

“–– Oh, right… Sorry. Could you call Letia-san then?”

“Yes! Right away!”

The receptionist lady dashed off behind the counter. Then, less than a minute later, she was back.

“I’ll show you to a private room. This way please.”

Following the receptionist lady, the other four also went along with Cain. However, the four of them had never been guided to a private room just for reporting on a finished request before. But, they followed Cain, even while finding the whole thing strange.

The private room they were guided to could hold nearly ten people, and the receptionist lady left after saying ‘She’ll be here in a minute so please wait’.

“Huh, this guild’s kinda weird. Everyone in the hall was quiet. And now we were taken to a private room just for a report on a request…”

“Yeah, true… we’ve never been taken to a private room like this before have we?”

As each one of them gave their own impressions, Cain broke out in a cold sweat.

However, he nodded along, thinking at least he hadn’t been outed as being the lord yet, somehow.

Then, there was a knock on the door, which then opened.

Letia, and behind her –– Rikisetsu entered the room.

“……”

““““Eh…””””

They had thought that only the person the receptionist lady had gone to call would be entering the room, but if a bald, scary, macho person were to step into the room unannounced, anyone would be surprised.

Not even Cain had been expecting that.

The other four, overwhelmed by Rikisetsu’s aura, froze stiff.

“Guild master, it has been a long time… but, this is just a report on a request though…?”

“No no… I just thought I’d come see you… Cain-sa-… -kun…”

Cain smiled bitterly at the awkward way he was being addressed. As if having guessed that, Letia interrupted.

“Guild master, you have work to do, so go back to your room please.”

“Oh, right, I do, don’t I…”

Prompted by Letia, Rikisetsu reluctantly left the room.

As Rikisetsu was now gone, Lagett’s party of four all sighed huge sighs of relief at the release of tension.

Once they had calmed down, Letia introduced herself.

“I know Cain… -kun, but I believe it’s my first time meeting the four of you? I’m Letia, this town’s sub-guild-master.”

““““Eh…””””

Surprised by how intimidating the guild master had been, they hadn’t been expecting the sub-guild-master to be a woman, even if she was a grown-up.

The four of them nervously introduced themselves.

Then, they put the request documents on the table.

Letia quickly checked the contents of the documents.

“The family of Count Legant eh…”

Letia glanced at Cain, then went back to looking at the documents.

“Good job on the one-way escort job. I don’t doubt you’ll be staying here for a bit, so rest and take it easy. Just give the request documents to a receptionist and you’ll be given the reward.”

“Y-Yes!”

“Cain… -kun, same goes for you.”

“Thank you, Letia-san.”

Nervously taking back the request documents, Lagett’s party left the room with Cain to go to the reception to get their rewards.

When they exited the room, the hall, which had been quite loud, once again became silent.

Not knowing the reason behind this, the other four found it strange, but Cain simply walked along silently with an uncomfortable face.

Lagett received his reward, then when he said ‘Come on Cain, let’s go, fast’, everyone else’s faces paled.

Leaving the guild behind them and returning to the inn, the happenings back at the guild became the main topic of conversation.

“As I thought, there was definitely something strange with the guild back there…”

“I wonder just what it could be… Cain, d’you know?”

“––No… there’s nothing in particular…”

“Yeah I guess…”

Walking along behind the other four who kept on wondering about it, Cain had a bitter smile on his face.

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