Chapter 5

Takami no Kago – Chapter 5

　　After the night went by, we first headed towards the Equipments Shop to buy equipments .

　　“Now then, collar is it . Which one do you want?”

　　Several collars are lining up before us .

　　“Err, um, I can not decide one so could you pick one for me, Master?”

　　“Is that alright?”

　　“Y-Yes . Beside, I want to wear collar that you like, Master . ”

　　What a good girl . For now, I’ll choose collars that raises some defensive power and ask Ayla’s opinion .

　　“Is this one alright?”

　　“Yes, thank you very much . ”

　　“Then, let’s put it on here . ”

　　After having Ayla’s confirmation, it seems it’s no good if I only buy the collar .

　　It seems the master have to put it on the slave’s neck himself .

　　And so I put the red [Leather Collar] on Ayla’s neck .

　　After that, it shrinks to fit Ayla’s neck automatically . That’s [Equipments] for you .

　　Checking the status, the [Leather Collar] changed to [Ayla’s Collar] .

　　“With this, I am all Master’s . ”

　　Hearing Ayla says so cheerfully, honestly I think she’s too easy,

　　however, it might be because she has no one to relied upon beside her parents .

　　Beside, I honestly feel glad that she opens her heart to me .

　　I’m also alone in this world . So I can understand how it relieving to have someone you can trust .

　　For defensive gear, they’re [Leather Armor], [Leather Shoes], and [Leather Gauntlet]; the same as me .

　　As for sword and s.h.i.+eld, we pick the typical [Silver Sword] and [Wood s.h.i.+eld]; yet the same as me .

　　I pay 5 big silver coins for the complete set of defensive gear and weapon we buy .

　　Ayla look at me anxiously .

　　“Um, Master . Is it alright not to confirm it in the guild first?”

　　She nervously worried about that .

　　It seems she worries about her [curse] .

　　“It’s okay . Then, we’ll go to the guild next . ”

　　After I said so, we left the Equipments Shop .

　　“By the way, have you ever fight monsters before?”

　　Realizing that I never heard of it before, I tried to ask her .

　　“Yes, since monsters from the forest often came to the village . ”

　　Well, how could she leveled up if she haven’t fight before, then .

　　“Um, I will try my hardest not to be a burden!”

　　Whatever, maybe it’ll be okay .

　　If I go by her status, she probably stronger than me .

　　“Ah, there’s no need to force yourself, okay . ”

　　While we were talking about that, we arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild .

　　“Welcome . Why, if it isn’t Hibiki . Huh? Who is that girl?”

　　I was asked by the quite-beautiful-receptionist who was on the guild’s counter .

　　She introduces herself as Lily, the one who has looking after me since I register myself in this guild .

　　“Yo, Lily-san . This girl’s Ayla . She’s going to be my party member .

　　Ayla, this is Lily-san . If you want to survive in this guild, you better not making her angry . ”

　　While approaching the reception desk, I introduce each other .

　　“Y-Yes . I hope we will get along well . ”

　　Here come Ayla’s greeting polite version .

　　“Yup, hope we’ll get along~”

　　Lily-san replies so while waving her hand lightly . After that, she glared at me for a while . Yup, she’s scary when gets angry .

　　“For the time being, I want to register Ayla . ”

　　While handing in the registration fee of 1 big silver coins, I ask for Ayla’s registration .

　　“Yes, yes . If she wear collar then that means Ayla-chan is Hibiki’s slave, right? Then, you just have to fill the name and owner column . ”

　　Lily glances at Ayla’s collar and replies so .

　　Is she not talking about it because it’s not unusual for adventurers to have slave in their party?

　　They are usually use as meat-s.h.i.+eld to buy time to escape; disarm dangerous traps; or carrying luggage .

　　And so, the registration completed after about 30 minutes .

　　“Here, this will be your Guild Card . ”

　　“Th-Thank you very much . ”

　　Ayla straighten herself as she received her Guild Card . She look over her Guild Card timidly .

　　Guild Card is a card created by using some metal with magic involved .

　　Beside displaying the owner’s status, it also displays the records of monster you’ve subjugate, status of missions you accepted, and also various information .

　　And then, as though finally consented after confirming many times that there’s no [Curse] inscribe anywhere on the card, Ayla look at me .

　　I answer her by a nod .

　　“Now then, it’s your first mission . What do you wanna pick?”

　　I want to get subjugation-type mission, but if it scares Ayla then there’s no choice but to wait her gradually accustomed .

　　However, even though she looks nervous, she shows a firm determination .

　　“I would like to pick this, Sharp Wolves’ subjugation mission . ”

　　Hearing Sharp Wolves, Lily’s grinning as she look at me . Stop looking at me .

　　And Alya who noticed that tilts her head .

　　“Now, that’s Hibiki’s party member for you, huh . ”

　　“Nah, she knows nothing . ”

　　“My, is that so?”

　　“???”

　　Lily who saw Ayla’s curious expression consented, and started to talked .

　　“His first mission was also Sharp Wolves’ subjugation, you know . ”

　　“Is that so?”

　　However, adventurer who take that as a first mission is not unusual . Sharp Wolf’s like a monster to reach gateway-to-success for novice adventurer . [1]

　　Then, are you asking why Lily’s grinning?

　　“Yup, and I was surprised when he came back by evening of the same day with raw materials worth of 50 Sharp Wolves . ”

　　“50?!”

　　“Nah, I was happened to find a whole bunch of them . ”

　　I frantically make an excuse .

　　“Normally, even a mid-tier adventurer would stand no chance against a whole group of 50 . ”

　　Even Ayla nods in agreement .

　　Just which side are you on .

　　“Well, that happened perchance . ”

　　With a status enhanced by [Divine Protection], it’s one-hit-kill with sword for a mere Sharp Wolf .

　　I spent not even 1 hour to hunt 50 monsters; however, it seems that abilities are too abnormal for a novice adventurer .

　　Recalling what an outrageous-uproar it caused back then, I grimace .

　　“As expected, Master is awesome!”

　　Ayla turn towards me with eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with respect .

　　“Yeah, as long as he’s with you, Sharp Wolf’s nothing . Good luck, okay . ”

　　“Yes, I will do my best . ”

　　Thus, my first mission with Ayla was started .

　　Translator notes and references

　　[1] 登竜門 (とうりゅうもん) : it says ‘gateway to success’ in dictionary . I don’t know what it really means in RPG . I don’t play many MMORPG, let alone the j.a.panese one . Does PSO2 count?