It was partially coincidence, but it was quite good to meet privately.
Erina thought that while on work.
She was today also showing a business smile to student adventurers, but in her head was thinking about just a single man.
(Is Kurono-kun still not coming)
If going by his words then today, on 25th of Platinum Month, he would come to this Adventurer Guild wanting for quests.
Still, that was what Erina thought, but the time hadn’t even come near noon.
She was hyped just like a child, but it can’t be helped for a girl if they find their perfect man with their ideal appearance and ideal and activity.
Moreover, thanks to her ideals Erina had never gotten a boyfriend. Although she had various male friends.
She continued to work while hiding her rising expectations with her smiling mask for about an hour, at the same time the bell informing about noon would rang out, at that time,
(He came!)
A young tall man with black hair, red and black eyes, while wearing a jet-black coat appeared entering the Guild through the big double door.
Starting from students, various adventurers of Rank 3 appeared in the guild every now and then, so a man wearing black coat won’t seem standing out, however in Erina’s eyes that place only seemed to be shining brightly.
Even now she was dealing with naïve male student adventurers longing for Erina, however she sent gaze to Kurono in between.
Although, there was quite a distance between the two, but their eyes certainly met, and he returned a faint smile in return.
(Woow, so cool! Kurono-kun you look much more cool today!)
In her mind she was yelling like a fangirl, however in truth she was dealing with others saying「then please take this quest~」, as expected of an elite receptionist.
She now didn’t care at all about the adventurers standing in front of her now, but she just kept on waiting for turn of Kurono to come.
「Hello, Kurono-kun」
「Erina-san, you are currently in work」
Kurono spoke while smiling bitterly, however he seemed happy to see her friendly attitude towards him.
Yesterday, they talked for a short time, but that surely did lessen their distance, and that was proved by the conversation today.
「It’s fine, just think of it as a service for a friend」
「Thank you very much」
Kurono replied with a smile. This sort of flexible attitude of his was established yesterday.
Erina was a sociable person, who had a wide friendship relation with men and women, so she had an innate skill of guessing the disposition of person just by talking for some minutes.
This wasn’t Telepathy, but just a technical skill polished from having relations with people.
That was why she was able to become a receptionist in the Guild, which happens to be a job that is quite popular enough to enter Top 3 jobs in Spada.
「giggle, like you said yesterday, I have chosen the recommended quests already?」
There were several documents in the hands of Erina.
Among that there was also the quest of『Salamander Subjugation』, the quest that he wanted to take when he first came here.
「So you have chosen it already, thanks. But I have already chosen the quest I will take」
「Oh is that so? So you had one that you liked」
Erina re-thought that there wasn’t any particularly good quest currently.
Erina chose quests with quite the profit which were neither good nor bad.
Of course, reward was everything for an adventurer. If the Monster material they wanted was different, they would, in worst case, do a freelancer work, so it was hard to say which quest was good unconditionally.
However,
「This『Curse Carnival』or so quest――」
「No that won’t do Kurono-kun!」
In her second continuous year of work, this was the first time the beautiful receptionist had raised her voice, so various gazes of surprise flooded at her.
What happened, thinking that the co-workers at Guild along with adventurers going back and fro, all stared at Erina’s counter.
She realized her mess a second later, and embarrassedly she sent a gesture saying「there’s no problem」, and deceived them.
Seeing that it wasn’t that big of a deal, others just whispered for a bit and the gazes scattered away one by one.
「Ah, err, is this quest that bad?」
It was probably Kurono who was the most shocked by Erina shout.
He asked with a face as though he took on a punishment.
「It isn’t something light like bad. Did you explanatory note Kurono-kun?」
「I did read that big thing posted there」
The place Kurono pointed at was the bulletin board with written requests posted on it.
There, a single request document was several times bigger than other ones, or rather, it seemed like a poster posted for publication.
That was the request of participant recruitment for『Curse Carnival』.
「There was that case with the serial killer, so Kurono-kun might be able to kill people who had gone mad due to Cursed Weapons. But, the victory prize is also a Cursed Weapon, did you see that? If you were to be possessed in return then……」
『Curse Carnival』, just as the name implied, it was a tournament regarding the Cursed Weapons.
Spada had an another name of Sword Battle City, and since ancient times the『Sword Battles』here had been famous.
From the traditional one-on-one battle of Gladiators, the knockout competition by forming a team, otherwise Party battle, or a Battle Royale, Anti-Monster Battle, etc etc, all sort of battles were held here.
And among that there was a battle that let people fight against people also possessed by the Cursed Weapons, that was this『Curse Carnival』.
Among the many battles, this sword battle tournament was the most sinful, and the one sponsoring it wasn’t Spada government but a big arms dealer in city-states, that was『Mordred Weapon Company』.
Its chairman was a big-framed skeleton, Vein Wortz Mordred, he was a Cursed Weapon collector, and, he was famous for having a evil taste of wanting to see Cursed Weapons being used.
However, he had authority and assets to boldly implement his ‘evil taste’, henceforth he opened a sword battle tournament on a grand scale.
And adding onto that, there were people who liked the thrill of extreme battles or seeing other going insane due to curse, the things that can’t be seen in normal sword battles. Unexpectedly there were many Spada civilians that liked this tournament secretly.
At the same time, there were people who yearned for the enormous yet dangerous power of Cursed Weapons, and raise out their names saying「I am the great one」and what not.
