Chapter 1, When Peaceful Times Cease to Exist : At the Tavern of Iz, Part 1 — Golden-haired Sister

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「Hmm, after leaving the forest wolf, you almost got kidnapped by a Kelpie, and you chose a tree as a bed, but the tree was also a monster? How dumb can you be?」

「You’re so loud! You know I don’t like doing it either, right?」

Here we are at the Iz Town Tavern.
The town of Iz is located in the middle of the larger towns of Dett and Mysia, and the distance between Dett and Mysia can be reached in about half a day by horse.
For this reason, Iz is not profiting for its inn business, but a little further down to the south, there are coal mines and ore extraction sites, which serves as a base for those engaged in the mining industry.

However, the heyday of the mining business in Iz was more than 30 years ago, and those who want to make a fortune in rare metals have already left the area.
Those who remain are natives and those who are not willing to leave the town, and when all these people gather together, the character of the land deteriorates.
Although it was a little out of the way, it was an inn town on the main roads connecting the East and West, and yet it was unusually unsafe.

It must have been an hour since the sun had set by now.
Even though it is a small town, there are not many entertainments, and on the contrary, this tavern, which is a lively place, attracts a good number of people.
If there were two women of their age in the midst of all this, you’d would drunks to call out to them, but they all just glanced at them and didn’t call out.
And for some reason, Alfiris thought she could see the fear in their eyes.

「Have you done something, Sister…」

This sister usually hides her face with a hood, but she is quite beautiful.
She has blue eyes and translucent blond hair, and has the appearance of a member of the aristocracy in a large city.
Because of the dangers involved in being a sister and a beautiful woman, pilgrimage sisters are accompanied by a temple knight or other escort, but this sister is traveling alone.
Even the most naive Alfiris thought that this was dangerous, but this sister was a head smaller than her and had the same arm strength as the sword-wielding girl.
Naturally, she also had the ability to match her skills.
There was story of a man who got involved with sister when she was drinking too much was too pathetic to tell.
If a young woman is traveling alone, it probably means she has the ability and reason to do so.

Anyway, in this town where Alfiris arrived after escaping from the demons in a helpless state, this sister was waiting for her as she half expected.
Alfiris had been teased a lot that day when she arrived, and she woke up the next day in the early afternoon, doubly tired.
It seemed like a hassle to leave the town after that, so she decided to stay here for one more night to get some rest.
Fortunately, she was not in trouble yet.

She really didn’t want to spend consecutive nights in an uncomfortable place, but she decided it was better than travelling back in bad health.
That’s why Alfiris is being by this sister every day… At that moment, the sister’s eyes suddenly become serious.

「But then again, kelpies are usually only found in much larger rivers.
And if it’s a small river, after it’s flooded, it’s only in the middle of nowhere.
I think it could be a plant-based fiend, maybe a Treant or something, but the area where it appears is farther south.
Maybe we should ask the Knights or the Church to investigate this when we go to the big city.」

「What do you mean?」

The sister replied, spinning an empty glass of water in her hand.

「Okay? Normally, fiends have low intelligence and are unlikely to expand their range.
Even though they may come back to reclaim their original habitat range.
It’s only humans who would try to destroy their territory.」

If a fiend were to expand its territory, it would be caused by a single species, such as a pack of forest wolves or goblins.
When the habitat range of multiple fiends changes, as it did this time, there’s a good chance that a powerful being leading them is present.”

「A powerful being leading them?」

「It means that there is a possibility that a fiend commonly known as an Archfiend, may appear.」

「The Archfiend, you mean the one who almost destroyed the world in the past?」

Alphiris asks half-heartedly.
She had thought that such an existence as a Demon Lord was something only in legends.
She thought the humans had already exterminated the Archfiend, but recalling it now, there she saw a sign on one of the guild’s requests that read “Defeat the Archfiend!” over it.

Anorn, however, disagreed with Alphiris’ opinion.

