"Well, I guess I'm at the level of a young wife of an ordinary commoner family..." (Marcella)
"Whaaaaaaat?!" (All CV)
All the Crimson Vow members let out a cry of shock at Marcella's words. Monica and Aureana did not seem surprised. That much was something you would know if you had been traveling together for months.
"Ah, aaah, you're a noble's daughter, right? Surely...?" (Reina)
"Yes, until six months ago I was the third daughter of a baron, and now I am the head of a newly emerging viscount family." (Marcella)
"So how come you're so good at cooking? That's crazy!!" (Reina)
Marcella answered Reina's question with a faraway look.
"Though we were nobles, we were poor... Much poorer than Monica-san’s family, a mid-ranking merchant family that we do business with.... We are at the bare minimum with the number of servants, and I can't have my mother work, so I..." (Marcella)
"...I'm sorry..." (Reina)
She heard something she shouldn't have, causing Marcella to bring shame to her noble family. Reina apologized with a truly apologetic look on her face.
"I was helping out in the store, carrying grain sacks, carrying grain sacks, carrying grain sacks, and carrying grain sacks." (Monica)
"...In other words, you're no longer a fighting force..." (Mile)
Mile made a cruel pronouncement against Monica.
"And I was cooking and looking after my younger brothers and sisters while my parents worked in the fields. ...Since I was 6 years old. After that, I started helping out with the farm work, but cooking was always my job..." (Aureana)
For a moment, Mile was about to praise Aureana, who had proven to be an immediate asset, but just before she was about to say it, she realized that what she had just been told was not something she would be happy about, so she quickly shut her mouth.
"...Well, anyway, we have five people who can cook, and Monica-san just hasn't had a chance to cook yet, but she'll be able to do it soon!" (Mile)
That's what Mile said, but...
"...Why is it only Monica and not my name..." (Reina)
"Ah……" (Other 3)
Except for the three members of the Wonder Trio who were unaware of the situation, there was an atmosphere of danger...
Yes, it was certainly bad that they had upset Reina, but what the three members of the Crimson Vow were really afraid of was that Reina would cook. Monica would start practicing cooking, and everyone else would take turns cooking. Reina had a strong sense of responsibility and was extremely afraid of being left out, so there was no way she could accept the fact that she was the only one who didn't take part in cooking duty.
(Die……) (x1)
(I’m going to die…) (x2)
(The world is about to explode...) (x3)
Marcella and her party had blank looks on their faces, not understanding the reason for Mile's and her group's looks of despair...
As they set out immediately after breakfast, the seven of them — Crimson Vow and Wonder Trio — arrived in the royal capital while it was still light outside. Because they all had Hunter Licenses, they were forced to wait in line but were able to get through the gate without any issues. Well, no matter how you look at it, no gatekeeper would find fault with these cute girls who don't look like criminals.
Moreover, five out of the seven were wearing magician gear. At this age and appearance, they could use magic to the extent as hunters, their clothes and equipment were neat, and they didn't look dirty. It was only natural that the gatekeeper was not the type of person to take the time to investigate.
"Is this the royal capital of this country...?" (Mile)
Mile has a completely touristy attitude. Reina, Mavis, and Pauline looked around a little, but tried not to show any embarrassment. If you looked too country-like, you'd be an easy target for pickpockets, kidnappers, and human trafficking rings. Well, with seven of them in hunter gear, it probably wouldn't be that dangerous...
Of course, since the Wonder Trio started out from the Royal Capital, they didn't look around much, but since they headed straight from the Royal Palace to the city gate and left the Royal Capital, the weren't very familiar with the Royal Capital. The time spent in the capital outside of the royal palace was only a few minutes.
"For now, let's book a place to stay first."
Even if you want to rent a house, you can't just show up at a real estate agency and rent a house today. At the very least, they needed somewhere to stay for the night. After that, they would show up at the guild, but they wouldn't take on any requests, just wait and see what was going on. After that, the planned to have dinner and then returned to the inn. For the first meal in the royal capital, they weren't planning on staying at an inn, but rather they were planning on staying out a bit and having something good.
Kararan (bell sfx)
This was the first time that Wonder Trio had come to the Royal Capital's Hunter Guild. That was only natural, since they had registered as a hunter in that town after leaving the royal capital and had never returned to the capital since.
...And they stood out. It was extremely conspicuous. Usually, a party below C-rank had 4 to 6 people. Of course, there were parties of three people, but they were rare. When it came to two people, it's not a "party" but is called a combination, pair, or buddy, and was treated as something different. In most cases, they were married couples or lovers...
A party of seven or more people required mobility, responsiveness, teamwork, and the distribution rate of rewards. Although there was little benefit, it was troublesome and difficult to manage. In terms of human relationships, various problems were likely to arise. Therefore, unless you were able to overcome such problems with ability and huge earnings, and were also focused on training young people, it was difficult to have a large member.
Or rather, in such places, the party itself was like a clan, with the members splitting up into multiple teams and changing depending on the request. And in those places, a few representatives would come to receive requests, not everyone would come in a group to the guild. So, having seven people, mostly young girls, most of whom were wearing magician gear, was an unusual composition.
There was always a shortage of magicians, and there were many in high demand. The imbalance of jobs and the number of people made it hard to believe they were part of a single party. What's more, they're all young and pretty.
(…………) (Everyone)
The seven of them headed towards the reception desk, attracting the attention of everyone in the guild, including hunters and staff alike. And then—
"Crimson Vow, we're applying to move my base. From now on, we'll be working here at the Royal Capital branch. Please take care of us!" (Mavis)
Following Mavis's announcement, the Crimson Vow group all bowed their heads in unison. Following that—
"We will also be moving our base of operations to the royal capital, Wonder Trio. Please take care of us."
Then all the Wonder Trio bowed their head along with Marcella. The words "Please take care" were a little strange for a rookie hunter to say to a guild member of the guild, but since it was clearly coming from Marcella, who was dressed in the guise of a noble, to a low-ranking receptionist, everyone accepted it without any awkwardness.
The only thing that registered with the guild was individual hunters and party registrations, and clans were merely exchanges between parties, so the guild had no involvement. The exchange of forces was treated as temporary help. That's why Mavis and Marcella didn't mention clans here.
Young female hunters were more than welcome. They helped motivate male hunters, lower the barrier for other women to become hunters, and were also valuable as potential marriage partners for male hunters, due to the high rate of single men. Therefore, even if they didn't fight monsters and only did chores or gather medicinal herbs, female hunters were not ridiculed.
...Moreover, the majority of them were wearing magician equipments. Just being able to produce water was useful, but if they could use healing magic and could also cook, there would be a fight over them—When it came to cooking, it didn't matter if you're a magician or not—So many gazes were focused on them, but neither the Crimson Vow nor the Wonder Trio seemed to mind.
...They'd gotten used to it. But that was all...
Author's Note
The 4th volume of the "Noukin" reboot comic (Square Enix version) was released on August 10th!
Thank you very much! (^^)/