Three weeks later, we reach the end of our journey, Minerva, and spend that night in Isolte’s mansion.
We have a party with stuff like lobster and roast chicken to celebrate this occasion, and I find truffles in there too. Iris loves roast chicken, so she looks really happy.
Guh, so cute!
After dinner, I go to a hot spring.
It’s not a mixed bath, so no bumping into Iris and lucky pervert events for me, but it’s a really nice hot spring made of marble that warms my body to the core.
Both my body and mind are refreshed. And when I go to my room and read a book, Iris drops by.
“Can we talk?”
“Yes.”
I’m about to get up, because I’m sitting on my bed, but Iris says I don’t have too. She just walks over and sits next to me.
Her hair smells of soap.
We start by chatting about the hot spring. She’s intrigued by the different architectures of Roland and Merzelia, and says it’d be interesting if something were to combine them.
Roland’s hot springs lean a lot towards religion, so they tend to be made with that in mind.
I imagine a marble bath in the middle of a palace, with stone carvings of representatives of god. Since Minerva is along the frontier with Roland, it’s actually affected by its culture. If someone thought to make a blend of both architectures, I think it might actually be well received.
After talking for about an hour, Iris lets out a big yawn.
“It’s already this late? Time flies when I’m with you, Iris.”
“I also feel like talking to you is very fun.”
“We need to get up early tomorrow, so how about we go to sleep?”
“Yes.”
Iris says before laying down on my bed for some reason.
“I can’t sleep with you there.”
“I’m a saintess yauh.”
What do you mean yauh? I don’t know her intentions, and the fact that I have no idea what she’s doing leaves me baffled.
If it’s some sort of modern language, the problem is figuring out what she means.
Normally one would think she’s saying she doesn’t want to leave tonight, which would be an invitation, but that assumes she has romantic feelings towards me.
She’s probably joking, just making fun of me. If I’m reading Iris’ intent, the answer must be that moving by herself to her room is a pain, so she wants me to carry her.
That should give me a perfect score. How naive, Iris. I’m the number one magic detective in all of Merzelia.
And so, I do what she wants and carry her to her bedroom.
Perfect. There isn’t a more wonderful way to respond.
“I don’t care about you anymore Mister Loyd.”
Why is she mad? Why?
She looks really displeased.
Then she gets into her luxurious bed with a canopy, and tells me to go back to my room.
It’s a really soft and comfortable bed.
◇ ◇ ◇
The next morning, I’m all rested up, so I tell Isolte I’m going to the adventurer guild.
“Are you doing a quest already after that long trip? You can spend some more time resting in the mansion.”
“With your permission, guildmaster, much like how if a swordsman does not swing his sword, his arm will rust, so too will a mage if he does not use his magic.
I’m still learning as a mage, and I want to get that feeling back in actual battles.
“I see, I should have expected that from you, Loyd. You’re a model adventurer.”
It sounds like she thinks that’s moving, but that’s a little different from reality. I have to go to the adventurer guild because I gave all my money to Ruby.
Isolte has been looking after me, but I can’t live like this forever.
It’s my goal to stand on my own in Minerva.
Normally I’d have to go to the adventurer guild, but since Isolte is the guildmaster, she just hands me quest documents, and I pick the one that seems the most efficient out of the five D rank ones.
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Rank D: Controlled territory
Job: Exterminate monsters
Reward: One gold coin and eighty silver coins
Job description: Exterminate kobolds
Location: Upper floors of the Kokkoro Mine
Time limit: Three weeks
Quota: Five kobolds
Observations: There have been many wyvern sightings in the Kokkoro area. Exercise caution
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
I take a quest to take down kobolds. Five of them within the time limit.
The more kobolds are taken down the better, as far as the guild is concerned, so there’s a bonus if I take down ten or more.
The area that’s going to be my hunting ground is a mine in the foot of the Minerva mountain range.
There are actually three major mountains here, with their own ecology and characteristics.
For example, the peak where a Fairy Dragon is currently nesting is called Enigma. It’s the smallest one, with three thousand meters, but it’s full of fairy monsters, probably because of the Fairy Dragon.
Then there’s Raiol. It’s five thousand meters tall, and it’s the tallest mountain in the Minerva mountain range. That height means a lot of snow monsters inhabit it, and there’s a low chance that a unique monster called Raiol will appear.
Raiol are like centaurs. They’re agile, but their stamina is dragon tier, and their offensive power is also abnormally high. These three things make it very strong, and it puts parties in danger of being wiped out if they carelessly get involved with it.
Lastly, there’s the mountain called Kokkoro. It’s a little taller than Enigma.
It’s famous for its underground space, and seven lakes with clear water.
Its deepest point is three thousand meters, and a lot of ore can be obtained there. However, the deeper it goes, the more intricate it becomes, so it’s hard for even veteran adventurers to explore.
But the returns are also good. Copper, silver, gold, diamonds, opal, orichalcum. Rare ore can be found here.
A lot of tenacious adventurers challenge it in hopes of getting rich.
And this time, I’m going to this Kokkoro area.
Kobolds live in the shallower floors of the mine that’s apparently a hunting ground for new adventurers.
I leave my room with the information I got from Isolte drilled into my head, and as I make my way to the entrance of the mansion, I happen by Sephilia. Sephilia is not only one of Iris’ attendants, but also a combat maid with the nickname Swordmaster.
Iris says it was thanks to her that she escaped the first prince. That said, I’ve never seen her fight.
“Good morning proud friend.”
Says Sephilia while gracefully lifting the tip of her skirt.
“Good morning, Sephilia. Elegant as always.”
“Your compliment means my efforts as a maid have not gone to waste.”
Sephilia admires Till, and wishes to become a great maid.
She reacts strongly to the word elegant, and is quick to be happy when it’s used to describe her.
“By the way mister friend, the lady was searching for you.”
“Where is Iris?”
“Strolling through the garden with the head maid, I believe.”
“All right. Thank you very much for coming here to tell me.”
“I did only my duty as a maid. Now if you excuse me, I will go back to work.”
She elegantly blows and gracefully leaves.
Sephilia is incredible. She’s beautiful, graceful, serious, elegant, and good enough with a sword to be called a master.
I want to be a master like her too.
I go to the garden, and sure enough, Iris is here.
She was looking for me to have tea together, and she’s disappointed when I tell her I have things to do today. But her expression brightens up when I tell her I’ll invite her tomorrow.
Till smiles a little as she looks at her, and bows without letting Iris see it.
“You really are a worker, going out to work already. I really respect it.”
Iris is impressed with me.
She still doesn’t have concrete plans about how she’s going to live in Minerva, so she plans to hang around here until she finds what she wants to do.
“Anyway, I won’t work for at least a year.”
She declares with a smile, signaling the start of the unemployed saintess.
It’s like the stern and diligent saintess she was never existed.
Iris has actually been busy all this time. People were after her life, giving her no time to rest mentally, so she does need a break.
And she could actually not work and live the rest of her life resting on her title of former saintess.
She has holy power, so she provides a value few people can by doing what the queen said, looking after the Southlight region.
I wish I could be a special being that can earn money by doing nothing like her, but that’s not for an average guy like me.
I say goodbye to Iris, and head to the Kokkoro mine.
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