Chapter 194: That's not the Card
In the center of Comer where the shops are lined up, there is a bookstore.
The products that are displayed ranged from magic related books like the ones that rear guards read (TL: Basically, magicians who stand at the back.) to the picture books that children’s read.
They had a wide range of selection, but the paper that they used was of high quality, the likes of which a commoner could never afford. For this reason, most of the customers that came to this bookstore were rich people such as nobles or wealthy merchants.
「Oya, if it isn't Lenchan. I am pretty sure that you came here just yesterday right?」
A gentle old man took his glasses and started to polish them and put it back on when he looked at Lena.
「........Today, it’s not for me.」
「Good morning~! I came here to buy a book today dazo~」
Namari greeted while standing next to Lena.
The old man was a little surprised, but then smiles and puts on the same look he had when he saw Lena.
「Why if it isn't a cute little girl just like Lenchan.」
「........ I am not a little child like Namari. I am an adult lady.」
「I am also not a child. I am a really strong Devil Human!」
「Fufu~ Is that so? So Namari-chan is really strong.」
The old man looked fondly at Namari and stroked her head.
Most of the customers in the shop were adult who only dealt with expensive items.
There were also children sometimes, but the children would go bonkers over children's books screaming 「I want that. I also want that!」and asking for their parents to buy them the product, who never used to bother about the considerate old shopkeeper.
So the old man would feel really happy when he spoke to Lena.
Lena would not speak a lot, she would only ask the old man about what books had recently arrived; what were en route for arrival; what kind of magic related books were in or out of stock; and while listening, she would do her utmost to concentrate.
The old man, who was the store keeper, would find that figure very lovely and treated her as if she was his own grandchild. [TL note: Or a secret pedo, idk.]
「I want a book that has very few letters and has lots of pictures.」
「Un! One that everyone can use.」
「Alright I got it, if that's the case then I guess this one is the best.」
The old man unlocks a case, which had who knows how many crime prevention magic spells applied to it, with a strong key. He then takes out a corresponding picture book of Namari's request and stacks them on the counter.
Even though the picture book was for children, these books were made using expensive paper that also looked decorative, while also exciting a child's imagination just by looking at the cover. Namari was no exception; she stared at the picture book excitedly while the old man continued to pick out picture books.
「Oi Jiji (Old man), what kind of a picture book is this?」
「This one eh. This one depicts the fight between the Hero and the Demon king nee.」
「Hero!? This one!」
Every time the excited Namari called out to the old man, the old man would happily respond.
Lena who was watching the situation pulled lightly at the hem of Namari.
「......Namari, do you remember what Onee-chan(Older Sister) said? 」
「Nope!」
「........You should.」
Lena stepped forward and ruffled the hair of Namari who was answering without turning back.
「eee..... Mou! It was such a good thing~」
Funsu! Being ruffled by Lena, Namari reluctantly turned around albeit unwillingly.
「Renn......oneechan, thank you for bringing me to the bookstore today.」
The old man smiled wryly at the bitter figure of Namari.
「.......Onee-chan, I am still very curious but I will stop.」
Lena nods satisfyingly, while the idiot was joyfully swaying left and right.
「Y-you want to buy all of them?」
「Un! Because what jiji said about them was really interesting, and so I’ll buy ~all of them!」
「I'm really happy that you want to buy all of them, but even the cheapest of them costs 5 silver coins you know?」
The old man looked carefully at Namari and Lena.
The old man knew that Lena was a young C - Rank adventurer regardless of how she looked.
So, although Namari said that she would buy all the books, he still thought that Lena would be the one who would pay.
「....It's alright. Namari had the money.」
「A~! Jiji, did you think that Lena would pay for me? One moment, because I have the money you know.」
「........it’s thanks to Onee-chan. 」
With Lena's tsukkomi (retort), Namari put both of her hands into the item pouch which was sewn into her breast pockets and grabbed the gold coins that her tiny hands could hold and placed them on the counter.
The treatment towards the money seemed to make him remember a certain someone from someplace previously.
「A....All of this money belongs to Namari-chan?」
「That's right~ I had tried to sell the monster that I had killed, but Odono-sama told me that it was useless to do so. Therefore to not let it go to waste, he took it then gave me pocket money for spending.」
(TL Note: I am still fixing the previous chapters but I feel I got this right. I’ll fix it if there are any changes.)
「This is.....pocket money?!」
「Yes! That is ne. These moon like stone that shines *PikaPika*, there is about 150 of them.」
150 gold coins.