And as expected, the ones that couldn’t control the curse are used as the ‘opponent’ in the『Curse Carnival』.
This man she loved was about to meet his end in a truly dangerous way, so it was only natural for her to stop him.
「No it’s fine, I am quite confident in my ability to use Cursed Weapons」
「Geez, don’t speak too much, being overconfident will subtract the points!」
「Subtract the points?」
Erina *ahem* cleared her throat and ignored Kurono’s question.
「Anyhow, the usage of Cursed Weapon can’t be done something with just physical strength of magical energy, but the main part is compatibility, there is a danger of a person being possessed by it, no matter how much skilled he/she might be. I know Kurono-kun is strong, but you can say those words nonchalantly just because you have never used a Cursed Weapon befo――」
「No, I already use Cursed Weapons?」
Erina’s kind, truly important warning was interrupted by Kurono’s unthinkable personal statement.
「Eh, is that lie?」
「The sword I used to save Erina happened to be a Cursed Weapon」
She truly didn’t remember it.
The moment she noticed the face of Kurono saving her gallantly, she could not take away her eyes from his manly face.
It wasn’t like she didn’t remember that he was waving a long big sword in one hand for saving her, however she had absolutely no idea what it was.
「And, the sword that Joto was using, I am using it right now」
「Gyaaaaahhh~~~!!」
In a second, Erina screamed, and fell backwards along with the chair she was sitting on.
Kurono widened his eyes to her over exaggerated reaction.
And the people in the surroundings were also shocked the same.
This time the Guild staff and adventurers sensed Erina’s strange actions and they thought the man sitting in front had did something bad with her, causing all of them to stab him with hostility-filled gazes.
On the very close moment when a burly guard wearing black suit would appear from inside the guild for resolving the trouble with force,
「I-I’m sorry! It’s nothing!!」
Erina revived and bowed in a hurry while saying that no trouble had happened.
The guild had turned noisy suddenly, but thanks to Erina’s magnificent way of speaking, it started to quieten down.
Like that in less than five minutes, the Guild returned to its normal operations.
Kurono could only watch while pouring out cold sweat, seeing Erina being all-rounder, from the start of creating the noise to the end of quietening down everyone.
「I’m sorry for losing my composure, Kurono-sama」
「Ah, no, same here, I’m sorry for surprising you」
They both said words of apology in an official way.
Well then, now was Erina wrong to have jumped to wrong conclusion that he might have never used Cursed Weapon, or was it Kurono wrong for confessing that he held Cursed Weapons normally, even the weapon that was definitely a trauma to Erina.
In the end the whereabouts of responsibility remained unidentified, they both just apologized to each other, but it would be good if everything was finished peacefully like that.
「So, um……do you truly have it?」
「Yeah, it’s a weapon with a bond with me, so I just wanted to keep it, no matter what」
Erina wasn’t able to ask any further than that.
She didn’t have the communication ability of talking with more than 100 friends for just a show. She sensitively perceived Kurono eyes being shadowed.
Kurono continued his words, maybe he realized her consideration or maybe he didn’t.
「You that I’m a Black Magician, right? The black magical energy can easily control the Cursed Weapons, I have a great innate compatibility with them」
As if to relax Erina, Kurono showed a smile on his cold sharp cool face.
(Yeah, If it’s Kurono-kun, I might be happy if he even killed me)
Erina’s train of thought was completely different from what Kurono wanted, but as a result she surely calmed down.
「Therefore, you don’t need to worry」
「Ah, Y-you’re right……in that case, I’m sorry for giving a needless help」
「No, you were thinking about my safety, right? Thanks」
Belittling an adventurer’s ability was one of the main causes that could anger Adventurers, who work with death just a hair’s breadth away.
Even if other person was speaking in consideration of other, there were still people who would be enraged and punch others.
But looks like Kurono understood what she felt.
He looked like a brute savage evil, but in truth had a gentlemanly personality, this part of his seemed even more charming to Erina.
「Well then, I leave the procedures to you」
「Yes, I will undertake it」
Quest: 『Curse Carnival』
Reward: Cursed Weapon of the opponent and Fight Money (Can change according to Rank. One million Klan ― Ten million Klan)
*NOTE: The battle are not tournament but knockout battles, so the battle will be just one.
Time Limit: The very day of opening, till 26th of Platinum Month. Freelance participation allowed.
Client: Mordred Weapon Company
Request Details: It’s been a while to all one million fans of Cursed Weapon all over the country! The『Curse Carnival』of this year starts now!!
The Mordred Weapon Company is widely recruiting participants for this tournament. There are no limitations of Adventurer Rank, you are welcomed here!! For those wanting Cursed Weapons, please do participate in this!!
Thus, the participation of Kurono in『Curse Carnival』was decided.
「Kurono-kun, I will come to support you, so work hard!」
Erina sent a splendid wink that would make a normal man fall head over heels for her.
「Yeah, I will work hard to show my cool sides」
Kurono replied like a flawless refreshing gentleman, he didn’t seem to be perturbed to female’s charming appeal.
At the very least, it looked like that to Erina.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
If I went with tournament, it would go over 100 chapters, so……
But tournament development is a story material that I wanted to write, as being a battle-loving person myself! Something like『Hello! Sword Battle Tournament filled with Yandere! There is also head falling down!』