The three of them set out to explore the capital,
using the map Rynel had received, and headed first for the market street.
“I want something sweet~!”
Aira led the way, swinging her arms happily.
Sunlight warmed the street,
and rich, sweet scents wrapped the whole market.
“Wow··· this place is insane!”
Aira’s eyes sparkled as she looked around.
In one hand, freshly baked honey bread, in the other, a cream-filled pie.
A moment later, she had a jelly dripping with juice between her teeth, her grin wide.
“Ahh~ this is heaven. I want to live here forever~”
Watching Aira trot along with that blissful face,
Rynel let out a soundless chuckle.
From behind, Monero tossed out a lazy remark.
“Hey~ Aira. Keep eating like that and you’ll gain a ton of weight.”
“…What?”
Aira’s expression froze in an instant.
With the jelly still in her mouth, she shot Rynel a suspicious look.
“You seriously··· think I look like I’ve gained weight?”
Rynel glanced at Aira with an oddly mixed expression,
then said nothing and looked away.
“…What’s with that reaction.”
Aira’s face reddened as she glared.
Monero, wearing a grin full of mischief, went even harder.
“Totally! At this pace, your cheeks’ll pop by tomorrow.”
“You’ll go past soft-soft and become plush-plush Aira~”
“Monero, stop iiiit···!”
Aira shook her head, voice wobbling like she might cry.
But her hands stayed busy.
A huge bite out of the honey bread, and she didn’t let the pie go either.
Monero snickered, shoulders bouncing,
and Rynel quietly checked the map again between them.
“This way should be the central plaza···”
After walking for a while, they arrived at a wide-open plaza.
And in that instant, Aira stopped, as if words had caught in her throat.
“Whoa···”
A crowd that looked like hundreds filled the plaza.
Laughter, shouts, applause.
And cutting through it all, strong voices calling out.
“I’ve never seen this many people···”
Aira murmured, swallowing.
“Looks like something’s going on.”
Monero narrowed his eyes at the crowd.
He lowered his head and carefully pushed into the mass of people.
“Sorry. Coming through.”
“Excuse me···”
Rynel and Aira followed, squeezing in carefully.
Soon, a high stage set up at the center of the plaza came into view.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Several figures on the stage were waving down at the crowd.
Below, voices calling names didn’t stop.
“Who are they··· why are they this popular?”
Monero muttered, staring blankly at the stage.
A passerby beside them frowned and replied.
“What, you some country bumpkin? Then you wouldn’t know.”
“That’s the capital’s pride, Team ‘Link Force.’”
“Link··· Force?”
Monero echoed, and Aira and Rynel pricked their ears too.
“An ultra-elite adventurer team under the kingdom. Formed last year.”
“They fought demons near the capital and won. Absolute monsters.”
“Demons···?”
Rynel murmured.
The word lingered in his mouth.
Another passerby cut in.
“Yeah. You really did come from the sticks, huh?”
“You don’t even know about the demon raid last year?”
“What happened?”
“If you want details··· go to a tavern, buy a drink, and ask adventurers.”
The plaza stayed swallowed by feverish excitement.
“Link Force! You’re amazing!”
“Please look over here just once~!”
Everyone waved and cheered at the stage.
The three of them stood in that heat for a long moment, speechless.
◇
The sun began to tilt lower.
“Ah~ I still want to look around more though···”
Aira pouted as they left the plaza behind.
“Rynel, aren’t you disappointed?”
“But··· the butler said to come back before it gets dark.”
Rynel answered gently, but firm.
“You really are hopelessly diligent.”
Aira crossed her arms and grumbled.
“Sometimes you should slack off a little, do a tiny bit of rebellion~”
“Are you a rock or something? You do everything exactly as you’re told.”
Rynel looked exasperated, but the corner of his mouth twitched as if he couldn’t help it.
Seeing that, Aira’s mood lifted too, and she laughed along.
But Monero, who’d been walking silently beside them the whole time.
Rynel noticed and asked.
“Monero, what’s wrong? Your face has been··· serious since earlier.”
Monero stayed quiet for a moment, then spoke heavily.
“Those guys we saw in the plaza···”
“If they’re enrolling in the same school as us, they’ll be the same C-rank, right?”
“…Probably.”
When Rynel answered, Aira added in a flat voice,
“If they’re elites the kingdom raised on purpose, their backgrounds will be ridiculous too.”
Rynel asked cautiously.
“Monero··· did you recognize someone?”
“…One.”
“Who?”
“…No.”
“I’ll tell you later.”
Monero didn’t say more.
Rynel didn’t press.
The air had gone strange and stiff.
Then Aira suddenly stopped and stared at something in the distance.
“Over there··· an elf?”
“An elf?”
Rynel followed her gaze, but there was no one there.
“…Aira, what did you see?”
“…Huh? Ah··· nothing. I think I imagined it.”
Aira laughed it off,
but her eyes swept that direction one more time.
◇
A quiet alley behind the outer wall of the capital.
In the shade where sunlight couldn’t reach, four men stood gathered.
