Her eyes scanned for the rarer kinds of quests, like exterminating a camp of ogres that decided to settle near villages . Well, quests like those were delegated to larger branches, so they werenât likely present here .
The members of Dragonâs Throat were all level 4 adventurers, earning the title of Guards . This was somewhere in the middle in terms of ranking, but even they were treated as an extremely valuable resource in this town . Thus there were no methods existing to the townspeople to deal with quests requiring level 5 adventurers, those of the Adept class . Â However, it would reflect poorly on the guild branch if these kinds of quests were simply left in the back as decoration .
That was why the quest board looked so hamfisted with so many low-level quests . Since there were barely any mid-level adventurers around, there were barely any mid-level quests .
Illustrations of Monsters swinging their claws and baring their fangs . Records of their battles and physical features sat under the captions of âThe Bloodfangâ and âThe Mad Beastâ .
Hmmm⊠Printed using magic, probably . They look like bounties .
Just as humanoids have different kinds of people, ranging from the ordinary everyday to heroes sung of in epics, there existed different kinds of Monsters as well .
Thus when there arose a particular off-shoot of a common species, or a single or group of monsters that showed exceptional might and ferocity in battle against adventurers, the Guild distinguished them from the rabble by providing relevant information on them alongside a new name .
This was the system of Named Monster .
Named Monsters were feared not only by the commonfolk, but by adventurers as well . However, in a way, this was part and parcel of the spirit of adventuring .
Even if one wasnât a battle-junkie, a seeker of stronger fights and foes, the thought of doing battle with a dragon surely lit a fire of passion in oneâs heart . In the same vein, the thought of battling against Named Monsters were considered to be a heroic feat, one worthy of admiration and adoration of many .
Of course, it was a given that all Named Monsters had huge bounties on their heads, given either by the locals they plagued or by a country offering it, and any who subjugated a Named Monster would receive fame and wealth (as per their participation) .
A beautiful girl, drawn with such care that it exuded an alluring and aesthetic depth that would draw all eyes to it .
She held in one hand, the head that had been parted from her shoulders, eyes closed in the offering of a prayer, as if she were an angel descending from heaven . Clothed in a light dress overflowing in frills, on the lower left of her skirt was the print of a single rose in full blossom, red as blood .
At any rate, her delicate beauty was diluted by the ferocious nature of the drawing, in a sense vastly different from the others around it . It bore its title like the name of a paintingâŠ
âRose Princess of Hellrage?â
âAh yeah that, that . Ya know that little scuffle in the capital from a few days back? Thatâs the one behind it all . â
âThe one where the beheaded princess came back as a Dullahan?â
Picking up on her unintentional whisper, the Guild Master responded, followed by Diana .
âSomeoneâs put a lot of effort into this one drawing . â
âYa know how it us, the artists ainât usually commissioned to draw more than monsters . Musta been a long time since he last drew somethinâ human so he went gung-ho on it . I hear this oneâs particular âbout makinâ everything into stories too . Heck, even the Order of Knights bitched âbout calling that thing a âprincessâ, but⊠To hell with that shit . The Adventurerâs Guild called a female orc a princess before . If she got royalty in her blood, hell with all that political shit, weâre gonna call her a princess . â
âNamed Monster aliases often sound like no forethought was put into them, after all . â
ââHmmm . The girl in the picture doesnât really look like me . To think there was another girl who came back as a Dullahan after getting beheaded just like me .
âŠyeah not like itâll change anything if I pretend this isnât me .
To name a Monster after its subjugation was a very rare occurrence . Even rarer was pinning up a poster of it after that fact .
âB-but⊠this monster was killed by the Chief of the Order of Knights, right?â
âI heard that too, but thatâs not how it went down apparently . The kingdom didnât order a name for this one, it just asked us to keep tabs on this particular one . Let âem know if somethinâ comes up . The Guild just thought somethinâs fishy and gave it a Name so everyone knows . â
ââSo the kingdom still thinks Iâm alive!? Oh wait no⊠That canât be right, Iâm Undead . They think they didnât beat me back then! Eeehhh⊠When you lose like that, youâd think whatever you killed is gone, right? Why the hell do they know I hightailed it outta there?
