The Adventurerâs Guild was filled with cheers that made you plug your ears.
The defensive battle using the castle walls. The guided extermination of those that invaded the city. The call for reinforcements from the Elven villages. And a surprise attack on the Goblin Lord.
This time, Cortina had taken several measures despite the limited time and battle power that she had at her disposal. Her actions have been demonstrated before the eyes of the Adventurers, so it was natural for them to be so excited.
The Adventurers from the Elven settlementâIn other words, from the hot-spring town, had also barged in here, and they all clapped and praised each otherâs battles.
Michelle and I also witnessed that turmoil as we returned to the Guild.
âWow, this is amazing.â
âWell, of course it would be. The enemy was nine times our number, and not only we managed to repel them, we even exterminated almost entirely. Quite a nasty result from her as always.â
Cortina had once brought the enemy twice bigger than her own into a similar situation. I had seen her do a similar feat over and over, so well, I wasnât that surprised.
However, the Adventurers that were here had witnessed it for the first time.
âAs alwaysâ¦? Nicole, have you seen something like this before?â n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âHuh!? No, I mean. You know, like in the lessons and such?â
âOh right, she is teaching us tactics too. Amazing!â
âYouâre the amazing one hereâ¦.â
âHuh, did you say something?â
âNo, nothing.â
This time, she used all her power to exterminate the enemy. She shot each and every Goblin that had invaded, and she even took out the Goblin Lord.
Even the platoon commander-class Goblins that lead groups were taken down by her. Even if she had received some help from Whitey, it could still be called a crazy rampage.
âThat aside, Look! Cloudâs there too!â
Where Michelle pointed was Cloud⦠And Mikey who were glaring at each other. As well as Mateus, who observed them with a repulsing smile on his face.
âHuh? Isnât thatâ¦â
âItâs Mikey. You havenât seen him in a while, right, Michelle?â
Mikey from the hot-spring town had become an Adventurer later on. Due to a promise with Whitey, I was having Kabby and him meet once a year, so I was seeing him relatively often.
But Michelle hadnât seen him for several years.
âRight, itâs been what, five years now?â He sure has grown up.â
âHe should be feeling the same looking at you.â
Michelle had also grown a lot in these five years. Particularly one part of her body.
Leaving that aside, I wonder why Cloud and Mikey are glaring at each other?
âGood work, Cloud. You too, Mikey.â
âAh, Mast-, Nicole. Youâre back.â
âYeah, I fell into the river on the way, so I got delayed.â
âDid you gain a disposition to fall into a river when you see oneâ¦?â
âHowâd you come to that conclusion?â
As I smacked him in the side for saying something unnecessary, I also greeted Mikey.
âThanks for helping us this time, Mikey.â
âNo, it wasnât much⦠And well, if Raum fell, it would be our townâs turn next.â
âAh, that was quite possible. But you sure made it in time. Not to mention, you managed to bring so many people.â
There was a lot of human traffic in the hot-spring town, so there were a lot of Adventurers there. However, there shouldnât have been that many of them whoâd brave the danger to save Raum.
They were basically wanderers, so this battle held almost no merit for them, and they could just run away and avoid the danger.
âYeah, Haumea and Cole took the Elves and left, so we couldnât just remain behind.â
Mikey said and looked away while rubbing his nose. He has been acting this way in front of me lately.
Well, I wasnât that dense. I even landed a girlfriend lately, okay? Anyway, I could tell what kind of feelings he held towards me. That said, I couldnât respond to them, and they were quite honestly a bother.
While I was racking my brain on how to deal with him, Cloud made a rare belligerent remark.
âCome on, what are you being so evasive about. Are the countryside Adventurers all so indecisive?â
âHuuh? Looks like thereâs an idiot here who doesnât understand his position. Which of us was rescued here, huh?â
âWe couldâve handled it ourselves. We have Lady Cortina here too.â
âWhat was that?â
Hearing that much, I finally realized that the twoâs personalities clashed. Thinking about it, Cloud was 14 years old, about two years older than me, and so was Mikey.
Both of them were nearly adult Adventurers, and were the so-called rookies. Given their similar standings, they might have been harboring a sense of rivalry.
Also, Cloud being defense-specialized while Mikey on offense made their rivalry even stronger. On top of that, there was an impudent fellow here who tried to stir the flames even more.
âHey, if you two are so bothered about each other, how about you settle the score in the arena below?â
Mateus proposed to them to duke it out in the training arena.
âWe have no time for that. Besides, you arenât even an Adventurer, so what brings you here anyway?â
Mateus was considered retired now. Since it was useful for entering towns, he was apparently registered as an Adventurer, but nowadays it was in name only. There was no need for him to show his face here.
âI had to make a report. That aside, are you two going to do it or not?â
As if things werenât bad as is, someone overheard Mateusâ agitational words. It was an unfamiliar Adventurer, so he was probably from the settlement, but he started jeering in an even louder voice than Mateus.
âOhh, Mikey, are you gonna fight the city Adventurer? Donât you dare lose, ya hear!â
âWhat?â
âThat boy⦠Against Cloud?â
âAinât that amusing? Come on, do it!â
The situation aggravated in a chain reaction. And that final line⦠Go do your work, Guild Master.
Just like that, quite the meaningless battle between Cloud and Mikey had been set up.