Chapter 17: My Insignificant Doubts

We walk over to the Adventurer’s Guild through the road that Randell had taught us.

Hーmm. It’s quite a beautiful town. It looks like a European-like town from the middle ages. It’s got a good feeling of “fantasy” floating about.

Also, this is the first time since I’ve come to this world that I’ve seen so many Humans. That alone would be enough to raise my spirits.

I only became more excited, because we ended up walking within a large group of people, each of different races. There was an old Kemonomimi with a fluffy tail, a big-breasted woman who ruined my image of Erofus — er, Elves.[1] There’re also a wide variety of other races walking about, like bearded Dwarves.

Mixed among the crowd, I was able to see the figures of Adventurer-like people here and there, too.

After confirming a couple of their statuses, I find that there doesn’t seem to be anyone that can match Fran. I’d like it if we can find someone with a close status.

In addition: Fran’s sheer number of Skills as well as the levels of said Skills are overwhelmingly higher than most. The highest Skill Level I saw was from a guy with Lv5 Sword Arts. I know the difference between that level and Lv7 well.

It’s possible that if they utilized Skills or Status values, they might be able to win… Because I’ve fought on the Plain, I understand this fact.

Or rather, the difference of Status makes little difference in the face of Skills. But it’s jus because of this that I don’t think Fran will have a problem fitting in with adventurers.

But still, I couldn’t help being a bit depressed for a different reason.

The reason is the performance of the other Adventurers’ weapons.

Name ：High-Quality Steel Longsword

ATK ：398 MP ：5 Durability ：600

Magic Power Conductivity・F

Skills：

None

My form is equivalent to that Longsword, and yet… Its ATK is superior to mine. I have a feeling of loss as a sword.

To add insult to injury, there’s its material: Good-Quality Steel. In other words, Mithril and Orichalcum — the so-called legendary metals — lost to simple Steel. That… That’s depressing.

After that, weapons, all boasting higher attack power than me, jump into my eyes. 1 in 5 people would have one better than me.

And, hung at the waist of the man who was walking before me, was this:

Name ：Mithril Alloy Dagger

ATK ：423 MP ：20 Durability：700

Magical Power Conductivity・D+

Skills：

None

『Ha… Hahahaha……』

I can’t do anything but laugh. Aah. I was weak. I defeated Demonic Beasts, thinking that I was so clever. But in reality, I was simply a sword with an excess of decorations.

「What’s wrong?」

『Aah, Fran. I’m already useless.』

「 ? 」

I explained the situation to Fran; about how I was an inferior Sword if you look past the Skills — more inferior to any random weapon, at that. Surely, it was some upstart nouveau riche who made me.

*pat pat*

Fran pats me after I finished the explanation.

『Fran……』

「Nn.」

『Are you comforting me?』

「Teacher has Skills.」

Hm…? Wait… Wait, that’s right, girl! I may be inferior to the average sword in attack power, but I can support with Skills! Or rather, that’s my only worth! Then it’s decided! I’ll become the king of Skills!

However, it would be best to buy a proper sword, as opposed to an inferior one like me, right? You’ll have no choice but to use me for now, but I’ll buy a strong sword for you eventually!

Therefore, we should register with the Adventurer’s Guild, and earn money energetically!

『Alright! I’m sorry to have worried you. I’m fine now, so let’s go to the Adventurer’s Guild!』

「Nn.」

An excessive amount of time was taken because of my moping, but we’ve finally arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild.

『It’s large…』

It was considerable size compared to the surrounding buildings. The size was likely due to the amount of Adventurers which come here.

『I have a request!』

I’m all fired up! — Ah, but no one heard me.

The inside is cleaner than I thought it would be. I expected its interior to look like some form of dingy pub, with an overpowering impression and cluttered interior, but… The front desk seems like it belongs to an expensive hotel.

Well, if it looked terrible, I suppose that would stain the reputation of the Guild.

However, when a 12-year-old girl walked in, a considerable amount of attention was drawn. While we walk up to the counter, the eyes of the surrounding Adventurers are following us.

