Disciple of Immortal

Act 2: Chapter 43: Determination

We arrived in front of the adventurer’s guild.

Though it was earlier than the arranged time, Gannet was already waiting inside the guild building.

After relaying his detailed plans, he intended to assign the escorting adventurers to guard the caravan as soon as they completed preparations to immediately depart to another city.

「I also care for my life. I also intended to escape and abandon the citizens when the situation turned for the worse.」

Rosemonde muttered such soliloquy.

Pomera showed a slightly indignant look upon hearing Rosemonde’s remark.

「For your hometown… don’t you want to at least try to assist the escaping citizens first?」

「Hah, what kind of nonsense are you talking about? I’m not foolish enough to give up my life to protect the fools who don’t even know that a calamity is right upon them!」

Rosemonde was right.

I thought that the number of such noble adventurers who protected the life of citizens until the bitter end was infinitely close to zero.

Even I wouldn’t go as far as doing that.

Rosemonde, who said that, was actually acting as the bad guy… or should I say, girl.

「B-But, there’s no need to say it out loud…!」

「Hah! I see. Your magic skills are strong but it seems you’re still wet behind the ears. Look at me, stupid girl. This senior will give an advice for softhearted adventurers like you.」

Rosemonde spoke to Pomera with the condescending attitude of a senior.

「I-Is something the matter?」

Pomera was pursing her lips as she replied to Rosemonde.

「… You have to know your limits– when to fight and when to retreat properly. This isn’t something that can change at the last minute, you hear me. If I just nodded in silence following you guys recklessly, god knows what kind of danger you’re going to charge into next. Now a question, do you really think that I’m gonna just follow you recklessly without knowing my own limits? Sorry, but I’m not a suicidal fool. I might not even have the time to regret my decision if I recklessly follow after you guys.」

Pomera’s mouth opened wide, it seems Rosemonde’s advice nailed right in her heart. But, she shut her mouth immediately and nodded as if agreeing with Rosemonde.

「… Yes, I understand. Thank you very much, Rosemonde-san.」

She replied with a slightly embarrassed look on her face.

She might have been expecting some sort of worthless advice from Rosemonde only to be hit by the proper advice of a senior adventurer.

It seems both Pomera and I had completely misunderstood Rosemonde.

She was protecting the magic city of Manarak in her own way.

「… So, is that brat going to participate in the battle too?」

Rosemonde asked that question with a slightly frightened voice.

She was looking at Philia who was clenching her fists and pumping herself up before the battle.

「Uhm! Philia will do her best too!」

「I-I see… that’s reassuring.」

Rosemonde replied while averting her gaze from Philia.

「… Philia-chan, make sure that you don’t go overboard, okay?」

「Understood! Philia will do her best to fulfill Kanata’s wishes!」

Phila embraced my waist and then raised her face to look up to me as she spoke.

I lost to her adorableness and ended up patting her head.

Meanwhile, Pomera was sending an anxious look in my direction.

「… It really can’t be helped. The scale of our enemies this time is really big after all. We’re definitely going to need Philia-chan’s strength.」

「… Kanata-san, could it be that you’re going to spit some sort of lie again when Philia-chan uses her power?」

The first thing that came  into my mind when I heard that was the matter when Philia conjured a progenitor dragon back then on the way toward Manarak. To hide the fact that Philia was the one who conjured that progenitor dragon, I lied to eyewitnesses that it was something that was summoned by Pomera.

Pomera seemed to be recalling that incident too.

My smile twitched slightly as I recalled that incident.

I shifted my glance from Pomera, looking at Rosemonde.

「W-What’s matter? I have no idea what you two are talking about, but you better not push troublesome things onto me.」

I looked back to Pomera again.

「Haha… I-It’ll be alright, Pomera-san. This time, I’ll take the blame…」

… It’s not like I could push all the credit to Pomera.

If I kept doing that, Pomera might end up being targeted by dangerous people beyond her real abilities to cope with.

I considered Rosemonde’s remarks while patting Philia’s head.

Just how much I was willing to take the danger, huh.

