Side Story. Rosaria Quest (2)
"Can you go alone?"
"I'm fully prepared. No need to worry."
Rosaria puffed her nose confidently, her face full of enthusiasm.
Her zeal was enough to make even a worry seem foolish.
Phoebe, who had checked her belongings until the last moment, knelt down.
"My lady, if you walk around with such beautiful hair exposed, people will be jealous."
Phoebe tucked Rosaria's hair inside her robe.
And then, for the 52nd time, she asked Rosaria the same question.
"Is it really okay if Phoebe doesn't go with you?"
"Yes! I can do it alone!"
"Alright. Always be confident! You are the proud eldest daughter of the Adeleheights family, so you must not be discouraged!"
When Phoebe put strength into her eyes, Rosaria also looked determined and made a fierce expression.
"Yes!"
She held the apprentice magician's wand and turned her feet.
The thought occurred to her that the teddy bear Lucy, which was carried on her back, might be mistaken for a humpback due to its swollen appearance.
The dog stayed close beside Rosaria as they walked.
Reed glanced up at the sky.
The floating Orneptos caught Reed's eye.
As if it knew something, it wiggled its eyebrows and secretly flew behind her.
As they entered the forest, they saw Yuria waiting there.
Yuria, who had been rubbing her shoes on the ground, put on a stern expression when she saw Rosaria.
"You're late. I arrived 20 minutes ago."
"You're saying I'm late even though I arrived 5 minutes earlier than the promised time?"
"Of course."
Although it didn't make sense that she was late even though she arrived earlier than the promised time, Rosaria just let it go.
"How do you like it, Miss Rosaria?"
Yuria proudly showed off her body.
A robe from the Imperial Workshop, blending white and gold colors.
Inside it, she was armed with lightweight cloth armor and various items.
Although she was not yet a member of the Imperial Workshop and couldn't wear their robe, it wasn't unreasonable to allow her, considering her potential.
Upon seeing such a splendid robe, Rosaria looked up and down and said,
"You're not supposed to wear it like that."
"Excuse me?"
It was far from envy and more like advice.
"Apprentice magicians are supposed to wear gray robes! So you can't wear that. Take it off quickly."
"Well? Yeah, that's the principle, but..."
"We're going to adventure as apprentice magicians from now on, so we have to wear gray robes."
"Alright."
Unlike Yuria who didn't take it seriously, Rosaria was quite serious.
With no choice, Yuria took off her robe and borrowed some spare clothes from Rosaria.
Yuria looked at her wrapped body and was a little disappointed.
'I can't show off the items I wanted to show like this.'
She had deliberately loosened her robe a bit to show off the items she had inside.
A magician keeps their secrets hidden.
For Yuria, who was eager to attract attention at her age, it was the most difficult rule to follow.
It was the most suitable outfit for a magician's basic rule of secrecy, and since her opponent was the younger Rosaria, she couldn't complain.
"Oh, by the way, I also made a contract with a spirit recently. Did you hear?"
"A contract? With whom?"
"I made a contract with a lower spirit too!"
"What kind of spirit is it?"
"Seeing is believing!"
Yuria infused her wand with magic to create a summoning circle.
The condensed mana gathered within it and formed a shape, and the spirit appeared.
Yuria proudly introduced her spirit.
"It's a lower water spirit, Elsid!"
Upon seeing the water spirit, Rosaria marveled.
"Wow, it looks like a person! Like a doll."
"Hehe, it's the only lower spirit that has a human-like appearance."
Lower spirits usually exist in the form of animals or simple spheres.
Yuria discovered Elsid while searching for the coolest and strongest spirits among the lower spirits.
Contracting with Elsid was no big deal, given her talent.
Yuria was secretly proud as she watched Rosaria admiring her spirit.
She thought about showing off a few tricks, but she couldn't do that indefinitely.
-Squeak, squeak...
Elsid was restless.
"Why are you doing that, Elsid? Why are you so nervous?"
Lower spirits generally don't communicate with humans.
All Elsid did was stare at one place and tremble.
Yuria followed Elsid's gaze.
Beyond Rosaria's shoulder, she could only see a brown walnut tree and the bright sunlight shining through it.
Although she wanted to show off her skills, with the spirit's condition being poor, Yuria hesitated.
"Elsid must be feeling cold."
"Why would spirits feel the cold... is that it?"
Not being proficient in spirit magic, she couldn't tell what was going on.
Rosaria picked up the dog beside her with both hands and brought it in front of Elsid.
"Our dog will keep you warm. It's so warm that you don't need a campfire when it's around!"
-Meow.
The dog opened its mouth as if to answer.
Yuria looked down at the dog and muttered quietly.
"It looks stupid. It's not even cute..."
A large-headed, gentle-looking lizard.
On top of that, it was as obedient as a dog, so there was no way it wouldn't be cute to young Yuria.
-Squeak...
Elsid looked up as if to apologize.
"It's okay! You're a good enough spirit too! Since I made a contract with you, I'll make it that way!"
-Squeak.
Elsid's eyes turned into crescent moon shapes, as if grateful.
Separately, its restless appearance didn't disappear, so Yuria had no choice but to reverse-summon Elsid and send her back to the spirit world.
'It doesn't seem like today's going to be a good day.'
It was a plot that required a smooth start, but with so many duds, it was inevitable to feel discouraged.
"Let's go to the quest now!"
"Alright."
"I brought a map."