“That guy just now··· was he an elf?”
A heavy voice.
A muscular man, Siren, slowed to a stop and muttered.
A massive mace hung in his hand, his face unreadable.
Peio lifted his head lazily.
Elf blood clean to the tips of his ears, clear and pale eyes.
“…Half-elf.”
He answered indifferently, eyes half-lidded.
“Basically a mongrel.”
The man beside him let out a short snort and added.
Luidan, twin daggers at his waist.
He tapped the blade lightly with his fingers, speaking with a playful tone.
“Peio, that’s a bit harsh.”
“Still, half of them is the same race as you, right?”
A light voice.
The speaker was Yuis, hood pulled low, sitting on a tree branch and swinging his legs.
“The same race, is it??”
Peio twisted his mouth.
“Even saying that is unpleasant.”
“…Ugh, you’re picky, you are?.”
Yuis scratched his head, laughing.
“Still, that kid felt nice, you know?? Those eyes are totally my style, I tell you?.”
“So you want to mess with them?”
Siren turned and glared at Yuis.
Annoyance plain in his eyes.
“How many times have I told you to watch that kind of joking outside?”
“Ah, yes, sir?.”
“That look’s scary, don’t be so serious, please?.”
Yuis grinned, but his eyes wavered slightly.
Seeing it, Luidan threw in a quiet line.
“No pointless picking fights in the capital.”
“We remove only what interferes with the objective.”
Luidan rolled a dagger hilt once, then lifted his chin.
“…Of course.”
“Since we’re here, we do the job like a job.”
Peio sighed softly and tapped his staff against the ground.
Then Yuis, who’d been up in the tree, flipped once in the air and landed.
“Then I’ll go play the cute hunter in the dark, shall I??”
The expression on Yuis’s face had subtly changed.
He was smiling, but his eyes were chilling.
“By the way.”
Luidan swept a hand back through his hair as he spoke.
“How many people in the capital do you think are actually worth fighting?”
“C-rank’s probably just packed with nobodies, but still.”
A brief silence.
Then Siren looked up at the sky and spoke quietly.
“…Including us, maybe three teams.”
Peio raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Those Link Force guys we saw in the plaza will be one.”
Then a hum from behind.
“Song of Midnight~ shadows of black, heh-heh~”
It was Yuis.
“……What is that. It’s unbearable.”
Peio frowned.
“Hm~? It’s a team name, you know?~?”
“‘Song of Midnight.’ They’re in the capital this time too, I heard?.”
Luidan pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Those guys are outside the standard too.”
Siren added shortly,
“Especially their leader, that bard. I can’t read him.”
Peio closed his eyes quietly.
“…Rivien.”
When he said the name, the other three shifted their gaze.
“That one, in particular, we need to watch.”
Yuis shrugged.
“That serious, is it?? To me he just looked like a normal bard, you know??”
“Looks like you could poke him and he’d fall over, doesn’t he??”
“Want me to go stab him once and come back, shall I?~?”
He was smiling,
but there was an odd, sharp violence riding his tone.
“Yuis.”
When Siren said his name low, Yuis immediately raised both hands.
“Got it, got it?. For real~”
“Siren? is so scary I can’t say anything, you know?.”
Then he cackled.
“It’s a joke~ a joke~”
“Man, you’re such a stiff old guy, hee-hee-hee.”
Luidan lowered his eyes and muttered.
“…That aside, that half-elf we saw earlier probably has some kind of ability too, right?”
Yuis’s eyes flashed as he added,
“Probably some cheap trick. A little show to entertain himself, you know?.”
Peio let it pass without a word.
Luidan laughed and nudged him verbally.
“Yuis, you fixated on that half-elf or what?”
Yuis threw both hands up with a goofy grin.
“You know it~ That pretty face, I just want to snap it, you know?.”
Luidan snorted,
and Peio still kept his mouth shut, eyes lowered.
Yuis spun once, murmuring.
“I’m soooo excited.”
“Before we leave the capital, let’s drop by once, shall we?.”
“If this mission is really that leisurely.”
Siren rose quietly.
Not a light tone. The meaning was clear.
“If we linger longer, some citizen’s going to report us as ‘suspicious.’”
As he spoke, he brushed himself off.
He clipped the mace neatly to his belt and squared his shoulders.
“Get up.”
At the short command, the other three exchanged quick looks,
then stood.
“Yes, yes~ if the leader says so.”
Yuis stretched as if yawning, humming.
“But still~ my heart’s thumping, you know?.”
“No idea if I’ll be able to sleep~ seriously?~”
While the team walked ahead in silence,
Yuis suddenly glanced back.
He looked toward the alley
where he’d crossed paths with the half-elf Aira.
He didn’t say anything, only lifted the corner of his mouth.
A smile mixed with playfulness and something ominously obsessive.
“…I remember~.”
“Those eyes, so clear and pure.”
He murmured like a tune,
then walked again as if nothing had happened.
Without a sound, he followed behind the team like a shadow.
At this rate,
that accidental encounter that day had been nothing more than the beginning.