「That’s extreme.
The continent used to be occupied by fiends.
There have been Archfiends who have actually destroyed some countries after the humans became more powerful, but there aren’t any Archfiends of that magnitude currently.
The one you’re talking about is one of the most legendary archfiends in history.

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Generally speaking, a fiend that can control fiends beyond its species is called a Archfiend.
That’s why the strength of an Archfiend can greatly vary.
I’m sure there’s are at least four currently in existence that I know of.」

「There’s that many of them.」

「In fact, there are probably more.
The smarter they are, the more they live in hiding.
The ones that get the word out in human society are the ones that have nothing important to do, or the ones that are really big.」

「Hmm, I wonder if I can handle those four?」

「No, I think you can’t do it.」

「Why not?~」

Alfiris complained, but the Sister’s expression didn’t change.

「From a historical analysis, it usually takes at least one division, 3,000 men, to defeat an Archfiend.
And that Archfiend has an army that is more or less well organized.
It’s a hypothetical situation if we’re going to be safe, so we often go out with a smaller number of people, and if a country has mages, it might be easier to hunt them.

In addition, I’ve heard that there are some heroes out there who are willing to take on the Archfiend with a party of few people, but there aren’t many of them in the world.」

「Oh, yeah…」

「By the way, didn’t you get a rank insignia or something like that from the mercenary guild?」

「I got something like this.」

Alfiris pulled the rank insignia from her waist and showed it to the sister.
The coat of arms had a picture of a small sword engraved on it.

「Nnh… You’re in Rank E, the lowest rank insignia.
You’re not a novice yet.
Mercenaries are sometimes hired to defeat the Archfiend, but even if they are treated as miscellaneous soldiers, their rank must at least be Rank C.
The first thing you need to do is work diligently as a mercenary, and rise through the ranks.」

「That’s true, but I need to follow my master’s order in going to the East.」

「…Am I the only one who feels like you’re never going to get there?」

「Excuse me!」

As you can imagine, she felt like she was being treated as a child, so Alfiris gulped down the fire wine, but as expected, she choked.
Seeing her like that, the sister is grinning at her again.

「You may be adult, but you’re not 20 yet, so don’t chug it.
If you’re traveling, you’ll need alcohol to gather information, but don’t drink and get drunk.」

「Sister, you’re preaching to the choir.」

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「That’s because I’m a sister.
We’re supposed (not) to preach.」

Sister smiles pleasantly as she said this.

「Not at all… You know, Sister, you really know your stuff.
How long have you been in pilgrimage?」

「It’s been 10 years since I left the monastery where I used to work.」

「”What, then, you’re already thirty—”」

「Did you said something!?」

The sister’s eyes were not smiling at all as she poured the liqour badly into Alfiris’ cup.
Her instincts were telling her that any further pursuit could endanger her life.
She rushed to change the subject.

「B–By the way, where would you go next, Sister?」

「I’m not here for anything.
I’m going to Mysia at the very least because of the demon thing.」

「I’m going to Mysia too… We’ll be together at least until then.」

「That’s right.
I’m just a weak sister, so I’ll need the mercenary to protect me.」

Anorn winks at her, but Alfiris holds back from saying,「What weakness is within you?」 If she let her into that, she’ll have her drinking all night.

「But will the knights listen to a single sister saying such a thing?」

「Oh.
I know I look so fragile, but the only people who have a higher position than me in the church headquarters are the church members.
If my position is that high, I can control of our sect’s country’s knights orders at my own discretion.」

「R–really?」

Alfiris looks at her in disbelief, but Sister Anorn responds with a look that says it’s nothing to be proud of.

「If I had known, I would have been in this position, to be honest.
I wasn’t interested in the position, but it seems that making a pilgrimage like this by myself is very much appreciated at headquarters.
‘It’s a saintly task to do,’ they said.
It’s not something a saint has to do.
But there are a lot of strange people in charge of the headquarters.」

「I feel like there’s something wrong with the world if Sister was a great person…」

「Why not?! As for me, I don’t want to be an apprentice, even if I have a position.
There were a lot of applicants, but it was too much trouble, so I made one speech at the headquarters and everyone turned it down.」

「…Just so I’m clear, what did you talk about?」

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Sister grinned at Alfiris, who asked cautiously.