That is about 15 million Madoka.
This was the monster that Namari and Yuu had killed together.
Although it was a tremendous amount of money to be given to a child as pocket money, it was still less than a few cents, considering the amount that it was originally sold for.
The old man was quite surprised. But when the glasses fell off his face and onto the ground, he managed to calm his heart a little.
「Boris, look at that. I thought that the day would come, but I did not think that the day would come so soon.」
「Aa, this is a chance. As far as I can see from those clothes, not much can be carried in that.」
「I thought that this would be a simple task, but I can't even seem to think how many months have already passed.」
「I heard that Reinhart-san was already being pressed by the Finance Minister dze.」
There were four men watching the store where Lena was at from an alley.
The identity of these men belonged to the clan 『Dragon’s Fang』.
Initially when listening to the content of the request from Reinhart-san of the 『Dragon’s Fang』 which was a subsidiary of the 『 Dragon's Brigade』— famous in the Rem Continent. They were wondering why they had been provided with a robbery request and was unsure if this was even appropriate to do. But when they heard that the client was the Finance Minister, then the story became completely different.
If one could make a connection with the most powerful noble in the Udon Kingdom, i.e. the Finance Minister, then it would become really easy to expand the power of 『Dragon's Fang』 in the Udon Kingdom.
The opponent was at most one of the four weak clans.
Everyone of 『Dragon's Fang』 thought that this was a simple request.
But after they looked up 『Nameless』, they understood that this was anything but simple.
Yu Satou, the leader of 『Nameless』, was a monster that had become a B - Rank adventurer within a year after registration.
Furthermore, Joseph Jerom would always walk around with Satou as if escorting him around. And the surroundings of the mansion were protected by several powerful forces. These were information retrieved by their spies
.
It was judged that it was extremely difficult to take the item pouch from Satou, therefore 『Dragon’s Fang』 turned their target towards three people: Nina, Lena, and Marifa.
Lena was the one whose behavior was the easiest to track among the three people.
As Nina possessed the scout job, it was very unlikely to be able to approach her.
Marifa was always accompanied by Satou who was the master.
The members of the 『Dragon’s Fang』 examined Lena's action and behavior and limited their target to Lena. As a result, they were able to pinpoint Lena's range of actions to: the mansion, the Adventurers Guild, and the shop which dealt with books that was in front of them.
「Alright, let's start at the same time Lena goes out of the store.」
「What are you going to start?」
A voice could be heard from the back of the men who are part of the『Dragon's Fang』.
Even though they had weakened their vigilance because they were monitoring Lena, but it was quite unusual for the voice to approach so close without being noticed by them.
「You, who are you people?」
Boris asked the two men from whom the voice was heard.
「Oioi. It's us who should be the one asking that, what are you people doing?」
「We are adventurers that belong to Comer City Adventurers Guild. 」
It was awkward for them because they were the ones tailing Lena.
In addition, it would become even worse if they were to be recognized as 『Dragon's Fang』members. There were thousands of adventurers working at Comer City. Even Boris felt that the words that they had said could never be found out to be a lie.
「Hou~ Adventurer, I have never seen your face before. Where, show me your .....CARD.」
(TL Note: It was said in a different tone, kinda like asking for a secret kind of Card.)
Usually when an adventurer thinks about a card, it would be a Status Card.
Although they had the right to refuse to show their cards here, these two people looked similar to an adventurer, but the presence that was being exuded was quite different.
Boris judged that it was not a good idea to make trouble here and presents the status card.
「Giniro... C-rank Adventurer. But, this is not the one」
「You are OUT.」
The duo looked at each other and nodded.
「You guys---buha」
「What were you talking about with *GochaGocha*?」
The moment they turned around, one of the duo(One of the two people) got hit right in the face by one of the members of the 『Dragon Fang』.
The blow with the fist was executed by a man who possessed the skill 『Combat Grapling』,『Fist Fighter』, and the short range Avant Garde jab.
(TL Note: Avant Garde, the person who deals damage one on one at the front.)
「Dominic, don't run amok here.」
「Boris, it’s because you were taking your sweet time trying to avoid suspicion. I suspect that such an approach is gonna fit this situation. Oy you over there, take him with you. Otherwise, even you will--」
Dominic thought the man that he blew away will not be able to wake up for at least several hours in response to the hammer fist, but--
「O~ itatate, that came right out of nowhere.」
「Y....You, are still conscious even after eating that blow?!」
「Potto, I'm sorry for letting my guard down about that.」
The man called Potto stood up as if nothing happened, while wiping the blood that was flowing from his mouth.