I had a huge debt of gratitude towards Gannet.

The adventurers who came, everyone of them came willingly came with the realization that this might be a suicide mission.

At the very least, I was overwhelmingly more powerful than an A-rank adventurer.

Was it really okay for me to take the escort job like the rest of the adventurers?

Moreover, I… didn’t want to use my power in front of so many people.

If possible, I wanted to avoid the fight.

Just like this case, the matter of taking the escort job along with the other adventurers might not be as good as what it looks like.

I shifted my attention towards the direction of the city gate.

I pretty much found out the whereabouts of the ragnos’ boss during yesterday’s adventurer’s meeting.

No matter how much ragnos there were, I had no intentions of losing.

If it’s me… I should be able to decrease a great number of them all at once by visiting their nest.

Naturally, it didn’t mean that there were no dangerous factors in there. I was sure that inside the nest wasn’t full of just your run-of-the-mill ragno.

But, hearing Rosemonde’s resolution… I couldn’t help but feel guilty about waiting in a safe place without doing anything.

I mean, if I make my move, I won’t just be able to decrease the number of the ragnos, I should be able to virtually grasp the real scale of the other party and the level of the demon king.

「… Pomera-san, Rosemonde-san, Philia-chan. My apologies, I think I’ll refrain from doing the escort mission.

「W-What do you mean, Kanata-san!?」

「… You, you’re going to forfeit from escort mission despite having that much power?」

Pomera was really surprised while Rosemonde was openly expressing her hostility towards me.

Philia puffed out her cheeks while saying 「… If Kanata won’t go, Philia won’t go too.」.

「My bad. I’ll try to do something… about this situation. The destination of the migration is Polorock city, right? Let’s meet up over there.」

「Please, let Pomera help you, Kanata-san!」

I shook my head.

「Sorry but, it’s better for me to go by myself since it’s kinda like a scouting mission. Moreover, the current situation is clearly abnormal. That’s why I want to leave Pomera-san and Philia-chan to go with with escort mission as a warranty.」

「… Understood. If that’s Kanata-san’s wish, Pomera will take Philia-chan along for the escort mission, but… please don’t force yourself to do the impossible, okay? The scale of the demon king’s army this time is unknown after all.」

Both Pomera and Philia were much stronger than your average A-rank adventurer. With them there, there shouldn’t be any problems with the escort mission.

Moreover, I want to do my duty properly for Gannet.

It was the time to pay back my debt of gratitude towards Gannet. I didn’t want him to think of me as an unreasonable person after all.

But then, I had no idea about how to transmit the information that I get during my scouting mission after I return from the nest.

I might not even be able to pass off that information.

The one who gained Gannet’s attention was the saint; Pomera, not even Gannet could dismiss me if I came with her.

「Sorry for my selfishness. Pomera-san, Philia-chan, and Rosemonde-san too, please be careful after I leave.」

「Yes… don’t worry about us, Kanata-san.」

「Muu… understood. Philia will go with Pomera.」

Philia reluctantly agreed.

「… Humph, exposing your own comrades to danger, what a great man you are.」

Rosemonde was glaring disdainfully at me while muttering so.

「… The monsters aside, don’t let your guard down toward Alfred either. Since he know that he’s no match against your power, he might use some sort of underhanded tactic, Pomera-san.」

I approached Pomera and whispered to her.

The next time Alfred tried to butt in, I planned to slap him awake personally after all.

Alfred surely wouldn’t expect what would come for him in that situation.

I mean, I had enough of his interference.

Unfortunately, it seems I had to temporarily part ways with Pomera on the way toward Polorock. And I’m afraid that Alfred would slip in and cause trouble during the confusion amidst the escort mission.

And worst of all, he might get another person’s assistance to help him in his revenge.

「… Yes, understood. I won’t let my guard down against that man.」

Pomera nodded.

I nodded my head to her and left the adventurer guild’s building.

I headed toward the city gate located right across the adventurer guild’s building.

When I turned around for the last time, I saw Pomera and co’s figures enter the guild’s building.