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Chapter 7 – The young lady of the Howlod Family
“….so, a B rank adventurer from outside. I didn’t think I would lose out to an adventurer around the same level as me….It seems I made a mistake in handling the situation.”
Izabella said while she looked like she bit into a lemon.
She must’ve intended to lightly admonish us and chase us away with the pretext of not being strong enough.
If she had judged that she had a chance of losing to me, then she would’ve approached this from a different direction and would’ve kicked us out with a different pretext.
“Can we take this as permission to continue our exploration then?”
As I called out to them, Izabella turned to look at Snow to ask her opinion.
“It can’t be helped, Izabella. We were the ones that brought up the topic of fighting strength, even if it was just an excuse.”
“Y-yes….I’m truly sorry, Snow-ojousama. Even though I was up against just a regular adventurer around my level, this turned into such an unpleasant state of affairs…..”
However, Snow was suddenly so frank that it was somehow creepy.
The rumors said that to solidify her position, she kept acting without consideration for others recently.
“It seems they indeed possess the minimum needed strength to step into this Dungeon. Very well, we will allow it for now. However, take heed. This was just a simple test. I haven’t even shown my trump card….!”
“Izabella.”
“Yes!”
Izabella quickly returned to Snow’s side.
“That was going a bit too far….wasn’t that a bit rude? No, no….but, they are commoner adventurers. We need to maintain our dignity…. Even the current Lord might be having misgivings not with ojousama’s achievements, but your personality….Yes, indeed. The current Lord said that you can act with the good of the people in mind, but concerning yourself too much with them or trying to get on their good side is a fatal mistake for a noble….”
It seems they were whisper-talking to each other.
“Even though it was just a spar, I admit that you managed to get the best of me once. We will allow you to move as you wish, we won’t try to stop you anymore.”
It seems they agreed on brushing all this under the carpet by acting all high and mighty.
….I had a feeling that Snow was acting worse than she really is to avoid getting underestimated by other heir candidates, and it seems I might’ve been right about that.
I suddenly remembered Hallein, the Guild Master of La Colina.
She was also acting like a big shot until something managed to fluster her.
“Are they closely related perhaps….?”
Or perhaps it’s something to protect the Howlod Family that grew too big.
There is no mistake that she is going around clearing Dungeons to level up and accrue some notable achievements.
That must partially be the reason why she asked the Guild to keep silent about the Phantasmal Dungeon, but using those Mourning Trapezohedrons to help with her succession problems…..is not something I think she would do.
Though I shouldn’t make a conclusion based solely on the impression I have of her right now.
“Izabella, ask him what his name is.”
“Y-yes, ojou-sama.”
But why does she keep insisting on speaking to us only indirectly….?
“Hey, you! You did well against me. Let us know your name.”
I have some various thoughts about this situation, but…..let’s answer honestly for now.
“I’m Elma.”
“Elma, you say? I’ve heard that a man of the same name was a member of the party that distinguished itself during the recent Raid Quest…..So that was you.”
Hallein knows quite a bit about us already, since she was the one that promoted Luce and I to B rank adventurers, but it seems these two did not know too much about us just yet.
We are simple, run-of-the-mill adventurers.
The Guild Master may be different, but it’s not at all strange that a noble young lady would not know anything about what we accomplished as adventurers.
“I’m thankful that a noble young lady such as you tried to look out for our well-being. If there is nothing else, then we would like to excuse ourselves if possible.”
“Very well then. Be on your way. We don’t have much time to spare either.”
“Please wait a moment.”
Snow interjected with a cold voice.
Wondering what she could want, I turned my gaze back to her.
“I want to thank you for handling Izabella with conzideration…ah, um, consid….uhm.”
She kept going strong right until she fumbled with her words once, then she started stammering.
As she kept trying to speak, she kept blushing harder and harder.
Finally she averted her gaze from me as she kept wordlessly opening and closing her mouth.
“Uhmm, well, that is…..”
“Ojou-sama…..! You are too shy, so you don’t need to force yourself like this! Talking in an awkward way like this could lead to losing respect….! It’s all right, I will like, take care of this! Just keep standing imposingly behind me!”
…..I finally understood the reason why Snow kept mostly silent until now.
After looking each other in the eye, Luce and I nodded in agreement to act like nothing happened, then we left the place behind without a word.