Painting
The shop Linear-san and I came to was one I visited sometimes. There were some adventurers around as well, some of whom seemed to know Linear-san.
Well, it’s because she’s wearing her nun outfit today. She doesn’t seem to be the only adventurer wearing one, though. Just because someone’s part of the church doesn’t mean they’re a pacifist, so it’s not surprising they can fight when they’re traveling. Still, a few of them end up visiting the guild in their nun outfits.
We took our seats and then ordered food. Bread, soup, and monster meat. We got the same dish this time.
“I don’t know if this will suit your taste, Linear-san.”
This shop has reasonable prices. Actually, going to a more expensive place wouldn’t be a big deal, but she knew my rank, so I thought she might feel a bit awkward if we went to one of those.
We won’t break the bank no matter how much we eat. That’s why I picked this place.
“It’s okay. I’d enjoy eating with you anywhere,” she said, smiling.
I appreciate that.
“So, can I go ahead and ask?”
“Of course. Ask me anything you want.”
“What kind of monster is a rabbit kangaroo?”
“Well, first of all, do you know about rabbits and kangaroos?”
“Hmm… I’ve seen them in the wild, I guess.”
“It’s like a combination of those two, but its strong point is its legs, so you have to be careful when it strikes with them.”
“It attacks with its legs, then? We’ll need to be extra careful if we fight them in close quarters, then.”
“Yes; it can also attack with its rabbit horn.”
“I see…”
“And since its front paws can be used as fists like a normal kangaroo… I think it’s better for someone in the vanguard to be the decoy while everyone else handles any extras.”
“Got it.”
If we know the enemy’s attack pattern, it will be easier to respond as well. I’ll definitely write all this down.
“The most annoying thing about rabbit kangaroos is… they’ll run away.”
“Run away?”
“Yep. They run away when they get injured or tired. You need to take it down in one go, unless you already prepared a backup plan beforehand.”
To prevent it from escaping, huh? So we need to set a trap before it thinks of running. That’s easier said than done, though. If anything, it’s best to just kill it instantly.
Will I be able to think quickly on the spot and mesh well with the other team members? It sounds more difficult now.
“Where is the rabbit kangaroo going to appear this time?”
“It looks to be a forest.”
“Oh. I see? In that case, I think there might also be some other monsters going after the rabbit kangaroo. Be careful.”
“What kind of monster would go after it?”
“A wolf-type monster. Well, I don’t think wolves are a big problem around here.”
“That’s true. But sometimes monsters can migrate from place to place, right?”
“Yes. Best be cautious about it. However, this is for an E-rank request, so that kind of thing should have already been investigated. For now, don’t worry too much about extra monsters.”
“Okay, got it.”
“And be careful, because rabbit kangaroos eat demon ore.”
Now that she mentions it, that is a trait of some monsters.
“Surely eating magic ore will change their abilities, right?”
“Yup, they’ll become really strong. The monsters that can eat magic ore collect it in their bodies, just so you know, and that ore will boost their strength, so be careful.”
“Okay, I see.”
While I took notes, she clapped her hands once, took out a piece of paper and a pen, and started drawing a picture.
“So what’s that?”
“Rabbit kangaroo.”
What? It’s too much… I don’t understand that… creativity at all. However, Linear-san passed the picture to me confidently.
“I’ll give this to you. I hope it will be useful.”
“S-sure… thanks.”
She said it so confidently, so I’ll take it. … And maybe the actual monster really does look like this. It’s rude to say what I really think, even though I haven’t seen the real thing yet. I put the paper in my notebook and closed it up.
As I asked more questions and took more notes on necessary matters, Linear-san laughed at me.
“What?”
“You’re too serious.”
“Uh, am I?”
Isn’t this what adventurers do??
“Only a few newbie adventurers would really analyze things, especially to the degree you’re doing it.”
“I want to rank up as soon as possible, after all. If I fail, I lose points, right?”
If you fail a promotion request, you lose 50 points. I’d need at least five more requests just to make those points back.
“Yup. Anyway, is there some reason you’re trying to rank up so quickly?”
I wasn’t sure how much I could tell her, but since she was the first person I made a weapon for… I decided to briefly tell her my dreams.
“I… I want to be a first-class Blacksmith. I think it’s still possible for me to make stronger weapons, even stronger than the one I gave you. For that purpose, I need to get various materials from monsters, and combine them to make weapons.”
“Stronger weapons? And you’re combining materials from monsters…?”
“Right. Someday, I want to make weapons as strong as Divine Treasures, or even stronger.”
She was silent. Yeah, that was too much, wasn’t it? I tried to downplay it since things got so awkward, but she grabbed my hand.
“It’s an amazing dream… I’ll support you with all of my power.”
“R-really?”
“Yes. I’m sure there are more people like me who need weapons to fight.”
Glad to hear it.
“I’ll do my best.”
“Great! If I pass the exam at guild headquarters, I might ask you for another weapon when I get back.”
“By then, I’ll make sure to have something better.”
“I’ll do my best to show off your weapon to as many people as possible.”
If she wanted to do that much, I had to work even harder.
“Come to think of it, Linear-san. If I’m not mistaken, the guild headquarters is at the royal capital, isn’t it?”
“Yup.”
“Have you heard of Eubalsa Academy? It’s north of the royal capital.”
“Of course. Especially this year, they got five new heroes, so I hear they’ve been having a grand old time.”
“Would you happen to have any tasks to go there?”
“It’s been a long time since I went traveling, and I’ve had to run errands for the church, so I don’t have any reason to go.”
“Er, if you’re free, I mean, if you don’t mind… can you bring me any information about the heroes?”
“Why the heroes?”
“Well, it’s like this… my childhood friend is one of the heroes. I’ve been exchanging letters with her, but I’m wondering if she might be having a hard time there.”
Maybe she has some concerns she can’t write in a letter. Lynn is definitely the kind of girl to keep that sort of thing hidden. She’ll try to solve everything herself; it’s a bad habit of hers.
“Alright, I see. But well, I think I’d only hear about it from rumors on the wind or something like that.”
“That’s enough for me, so please let me know if you find anything. Oh, her name is Lynn, by the way.”
“Oh, that sounds familiar. The Hero that came from our town… So she was your childhood friend, huh…”
“How did you remember the Blacksmith but forget about the Hero?”
“Because it basically has nothing to do with me. The Blacksmith was much more important.”
You’re a church official, so if anything, a hero should be more important…
The food was finally brought to us: fresh bread and soup. All of it looked delicious. Then we faced each other, prayed lightly to God, and had our meal.
Bound Pleasures 
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