The Rowdy Trio

As the new year began, training by the joint army became more and more rigorous, and the Ville Zentra Adventurers Guild was buzzing with many adventurers.

Hikaru regularly visited Doriachi’s place as Silver Face, while also working as an adventurer.

More adventurers usually meant more commissions completed, but the arrival of many high-ranking adventurers—who were basically celebrities—overjoyed the ordinary adventurers that a lot of commissions were actually left untouched. Dream Maker’s soldiers were also able to take fewer and fewer requests as the joint training began in earnest.

Thanks to the Four Stars of the East and some diligent adventurers taking jobs, though, commissions didn’t pile up.

Heh. It’s like being an adventurer is an occupation for thugs who can’t get steady jobs.

They were like guys who went around with their modified bikes when they were in school, but when they graduated, they could not get a regular job and instead got one that involved violence. Or they were recruited by the SDF or the police force. It was pretty much the same in this world.

『Sup, Doriachi.』

『Silver Face. Thank you for coming.』

Doriachi and Hikaru often used Japanese when talking to each other, as it reduced the risk of being eavesdropped.

Hikaru hadn’t told Selica about Doriachi yet. If she found out that Silver Face could speak Japanese, she’d know that the masked guy and Hikaru were the same person, and he wanted to avoid that. Right now he was still stubbornly feigning ignorance at the ladies.

Hikaru was exchanging information with Doriachi about what had happened the past few days.

『Oh, yes. Lady Patricia asked me to give you this letter.』

『A letter? For me?』

It was a private letter from Emperor Kaglai of the Quinbland Empire. The fact that it wasn’t sealed tight indicated that the Emperor didn’t mind it being checked—a way of declaring that it was simply an ordinary letter.

Maybe he’s saying they’re watching me.

Patricia would be wary if Kaglai was sending confidential messages to Silver Face. So he did this to avoid suspicion.

Hikaru scanned the letter. It was nothing but a plain text with not a hint of royalty in it.

I’m going to send a skilled personnel, who is from the same place as me, to help. They are quite the good-natured fellow, and Her Majesty Kudyastoria is aware of this. I’m sure you’ll butt heads with them, but you can beat them to a pulp. I don’t mind.

P.S. I’ll send you your reward for killing monsters, but don’t forget about your book.

Kaglai

Hikaru silently set the letter down.

『What’s the matter, Silver Face?』

『Uh… It’s just… I don’t know what he’s up to…』

Hikaru presented the letter, and Doriachi took it, surprised.

『You don’t mind if I read it?』

『Go ahead.』

『This sure is something. You two sound like good friends.』

『I don’t know about that.』

Doriachi returned the letter to Hikaru. There was no point in keeping it, so he ripped it up and threw it into the fireplace. Doriachi’s eyes widened again in surprise.

『Normally, you wouldn’t burn a private letter from the leader of a country.』

『You read what he wrote. It was nothing special. Well, I also don’t want people to get suspicious of our relationship, so I’m just getting rid of evidence.』

Patricia probably read it too, he thought.

The “book” Kaglai referred to was about getting a rare book as a reward from the Imperial Palace in Quinbland. So much had happened since then that he hadn’t been able to go get it.

The other reward would be the payment for slaying a Rock Dragon, a monster with a giant shell and two heads.

The leather bag that Doriachi handed Hikaru afterwards contained silver coins. From a quick glance, it probably amounted to around 2 million gilans.

You cunning old geezer…

If he spent silver coins without proper thought, it would most definitely get traced back to him. The same was true if he deposited it into his guild account. If Kaglai said he wasn’t trying to discover Silver Face’s true identity, Hikaru wouldn’t believe him one bit.

『Silver Face. What about your response to Emperor Kaglai?』

『No need. Knowing I received it will be good enough for him.』

Doriachi chuckled.『You really are good friends.』

『Oh, please.』

Patricia, Kudyastoria, and Zofira, the Prime Minister of Forestia, all seemed smart, but Hikaru knew that Kaglai was even a few notches above them.

If there’s anyone as annoying as him…

The dazzling smile—a fake one, he already knew—of the blonde female adventurer, who was known in many places as the Sun Maiden, flashed in Hikaru’s mind.

Switching from Silver Face to Hikaru, he met up with Lavia and Paula.

Luka, who had already made up with Claude, would be staying with him in the camp starting today. Normally it would be impossible for a married man to bring his wife with him to war, but since Claude was treated like a guest, he was allowed to, if barely.

「Hikaru. Now that Luka has made up with Claude, there’s no need for us to go to Grand Dream as adventurers. What’s the plan?」

「Hmm… I think it’s easier to move around when you’re an adventurer. Otherwise, we’ll have to wear a mask the whole time.」

「I’m going.」

「I mean, yeah, we’re definitely going.」Hikaru chuckled.

If they traveled as adventurers, Silver Face could show up only when necessary. There would be no need to wear masks all the time, especially when sleeping. Yup, that would be awesome, Hikaru thought. Everyone needs time to relax.

The party made their way to the Adventurer’s Guild to change the number of people registered to travel, from four to just three.

「Hey there.」

They bumped into none other than the Four Stars of the East, led by Selyse whom Hikaru thought earlier always wore a fake smile.

「Hello.」Hikaru greeted.

「Are you guys headed to the guild? Then let’s go together.」

「I’ll pass.」

「Come on, now.」

「Please let go of me. You’re covered in monster blood.」

「It shouldn’t be a big deal, given you’re an adventurer. If anything, you guys are too clean for adventurers.」

「I could say the same about you.」

「Well, we sometimes meet with the nobility, after all.」

「Is that why you have so much power?」

As Hikaru was being dragged into the guild with them, he found out why Selyse was so forceful.

「Listen up. All of you present here, you can drink all you want today. It’s all on me. Like, for real. Keep drinking until you’re wasted.」

「Senkun’s so Senkun.」

「True that.」

The thugs, doomed to a life of poverty, cheered in unison as soon as they heard the words “it’s all on me.”

「Senkun! Senkun! Senkun!」they chanted.

The three listened with satisfaction.

One of them, probably because of his short stature, was standing on a chair, holding his hands up like the conductor of a choir. The other guy was an elf with earrings, his forelocks raised using hair oil, which was unusual for an adventurer. The third was a huge man over 190 centimeters tall. He had straight-cut bangs that covered his eyes completely.

「You knew they were here, didn’t you?」Hikaru said.

Selyse clapped her hands.「Oh, right. I remember receiving a message from Ponsonia’s royal capital guild that a party of rank A adventurers were on their way.」

「So that’s a yes.」

Even with all the commotion, the Four Stars stood out like a sore thumb, drawing gazes from the adventurers. The short man on the chair—Senkun, a Man Gnome just like Kaglai—also noticed them.

「Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh! Hikaruuuuuuuuuuu!」

Hikaru regretted not escaping with all he got the moment he bumped into Selyse.