「Register.」

「Ah, yes. Are you alone?」

「Alone.」

「Erm… This is the Adventurer’s Guild, so……」

「I know.」

It seems that in this world, a 12-year-old girl coming alone to register to be an Adventurer is rare. Their weapons and protective gear are perfect, and so despite her only being 12 years old and giving off an atmosphere that shows discipline from a young age, the mumbling continues to increase. [2] Even when I was a child I acted better than them.

Fran doesn’t have any armor, either. Rather, her appearance is quite shabby, which would only be common for runaway slaves.

We’re too out-of-place.

I recovered from my thoughts once the Receptionist starts to explain.

「Anyone can register, but there’ll be a test.」

「Nn.」

「It’ll be a test of fighting forms, but is that alright?」

「Good.」

「Are you really sure? You could get injured…」

「Unconcerned.」

「Well… If anything happens, the Guild takes no responsibility.」

「Alright.」

「So, you still wish to do it……? I understand. Just a moment, please.」

She probably understood that Fran genuinely wanted to take the test. The Adventurers become a bit noisy.

There wasn’t anyone who started a quarrel, but the atmosphere is nowhere near welcoming. A child taking on an Adventurer’s test… It likely rubbed them the wrong way.

That would be natural. If I was in their position, I would likely feel the same way.

『Are you alright, Fran?』

「 ? 」

『Well, it’s fine even if you don’t understand.』

After a few moments, the Receptionist returns.

「Sorry to have kept you waiting. This way, please.」

「Nn.」

At the back of the Guild was a spacious area surrounded by walls on all sides. It seems that this is the Guild’s training ground, or at least something similar.

A rugged man is standing in the middle of the grounds. His height would be about 2 meters. He’s wearing rough black body armor, which looks like it would be sharp to the touch; he looks just like a High King ruling at the end of a century[7]. A huge Battleaxe is leaning against his side, which doubles his overpowering impression. From behind him, I can practically see the *gogogogo*[3] sound effects.

If it was a regular child, they would cry as soon a they laid eyes upon him. Even I, who was used to the pressure of Demonic Beasts, was slightly surprised.

「Are you the registration applicant?」

Uoーo. Through his glare alone, that powerful of intimidation increases.

「Nn.」

However, Fran doesn’t seem to be frightened at all. It’s the same attitude as always. My girl is a big shot! [4]

「I’m your testing examiner, Donnadorondo[5]」

There’re way too many “do”s… It’s difficult to say. He doesn’t look like a Donna either.

「The contents of the examination are easy. You have to fight me. If you’re defeated too easily, you don’t pass!」

「Understood.」

「Just so you’re aware, I’m not good at holding back. When I fight, I do it seriously. If you don’t want to fight, now’s the time to leave!」

The moment Donnadorondo shouted that, a terrible pressure fell over us. Isn’t this obviously the Coercion Skill [6]? Doesn’t that mean that the fight has already begun?

『Alright, let’s do it!』

「Nn!」

[1] Once again: Kemonomimi = Human + Animal Traits — just like Fran.

You could see Erofu is a combination of “Erotic” and “Elf”. Essentially Elves from hentai/porn/eroge. If you don’t know what those three things are, you’re untainted, so run away while you still can.

[2] So, it mentions a *buibui* here, which could be a Pig sound effect, or essentially slang for “complaining”, so I simply changed it into “mumbling”. It also mentioned 狩人 (Hunter), but I’m pretty sure that’s just referring to all the Adventurers watching. Still, because I’m unsure, advice is welcome! 狩人としてブイブイ言わせてますけど何か

[3] Used usually in the background of scenes with a lot of tension. Like facing down a powerful opponent in a manga. Each “go” looks like this: ゴ

[4] Just so you’re aware, every time he said “girl” after he was equipped, it could have also meant “daughter”. 娘

[5] It sounds pretty weird, but it’s supposed to. You should put it into Google’s audio translator or something. ドナドロンド

[6] It’s not Intimidation (威嚇), but rather Coercion (威圧). I’m just mentioning that because I had to double check to make sure. 明らかに威圧のスキルを使ってるよな？

[7] Reference to Raoh from Hokuto no Ken. Thanks to midoyashii for pointing that out!