「SHUT UP! I know that you left your guard down on purpose! Well, whatever.
In any case, shall we clean up garbage-clad people that are behind Lena?」
「What is this about?」
「I'm not joking you! I know that you guys have been tailing Lenchan for the past few days.
It's because we were also-- not following Lenchan, that's why.」
「We were tailing? Who are you guys?」
「Ah? I am a member of『Silver Wolf Party』, the name is Potto.」
「Idiot. Right now you are one of the members of the 『Lenchan Fan Club』darou.」
「Shit. Let me start over, I am Potto from『Lenchan Fan Club』, member number 1072.」
「The same clan membership, number 1005, Apollo.」
Potto and Apollo proudly took out a golden membership card.
This was the card that was previously asked of Boris to show.
『Lenchan Fan Club』 — it was a secret clan which was created without permission from Lena.
There were certain benefits for joining this fan club.
Gold Membership cards were distributed to members at the time of establishment; a never before benefit of this gold card was that they were allowed to get hit by the lightning of Lenchan once a week. They were also allowed to approach Lena within 5 meters once a day.
When becoming a member of the sliver card, lightning would be once a week and approaching within 5 meters would be once every three days. It may seem that they have quite a screw loose in their heads from the view of ordinary people, but they consider themselves very serious, self-proclaimed gentlemen.
Today there was one more rule that was created, and that was being allowed to stal--- follow around without being seen once every week.
「『Silver Wolf Party』... Potto and Apollo, right? Why are you leaders, who are well renowned even among leading clans, protecting that girl?!」
「Oioi, be careful with your words. And moreover, let’s quickly start already.」
「It’s as Potto said. Quickly--Lenchan?!」
Everyone looks in the direction ahead of the alley as soon as Apollo spoke those words.
There was the figure of Lena along with Namari who was holding the picture book.
「.......You guys, you have been quite noisy since a while ago.」
「It will be a hassle if the shops were to get troubled here, so you better stop quarrelling already yo~」
「che~ Let’s go!」
With the sign of Boris, the members of the 『Dragon’s Fang』, leaving Apollo and Potto, left the alleyway and ran out.
「Re-Lenchan, it's different this time. Right, Apollo?」
「Aa? Ah. That's right, that's right. We are not doing anything weird at all.」
Potto and Apollo who were being stared at by Lenchan, hurriedly lowered their head.
However with their height, Lena was not overlooking them, but was actually looking up at them.
Furthermore, Lena even stood up on tiptoes to try to overlook them.
Potto and Apollo were carefully looking at Lena who was standing on her tiptoes with a *PuruPuru*.
「.....Lies. Blood is coming out.」
「EH?! Th-this is, that is......well, it can't be helped.」
「……Hm.」
「Lenchan?」
「.....Bend down.」
Potto bends down immediately without asking Lena why.
When Potto was crouched, Lena's and Potto's eye line became the same.
(TL Note: Basically they were at the same height.)
Lena puts her hands on the swelled up cheeks of the swollen Potto and applies recovery magic. Potto's swelling face subsided in real time and was restored. Previously, it was usually Lena who was blasting them with attack magic, but recently she had also been practicing her white magic on the inhabitants of the Nameless Island. She was rapidly increasing her skills in white magic.
「....Go home.」
「Lena, are you ok with not asking why?」
「.....Lena onee-chan desho. It's alright.」
Potto and Apollo watched the leaving figure of Lena and Namari.
「Good. As I thought Lenchan is really good~ I will definitely not wash my face anymore.」
Potto was stroking the cheek that Lena had touched and was gazing at the direction that Lena had left in.
「K! As expected of Lenchan. It was certainly quite different to the healing magic that they do around in the neighborhood! Right? Apollo thinks the same as well, right?」
「Regulation Pending 」
「Ahh?」
「How dare you touch Lenchan's hand! I shall report this to our comrades.」
「Id-Idiot! You, You know that this was different right?! This was a reward provided by Lenchan for protecting her!! OI, Wait a SEC yo! Apollo, please I beg of you!! Please keep this a secret~~!!」
Potto’s wishes were futile.
Punishment will be performed by the self-proclaimed gentlemen given at a later date.
Also after this incident, the escorts of Lenchan by those of the 『Lenchan Fan Club』 became even stricter, which became harder and harder for the 『Dragon’s Fang 』to go around it.