Rosaria took out a crumpled map from the bag inside her robe.
It was a map of the central continent.
Yuria tilted her head at Rosaria's preparation.
"Do you need to use a map when you can use map magic?"
"But a map feels more adventurous."
"Adventure... No. When magicians are around, using a crystal ball like this to determine the location is the main role, rather than a map."
"Really?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, then."
Rosaria folded the map and put it back into the pocket inside her robe.
A faint sense of disappointment crossed her face.
Yuria used map magic with the crystal ball.
A beam shot out, drawing a map of the Cloud Continent on the ground.
Yuria's finger moved, zooming in on where Rosaria and Yuria were.
"We are here, and we need to go here."
"It seems really close."
"It looks that way because we can see it all at once. It will probably take about 2 hours to walk there. Your legs will hurt a lot."
When she had measured the distance in advance, it wasn't thrilling, but now that the situation was approaching, she felt suffocated.
'I must not cry!'
She wouldn't stop until Rosaria said she wanted to rest because her feet were hurting.
In the end, the two didn't rest at all.
Rosaria, trained by walks with Phoebe, didn't tire easily.
On the other hand, Yuria was only used to light walks in the garden of her house, so she wasn't used to moving with her gear on.
'Still, I can't ask to rest shamelessly…!'
Betting the pride of the eldest daughter of the Frenda family, they continued the forced march.
"Yuria."
"Heck, heck… Yes?"
"Are we going the right way?"
"We should… I guess?"
Yuria, who had been moving without stopping, had forgotten to look at the map.
Checking the map belatedly, Yuria was sure.
'We're lost…'
It was the price of walking mindlessly.
They had to walk another 30 minutes to reach Dun Luster village, the quest location they should have arrived at by now.
"…Let's rest first."
"Alright."
Believing it was important to regain composure, Yuria decided to let go of her pride.
They caught their breath, drinking water from the canteen they brought.
That's when it happened.
They heard rustling in the distance.
As Yuria turned her head towards the sound, she almost screamed reflexively.
"Eek!"
"What's wrong?"
"Shh, shh!"
Yuria panicked and sent a signal to Rosaria to be quiet.
Rosaria cautiously went next to Yuria and took a quick look at what she saw.
"It's an orc."
A group of about six orcs could be seen moving.
The race had protruding lower jawbones, fangs sticking out, and massive muscular bodies.
'Orcs are here?'
Yuria had thoroughly researched in advance, but she didn't know this information.
That's when it happened.
While observing the orcs, Yuria locked eyes with one of them.
Yuria reflexively turned her head.
However, the fact that their eyes met did not change, and her face turned pale.
'What, what should I do?'
Yuria was at a loss, biting her nails.
She knew what kind of beings orcs were.
Although they were intelligent monsters, they were said to be no different from savages, captivated by their wild instincts.
Although the perception of orcs improved a lot after the conquest of the Kalton Mountain Range, Yuria, as a noble's child, only had her father's advice to be cautious of orcs in her head.
But it was too late to run away now.
The sound of rustling through the bushes was getting closer.
Trembling, she leaned against her wand, which she held in both hands.
On the other hand, Rosaria was different.
After meeting the orc's gaze, Rosaria jumped up and shouted at the approaching orc.
"Baltan!"
"Eek!"
Rosaria's brave shout not only attracted the attention of the approaching orc but also that of the marching orcs.
She didn't know much about orcs, but she knew a few things about what not to do in front of them.
Don't mention Baltan carelessly as a foreigner.
The chieftain is a sacred area, and mentioning Baltan is an act of desecrating the sacred.
That desecration must be atoned for with death.
Recalling that knowledge, Yuria's face couldn't help but turn pale.
The fierce-looking orc in front of Rosaria put his hand on his chin and breathed heavily.
"Ah."
As if remembering something, the orc asked Rosaria.
"The white-haired, red-eyed, small female human. Are you our Baltan's teacher?"
"That's right! I'm the teacher!"
"Wha, what, what nonsense are you talking about, Ro, Rosaria!"
If mentioning Baltan covers a wide range, claiming to be a close associate of Baltan as a foreigner is an outrageous desecration.
An impudent fellow would challenge a duel for the act of insulting Baltan.
The end of a duel is always when someone dies.
Or both receive praise for conducting an honorable duel.
Yuria, thinking that the orc would be angry, put her hand into her bosom.
'I need to use the signal stone...'
In the face of a crisis, her hand did not move as she had thought.
'I'll be eaten, I'll be eaten, I'll be eaten.'
* * *
Dream big tl dot com
***
Yuria was so scared that she couldn't even shed tears.
"Wait."
The large orc left those words and went somewhere again.
To Yuria, it sounded like he was telling them to wait with bated breath.
"Ro, Rosaria..."
"Huh? Yuria, what's wrong? Are you cold?"
"It's not that I'm cold, but why are you so composed in this situation?!"
There's a limit to being naive.
Provoking the orcs, who are close to monsters, with such natural innocence.
"We, we have to run away! Even if our legs are short, if we run to the village somehow..."
"Why run away? It's okay!"
After a while, the group of orcs stood in front of Rosaria and Yuria.
An even larger orc warrior stood before them, looking down at the two.
Feeling as if they were standing in front of a giant golem, Yuria's legs lost strength.
Yuria clenched her eyes shut.
The giant orc looked down at Rosaria and spoke.
"It's surprising. Why is teacher here?"
"…Huh?"
