Unfairly Fired From the Healer's Guild After Five Years of Dedicated Service

Episode 46 – [Iron Gear]

TL: This chapter was sponsored by an anonymous supporter. When I asked if this person wanted to provide me with a name so they could be featured, they actually declined, saying they weren’t in it for the credit at all. Truly, a kindness that brightens the world. Thank you so much!

“Thank you so much! I’ll definitely come again!” (Lewin)

“Sure thing! Make sure you swing by to do maintenance every once in a while!” (Hairy Shopkeeper)

I learned that the hairy, dishevelled shopkeeper’s name was actually Dantetsu. After waving goodbye to him, I left the shop.

(TL Note: The shopkeeper’s name, Dantetsu, is a play on words in Japanese. 断鉄, or Dantetsu, is also the name of the shop, and it literally means “Iron Will”.)

Really, what a great guy. As part of the purchase, he gifted me a scabbard which fitted my waist well and had a simple, cool design. As for the steel sword that I just bought, I couldn’t really see myself being able to use it to the fullest extent just yet, but I was sure that I would grow into it after diligently doing my daily sword training method and eating enough Dumbbell Grass. A dagger would have been good too since I could make the most use of it immediately, but after seeing Ahmed coolly cleaving monsters in two with her sword, I couldn’t help but want to be like her a bit.

As expected, the chest plate I got was easy to wear since it was made from Lightmetal, so it was extremely light and durable. The material was characteristically weak against heat, but it was more than enough to keep impacts and cuts at bay. Grinning excitedly at the new gear I got, I returned to the Adventurer’s Guild. It was a little before noon, so I was just in time for the appointed meeting time. In the discussion earlier with the receptionist lady, I learned that the members of [Iron Gear] were made up of two men and two women, which was a pretty rare distribution of sex for an adventurer party.

When I entered the Adventurer’s Guild, I walked directly towards the bulletin board, and… there they were.

Amidst the foul squalor of the Adventurer’s Guild, I saw the group of two men and two women lightheartedly chatting in front of the bulletin board. The people in their surroundings were mostly older men, so their presence stuck out quite a bit. At any rate, I was relieved that they were here on time, so I had a good impression of them so far. As expected of a group of rookie adventurers, they all looked pretty young. They seemed to be around my age, but they were probably a little older.

They probably didn’t know what I looked like, so I decided to approach them first. I hadn’t really chatted with anyone in the same generation as me before, so the nervousness I felt was a little different from what I felt when meeting intimidating adventurers for the first time.

“Excuse me, are you the adventurer party [Iron Gear]?” (Lewin)

When I spoke to them, they all stopped talking and turned to look at me at once. They must have realized I was their client, since a lively-looking woman with short reddish-orange hair ran up to me with a bright expression on her face.

“Oh, you’re the client for the escort request? You probably didn’t know this, but I’ve been applying for your request for a long time, so I’m really glad you finally accepted! Nice to meet you!”

Ooh! My first impression was pretty good. Looking at her up close, maybe because she was young, she didn’t really give off the image of an adventurer. Her physique was slender and she had a decent amount of muscle on her body, but she was still a pretty girl.

“Oi, Lyra. You’re coming on too strong. You should probably start with introducing yourself, no? Sorry, she’s an impatient one. I’m Byrne, and this idiot here is Lyra.”

“Who are you calling an idiot! … I’m Lyra! Nice to meet ya!”

Anyway, remembering all these names at once was difficult. Each person in [Iron Gear] had pretty distinctive personalities, so I thought I would be able to learn their names quickly. Come to think of it, I had never even bothered to learn the names of the people in [White Feiler]. Well, at that time I didn’t even get the chance to properly introduce myself.

“My name is Lewin, and I’m the one who put in the escort request. I actually did notice that you guys applied for recruitment several times in the past. Because of that, I decided to entrust your party with the quest commission this time. I look forward to working with you all!” (Lewin)

After my light self-introduction, Lyra smiled and clapped her hands in applause. The atmosphere was pretty good so far, mainly thanks to Lyra.

“Well then, let me go through and confirm things real quick. This escort commission includes the journey to Mount Cornello, and the stay on Mount Cornello, for four days, is that correct?” (Lyra)

“Yep, those conditions sound correct to me!” (Lewin)

“Also, I wanted to check one more thing. While we are escorting you on Mount Cornello, is it okay to do other things?” (Lyra)

…Other things? I thought she probably meant doing other things while not actively escorting me. If that was the case, as long as they escorted me well when I needed it, I was fine with it since Ahmed didn’t really escort me while we were in the mountains at that time either.

“As long as you properly escort me when needed, you are free to do whatever you want.” (Lewin)

“Really?! I knew it! I told you this was the best quest commission! We can pick herbs while escorting. This request is killing two birds with one stone!” (Lyra)

After I gave my permission, they immediately started noisily discussing how they would be moving about in energetic tones. After a while of that, I started feeling a little bit alienated… when I suddenly noticed that Nina, who had her head lowered this entire time, was looking in my direction. I looked back at her, but as soon as our gazes met, she quickly turned away. She was… kind of an odd girl.