ââDid the blood give it away? Yeah that was totally a bad idea, wasnât it . God, why on earth did I leave those stains on his damned magic sword?
She couldnât think of any other reason .
Hex spell âȘBad Bloodâ« . A hex that made her blood and curses flow as one, and any who come into contact with it are cursed .
It was supposed to be a last-resort thing, but did they just end up reverse-tracking me with it?
ââYeah no, I better watch how I go about doing things . Man, getting caught now would be awfulâŠ
Spreading infamy so far that just mentioning my name scares people more than mentioning the Demon King sounds pretty nice, not gonna lie .
Simply the thought of it, that if by chance, Hilbert sat on the throne, fearing for his life, fearing because she existed somewhere in the world⊠The thought poured ecstacy into her cheeks and veins .
ââMmm⊠Not bad . This kind of revenge wouldnât be bad at all . Now that I think about it, killing him will end it all in a flash, right? Yeah . So what Iâm gonna do, is make a name for myself . Spread it far and wide . Get him quaking and shaking . Once heâs a broken mess, Iâll take that big head of his off his shoulders⊠. Once this thing Iâm in ends, Iâll think about how Iâm gonna go around building my brand name, for the medium and long run .
âBut these guys sure are doing some awful things to a girl as little as that . â
To think there existed anyone who would pity her .
âThe Princeyâs people gonna keep their trap shut but I hear they lobbed her head off after putting her through hell . By the time she got brought up to that scaffolding, they say they couldnât even tell if she was a boy or a girl from how black and blue her face was . Iâd wanna come back to kill âem all myself, just sayinâ . â
The Master added with lament .
Sure, rumours are rumours but itâs true that I got messed up .
Deprived of a future, deprived of a family, sentenced to unending yet meaningless torture before being led to her death .
âBeing angry isnât good for the heart or the mind, Iris . Moderation is key to a long life . â
âItâs⊠I⊠What do you care? I want to be angry about this . Or are you telling me I should smile and look the other way, let everything slide?â
âYouâre right . Someone has to get angry about these things . But you know, you wonât be happy if youâre just angry all the time . Thatâs why I want you, and kids like you, to be happy . To not have to feel that way . Kids should enjoy their time as kids, leave the dirty work to the adults . â
âBe happyâŠâ
âBe happy . A girlâs smile, thatâs magic all by itself you know . â
âIâm not gonna be that kinda kid . â
âGet over here you brat . Show me that âtude after you grow some hair down there . â
âOw!â
Diana slapped her knuckles over Irisâ head lightly .
Soon, the entire Guild was embraced by the blanket of her awareness .
Among the myriad of emotions were terror, hesitation, greed, and sincere prayers of the clergymen offered to their godsâŠ
She felt the full range of emotions of the citizens outside .
But among those, an outlier stuck out like a sore thumb .
Malice . No wrath, no anger, no desire to enact vengeance . Only the cold and sharp edge of malice .
The average person felt malice most commonly as the result of an offense that sprung them to anger, or perhaps birthed from a wish to take an eye in return of an eye taken .
To bare malice without feeling a shred of anger or desire for vengeance⊠Those who killed as part of their job, only assassins could perhaps be this way .
ââSomeoneâs⊠coming .
I donât know whoâs the target or why, and I donât even know if Night Python is responsible . But itâs definitely worth checking out .
ââIn the end, right now, Iâm just an escort and a body double . I canât help but be on the defense . But, on the off-chance they come at me, Iâll make sure to catch them!
On top of that, I need to definitely keep them away from Diana . If she worries any more, she might just pop like a balloon and propose something like cancelling the quest .
âI think Iâm going to head out early after all . Diana, Iâm going to go buy some dried waterfowl fruits on my way back, so I might be late . â