「On how to handle alcohol and men while traveling.」

「…I can’t believe it.」

「The archbishop’s pale face was a masterpiece! The sisters fainted one after another from the brilliance of my speech, and it was a wonderful time.」

「I’m starting to get a headache…」

She spoke with an angelic air.
How can anyone see the true nature of this sister by her appearance?

“By the way, it’s all about me.
Why don’t you talk about yourself sometime?” 「」

「You know how boring it is to talk about me?」

「Not really.
Seven years in the mountains is not normal, and when we first met, you were wearing a long underwear even in the summer, right? You caught my attention because you were dressed like that on that hot, shitty day.
Well, there’s also the fact that you’re tall as a man, beautiful, and has black hair.」

「Sister, don’t say things like ‘shit’.」

「Don’t change the subject, okay? Well, it’s not surprising that adventurers wear clothes to hide things underneath, but still, why not use robes and cloaks.
You never show your skin to anyone… If you’re sick or you’ve done something wrong and you want to do penance, why don’t you do it in front of this sister? I’ll give you a discount.」

After saying that much, the sister grips the glass of liquor and drinks it down.
Alfiris wondered if Anorn was going to ask her to do penance while she was drunk.

「Do you take money as a payment? Well, there’s nothing for me to repent for… It’s not like I haven’t done anything penitent.」

「If you can tell someone, it’s easier to tell them.
I’m a Sister as well, so I won’t leak the contents of your confession to anyone.」

「Um… Thank you.
I’m not supposed to say anything because my master told me not to.
However, if it has anything to do with Sister, I suppose I’ll make sure to tell you about it.」

「Well then, I won’t pursue any deeper than that.
But in the summer, you’re going to stand out like a sore thumb.
I’m sure If I knew more about your situation, I could at least lend my wisdom.」

「That’s…」

Just as Alfiris thought that she might be able to talk to this sister for a while.

「Hey, Old man, drink up! Get on with it!」

With a sudden coarse voice, a group of people who looked very badly behaved entered the room.
The people who hang out in this tavern are not the most elegant, but the people who have just entered are far more disfigured.
It’s not good to judge people by their appearance, but what they do on a daily basis is reflected in their appearance.
Alfiris hadn’t been traveling long, but she had been in harm’s way so many times that she’d developed a good eye for people and their dangers.
The looks of the people who just walked in would be exactly the kind of people who enjoys committing extortion and assault.

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Even if they didn’t see the danger, some of the other patrons left the bar quickly or made obvious gestures to avoid eye contact.
They are quite dangerous.
So, for those who can’t read the atmosphere, they’re the ones who aren’t qualified to travel.

「I just hope it doesn’t turn out to be much trouble.」

The sister’s eyes, which had been somewhat glazed over from drinking so much earlier, regained their sharpness.
Alfiris felt that Sister was not someone to be underestimated.

「I think I’d better go back to my room.」

「They sat down and walked next right to our seat? On the other hand, this is the corner.
If you don’t stand out, they won’t see you.」

「No, I think you’ll stand out more because you’re a sister.」

「”That’s true… Hey, there!」

The sister called the men in front of them.
Then,

「Heh, what is it, Old Lady?」

「Call me Sister.
I’m going to get a bunch of big, burly people to keep these bad-looking dumb faces out of my sight.
I can’t stop drinking.」

「O-okay.」

She heard a bunch of big guys scoffing and moved.

「(What can this Sister really do to me before I arrive there?)」

It’s no wonder Alfiris is thinking she’s not sure what to do here.

「What’s an anego?」

「Just let that slide, okay? Anyway, that’s enough.
It’s best to not get involved with those people.」

「If I get involved with the Sister, I might have more luck than they do.」

「Disreputable.」

「It’s true.」

As the two of them followed such an exchange, it wasn’t long before they heard an obvious threat from those tough guys.